Scraped Knuckles

My mother fell critically ill and was rushed to the hospital. Desperate, I knelt before my fiancé—the department's chief surgeon—and begged him to take charge of her operation. But outside the ICU, he was carefully tending to a scraped knee. Lucy Wendell's scraped knee, to be exact. Just as I was drowning in hopelessness, Cameron Mitchell—the hospital director and my childhood friend—pushed open the operating room doors and handed me a marriage proposal. "Marry me, and I'll personally perform your mother's surgery." With trembling hands, I signed my name, clinging to the last shred of hope that she could be saved. But she never made it through that stormy night. Cameron handled all the funeral arrangements himself, and our wedding proceeded as scheduled. Seven years later, in the hushed silence of the hospital archives, I overheard Cameron speaking with the deputy director. "Cameron, why did you transfer your mother-in-law's organ to Lucy's mother during that surgery? Weren't you afraid of getting caught?" "I owed Lucy," he replied. "If I hadn't hesitated back then, Lucy never would've chosen medical aid work in Africa… and her mother wouldn't have fallen ill from the grief."

We'd been legally married for seven years, yet my CEO "fiance", Jared Lane, had ditched me at the altar thirteen times. At our first wedding, his assistant, Maeve Fischer, scraped her leg. I spent the entire day waiting alone at the ceremony. At our second wedding, he heard she was sick and tossed the wedding ring away to rush to her side. On every wedding day after that, some accident would conveniently happen to her. By the 13th time he bailed, I had had enough and decided to walk away. But when I found comfort in another man's arms, Jared lost his mind trying to win me back.

Inside the best gynecology and obstetrics department of the most prestigious hospital in Jin City... Jiang Sese gritted her teeth as she endured the acute labor pain in her abdomen. Breaking out in a cold sweat all over, she clutched the guardrails on both sides of the bed so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. Seeing this, the obstetrician gently comforted her. “Don’t be scared. The child will be born safe and sound. Everything will soon pass.” Jiang Sese nodded

I was bleeding out in a corner after a hit from a rival family. My husband, Dante—the Torrino family’s underboss—was in his car, holding his best friend's little sister. He gave me one cold look and said, "Leave her. She's a nobody." Later, after someone else saved me, I walked home, soaked in my own blood. I found Dante cradling Seraphina, fussing over her. All she had was a scraped knee. The blood covering my clothes? He didn't even see it. I just watched. Said nothing. Then I pulled out my phone and called my mother. "Mom, I need to come home."

The day Jack Prescott's family went "bankrupt," he dumped me on the spot. "My mom's house is getting auctioned. I don't want you dragged into this." I actually bought it. Went against my family and stuck by him, slinging street food just to scrape by. "Don't stress. I'll help you buy it back." Three years of nonstop work—burn scars up and down my arms—and I finally scraped together a small fortune. The day we were supposed to sign the papers, I caught him on the phone. "Jack, you coming back?" some guy asked. Jack flicked his cigarette, all smug. "What's the rush? I'm still milking this sad little simp. She's totally whipped. It just keeps getting funnier." All that time, all that love? Just a joke to him.

One of the men cracked his knuckles loud enough to make my stomach flip. Another grabbed my wrist and slammed my hand flat on the table. A blade glinted as it rose. ​“Please! Please—” Hot tears blurred my vision. My heartbeat roared in my ears. ​“Make it quick.” Moe snapped his fingers. "Seven hundred thousand," Kieran said, sliding the folder across the table. "Pretend to be my wife for six months." ​Kieran Wolfe is a billionaire with a cold heart who must marry to secure his inheritance. But he has one rule: she can never, under any circumstances, touch him. ​Sienna thinks the debt collectors were the dangerous ones. But as she signs the contract, she realises that being the wife of a man who refuses all human contact might be a far more dangerous game.

Alana and Alena are identical twins. One unfavorable night their father was attacked by the gang. He was almost killed. Luckily, he was still breathing, but he needed a lot of money for his operation. Alena offered herself as an exchange for her father's life. The only one who could save them from losing their father was the leader of the Blue Knuckles, Allessandro Castellucio. Alana drugged her twin sister on her wedding day and volunteered herself as a bride to the Mafia boss. Allessandro Castellucio was known for murdering, torturing, and making money. He was well defined as a heartless creature. A devil existed in a place called heaven because of his money and power. But what would happen if a metal was put in a foundry and burned with unstoppable fire?

In the tenth year of my marriage to a genius pianist, I came down with a strange illness. A month ago, my husband missed my birthday party to care for his ailing sister-in-law. Night after night, I had waited for him to return home. But that night I forgot to wait at all and went to bed early. Half a month ago, he attended an important performance with his sister-in-law. I had always been petty and prone to jealousy, yet this time I didn't get angry. I simply went home in silence. Three days ago, I fell seriously ill with a burning fever. My husband rushed back from out of town in a panic—but only to tend to his sister-in-law, whose hand had been scalded. When we ran into each other at the hospital, I was strangely calm. I, who used to be fiercely jealous, felt nothing at all. I forgot the promise we had made to grow old together. I even forgot how he once fretted over me for days when I'd scraped a bit of skin. It wasn't until he said he wanted to bring his sister-in-law home and take care of her for the rest of his life that I—my memories riddled with holes—summoned the system at last. "I want to go home."

"We shouldn't be doing this" said a broken whisper filled with desire… * Finding a way to escape her tortured family, Rayla thought that her prayers were soon answered as the moon goddess finally paired her with a mate. All seemed pleased except for her stepbrother who has made it his life mission to bully her. She is usually unbothered by him until one night when he came into her room with broken knuckles, causing her to begin to see him in a different light. Her dreamy bubble gets busted however when her mate suddenly rejects her in front of the whole school the following day, with no explanation whatsoever, …And her life takes an even bigger turn when stepbrother claims her in front of the whole school as his mate. Their relationship is forbidden and tagged as an abomination. And he knows this, but he just doesn’t care!

"Little mouse, the next time I have to repeat something to you, I'll have to take you over my knee" I shuddered. The thought of him taking me over his knee made me hot for some unknown reason. I sat carefully on his laps, my legs to the side. He turned me so I straddled him. He caressed my sides and leaned into my neck. He sucked on the side of my neck and I tilted my head to give him better access. He scraped my neck gently and I moaned. I felt super sensitive all over my body."My king""Thane. Call me Thane. I want to hear you scream it when you cum for me."***************************************************Alpha King Thane is wild and ruthless. He doesn't know how to be gentle. He is exasperated by the slave in red dress. He doesn't want another mate but no one else can have her.Esmeralda is attracted to the king. He acts hot and cold towards her and stirs up emotions she doesn't understand. She has no idea what he wants from her.What does fate have for the innocent slave girl and the ruthless alpha king?