Penelope Ward

As the project lead, I was supposed to receive an annual bonus of $28,000. However, my wife transferred all the money to her newly hired male assistant and simply tossed me a supermarket gift card instead. “There’s $30 on this card. Buy whatever you want. I’m pretty generous, aren’t I?” I was stunned. “Joy, my mother needs that money for her surgery. You can’t be serious!” She sneered and said, “Why waste money on someone who’s dying anyway? At most, I’ll give you $700 to pick out a nice coffin.” Looking at her smug face, I smiled as well. Joy probably forgot that although she held all the company shares, the core patents of the company were registered under my personal name. I immediately sent a message to my lawyer. [Starting today, I’m releasing all patents in my name for free!]

Robot that Winter Alfonso can consider her life because she is the sole heir of his parents. The Alfonso family is in the textile industry, which imports and exports their products to the country. They also have a large plot of land that is planted with pineapples and corn in Bukidnon and his daddy manages it. Floyd Emerson, also the sole heir of the Emersons, was the one who agreed to marry Winter. Floyd is a distant person, business minded and serious person, but since they both know that they will also marry each other, something is happening between the two of them. Winter has loved him ever since. Knowing that this was the man for her, she loved the young man and gave herself to him as well. Even to say that one side of love is happening, that’s okay with Winter. Even though she feels and sees that only her body is important to Floyd, Winter has no problem because she loves the young man. Several times she attempts to show Floyd that she loves him, but it has no reaction to him. She was hurt, but it was okay with Winter. She believes that one day he will love her, too. Did Floyd really not love her, and she didn’t matter to him? Is it true that only her body is important to Floyd and that only their parents’ orders are the reason for them to get married?

"Ouch, that hurts!" Underneath the bright lights, the man makes me lie facedown on the bed. Then, he pushes my waist down from behind, seemingly looking for the best spot. I feel something odd press against me and cry out, telling him to stop. He doesn't, though. In fact, he grabs hold of my belt.

To encourage overall development, the kindergarten had asked each student to create a hand-drawn poster. My daughter Holly refused my help and insisted on doing it all on her own. Little did I know, most of the other children had their parents do the artwork for them. In comparison, Holly's delicate strokes were quickly dismissed. Not only was her work discarded into the trash, but her teacher also called her out in the parent group, criticizing her for being careless with the assignment. As I racked my brain trying to figure out how to help Holly regain her confidence in drawing, I was surprised to see Holly's artwork among the winning entries in the state-level children's art competition. But the signature wasn't hers—it belonged to another student from her class.

Azra Kononovich and her two best friends are about to have the ultimate experience in New York City. They're going to spread their wings and live like the wild girls they dream to be. Now all they have to do is just say yes to everything: new adventures, new jobs, and probably new sweethearts. Easy, right? Wrong. Little did they know that being an adult takes more than just being one. It takes experiences and talent. But where do they get the experience without having experienced it? And none of them have any talents. That's the problem. To top it all, they fall for the same girl. So what is going to happen next to the three musketeers?

At the award-giving ceremony of the end-of-the-year gala, my boss, George White, suddenly announces that he will be adding a bonus round on a whim. "This is the annual department evaluation! The department that comes last shall come onto the stage and receive a tiny encouragement from me!" The huge screen lights up at that moment. The sales achievements accumulated by all departments are being shown in a ranking system. The sales department is ranked first. The operations department comes second, and the marketing department gets third place. As for the administrative department, the sales achievements shown on the screen are none. After all, that department has no KPI to achieve at all. George beams at us from the administrative department. "Everyone from the administrative department, come on up and receive your prize!" Two people can be seen carrying a basket of brooms up the stage. Everyone bursts into laughter instantly. "Come now, sweep away your bad luck with the brooms! Try not to come up as the bottom-ranked department again next year!" George personally thrusts the brooms into our hands. Camera flashes go off beneath the stage—people are clearly taking photos of us. The people from the sales department are the ones laughing the hardest. "Finally, the peeps from the administrative department are getting the recognition they deserve!"

I wish my husband were dead. I married him to save someone I loved. Now I’ve been trapped in this loveless marriage for years. He parades his mistresses right in front of me. Strikes me if I say something he doesn’t like. When he’s away on one of his business trips, I head to a bar to blow off steam. My intention is to go home alone, but that changes when I see him, the sexiest man ever. He buys me a drink. Stares at me in a way my husband never has—or any man ever. He doesn’t say much, but when he does, it’s all the right things. Asks if he can take me home, and I want to scream my answer at the top of my lungs. But I decide to tell him the truth instead. “I’m married.” My husband isn’t faithful to me, but he’s dangerous. Dangerous, as in, he kills people. Lots of people. “And my husband is someone you don’t want to cross…” “I’m not someone you want to cross either.” His stare doesn’t falter with the information. On his right hand is a diamond ring, carved into a human skull. Built like an ox, he looks like he could be dangerous too. The energy he emits from his strong body is subtly hostile, but not directed at me. “Let’s go, sweetheart.” I should say no—but I don’t think I can.

My name is Abigail Lynn Spencer, I had just turned eighteen when my father was arrested on embezzlement charges. I was kept entirely in the dark from what went on inside the courtroom from my mom, and September was the first time I got to see my dad in over a month, it was also the first time I ever saw Judge Damien “The Demon” Hale. Lawyers like my father feared Judge Hale, and women longed for him, blushing any time his name was mentioned. I was curious about Judge Hale from all these accounts of him, and I was eager to make my own opinion of the man. Little did I know that I would end up falling in love with him. He promised me to take care of me, to give me the world; I just didn’t know that the world he was referring to, was the underworld. What will happen to me there?

Harrison Monroe has been secretly in love with his best friend, Rhett Langley since they had an "experimental" affair between their junior and senior year of high school. They agreed to remain best friends and not let anything change between them, but everything changed for Harrison. Now older and leading their own lives, Harrison is yet to forget that steamy summer they spent together. When he gets asked to be Rhett's best man in his wedding to a woman named Rebecca, Harrison is put in an awkward position and goes through a journey to put his personal feelings aside and support his best friend. Then comes the bachelor's party where Rhett pulls Harrison away and they share another steamy moment. Harrison asks himself if it was only the alcohol in his system or if Rhett truly has romantic feelings for him as well, and with the wedding just around the corner, he's too fearful to ask. Now Harrison has more questions than answers and has to decide whether to swallow his pride and let Rhett marry a woman he may not truly love or take his chance at his own happily ever after and object at the altar in front of everyone.

I didn’t just lose my mate on the night of our Ascendance Ball. I lost my dignity. Standing in the center of the gilded ballroom, in a dress that cost more than my life, I watched Drail choose her. My best friend. He didn't just reject our fated bond; he laughed while doing it, his hand resting on her pregnant stomach. Cast out. Humiliated. Rogue. I ran into the storm and straight into the chest of a monster. Derek Montenegro. The Ruthless. The exiled Prince of the European packs. A man with tattoos crawling up his neck and a reputation for breaking bones as easily as he breaks hearts. He’s cold, commanding, and dangerously beautiful. He offers me a deal. A contract. "Marry me, Raya. Wear my mark. Become the Queen of the underworld, and I will give you the power to crush the people who broke you." I thought I was signing a deal with the devil to get revenge. I didn't know the devil had a twin. And I certainly didn't know that the rejection wasn't an accident—it was the first move in a war between brothers, and I am the weapon they both intend to wield.