September First Reads Novels & Stories

My name is Valerie Sanchez. My husband's childhood sweetheart is pregnant, just like I am. To shield her reputation, he claims the child she's carrying is his. As for mine, he accuses me of cheating, saying it's the result of my sleeping with other men. Devastated, I confront him, but his response is as cold and unfeeling as ever. "Evelyn's family has always been strict with her. She can't bear hearing the rumors and gossip." Gazing at the man I had given my heart to for so long, I make an unspoken resolution—I will never love him again.

I had given up the Luna position six times for Silas Blackthorn. The first time, I shattered every moonstone lamp in the master bedroom and threw his clothes into the rain. The second time, I cried until my wolf went hoarse, asking him why I had to be the one who stepped aside. The third time, I begged him to leave at least one suitcase behind, because I was terrified he would never come back. By the fifth time, I had learned to fold his coats, pack his luggage, and stay silent so he would not get angry. Every time, he kissed my forehead and promised, “Seven days. Then everything goes back to normal.” And every time, I believed him. Until the sixth time. This time, when Silas handed me the document and asked me to step aside again, I signed without crying. He thought it was another temporary Luna authorization form. He did not know it was the mate bond release agreement. Seven days later, while he waited for me to return to the main house and reclaim my title, the bond between us broke. And by then, I had already left Blackthorn territory for good.

After fifteen years away, I was finally brought back to the DeLuca family. I thought I was returning to my real home. Instead, I walked into a house where the adopted daughter wanted me dead, my father treated me like a burden, and my brothers would rather watch me bleed than make her cry. On my first day back, she set dogs on me. That night, I was dragged to the top of the observatory and forced to apologize to her. When I fell from the tower covered in blood, they still called me a liar. Because in the DeLuca family, I may have been the real daughter by blood— but she was the daughter they loved. She thought she could bully me, poison me, and freeze me to death without consequence. She was wrong. Because the night I nearly died, my mother finally chose me—and turned a gun on the whole DeLuca family.

In my past life, I was the only daughter of the Gambino family in New York. I had power, wealth, respect. But I lost it all because of Lucas, my husband. He brought Isabella, the widow of his fallen brother, into our home without even asking me. I threw a fit, made a scene, and gave everyone exactly the story they wanted: the spoiled Gambino princess had finally gone mad. Lucas filed for divorce soon after. I did not beg him to stay. I was Leo Gambino's daughter. I would rather break my own teeth than plead with a man who had already chosen another woman. But pride did not save me. Soon after, our family fell apart. Enemies moved in, my father was killed, and I ended up starving on the streets of New York. Lucas, however, climbed to the top using our family's influence and became the new don of New York. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day Lucas first brought Isabella home.

I gave Julian Kane everything: my family’s connections, my clients, my lawyers, my money, and even the Manhattan office his company called home. For five years, I let him build his empire on my back. Then his new intern accused me of skipping work and stealing company money. She wanted my title, my clients, my office, and the black card that opened the most powerful doors in New York. Julian knew the truth, but he still let the whole company shame me. So I handed over the card. They thought I was finished, but they forgot one thing: the card was mine, the building was mine, the clients were mine, and the name they mocked was Moretti. If they wanted to call me a thief, I would show them exactly what they had stolen. If they wanted to drag me into the spotlight, I would let the whole city watch them fall. I didn’t come back to beg. I came back to collect.

I gave Adrian Vale eight years of my life. Eight years of waiting,forgiving,and pretending it did not hurt every time he chose his pride,his career,or his childhood friend over me.He always said he loved me.He always said marriage was only a matter of time.But somehow,that time never came. At my best friend’s wedding,when the bouquet finally landed in my arms,I gave him one last chance.One sentence was all I needed. Instead,Adrian took the bouquet from me and handed it to another woman. He thought I would cool down,come back,and wait for him like I always had. But he forgot one thing. I was Elena Moretti,and when a Moretti woman stops waiting,she does not look back.

It had been six years since Vincent Castellano was declared dead in that “car crash”, and I was still alone. My friends kept nagging me to move on. Even in my dreams, Vincent was there, begging me to stop living in the past. So I finally caved and agreed to a blind date with Leo Christopher, the guy who’d been chasing me for years. I’d decided I’d make a clean break with Vincent once and for all on the Day of the Dead. But the second I stepped out of the cemetery, a billboard for a luxury brownstone in Brooklyn Heights caught my eye. It was the exact place Vincent had been obsessed with back when I thought he was alive. Before I even knew what I was doing, I was heading straight for it. What I saw that day is seared into my brain for the rest of my life. There, on the bench outside the house, sat Vincent. The man was laid to rest in the Castellano family crypt. And he had his arm around another woman. That woman? Mia Rossi. The card dealer he’d been screwing behind my back six years prior. The same one I’d caught him red-handed with, the one I’d made him fire from the family casino.

The day I married Vincent Sorrentino, Lena, the Sorrentino family’s adopted daughter, threatened to jump off the steeple of the family church. Vincent left me standing at the altar in my custom wedding gown, no hesitation, just bolted after her. With every New York crime boss, politician, and oligarch staring at me, I looked out at the crowd and said loud and clear: “Any man who walks up here right now and says ‘I do’? I’ll marry you.” Three years later, Vincent was back into the Sorrentino family’s Long Island estate, Lena on his arm. I was sitting on the leather couch in the main living room, watching my favorate TV show. Vincent’s eyes locked on my huge pregnant belly, his jaw tight, growling through his teeth: “Whose bastard is in there?” I took a sip of orange juice, curled my lip into a smile, and said: “It's a Sorrentino baby, of course.”

Lin Wen Xin is a beautiful woman, born with elegant and distinctive features. There are countless men chasing after her love, but she has never accepted any one of them. She will always remember the promise that her first love made to her in high school, “Wait for me, you will be the only girl that I will marry!” Six years later, she was forced to marry the cold and ruthless billionaire president of DT Holdings, Wang Shen Ze. “Since she wants to play with me, I will play with her till the end. I will make sure that she will heavily regret her decision to marry me for the rest of her life!”

My mate’s sister, Selene, was with pup when she leapt from the highest tower of Blackrock Keep. Before she died, she sent me one final whisper through the pack bond. “Lyra saw him.” From that day on, I became the greatest sinner in Stormcliff. Everyone believed I knew who had driven Selene to her death. The elders demanded the truth. My father-in-law, the aged Alpha, knelt before me. My mother-in-law, the elder Luna, clutched my legs and begged until her voice broke. But I said nothing. For two years, I carried the secret alone. Darian, my mate, did not exile me. Instead, he stayed by my side, gentler than ever. I thought he still loved me. Until the day I gave birth to his pup. That night, he locked me inside the cold stone dungeon and brought out the Soul Recollection Device. Every wolf who had used that device either died or lost their mind. As the silver needles pierced into my skull, Darian stood before me with bloodshot eyes. “If you won’t speak,” he said, his voice cold and shaking, “then I’ll tear the truth out of your soul myself.” He thought I was protecting Selene’s murderer. But when he finally saw the truth I had buried for him, Darian went mad.