Staring Contest

I stand before the judges at the jewelry design competition and admit to plagiarism. Then, I announce my withdrawal from the contest, along with my resignation as Design Director of Fairchild Group. My fiance, Caleb Fairchild, shoots daggers at me. "If you walk away from this competition, our engagement is off!" My father follows up by slapping me across the face. "First, you plagiarize your own sister, and now you're breaking off your engagement with the Fairchilds? Are you trying to ruin our family?" "Oh, I'm not just calling off my engagement. I'm also cutting off my ties with you," I respond apathetically. I make this decision because I have been given a second life. In my previous life, my stepsister and I competed in this contest. First place earns the title of the nation's top jewelry designer and 50 million dollars from Fairchild Group. However, round after round, her designs are exactly the same as mine, and she submits them before I do. The judging panel gives me a pass because of Caleb and lets me advance to the finals, but not without a warning to never plagiarize again. I refuse to believe it. I switch to a brand-new computer, lock myself in my room, and pour everything into a new design. Yet, when the final designs appear on the big screen, history repeats itself. In the end, my sister takes first place and walks away with everything that should have been mine. The reputation I painstakingly built is ruined, and my name is dragged through the mud online. My parents are ashamed of me. They knock me out and sell me off to the countryside to marry an old man. Ultimately, I die after endless abuse. When I open my eyes again, I'm back at the semifinals. Everyone is pointing at me as they stare at the two identical designs.

Élianor est une jeune femme dont l'existence n'a été qu'une longue souffrance. En raison de son poids, elle fut toute sa vie la cible des railleries, autant dans le cercle de sa famille que dans celui de toute la ville. Les murs de l'école furent pour elle le théâtre d'un harcèlement quotidien et impitoyable. Son calvaire atteignit son paroxysme lors d'une humiliation publique, si cruelle et si violemment orchestrée qu'elle se retrouva couverte d'un opprobre indélébile aux yeux de tous. Brisée et rongée par la honte, elle n'eut d'autre choix que de fuir cette cité devenue un enfer. Son exil fut marqué par un drame supplémentaire : elle partit, portant en elle un enfant dont elle ignorait la paternité, fruit possible d'une ultime violence ou d'une relation désespérée. Cinq ans plus tard, Élianor fait son retour. La jeune fille timorée et meurtrie a disparu. À sa place se tient une femme d'une beauté à couper le souffle, mince et rayonnante, dotée d'une puissance et d'une autorité qui ne peuvent être contestées. Elle revient sur la terre de son ancien cauchemar avec une seule et unique obsession : se venger avec une froide méthodité de tous ceux qui l'ont brisée, et faire payer à la ville entière le prix de son indifférence et de sa cruauté.

By the fifth year of my marriage to River Grayson, I had stopped checking his call logs and chat records. Instead, I spent my nights drinking and partying with my girlfriends at the poolside bar. When his ninety-ninth missed call lit up my screen, I let out a cold laugh and tossed my phone straight into the water. It didn't take long before he came storming in. The moment he pulled the strawberry-scented condom out of my pocket, he turned grim and banned me from leaving the house after 7:00 PM. "Joanne, you weren't like this before." I thought back to last month, when I had run into him at the hospital. He had lied about being on a business trip out of town, but there he was, holding Yvonne Sinclair's hand. I still remembered his words. "You lost your uterus from saving me back then. My sperm is perfectly fine. I'll give you a child—with your mother's help." Now, staring into his furious eyes, I said coldly, "Don't worry. There's no going back for us anymore."

"Don't you think that skirt is short for you?" She says, changing the subject and taking another long hit from her blunt. Since when does she care about my clothing? Besides it's not like it's affecting anyone, so why does it matter? "Um, no. Why do you care anyways?" I ask suspiciously, while looking down at my skirt. It's not even short. "People are looking at you in there, and maybe it's because of what you're wearing," She throws her blunt on the ashtray that she has, and turns her attention on me staring fiercely into my eyes. "Why does it matter? It's not like it's a bad thing." I say, now worried at this point. I don't know what's going through her mind as she comes closer to me, again my back is against the wall beside the balcony railing. "It is a bad thing because it seems everyone in there wants to fuck you, and for some damn reason it's bothering me." Heaven says lowly, barely audible. ----- Hatred. Despite. Mixed feelings. Read to find out about Valentina and Heavens relationship, which starts off as despiteful, then turns into something pure.

"Strip!" He ordered me so casually like it was his routine, gesturing towards his master bed. "Lay on your back and spread your legs wide." "No!" My refusal was barely audible, but still, it got a severe reaction. He clutched my neck in his sharp claws, growling furiously, "You'll do as I say, omega!" Struggling hard for breath, I grabbed his claw, staring back into his ablaze eyes. "Even if my suggestion is better than yours?" ... Omega Shyla's world crumbled down around her when her husband, Alpha Raymond, divorced her on the day of her Luna accession. Banished from her pack, she swore to hide her pregnancy. Her unborn child was the only ray of hope in that impenetrable darkness. Lycan King Maddox Miller, a merciless murderer ruling over the shifter kind, was another name of devil. But the long search for his soulmate drove him crazy, turning him into a stone-hearted beast. What would happen when his path crossed with Shyla, a mere omega fated to be his soulmate? Would he be able to accept her child? Or the return of remorseful Alpha Raymond would ruin their bond for good?

"Why did you save me?" Prostitution wasn't exactly the future I'd pictured for myself. But fate landed me in a brothel I couldn't escape, and a life that stripped me of my humanity. Until he came in. The man who looked down at people like they were nothing but dirt and planted bullets in the heads of people for staring at him the wrong way. His name was Killian Morozcov. He came into The brothel and left with me, and no matter how much I pleaded at the time, he refused to tell me why. when he did, though, I wished he hadn't. because killian hadn't meant to save me that night in Vegas...he had come from to save his sister and made the costly mistake of leaving with me instead. our relationship built into something fragile that shouldn't exist and would no doubt, ruin us. especially when we continued to discover how much of it was built on lies. In my experience, I've learnt that you either stab someone in the back or they'll do it to you. Nice people were always the quickest to swing the knife. And Killian Morozcov was by far the nicest man to ever cross paths with me.

On the third day of my son, Zeke Murphy's disappearance, I've hacked into the smart AI system belonging to the entire apartment block. All 202 families in this block are locked up in their respective homes thanks to my ministrations. After that, I leave my first text message in the residents' group chat. "My son, Zeke Murphy, is in this very building. From now on, I will expose a family's secret every hour. If I can't find Zeke, all of you will go to hell with me." A CEO of a company with tens of millions of dollars' worth of assets is quick to lash out at me angrily in the group chat. "Have you gone nuts? Your son's disappearance has nothing to do with us! I order you to stop what you're doing immediately!" I type out my second text and attach a screenshot of an encrypted financial statement. "@1502Mr.Cooper, you have 59 minutes left. Here's a friendly reminder to check your overseas bank account. I'd like to see if the tax department is interested in its contents." I know that Zeke is currently staring at a resident on this very block right now.

"Good morning.” She greeted as she peeked on my male's cheek with so much affection. And I could feel my heart start to bleed as the male destined for me smiled down at the female and kissed her temple with his heart oozing adoration. My wolf was on her hind legs staring at the female through my eyes. She fisted her hair and knotted them in a bun and my eyes fell on the glorifying fresh mark on her neck. I return my eyes to the male standing in front of me. That is when I noticed the angry red mark on his neck. And I could feel my heart shatter into a million pieces. The moment I found out that there was another life growing inside me, I was scared, I was terrified. But the instant I knew it was his, I was on my way to find him, to reclaim him after all those years of waiting. But fate had other plans, and I suppose the Goddess loved making my life a living hell. He was supposed to choose me, he was meant to love me, he was born to be mine. He was my other half, my soul mate. But he bore another's mark…he was mated to another.  

After her family died in a tragic car accident, she becomes a poor heiress. While she was grieving for her parent's death, she caught her long-term boyfriend cheating on her. The man she thought she could lean on leaned on another woman's shoulder. What's more, that woman is her best friend! With her life filled with endless tragedy, she drowns her sorrows with alcohol and spent a steamy night with a mysterious man. The man in question woke up alone in the massive hotel room. When he decided to spend his night recklessly, a one-night-stand never crossed his mind. With a sly smile on his face, he picked up the note left on the side table. ‘Thank you for tonight! See you never!’ These simple words ignited his will to locate his woman. Five years later… "Hey old man, stop staring at me or my Mom will kick your ass,” the little boy arrogantly said. The “old man” smirked and bent down to pat the boy's head. “That's the best threat I've heard in my life, son.” One reckless night gave them a treasure and a lifetime of happiness.

De camino a ver a mi novio, que seguía haciendo horas extras, sufrí un fuerte accidente de tránsito. Lo llamé decenas de veces, pidiéndole ayuda, pero no respondió ni una sola vez. A lo lejos, el edificio de su empresa seguía iluminado, con las luces encendidas, como si nada hubiera pasado, y la desesperación terminó por devorarme. Cuando desperté en el hospital, vi una publicación de una subordinada suya: “¿Qué hacer cuando tu jefe te regaña en plena madrugada?” La imagen mostraba el reflejo de ambos en el vidrio de una puerta. La cercanía entre ellos era tan evidente que claramente había cruzado los límites de una relación laboral normal. Sin darme por vencida, volví a llamar a Alfonso González. Esta vez, por fin contestó. Con la voz quebrada, apenas logré decir: —Alfonso, tuve un accidente de auto. —Paula, ando ocupado —respondió con frialdad—. Haré que mi asistente se encargue, ¿de acuerdo? Sé buena, ¿sí? Cuando termine este viaje de trabajo, regresaré para acompañarte. Intenté seguir hablando, pero su grito interrumpió todo: —¡Bárbara! ¿Te vas con una sola maleta? ¿Y entonces por qué traes tres? ¿Piensas irte de vacaciones o qué? Bárbara Garza era la nueva pasante que Alfonso acababa de contratar. Miré el teléfono. La llamada ya se había cortado, y las lágrimas ya estaban secas en el rostro. Luego marqué otro número: —Acepto el matrimonio arreglado.