Pocket Billiards

“I know who you are,” Rebecca said to him, breathing his perfume. He looked into her eyes. “Who am I?" A rebellious tear fell from his eyes. “You're not the tenant that came one day without a penny in his pocket, you're the CEO of the Muriel's company.” She expressed with pain breaking her heart. “We're not very different, Alexander Muriel. I'm the daughter of the mafia king who killed your sister and you're the idiot who took my son away." Rebecca smiled mockingly. Alexander's heart broke. “I should never have looked at you, I shouldn't have loved you.” The tenant's secret tells the story of Rebecca who was kicked out of her house and ran away with her son from her ex-husband who wants to kill her to owe her shares of the company but what she didn't expect to find in her way was a helpless man who had nothing to offer but his protection as a man. Living a double life, Alexander falls for Rebecca in the searching for the killer of his sister without knowing Rebecca is the mafia king's daughter who killed Graciela. Will the love between them be able to surpass any obstacle? Will they be able to forgive each other for their mistakes? Secrets don't last forever and they're going to discover they are not the only guilty ones.

My mother-in-law, Mabel Grath, always liked me to arrange family trips. But she only transferred a small fraction of the cost. She called it a “deposit.” “I’m just following what you young people do with deposits. It’s not like I’m going to skip out on the rest.” After the trip, however, she never mentioned the rest of the payment again. I did not really mind. I quietly paid out of my own pocket for five-star hotels and luxury meals every time. Then one day, my husband’s sister, Marlene Grath, dropped a sarcastic comment in the family group chat. “Noelle Frost loves playing travel agent with my mom’s retirement money. “For all we know, she’s signing us up for cut-rate shopping tours and skimming the kickbacks.” Mabel replied with a smirking emoji. It seemed she was silently agreeing with her daughter. My heart sank. Over the years, I had taken them on trips all over the country and abroad. I had covered at least 100,000 dollars out of my own pocket. Yet, I still ended up looking like the one taking advantage of them. Mabel transferred four hundred dollars to me again and asked me to arrange a seven-day tour to Erope. So, I went ahead and booked them a one-day farm stay just outside the city.

After dating for seven years, I proposed a hundred and one times to my boyfriend, Jason Brown. However, he always told me that he was not ready, rejecting my proposals. This continued to my 28th birthday. In his suit pocket, I found a ring box. Thinking he was about to propose to me, I was overjoyed. However, to my horror, I saw him going down on one knee to propose to his assistant, Marcella Hopkins. Right before my eyes, he placed the ring I had yearned for so long on her finger. When one of his buddies asked what he planned to do with me, Jason wrapped his arm around his new love and chuckled. "Dude, I don't think I can bring myself to marry a woman who wants to get married that badly. She's so needy. However, if I do get a second wife, I might consider her. After all, she is hopelessly in love with me." He was sure I would wait for him, and he even placed a bet with his friends that I would crash his wedding. However, on his wedding day, I never showed up. Moments before his wedding ceremony was about to start, he suddenly noticed me, fully dressed up in a wedding gown in a separate banquet hall. Seeing me about to marry someone else, he almost went crazy.

He was, and had nothing when I met him. He was a terribly poor dreamer, and all he had was smooth words and endless promises. I gave up everything for him, including my family’s wealth, my privileged life, my identity as an heiress. I hid who I really was just to help him climb the ladder, brick by brick, until his name shone like gold. Our empire was built on my sacrifices. And how did he repay me? By throwing me away like a piece of used, wet tissue. By parading his new fiancée in my face and sneering, “Don’t you think I’m out of your league now?” He thought he could erase me. He thought he could take my love, my labor, my loyalty…and bury me like garbage. But he forgot one thing. I’m not just a girl he used. I’m an heiress. The gold in his pocket? The power in his hands? The empire on his shoulders? All of it came from me. Now I’ve returned to the world I left behind, with bodyguards at my side, a new fiancé chosen by my family, and more power than he could ever dream of. And when he calls me a gold digger? I’ll smile and remind him of the truth… “Gold digger? No. I’m the gold maker. And without me, Mr. Billionaire, you are nothing.”

"Bitch! Still trying to play innocent?" Jasper said as he tightened his grip on Renea's throat and squeezed harder. Then he used his other hand and took out the phone from his suit pocket and played the video of two people having sex in front of Renea... What was even more shocking was that the woman in the video was Renea Morris, but the man in the video was not Jasper. Renea struggled to get the phone out of Jasper's hand and tried to explain, "Jasper, it was not what you think... I... I can..." Jasper looked at Renea with disgusted eyes as he said, "Let's call off the wedding. I can't marry a woman like you." After saying that, Jasper walked out of the store. Renea runs after Jasper. But then she sees Jasper passionately kissing her sister Kailey. And she hears everything, that her sleeping with strange men was all a plan of the Vipers for the last two days, and that their goal was to get out of this stupid marriage. Even her adoptive parents were involved in this... They are all doing this to her because of the inheritance left by her grandfather... Renea's heart was filled with anger and she wanted to expose them to the public... But before she could do anything, Kailey had pushed her in front of the car and she was killed... But when Renea opened her eyes, she found herself in the car with Kailey... She realized that she was reborn and went back to the time when it all started... Renea looked at the people who had hurt her in her previous life and her lips curled into a cold smile... She was back... But this time... she was back for revenge...

While I'm patching up the injured wolves in the pack, I overhear a few young Omegas muttering among themselves while sharing a photo to each other in a corner. Apparently, it's a post that has been uploaded by a social media account named "True Love Above All". "He told me that the she-wolf by his side only needs a title. As for me, I need his protection. This is the amulet he has obtained from a witch after visiting the forbidden grounds." In the photo, the amulet can be seen emitting a magical glow. I know that he's the only one in the entire pack who's capable of obtaining this amulet. I look down at my empty wrist. Today is the Christmas Eve. According to the pack's tradition, mates must exchange tokens of love with each other. When I return to the pack house at night, Alpha Ethan enters the house while smelling like another she-wolf. He pulls out a cheap-looking bangle—that still has half a price tag stuck onto it—from his pocket before tossing it onto the couch casually. "This bangle is for you, Maya. It's the most popular style this year." As I pick up the mass-produced bangle that can be found in any accessory store, I feel the coldness of my fingertips seeping into my heart. It turns out that Alpha Ethan thinks he can easily fool me with a random gift despite me being the Luna. Yet, the she-wolf—whose identity he refuses to give away—gets to enjoy the protection he has risked his life obtaining for her sake.

"I didn't marry you because I wanted a wife, Elara, and I certainly didn't marry you because I loved you. I married you because the elders told me that children born of fated mates are the strongest, and I needed that power for my lineage. It was a genetic transaction, nothing more, and you were just the most convenient vessel available at the time," he said, and his words felt like physical blows. ​I felt the tears stinging my eyes, and I pulled the pregnancy test out of my pocket, but my fingers were shaking so much I almost dropped it. "I’m pregnant, Silas. I came here to tell you that we’re having a baby." ​"So you finally did your job," Silas said, his voice completely devoid of any warmth or joy. "That’s fine, you’ll carry the heir, and the pack doctors will look after you, but don't think for a second that this changes your status. You are an orphaned rogue with no standing, and you are utterly unworthy of being a Luna, so don't get any ideas about sitting on a throne next to me." ******* ​Three years of marriage to Alpha Silas Blackwood were a living nightmare for Elara. As an orphaned rogue, she was treated as a servant in her own home, a ‘vessel’, married only for the superior power of a fated-mate heir. The night she finally discovered she was pregnant, Silas shattered her heart for the last time, publicly humiliating her in front of his ex-girlfriend and his pack. ​But a near-fatal car crash changes everything.

"Notorious Bachelor Lucas Hart, 29, proposes to his first love and childhood sweetheart, Natalia Rossi!" My heart broke as I saw the picture of Lucas proposing to Natalia on one knee, the same ring I found in his jacket pocket, in the photo being slid onto her finger. The camera zoomed in on Natalia’s face and a gasp escaped my lips. It was like staring at myself, but a thinner, sicklier version of me. I picked up my phone and dialed a number I hadn’t called in three years.  "Bianca," My father’s voice answered, "To what do I owe this sudden call?" "Dad," I said, "I accept. I will come back home for the arranged marriage and take back my inheritance." *** Bianca Salvatore, heiress of the Salvatore empire ran away from home, trying to escape the marriage arranged by her father. She met Lucas who she dated for three years, until his first love returned. He never knew about her true identity, and always shamed her for being poor. He heartlessly announced that he would get married to his first love, then make Bianca his side piece. Bianca didn’t want that life for herself, so she agreed to her father’s arranged marriage and took her inheritance. From being known as a poor pauper, to a famous billionaire heiress. Now her ex is on his knees, begging for a second chance. Will Bianca risk her heart again for the man who shattered it, or will she choose the powerful husband who sees her true worth?

My husband, Don Cassian, just survived an assassination attempt. He limped in, bleeding, and ordered me to stitch him up. But when I reached into his blood-soaked suit, my fingers brushed against something soft. Black lace panties. Not mine. My hand flew to my still-flat stomach. For our child. How could he do this to us? Ice flooded my veins. “We’re done, Cassian.” His gaze was heavy, exhausted. He gave a single, sharp nod. “Fine. I’ll have my lawyer draft the papers.” But then, a frantic little voice—one that wasn't mine—screamed from deep within my womb. [Mom, don’t leave him! Dad didn’t cheat! The family isn’t going to fall. It’s a setup!] [Oriana Gallo planned all of this! She wants your place! She put those panties in his pocket herself!] [If you leave, her men will grab you. They’ll take you to an abandoned warehouse and dump your body in Lake Michigan. Then she’ll play the grieving friend, comfort Dad, and become the new Mrs. Marino!] [Mom, I came back to stop this! Please, don’t fall for it again!] I snapped back to the present. Spinning around, I launched myself into Cassian's arms, my body wracked with sobs. “I was just trying to scare you! How could you agree so easily? Are you that tired of me?” I jabbed a finger at his chest, tears streaming down my face.

Diana Kensington was caught up in a Web of lies and betrayal. Her long-term lover, who she had been with for seven years, cheated on her with her parent's biological child, Serena Kensington, who they had just found after she had been missing since when she was still a toddler. Diana had found out on her sick bed while receiving an IV treatment in the hospital. She got home, met him and confronted him but he denied having anything to do with her. Diana ends the relationship even though Marcel promises to marry her either way. Hurt by the fact that she had seen some things fall out of his trouser pocket that suggested he was having an affair. She insisted on breaking up. She goes straight to her friend's house, and they both go to a bar to have a drink; Diana gets drunk and decides to prove to Ciara that she can have any man she wants. She approached a man and even kissed him; unbeknownst to her, the man was the elder brother to Marcel, Raphael, a young Billionaire who wasn't interested In his parent's money. She leaves without exchanging contact or knowing his name. Their path crossed again on Marcel's grandfather's birthday. After a very dramatic and tense scenario, he offers to marry her so that the revenge plan could be more successful, as he would also become the sole òwner of Lorenzo's corps. Would everything go as planned? Would she be able to cope as the heiress of Lorenzo's dynasty?