One That Didnt Get Away Novels & Stories

My younger brother, Sean, and I were both critically ill and needed kidney transplants. When the hospital finally found two matching donors, my mother didn't hesitate for a second and gave both kidneys to Sean. She said to me, "Ivan, Sean has been frail since he was little. Having two kidneys will make him healthier. He isn't like you. You've gone through dialysis so many times. I'm sure you're used to it." In the end, I didn't receive the kidney transplant. Tormented by illness, I suffered unbearably until I finally closed my eyes forever. Yet, she couldn't accept it. Her eyes turned red from crying.

My husband did not love me, and he certainly did not love our child. On the day our son was born, he did not even glance at him. He merely tossed him into my arms. Then, his first love came back from overseas. That night, the ever-cold Henry had gotten drunk for the first time. He even smiled as he held our child in his arms. Delighted, our son wrapped his little arms around my husband's neck and asked me in a soft voice, “Mommy, what’s wrong with Uncle?” I crouched down, pulling him into my embrace. My eyes reddened as I explained, “Uncle's favorite person came back, so we shouldn’t bother him anymore. We’re going to find a new home.”

On our seventh year anniversary, my girlfriend, Rachel Winters, forces me to drink a glass of drugged champagne before dumping me onto the bed of an 80-year-old widow. "It's Bryon's first time attending a business meeting. He's still pure and oblivious, so he doesn't know how to satisfy an older widow's insatiable desire. "I have no choice but to ask you to seal this business deal on his behalf. Think of this as your way of helping me repay Bryon's family for raising me since young. "Don't worry, Corey. No one will know about this." After that, Rachel turns off the lights and leaves the room while ignoring my pleas for help. But the next day, the video of me and the widow going at it is spread across the Internet. My colleagues look down on me for resorting to such underhanded methods just to get promoted. They can't believe that I'm able to stomach the idea of sleeping with an 80-year-old widow. Thanks to the video, the company's reputation is greatly affected. Rachel holds a press conference immediately to address the issue. I thought she'd defend me, but I didn't expect her to change her tune. "I've already discussed this matter with the Dalton family. Corey Dalton shall take responsibility for what he's done to the widow. As for me, I will get engaged to Bryon Parson." I feel as though lightning has struck me on the spot. I've founded this company with Rachel and has stuck by her side through thick and thin, resulting in us rising as the new-time business moguls. But in the end, she decides to ditch me. "Corey, if you really want to stay by my side, you can remain as my side piece. In exchange, I'll help you shake that old woman off your tail." As I meet Rachel's smug gaze, I shake my head decisively. "I've already thought things through and decided that I'll be marrying the widow."

Kiara has just divorced Jake, the alpha of the Darkhowl pack. She discovers his affair with her older sister, who manipulated Jake into divorcing her. Devastated, and carrying a secret, Kiara decides to flee the city and hide her twin pregnancy from Jake. But fate will place them both on the same path, forcing them to face their feelings… and their secrets.

Whenever Ariana heard people describe the first time with someone you love, they described it as something beautiful, intimate, memorable, and not something she had to find out about with other people on a large TV screen. They also never told her that it would be broadcast by the very same person she loved. **** Ariana once believed Salvatore Rossi was her happily ever after until she woke up two days after their wedding with no memory, bruises she couldn’t explain, and a husband who looked at her like a stranger. The truth, when it finally came, came as a public humiliation: her own husband drugged her, slept with her, recorded it and played it for everyone to see. It became clear that he didn’t want her when he brought another woman into the picture. So she ran. She rebuilt. She became a world renowned doctor and raised a son Salvatore never knew existed. Twelve years later, he’s back, asking the woman he wronged to save the one person dearest to him: his dying mother. He barely recognizes her now. She’s cold, brilliant, alluring and unmoved by his name or his fortune. But proximity is dangerous. Old wounds reopen. The desire neither of them buried deeply enough claws its way back to the surface. And as the truth behind who really destroyed their marriage finally comes to light, Ariana has to decide whether revenge tastes sweeter than the love she swore she’d never feel again.

“This….this is not right,” she whispered, closing her eyes as let her head fall back as he kissed her neck. Pleasure engulfing her, her mind hazy but at the same time working. “What isn’t?” He asked, in that rich, smooth, velvet voice that was quite enough to make her drop to her knees. She opened her eyes, staring right into his hunger filled ones. “It’s forbidden.” She whispered. “It won’t be nice if we get caught,” His lips twitched and he rubbed the back of his palm down her face, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Who said anything about getting caught, Rivers?” •••• If there was one thing Sloane Rivers loved most, it was Christmas. After working her ass off all year as an attorney, she was disappointed when she was nominated to go on the mandatory firm retreat. A day after she arrived, she found herself sharing the lodge with an unexpected “roomie” Ethan Hale. An arrogant, 6’2”, ridiculously wealthy CEO due to a storm. Their cohabitating came with plenty of back-and-forth bickering and arguments that slowly turned into something she looked forward to even after he moved out of her lodge. After the retreat ended, Sloane returned to her normal life. What she didn’t expect was for Ethan to crash into her world again, challenging every principle she’d lived by. The man she’d met a week before Christmas might just be her undoing, because mixing business with pleasure was strictly forbidden.

I was diagnosed with cancer. After much deliberation, I called my husband. He fell silent for a long while. “Most of our mortgage is unpaid, and our children need money for school. You should go for conservative treatment.” I called my mother while weeping. “You’re so troublesome. None of my friends or family have cancer!” I stopped crying and started living for myself. God favored me and let me see reality early in my life. He even gave me a chance to start over.

The annual Vittorio family gala was in full swing when my brother, Don Marco Vittorio, decided to host a card game. The stakes were simple: the winner could make one demand of him. Everyone knew I had been brought back to the Vittorio estate three years ago but still hadn't been formally acknowledged as family. They stepped aside, murmuring that this was Marco's way of giving me a chance—a test I might finally pass. Only Gianna, the family's adopted princess, made sure I had none. She counted off her boasts on her fingers. "Marco gives me a black card with a fifty-thousand-euro monthly limit." "He bid on a lighthouse in the Bay of Naples for me." "I give the family toast at New Year's Mass." "My name is on the trust." Four statements. I had one card left. She smiled and delivered the killing blow: "This whole game? Marco threw it just to cheer me up." My heart sank. I looked at my brother. He smiled indulgently—that same smile he'd worn for three years, always taking her side, always asking me to wait. I folded. I laid down my last card. And suddenly, I didn't want to go home that badly anymore. I didn't need the Vittorio name. I was done.

Lydia Leighton—my mother-in-law—and I had been grinding nonstop on an overseas project. We got back home two weeks early. Before we could share the news, her phone rang. The renovation company. "Mrs. Howe, the house is done per your request. But your card balance isn't enough. When do you want to settle the rest?" I frowned. We'd been buried in work overseas. When did she even renovate a house? A long invoice popped up on her phone. Lydia's face went cold. She dialed her husband. "George, which 'Mrs. Howe' is renovating a house? You're cheating on me?!" He sounded panicked. "How could I? Babe, I swear I only love you. Wait for me—I'm coming back to explain!"

The women in these stories do not apologize for their desires. They are not timid, and they are never the underdog. Fearless, intoxicating, and fully in control, they know exactly what they want and are unafraid to take it. From the sex worker chasing freedom, to the betrayed housewife rediscovering herself, to the dominatrix who thrives on power, and the daughter drawn toward dangerous temptation, these stories explore obsession, taboo, betrayal, and seduction. These women are addictive. Alluring. Impossible to resist. But be careful. Once they’ve taken what they came for, they may leave nothing behind but the memory of them.