Snake Wrapped Around Arm Drawing

Using an alternative account, I secretly join a cycling group chat that my husband, Liam Johnson, is in. One day, an announcement is made in the group chat. "We'll be organizing a weekend mountain biking activity with an overnight stay, with two people sharing a room. To add some excitement, we'll be drawing lots for room assignments." I can't really understand it. Curious, I ask, "What if a man and a woman end up drawing the same room?"

Three years ago, my rich boyfriend, Steven Delaney, went into bankruptcy. He decided to break up with me so that he wouldn't drag me down. As I looked at his broken expression, I steeled my heart and ripped the overseas college application I had just received. "I'll stay with you. Together, we can rebuild your legacy." Everyone told me that I was nuts. Still, I decided to move into a damp basement room with Steven. After that, I took on a job out in the streets that allowed me to earn money the fastest, which was promoting beer to the customers. One day, when I'm delivering beer to the customers, one of them calls out to me. "Hey, this lady looks like you!" There are two screens being shown on a livestream, that's being replayed. The left screen shows me crouching at the doorway of the basement while washing shirts for Steven. It's so cold that my fingers have gone completely red. The right screen shows him all dressed up in a smart-looking suit. He has an arm wrapped around a beautiful and well-dressed woman, and they're both sitting in a luxury car. Steven smiles at the camera and says, "This is my third year lying to my girlfriend about my financial situation. Till now, she still hasn't realized the truth! She really is a pathetic idiot!" The live comments keep popping up on the side. "You really know how to make things interesting, Mr. Delaney! I can't believe you're capable of coming up with the whole 'pretending to be broke in order to test your girlfriend's humanity' act!" "What exactly is that lady aiming for, honestly? She's just someone who sells beer! Does she seriously think she's in a romance drama?" "Oh, this is hilarious! That penniless girlfriend of his is even washing underwear for him! The truth is, the underwear belongs to the Delaney family's household staff!"

[ A Beauty & the Beast retelling ] Anyone can ask for a favor from Fortune 500 pharmaceutical heiress, Camille Delacourt―who has the city of New York wrapped around her perfectly manicured fingers and rules it with an iron fist. Dealing out social ruin and favors in equal measure; every request comes at a cost, and once done, you'll forever be in her debt. But when a seemingly crude Italian business mogul who claims he is looking to expand into American markets arrives with a proposition that she can't turn down, things take a sudden twist. Because there's always room to fall, and all is fair in love and war.

They call him the cursed, the devil may cry, the cinders touch. A monster cursed by the Moon Goddess herself, whose touch reduces flesh to cinders. For a century, he’s ruled his shadowed kingdom alone, a king carved from death and darkness. And now, I’ve been thrown to him. A sacrifice. I should have trembled when his cursed hand wrapped around my throat. I should have burned like all the others who dared touch him. Instead, I met his darkness with fire of my own. And when his skin seared against mine, I didn’t turn to ash. I lived.

He steps closer to me... Closer... More closer... He pulls me close to him. His hand wrapped around my wrist. His eyes are into my lips. His hand grips my chin and his finger touches on my lower lips. I swallow my saliva... He slowly leans towards me. Our lips are an inch far. I closed my eyes... Against my ear, he whispered, "You are my women"... He steps closer to me... Closer... More closer... He pulls me close to him. His hand wrapped around my wrist. His eyes are into my lips. His hand grips my chin and his finger touches on my lower lips. I swallow my saliva... He slowly leans towards me. Our lips are an inch far. I closed my eyes... Against my ear, he whispered, "You are my women"... My temper sparked. I evert my eyes in his."In your dream", I shout and forcefully pushed him away... I run out of the room. My heart was pounding wildly in my ear. I took a deep breath, claim the rapid thuds in my chest. I desperately want to claim my heartbeat down... In reality, I am confused why my heart was pounding when he was close to me? Why did I close my eyes? Why I am blushing? I just hate him, isn't I? I asked myself why he said that to me? Is he drunk? I pulled my hair, Questions in my heart driving me crazy...

Nadia!" I turn towards the voices that called my name, almost not making it out due to the sheer amount of snarling and growling happening around me. I see a woman pinned by a ravaging wolf , and as I make my way to her, I'm knocked to the ground with such force , I hear my arm snap. I groan as the pain hits me. My arm is clearly broken, and I'm unable to shift for some reason. I hear her sickening scream and I raise my head just as the wolf embed its teeth into her neck and shoulder. "NO!" I roar and scramble to my feet, but I'm surrounded by at least 10 wolves, preventing me from getting to the woman. My eyes dart around as they encompass me, circling slightly. Shit. They're going to all attack me at once. Just as I come to that realization, they strike. I dodge the first few, but I yell out as one of them clamps down on my leg, ripping out a good chunk of flesh. I try to stay standing, but it's useless as more wolves' barrel into me, not allowing me to regain my stance. They claw me in every direction, and I can't anticipate the attacks anymore as I fall to my knees with a hard thud. Claws at my back. Claws at my arms. Claws at my legs. There's no escape. I can't save them. I can't even save myself. Pack life for Nadia was perfect. Although abandoned at the Pure Moon pack when she was just a pup, she was completely accepted by the Alpha and Luna. She becomes one of the top trained female warriors in the pack alongside her wolf Seles. That is until tragedy strikes and Nadia’s life is completely turned upside down.

My boyfriend refuses to accompany me to the airport to pick my mother up, but he later rams into my car from behind in my new Maybach. He looks at my secondhand car and wraps an arm around the young woman beside him, who looks frightened. He says, "It's just a rusty old Volkswagen Beetle! So what if I've crashed into it? I can afford to pay for the damages!" The crowd praises him for being handsome and rich. With his back to them, he warns, "This is the woman my mom wants me to date. I'm just playing along for her sake. Don't make things embarrassing for me." I nod understandingly and tell the young woman, "Since you like collecting trash so much, you can have both him and the car. I'll have my lawyer send you the bill." Now, my boyfriend panics. He looks devastated as he hangs around outside my company all day, begging me to give him another chance.

The night before graduation, my best friend Sophie talked me into confessing to Lucas Sterling, the boy I'd secretly loved for three years. She said Lucas was at the basketball court, wearing a white T-shirt. I gathered every ounce of courage I had, grabbed the bouquet of roses, and rushed over. I came up behind a boy and covered his eyes with my hands. "Lucas, I've liked you for so long!" I felt his body go rigid. He turned around — and the face staring back at me was dangerously handsome, with a wild edge to his gaze. It was Dominic Blackwood. The one person at Westfield High that nobody dared to cross. I spun around to run, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me against his chest. He dipped his head, breathing in the scent of my hair, his voice rough and low. "What did you just say? That you like me?" "Say it again." "If you don't, I'll kiss you right here in front of the whole school."

I came to him broken at nineteen. He was my alpha, my guardian, forbidden in every way that mattered. Then I almost married his son. Almost. One betrayal. One ruined wedding. One night where Damien stopped being noble and started being mine. Now I know what those rough hands feel like wrapped around my throat. What that filthy mouth sounds like when he calls me good girl and means it in the dirtiest way possible. His son wanted a wife. His father wanted to own me. And God help me, I was always meant to be Daddy's.

Fresh out of college, Clara Stewart asked me to take on a $500,000 mortgage for her. When I refused, she turned around and bought an $800,000 villa in full, for another guy. Holding up the property deed, she told me: "Jayden, the truth is, I'm actually rich. I've been pretending to be poor to test you. Unfortunately, you failed. I'm disappointed in you. Let's break up." I simply smiled and walked away without a second thought. The irony? I'm the son of the richest man in the country. I was pretending to be broke, too. Fast forward four years, we met again at the National Wealth Summit. Clara had just barely made it into the top 50 on the list, clinging to the arm of Henry Brown as they entered. She spotted me in simple clothes with no visible brand, holding a child in one arm and the keys to a Porsche Cayenne in the other. Thinking I was someone's driver, she sneered: "Jayden, you really went all out just to see me again? Let's be real, you're just a driver now, and I'm on the wealth list. We live in completely different worlds. Don't waste your time fantasizing." I did not bother replying. Honestly, I was only there because my billionaire dad insisted. I had finally cleared a day to spend with my son and now I had to waste it on that.