Paper Clip Ring

On the night of the Benedetto family's Harvest Festival, my Mafia husband, Salvatore, told me to bring our son, Giuseppe, to the family gathering. He said his madre had finally accepted us into the Benedetto bloodline. I was trembling with excitement in our little cottage as I dressed Giuseppe in his finest little suit. He had carved a single wooden rose by hand, a project he'd saved for over five years. He said he would present it to his grandmother at the celebration, a plea for her to accept our place in the family. But the moment we stepped into the stone manor, I saw Carmela. Salvatore had her pinned against an oak barrel in a deep, searing kiss. In the moonlight, her hand was undoing his tie. In front of everyone, Salvatore smiled and gently pushed her away. He walked toward the family members gathered in a semicircle and raised a crystal glass. "Tonight, in addition to celebrating the harvest, I have an important announcement." "I would like to introduce you all to the woman I have married in the eyes of God and the Church." "Miss Carmela Torrino." Before I could even process his words, Giuseppe tore his hand from mine and rushed forward. "Papa, what are you saying?" "Isn't my mother your wife?"

It was our seventh anniversary. Christopher Quinton proposed to me with nothing but a ring pull. He got his true love a house. When I said no, he rebuked me like I was some sort of gold digger. "I thought my love for you was worth more than anything money could buy. I only got Rachel that house to pay her back for all she did for me. I can't believe you thought I still loved her. You disappoint me." I broke up with him and tossed the ring pull into the bin. Then, I walked off. The next day, Christopher took away my position as VP and told everyone he was getting engaged to Rachel. … Five years later, we ran into each other at a charity horserace. He was a successful businessman, and the woman beside him was Rachel, all dressed in custom-made clothes. I was dressed in janitor attire and stuffing plastic bottles into my woven bag. He mocked, "Look at you, Queenie Dean. Scavenging for a living. Bet you didn't see this coming when you ditched me, did you?" I ignored him. My son had run off, and I had to look for him. The boy noticed the plastic bottles that were strewn across the ground, and he insisted that we stay back to finish his social practice activity here.

Despite a decade of marriage, Simon never once shared my bed, claiming that he had pledged himself to ascetic practices and that it was beneath him. I thought that he suffered from some shameful ailment and guarded his secret like a devoted fool, until my birthday, when I came home to find him entangled with a brothel worker before the floor-length mirror. When I lunged forward in rage, he drove a shard of that broken mirror straight through my heart. When I awoke, I was gripping my phone, its screen illuminating a message Simon had just sent: [I’ll still give you a lavish wedding, but the marriage certificate? That belongs to her.]

If there was a shooting star while you wish to reach all of your dreams — will you do everything just so you can climb to where that shooting star is heading? Or will you let destiny drive your luck to the path you know nothing when will end? The dream of having a perfect life, a perfect family, and a stable future can only lead into one thing–greed of getting it all. Pero paano kung nakuha mo ang masayang pamilya, pero hindi nito kayang tuparin ang pangarap mong maging mayaman — will you risk your dream of having the perfect life and perfect family just to reach the money you yearn to have? Or will you stay for a genuine love you once wished to be felt? Sa buhay mag asawa, will you choose yourself, the man who loved you from thick in thin — Or will you choose the man who can give you the dream you desire? Belinda Cerise Rosalie Acosta-Guerra — a young woman who was once a little girl who keeps wishing for the shooting star to give her wealth and happiness. Now living her life as the working wife of Caiden Deus Royce Guerra who never graduated college. Caiden Deus Royce Guerra — a warm hearted man who was once a little boy who wishes to be both a man without a cape saving people’s lives while serving them the best Italian dishes that can make their tummy yearn for more. Now living his life as a househusband who wishes to have his own income to support his wife’s dream. Will the dream of Cerise ruin the dream of Dues for her? Or will she forever hide the fact that… Dues will never be good enough for her. But Clinton does.

After my 99th failed confession of love to Jim, my parents grounded me for two weeks. "You've embarrassed yourself enough over that illegitimate son from the Larson family," they snapped. "Has he ever even spared you a proper glance?" "Stay home and reflect. We've already arranged your marriage to the Shaw family. The wedding will be in two weeks." However, I didn’t give up. I was so determined to see Jim, no matter what. Only to walk in on him locked in a deep kiss with his precious first love in a private room. "Jim, you really know how to play," one of his friends laughed. "If the Cunningham family's heiress catches you like this, she'll probably lose her mind again." "Seriously, you've turned Ella down so many times, and now that she's grounded, you haven't even sent her a message. Aren't you afraid she'll finally give up on you?" Jim just scoffed with disdain and said calmly, "What's there to be afraid of? Everyone in the capital knows Ella is obsessed with me. Who else would want her but me?" "If I hadn't needed her to get back into the Larson family, I never would've postponed my engagement to Rowena in the first place."

Elise was cruelly pushed down the staircase after a fiery confrontation with her husband and his mistress. She thought her life was over, but when she opened her eyes, she discovered she had gone back a year in time—back to when she still had a chance to rewrite her story. The first step in her new life was to cut ties with the man who betrayed her. He had saved her in her darkest moment, only to deceive and destroy her in the end. This time, Elise vowed to steer clear of her past mistakes, rebuild her family's legacy, and make everyone who wronged her pay for their sins. However, as she climbed the ladder of success, an enigmatic and captivating man entered her life, challenging her resolve. Elise wanted nothing to do with love again, convinced it would only hinder her, but his persistence began to chip away at the walls she had built around her heart.

She believes he had the saviour trait when he stood over the rain, his hand stretched out, offering his fur coat as shelter as he wrapped her in his arms, guiding her away from her bleak life that just ended. Not knowing that he was the beast, that clawed with his fangs and long nails like a vulture until he wasted her silently. "You will be my wife..." Turned out to be her worst nightmare.

Tragedy can strike anywhere and at any moment, to anyone. In a moment life can change. It can leave you so drastically altered as to leave you with permanent scars. Meet Jaxsen Michaels and Sebastian Green. A parentless child and a fatherless son each get a chance to have the family that was lost to them both. This is book one of three.

Olivia Cadell, an ambitious and dedicated secretary at Pierce Enterprises, finds herself entangled in a web of lies spun by her boss, Dawson Pierce- during a crucial business negotiation, Dawson claims to be in a relationship with Olivia to get an investor who is committed to only working with married businessmen. Struggling with her daughter's medical bills, Olivia who has been repeatedly denied advance pay by the HR, reluctantly agrees to Dawson's proposal of marriage contract. As they navigate their false relationship, and professional challenges and confront their growing attraction and true feelings for each other and the complexities of their pasts

Dear best friend, I had sex with our daughter after you died. 🦪 Dora lost her father on her eighteenth birthday, and she swore to find his killer and end his life herself. Because of this, she signs a ‘fight till death’ deal with Umbra, a deadly secret organization her father worked with. A fight where only one of the two fighters would walk out of the ring alive. Dale Lazarus, a man secretly in love with his best friend’s daughter, killed his best friend in a fight. One of them had to die for the other one to live, and it was Dora’s father who didn’t walk out of the ring. Dora doesn’t know this: that Dale Lazarus, her father’s best friend, and also the man she’s shamelessly obsessed with, is the killer she’s after. She swore to his face that she was going to wipe her father’s killer off the planet, not knowing she was talking about him, and He trains her to kill her father’s killer, knowing he was training her to kill him. What happens when Dora realizes she signed a deal to kill the man she is obsessed with? ~ Content warning: This book contains several sensitive topics that may be disturbing to some readers. Reader's discretion is advised. Specific warnings include: Graphic violence and gore, Explicit sexual content, Description of grief and loss, and strong language.