Novel & Cerita Ruby Merah

Back home in Sicily, there’s a rule. If I’m not married by 30, I go back for an arranged marriage. When I told my boyfriend, Jax, he scoffed. "What century is your hometown stuck in? The Middle Ages? Arranged marriages? Alessia, I said I'd marry you. Stop trying to force my hand with this pathetic drama." He casually pulled out a pigeon-blood ruby ring and tossed it to his personal assistant, Bianca. She caught it, blushing. "I was going to propose tonight. But since you’re so desperate, I think we both need to cool off." The ring I’d waited years for. He just threw it to someone else. My heart froze over. Jax walked out of my office with a conqueror's smirk. Bianca pushed the ring toward me. I didn't even look at it. "Take it. It’s your size, isn't it?" The color drained from her face. I shoved her out the door. Right before I slammed it shut, I said, "Tell your boss we're done." He didn't know the "elders" forcing me into this marriage were led by the most ruthless Godfather in Sicily. And the "blind date" was an arranged union with the Don of the North American Five Families.

The appointment of Susan Moore as the Broadcasting Channel's executive director has forced out the station's more valued news anchor, sparking heated discussions throughout Hayworth. Susan herself is standing before me right now. She wants to sell her jewelry. As the manager of a luxury boutique store, I'm here to inspect the goods. "These are pieces my partner commissioned for me. I have so many that I'm tired of them." One of them is a diamond-encrusted necklace, featuring a pigeon-blood ruby in the center, worth a few million. There are also several similar gifts on the table, with the crocodile skin bag the least eye-catching one. I smiled. "Your husband must really love you." I set about verifying the purchaser's ID and signature as part of a routine procedure. However, I freeze in place at the sight of the name. "I'm not his wife," she replied, bringing the coffee cup to her lips. "We're just each other's first loves. He said he missed out on 15 years of my life, so he gave me 15 gifts. Isn't that romantic?" It is romantic, indeed. However, it's my father's signature. For 30-plus years, I assumed that my father was a dull man who had never once surprised my mother.

I knew they all hated me, I was weak and I had no wolves. They treated me like a slave, I was a disgrace to them, not to mention to my pack. My father, Alpha of the Widfire pack was suddenly rumored to have died. My sister, Arora O'Malley, was made Alpha of the Wildfire pack to replace the weak me. I was the eldest daughter, but I didn't have any rights that I could claim. At the age of 18, my wolf suddenly awoke. I found my mate and I dreamed of escaping this suffocating life. However, he flatly rejected me and chose another woman. I, Ruby O'Malley, just wanted freedom. And it looks like it will come true when Mother sells me to the Alpha King Triplets of the Celestial Dawn pack. I smelled the alluring sweetness, they were my second chance! *** "Are you afraid of me?" A heavy, slightly hoarse voice sounded melodious in my ears. A surprised shriek escaped my lips as my body suddenly levitated. Spontaneously, I wrapped my arms around his neck. He surprised me! Why did he suddenly carry me without any prior notice? "You can look at my face for a long time, but not now. You don't want to keep me and my other two brothers waiting, do you?"

After my grandpa receives a critical notice regarding his illness, he takes my boyfriend, Layne Harper, by the hand and pleads with him. "Layne, please marry Aleah while I'm still alive this month. I want to see her live happily ever after." Everyone sheds tears in the hospital room, thinking that Layne will heed Grandpa's words right away by getting down on one knee and proposing to me. After all, I have been waiting for him for the past ten years. With tears brimming in my eyes, I wait for Layne's response eagerly. But he covers the speaker of his phone out of worry that he might awaken his childhood friend, Ruby Martin, whom he has spent the last five hours coaxing to sleep. Finally, Layne replies gently, "Don't worry, Grandpa. I will give Aleah the happiness she deserves. Even if we don't get married in the end, I'll stick with my promise." My relatives stop cheering Layne on immediately. Then, they turn to look at me sympathetically. But I just smile and go with the flow. "I'll still be happy even if I don't marry Layne, Grandpa." After all, in two hours, I will accept another man's marriage proposal.

They Told her to choose duty. She chose love and paid the price. Selene was never meant to be ordinary. As the daughter of Alpha Jamie and bearer of ancient spirit energy, she was destined to lead her people into a new era. Feared, revered, and expected to follow the path carved for her, Selene carried the weight of her world until she met him. Ethan, a hybrid prince and the son of vampire King Nicholas was everything she was warned against. A forbidden mate. A dangerous alliance. But he was also her sanctuary, her secret, and the other half of a bond that defied the rules of bloodlines and kingdoms. Together, they hid their love behind the walls of duty until a war ignited that would shatter everything. When betrayal tears through the supernatural realms and a dark force returns from the dead, Selene is forced to embrace her power, her destiny, and the unbearable cost of leadership. With her only maid and dearest friend, Ruby, falling in battle to save her, Selene is driven to the edge of heartbreak and rage. Reinforcements arrive. Allies unite. But the true war begins when he returns. Xander, a monster of legend, reborn in shadow… and targeting everything Selene holds dear. Now, as worlds collide and the battlefield burns, Selene must face the unthinkable: To save the world, she may have to kill the man she loves.

Ruby Morgan was, in every way, an ordinary human. At twenty-six, she had never had a boyfriend, a date, or a first kiss. Throughout school, her crushes went unnoticed, perhaps due to her nerdy appearance or her tendency to blend in. She always chose studying over parties.​ Despite being a grown woman, she remained a virgin and was still intensely curious about sex. By day, she was the head technician at a top digital company; by night, she ran a small diner. Her quiet life was about to change with a single dare from her friend Whitney, who finally managed to drag her to a party one evening.​ Ethan Blackwood, a thirty-two-year-old Alpha, led the infamous Blood Moon Pack. He was a powerful figure in the werewolf world and a business magnate in the human realm, where he was seen as an unattainable aristocrat. To the world, he was a handsome, successful, and notorious bachelor, often at the center of a new scandal. He had been engaged three times, only to break it off each time, sometimes because the woman got too clingy, other times because he simply got bored and cheated. Women swarmed him, but Ethan had made a vow long ago: he would only settle with his fated mate.

The night before my wedding, I was in a terrible car accident. I fell into a coma, and my body was broken and bruised. While I lay unconscious, my fiancé called off the engagement and married his childhood sweetheart instead. My mother went to demand justice on my behalf—but never made it back. She died in a sudden, brutal accident along the way. In that moment of chaos, it was my childhood friend who stepped in. He knelt on one knee outside the hospital with a wedding gift of a hundred thousand dollars and quietly handled my mother's funeral. I was wheeled into surgery. I lived, but was left with a permanent disability. And still, he promised to stay by my side, for life. I was deeply moved. We got married. But five years later, I overheard him talking to his secretary. "Mr. Davidson, you arranged for someone to hit your wife with a car, just so Lucy could marry the one she loved. Aren't you afraid she'll find out?" "For Lucy, there's nothing I wouldn't do. I've already given Ruby the rest of my life. Isn't that enough?" I covered my mouth, holding back a sob. Only then did I realize—the marriage I believed in had been a lie all along. So be it. I'll disappear and let him be with the woman he truly loves.

My fiance, Simon Rossi, is a mafia Don with a reputation for brutality. He suddenly takes in an orphan girl and spoils her rotten. He names her Giara, saying she's pure, like a beam of light. But that is the name he has promised for our future daughter. He thinks he's hidden it well. But the night before our engagement party, I notice his cufflinks. The ruby ones I gave him are replaced with cheap plastic cartoon cats. I don't believe he's really cheating, so I abduct Giara to get answers without hurting her. Then Simon bursts in with his men. 50 people die, and three armories go up in flames. "Ivina Coleo, consider this a lesson. But don't worry. I'll send her away. Remember, this is the first time you touch her, and the last." But at the engagement party, Giara sits with Simon's parents, smiling right at me. The sight sparks a fury I can't control. I lunge forward, determined to send her away myself. Simon tells Giara to leave, coaxing me through the ceremony. But that night, he binds my limbs with stones and sinks me into the sea. "I told you that was the last time." Cold water fills my lungs. When I open my eyes again, I'm back on the day I first abducted Giara. This time, I don't want Simon or the wedding anymore.

I had just returned from studying design abroad when my grandfather insisted that he had already arranged a childhood betrothal for me. The moment I got back to the country, he dragged me straight to the Hunt family's residence to discuss the engagement. The adults talked endlessly, and I quickly grew bored sitting there. Slipping away quietly, I wandered into the Hunt family garden for a walk. Out of nowhere, a woman rushed toward me and slapped me hard across the face. "Where did this shameless woman come from? How dare you steal my things!" I covered my cheek and stared at her in shock. The woman lifted her chin arrogantly, her tone dripping with condescension, as if she were granting me charity. "That ruby on your hand was a birthday gift from the young master of the Hunt family. A poor girl like you—how could you possibly afford to wear it?!" I opened my mouth, about to explain that it was mine. But before I could say a word, she struck me across the face again. "Do you even know who I am? I'm the Hunt family's future daughter-in-law—the future Mrs. Hunt! The entire Hunt family will listen to me!" I pulled out my phone and, right in front of her, sent a message to the contact labeled Fiancé. "Lucas, there's a mad dog in your house. Are you going to do something about it or not?"

I was three months pregnant when our enemies ambushed me on a private drive in Manhattan’s East Side. A bullet punched through the window. Glass buried itself in my shoulder. With the last bit of strength I had, I hit the Moretti family’s encrypted distress signal and called my husband, Adrian Moretti, for help. He didn’t come. Later, I found out he had pulled the Moretti family’s best trauma surgeon and security detail away that night to stay with his old flame, Evelyn Langdon. She had just lost her husband. She was carrying his child. She said a nightmare had left her gasping for air. I lost our baby in the emergency room. When I woke up, the first thing I saw was Evelyn’s new post. [Some people don’t need to ask. He’ll still drop everything and come running. Thank you, A. You always know what I need most.] In the photo, Adrian was kneeling by her bed, fastening the ruby necklace around her throat. The same necklace he had promised me for our tenth anniversary. I didn’t cry. I didn’t make a scene. I called Professor Clark. “Professor, I’ll take the classified seat at the Artemis Northern Institute. Start the Black Ice Protocol. Wipe my public identity as soon as possible.”