Ridley From Beautiful Creatures

On our sixth wedding anniversary, I felt a seam split open in my skull. Not from pain, but from truth. “Ethan, that new assistant… how does she taste?” Marcus’s thought, slick as oil. Ethan's reply slithered through my veins: "Young. Tender. Like summer berries." His lips shaped a lie. His hand shielded me from the crowd, even as his fingers pressed a blood-red cocktail into my palm. "Don't let Lena find out,"he thought, the words clear as speech. "I’d in a big trouble." Laughter swirled. Champagne clinked.their mind. Nobody knew I could hear every thought ,the ability to read minds awakened in me last night. . Nobody knew I had already known about his betrayal long ago. There were no tears, no screams I just replied “yes” to Professor Johnson’s encrypted call-the path I should have chosen six years ago. In three days, I would vanish. Not running from him. Running back to who I was at twenty—the rising star of virus research.

I used to work as a model, but not the typical kind. In our profession, everyone had a benefactor, someone who supported them financially. I dedicated myself to my benefactor for a year and a half, tending to his needs diligently. Despite my dedication, I was eventually abandoned. Just when I gathered my courage and decided to start afresh, he showed up again, "Do you want to date me? Officially."

Since I was a kid, my parents drilled it in—you're gonna be a Corleone girl, Giovanni Corleone's property. "This is just an alliance. Don't expect anything more." That's what he said on our wedding night. So I played the part—quiet, polished, dutiful. Then year three hit, and suddenly Giovanni couldn't keep his hands off me. Every night, something new. I thought maybe—finally—he felt the same way I had all along. Then I caught him kissing his stepmom. Funny. Just the night before, he told me kissing me made him sick. "I've been practicing with her—for your sake." So yeah. All that heat? Just rehearsal for her. So I ran. Took back my life—and our unborn daughter. The Don lost his mind looking for me. Begged me to come back—with the kid. But I would not stop for him anymore. I turned and walked straight toward the stage that was always mine.

I waited eight years. The day I was supposed to become Luna, my fated mate, Alpha Cayden, rejected me in front of the entire pack. Because I was barren. He severed our mate bond and kissed my omega assistant, Lilith. Turns out, they had already mated. The bitch was pregnant with his child. Rage consumed me. I was ready to leave it all behind, but his mother threw me in a silver cell. He planned to strip me of my wolf and my gift—and give my powers to his new Luna, Lilith. Broken, I fled, only to be attacked by rogues and left for dead in a pool of my own blood. When I woke again, I was in a strange place. My memory was wiped clean. Alpha Rhys of the Shadowcrest Pack was by my side, promising to take care of me. And me, the barren wolf, I was pregnant… But I can no longer remember who the child's father was.

When you are growing up adults usually tell you that you can be whatever you want to be, right?! I was told I would be a starving artist if I became what I wanted to be. I let their words become me. All their words. I let them dictate the person I became. I kept the real me to myself after so many years of their hatred for that person. I let little bits of my soul break away and die to keep their torment to a minimum. I learned to not rock the boat, just keep my head down and do as I was told. I was the party crasher on their life that never left. Until I shocked them when I did. Out on my own, I wasn’t as strong as I thought I was. I settled for the first “nice guy” to come along. That quickly fizzled out after a shotgun wedding. After a year alone I met Prince Charming #2 at a backyard BBQ. I didn’t know my jerk radar was still broken. Then out of nowhere, the one I had always thought was a jerk turned out to surprisingly be my Prince Charming. Being the man, I need in my life. He became everything I needed, and everything I didn’t know I wanted. Allowing me to grow and blossom as a person which inspires him to do the same. And we live happily ever after.

Selena and Xander became mates not long ago, but Xander suddenly became cold-blooded and heartless. When the mate bond between her and Xander was broken, she reached the end of her life. Yet she got nothing but even more fierce retaliation from Xander. It turned out that he was with her only to avenge his parents in the first place. Disheartened, Selena chose to end her life. "Whatever my father owed you, I'll pay it back!" The always proud Xander knelt on the ground with red-rimmed eyes, frantically begging her to come back over and over again...

Fransisca Ryle is forced to seek a job at the prestigious company owned by Alexander Smith due to the urgent need for funds to cover her seriously ill mother's medical expenses. She secures a position as Alexander's secretary, but she also has to endure the cold demeanor of the CEO and his infuriating girlfriend, Veronica. Unexpectedly, a one-night stand between Fransisca and Alexander leads them to realize that love is blossoming between them. As their relationship deepens, Alexander rekindles his relationship with his ex-girlfriend, leaving Fransisca feeling betrayed and humiliated. She decides to leave Alexander's life and vows to seek revenge in her heart. How the next?

At the annual Mafia Summit, my childhood sweetheart, Salvatore Russo, falls victim to an aphrodisiac slipped to him by a beautiful spy from a rival family. And I, the cherished daughter of the most feared Don in the west, willingly become his antidote. That night, he drives me to the edge of breathless surrender, again and again. "Principessa, what did I ever do to deserve your favor?" he mutters. From that moment on, his love consumes me whole, making me forget what loneliness ever felt like. But in the third year of our marriage, someone sent me a private video of a man and a woman. It's from Rosa Conti, the same woman who once drugged Salvatore. In the video, Salvatore's voice is thick with desire. "Darling, of course I remember. The one who should've been in my bed that night was you." Then, Rosa sends me another voice message, taunting, "Arianna Moretti, for three years, he's been dulling your claws, turning you into something soft and spoiled. Everything he did was just to bring me back." However, she doesn't know that when I love Salvatore, I don't mind surrendering to him. And when I no longer love him, he'll face my fiercest vengeance.

“Marco?" she called, her voice barely above a whisper. Marco remained silent, he only arched his brow, his expression unreadable. Slowly, everything began to sink in. "Why?" Her voice trembled as she finally broke the silence that had settled between them. "Why didn't you speak up when you knew the truth, Marco? You could have saved me." Marco scoffed. "What did you expect me to do?" "DEFEND ME? PROTECT ME!" She yelled. "That's what you do for someone you love." Marco’s jaw tightened, and he leaned against the cold, steel bars of the cell. His icy blue eyes bore into hers, but there was no warmth, no love, only a distant glimmer of irritation. "Ivy," he began, his voice low and filled with everything but love, "I can't tell if you're just naive or plain daft." "You know I couldn't back you up in front of everyone. I couldn't risk them finding out that I'm mated to an Omega." ~~~~~ Ivy thought she had hit rock when she was falsely accused, added to her mate’s betrayal and then auctioned according to tradition for all female criminals. But when a handsome and mysterious Alpha walked in at the dying moment, wanting her for himself, she must decide whether to leave with him as his personal slave or remain in the pack to go through the last phase of her punishment; which could end up being her last day on earth.

At my wedding, a video of my fiancé cheating was exposed. I didn't make a scene; just turned around and walked away, left him to clean up the mess himself. I went back to my room and kissed my younger boyfriend. We were halfway through when we got interrupted. My fiancé stormed in, face red with shame and rage. "Is this really the time? All you can think about is kissing?" I smacked my lips, still savoring the moment. "Weren't you the one who introduced us?"