Placating Gesture

Seven years into our marriage, my husband, Lucas Thorne, is hailed as a legendary astronomer in the field of astronomy. It is no secret that he absolutely adores me, his wife. He always keeps a polite, distant demeanor with those around him. Even when his new assistant, Serena Cox, asks for his number, he coldly turns her down. In the year he proposed to me, he named a star "LAW", which was an acronym for "Lucas Adores Wilma". Since then, every asteroid he discovers is named with initials that hold a special significance only the two of us know. To others, they might just be scientific achievements. But to me, they are unspoken love letters. This goes on until this morning, when I stumble upon an unfamiliar phone. I unlock it easily with my middle name, thinking it's yet another quiet gesture of his love. But to my horror, I find a string of explicit messages between him and another woman. The person who was at the receiving end of those messages was none other than… Serena, his assistant.

Newly married and over the moon, Sienna inks her husband’s name on her lower back. A permanent gesture for a forever union, right? Wrong. Five years later, in the throes of a messy divorce, she is back to the tattoo shop to get a coverup tattoo. But she doesn’t expect to find that her tattoo artist is the hottest man alive — and he has been waiting for her. He is Gavin Kessler, the Tattoo Master. Tough on the outside, tougher on the inside. With an ugly past casting a long shadow on his present and future. What starts out as a crazy contract between them spirals into something far more dangerous. Sienna soon realizes she wants more than a tattoo from the Tattoo Master. She wants his díck, his protection, and if the differences between them will allow, his heart. Which of these is Gavin willing to give? ⚠️ WARNING: This book is exclusively for adult audiences (18+). It explores explicit sexual language, morally complex characters, toxic family dynamics and occasional violence.

Five years into my marriage to Ethan Morgan, the famous business tycoon in the whole continent. The entire business world knew he loved me more than anything. He’d even registered a private Island in my name, a gesture of love and affection no one could ever think of. However, a text from his secretary ruined everything. She sent me a picture of her lying almost naked in his arms, her neck full of hickeys while he rested his hand leisurely on her chest. They were making out on the very Island he had dedicated to me. [He says his wife doesn't satisfy his real needs. Only with me can he really turn on] [Only if he doesn't need an heir from her, she would be out of the picture already.] At that moment I knew what I needed to do. I just made a single call. “I need a new identity. And a divorce agreement for my husband.”

"You should rest." I said, my voice embarrassingly breathless. "Probably." he agreed, but made no move to put distance between us. "You're trembling." "I'm tired. It's been a long night." I lied, my voice lacking conviction. "Liar." His free hand came up, brushing a strand of hair from my face. The gesture was surprisingly gentle, at odds with the raw intensity in his eyes. "Your heart's racing. I can hear it." ~ When the fierce Alpha wolf Roman Blackthorn shows up injured at her doorstep, village healer Mirabelle's life turns upside down. She's forced to join his pack as their healer, and honestly? She can't stand him. He's arrogant, dangerous, and infuriatingly attractive. As threats close in from all sides, Mirabelle and Roman find themselves drawn to each other, despite their best efforts to keep their distance. Can they survive each other long enough to face the real threat?

On our wedding anniversary, I ask my husband, Luke Blackburn, to buy me some fish stew. Since I'm in my first trimester, I keep vomiting every now and then due to morning sickness. Right now, I have an intense craving for fish stew. But Luke comes home empty-handed in the middle of the night. He claims that he's completely forgotten about my request. I don't say anything at all. All I notice is a strand of long hair sticking to Luke's collar that doesn't belong to me. Some time later, I see the fish stew I never got to eat in a photo that Luke's colleague, Ruby Pollard, has uploaded to her social media feed. The caption reads, "Luke ordered this dish for me. He knows that I love fish stew from this particular restaurant the most. I'm so touched by his gesture!" In the photo, I see a pair of familiar hands picking out fish bones from the meat tenderly just for Ruby.

My birthday present this year is a written contract titled 'Behavioral Reform Contract'. My fiance, who was the mafia head Matteo Giovanni, and my parents have already signed their names at the bottom. Together, they had me sent to the Behavioral Correction Center. … The windows are always shut, and the sunlight is filtered through the metal window bars. They drug, reprimand, and ostracize me to make me shove my feelings of aggrievement down. Even while I am being humiliated and punished, they teach me to force a smile and maintain a steady breath. It was all done in the name of "treating" me. A year passes, and I go from being a so-called "troublemaker" to their ideal version of me—quiet, elegant, and utterly perfect. Matteo beams at me and says, "You've finally become my perfect wife. We can finally marry." I match his smile, a gesture that they think means obedience from my part. However, it is not true. It is just me bidding my farewell before I leave for good. There's something I don't understand, however. They constantly found me lacking, so now that I am gone from their lives, why are they falling apart?

During a road trip with my girlfriend, we accidentally collided with a limousine. Just as we were joking about having to pay an outrageous sum in compensation, the owner stepped out of the car. He greeted us warmly, asked if we were hurt, and even insisted we didn't need to pay a dime. But that simple gesture sparked a huge misunderstanding in my girlfriend's mind. At the proposal ceremony, she flat-out rejected me, ran to the restroom, and called her best friend to vent. "They're both Vanders, but Josh is a penniless loser, and Alexander is the richest man in the city! "The fortune teller said my true love's surname is Vander. If that's the case, why can't it be the richest man instead of Josh? "I looked it up. That car owner is Alexander. And he didn't even want me to pay for rear-ending him. He must have fallen in love with me at first sight! "In love, there's no such thing as first come, first served. I won't accept Josh's proposal. I'm going to marry the richest man!" A shiver ran through me. My years of devotion to her had moved only me. What she didn't know was that the 'richest man' she was dreaming of marrying wasn't anyone else—he was my father.

Zella died betrayed. Her love was stolen. Her wedding ripped from her hands. Her family watched her fall—and did nothing. When death came, it should have been the end. Instead, she met a god who ruled crossroads and cruel choices. Arakon offered her three paths. She rejected them all… or so she thought. By a single misunderstood gesture, Zella was reborn as Lacy Jules—into a poor, struggling life with no power, no status, and no memory of the woman she once was. But fate is never finished with the unjustly broken. As Lacy grows, she begins to dream of torn wedding dresses, familiar faces, and a woman’s grief that does not belong to her. Zella is awakening. When the truth finally surfaces, Lacy learns she is living the life of a woman who chose wrong—and a god who refuses to fix his mistake. This time, the choice must be spoken. This time, there will be no confusion. Given one final chance, Lacy chooses to return. Fifteen years into the past. Back into Zella’s body. Back to the day everything began to rot. But she does not return as the naïve girl who once begged to be loved. She returns with two lifetimes of pain, clarity, and resolve. This time, she will not fight with claws or magic—but with foresight, strategy, and consequences so devastating that even fate will hesitate. They broke her once. Now, they will kneel— or burn.

Three years of marriage, and it all ends with two words. Sign it. He didn’t even look up when he said it. Just slid the papers across the table like I was another business deal to close. We weren’t supposed to fall in love it started as a contract, something practical, something safe. But feelings have a way of growing where they shouldn’t. For a while, I thought he cared. The quiet moments, the small things he remembered my favorite song, how I take my tea, the way I hate the rain. I thought they meant something. Turns out, they did. Just not for me. Every gesture, every soft word, was borrowed from a memory. From her. The woman who had him first. The one who left. The one who’s now back. So I signed. I smiled. I walked away. Not because I wanted to but because I had to. He doesn’t chase me. Not yet. But I can feel it the weight of everything unsaid still hanging in the air between us. Maybe he’ll realize what he’s lost. Maybe he won’t. Either way, this time, I’m not waiting around to find out.

What would you do when you have no choice but to marry an possessive boss in other to save your only family member? Ava Addams is a young cheerful girl who was betrayed by her fiancé and best friend. Her younger brother was hospitalised on the same day her fiancé and best friend betrayed her, how painful and depressing can that be? but she was offered a position as the contract wife of the CEO of the leading company in country F and beyond. Derrick Anders is every woman's dream man as a husband but not to Ava. He is just a arrogant man to her. Do you think Ava will accept his offer? ******* "Come closer" Derrick said. "I....I can't because I don't know what you would do to me" Ava said stepping back. She was scared. Derrick became impatient but tried to control himself. "Stupid girl! After making me all riled up and now she is trying to run away... He would never allow her to escape!" Derrick thought. He was continuously staring at her. Ava became conscious of the way Derrick was staring at her. It was as if he could see through her. Sighs... Derrick sighs and raised his left hand to gesture for her to go close to him. "Be good and come to daddy" Derrick said smiled slyly while approaching Ava.... Read this amazing romance story to find out!