Performance Partnerships

My wife and I slept in separate beds for over three years. Then on our wedding anniversary, she suddenly tried to win me over. She climbed into my bed and pulled out all the stops, trying to get me to sleep with her. I stayed calm and collected. When our son started crying, I used it as an excuse to escape to his room, where I stayed all night. Vivian Hartley spent the entire night knocking on the door. The next morning, she acted sweet and gentle, graciously making me breakfast as if nothing had happened. She even tried to hand over her salary card. When my mother-in-law heard about this, she exploded at her daughter. "You pathetic fool! People need some self-respect! If you can't stand up for yourself, just get a divorce already!" Yet Vivian claimed her feelings for me ran so deep that the heavens themselves could vouch for her sincerity. She even defied her own mother. Our relatives and friends looked at us with envy. But my son and I continued to give her the cold shoulder. Finally, Vivian turned to social media for help. "Three years ago, I was busy with work. My husband and I had completely different schedules. I was afraid it would affect my performance at work, so I suggested we sleep in separate rooms. "Now our child is older, and I've swallowed my pride to try to fix things, but my husband won't even touch me." Someone in the comments gave her some advice: install hidden cameras around the house. "We can't just take your word for it. Record everything so we can see what's really going on. Plus, if things actually end in divorce, at least you'll have built up your social media following. It won't be a total loss." Vivian had no idea I was watching from among her followers.

What will you do when you are fucking in love with someone who doesn't love you back and then woke up the next day forced to marry another girl you don't even know or love? "Where the hell have you been, Hannah?" I turned around as she yelled from my back, full of hate in her eyes, grabbing my arm, pulling me inside, and laying me on the couch violently. I was shocked by her presumption. "You're still my fucking wife, Hannah. You're mine, don't ever forget that," she leaned on me as she held both my hands, feeling her grip trembling in rage. I was motionless and speechless. "What? is she great? Is she making you cum more than me? Are you not satisfied with my performance? I can do it again, you fucking whore" her face was dark, her voice cracking and hatred in every word she spits out. She forcibly slips her finger inside my andies and strokes my pussy, feeling my wetness. I slapped her hard. I was hurt by what she said. I could never imagine those words coming out from her. Where's the Ally I have known? Everything is my fault. I can't blame her if she started to treat me this way. I might hurt her ego. Even though we agreed not to intrude on others' lives still, it's not going to work the way we want it to. "Fucked Hannah, you are my wife. I can do whatever I want!" she shouted as she ripped my clothes and held me tighter. Ally got even angrier when I slapped her, struggling, but I didn't have a match for her. Ally kissed me forcibly and started to touch me out of love, stroking my breast, playing her fingers into my clit, burning with lust.

On the day Winter Everhart suffers a miscarriage, her husband, Joshua Stroud, and their son, Terence, are out with his beloved Jessica Lynch. They watch the very performance Winter has always loved. "You're just so unreasonable. What's the point of all this?" "Dad, can you get me a new mom? She's so annoying!" On Winter's birthday, she returns from the hospital only to find Joshua celebrating Jessica's instead. Even Terence, the child she nearly gave her life to bring into the world, pledges to protect the woman who has stolen everything from her. Tears glisten in Winter's eyes as she smiles. Then, with quiet resolve, she walks away from the cage of a marriage that has bound her for five years. Joshua and Terence believe she won't survive without the Stroud family. What they don't expect is that she rises so high that they can no longer reach her. "Mr. Stroud! Mrs. Stroud's car design is now number one nationwide—Stroud Group has been completely outshone!" "Mr. Stroud! Mrs. Stroud has just won the World Championship in Artificial Intelligence Design!" "Mr. Stroud! Mrs. Stroud has been invited by a foreign president to attend a state banquet!" Regret tears Joshua apart. Dragging Terence with him, he kneels before Winter and pleads, "Honey, please give me another chance! If being your servant is what it takes, I'll do it!" But just beyond the door, a strikingly handsome man kneels on one knee, a leather collar fastened around his neck. Twining a diamond leash around Winter's palm, he vows with his gaze burning with feverish devotion, "My master, from this moment on, I bow to no one but you. Please, take me in."

“Congratulations, bitch. Dad sold you to Alpha Arthur. I heard he got into a car accident a few years ago that messed up his face and left him with a limp." She was forced to join the ShadowClaw Pack, expecting the same abuse and torment she had endured before. However, Alpha Arthur, not only handsome but also incredibly attentive, treated her well. She was his breeder, and he was initially attracted by her pure family background and good figure. Their relationship was merely a transaction. Over time, Ophelia gradually won Arthur's heart, and she allowed herself to fall in love with him. Later, she received a check and a farewell. Expecting Ophelia to cry and make a scene, she instead took the check and left decisively. "Mr. Morgan, goodbye forever!" From then on, Ophelia's life turned around completely. She started racing cars, healing the sick, and effortlessly made a name for herself in the music industry. Her stepmother and stepsister still looked down on her, thinking she was a disgrace. Eventually, they came to her, begging, "As long as Miss Clark was willing to save my daughter, I could name my price!" Reflecting on it, they realized that the girl they once pitied was actually a big deal. Even Taylor, who used to defy everyone, became her follower. "Anyone who dared to insult her, I’d break their legs!" Arthur, having lost Ophelia, watched her stunning performance on TV and deeply regretted letting her go. When they met again, she had someone else by her side. With red eyes, he said, "Ophelia, you were mine. Please come back to me." Ophelia smiled coldly, "Sorry, I'm very busy now, no time." Arthur pulled out a diamond ring, "Darling, let's get back together!" The Lycan's Unwanted Mate is created by Claire Wilkins, an eGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.

Amara has the life she was supposed to want — a handsome husband, a close family, a future that looks perfect from the outside. What she doesn't know is that the man she married has already decided what she is worth, and it is considerably less than she believes. When she discovers Antonio in bed with her sister Sasha, she gives him the only answer she has left — divorce. He gives her the only answer he has — a push down the stairs She dies. Hours later, he is holding her mother while she weeps. Trapped between worlds, invisible and unheard, Amara watches her own mourning and sees Antonio's performance for exactly what it is. Before she can be taken home, her spirit guide appears with a simple message — *it is time.* But Amara has one request. She has never asked for anything in her life. She is asking now. Send her back. Her spirit guide agrees, but the terms are non-negotiable. Three hundred and sixty five days, not a single one more, and a price she agrees to without fully understanding what it will cost her. She wakes up on March 19, 2019 — six years in the past, the morning of her own surprise engagement party. Antonio is bringing her breakfast in bed. The ring is still in his pocket. And Amara is the only person alive who knows exactly how the story ends. She came back for revenge. But Antonio is charming and calculating in equal measure, Sasha is warm and guilty and impossible to hate cleanly, and Jason — the man she walked away from long before any of this began — is a wound she packed away and called healed without ever checking whether it was. The clock is running. And she is already behind.

Connie Reid doesn't date athletes. She doesn't talk about her past. And she definitely doesn't play hockey anymore. She built her new life at Crestfield University carefully — warm smile, sharp instincts, a matchmaking reputation that keeps everyone else's love lives running smoothly while her own heart stays locked away. It works perfectly. Until the university board decides her skills belong to them. The deal is simple and non-negotiable: fake a relationship with Kyrian Maddox — Crestfield's most controversial hockey recruit — on a live reality dating show, or watch her most painful secret broadcast to every student on campus. Kyrian Maddox doesn't explain himself to anyone. He arrived at Crestfield already carrying a scandal he didn't cause and a reputation he can't escape. The PR arrangement forced on him is just another thing he has no choice but to endure. The girl they've paired him with is warm, clever and reads people like open books. He finds that deeply suspicious. Off camera they're strangers who tolerate each other in cold silence. On camera they're convincing enough to trend. But the longer they share a house, an ice rink and the weight of secrets neither will speak aloud, the harder it becomes to remember where the performance ends. Then the boy who destroyed Connie's life walks into the show house smiling like no time has passed. And everything she buried starts clawing its way back to the surface. Kyrian notices the shift in her before she can hide it. What he doesn't know yet is that protecting her might cost him everything he came to Crestfield to rebuild. Some performances become real. Some secrets refuse to stay buried. And some people are worth burning everything down for.

Clara Davis is a trained seductress and elite nightclub performer, sent on a dangerous mission to infiltrate the life of billionaire Jeffery Rothwell and seize control of his empire. Outwardly charming, innocent, and irresistible, she hides a ruthless mind and deadly skills, willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish her goal because her freedom to live a normal life depends on that mission. Every interaction, every seduction, and every performance brings her closer to her objective, but also risks exposing her in ways she cannot predict. As Clara embeds herself deeper into Jeffery’s world, she unexpectedly falls in love with him, violating her organization’s rules and putting herself at risk. Jeffery, observant and dominant, soon uncovers her true motives. His response is brutal. He assaults her, removes her inner organs, and forces facial and body reconstruction, declaring her dead. Reborn under a new identity, Clara must adjust to a reality dominated by fear, power, and obsession, walking beside a man whose control is absolute. As psychological games of dominance, desire, and manipulation intensify, Clara uncovers fragments of the Rothwell family’s past, including the shocking truth that the real Jeffery died years ago and the man she serves is a master assassin secretly controlling the empire. Every choice she makes carries risk, and every step is fraught with danger. Forbidden love turns to searing hatred as Clara confronts the assassin Jeffery and the resurfacing real Rothwell, forcing her to reconcile her past, her reborn identity, and the deadly truths surrounding her. Clara must embrace her new self, wield her intelligence and strength, and survive in a world where power is absolute, desire is weaponized, and love is no longer a refuge. Nothing is as it seems, and every choice comes at a dangerous cost.

“Give my best friend one month to stay in our house, Love.” Aurelia had been enjoying her afternoon snack when her husband’s words made her turn toward him. “Stay… with us?” “Yes.” Ethan stepped closer, taking her hand, his voice soft with pleading. “Just one month. You heard what Anna told us yesterday about her life, didn’t you? Could you really bear to see her suffer even more? What if her ex-husband comes back and hurts her again? She’s pregnant too—just like you.” Auri looked at her husband for a long moment, searching his face. “Please,” Ethan said quietly. “Will you?” The permission Aurelia gave that day became the beginning of a ruin she had never imagined. From the moment Anna arrived, Ethan’s attention slowly drifted away from her. The affection that once belonged fully to Auri was now divided—often leaning toward his childhood friend, who had come carrying sorrow and carefully displayed wounds. Day after day, she lost more than her husband’s warmth. Until one day—heavily pregnant, her body was still weak after nearly losing her life due to a severe allergic reaction—Aurelia was driven out of the house she had once called her heaven. But her suffering didn’t end there. At the lowest point of her life, Auri was abducted by her husband’s business rival—used as leverage to pressure Ethan Harrow in a ruthless corporate battle. A real threat. A pregnant woman’s life is placed on the line. And yet, to Ethan… it was nothing more than a trick. Ethan didn’t come. He believed it was all a lie. A cheap performance—one he thought his own wife had staged.And perhaps, in that moment, he had already lost everything… long before he realized what he had thrown away.

"Ms. Smith, a complaint has been filed with HR. You have been accused of misusing your personal vehicle for unauthorized commercial activity." The administrative manager dropped a printed copy of the so-called joint complaint onto the desk, a faint, knowing smile on her lips. The company had decided to issue me a fine, placed a formal warning on my record, and revoked my performance bonus for this quarter. I stared at the handwriting on the complaint, then let out a short, incredulous laugh. I recognized it instantly. It was Selena Rogers. The same coworker who had been hitching rides with me to and from work every day for the past three years. It was all because of last night's storm. She had insisted I take a long detour to drive her to the mall so she could pick up her boyfriend, and I had said no. Then, in the break room, Selena's voice carried loud and clear. "Jennifer, I didn't have a choice. "We have to keep work and personal matters separate. The transportation stipend from the company isn't for you to make extra money." Around us, coworkers glanced over, whispering and pointing, as if they had completely forgotten how eager they once were to ask for a ride home. I took a slow breath. "Fine. I accept the company's decision." Then I pulled out my phone and made a call. "Mr. Wallace, I won't be renewing the lease on those two vans. "Yes. The ones that have been picking up and dropping off the admin and sales teams every day, free of charge." For three years, I had been the easygoing one, paying out of my own pocket every month to lease those vehicles so my coworkers could treat it as a perk. If that was now considered unauthorized business activity, then from this day on, everyone could figure out their own way to get to work.

A month before the SATs, I, Jenny Reid, could see my score. Literally. It was just floating right above my head. But there was a catch. Every time I cracked open a prep book, my score would drop by ten points. But if I skipped a day of school? It jumped right back up by ten. So, I played the system. For a whole month, I barely lifted a finger. And on the day of the test, the number glowing over my head was a solid 1560. When the scores finally dropped online… I'd scored a 500. And the 1560? That was my little sister Patricia's score. My parents lost it. As punishment, they got me a grueling night-shift job at a local electronics factory. That first night, a bunch of guys I'd never seen before cornered me in the parking lot and beat me half to death. Fading in and out of consciousness, I heard my sister's voice right by my ear. "You just had to one-up me, didn't you? Thought you were so smart… but you never figured out I was the one controlling that number over your head." The truth hit me like a physical blow. The score had been her trick all along. I opened my eyes—and I was back. One month before the SATs. The number above my head read exactly 1300. "Hey," my sister said, all fake sweetness. "Want to study together tonight? We can go over the practice tests." I looked at the stack of papers in my own hands. Without a word, I pulled out my lighter and set them on fire right there in the driveway. "Exams are coming," I said, watching the flames. "I'm not studying." My score ticked up to 1310. My sister's face was this perfect mask of disappointment, but the second I turned away, I caught the sly smile she couldn't quite hide. She had no idea… the real performance, the one I'd been rehearsing just for her, was finally about to begin.