Never Let Me Go

My younger brother, Owen Rivera, and I are playing in Dad's refrigerated truck. Owen wants to grab my ice cream from me, but I refuse to let him have his way. He shoves me forcefully, causing me to lose my balance and fall to the floor, knocking me out on the spot. When I finally wake up and locate him in the freezer, I find out that he's gotten reduced to a frozen statue. The security footage shows that Owen has been screaming the words "Mommy, help me!" hysterically for three hours before his death. After Mom is done watching the footage, she breaks down on the spot. Then, she yanks me by my hair before slamming me against the wall. "What were you doing? You were at the entrance, dammit! Why didn't you open the door for Owen?" With reddened eyes, Dad throws me into the freezer. "Owen was cold and frightened in the freezer! You should have a taste of the same thing too!" The thick and heavy door is slammed in my face. Darkness and a bone-chilling coldness devour me instantly. I curl into a small ball in the corner Owen has just died in. My teeth are starting to chatter, and my consciousness is starting to slip away. I'm sorry, Mom and Dad. I don't feel cold. I'm not cold at all. I will never eat ice cream ever again in my next lifetime.

Isabella Hart has always believed that love is a luxury she can’t afford especially with her mother’s life on the line. Struggling to make ends meet, she never imagined that a single contract could change everything. Alexander Voss, a wealthy and cold hearted billionaire, has one rule: marry by a certain deadline or lose his inheritance. Business comes first, and love is the last thing on his mind. When fate forces Isabella into a marriage contract with Alexander, their worlds collide in ways neither of them expected. What starts as a cold, calculated arrangement slowly stirs emotions they can’t ignore. Can a contract turn into real love, or will their differences tear them apart before it even begins?

I gave Caius everything—my loyalty, my body, my devotion. I was his substitute Luna, but when his true Luna returned, I was discarded like a mistake. I told him I was carrying his child. He called me a liar. What followed was not rejection—it was brutality. Left broken, abused, and murdered by the woman I replaced, I thought death was the end. I was wrong. Azrael—Caius’s half-brother, a feared hybrid who bends black magic to his will—offered me a second chance. In return, I must free his wolf. Desperate to make everyone who wronged me pay, I struck a deal with the hybrid who wields forbidden sorcery…a darkness that will either consume me or forge me into someone feared.

I used to be the beloved little princess of the Colobo family. Then, on my eighteenth birthday, my father brought home Sophia. She was the daughter of the old friend who had once saved his life. Out of guilt, he gave her a place in our home. Then he gave her my place too. My brother began protecting her and hating me. My childhood friend, Luca Rizzo, fell for her and left me behind. Even my father said Sophia deserved the Colobo name more than I did, though I was his biological daughter. On the day I graduated from college, they broke their promise to me for the ninety-ninth time because of her. I finally lost control. “Am I not your own daughter?” My father pulled Sophia behind him as if I were the danger, then slapped me across the face. “You jealous little thing. I should have given everything to her instead.” My brother looked at me like I was something dirty. “You don’t deserve a place in the Colobo family. Get out.” So I left. They thought I was only throwing another tantrum. They took Sophia to Switzerland to see the snow-covered mountains, certain that silence would teach me to behave. They thought I would calm down, come home, and beg for my place again. But this time, I called the research institute in Australia whose offer I had once turned down for them. “I accept,” I said. By the time the Colobo family realized I was truly gone, my phone number no longer existed. And so did Isabella Colobo.

Sarah Benson has spent her life surviving. Orphaned young and raising her son, Tommy, alone, she knows hardship intimately. But nothing could prepare her for the day her world turns upside down Tommy is diagnosed with leukemia, and the only person who could save him is a man from her past, a man who took her innocence without consent years ago. Haunted by painful memories and desperate to save her child, Sarah embarks on a journey to find James Savaldor, the father she never wanted to meet again. As fate forces their paths to cross, secrets unravel, hearts collide, and both must confront a past that refuses to stay buried. In a story of love, redemption, and unwavering maternal courage, Sarah and James must navigate guilt, desire, and the lengths one will go to protect the ones they love. But can a fractured past ever truly give way to a future together?

Everyone in the underworld knew Rosalie Thorne, the "Thorn Principessa" of the North. Wild, rebellious, notorious. Street racing, high-stakes gambling, guns, and drinking, she had mastered them all. The rose-and-thorn tattoo on the nape of her neck drove countless men wild. But what they didn't know was that for Rocco, the new mob boss of the South, a single sentence, "I prefer a more obedient woman," was all it took. At his word, I had the tattoo lasered off and swapped my leathers for long, conservative dresses. I am Rosalie. For five years, I hid my identity and played the porcelain doll Rocco wanted. Until the night he eliminated all his rivals and was crowned the new Don of the South. That was when he let his men bow to another woman, hailing her as their "Donna." I watched Rocco. The same hands that had just executed a traitor were now gently placing a pair of red high heels on the feet of his adoptive sister, Vivian. "Rosalie, she has a temper. She'll make a scene if she doesn't get the title." "You're the good one, the obedient one. Just let her have this." That day, I walked straight out into the rain and never looked back. I was never truly obedient. I just made myself smaller for him. My family had already chosen a husband for me. They had been waiting five years, just for me to say yes.

I've painstakingly prepared a nice feast for my son's fifth birthday. My wife, Cheryl Bennett, looks a little impatient. She complains, "You really love making things hard for yourself, huh? How are we supposed to finish everything with just the three of us?" I just smile at her. Then, I whip out a birthday cake and get my son, Jasper Ford, to make a birthday wish. After the candles are lit, I close my eyes as well and make a sincere wish in my mind. When I open my eyes again, I hear Cheryl's system exclaiming in surprise, "Congratulations, Cheryl! You've completed the quest! You and Jasper can now leave this world!" Yes, both Cheryl and Jasper have already made up their minds to abandon me so that they can return to their original world. That's great news. After all, I no longer want them by my side either.

Please,  help me just this once." Jasmine panted with lust filled eyes. "Jazz, you're not thinking straight." Aaron replied even though he was fighting hard not to lose control. "Take a cold shower or something,  it'll help you feel better,  I promise." "No!"Jasmine argued, grabbing a fistful of his shirt in her hand. "It won't help,  trust me I've tried." "Yeah but..." "Aaron please! I need you, can't you see that? Or do you really hate me that much that you can't stand the thought of touching me?" They hated each other alright, that much was certain. But seeing Jasmine trapped in the heat of her own passion had Aaron's body reacting in ways that he could neither explain nor control, and also in ways that had him wondering if it was alright to suspend their feud for just one night. "You know what? Fuck it!" Aaron declared at last, tugging his shirt over his head and tossing it aside. "We can go back to hating each other tomorrow, but tonight, I'm going to make love to you like no one ever has."

I am having a heart attack when Scott Lakin locks me inside the car. It's because my pain is frightening his childhood sweetheart. In response to my desperate pleas for help, he merely utters coldly, "I'll let you out when you apologize." I go into shock and have to be rushed to the hospital. I call Scott a dozen times, but he just blocks me. Finally, after I get discharged, I see him carefully feeding his childhood sweetheart chicken soup. "Have some food, darling. What if the baby in your belly is hungry?" After that, I return to my hometown without saying a word and stay there for half a month. After blocking me everywhere except the music streaming platform, Scott suddenly starts frantically searching for me. "Jennie, why didn't you add me back on Facebook this time?"

Selene Quinn Six years ago, I walked away from Lucien Ashbourne. No goodbyes. No confrontation. Just silence… and two unborn children he never knew about. They said I was lucky to marry into power — even though he was half-dead man. They didn’t see the contract, the coma, or the cold man who treated me like a threat. Even after I saved him. Now I’m back. Different name. Bigger title. And the first face I see on a Manhattan billboard? His. He doesn’t know I’m here. He doesn’t know we’re about to become competitors. And he has no idea what I’ve built while he was busy forgetting me. Lucien Ashbourne She left without a word. Good. She was a mistake forced into my life while I was too broken to stop it. But I never signed those divorce papers. And now… she’s back. New name. Same eyes. Running the company threatening my biggest deal. She’s hiding something. She always was. But this time, I won’t let her vanish. Not until I know why she left. Not until I remember what we did that night. Not until she realizes... she was mine all along.