Smile Like An Idiot

My parents have invited all of their relatives and friends to our villa for a nice gathering to celebrate their golden anniversary. Isabel Atkinson, my wife who works as a model, suddenly calls me on the phone and claims that she needs to attend an urgent meeting hosted by her client. Before it's my turn to give a speech on the stage, my assistant suddenly hands my phone over to me. "Mr. Marsh, you might want to take a look at this…" The screen shows a social media post made by Miles Horton, an intern designer at our company. "At this moment, she belongs to me and me only." In the photo, Isabel can be seen sitting in a dimly-lit room. A few plain-looking dishes decorate the table. Her hair is slightly messy, but she continues to smile at the elder next to her. A cold, mocking smile appears on my face. It turns out that her so-called emergency meeting is a family gathering with Miles. I leave a comment in the comments section. "The food looks pretty tasty. I'd like to visit you next time." Chaos erupts on the social media feed instantly. Isabel calls me immediately. "Why are you being such a phony? You'd better delete the comment right now!" I just chuckle coldly as I end the call. Then, I send her a copy of the divorce papers I've drafted. Since Miles' matters are clearly more important to her, then she can forget about coming home forever.

He has made it crystal clear that I’m not to call him ‘boss’ except on certain occasions, like right now, when his dominating gaze carries a hint of playfulness. I can’t help but smile every time he gets like this, all lovey-dovey, but when he whispers in my ears asking me to go on an adventure with him, it is like an invitation to a forbidden feast and the thought sends a shiver down my spine which unlike you would think, is almost painful. Maybe this is because I have been on an adventure with him for as far as I want to recollect. My memories, if you peeked inside, would be overflowing with every moment with him, each one a brushstroke painted with his boldness and my, well, let’s call it a touch of recklessness. I now wear a souvenir, a mark etched onto my soul. It’s like a silent agreement, a reminder that our fates are tangled, intertwined like climbing vines. He’s the puppet master, my very own Mr. Strings, and every twist and turn of his whims gets woven into the fabric of my being. Maybe you find that hard to believe, like something out of a fairytale. But trust me, my darling, as I unravel the threads of our adventure, one by one, you’ll understand. With each turn and twist, you’ll find yourself hooked, a willing captive in the captivating narrative of our lives, possibly harnessed in the labyrinth of our love, where danger dances with delight, and fate is etched in the footprints of a love like no other. So buckle up, dear reader, for this isn’t a mere tale, it’s a thrill ride, a love song made of equal parts fear and freedom.

Elena stifled a smile, but he already saw her mouth start to curve upwards and he grinned at her. She ignored him. "I'm serious, Chandler." His smile was instantaneous. "Noted." She licked her lips. Her eyes were wide and nervous, and she tucked a stray hair behind her ear. "And you can't me." Chandler tilted his head to the side and studied her. Pushing away from the car, he took a step closer to her. She held her ground, lifting her chin at his approach. "What if you ask me to you?" he said quietly. "Then can I?" Elena exhaled shakily. "I won't do that." "No?" Carefully, he touched his thumb to the curve of her chin. She shook her head, and his hand fell away. "Maybe you won't," he told her. "But hear me right now, love, I'd love it if you asked me for a ." —------ When Elena Davis decided to move to Vacaville, she had just one thing in mind — to start her business over after she'd failed the first time she tried. It'd be nice to live in the same city as her twin sister, and getting reunited with her university crush, Elijah Kendrick doesn't seem like a bad idea. But fate, however, has its own plans and she finds herself drawn to someone else—his brother, Chandler Kendrick.

On our seventh wedding anniversary, I was straddling my Mafia husband, Lucian, kissing him deeply. My fingers fumbled in the pocket of my expensive silk dress, searching for the pregnancy test I'd hidden there. I wanted to save the news of my unexpected pregnancy for the end of the evening. Lucian's right-hand man, Marco, asked with a suggestive smile in Italian: "Don, your new little canary, Sophia. How does she taste?" Lucian's mocking laughter vibrated through my chest, sending a chill down my spine. He replied, also in Italian: "Like an unripe peach. Fresh and tender." His hand was still caressing my waist, but his gaze was distant. "Just keep this between us. If my Donna finds out, I'm a dead man." His men chuckled knowingly, raising their glasses and swearing their silence. The warmth in my blood turned to ice, inch by inch. The one thing they didn’t know was that my grandmother was from Sicily, so I understood every word. I forced myself to remain calm, keeping the perfect smile of a Donna fixed in place, but the hand holding my champagne flute trembled. Instead of making a scene, I opened my phone, found the invitation I had received a few days ago for a private international medical research project, and tapped "Accept." In three days, I would disappear from Lucian's world completely.

“She tried to escape. I think she wants to go rogue.” The guard said.  Sabrina’s eyes snapped to me. A smirk curled on her lips as she walked forward. “Tried to escape, did we?” she said, her blue eyes slicing into mine. “Leave us.” The guards obeyed. She moved in, gaze sweeping over me. “Whatever made you think your scrawny little body could outrun two strong guards?” “Sabrina, you have to let me go. I don’t want to be your handmaid. Please. Let me go.” I begged.  Sabrina laughed, sharp and cold. “Oh, you’ll serve me whether you like it or not.” She leaned closer. “You won’t just serve me, Elowyn. You’ll mate with the Alpha and carry his child for us.” My breath caught. “What?” Her smile deepened, her voice soft and slow. “I can’t be the one who fulfills the prophecy that Kieran’s Luna will die in childbirth.” She stepped even closer. Her eyes locked on mine. “You will bear his child, Elowyn.” She said it with such certainty that my blood ran cold.  I stared at her, horror rising in my throat. “You want me to die instead of you?” Sabrina said nothing. She didn’t have to. Her smile said everything.

"Think it over little miss, once you fall in love with me, it's over" he said, his cold eyes shining with nothing but endless darkness and mischief. I gulped telling myself to ran away while I still can, but my stupid mouth was way too quicker than my mind. "Love? I can resist that, but can you resist my charm?" His lips curled up into a wide wicked smile as his eyes bore to mine, like he couldn't believe that I was the one who said those words. A smile that sent both shivers and excitement to my body. "Interesting" he said and handed me a pen to sign our agreements.  *********** Desperate to save herself from a sex scandal from her blackmailer, Avyanna Lark, a beautiful A lister actress in the whole country, found herself stuck with a contract marriage with a demon as her way out also a promising future in the entertainment industry.  For the past 300 years, Bohden Dauntsey, a demon who lives amongst human beings, hasn't smelled that hypnotising scent of blood. Making him go insane with the urge to have a taste of it, she was a gem and exactly what he was looking for. Not wanting to lose her to others of his own kind, he trapped her with a contract marriage only to find out that he had trapped himself instead.  Would he be able to keep his own words against the charm of a breathtaking A lister?.

#BOOK 2 “You are… A Dryad too..” Lilly gasped and closed her gaping mouth with her palm. “Yea… I thought I was the only one too…” He chuckled. “So where are you from? I've been exploring this forest for years now. But I never met one like you…” He tilted his head. Made her nervous. Lilly gulped. She didn’t want to trust anyone this early. She learns her lesson. Even though the man in front of her is the same creature as her. She can’t just say everything to him. But, she didn't know how to lie in this situation, either. “I… I come from Theta…” She whispered. But he can hear her. “Theta? That werewolf and Lycan Realm?” He frowned. Lilly bopped her head. She thought that she might be in danger already. But then, she saw a smile across his face. “So, you are a hybrid too… Lycan… or..” “Werewolf,” Lilly answered him quickly. His smile only gets wider. She could see those tiny little fangs in his mouth. Wait… What is he, then? “You…” “Me? I came from Valoria Realm… I'm half vampire…” ….………………… Lilly and Luca didn't expect that they would be trapped in Myth Heaven, after what happened to Myrna and Mira. With Luca's knowledge and Lilly's power, will they be able to survive in the notoriously terrifying Elden Wood forest? Or has Elden Wood changed from the rumors that had been around for thousands of years? What if Lilly meets a man who turns out to be a Dryad like herself? What happened to Declan and Finn, as well as Debby and Rio will be in this second book of The Lycans' Broken Luna. Are you ready to explore more Realms with Lilly and her mates?

Aliza's Point of View "Let me go," I said as I tried to get away from him, but I couldn't because he was too strong. Catherine walked over to me with an evil smile on her face. "Why," I asked, needing to know why she would betray me the way she did. "Why would you do this to me, to my father? How could you betray us like this? My father is your mate, and you did this. You acted like you loved me, like I was your daughter, but you lied. Why?" I asked, and she laughed. "You are dumb, just like your father was. I never loved you. I did all of this to get what I wanted. I never cared about you or your father. You two were just too stupid to notice how much I hated you both," Catherine said "You are evil. How could you say you never cared about my father? He is your destined mate," I said, and she laughed. "No, he isn't," Catherine said, which shocked me. Her claws started to extend, and she pushed them through my chest and pulled out my heart. I fell to the ground, and all I saw was blackness.

The air in the Parisian haute couture salon smelled like money and fear. I’d waited six months for my wedding dress. Now, it was draped over the shoulders of Sofia Ross—the trending influencer, and my mafia fiancé Vincent Cassio’s god-sister. The salon manager was sweating bullets, his eyes darting between me and the man lounging on the velvet sofa. Vincent Cassio stood up. He adjusted a fold of the diamond-encrusted train on Sofia with a casual flick of his wrist. “Her premiere next week needs a statement piece. She’s borrowing it. Pick something off the rack and stop making a scene.” His tone was flat, final. Under the crystal chandeliers, Sofia admired herself in the full-length mirror, a triumphant smile on her lips. I looked at my reflection in the same mirror, wearing jeans and a soaked trench coat. I looked like a lost tourist. Suddenly, the entire past year of planning felt like a sick joke. I didn’t yell. I just felt cold. Numb. I slipped the five-carat engagement ring off my finger. It hit the glass coffee table with a sharp, final click. “You’re right, Vincent. I don’t need this wedding dress. This wedding… I don’t need it either.”

My fiance, Luca Rossi, cuts off my finger with a cigar cutter to seize Ossuary Signet, my famiglia heirloom. Afterward, he parades it like a trophy and slips the ring onto the finger of Sofia Constanzo, the heiress of the Constanzo famiglia. He mocks me openly. "An orphan like you has no right to wear the ring meant for the future Donna of the Rossi famiglia." Sofia lifts her hand to flaunt the ring, feigning concern as she says, "Alessia, don't be angry. At worst, I will have Luca compensate you with a golden finger later." Everyone present watches me as a joke, yet I laugh out loud. I wipe away my tears and start to applaud. "Congratulations, Luca. You traded one of my fingers for the Rossi famiglia's one and only lifeline." I look at his stunned expression and smile cruelly. "Do you think it's just a ring? No. It is the sole key to unlock the billions in assets under my name. The moment it leaves my hand, the Rossi famiglia begins its countdown to bankruptcy and liquidation."