Serena Darien

On the night of our ninth wedding anniversary, my husband—Damian Grant, the man who ruled the mafia by day and once ruled my heart by night—did not bring me roses. He gave the bouquet that should have been mine to Serena Lane, his personal assistant. Beneath the chandelier where we once danced on our wedding night, he turned to me with that same cold charm he once used to whisper sweet nothings in my ear. “She's pregnant.” Finally, everything fell into place. “She's a picky eater. From today onward, you’ll cook three meals a day for her. And no repeats. “She’s sensitive and hates sleeping alone, so you’ll need to move your things into the guest room.” The room fell silent. I did not raise my voice, nor did I shed a single tear. I simply picked up my packed suitcase and walked to the door. The butler tried to stop me, but Damian did not even blink. “She’ll come back.” He lazily swirled the wine in his glass. “She’ll come back crying and begging within three days.” Our guests burst out laughing. They placed a million-dollar bet right in front of me. They were betting on whether I would be back before the night was over, begging Damian to let me back in like a pathetic stray dog with my tail between my legs. However, they did not know I had already received the family heirloom from my real father. I booked my flight to get far, far away from everyone I used to know. This time, I really left.

Acababa de aparearme con mi compañero, el Alfa Damien, cuando él trajo a la manada a una huérfana para pagar una "deuda de vida". Desde ese día, pasé a un segundo plano frente a la loba, Lila. Siempre. Lila me tendió una trampa, afirmando que la obligué a perder el control de su loba. Por eso, Damien me encerró en las celdas de plata durante tres días y tres noches. —¡La plata te enseñará a cómo ser una Luna tolerante! El envenenamiento por plata es tortura. Mi loba se marchitó. Supliqué por misericordia, ahogándome en la agonía. Lila simplemente se acurrucó contra él, con su voz destilando una preocupación falsa. —Serena es tu compañera, después de todo. Cuando ella siente dolor, tú sientes dolor. Me duele verte sufrir. Más tarde, para hacer feliz a Lila, Damien le entregó públicamente mi asiento en el Consejo de la manada, a ella, una loba que no sabía nada. Esa vez, no dije nada. Simplemente corté nuestro vínculo de compañeros. Días después, mientras él se retorcía en la agonía de nuestro vínculo roto, finalmente escuchó las noticias. Yo me había unido a la unidad de élite de la realeza, The Talons. Y nunca iba a regresar. Él se hizo pedazos.

My son was kidnapped by rogue wolves during training. Ethan used all his connections as Beta to finally locate him in an abandoned hunting lodge. When I burst through the door, Tyler was already lying on the ground. His chest was a bloody mess, his heart ripped out completely. I chased after the rogue wolves like a mad she-wolf, desperate to retrieve his heart, but I was too late. Unable to bear the devastation, I collapsed and fell from the cliff edge. Ethan carried me to the pack healer's den, his face deathly pale. Before the healing ritual began, he gripped my hand tightly, his voice trembling: "Serena, you can't give up. Our son is already gone. I can't lose you too..." But when I regained consciousness, I found an anonymous text message on my phone. I opened it and heard a recording. "Beta Gray, you have already found another heart donors. Why specifically choose young Tyler? He's so young, and he's your son..." "He was just a tool to save Lucas. I raised him all these years—taking one heart isn't too much to ask, is it?" "Besides, the pack healer said a blood relative's heart has the smallest chance of rejection. Lucas is mine and Vivian's life. I can't bear to see him suffer even a little." My entire body shook violently. I could barely hold the phone. The man who repeatedly claimed to love me was the murderer who killed my son for his illegitimate child with his mistress. The marriage I thought was happy was nothing but an elaborate deception.

Everyone said I was lucky. After the Don, Lucas Vaughn, brought me back to his estate, I became the woman he treasured most. He would halt billion-dollar deals just to be home on time to put me to sleep. He even learned sign language in secret, just so he could communicate with me after my vocal cords were damaged. At first, I didn’t dare give him my heart. Whenever he looked at me, his focus would drift. He showered me with gifts, yet always disappeared on the days that mattered most. As the child in my womb grew, and as Lucas’s devotion intensified day by day, I let my guard down. I devoted myself completely to the role of wife and Donna. Until the night I gave birth. I hemorrhaged during a difficult labor, but Lucas never showed up. After surviving by sheer luck, I finally saw the trending news. Lucas attended a Thames-side gala arm-in-arm with rising movie star, Serena Vale. That was when I understood. To him, I had only ever been a substitute. He broke his rules for her again and again. He indulged her humiliations toward me and even shoved me toward armed attackers at the brink of life and death. Filled with hatred, I closed my eyes and sank into the deep sea, just as he wished. Later, he knelt, clutching the hem of my dress, begging, "Zoe, please give me one more chance. I’ll repay you with my life." His life was worth too little now. I no longer wanted it.

People used to say Pierce Voss, my husband, also the boss of the largest mafia in Kingsburg, and I were the kind of couple others envied. He once lit fireworks across the entire coastline just to celebrate my birthday. He bought me a private island because I mentioned loving the ocean. He made the entire mafia respect me as the most esteemed woman in the world. He shut every woman out of his world so I would never feel insecure. I thought our love was unbreakable. After ninety-nine rounds of IVF, I finally got a positive result. I was so happy I couldn’t sleep the whole night, planning to surprise him at our tenth-anniversary party the next day. But instead, I cut into our wedding cake and found Lena Young’s pregnancy report hidden inside. She fell to her knees in front of everyone, sobbing. “Serena… I have cancer. I don’t have long. Please… let me stay with Pierce for whatever time I have left. Give my child a name.” The room erupted, with gasps, whispers, cruel amusement. And in an instant, the woman Pierce Voss had supposedly adored became the laughingstock of the entire Kingsburg city. The love I had been so proud of shattered like cheap glass. Clutching my own pregnancy report, I held back my tears and prepared to walk away with my baby, far from his world, far from the lies. But before I could escape, someone framed me for harming her. I was thrown into detention for three days. And in those three days, I lost my child. Pierce Voss lost me, and every last piece of love I ever had for him. No matter how desperately he begs later, there is no returning to who we used to be.

He wanted a replacement. I was the original. For three years, I was Evie, a woman with no past, saved from a tragic accident by the devastatingly powerful Nathaniel Blackwood. He gave me a name, a home, and a purpose as his contract lover. I thought it was love. The night he proposed in a shower of gardenias, I believed my fairy tale had come true. Until she walked back into his life. Serena Sterling. His missing first love. The woman whose face is my mirror image. In a single moment, my world shatters. I discover I’m not his beloved, I’m her gilded substitute. Every detail of my life, from my perfume to my smile, was curated to match her. And now that the original has returned, the copy is discarded. Heartbroken and betrayed, I vanish from his penthouse with nothing but the clothes I wore when I woke up in the hospital three years ago. But my escape uncovers a truth more dangerous than his deception. I am not a nobody. I am Alessandra Vanderbilt, the missing heiress to a billion-dollar empire. The accident that stole my memory wasn’t random, it was an attempt on my life. And the woman who shares my face may have been the one who ordered the hit. Now, I have two battles to fight: reclaiming my legacy from the aunt who wants me gone, and resisting Nathaniel Blackwood, who has realized too late that the woman he threw away is the only one he truly craves. He’s using every resource from ruthless business deals, public grand gestures, and soul-baring groveling to win me back. But how do you trust a man who loved you only as a reflection of another?

Je venais à peine de me lier à mon compagnon, l'Alpha Damien, lorsqu'il a ramené chez nous une orpheline pour rembourser une « dette de vie ». À partir de ce jour-là, je passais toujours après elle. Après la fille, Lila. Toujours. Elle m'a accusée à tort, prétendant que je l'avais forcée à perdre le contrôle de sa louve. Pour cela, Damien m'a enfermée dans les cellules d'argent pendant trois jours. « L'argent t'apprendra à devenir une Luna plus tolérante ! » a-t-il déclaré. L'empoisonnement à l'argent est une torture. Ma louve dépérissait. Je suppliais qu'on me fasse grâce, me noyant dans la souffrance. Lila, elle, se blottissait contre Damien, la voix dégoulinait d'une fausse inquiétude. « Serena est quand même ta compagne. Quand elle souffre, tu souffres aussi. Ça me fait mal de te voir endurer cela. » Plus tard, pour rendre Lila heureuse, Damien est allé jusqu'à lui donner publiquement ma place au Conseil de la Meute — à elle, une fille qui n'y connaissait absolument rien. Cette fois, je n'ai rien dit. Je me suis contentée de rompre notre lien de compagnons. Quelques jours plus tard, alors qu'il se tordait de douleur à cause de la rupture de notre lien, il a enfin appris la nouvelle. J'avais rejoint l'unité d'élite du Roi, les Serres. Et je n'y reviendrais jamais. Il s'est effondré.

Lyra Serena menebus kesalahan keluarganya dengan memasuki istana untuk menjadi dayang Kaisar. Kaisar menyaksikan perjuangannya untuk bertahan hidup di istana yang kejam, tidak pernah sedikit pun merasa kasihan padanya, bahkan membiarkan selirnya yang cemburuan meracuni gadis itu hingga bisu. Lyra bertahan dalam diam, perlahan-lahan dirinya mulai mati rasa dan keras hati menerima semua pelecehan dan penghinaan yang harus dialaminya setiap hari. Dia hanya berharap dapat meninggalkan istana dan terbang jauh ketika dia sudah cukup dewasa nanti, dan tidak pernah bertemu dengan sang Kaisar lagi dalam kehidupan ini. Namun, hanya tiga hari sebelum Lyra meninggalkan istana, Kaisar angkuh dan kejam itu tiba-tiba berubah, memaksanya dengan segala cara dan menolak untuk melepaskannya. "Kau milikku. Dunia ini juga milikku. Ke mana pun kau pergi, kau tak akan pernah bisa lepas dari genggamanku." *** Kaisar tidak punya hati. Dia bahkan membunuh ayah dan saudaranya, sikapnya angkuh dan kejam, dia tidak pernah menunjukkan kasih sayang pada selir mana pun di istana. Apalagi pada seorang dayang bisu yang hina. Selama lima tahun terakhir, dia tidak pernah menatap mata Lyra secara langsung, tetapi dia sudah terbiasa dengan keberadaannya yang sunyi dan tidak pernah membayangkan suatu hari Lyra akan meninggalkannya. Saat Lyra akan meninggalkan istana, dia baru menyadari hati wanita itu sudah jadi milik orang lain. Saat itu, dia merasa cemburu setengah mati, dan ingin mempertahankannya di istana dengan cara apa pun. Namun pada akhirnya, Kaisar menyadari meskipun dia mampu menguasai dunia di genggamannya, dia tidak akan bisa menggenggam hati wanita itu.

My pup Asher had been sick for six months. Every time I personally cared for him, he became even sicker. I finally believed the witch's prophecy: I was cursed. My very existence would harm my own pup. I went to the moon temple and prayed that the moon goddess would lift the curse and ensure my pup's safety. From then on, my Alpha mate Damon brought Asher up the mountain every day to see me. Hundreds of miles of mountain road. They made the trip over a thousand times. Our bond never faded with the distance. Until today. A group of rogues broke into the Sanctuary and pushed me down the stone steps. I called Damon all night. No one answered. Then I received an anonymous video. Damon knelt in front of a woman, kissing her swollen belly. Asher stood next to them, grinning ear to ear. "I'm gonna have a brother! Aunt Serena, your pregnancy must have been so tough. Me and Dad will be your knights forever." He turned to Damon, his young face bright with pride. "Dad, I faked being sick pretty well, right? Pretending to feel awful every day, tricking Mom into taking me to the Healer over and over. They never found anything wrong, and she really believed that curse stuff. Went up the mountain all on her own." "But what if Mom finds out? Won't she be mad?" Damon didn't seem worried. "Don't worry. I've got the whole mountain sealed off. She won't find out." Only then did I understand. Everything had been a lie, planned by my mate and my son. I turned around and knocked over the Hope Flame that I had lit for Asher without hesitation. This flame was lit at the cost of my wolf’s strength, offered to the Moon Goddess so that she might bless Asher with health. Through the flames, a familiar figure sprinted toward me.

Hindi akalain ni Serena na ang simpleng pagtanggi niya na sapilitang maikasal sa kuya ng kanyang best friend ang magiging daan pala para maungkat ang isang rebelasyon tungkol sa pagkatao niya. Iyon din ang naging simula ng isang napakalaking pagbabago sa buhay niya. Mula sa pagiging tagapagmana ng mga Choi ay natagpuan niya na lang ang sarili niya na nasa isang napakahirap na kalagayan. Mula sa naglalakihan at mga bonggang runway platform na nilalakaran niya suot ang iba't-ibang designer items ay naroon siya ngayon sa isang maliit na entabladong nasa gitna ng madilim na club— sumasayaw ng malaswang sayaw habang suot ang maliliit na piraso ng tela na kaunti na lang ay maglalantad na sa kaluluwa niya. Mula sa tingin ng paghanga at sigaw ng admirasyon mula sa mga umiidolo sa kanya ay nauwi siya sa pagsalo ng mga malalagkit na tingin at mahahalay na salita mula sa mga lalaking hindi niya kilala na pawang mga hayok sa laman. Ang magandang katawan na dati niyang iniingat-ingatan, ngayon ay naging parausan na lang ng kung sino man ang may kakayahang magluwal ng pinakamalaking halaga para sa isang gabing impiyerno sa loob ng VIP room ng club. Paanong ang simpleng paghahangad ng kabutihan niya para sa sarili ay naging sanhi ng pagbaliktad ng mundo niya at pagkawala sa kanya ng mga taong mahalaga sa buhay niya? Ngunit sa kabila ng hirap at walang katiyakan ay pinili niya pa ring mabuhay. Kahit alang-alang na lang sa isisilang niyang anak sa lalaking nakasama niya sa isang gabing impiyerno na iyon. Sa lalaking hindi niya man lang nakikilala...