Stamp Collecting Hobby

Having been in a two-year long-distance relationship with my girlfriend, Kayleigh Richards, I finally have time to visit her family for the holidays. In doing so, I want to hash out the details of our upcoming wedding as well. What I didn't expect is that Kayleigh would actually show up with a hooligan at the banquet. She even goes as far as to terminate our engagement in front of everyone. The hooligan, Gerald Shaw, looks at me haughtily. A trace of mockery can be seen in his eyes when he notices how wretched I look. "What makes you think you can fight with me over my woman? Kay, how the heck did you even fall for this wretched-looking beggar in the first place? He's even carrying an old sack with him! Don't tell me he just came back from collecting the trash!" All of Kayleigh's relatives who are present at the banquet roar in laughter. My future mother-in-law even shoves me in an attempt to kick me out. I merely gaze at Kayleigh calmly. "Are you sure you want to choose him?" Kayleigh sneers at me in return. "You're just a stupid miner! Gerald's dad is the owner of the gold mine, you know!" I raise an eyebrow at her words. Then, I open the woven sack I've brought with me. The gold bricks that scatter from the sack shine brightly under the light. "Oh? I have no idea that my gold mine has somehow become someone else's property."

I built them up. I gave them everything. And they destroyed me. I thought love meant sacrifice. I thought friendship meant loyalty. But I was wrong. I bankrolled my boyfriend, helping him rise from nothing, believing in his dreams. I took my best friend under my wing, giving her everything she never had. But while I was away, enjoying a much-needed girls' trip—the one she conveniently backed out of—they were busy betraying me in the worst way possible. I found out by accident. A simple call from his phone, meant to tell my best friend I was back, turned into the moment that shattered my world. "My baby." Those words on the screen made my stomach drop. And then I read more. "I’m just after her money. Once I get enough, I’ll leave her. I’m collecting from her and her father. I’ll use her and dump her." Every message felt like a dagger to my heart. The man I loved, the friend I trusted—they had been plotting against me all along. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. I can’t think. I can’t breathe. What do I do? Do I confront them? Do I scream? Do I fall apart? I want to wake up. I want this to be a nightmare. But it’s not. This is my reality. And I don’t know what happens next.

Christmas was just around the corner, and the head of the company asked us to choose between a bonus and a Christmas gift box for chocolate. I was not much of a sweets person, so I was the first to vote for the bonus. The intern collecting the votes immediately called me out by name in the team chat. "Ella, Christmas is supposed to be about the holiday spirit. Isn't choosing the bonus a bit materialistic?" Even the department manager tagged me. "Ella, the company values team spirit more than anything." In the end, everyone else picked the gift boxes. I was the only one who did not. When the Christmas party arrived, the intern had bought gift boxes filled entirely with nut chocolate. She knew I was allergic to nuts, yet she forced me to try some in front of everyone to show my team spirit. "Ella, this was bought with everyone's bonus money. You cannot just refuse, can you?" The next moment, I was struggling to breathe and a rash spread across my body. The intern looked at me with pure disgust. "Seriously, Ella, do you have to ruin the mood when everyone else is having fun?" I frantically searched my bag for my allergy medicine, but all I could find were a few pieces of chocolate. Seeing me in such a state, the intern laughed. "Medicine is only one part of it. You need more sweets anyway. I swapped your medicine for the chocolate in the gift box." My breathing was getting worse by the second. I quickly grabbed my phone and texted the CEO. [Dad, I'm having an allergic reaction. I'm at the…]

“You're nothing different from a rotten corpse if you don't have anything to prove." Origin Laurier is a young girl who was once an ally of an underground criminal organization called the Westside Dragons. She is hailed as the mafia’s killing machine, the Scarlet Beast, who only knew how to live as a tool for the mafia boss. Because of her deadly talisman ability, she never fails all of her missions. But the tables started to turn when she suddenly lost her ability and was kicked out of the mafia believing that she is not useful anymore. Origin is left homeless and scattered as she wonders how to regain her power and approval of the mafia boss she admires the most. On her path back to power, she stumbled upon a good-looking, yet emotionless guy who knew everything about her past, and stepped on her pride as a legendary assassin. He is W, the Student Council President of Greendale University, a school founded to protect the new generation of talisman users from being hunted down by scientists and evil organizations. W offered to help get Origin’s abilities back in exchange for forging an alliance with the Student Council who turns out to be members of a military agency called FEAR, Westside Dragon’s sworn enemy, secretly protecting and recruiting talisman users to Greendale. Upon joining the Student Council affairs, Origin will learn that there is more to humanity than she thinks. As her fate interconnects with the Student Council President who has a hobby of stalking her, how can she handle this new everyday life and her future that is uncertain of her relationship with the Mafia she grew up into?

I take a step back, ready to change course and leave, but the Lycan King closes the distance between us. He’s dangerously close to me now, his body in full display and sending my whole body aflame. The familiar heat between my legs starts to appear. “Where are you going?” he whispers, his breath hot against the top of my head. “Are you really trying to leave?” I don’t say anything. I can’t. All I can think about is how his length would feel like inside me, and that’s not something I want to linger on right now. I need to focus. He laughs softly. “I know you feel it too. There’s no denying it. You’re mine.” * * * Outcast. Freak. Cursed. These are things that Beta heiress Valeria Ross is used to hearing. After all, with her otherwordly appearance, and her cursed white wolf, she’s bound to be set apart from everyone else. So much so that even her mate who promised her eternal love casts her aside, choosing her much better stepsister as a partner. Deciding that things should end on her terms, she decides to flee her pack. Only to run into the arms of the Lycan King, Ares Ryder, who’s spent centuries looking for his mate and finally found it in her. Now Valeria is faced with a hard choice. Will she stay in the shadows of her family, forever tormented with the sight of her mate with her sister? Will she exchange that hell for a softer one, a life with a cruel King who’s known for collecting women like trophies?

She wasn't supposed to be mine. She had her man wrapped around her arms the night I stormed into her world. But she owed the family a hefty debt; one that she couldn't pay because she didn't have the money. I should have ended her life for it—that was how it usually went. No one owed the family and lived to tell the tale. They’d end you once your time was up and you couldn't deliver. And the man they always sent out for the job? Me. I had no business collecting nothing more than their debt; in blood or in cash.  That's why I definitely had no business offering her a way out but in exchange for her body and the world that laid between her thighs. One look at her and I wanted her. I craved her. One taste of her was all it took. I became obsessed. But I had to let her go after our deal had ended. She was never meant to be mine. She didn't belong in my world and she had no business stepping into it. But she did. She stumbled in and crashed everything in her path, including my restraint. My need to possess her nearly drove me insane. I should have pushed her away. I was only a tool in the hands of my master. The odds were highly against us. And I would only bring her pain. But it was too late now. I had a taste of her again and I was lost… completely. She was mine and I was keeping her. And if I had to burn the whole damn world just for her, then I would fucking gladly set it ablaze.

Welcome to Blackwood University, where the tuition costs a fortune, but the secrets cost your life. I thought a scholarship to the country’s most elite university was my ticket out of the shadows. I was wrong. I didn’t just walk into a school; I walked into a lion’s den. And sitting on the throne is Niccolò De Luca. Nico is beautiful, brilliant, and brutal. He is the heir to the most powerful crime syndicate on the East Coast, and he runs this campus like his personal kingdom. He breaks hearts, he breaks bones, and now, he’s decided to break me. Not because I’m the scholarship case. But because he knows who I really am. I am the daughter of the man who stole millions from the De Luca family and vanished. Nico intends to use me to lure my father out of hiding. His plan is simple: torment me until I break, make my life a living hell, and keep me under his thumb until the debt is paid in blood. But the line between hate and obsession is razor-thin. When his torment turns into possessiveness, and his taunts turn into touches I can’t refuse, the game changes. I was supposed to be his pawn, but I’m becoming his weakness. Now, with a rival family closing in on campus and my father’s enemies circling, Nico has to make a choice: Hand me over to settle the score... or burn the world down to keep me. "You think you can hide from me in the library, little mouse?" Nico whispered, his breath hot against the shell of my ear as he pinned me against the stacks. "You are living on borrowed time. And unfortunately for you, I’m the one collecting the interest."

You need to leave him alone Elena, he’s a married man,” I said, my voice shaking but loud enough to make her spin on her heel with that bored look on her face. "He’s married to a mistake, Lori, and we both know that is just a matter of time until he fixes it," she said, snapping her compact shut and coming toward me, "you think you’re so smart with your little coding hobby, but I’m pretty sure I could give him a run for his money." ‘ “I built his company, Elena. I’m the reason he has anything at all,” I said, moving forward because I wanted her to look me in the eye and see what I mean this time. ********​Liora Vance didn’t just love her husband—she built him. ​For years, Liora was the silent genius in the shadows, writing the code that made Adrian Kade a tech billionaire. She expected a partnership; instead, she got a betrayal that nearly cost her life. Framed for a scandal by Adrian’s ex-girlfriend and discarded by the Kade family during her darkest hour, Liora was left with nothing but a broken heart and a secret pregnancy. ​Adrian thought he had erased her. He was wrong. ​Four years later, the Kade empire is crumbling. Their software is failing, and their only hope is a merger with NOVA//CORE—a global powerhouse led by a mysterious figure known only as “V.” When Adrian walks into the boardroom to beg for salvation, he doesn't find a savior. He finds the wife he called "nothing" sitting at the head of the table. ​

I slid under his arms, seeking a safe place to catch my breath. I noticed a playful smile on his lips, but I chose to ignore it. "Will the transformation hurt?" I lowered my gaze and whispered. "First, your bones start to break, sending you to the ground," his eyes were closed. "Then, thick fur will grow all over your body. The limb stretching, I think that's the most thrilling part of the pain." The Alpha teased with a flicker of his tongue before continuing. "Next comes the shortening of the snout and the development of sharp claws and fangs." "Will I become irrational?" I covered my mouth, trying to control the knot that had formed in my throat. "How do you control it?" Laughing, he had already reached me and pulled me close, digging his claws not too deeply into my hip, causing a painful moan. "It takes strength, training, and having the goddess on your side, human..." He withdrew his claws, leaving only a long scratch, and returned to my chin, scratching it and collecting a drop of blood. He licked it and smiled. "Don't worry, I'll be here throughout your trial..." "To make sure I die?" With tears in my eyes, I took a few more steps towards his dangerous game, realizing that his breathing was slightly heavier. "You remind me a lot of her," he murmured, pressing his forehead against mine. "To ensure your transformation doesn't get out of control and to witness the deity's choice." With more pressure on my forehead, he forced me to take a few steps back in pain.

Zaki Delrama was known as a successful businessman at a young age. All his business is legal, so he has nothing to worry about like the business of his childhood friend and beloved Ian Mercado, who is a smuggler. Even though he loves Ian, he still gave him to Nate because Nate is what Ian really wants (must read the story It's Just I Love You.) He would have decided to leave Crown University to forget his childhood love, because that was the only thing he went to CU, but when he and his group were leaving CU, when Sharian Roden's group ambushed them. He overcame Roden's audacity but when he found out that Roden had set fire to his three establishments, he was there to find a way to punish the girl, for her audacity and her fearlessness towards him. Will he tame her, or he will kneel down to ruthless gangster chic? Sharian Roden Indelcio, a woman known for being stubborn, arrogant and ruthless. Just because she is the sister of Stygian Beast lord Stan Elthen Indelcio, she has the courage to hurt, steal and trample others. Stygian's habit of collecting money at any business in Cordova City. Every end of the month Roden travels throughout Cordova City to collect money and property from establishments, bars, clubs, restaurants, hotels and other businesses in the City. If the owners of the establishment do not give money, she destroys or burns the building or establishment that does not pay or give properly ... She is a tyrant and proud, no one can tame her until Zaki Delrama came to punish her!