Rumble Fish Rusty James Novels & Stories

My sister, Anna Hawkins, and I are twins, but I'm slightly heavier than her when we were born. Anna has always been weak and sickly since young, whereas I'm always active and healthy. When Anna was four years old, she was diagnosed with leukemia. Mom blamed me for stealing Anna's nutrients when I got born, so I needed to return the nutrients to her. When I got my blood extracted for the first time, a thick syringe was used on me. I was so scared when I saw it. Mom told me not to be scared. She gave me a magical pen, stating that whatever wish I wrote down with the pen would come true. I wrote, "It won't hurt." When the syringe was plunged into my arm again, Mom bought me a sweet lollipop. The pain never struck me again afterward. When I was five years old, I drew a strawberry cake on the paper while getting 1000cc blood withdrawn from me. That week, Anna could sit up in bed and play on her own. When I turned seven years old, I wrote down my wish that I'd like to go on a vacation. The next day, I was sent into the operating theater for the doctors to collect my hematopoietic cells. For the first time ever, Anna's cheeks became rosy. When I was eight years old, I wrote that I wanted to become the top student of my grade. But a day before my exams, my bone marrow was drawn from me. Anna finally got discharged by the hospital. She got to wear new dresses that I never got to wear. In the year I turn nine years old, my body is heavily depleted. With a trembling hand, I can only write down a line in messy handwriting. "I hope… that I won't become Mom's daughter in my next life."

At the wedding, I immediately recognized that the woman under the veil wasn't Selene, but an impostor. But I still went through with the ceremony as if nothing was wrong. In my previous life, Selene had been forced to return and complete the wedding with me after I exposed the fake bride in front of everyone. That very night, however, her childhood sweetheart was rushed to the ICU with acute alcohol poisoning. When Selene heard the news, she didn't shed a tear. Instead, she cursed him, saying he got what he deserved. … After we married, Selene and I appeared to be a loving couple on the surface. I kept funneling money from my family to save her family business from collapse. But on our first anniversary, my wife—with not even a sliver of warmth in her eyes—tied me to a helicopter with her own hands. "If you hadn't forced me to come back and marry you that day, Chase wouldn't have ended up like that," she snarled. "What right do you have to live so happily? I'll make sure you feel the pain he went through before he died." She threw me from ten thousand yards up, and I hit the ground as nothing more than a broken heap of flesh. So, this time, I pretended to know nothing and went through with the wedding alongside the fake bride. I wanted to see just how Selene would manage to save the crumbling Liraine Co. without the Schreiber family's support.

After completing the quest, I insisted on staying in that world, foregoing the lucrative rewards. It was because I had a happy and perfect family there. My brother was a genius world-renowned scientist, and all his research achievements were named after me. My father was the world's richest man, and all his wealth was under my name. My mother was an extraordinarily talented dancer, but she gave up the stage just to spend more time with me. My family pampered me. I was the most envied pampered daughter in the world… until the day their real daughter, Carrie Langford, showed up at our door. Their love for me vanished overnight. From then on, I became inconsequential. Carrie orchestrated her own fall down the stairs, and my mother was so angry that she broke my leg. I ate a small bite of the cake Carrie threw away, so my father locked me in a dog cage for three days to dine with the dogs. He also made a golden cake for Carrie to make her feel better. Just because Carrie complained that her heart hurt, my brother dug out my heart for her and replaced it with an artificial heart. "It's just a heart. You've always been healthy. Carrie needs it more than you do." Calmly, my brother stood to the side, analyzing the data. "Don't worry, artificial heart technology is already very advanced, so the theoretical survival rate is very high. You won't die." After my soul left my body, I saw Carrie casually throw my heart into a trash can. The long-dormant system was awakened. [Would you like to take back everything you've given them, including your father's wealth, your mother's dancing talent, and your brother's intelligence, in exchange for a chance to revive?]

At the very moment Phoebe Stanton miscarries, her husband, Connor Russell, is celebrating the return of his first love. To him, her three years of devotion and companionship mean nothing more than being a live-in maid and cook. Phoebe gives up on him and decides to divorce. Everyone in their circle knows that Phoebe is clingy and impossible to shake off. "I bet she'll come crawling in a day." Connor sneers. "A day? That's too long—half a day at most." But the moment Phoebe signs the divorce papers, she decides never to look back. She throws herself into a new life. She revives her career, which she once abandoned, builds new connections, and meets new people. As time goes on, Connor no longer sees even a trace of Phoebe at home. He begins to panic. At an industry summit, he finally spots her, surrounded by admirers. Desperate, he pushes forward. "Phoebe, haven't you had enough of this tantrum?" But Gideon Blackwood suddenly steps in front of her, shoving Connor aside, his very demeanor chilling the air. "Don't touch my woman." Connor has never loved Phoebe. But now that he does, it's already too late. There's no longer a place for him in her world.

He ruined her family to make her his. But what happens when love starts to ruin him instead? In a world where love is a luxury and trust is a lie, one woman learns that even a heart built on revenge can still break for love. Amelia Rayna James has always believed that love is a luxury she can’t afford. Her life takes a dark turn when her family’s fortune collapses overnight, leaving them buried in debt. To save them, especially her reckless younger brother, Oliver. Rayna agrees to an unthinkable deal: a contract marriage with the cold and ruthless billionaire, Denzel Connor Adams. Behind Denzel’s sharp suits and icy demeanor hides a man scarred by a violent past, a secret he’s spent his life burying. What Rayna doesn’t know is that Denzel planned her family’s downfall just to make her his. Thrown into a world of power, deceit, and forbidden desire, Rayna must navigate jealous rivals, a manipulative ex-lover who claims to be Denzel’s child’s mother, and a best friend whose loyalty will end in tragedy. As her fake marriage turns dangerously real, buried truths threaten to destroy them both. When betrayal, blackmail, and death tear through their fragile love, Rayna faces a final choice to walk away from the man who shattered her family, or risk everything for the only love she’s ever known. In a world where everything has a price, can love survive beneath the layers of luxury?

On the day I'm set to give birth, a rogue crashes his car into the convoy that's meant to transport me and Alison Cranwell to the hospital for a prenatal check-up. My water breaks the moment the crash happens. A mixture of blood and amniotic sap soon dyes my seat crimson. At the same time, intense pain flares from my abdomen. My Alpha mate, Caleb Bright, rushes over immediately and hoists the doctor by the collar. "You must protect the she-wolves and their pups!" Warmth floods my heart at that moment. It continues spreading throughout my body until I get wheeled into an operating theater. Since the general anesthesia has yet to fully take effect, I can vaguely make out Marcus Knight, Caleb's Beta, speaking to him in a lowered tone. "The thing is, Alpha Caleb, Luna Selina is suffering from heavy bleeding as well. But we only have one vial of the most effective Lunar Grass essence left. If we don't use it on her, I'm afraid that she and the pup will—" "Alison is pregnant with my dead brother's only pup. She must not be harmed no matter what," Caleb states icily. "Selina is very strong, and her wolf can endure her grievous wounds. As for that pup… well, we'll have another one in the future." But what Caleb doesn't know is that I didn't just lose my pup that night—I've lost the last trace of love I have for him as well.

He is a loveless Alpha, the most horrible pack leader of the MOON STONE; handsome, muscular, bossy and domineering, he takes what he wants. She, a lonely wolf girl, born in a cursed the red night, alone, the enemy of vampires and their followers, endowed with very powerful powers. The Moon goodness has decided to unite them, but not everything will be plain sailing. An enemy to fight, a past to be deleted. He Carter Darren. She Nicolette Gary. What will happen if these two souls meet?

As I grit my teeth and buy the last box of discounted shrimp, a young woman dressed head to toe in designer brands is picking out imported seafood beside me. She glances at me and casually drops a king crab into my cart. "It's the holidays. Treat yourself better," she says with a carefree smile. "I'll pay for everything you buy today." I am shocked when I see the five-figure price tag. I quickly try to decline her by waving my hands frantically. She pulls out a black card and shrugs. "It's fine. My sugar daddy gives me more money than I can spend. If I don't use it, he'll get mad." I force a laugh. "Sounds like he's really generous to you." "He's alright, I guess. I can't spend money as fast as he earns it," she says nonchalantly. After a slight pause, she goes on, "Speaking of which, his girlfriend is pretty dumb. She works nonstop for years just to help him pay off a debt that doesn't even exist. When I say I want him to cook on New Year's Eve, he immediately ditches his girlfriend to come be with me." I freeze for a moment. My boyfriend, Eric Sterling, is in debt. Just as I am thinking it can't be that much of a coincidence, my phone buzzes with a message from Eric. He texts, "Anne, the company assigned me to an extra shift tonight. I get triple the pay. Buy yourself something nice to eat. I'll be home tomorrow."

I lead my team to develop a new drug formula that passed its first clinical trial. It becomes the key to the company's IPO. So, the board votes unanimously to award me an additional 5% in shares. But at the celebration party, my shares turn into three hams. I assume it is a prank by my colleagues. But to my surprise, Draco Faraday looks at me with disgust and says, "Don't think I don't know. You used your position as team leader to assign all the experimentation to Avery. Then, you take the credit for the results. This reward should go to her. As for you, you should be satisfied with the ham!" Seeing Avery Blake looking both flattered and overwhelmed, I am rendered speechless. I argue, "Avery is an art major. Does she even understand chemical formulas?" Draco's expression darkens. "Cross-disciplinary expertise is her strength, not a weakness. I won't argue with you this time. If it happens again, I'll fire you!” When I try to defend myself, he snaps, "Starting today, Avery is the team leader. You should get a taste of how it feels to be exploited." I look at him in disbelief for a moment before nodding forcefully with a sneer. "Fine. From now on, I won't assist if the projects run into any issues. Don't regret it." Draco looks at Avery approvingly."The only thing I regret is not making Avery the person in charge sooner."

On Halloween night, I went to pick up my husband after he had been drinking. As I reached the door, I heard someone inside asking about the wildest thing anyone had ever done. In his drunken haze, my husband muttered, “I’ve been living a second life behind my wife’s back. After Halloween, I’ll end things with the other woman, go back home for good, and try to make it up to her.” My heart sank, though I felt a small sense of relief that he was getting back on the right track. He continued, “After all, our two kids are just three years old. This is when they need their dad the most.” Everyone in the private room praised him for being responsible, saying that nothing was more precious than a reformed man. I stood frozen in place, because we had agreed not to have children when we got married. I was the “other woman”.