Seventeen Home

"Everything's fine, honey." That's what Steven has been telling her for months. But tonight, at their wedding anniversary party, Shirley can't shake the feeling that something's off. Her husband, once so present, now seems distant. His evasive glances, his forced smiles... and that text message he tried so hard to hide. "We can't keep going like this. You need to tell her the truth." The message flashes on his phone screen, and Shirley feels her world tilt. Seven years of marriage, a picture-perfect life: a flawless home, an adorable daughter, a loving husband... or so she thought. But behind the closed doors of their home, lies are piling up. And Shirley, the former NYU prodigy who sacrificed everything for her family, is about to confront a truth that could shatter it all. Betrayals, buried secrets, and impossible choices-Shirley is thrust into a maze of deception where every revelation brings her closer to a heart-wrenching decision: stay and forgive... or risk everything to reclaim herself. "Sometimes, the truth doesn't set you free. It tears you apart."

When Ethan was at his poorest, he came home drunk after negotiating a deal with a client. He could not even stand straight when he reached home, but he desperately pulled out two pieces of melting chocolate from his pocket. “Honey, for you! Your favorite!” During those endless days of arguments that followed, I always thought back to those two pieces of chocolate. They were the reason I compromised with him, fell pregnant for him, even miscarried for him. It all ended just now, when he forgot to log out of his WhatsApp on his computer. His friend messaged him. [Hey, your wife doesn’t know Anna joined your company yet, does she?] [Back when she was about to leave the country, you searched the whole city for her favorite chocolate, but you still couldn’t convince her to stay. After that, you got dead drunk and cried the entire way home.] [That was when I knew you would never get over her.]

Growing up, Avery Smith knew nothing but pains and suffering. Treated badly by the pack members, even her own family treated her as an outcast. Finding solace in only one person, her mate, Julian Styles, only to have her whole world crumbling down when he rejected her and choose her sister over her. “A weak thing like you can never be my mate”, Alpha Julian spat. Humiliated, she fled home, swore to never return. But when tragedy struck and she was forced to return home only to find herself entangled with the fearsome Alpha King. “I don’t want you! Let go of me” Avery yelled, determined to reject the mate bond between them, no matter what. “You’re my mate Avery, you have no choice”, He growled as he hurled her over his shoulders. “You belong to me! You’re mine now” What will happen when the dangerous alpha claims she is his fated mate? Will their love have a chance to blossom? Or will their differences tear them apart?

On our fifth wedding anniversary, I discovered I was two months pregnant. I wanted to surprise Owen Reed with the news. However, on my way home with the gift-wrapped ultrasound report, I got caught in a street shootout. A stray bullet tore into my abdomen. Right as I collapsed on the pavement, writhing in pain, Owen appeared out of nowhere. He had told me he was away on business and would not be home until evening, but here he was, frantically shoving through the crowd. He ran right past me and toward a woman up ahead. "I'm sorry I'm late. Don't worry, nothing's going to happen to you." His voice was soft, gentler than I had ever heard it. He swept her up in his arms and disappeared down the street, surrounded by bodyguards. He never saw me. I was barely three feet away, bleeding out on the ground. When I woke up in the hospital, my baby was gone. That was when I knew I was done with this marriage.

Every time my husband cheated, he gave me a bracelet. I collected 99 bracelets in four years of marriage—I forgave him 99 times. He was away on a business trip for three days lately. When he came back, he brought home a rare bracelet worth Ten Million Dollars. That was when I knew it was time to ask for a divorce.

Happiness is a luxury, why didn't God let me receive it, or because my fate was so unlucky that I didn't receive love and protection in the first place? So maybe I have never found my happiness and home so that I can understand how sacred that feeling is, so I appreciate it so much. "Hurry up and go, live like a normal person, have a normal life. Be like everyone else, laugh when you're happy, cry when you're sad. Feel those emotions." ............. "Chen, hold my hand, are we a family now?" "It's okay, Clause Chen, I promise to never deceive or harm you. Come back here, from now on this will be my home, your family." The child still stood there silently looking at the outstretched arms in front of him, neither saying anything nor taking it. What are emotions? What is love? Rain has fallen! Perhaps God is crying for that child or is he crying for the child's journey ahead with no hope left?

After being away from her childhood home for ten years, Alina returns to find the answers to her darkest questions. But what she finds there might be more than she can handle. With fear in eyes of stone, her past and something else, comes out to play. Who can you trust when your feelings know something your mind can't remember?

Skylar Henderson was the daughter of a soldier, he was deemed missing in action as they never found his body after an extraction mission, a building collapsed on top of him during an explosion, when he was saving a woman. He wasn't even in the same country as is children when he died. Skylar is now moving into a new home with her abusive step-father and siblings, will she find a way out.

Growing up being abused and unloved, Nicole left home when she was old enough. Her best friend Allie is her roommate and both are nurses at the local hospital. Living a relatively simple life and being each other's confidant until one night when everything changes. Decisions will have to be made, hearts will be broken and lives will be taken. What path will Nicole choose?

I was humiliated and rejected by everyone: my parents, my pack, and even my mate. And to get away from all the bad things done to me, I decided to leave. What I couldn't wait for was that, in addition to an adventure away from home, I would find my real family. I wasn't a wolfless, worthless girl. I was an alpha's daughter.