Squidward Sitting

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!"

It had been five years since my mate Ethan Blackwood secretly marked me. Then his brother, the Alpha of the Shadow Moon Pack, died in the territorial war. To become the next Alpha of Shadow Moon, Ethan inherited everything his deceased brother left behind. Including his widowed sister-in-law, Victoria. After every time Ethan shared Victoria's bed, he would hold me close and whisper reassurances: "Autumn, just wait a little longer. Once Victoria gets pregnant, we'll have our Mating Ceremony!" This was the pack's only requirement for him to inherit the Alpha position. In the six months since returning to Shadow Moon territory, Ethan had gone to Victoria's chambers countless times. From once a month in the beginning, to now almost every other day. Finally, after countless nights of sitting alone until dawn, news came that Victoria was pregnant. But along with this announcement came another—Ethan and Victoria would be holding their Mating Ceremony. "Mommy, is someone having a Mating Ceremony here?" my daughter asked. I looked around at the stark contrast to our sparse living quarters. The main hall was filled with flowers and balloons. People bustled about outside, everyone joyfully preparing for their Mating Ceremony. I pulled my innocent daughter into my arms: "Yes, sweetheart. Your father is having a Mating Ceremony with someone he loves, which means it's time for us to leave." Ethan didn't know that we wolves of the Silver Crescent Pack never cared about so-called Mating Ceremonies. In Silver Crescent, female wolves were revered. My mother was the current Alpha, and I only needed to bear an heir to the pack to inherit her position. I dialed a number I hadn't called in five years: "Mother, I already have an heir now. I'm ready to come home and claim your Alpha position."

What's the first thing you'd do if you were reborn? Me? I'd start by divorcing my husband, Finn Gallagher. Yeah, Finn Gallagher, the same man who runs half the underworld from behind closed doors. The Don. The richest man alive. The man women dream about; his face plastered on magazines, named "Sexiest Man Alive" five years in a row. In my last life, I tried everything to make him look at me like I mattered. I married him. I gave birth to his son. I swallowed every ounce of pride, trying to be the perfect wife. However, it didn't work. To him, I was no different than a waitress he might casually tip—forgettable, replaceable, invisible. So this time, I'm not begging. I'm not pretending. I'm handing Madeline Brooks the key to my place in his life, and walking away. She's Finn's first love, and also the shadow that haunted every day of my last life. Now Madeline was sitting opposite to me, blinked at me like she didn't hear me right. "You tried so hard to push me out," she said slowly, eyes narrowed. "Now you want me to be with Finn?" "Yes. That's all I'm asking. Just talk to Finn. Tell him to sign the divorce papers." I looked at her confused face and kept going. "Everyone knows I'm the last person who'd ever let Finn go. So if I say I want a divorce, he won't believe me for a second. But you? You're the one who can make that happen... aren't you?" She laughed, because she was finally getting her chance. I laughed too, because I was finally free.

I stare at the email on my screen, unable to move my fingers. Tomorrow is our company's crucial product launch, and I just learn that the patent for the algorithm I spent three years developing is now filed under Matthew Ashford's new assistant, Sophie Bennett. I storm into Matthew's office to confront him. Sophie sits on his desk with her legs crossed, looking completely innocent. She claims that she filled out the form by mistake. "It's just a clerical error. The patent still belongs to the company. What's the big deal?" Matthew stands up from his chair, positioning himself in front of Sophie. I can't believe what I am hearing. "Matthew, this is my research!" "Emma, you're thirty-five. Why are you picking a fight with a twenty-three-year-old intern?" He frowns. Then, he turns to Sophie. "Starting tomorrow, you're the new CTO. Emma needs… some time off." I'm utterly stunned. A decade of marriage and five years dedicated to building a company together have been shattered by a few casual words from him. Thirty minutes later, Sophie posts a photo on social media of herself sitting on Matthew's lap. They are both clinking champagne glasses. "So lucky to have the best boss ever. I'll make sure to be his loyal kitten." Below that, Matthew leaves a comment—three red heart emojis. I shut my laptop and pick up my phone. "Hello. Is this Mr. David Langley from Novara Group of Sundale Valley? This is Emma Whitmore. I've changed my mind. I'm ready to join you." I pause. "And by the way, about that unreleased algorithm upgrade, I have the complete technical blueprint. Make me an offer." Later, I fly to Tallisport with an eight-figure check in hand, while Matthew goes frantic trying to find me.

My Alpha Series Book 1 Jude: Despite being an alpha with a destined mate somewhere, I wanted nothing to do with her. After everything I've witnessed since I was a boy I learned one thing, to love is to destroy. That’s what happened to my father and I'll be damned if I let history repeat itself. My father shaped me into the ultimate alpha. One who doesn't put anything above his pack, not even a mate. Elijah his wolf: My human buddy here is full of shit. Don’t listen to him. He doesn’t even know what love is and he's sitting here giving you stupid advice on it. He turned his heart to stone and decided to turn his back on our mate. Stick with me and you'll know the true meaning of love because as soon as I lay eyes on her, I'll give my life to protect her. Yeah that’s right, screw you Jude. Move over it’s time for me to take control now. Davina: A mate? Yeah more like a heart stabbing BASTARD! At least I had my pretty convincing reason to try and kill him. But what the fuck was his excuse? Why not reject me and send me on my way? Why such cruelty? Rowena her wolf: Ok so I know it’s pretty bad that our mate tried to kill us, but on the bright side, his kind hearted wolf stopped him. He'll take care of us now. I know it from the bottom of my heart. You’ll see Davina, we'll be safe again. Two human mates hell bent on killing each other for their own reasons. Their two wolves hell bent on taking control and mating to each other like they're meant to be. Which side will win?

My stepmother, Mary, hated me to the bone. All because when I was little, I went to a classmate’s house to play and forgot to close the courtyard gate. Her son ran onto the road and was hit to death by a car. My father loved my younger brother the most. After learning what happened, he was heartbroken. “Were you jealous of your brother? That’s why you deliberately left the gate open?” I desperately explained that I had closed the gate, but Dad didn’t believe me. He locked me in the basement and raised me like a dog for the rest of my life. Until one day, when Dad went on a business trip, Mary didn’t give me any food for three days. Starving, I crawled upstairs to the kitchen to look for something to eat. That was when I saw Mary sitting on a man’s lap, saying softly, “If you hadn’t forgotten to close the gate back then, I wouldn’t be living in fear every day of my husband finding out… We’re the ones who killed Ethan.” Only then did I understand that I wasn’t the one who had forgotten to close the gate and caused my brother to run outside, but my stepmother’s lover. Just as I was about to sneak back to the basement, my stepmother noticed me. “What did you hear? No! I can’t let your father find out that I killed our own son!” In a panic, she grabbed me and threw me down the stairs, killing me on the spot. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the very day the car hit my brother. I blinked my innocent, childlike eyes and pointed upstairs, speaking in a soft, baby voice, “Dad, I closed the gate. It was the man in Mom’s bedroom who didn’t!”

“I need this job, Ralph, and I’m willing to do anything to get the job, I mean anything you want.” I told him, walking over to his side and sitting on his table, spreading my legs to give him a good view of my thong. “What makes you think I would fall for this cheap act of yours, what makes you even think I’m interested in your body?” he asks me, his eyes fixed on my cleavage. “I know you like me, Ralph, you can’t take your eyes off my body, I see you drooling when I walk by and I know you want more of me. Besides, how can you not want more when you’ve had a taste of me already. You popped my cherry, remember?” I asked him, putting my legs on his armchair, fixing my eyes on his. “Fine, you win, you got the job, goddamit! Just get out of my office before I do something stupid.” He yelled at me, pulling his hand through his hair in frustration. I smiled excitedly as I jumped down from the table, heading for the exit. “And Victoria, ”he called out to me as I opened his office door. I turned with a raised brow praying in my heart that he doesn’t change his mind. “Be very careful around me, I can be very dangerous when provoked. This emotional blackmail won’t work on me all the time. The next time you try to seduce me again, I won’t hold back, I would screw you right here on the bare table,” he warned me sternly. I know that was meant to sound like a threat, yet I moaned at the thought of him bending me over on his table and screwing my brains out.

“Now take your bastard daughter and get out of my sight! If you ever step foot into this mansion again, you will die!” Elsa Boseman’s thunderous voice sounded all over the room. Her lips quivered as the tears streamed down her cheek freely. “No..mother in-law, please! I’m innocent!” She cried from the floor where she was kneeling before Elsa Boseman. “Leave, you slut! Take this bastard and get out of this place!” She heard Mrs Taiwo’s voice and her tears increased. “Guards! Guards! Take her out!” Dotun's provoking voice sounded all over the room. “No..I’m innocent, please don’t throw me out! Mother in-law!” She cried as she rushed over to Elsa Boseman. “No.. mother, I have nowhere to go!” She cried as she knelt before the two women. She was pulled up by the guards along with her daughter who was still crying uncontrollably. As she struggled with the men, she took a glance at Daren who was sitting dejectedly on the long couch with his head bowed. “My love, I'm innocent! Please don’t let them throw me out! Daren!” She shouted with her full strength but he remained silent and didn’t look in her direction. ** The rumbling of thunder could be heard as the rain continued to pour down mercilessly. Her lips continued to quiver and her body trembled as she wrapped her one year old daughter in her bosom. She thought of everything happening in her life at the moment. She had been accused, betrayed and rejected by the family she had worshiped all through the years. She looked at her daughter who was now sleeping peacefully in her arms and she sighed. “I will make them pay,” she said as flashes of lightning appeared in the sky.

[ DARK ROMANCE 21+ ] "W-What are y-you doing here..." Her soft voice lets out in quiet shock. He enjoys that dulcet melody of her feminine voice, as he closed the door behind him, bolting it without looking away from her. Fearfully, her gaze trails behind him at the door before connecting with his again. She grows rapidly angered. "Get out of my room!!! How dare you?! Get out!!!" He suppresses the urge to chuckle at what he perceived as her adorable fury. Instead, he manages to grasp it with a deviant smirk. “Not unless I get what I want..doll face." "I'll scream!" She bellows, her hands clutching at the duvet around her. He strides forward and grabs the smartphone sitting atop the dresser in front of her bed. He easily slips it over the top of a high shelf, far from her petite reach. Then he turns to her and replies smoothly with a hint of derisiveness. "Scream all you like, princess...I've given the entire staff a day off.." She stares at him with the briefest of puzzled looks, and he finds her incredibly adorable in her contemplation. He felt his arousal increase and the next words fell huskily out of his mouth. "It's only you and I..ALONE.." Her innocent tourmaline eyes lock with his fervent sapphire ones. "W-What d-do you want ?" Her frightened voice barely above a whisper. His eyes rove over her figure in a degradingly suggestive manner. He provides a crude answer. "Why, of course to fūck you senseless, kitten." her face drains of color as she stares at him in repleted horror. He was unfazed by her stiffened posture and frightened expression. All he could do by his eyes was drink in her natural beauty like a man who'd gone days without water.

When I married Alpha Damian Blackwood, I believed my love could melt the ice in his eyes. Five years, countless sacrifices, and a son later, I finally learned the truth: to him, I was nothing but a convenient Luna and a free babysitter. I discovered this the day I walked into our home and found him buried inside another woman, our five-year-old son sitting on her lap, calling her "Mommy." The pheromones in the air didn't lie. He'd chosen her. He'd always chosen her. I didn't cry. I didn't beg. I threw my wedding ring at his feet and walked out with nothing but a small suitcase and my shattered pride. What Damian didn't know—what no one knew—was that the "pathetic Luna" he discarded also happened to be the secret tech genius behind a billion-dollar startup, a hacker so skilled that the world's most powerful wolves beg for her services. But when I walked into Thorn Industries looking for a fresh start, I didn't expect to find Kaelen Thorn—the most powerful Alpha in the city, a man whose silver eyes saw right through my walls and claimed something in my soul I thought long dead. He gave me a job. A home. A life. He gave me back myself. Now Damian wants me back. He says he wasn't in his right mind. He says our son needs me. He says he still loves me. But Kaelen stands beside me, his hand on my back, his wolf ready to tear apart anyone who dares hurt me again. The old me would have gone back. The old me would have believed his lies. The old me is dead. They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. In my case, what almost destroyed me made me into someone even I never expected.