Public Humiliation

My husband's first love ran off to a nightclub. She was drugged and assaulted there, and a year later returned with a child. Without a word, Bryson Tanner dragged me to the courthouse to file for divorce. "In this world, widows and orphans are easy prey. I can't just watch Christina get hurt. I'll acknowledge her child as mine." I held my own child in my arms and calmly filled out the paperwork. In my previous life, I had refused to divorce at all costs. I'd also publicly exposed Christina Floyd's tangled affairs with men. She endured scorn and humiliation, and in a fit of anger, left her son behind to escape… only to die on that train. When Bryson heard of it, he showed no expression. Yet a month later, he watched coldly as I was drugged and assaulted, and accused me of cheating and giving birth to another man's child. It wasn't until my child and I were driven to death that I realized the depth of his hatred. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day Bryson asked for a divorce.

“You’re my first everything, Lacey.” Jonathan’s piercing grey eyes seemed to hold Lacey captive. “My first kiss…The first woman to ever make me feel this way…I love you.” A public divorce from her husband leaves Lacey Thalmes with nothing. When her friends convince her to go to a party to forget her worries, she ends up sharing a steamy kiss with CEO Jonathan Taley. Except Lacey doesn’t find out his identity until two years later, and their re-meeting is not exactly rosy. Cold-hearted Jonathan Taley cares about two things only: his company and his younger brother. That is, until Lacey shows up in his life.

This story was about my bitter and sweet love story. My bitter-sweet love story began when I was twelve years old. I had a huge crush on my neighbor, Dean Samaniego. He's tall, handsome, and smart but a little bit aloof, especially to me. He always ignored me though we were just neighbors. After six long years of having a crush on Dean, I finally decided to give up my feelings for him. The fact finally hits on me, that no matter what I did he's not going to like me back. We moved to another city after a tragedy falls on my family. Since then, Dean and I have never met again. But after ten long years, we finally meet each other. He is now a lawyer, a well-known and successful public defender while I'm just a small coffee shop owner. After I met him again I realized that I still liked him a lot, but I found out that he's already engaged to someone else. Is this a second chance that God gave me to pursue Dean again or a second chance for me to feel the heartache that I once was felt before?

Imagine getting married to the daughter of the second deadliest mafia gang with a knife on your throat. Yes,just imagine. Even after been forced into this relationship what did I get in return? Humiliation, embarrassment. I was always sent on dirty jobs,killing people for the boss,selling drugs just to please him and his daughter so they could like me and to have peace in the house. I got set up instead and sent to jail. Spending five years in jail actually taught me how my revenge should be like. I got out and I discovered I'm the son of Antonio Lorenzo, mafia of the deadliest gang in Italy and I'm to take over soon. My revenge is going to be bloody. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Follow me on this journey if you're tough enough.

Aux yeux des autres, j'étais Mme Ward, la reine intouchable aux côtés d'Elias Ward, le chef de la mafia de Paris. Mais je savais que mon mari ne m'avait jamais aimée. Son cœur appartenait toujours à Harper Dinah, la femme de son neveu. Et après la mort de ce dernier, il n'a pas hésité à faire venir Harper chez nous. « Je veux juste mieux m'occuper d'elle », m'a-t-il dit. Mais sa version de « s'occuper d'elle » consistait à expulser un homme d'une fête parce qu'il avait osé flirter avec Harper et à la rendre enceinte. Elias adorait me complimenter en public, comme si j'étais la femme parfaite. Oui, je l'avais été autrefois. J'avais l'aidé à bâtir son empire et fait briller son casino. J'étais celle qui souriait, aimable, toujours accueillante. Et pendant ce temps, il cachait Harper, comme si elle était une relique sacrée. Puis, c'était grâce à « ces louanges » incessantes qu'un de ses ennemis m'a prise pour cible. Un groupe de voyous m'a enlevée, envoyant à Elias un message menaçant : « Dégage de Paris, ou ta femme va y passer ! » Bien sûr, Elias n'a pas choisi de céder. « Tiens bon », m'a-t-il dit au téléphone, « Ils ne te feront pas de mal, Noah. Tiens jusqu'à ce que Harper accouche. Je viendrai te chercher. » J'ai été alors enfermée dans une cave sale pendant huit mois, affamée, battue, humiliée. Le chef des malfrats m'a violée encore et encore. Et pourtant, Elias n'est jamais venu. Finalement, alors qu'ils étaient tous ivres, j'ai réussi à m'échapper. De retour chez moi, j'ai trouvé mes jumeaux endormis dans la chambre des domestiques, mangeant des restes, tandis que leur père organisait une fête pour son nouveau-né... Je ne l'ai pas affronté et suis partie avec mes enfants.

“Don’t you want to see how manly your husband is, honey?” he whispered huskily, his voice tinged with seduction. Even in his madness, he licked the tip of her ear as he nibbled it gently. His breath was hot, and the tip of his tongue was rough, sending shivers down her spine. She tried to break free, but it seemed that her strength was no match for his. “You’re hurting me, Ace!” she snapped as she squirmed. Seizing the opportunity from his loosening grip to escape from him. However, before she could spin around, he slammed her body violently against the glass wall again, causing her to whimper as her nose hit the glass. He was nothing but a heartless fucking gay man. *********************************************** Sierra Carlson is a hot and gorgeous model trapped in a loveless marriage with Ace Valentino, a man who keeps a shocking secret of being gay and will never love her. Forced to marry Ace solely to cover up his dark side, Sierra feels her life has been taken hostage by a twisted, possessive man who is arrogant and has a hidden agenda for himself. Ace Valentino is the CEO of Valentino Enterprise, known for his public image as a man of mystery. No one knows that he secretly identifies as gay. He even forces Sierra, a model under his own company, into a loveless marriage, and even worse, he has a secret lover working under the same company. Will she be able to win over her gay husband, or will she and Ace forever be stuck in this ridiculous marriage filled with drama and lies?

When I was five months pregnant, my mafia husband Dante Pierce had an affair with his childhood sweetheart. That was when I discovered that our marriage certificate was fake. He had secretly married someone else behind my back. Even worse, the child I was carrying would be excluded from the family inheritance. From beginning to end, I was nothing more than a public front for his precious childhood sweetheart. After learning the truth, I did not cry or throw a tantrum. I quietly erased my legal identity, changed my name and disappeared forever with my child. However, later, everyone claimed that Dante, head of the Pierce family, was a hopeless romantic who had given up everything to search for the wife and child who had vanished without a trace.

Ethan Leo, CEO of the Leo Empire, was infamous for his cold-hearted nature, shaped by the loss of his mother at a tender age. Love was a foreign concept to him until Sasha unexpectedly entered his life, igniting a passion he couldn't ignore. Determined to possess her, Ethan found an opportunity to make Sasha his, when she crossed paths with his Mafia cartel. Unbeknownst to all, Ethan's public facade masked a darker identity: Hades, the mastermind behind the world's most notorious criminal syndicate.

Mon père et mon frère avaient toujours aimé ma sœur aînée, et m'avaient toujours détestée. Lors d'un gala, alors que j'étais humiliée en public, c'est Gabriel Dumas, le chef de la mafia, qui était intervenu pour me défendre. Il avait même annoncé devant tout le monde que j'étais la femme qu'il aimait le plus. Gabriel m'avait acheté un château au cœur de la forêt, où il avait fait planter des tulipes, mes fleurs préférées. Il y avait organisé un mariage féerique, si grandiose qu'il avait fait la une dans tout le pays. Du jour au lendemain, j'étais devenue l'objet de l'envie de toutes les femmes. À sept mois de grossesse, j'avais assisté à la fête d'anniversaire de mon père. Ce soir-là, un incendie avait éclaté. Mon père et mon frère, aveuglés par leur favoritisme, avaient protégé ma sœur et l'avaient aidée à fuir. Moi, j'avais failli mourir dans les flammes. C'était encore Gabriel qui m'avait sauvée. Mais quand je m'étais réveillée à l'hôpital, ce que j'avais vu m'avait brisé le cœur. « Qui vous a autorisés à provoquer cet incendie ! » avait lancé Gabriel, le visage sombre. « Elle n'en est qu'à son septième mois de grossesse ! Vous vouliez provoquer un accouchement prématuré ? Vous essayiez de tuer Yvonne et son bébé, c'est ça ? » Mon frère et mon père avaient murmuré une justification : « La leucémie de Sylvie ne peut plus attendre. Le médecin a dit qu'il fallait opérer au plus vite… On a besoin de la moelle osseuse du bébé… » « Je suis plus inquiet que vous pour la vie de Sylvie. Sinon, je n'aurais jamais épousé Yvonne ! » « Mais vous n'avez pas le droit de lui faire du mal. J'ai mon propre plan », avait-il averti d'un ton glacial. Je m'étais enfuie, paniquée. Alors, il ne m'avait jamais épousée par amour. Tout ce qu'il avait fait pour moi, en réalité pour ma sœur. Comme mon père et mon frère, lui aussi ne l'aimait qu'elle, et pas moi. Puisque personne ne m'aimait… alors je partirais.

My stepson, Lucas Lincoln, is trapped in a fire. After calling the fire brigade, I quickly ring my husband, Jasper Lincoln. Jasper is the leader of a search-and-rescue team, after all. But to my dismay, Jasper is currently keeping his ex-wife, Yvonne Schmidt, company. Yvonne has won the "Forensic Doctor of the Year" award, and so they are out celebrating it. My phone calls are rejected again and again. Jasper never once calls me back, even after Lucas' cries for help disappear entirely. By the time the fire brigade arrives to quell the flames, Lucas has been burned to a crisp. I tell Jasper what happened to our son, but he only gleefully says, "He was nothing but a troublemaker who'd contribute nothing to society. If he's dead, then so be it. This way, he won't grow up to become a menace. "Yvonne happens to be giving a public talk tomorrow and is still in need of a specimen demonstrating burn injuries. She can use Noah's corpse for her demonstration since it's still fresh." I sneer. So Jasper thinks that my own son, Noah Green, is the one who died in the fire. I immediately send Lucas' blackened corpse to Yvonne's operating room.