Paxton Hall-yoshida 소설 & 이야기

Sean Benson and I have been betrothed since we were kids. But the older we grow, the further he stays away from me. On the day of our engagement banquet, he's found to be making out with Selena White, the heiress of the White family, backstage. This time, I no longer break down in tears. Instead, I just close the door properly for them before returning to the banquet hall silently. After that, I rip the pregnancy report that's pressed beneath a gift box into shreds. On our wedding day, all the guests are all smiles. Sean, however, is the only exception. He maintains a stormy expression the whole time, seemingly not wanting to marry me at all. I know that if it's not the fact that he gets to secure the position as the Benson heir, he will never make any wedding vows with me in the church. But no one expects me not to show up at all, even though the wedding ceremony is already starting. Sean calls me on the phone impatiently afterward. "Where the hell are you? If you don't show up soon, I'm going to cancel the wedding right away!" I merely chuckle softly without saying anything. Then, I throw my phone aside and accept the wedding bouquet that's passed to me. What Sean doesn't know is that my unborn child will be calling another man "daddy" soon.

I've had a crush on Don Luciano Damiani for ten years. Heck, I even agree to his request to sleep with him a thousand times before we finally get to announce our relationship to the world. The locations vary, be it Luciano's private shooting range or the VIP lounge. He uses every trick up his sleeve just to groom me into his personal plaything. Every time we do it, Luciano will kiss me while coaxing the answer out of me. "Do you want our relationship to go public, babe?" I've answered him "yes" 999 times. Of course, he disappoints me 999 times as well. But on the thousandth time, Luciano says, "Cecilia, let's announce our relationship on my birthday, which will be held in two days." Excitement washes over me at that moment. But that's when my best friend, Valentina Fiore, starts a video chat with me. "I lost to Luciano in a racing competition. Yesterday, I had to go to the City Hall to get our marriage registered there. "But he still intends to keep you as his mistress. That's why we shall fight for his affection to the best of our ability on fair grounds. "The next two days shall be our contending period. We'll bet on who matters to Luciano more. The loser will travel to the Republic of Azamir as a war correspondent, whereas the winner gets to attend his birthday party and announce their relationship to the world."

I cooked an entire dinner spread to celebrate the day I was supposed to marry my girlfriend. Then, I called her to ask when she would be home. However, I heard her jeering about me with her friends the moment the call connected. "Lydia, Owen is way too easy to fool. That fake marriage certificate didn't even have an official seal, and he still bought it, believing he was your husband. We wouldn't have had to pretend to work at the City Hall if you and Trevor hadn't already gotten the real one." Lydia let out a careless, mocking chuckle. "Husband? Please. He's just a desperate fool who follows me around like a lovesick puppy. The only he's good for is being my free live-in maid. Trevor and I grew up together. He's the one who's always mattered most to me." My fingers tightened around the fake certificate as tears blurred my vision. I had loved her with everything I had for five whole years. Yet, my devotion meant nothing to her. I had never even been considered as a candidate as her future husband. I had only been free help. The woman I had wanted to spend my life with had never loved me at all. Fine. I called my childhood friend instead. "Are you free? Let's go get married."

"Daniel... Please help... I'm dying..." "Are you doing this so I'll stop my wedding with Eleanor? Come on, Emma, you're being inconsiderate!" ***** I died, but when I opened my eyes, I was standing before Daniel in a hall packed with prestigious people, holding an engagement ring, and ready to tie the knot with Daniel... I was back to three years ago, when I first got engaged to Daniel. In my past life, I gave my all to the people around me, but still got broken. My adopted parents forced me to absorb the life of their missing daughter... I always wore her favourite dress, eat her favourite meal, learned to act and speak like her, and even answered her name. Still, I didn't complain, but once they finally found her, they abandoned me. I was going to take everything and pretend I was fine, but where I drew the line was when my sister asked my fiancé, Daniel to marry her in order to make her wish come true. He agreed, I threw his ring away, but before I could leave, my sister murdered me in cold blood. I thought it was all over, but here I am, standing before Daniel, ready to get engaged to him again. This time, I won't make the same mistake again...

I was not supposed to be at that wedding. But I was there. Standing in the back of a registry hall watching the man I had loved for six years kiss his new bride like I had never existed. No warning. No goodbye. Just a wedding invitation I found out about from the internet. That was the day my life split in two. Before Adrian. After Adrian. The after part came with a sick father, a hospital threatening to discharge him and a bill I could not pay in three lifetimes. I had nothing. Then Jaden Parker found me. He was everything Adrian was not. Harder. Colder. A man who had built walls so high around himself that warmth had simply stopped trying. He did not come with comfort or kindness. He came with a contract. Two years. One condition. His ring on my finger. I signed it because my father’s life was worth more than my pride. I was supposed to count the days. I was not supposed to start losing track of them. I was not supposed to notice the way he looked at me when he thought I could not see. Or feel safe in a house that was not mine. Or forget that everything between us had a price tag and an end date. But here I am. One year in. Heart wide open. Completely unprepared. Falling for a man who wrote no love into the terms and conditions. And the worst part? I think he is falling too. But neither of us is brave enough to say it first…

At the Colonetti family banquet in New York, I stood in the center of the grand hall with more than a dozen girls from different families, all of us waiting to be chosen. Victor, the heir of the Colonetti family, was supposed to announce his fiancée tonight. Along with that announcement, he would present her with the family heirloom, a lily brooch. As an illegitimate daughter of the family, I understood that if I didn’t receive that brooch tonight, it meant I would be sent to Chicago for an arranged marriage. Victor, who had once promised to marry me, changed his mind without warning. With a smile, he pinned the lily brooch onto the chest of the woman standing beside me instead. Then, he leaned close to my ear and whispered, “Let your sister Emily have her moment today. She’s also an illegitimate daughter like you, and she’s also never been valued growing up. Don’t worry. With me here, no one will force you into an arranged marriage.” Even as I looked at him with pleading eyes, he reached out and let Emily take his arm. “Emily is kind and gracious,” he said. “She deserves the lily brooch.” Those words—kind and gracious—turned me into the joke of the entire evening. The next day, I boarded a flight to Chicago alone, but Victor panicked. He used every connection he had and managed to ground every flight heading to Chicago.

One noble lie. Fifteen years of cold, calculated hate. One moonlit night that changes everything. Savannah Reed is a woman forged in ice. When Grayson Cole, her fated mate, vanished fifteen years ago, he didn't just leave her alone—he left her carrying a pup he’d never see. To survive the shame, Savannah buried her heart, married a man she despised, and let a singular obsession take root: Revenge. Now, the Alpha has returned. Grayson is back to claim his territory and raise the formidable Ridge Hall, but he isn’t the arrogant wolf Savannah remembers. He is a man of jagged edges and haunting silence, watching her from the shadows with a hunger that threatens to melt her icy resolve. Savannah is determined to break him. She wants to see him bleed for every night she spent alone, for the son they lost, and for the life he stole. But as she peels back the layers of his betrayal, she discovers a "noble lie" more devastating than the truth. In the heat of the forge and the darkness of the sacred grove, the line between hatred and desire thins. Grayson is a raging Alpha to the world, but for Savannah, he is a male on his knees, begging for a mercy she isn't sure she can give. He sacrificed everything to protect her once. Now, she’ll have to decide if she can forgive the male who destroyed her world—or if the fire between them will burn the entire pack to the ground.

My blood-bonded mate lied to me. He said our bond—a bond of centuries—was fading. It was all for his new lover, Josie. He wanted to let her play princess. He denied me my rightful place. I was walking down a hall lined with ancient tapestries when I heard Josie’s voice, sweet and laced with venom. “Darling, if you make me your princess, just for a little while, can you taste me every night? But… won’t that old relic Lydia get suspicious? Your bond has lasted three centuries, after all.” “What can she do? She can’t leave this castle, and she needs my blood to survive.” Milton’s voice dripped with contempt. “That fool, Lydia. I told her the bond was fading, and she actually believed our connection was broken. Even if she knew the truth, she’d just hand over the Eternal Chalice without a fight and go back to being a quiet little Dreamweaver. You’re the only princess in my heart, my little wildcat.” I froze. And I let him believe his lie was safe. Then, a pain sharp enough to kill a mortal ripped through my soul. The bond shattered. I turned and melted into the shadows. Let them think their little play is flawless. They’ll soon find out what this “fool” is truly capable of.

Nova Ellis has three problems. The first is Drey — her best friend, the boy who held her together when her dad died. She doesn't love him that way. She doesn't. But somehow they ended up in a school restroom doing things best friends should never do, promised each other never again, and have broken that promise five times. Five. They keep saying last time like either of them actually means it. The second is the letter. Three pages of everything she has ever felt for Leo Carter — the sweet parts, the embarrassing parts, the midnight fantasy parts that should never have left her diary. Handed to the wrong person by accident. Read out loud. Every word. The third is Rhys Caldwell. The boy who read that letter with a straight face. The boy she planned to avoid forever. The boy now living in her stepfather's house, down the hall, separated by one very thin wall. Same house. Same dinner table. Same dangerous, electric, completely impossible situation. Nova had one plan this year. One boy. One letter. She didn't plan for any of this. But the real question is — How long can you share a home with someone who already knows your deepest secret before you give them something even more dangerous? Your heart.

Ella Hart was adopted into a wealthy household—but she never lived like a daughter. While her adoptive mother, Nora, indulged in luxury and high society, Ella was treated like little more than a servant, forced to do the hardest chores and surviving on scraps of affection. For years, no one questioned it. Until the day her biological family finally found her. Their arrival brought a shocking revelation. Years ago, the Hart family had arranged a marriage alliance with the powerful Sterling family. The bride was meant to be either Ella… or her beloved sister, Piper. When Piper met Tiesto Sterling—handsome, quiet, and dressed far too simply—she scoffed. A man without money, no matter how attractive, was beneath her. For Ella, however, the marriage felt like an escape. Eager to leave the life she had endured for so long, she agreed without hesitation and walked straight into City Hall with a man she barely knew, signing the marriage papers that very same day. What Ella didn’t know was this— The “poor” man she had just married was anything but ordinary. Tiesto Sterling was the most elusive tycoon in the city, a man whose wealth and power were whispered about in legends. And soon, the world would discover another secret. Because the girl everyone believed to be the pitiful Cinderella… was about to be protected by five powerful brothers—and reveal a true identity far greater than anyone imagined.