Quietly Hostile

On the suit jacket her husband had just taken off, Hannah noticed a lipstick stain,one that definitely wasn’t hers. Yet at that very moment, her husband was clasping around her neck a one-of-a-kind gemstone necklace in celebration of their 7th wedding anniversary. Later, when she found a single strand of golden hair that didn't belong to her too, a seed of doubt quietly took root in her heart. Still, her husband's tenderness, his unwavering attention and love, made her question her own suspicions. Could she really be imagining things? Until she saw the photo on the phone— Her husband, in bed with another woman. He really had betrayed her! And that woman… was the friend she had trusted most.

He was supposed to heal quietly… not fall for his savior. After barely surviving a bullet to the chest and the betrayal of the only person he thought loved him, Jeremiah wanted nothing more than to disappear and mend in silence and forget. But then Everett Blackthorne shows up. Sharp-eyed, too intense… and too interested. Unsettling Jeremiah in all the wrong ways and making him feel things he doesn’t understand and is too afraid to admit. When dark secrets start surfacing, their connection becomes dangerous, not just for their hearts, but for their lives. Jeremiah has already survived hell once. But this time, it’s not just his past chasing him. It’s something older. Something darker. And it won’t stop until it drags him back.

The year the Lawson family was on the edge of bankruptcy, my father made a deal with Rory Lawson and arranged for me to marry him. I didn't know he already had a fiancée, who was also his childhood sweetheart. Later, when my father became embroiled in a scandal and the company faced collapse, Rory brought her home, promising her the grand wedding she deserved. I didn't cry or make a scene. I just quietly packed my bags. Rory sneered, "Don't pull that hard-to-get act. You think you're still the pampered heiress?" Unknown to him, I had the divorce agreement he signed while drunk. In seven days, I'd be leaving the country with my father.

For ten years, Lyra has been hopelessly in love with Kael, the powerful Northern Alpha. She endured ridicule in her pursuit, and even as Fated Mates, Kael never acknowledged her Luna identity. Before dying, she finally realized the cruel truth — Kael never loved her — and passed away alone on the bed where they were married. Fortunately, the Moon Goddess gave her a second chance. Reborn at seventeen, Lyra vows to live for herself and keep her distance. Kael panics at her withdrawal, unable to bear seeing her draw close to other Alphas. He believes the seemingly weak, Wolfless Lyra cannot escape his grasp, but she hides a true Alpha identity. Beneath their love, a far greater conspiracy quietly lurks.

On my wedding day, my fiance's first love appeared at the wedding ceremony wearing the exact same haute couture gown as mine. I watched them stand together at the entrance, greeting the guests as if they were the bride and groom. Maintaining a calm expression, I complimented them, saying they looked like the perfect couple—beauty and brains, a match made in heaven. She burst into tears and fled the scene. He, however, didn't hesitate to humiliate me in front of everyone, accusing me of being petty and narrow-minded. When the wedding banquet was over, he left for what was supposed to be our honeymoon—with her by his side. I didn't argue or cause a scene. Instead, I quietly booked an appointment for an abortion.

On one drunken night, Nora had with a handsome stranger, Austin, who has a lot of baggage that he's dealing with and isn't ready to commit. The results in pregnancy, but before Nora can inform Austin that she’s carrying his baby, she finds out the abominable reason why he doesn't want to commit or have kids. Embittered, she goes away and has her baby boy somewhere far away from him. She lives her life quietly, until five years later, when she runs into Austin at an airport, and her quiet life becomes chaotic once again. Nora wants nothing to do with him, but she has to be cordial with him for her son’s sake … or so she tells herself.

For eighteen years, my wife, Elizabeth Connerty, never once reached out to her first love, Lucas Ryder. She committed herself fully to me and cooked warm meals for me. She attended every parent-teacher conference for our daughter. She carefully planned our family trips year after year. That was how we lived—quietly, steadily, and happily—for eighteen years. But after our daughter celebrated her eighteenth birthday, I turned to Elizabeth and said, "Let's get a divorce." She stood in the doorway of our daughter's bedroom, staring at me in stunned silence. I added calmly, "When our daughter was born, you promised me that once she turned eighteen, we would divorce."

Alison, raised and educated in genetic mutation laboratories, is finally able to feel the long-awaited sensation of freedom when an accident occurs at Corfin's facilities. Upon being in the new world for the first time, Alison finds herself lost in society and does not mind being hostile to anyone who may refer her to danger and imprisonment. Freedom for her is not having someone to repress or command another, it is the right to do her will and desire, and when she sees that the new world does not suit her precepts, her wild side wakes up calling the attention of the authorities in the region. Alison Seventh-B.Corfin isn't going to hand herself over and be the meek wolf she was in her sector, she's going to destroy anyone who wants to imprison her again, not caring if the being smells amazingly like oranges and azaleas. x Patrick Bouvier has to prove to his people that he is capable and worthy of leading one of the two remaining ancestral packs, but he didn't know that the test for this would be dealing with the problems that his mate brought him. What can he do to save her from herself? And what will he have to do to save her from her kind, or vice versa? His partner is in danger and family dramas for both will erupt to further complicate things in the midst of a pre-collapse of the peace treaty. What will come out of it all?

It is the final day for the high school students to submit their university application forms, and I find out that someone has swapped out my and Ned Nicholson's application forms for Jafferton College instead. In a panic, I hurry off to find Ned to tell him about it, but I end up overhearing a conversation between him and one of his friends instead. "Ned, you promised Miranda Montez that you would both apply for Hale University together. Why did you secretly swap out both your application forms for Jafferton College instead? Aren't you worried that Miranda's going to make a huge fuss about it?" Ned sounds confident as he replies, "She won't. She'll listen to whatever I say. She'll be fine with it as long as she's still in the same college as I am." He pauses for a while before continuing in an impatient voice. "Scarlett Jordan can't get into Hale University. It's beyond her. She's going to be really scared if she has to go to Westward to study on her own, so I promised her that I'd go to the same college she was going to. "I mean, Jafferton College isn't that bad. Miranda wouldn't mind it at all." I stay silent for a long while before leaving quietly, pretending that I never heard a thing. I withdrew my application form for Jafferton College and submitted a new form for Dayward University instead. We made a promise to each other that we would start dating after getting into university. But since he's breaking his promise for someone else's sake, I decide to leave him quietly and go after my own dreams instead.

"You're my Amber" I heard his low voice as he moved in and out at such a perfect pace that I felt like I would melt in a matter of seconds. There was very, very little left, and my belly was contracting painfully. "All mine! Amber, a spoiled young woman from a wealthy family, sees her world turn upside down when her father loses the family fortune due to scams. She and her mother are forced to move to the outskirts of New York City, finding themselves in a hostile environment where opportunities are scarce. Desperate for a means of support, Amber lands an unexpected job at a prestigious company. To her surprise, her boss is someone from her past whom she never imagined encountering again. Though initially reluctant to accept the maid position, she soon realizes it's her only chance to have a roof over her head. As Amber immerses herself in the responsibilities of her new job, she discovers long-forgotten memories beginning to resurface. Amidst the day-to-day challenges, she finds herself confronting uncomfortable truths about her past and her own identity. What she initially viewed as a mere temporary job unfolds into a journey of self-discovery and redemption, where secrets from the past intertwine with future possibilities.