Places We've Never Been

I found the lie on a Tuesday. Five thousand dollars. Every month. Going to a woman with my husband's last name. When Flynn came home and saw me sitting on the office floor surrounded by bank statements, he didn't even try to deny it. He just stood there and told me he couldn't explain. Three years of marriage and all I got was “I can't”. So I left. Three months later I met Dominic. Flynn's biggest business rival. Charming, warm, patient in all the ways Flynn never was. He made me laugh for the first time in months. He made me feel like myself again. He felt like the right choice. Except he wasn't. Now I'm pregnant, furious, and standing in the middle of two men who both claim they love me. They're both asking me to trust them. But they both already broke that trust.

My wife doesn't love me. She doesn't love our child either. On the day our son is born, she doesn't even look at him. She just drops him into my arms. Later, her first love returns. For the first time, the cold, distant woman drinks herself drunk at home. She laughs as she holds our son in her arms, and he wraps his arms around her neck in surprise. "Daddy, what's wrong with Ms. Sutton?" he whispers afterward. I kneel and hold him close. My eyes are red as I explain, "Someone Ms. Sutton loves has come back. We shouldn't bother her anymore. It's time for us to move out."

“I will never love you.” His voice was deep and quiet, yet cold enough to pierce straight through my bones. God, I knew he only married me because I had the same rare blood type as his lover. I just want to be able to breathe and live better than I do now. When I asked for a divorce, he should have been happy—his lover had regained consciousness, after all. But his reaction was confusing. “You want a divorce? Do you think you can pull another sly trick by saying that?” “There will be no divorce until you repay everything I’ve given to your family, Sandra.'"

I'd been "married" to Zachary for two years—until I tried applying for a loan and the bank's system flagged someone else as his legal wife. Our wedding? Just a private show. The real marriage license had his name next to hers. So yeah. I wasn't the wife. I was the other woman. Crushed, I went home—only to hear Zachary talking to his friend, Ethan, by the door. "Man, watching you stress is exhausting," Ethan said. "You clearly love Sierra. So why marry Cathryn?" Zachary looked torn. "At first, she was just a stand-in. But when she left, I couldn't stop thinking about her. So I brought her back—as my assistant." He paused, then muttered, "I can't live without Sierra. But I can't let go of Cathryn either. So I gave Sierra my love in public and kept Cathryn hidden with the title. That's fair, right?" I stood frozen, heart splitting open. He loved us both. Me—his childhood sweetheart. Her—the hidden wife. I thought I was the one. Turns out, I was just the game. He didn't break my heart. He shattered my whole world. But I didn't cry. I didn't scream. I walked away. And started planning two things.

My mother never believed me. To her, I was always just a lying pup. In my pack, every cub wore a Moon Oath Collar. Red meant you lied. White meant you told the truth. My sister’s collar always glowed a soft white. Even when she pretended to be sick to get out of an exam, her collar only gave off that gentle white light. Mine was different. Even when I was truly sick, my collar would burst into a violent red, and the punishment current would follow immediately. On my sister’s birthday, Mother prepared a bonfire feast for the whole pack. Just before they left, a splitting pain tore through my head, and I collapsed on the floor, begging her to help me. For one second, she almost picked me up. Then my collar flashed red. “To ruin your sister’s birthday, you’re even pretending to die? What a vicious child.” Then she walked out with my sister and left me alone on the floor. I died alone on the cold floor. But when I opened my eyes again, I was no longer inside my body. My soul drifted after my mother as I whispered the truth she had never believed. “Mom… I wasn’t lying. I really died.” And when they finally found my body, the red collar on my neck was still flashing.

My mother was dying. Her only wish before she passed was to see me married. For 27 days, I begged my girlfriend, Monica Teller, and she finally agreed to register for marriage with me on the 27th day. I waited at the courthouse until closing, but she never came. That same day, her childhood sweetheart, Gurney Barnes, posted their marriage certificate on social media. [Time sure flies. Three more days, and we'll have been married for a month.] It was then I finally realized that she had married her childhood sweetheart since the first day I started begging her. Not long after, an apology text from Monica buzzed on my phone. [I'm so sorry, Lincoln. Gurney's family was forcing him into marriage. I couldn't stand by and watch him get shackled to a stranger. Just give it three days. We'll file for divorce. Three days later, I'll marry you." Three days later, she showed up at the courthouse in a wedding gown, But the only thing waiting for her was my message. [Goodbye, Monica. May we never meet again.]

Stanley Hamilton and I were basically Southport's favorite hate-watch couple. For Elodie—my oh-so-perfect adopted sister—he wrecked my company and had my parents thrown in prison. I, in turn, drove Elodie to her death, making him watch as she jumped off a rooftop. Our forced marriage? Just a slow ride from mutual disgust straight into mutual destruction. Then came the car explosion. Stanley, who'd hated me forever, still used his last breath to shove me out of the blast. "Vivienne Weston, one lifetime tangled with you is enough. If there's a next one, let's never meet." He touched the tattoo of Elodie's name on his neck, smiling faintly as the flames took him. After he died, I wandered through life half-dead myself until illness finished the job. When I woke up in the past, staring at two betrothal contracts, I didn't hesitate—I picked the guy everyone swore was insane. Stanley and my dad? I handed them right back to Elodie. This time, I wanted no meetings, no memories, no strings. Ever again.

MATURED CONTENT Even after falsely accused and treated inhumanely by the people, Grace Lopez never find anger towards the world. She was an orphan who was living in an abandoned island. She was waiting to be recognized by the people. She patiently waited for someone who has a good heart to make her dreams come true-to live in the city. One day, a group of men lost their way in the island. Grace helped them with her heart and she happened to fall in love with one of them-Blaze Villacorta. Just when she finally recognized the stranger thing called love, the real intention of the men exploded right in her face. Wounded, she left the island and live in the city. The innocent Grace Lopez has become a fierce and elegant woman after years of living in the city-with her husband but her perfectly planned life was ruined when she met her first love again after almost eight years. When the strongest emotion in her heart was triggered by anger that actually leads to something that made her feel the familiar butterflies in her stomach, will she be able to keep her vows she swore to her husband?

I never believed someone could love me the way Daniel did. Not in movies, not in books, not in real life. But he saw me—the real me. Every laugh, every tear, every secret I tried to hide. He made me feel… enough. And then I destroyed it. One moment of pride. One moment of judgment. I made him feel small, crossed a boundary he set, and he walked away—just like he said he would. But I didn’t know that while he stayed silent… I was carrying his baby. Now I’m terrified. Will his silence push him further away? Will the truth destroy what little we have left? Or could our unborn child be the one thing that brings him back? He was never just anyone. He’s the man I love, the man I hurt, the man I can’t forget. And I’m running out of time to fight for a love I almost lost forever.

Violet is a cynic when it comes to love and she has every right to be, at least her family history is there as proof. Her great-grandmother was left at the altar by the love of her life when she was pregnant with her grandmother. Her grandmother was divorced by her grandfather when he met a younger girl barely five years into marriage. While her mother who they all thought won at love lost her husband three years into marriage. If love and marriage is not a recipe for bad luck in her family, she doesn't know what else is. Ryan Falcon is the youngest billionaire and CEO of Falcon Enterprises. They say heavy is the head that wears the crown and he most certainly fits into the shoes very well. As a ruthless, purpose-driven CEO, he has no time to be cool with anyone. He is nicknamed ‘Cyborg king’ by his employees. Love has never been in the books because his sociopathy made it that way. Except when he meets Violet and he begins to feel things science say is impossible for someone like him Their love story is tumultuous as betrayal, secrets from the past, social hierarchy threatens to tear them apart. Would their love overcome or would it sink to the bottom of the sea like it never existed?