O Dog

In my previous life, my brother and fiancé teamed up to sabotage my company for the sake of my so-called best friend. After I went bankrupt, they stood beside her watching me collapse in the pouring rain, laughing mockingly at my pathetic state. "Linda Turner, you look as pathetic as a drenched dog!" they sneered. When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the project bidding meeting three years earlier. In my previous life, when my company was just starting out, my brother and fiancé had warned me against using the Turner and Peterson family connections. They claimed it wouldn't be fair to others, but then turned around and handed projects to my best friend under various pretexts, just to see her smile. Now that I was back, I watched them secretly manipulating things just like before, giving my projects to my best friend. I finally gave up on them completely. When they found out I was leaving the country, my brother and fiancé set off fireworks all night, celebrating that they'd finally gotten rid of me, the burden. But three years later, at the Trada Corp's bidding meeting, I took the stage as the CEO's wife—and they couldn't hide the redness in their eyes.

The end of the world was upon us, but there weren't enough spots for evacuation. The roars of the zombies echoed in my ears as my fiancé, Oliver, gritted his teeth and pulled me onto the rescue vehicle—securing the last available seat. I arrived safely at the survivor base. Lina, his first love, did not. The zombies tore her apart. Oliver still went through with our marriage, but I never expected that he had only done so to make me suffer. In his eyes, I was the one who had killed Lina. If she had to endure such agony, then I should, too. For five years, he hated me. My life was worse than that of a stray dog scavenging for food on the street. On the day my divorce was finalized, he kidnapped me, dragged me into the wilderness, and wrapped his fingers around my throat. Then, he threw us both into the swarm of the undead. When I opened my eyes again, I was somehow reborn on the day the apocalypse began. The rescue team was shouting impatiently, "One more! We have room for one more—hurry!" I turned to Oliver, watching his hesitation. Then, with a quiet smile, I took a step back and let someone else have the last seat.

Esme believed in this saying for as long as she could remember. These words gave her the strength and courage to live each day as it came until she eventually became tired of making those lemonades and wished for something else. Something—different. But that only seemed wishful thinking. Born as a noble and made an orphan after a rogue attack, Esme became the unwanted pack member of NightCrawler Pack. The once daughter of an alpha became nothing but a slave who answers to the new alpha’s family’ every beck and call. The pack that had once adored her now ridiculed her and laughed at her mistreatment and misery. They seemed to have forgotten how her family had fought for the safety of the pack and the kingdom and even lost their lives for them. But in all this, Esme remained silent. Silently enduring and hoping that one day, her knight in shining armor would come and rescue her. He will show up one day and take her away from the once happy place that has now become her hell. When that day eventually came, she was rejected without a second thought, and she watched as her world came crashing. Hard. Her heart caved in and lost all hope of ever finding happiness again. Or even leaving the pack. After all, what could a wolfless shifter do? Amidst her misery, a ray of light appeared. She was blessed with a second chance, mate. One whose outstretched hand she was hesitant to take, especially after knowing who he was.

I give birth to my child after accepting a sperm donation. Later, my CEO husband passes away due to an illness. After I take over the company, I take five years to strike a balance between work and caring for my daughter. On her birthday, a shrew makes me out to be a mistress. "Look at how scantily clad you are—you're doing it to seduce my husband, aren't you?" I explain that I'm single, but she slaps me and snarls, "How dare you claim to be single! Your daughter looks just like my husband! I'll show you today what the consequences of wrecking someone's family are!" She drags me away like I'm a dog before the kindergarten's entrance as my daughter watches. The shrew isn't satisfied with that. She laughs cruelly and says, "I'll show your daughter what a shameless woman you are." Then, she throws herself into a man's arms. "How are you going to reward me for getting rid of a woman who thinks she can have you after having your child, honey?" I look up to see the doctor who helped me with my test tube baby back in the day. He's now my subordinate.

Since I can remember, I have been a liar. That is the conclusion my mother made about me. After my twin brother, Daniel Benson, and I are born, she becomes obsessed with a so-called scientific parenting method. So, she puts a lie-detecting collar on each of us. Whenever we lie, the collar lights up in red. The moment it turns red, she presses a remote and shocks me. She says it will help form muscle memory to correct the bad character in me. Daniel's collar is always green. Even when he tears my mom's favorite clothes to shreds and calmly claims a dog does it, the collar still glows green. But I am different. Even if I just say, "Mom, I’m thirsty," The collar would suddenly flash a blinding red light. Then, a current shoots through my neck and into my body, making me tremble in pain. At first, I try to explain. But my mom always says the same thing. "The machine doesn't lie. You have to feel pain to learn. I'm doing this for your own good." After being shocked thousands of times, I slowly start to believe that maybe I am truly born a liar.

Plot Summary Emma and Jake fell in love young deep, real, and fast. But just when everything felt right, Emma disappeared without a word. Ten years later, she’s hired to redesign the estate of a secretive billionaire only to discover it’s Jake. He’s different now. Cold, powerful… and angry. But the fire between them hasn’t died. What Jake doesn’t know is: Emma left to protect him. From something, or someone. And what Emma doesn’t know is: Jake is hiding something too. As secrets unravel, Emma is caught between the man she lost, and the one she can no longer lie to.

Trigger Warning!! This book is very dark, containing torture and abuse, read at your own risk!! "I'll delete the pictures depending on how obedient you are. You have to do everything I say; if I want you to become a dog, you have to get on your knees and bark; do we have a deal?" Pierce leans intimidatingly to Malakai's height to whisper softly in his ears; his cold eyes flash with cruelty. "You don't want her to know what a dirty little creep you are, do you?" Malakai Kreston, Quiet and perfect son of the county's preacher is who everyone assumes to be a boring nerd, but Malakai has a deep secret. He isn't so perfect after all! A dirty secret that Malakai will do anything to protect. What happens when he becomes a targeted pawn of Pierce Masterson? Kai, who is usually the hunter, becomes the prey, and he discovers that Pierce is more evil... Sinister and very much more twisted than anything he'd ever imagined. Pierce must have everything he wants or destroy it all completely, Escaping is Malakai's only option, but how far will he go before he gets caught? In a game of cat and mouse, neither are willing to lose!

CAMILLA As if being used by Rico for his club business wasn’t enough, he sold me to Nighthaven’s billionaire, the untouchable AUGUST CHILDE. August Childe is dangerous in ways money can’t hide. He is intense, possessive, and beautifully broken. He lives with bipolar disorder, a mind that swings between control and care. I should be afraid. Instead, I’m falling. And loving him might cost me the last piece of myself I still own. AUGUST She’s a goddess. That’s the only word that fits. I want her—desperately, irrationally—but how does someone like her survive someone like me? I want her, but I have a fiancée forced on me by my family, and my family would rather destroy this goddess than tarnish our legacy. I want her. And I don’t know how, or if I can stop. Sold into South Nighthaven’s underworld, Camilla survives years of exploitation before being claimed by August Childe—the untouchable billionaire heir whose power hides a dangerous truth: a bipolar disorder he has never learned to control. What begins as captivity ignites into a forbidden, consuming love complicated by his fiancée, a woman forced on him by his family, his family’s ruthless legacy, and a mind constantly on the edge of unraveling. When August chooses reputation and almost marries his fiancée, Camilla walks away carrying his child—only to be dragged back into the darkness she barely escaped. It is only after losing Camilla that August dismantles the empire that owned her, confronts his illness, and abandons the life that taught him love was disposable. Love offers them a second chance—but only if August chooses healing over control, and Camilla decides whether trusting the man who once let her go is worth the risk of losing herself again.

“A Luna is meant to be graceful and elegant not…” His mother sniffed, her nose up in the air, “not this.” Disdain and disgust dripped from her words. Every word felt like a blow to my heart, I kept still, waiting for Roland to come to my defense like a good mate. I sent a pleading gaze to him but all I got was an icy stare in return, but I still held faith in my heart. He sighed and his gaze softened with something that looked like self-loathing, “I'm sorry Selena, you're not just Luna material,” His gaze shifted to the person beside me, “And I'm in love with another.” There was a ringing in my ears as time slowed and my world came to a standstill, “W-what?” I choked out, dazed. Selena was the fat unwanted twin, the one her mate rejected for her prettier, slimmer sister. Once rejected, betrayed and left for dead, she almost gave up on life itself. When she stumbles into the arms of two alpha werewolves the world fears, she doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. Four years later, she returns, stronger and fiercer, a queen in her own right. The weak fat wolf is dead and in her place is someone they would never see coming. A weapon. Vengeance.

What is an obsession? An idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person's mind. And this is what my brother thinks I have and feel toward Lola. He always asks me to be patient and wait till he figures out how to get her back to me, but I can't sit like an obedient dog and wait. I can't live my life as if nothing had happened and my soul wasn't just ripped out of my body. Lola isn't just an obsession to me, she is my life and soul, she is my beating heart. I watched her grow under my care, I waited for her to mature, I fucking protected her even from myself. From that mindless animal that I am, and when I finally could get what I have always wanted, it was taken away from me. My brother is wrong, I'm not obsessed I am possessed and I will fucking take everyone down to get my little flower back. *The doctor's convict is book 2 in women of mafia series, you need to read book 1 (Cerberus) first.