Started When We Were Younger

Every Thanksgiving, my husband, Salvatore, brings home a showgirl from one of his clubs. He makes me kneel and serve them drinks. A lesson, he calls it, in how to please a man. This was the eighth Thanksgiving, and this time, he brought back a girl poured into a tight leather dress. "She doesn't have any decent jewelry," Salvatore announced. "Give her your heirloom diamond ring. Your grandmother's pearl earrings, too. And take off that silk choker for her." He smirked. "And listen, she's young, doesn't know the rules. You'll have to show her the ropes. Especially how to handle a man in bed." Every member of the Genovese family was watching, waiting for my humiliation. I didn't disappoint. I opened my mouth and asked Salvatore for a divorce. Salvatore let out a sharp, ugly laugh, his eyes full of contempt. "Francesca, you pull this same shit every time," he jeered. "Your act is pathetic. Even more dramatic than your performance in bed." He leaned in. "You really want to divorce me? Fine. I'll give you five million in cash if you actually walk out that door." The living room erupted in laughter. They all said I was playing hard to get, that I didn't know my place. But they didn't know. This was the 88th time I had asked for a divorce, and it was the first time I truly meant it.

Matilda, a young lady living in Oxford in 2015, sees no harm in reading a poem about true love that she finds in an antique bookstore. Matilda is confused when she wakes up and finds her self transported back in time to the 15th century. Her situation is made worse when she finds out that in this new life of hers, she has a husband. She tries to explain her predicament to him but he thinks she is his wife that lost her memory. Will Matilda find her way back to the 21st century or will she remain in the 15th century where she finds everything strange?

“It’s her I want”. Aurelius, the ruthless alpha of the Crescent Pack was pointing directly at me. His eyes, piercing and intense, locked onto mine in a challenging manner. Seraphine Everhart’s family had been massacred when she was barely six years during a pack war between her pack and the Nightshade Pack. Aurelius Vortigen, the alpha of the most ancient and feared Crescent Pack is cold, cruel and didn’t have a problem living up to his title as the ‘Ferocious Alpha’ even when Seraphine waltzed into his life. Seraphine who was lucky to survive and work as a slave in the Nightshade Pack had everything she needed, a decent boyfriend, a woman that loved her like a daughter and amazing friends but when the alpha plans to form an alliance with the Crescent Pack, everything she had spent 15 years building came crashing down from the storm of Aurelius’ presence. She hated him from their first meeting and when he selected her as a gift, she rejected him as her mate. He also didn’t want her, but he didn’t want to let her go. Suspending on an empty space, that was how he kept her, a pawn in a game she never wanted to play. “I, Seraphine Everhart, reject you as my mate”, my voice was firm and loud. Enough for Aurelius to hear, but not quite enough for him to take me seriously. He let out a cold laugh that made me flinch in fear. Then he finally said, “I, Aurelius Vortigen, alpha of the Crescent Pack, do not accept your rejection.” “Don’t you get it love, you’re mine and you can’t let go of me that easily”. On saying that, he grabbed my chin firmly and smashed his lip against mine.

My parents used the compensation money from my sister's car accident to buy a four-room house, but they only let me stay in the bathroom. My twin brothers, who were not even a year old, each had their own room. When the twins grew up, they got into a car accident. One of them needed a corneal transplant, the other needed a heart. My parents begged me to donate and save them. When I tried to escape, they betrayed me. When I opened my eyes again, I found myself back to the time just after my sister's death. I sought justice for my sister and myself, and made my parents pay for what they had done.

Siorse Briellei is your typical, studious, and ordinary girl. To live inside the reality while being in a wild pursuit of her dreams, she definitely has no time for something that is yet spectacular for her. Discovering Amonpolo was her biggest achievement. But meeting Rafael Alfonzo is a discovered treasure. The passionate feeling of young love has brought both solace and agony between them. To involve herself in this kind of feeling isn't part of her plans, but just like love itself, it came unexpectedly. Maybe it was meant to happen. In her part, she wasn't sure of the reason why it occurred when everything started to fall down just like how the sun did in front of her. The promise of renewal and a hope for another passing day as the sun finally kisses the sea. The farewell that happened in a blink of an eye that even death itself cannot embrace the essence of endings.

The Sullivan brothers had always treated me like I was their whole world. That changed the day I was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor. The pain soon grew unbearable, and I was told I might lose my memories if I opted for surgery. I reached out to the brothers. I did not want to forget them, and I needed their help. However, when the call connected, the only thing I heard was an icy, sharp voice. "Summer, it's Yvonne's birthday today. Can you not ruin it for once?" I blacked out from the pain. When I woke up in the hospital, there was a message from Yvonne on my phone. "Summer, the boys gave me these lucky charms for protection." Attached was a photo of three silver pendants, each engraved with the brothers' initials. I knew those pendants well. I had spent seven hours in the freezing rain just to get them blessed. That was the moment I gave up. I went abroad alone for the surgery, and with it, all my memories of the brothers faded away. I completely forgot about them until one day, three strangers knocked on my door, begging like madmen for my forgiveness.

The temperature starts to drop once we reach the top of the mountain. My two childhood friends, who swore to protect me with their lives, don't even spare me a glance. One is hastily wrapping all his clothes around Lisette Locke, while the other is warming her with his body. I'm so cold that my heart condition acts up; I beg them to save me. However, they're infuriated by this. "How can you still be trying to get our attention at a time like this, Cecilia? Run around for a while if you're cold!" "We'll buy you that white down jacket you wanted when we get back, but you can't take it from Lise now!" The rescue team arrives, and I barely make it out alive. I'm hospitalized for a week, but neither of them come to visit me. I see from my social media that they're busy celebrating Lisette's birthday. We've been friends for over a decade, yet I mean nothing when compared to the driver's daughter. I call my father and say, "Dad, "I'm willing to marry into the Jorgensen family!"

When a small town woman collides with the most dangerous man in the city, sparks ignite and nothing will ever be the same. Grace Adams has spent her life carefully avoiding chaos. But when she crosses paths with Damien Blackwood billionaire, rule-breaker, and the kind of man who makes sin look like salvation her world tilts. Damien isn’t the type to take no for an answer. He’s powerful, magnetic, and determined to unravel every wall Grace has built around her heart. But Grace knows men like him only bring heartbreak… and she’s already been burned once. What begins as a dangerous game of resistance quickly spirals into something darker, deeper, and far more intoxicating. The harder Grace pushes him away, the harder Damien pulls her in. And when shadows from her past resurface jealous ex-lovers, secrets she thought buried, and enemies that even Damien can’t control Grace must face the ultimate question: Will she run from the fire, or let it consume her? 🔥 When Fire Meets Grace is a sweeping, addictive romance filled with passion, danger, betrayal, and the kind of love that can’t be tamed. Perfect for fans of Colleen Hoover, Ana Huang, and Sylvia Day.

She came to campus to disappear. He rules it without trying. When silence meets fire, something has to burn. Maya Chen has one goal at Crestview State University: remain invisible. A guarded first-year Software Engineering student, she's learned the hard way that closeness only leads to pain. After a public betrayal in high school, Maya keeps her head down, her grades high, and her heart locked away. Idris Vaughan is everything she avoids. Final-year Architecture student, campus debate champion, and magnetic in ways he doesn't have to try. Beneath his confidence, he's suffocating under his father's expectations and a reputation he never asked for. When Maya challenges him publicly, she doesn't fall at his feet like everyone else. And that unsettles him.

A month before Wendy Johnson and I are set to marry, she tells me she wants to have another man's baby. Following my refusal, she keeps bringing it up daily. Half a month till the wedding, I see her pregnancy report. Just like that, I find out she is almost a month pregnant. It turns out she has no intention of seeking my agreement on this matter. At that very moment, my love for her for so many years dissipates for good. I'm calling off the wedding and destroying all our shared memories. On the day we are supposed to get married, I join a sealed-off research lab without a second thought. From now on, Wendy and I no longer have anything to do with each other!