Own Goal

I used to be that girl in the mafia—envied, untouchable. Orlando Leone, the big bad Don everyone feared, had eyes only for me. I took a bullet for him. After that? People whispered I couldn't have kids. He tried to shut them up by knocking me up—ninety-nine tries. Try number ten? His shiny new secretary texted, all confused over a decimal. He bailed on me. By thirty, she crashed his sports car while shopping. Claimed she couldn't park. I was left freezing in a bathtub. He said he loved me, but when it counted, he always picked the girl who played dumb and helpless. That's when it hit me—his love was never really mine. And by the time I disappeared for real, he lost his mind looking. Too bad. Me and that promise? Already buried at sea.

Selena has only ever lived for one vow: protect her fragile twin, Selene. She’s taken the punishments, carried the blame, and bled so her sister wouldn’t have to. But when fate gives Selena what no wolf could ever dream of — three powerful Alpha mates — her sister wants them too. Raviel. Severin. Jared. Three Alphas, bound to her by destiny… yet Selene is already weaving herself into their arms, pretending to be her. Selena has always been the stronger twin. The brighter one. The protector. But now, trapped in her sister’s shadow, she might lose not only her mates… but herself. Betrayal runs in blood. And this time, love may not be enough to save her.

“Let’s have a child….right now,” “What?”Amelia took her steps back in terror, hearing his words. She immediately covered her naked body with her arms which intensified the rage in his eyes. “Yes…... We both hate each other and we both know the only way to break this f*cking marriage of ours is for you to give birth to my child, so….” he uttered through a clenched jaw while opening the buttons of his shirt. Amelia hugged herself more tightly, seeing him coming closer to her. “Stop. You….” He placed his index finger over her lips, halting her words. “Tonight, you will just moan my name,” his voice grew deeper. The rage in his eyes shifted to something more sinful. She swallowed, feeling his palms cupping her naked waist. “This is not….” “Ssshhhh…” he pulled her closer in his arms. “Let me have you tonight, my princess….” Whispering those words, he kissed that girl in his embrace whom he claimed to hate the most in his life. ……….. The deal was simple. Callum Morelli, the ruthless Lycan Prince, needed to kill the werewolf princess, Amelia Ashwood, to break the curse on him of being an infertile, but…..this simple deal took a dark turn when after finding Amelia after a search of years…..instead of killing her, his father commanded him to marry Amelia and make her give birth to his child. But how would Callum make Amelia give birth to his child when he had hated her all his life? He hated her innocent smile, her beautiful green eyes, her softly-warm skin. He hated everything about her, so how? The cruel Lycan prince surely received the answer that one sinful night when he couldn't control himself and touched her like… he owned her. ………..

The most popular girl in school, Mona Culver, could only apply for the city's worst community college because of her poor school results. My childhood friend, James Holden, got our entire class to fill out application forms for community college too. It was his attempt to negotiate with Northrind University's admissions department to make an exception for Mona to study there. The top thirty students in the city shared pictures of their amended application forms to community college. Back in my past lifetime, I tried my best to talk them out of it. The application submission deadline was the next day, and no amendments would be allowed after that. If they wasted their time threatening Northrind by applying to community college, and the deadline passed, nothing could be done to change the results, even if they were the city's top thirty students. Their dreams of attending an Ivy League school would be quashed after ten years of hard work, and no one knew what their future would hold after that. James got angry and berated me, "You're just afraid Mona will be better than you once we start classes at Northrind. Stop pretending like you're doing this for us!" The rest of my classmates were also upset with me, and they turned their fury on me. "Our high school results mean nothing. With our abilities, we would still be able to attend Northrind next year if we repeat the year. You should just mind your own business!" We had been classmates for three years, and I could not let them compromise their futures. I informed our principal and their parents of their plans, and their application forms were amended. I managed to stop them from threatening Northrind's admissions department. All of them were accepted by Northrind in the end, and they became elites in their respective industries with bright futures ahead. Mona ended up getting pregnant with a thug's child while in community college, and she suffered from both physical and mental issues. She fell into deep depression and even attempted suicide several times. James broke down when he learned the truth, and he blamed it all on me. He worked with our classmates to fabricate evidence that I committed plagiarism, and they poisoned my drink. Even my parents were burned to death by a patient from a mental hospital. When I was reborn into this lifetime, I saw James change our group chat's name into 'Fight for True Love! Let's Go to Northrind Together!' I left the group without hesitation and blocked everyone's numbers.

He is looking so upset and he doesn't want to say why. He just pinned me to the wall that moment and looked into my eyes saying to me. “...I have no intention to cause you any pain but today l have to do that. You can call it selfishness or whatsoever you choose to call it but l don't have a choice". Once he said these words to me l began to shake in fear. Although l didn't know why but l knew something bad was about to befall me. What could it be though? Immediately he showed me the collar l didn't just assume any longer l was sure now. He put the collar around my neck and made it very tight. Lord Ethane never makes me wear my collar when we are alone. I almost broke down in tears but l knew a day would surely come when he would do this to me but I really didn't expect it to be on my second day with him. It really is too soon.

After three tireless years of giving her all, Suzy Frost faced the ultimate betrayal on the operating table when she heard, "Her life or death means nothing to me." Realizing she was nothing more than a shadow to her husband, Dylan Wright, who was still devoted to his first love, Suzy took a dramatic step back. She left behind a stark divorce agreement and disappeared from his life without a trace. Their paths crossed again under unexpected circumstances—Suzy was now the mysterious fiancée of Dylan’s best friend. Unable to hide his tumultuous feelings, Dylan pulled her into a possessive embrace and declared, "I won't grant you a divorce!" With a scornful glance, Suzy retorted, "Who do you think you are?" To which he fired back, "I'm still your husband!"

Gilbert Pierce, my wife's male trainee, bragged that he could disarm a bomb just by relying on his senses and with his eyes closed. However, he misjudged it and triggered the bomb's secondary detonation sequence. I stepped in at the last second and used the most dangerous method available, liquid nitrogen flash cooling, to save the entire building. Gilbert was pulled off frontline duty and placed on suspension for review. My wife, Jasmine Clem, tried to speak up for him, but I stopped her cold. "If you defend him now, you won't save him. You'll just get dragged down and suspended alongside him." Unable to handle the pressure, Gilbert blew himself up in an accident. In his suicide note, he accused Jasmine of choosing self-preservation when he needed her most. Jasmine said nothing. She only locked that letter away in her study. Years later, Jasmine became a nationally renowned bomb disposal expert. During a terrorist attack, I was captured and strapped with a timed explosive. Jasmine came to the scene personally to defuse it, but right in front of me, she repeated the exact same mistake her trainee had made years ago. She watched the countdown and smiled lightly at me. "See? He was just nervous back then. If I had encouraged him, he'd be a hero now." The bomb detonated, and I was blown apart. When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the moment she was about to defend Gilbert. She didn't know that inside that building sat the nation's most classified core servers.

Twenty-five weeks pregnant, Evelyn Ramsey caught her husband, Carlton Shaw, cheating during her prenatal check-up.   She was heavy, swollen, and exhausted. His mistress called her a "matronly lady" to her face, and Carlton only looked on with scorn. He’d forgotten that Evelyn was once the radiant beauty everyone desired. Convinced she had trapped him into marriage, he filed for divorce.   Eight years of unrequited devotion, from campus to the workplace, ended in total heartbreak. After the baby was born, Evelyn signed the papers and walked away.   Five years later.   Evelyn is back. She’s a powerhouse businesswoman worth hundreds of millions, more stunning and confident than ever. She has admirers lining up to the moon and back.   But there’s a problem. The man who once demanded a divorce never actually finalized it. Determined to end things once and for all, Evelyn takes him to court. Yet the man who once despised her refuses to let her go—sabotaging her dates, driving away her admirers, and clinging desperately to what he threw away. When Evelyn finally links arms with another man and announces her engagement in public, Carlton snaps. He corners her, all composure gone. “You can forget about marrying another man, Evelyn Ramsey.”

Meet Rylee Parks. JV Cheerleader, kick-ass bowler - and she is in love with her best friend's brother. Meet Aiden Reed. A varsity Football player, he can drink Ireland under the table, and would do anything to protect the friend he sees as a brother. This is Rylee's first year of University and her last year of fawning over a boy who will never look at her the same. But what happens when Aiden is finally woken up to the realization that Rylee won't stay the small and innocent girl she always has been, and his time with her is quickly running out?

You never really know if it's dark or if you're actually blind till the blindfold is removed. Niamh Cross's marriage to Caspian Blackwell, the man of her dreams, was going well till she allowed her desperate and homeless cousin, Isla, to come live with them. It started slowly at first, from telling her he wanted them to have separate rooms to denying her access to his room. But it didn't take long for the blindfold to be removed and Niamh saw everything that had been happening under her very nose, in a house bought with her own money. She did what any sane woman would do and with a gun aimed at his head, she forced him into signing both divorce papers and transfer of funds to her name. Caspian didn't know what he had lost till his wife completely left his life and he became miserable. When he found her again at an event, he held her wrist and asked her to come back. But she was with another man already. She looked at him like he was a nuisance and said, "Get down on your knees and beg."