Private

My mother-in-law and I were trapped during an earthquake overseas. The rescue team knew that my husband had a private plane nearby and asked me to contact him, but I could only shake my head in rejection of the idea. In my last life, I tried my hardest to call him and get him to come save us. My mother-in-law and I were saved, but my husband’s true love got angry and went out to let off some steam. The incident ended with her being tortured to death. In front of his mother, my husband said that his lover deserved it. Yet, on the anniversary of her death, he killed me the way she had died. “I’ve always known that it was your scheme. You have to die as Shevonne did!” This time round, when my husband took his lover on a private plane to admire the cityscape at night, he found out everything that had happened and went mad.

I'm about to marry Andre Lawson, a Waller Street tycoon, while my boyfriend of ten years, a blue-blooded attorney, still has no idea. His first love returns from Galoria, and now his phone floods with intimate photos of the two of them reliving their Lierre League alma mater days. On Valentine's Day, he reserves a private room at one of Zradstin's top Talision restaurants and orders a mango-nut cake, completely forgetting I'm allergic to both. We end up in a full-on whipped cream fight before he recalls my allergy. When the doctor arrives, I'm the one signing the emergency paperwork alone. That's also the moment I agree to the marriage my family arranges.

During a battle with a rival pack, my Alpha mate, Damien, burst into my private healing sanctuary. He was carrying Lyra, a Beta warrior who had supposedly taken a poisoned blade for him. The next day, under the watchful eye of the Moon Goddess, Damien was forced by the pack elders to apologize. He explained that bringing an outsider into my sanctuary was a desperate act in a moment of crisis. After all, Lyra had saved his life. But that night, in the bed we once shared, Lyra stabbed herself with a dagger laced with wolfsbane and framed me for the attack. He chose to believe her. The rejection ceremony ripped my wolf from my soul. I was cast out—a powerless exile, left for dead in a storm, to be torn to shreds by rogues. But what Damien never knew was that the ancient curse afflicting him could only be healed by me. When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the beginning: the moment Damien carried that woman in, demanding I save her.

After my rebirth, I vow to stop clinging to my fated mate—the man I grew up with—Damon Hale. When he gathers all the healers in the pack for a party in Alohara, I book a flight to Harborwatch. When he complains that my scent makes him and his wolf sick, I move out and hire a deep-cleaning service for 500 dollars. When he orders me to stay away from his pack, I quit my job as Alpha's private healer and take up freelance work in Coghaven to support myself. Finally, he says my existence might mislead his precious stepsister into thinking he still cares for me. So, I nod and accept Coghaven Alpha's hand in marriage, along with the keys to an 18-million-dollar villa as my wedding gift. Now, I trade all the desperate love I gave him in my past life for clear-eyed, rational deals. After all, I spent everything I had and risked my life for him, only to be betrayed. When his stepsister dies from wolfsbane, he calls me her murderer and condemns me to a death sentence under the pack law. In this life, I shall live for myself. … At Howlfest, I'm walking hand in hand with my Alpha when Damon suddenly blocks our way and fixes his bloodshot eyes on me. "Come back to me, Thalia. If you do, I shall forgive you for your reckless mistake." I sneer and reply, "Can you afford a villa like the one my Alpha bought me?"

I had been with Lars Carter for six years. The head of Midas Capital in Eastwind City, he was a rising star in Riverton's Silver Street—the heart of this nation's financial world. Few knew his true roots. Within him flowed the Vitalus bloodline. Lars descended from an old mafia clan from the city of Virgil in Vitalus, the Viktors. Midas Capital was ours. We built it from the ground up together; Lars would haunt private clubs, ironing out business deals amid drinks. I would stay by his side, doing the accounts, steering the direction of the negotiations, and memorizing every detail of the high-stakes contracts. We did everything together—a tight team. Or so I thought. In my naivete, I was convinced I would rule the city alongside him. The woman behind the man, so to speak. …Until Pearl Ross arrived two months ago. His childhood sweetheart moved from Virgil to Eastwind City. It was then that I knew—she was the one he was waiting for all along. It had always been her. "Lars, I want to get married." Lars' face tightened; hesitation veiled in businesslike concern. "Bianca, you know the company's at a critical stage… We're mid-fundraising. I can't right now." I smiled, calm and composed. "That's fine." He misunderstood. I was getting married—just not to him.

I was born into a regular family in the Moonridge Pack with no status, but through years of training, I fought my way up to become our pack's Gamma. My father was just an Omega and he worked as an ordinary salesman who always claimed he was too busy for family. When he finally took a vacation, I spent $100,000 of my own money to plan a luxury cruise for us all. Then his mistress Sarah and her daughter Emily heard about our trip and suddenly wanted to join. Without even discussing it, my father gave them our luxury suite and relegated Mom and me to the cramped staff quarters below deck. Even my grandmother, a respected elder, supported his decision. My fourteen-year-old brother took their side too, charmed by their fake sweetness. So I changed our plans. I took Mom on a first-class flight to a private island resort instead, where we spent three perfect months. That's when the family started to panic...

Tara isn't your everyday beauty shit she wasn't a size 0 runway model, she was curvey thick and flawless nonetheless. It took her years to see that in herself after going through the ups and downs of being tossed through the foster system she had all but lost her faith in herself. This is why she chooses to become an advocate for foster kids like her. When she first launched her UFCP program she had only one private supporter. Now here she was at a huge charity banquet representing her program publicly and the program would now be recognized nationally. It was like a dream come true especially when she runs into the investor who happens to be an old friend from the foster system who was in the same house as her. Giovanni Berlusconi, he had glowed up since she last saw him all those years ago and he apparently felt the same about her. The only problem was he was a mafia king pin and Tara might have known much about the mob, but she sure as hell knew she wanted no parts of it. Especially after two of her colleagues end up dead in a mysterious car crash after questioning Gio's family connections to the recent spike in missing persons cases in the city. Tara had tried to blow him off politely but Gio wasn't having it. Stopping by her office unannounced. Tara was desperate to avoid the mob boss at all cost that is until she accidentally stumbles on to a private family meeting and witnesses him killing someone. Now she has only two choices marry the very man she fears or die.

"A hundred million. Take it, leave my son Eric, and never come back." Luna Anya stood at the entrance of Dark Moon Manor, looking down at me, her eyes cold and full of disgust. Before, I would've burst into tears, shaking, begging, "I'm not with him for the money!" But now, I just lowered my head and said quietly, "Okay." She froze for a second, then sneered, "You pathetic Omega. At least you know your place." Back in Eric's private villa, I asked Eric, "If I left, would you search for my scent? Would you look for me?" But he just laughed, pushed me away, and said, "Who do you think you are? Go if you want. I wouldn't waste my breath on you." So, I really did leave. But a rumor started spreading through the werewolf world. Eric, the future Alpha of the Dark Moon Pack, had gone mad. He was searching the world, desperate to find the scent of a lowly Omega. "I was wrong, Sera! Please, come back!"

After a decade of chasing Carter Worthington, I'm finally worn out. Letting go of my unrequited love, I choose to embrace the man who has quietly loved me all along. His name is Eli Loxley. Not only is he a skilled surgeon, but he's also Carter's stepbrother. Although Eli spent his childhood living in Carter's shadow, he's the one who has captured my heart. On the night I accept his heartfelt confession, he lights up the entire Marrowfield sky with fireworks. He even buys a private island by the sea, where he proposes beneath a blanket of stars. I believe this is the start of my happiness. But before our wedding, Eli disappears without a trace. I end up finding him on a private yacht on the Redridge River, laughing and chatting with his friends. "The only reason I pursued Anya was to get back at Carter. "She's only enticing when she's out of reach. After sleeping with her, I realized she's nothing special. "Marriage isn't what I'm after. But using it for payback? Now that's the real temptation, wouldn't you agree?" I don't shed a tear. I slip the ring off my finger and toss it aside. On the day of the wedding, the venue would stand empty. The entire city of Oakmont would mock it. After everything, I've decided to be the one who runs away as well. But why is the one who didn't love me then now frantically pleading for me to return? I'm afraid this chapter has closed. I won't turn back.

Jupiter Sephiran Acosta is a closeted gay. He dated numerous men in private, wore lipstick and wig in secret, and strutted every gay bar in town in disguise. The last thing he want for his father is to find out that he's gay. 'Else, he'd be kicked out of the company as a CEO or worse...his father would disown him! But when things started to slowly unfold, his desperation to cover up his sexuality leads him to a desperate measure. Perhaps a girlfriend could help him clean up his name? And who else would be the perfect candidate for that? Ah, yes! Juno, his crazy secretary who once confessed his undying love for him.