Sparknotes Treasure Island Novels & Stories

"My husband walks about freely, lavishing my fortune, with his mistress by his side, while I am condemned to spend the rest of my life in an island prison for his death. If this is my fate, I will fight it until my last breath."~~~ MARIANNE Betrayed by the ones she trusted most, Marianne finds herself convicted for a crime she did not commit. In a desperate attempt to change her new reality, she ends up at the brink of death but gets a second chance in Troy; An unusually sexy billionaire willing to place the world at her feet. Marianne swears she is done with men and love, and her life's goal is revenge against those who wronged her. But why does her heart race uncontrollably at the sound of his voice? ***His hands reached out, framing my face, his fingers tracing the outline of my lips as if committing them to memory. His touch moved lower, his thumbs grazing the sensitive peaks of my nipples. The sensation sent a wave of pleasure rippling through me, making it impossible to think. I closed my eyes as his lips found the crook of my neck, kissing and biting lightly, leaving me breathless and trembling. "Troy," I panted, my eyes flying open as I took a step back, trying to create distance between us. But he followed me, closing the gap I had made. His voice was low, a whisper that seemed to reach into my soul. "Do I scare you?" I nodded, my eyes unable to meet his, looking anywhere but at him. His brows furrowed as he gently lifted my chin, forcing me to face him. "Why, Anne?" I swallowed hard, trying to find the words. "Because... you make me feel things I've never felt before."***

I was abandoned in the freezing snow just five days after I was born. I almost died there. But by some miracle, I was left at the edge of the Crescent Pack's territory—the most powerful pack in the North. A group of massive men found me. They radiated terrifying, top-tier Alpha auras. Instinctively, my tiny newborn hand reached out. I grabbed the finger of the man in the center and let out a soft whimper. Instantly, the cold eyes of these werewolf royals softened. "Take her home." From that day on, I became the absolute treasure of five powerful Alpha brothers. But there was a catch. Adopting an outsider Omega broke the Council's strict Purity Law. To protect the pack from the Council's wrath, my brothers remained the ruthless rulers of the North in public. Meanwhile, my existence became a top secret. For over a decade, whenever I went out, I drowned myself in cheap scent blockers. I had to hide the heavy Alpha scent my brothers left on me. Everything was fine. Until I got into Elite Pack Academy on a charity scholarship. I instantly became the prime target of Madison, the wealthy Beta campus queen. She and her minions cornered me in the locker room. They tore my dress and shoved a phone in my face. "You really think a charity-case Omega like you can sit at the same table as us purebloods?" When her claws slashed my cheek, I clenched my jaw and shoved her away in self-defense. But in the struggle, we shattered a broken second-floor window and both crashed into the frozen lake below. When I woke up in the infirmary, the Dean was pointing a finger in my face, screaming. "She says a few words to you, and you try to murder her? You planned this, you little psycho!" "Call your family right now to compensate her. Or I'm handing you over to the Enforcers today. You'll be stripped of your wolf status and exiled to the wastelands!" I frowned deeply, my jaw tightening as I looked at him, conflicted. "Dean... are you sure? Do you really want me to call them?"

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.

On the day of the earthquake, my sister Elena shoved me off the third floor, then burst into tears and said she had only been trying to save me. Everyone believed her. The only person who stood on my side was Nicolo, the youngest mafia boss Sicily had seen in decades. He lifted me out of the rubble, then proposed to me in front of everyone and said that from that day on, anyone who touched me would answer to him. Two months later, I was pregnant. Nicolo bought an entire island and planted it with my favorite irises for our wedding. My father spent a fortune on a one-of-a-kind gown made just for me. Everyone said I was the most envied woman in the family. Then I went into labor, and both of them disappeared. My father said the family had a deal on the line. Nicolo kissed my swollen belly, murmured that he would be back soon, and promised to bring gifts for me and the baby. Right before I was wheeled into the delivery room, an anonymous video landed on my phone. Nicolo was wearing a groom's suit. Elena stood beside him with a hand resting on her pregnant stomach. She was wearing my wedding dress. Her arm was looped through my fiance's as if she had won him fair and square. At the end of the clip, my father asked in a lowered voice, "If you and Valentina stay married only on paper, what happens to the child she gives birth to?" Nicolo was quiet for two seconds before he answered. "Valentina grew up with everything. Elena spent her whole life carrying the stain of being illegitimate. Her child will not grow up the same way." So all that tenderness had never been for me. It had all been for Elena. Fine. They could have each other.

I spent a year starving for a man who wouldn't touch me. Then his father and brother decided to feast. Rob called me a slut when I begged him to fuck me. Made me feel worthless for craving his hands on my body. Then he let another woman suck his cock right in front of me—and told me she did it better. I should have left. But I followed him to his family's private island in Italy instead. That's where I met them. Victor Marchetti. Rob's father. Silver hair, ice-blue eyes, and a body built for sin. He looked at me like he wanted to devour me whole. When his hand touched the small of my back, I felt it between my thighs. Dante. The older brother. Dark, dangerous, and built like he could break me apart with his bare hands. One look from those black eyes and I was wet. One word from that deep voice and I was ready to drop to my knees. I tried to resist. Tried to remember I had a boyfriend sleeping down the hall. But they hunted me. Cornered me. Made me admit what my body had been screaming for. When they finally took me—both of them, at the same time, claiming every hole, every sound, every desperate whimper—I understood what I'd been missing. Victor's hand around my throat while Dante buried himself so deep I couldn't breathe. Two men who didn't just want me. They needed me. Owned me. Ruined me for anyone else. Rob made me beg for scraps. His father and brother made me scream their names.

"Please," he said, and his voice had gone rough, desperate. "Let me see you. Let me see your face." My hand came up and covered his where it rested on my mask. "Okay," I whispered. He pulled the mask off slowly, carefully, and I blinked as my eyes adjusted to seeing without the green tint. His hand was still between my legs, fingers still moving in slow circles that made my breath come in short gasps, but he'd gone very still otherwise. I looked up at him, at the green mask still covering his face. "I want to see you too." He didn't move or speak anymore. Something cold started to spread through my chest, cutting through the heat he'd built there. "What?" I asked. "Am I too ugly to be your mate?" His hand jerked away from me like I'd burned him. The loss of contact made me want to cry out, made my body ache with sudden emptiness. He took a step back, then another, and I could see his hands curling into fists at his sides. His whole body was shaking. "What the fuck," he said, and his voice had gone flat and cold. ***** Kaireen was disowned by her parents just because she rejected a marriage proposal, she stayed the night with her friend, got into an impromptu game that changed her fate, she met her mate, the one thing she never knew she could have but it was her nightmare. Her Bully and her brother who would stop at nothing to make life hell for her, to worsen it all, he needed to mark her to survive in an Island of Cruel Lycans. How did they get there? How will her parents and pack react knowing she was mated to the most cruel Alpha brother.

On the death anniversary of Edward Paulson's ancestors, my husband, Shane Carlton's best friend, Valerie York, wants to make an offering to said ancestors by lighting up candles of different sizes. The thing is, she wants to do it in the direction of the wind. This time, however, I don't bother stopping her at all. In my previous lifetime, the entire company accompanied Edward, a rich businessman who happened to be a client of ours, to his hometown so that he could pay respects to his ancestors. In order to show how capable she was in front of Edward, Valerie insisted on lighting tall and huge candles, which was against the law. I quickly stopped her by explaining that it'd be very easy for her to start a mountain fire if she were to do this. But Valerie claimed that I was just trying to embarrass her in front of everyone else. Furious, she ran toward the depths of the mountain, where she accidentally fell down a slope and ended up crippled. Shane continued to keep Edward company throughout the day without reacting to the news. Thanks to my efforts in socializing with Edward, Shane successfully snagged the business deal with him. Later on, the company got listed successfully. When Shane took me on a vacation to a tropical island, he shoved me into the deep sea that was filled with reefs. As I felt seawater gushing into my nose, I demanded Shane for answers while crying loudly. He just stomped on my hands, which were latching desperately to the side of the boat. "If you hadn't publicly humiliated Valerie back then, she wouldn't have fallen down the slope and gotten crippled!" In the end, I drowned in the no man zone. After I died, Valerie, who was supposedly crippled, miraculously stood up. Shane used the accident insurance payout that he had cashed out from my death to enjoy the rest of his life with Valerie. When I open my eyes again, I've returned to the day Valerie decides to light the candles.

I, Daphne Thorn, am an impoverished woman from the slums. William Blackburn, on the other hand, is the son of the richest man in Wylland. Unexpectedly, the two of us who share such vastly different identities end up being together. So far, we've tried out various difficult positions in our bouts of passion during our secret rendezvouses in secluded areas. Like the madman he is, William often torments me in every session. I'm so exhausted that I'm about to fall asleep. That's when a notification pops up on William's phone, which is sitting next to me. So, I take a peek at it. "William, my stomach hurts a lot! I'm suffering so much right now!" It's a text from someone named "Ellie". All the exhaustion in me disappears. I can feel my chest tightening up in discomfort. Once William is done with his shower, he leaves the bathroom and picks up his phone. "You should sleep first. I'm heading out," he says. When I see William turning his back on me, I blurt out, "Are you going to meet that childhood sweetheart of yours?" William wheels around to look at me. Suddenly, he moves to lift my chin. There is a trace of wariness in his eyes. "Don't go around sticking your nose in my business, Daphne. I like my woman docile and obedient." But I end up stalking William all the way to Royale Hotel, where I witness him visiting Elaine Moore, his childhood sweetheart. He coaxes her as though she's the most precious treasure in the world. I don't have the courage to question William in person. But still, I want to know who he thinks is more important to him—me or Elaine? So, I give him a call. "William, my gastritis is acting up again! It hurts so much! Can you drive me to the hospital?" I said. I use the same tactic that Elaine had used earlier. That night, I keep waiting for William, and yet he never returns to me. That's when I decide to not love him anymore.

My husband, Shawn Payne, goes bankrupt overnight. That very night, he ships me and our son, Tommy Payne, off to a deserted island, claiming it's the only way to keep us safe from his creditors. Worried sick about leaving him to face the danger alone, I sneak back home halfway there, only to find him throwing a wild party, his arms wrapped tightly around a beautiful woman. His best friend, Ryan Foster, needles him. "You dumped your wife and son in the middle of nowhere. How are they going to survive out there?" Shawn shrugs like it's no big deal. "Yvonne's closing down her dog food factory anyway. I had all the surplus kibble repackaged and shipped to the island. It's more than enough to keep them fed for a few years." The woman, Yvonne Sullivan, purrs and snuggles deeper into his chest. "Oh, babe, you're so good to me and the baby," she coos, gently stroking her belly, which isn't even showing yet. He taps the tip of her nose affectionately. "You're so innocent and soft-hearted. If I don't look out for you, who will?" He pulls Yvonne closer and continues, "For your sake, I had to ship that shrew off to some godforsaken island. If she ever found out you were pregnant, she'd tear you apart. Once you have the baby and she turns two, I'll bring them back. By then, it'll be a done deal. There's nothing she can do about it." His words hit me like a ton of bricks. A cold sweat soaks me to the skin. Three years later, right on schedule, he calls. "Hey honey, how are you and Tommy doing? I'm ready to come pick you guys up." I glance at the man beside me, and a rush of satisfaction washes over me. "We're doing great," I reply. "My new husband treats both me and your son incredibly well."

My mafia boyfriend, Finn, is always bickering with his childhood friend, Amanda. For my birthday, she brought me a bullet vibe. "Here. For round two, just in case. I know his stamina better than anyone." He tossed a bottle of pale foundation at her. "Slap some more on. Maybe then someone will actually want to touch you." They shoved each other on their way out, slamming the door behind them. The candles on the cake burned down to nothing while I sat alone at the dining table. The first time our families sat down for a formal dinner, she smiled and slipped him a small bottle of lube. "Take it. So you don't make the poor girl suffer." His face darkened. "Better than you crying at night, hugging a body pillow." This time, Finn had arranged a private island vacation. A mutual friend quietly gave me a heads-up, telling me he was planning to propose on a cliff at sunset. After a seven-year marathon, I told myself this was it. The finish line was finally in sight. I dressed meticulously, putting on my most expensive dress, and walked toward the helipad. I pulled open the helicopter door. Amanda was already in the co-pilot's seat. She raised an eyebrow at me. "Chloe, you're here? I'm claustrophobic, so you don't mind if I sit up front, right?" Finn, gripping the controls, turned to look me over. "Chloe, you sit in the back. I'm worried she'll have a meltdown and start scratching and biting. It'll ruin the mood." Before I could say a word, Amanda was already arguing with him. "What's that supposed to mean? You think I'm a burden?" "It's not the first time I've thought so. Why are you being so dramatic today?" Their back and forth was so practiced it felt like a script they had rehearsed a thousand times. In that moment, the exhaustion of the past seven years washed over me. And for the first time, I realized I didn't want to say yes to his proposal anymore.