Still Water Runs Deep

Revenge was all she had left. After years of torment, Raven emerged from the ashes of her past. No longer a helpless girl, but a deadly predator. A single bite turned her into something more, something powerful, and she vowed to make men like her abusers pay. Abused, broken, and left for dead, she clawed her way back by becoming a predator herself, throwing men into her bed, only to end their lives before sunrise. No man could touch her. No man could own her. Until one night, she met him. Alessio Rossi. A man who is powerful, dangerous, and a ruthless Alpha. But when Raven tried to kill him, she failed. Worse, he spared her. Unknowingly, he was her mate. Now, trapped in a bond she never wanted, Raven’s world is thrown into chaos. She hated the idea of men, and yet, she had no choice but to accept the mate bond. Alessio, too, despised the idea of a Luna, yet they are forced to stay together for a certain period of time before they can part ways. In the midst of their hatred, a dark obsession festers. Claire, a manipulative wolf who is dangerously obsessed with Alessio, will stop at nothing to drive a wedge between them. In a world where love is forbidden and hatred runs deep, Raven must face the truth: Some bonds can’t be broken. And some desires are impossible to resist.

I accompany my husband, Michael Yates, to a stationed assignment on a remote island. Out at sea, a sudden storm hits. The ship capsizes and begins to sink. As the commanding officer, my husband gives the last life vest to his so-called godsister, Naomi Hollister. I don't cry or scream. I just watch silently as he carefully fastens the straps around her body. In my past life, I had clutched my pregnant belly and begged him for help. After a brief hesitation, he finally put the vest on me. But Naomi was swept away by the waves, and her body later washed up on shore. Only half of it remained. Michael insisted it wasn't my fault. He also said that saving me was his duty, both morally and professionally. He even took leave to stay by my side before I gave birth. But when my water broke in the dead of night, he pushed me into the sea. His eyes were bloodshot and burning with hatred. "Leah, if it weren't for you, Mimi would still be alive! Did you really have to force me to give you the vest when you were just pregnant? Couldn't you have waited a little longer? Why do you get to live? Go down there and die with her!" I drown, and fish tear my body apart. I die without even a full corpse left behind. And then, I open my eyes. I'm back on the day of the storm.

Out on a holiday with my boyfriend, Jack, and my good friend, Eva, a catastrophe occurred. As the floods came, we waited for the rescue helicopter to come. As I fastened the safety rope, I noticed that my metal safety clip had been swapped for a plastic ring. Climbing up the rope ladder, Jack said nonchalantly, "Eva's luggage is heavy. She needs another safety clip, so I gave her yours. You can wait for the next rescue." I replied in a panic, pointing at the water level already past my chest, "But I can't swim!" Jack replied irritatedly, "Naomi, stop causing a scene! You're a strong swimmer, what's a little time in the water? Eva is my boss's relative. If something happens to her, my promotion is gone. Why can't you understand that?" "Which matters more? My life or her luggage?" I reached for the rope ladder when he kicked my hand away. "I've studied the waters. The flood won't rise so quickly. It will at most be at the level of your neck. You won't die!" I said nothing further. Watching the floods rise crazily, I quickly pressed my family's special alarm on my wrist.

On her wedding day, Elena's groom runs away, leaving her feeling embarrassed and humiliated in front of their guests and family. Ray, the only friend of the groom named Oskar, comes to her aid and offers to marry her instead. "I love you. That's why I want to marry you, not Oskar. I'm not just a replacement for today, but forever," Ray declares his love for Elena. Elena accepts Ray's proposal to maintain her reputation and move on from the painful experience. However, Oskar returns with regret and confesses his love for Elena, even though he is married to Sarah for business reasons. Oskar asks Elena to be his mistress, and they begin an affair despite their respective marriages. But eventually, Elena realizes that what she's doing is wrong, and she wants to end the relationship. Before Elena can break things off with Oskar, Ray finds out about their affair and is devastated. Sarah also learns about the affair and decides to seek revenge. "Why did you accept me if you still love him? You've hurt me, Elena. You don't really love me!" Ray expresses his disappointment and hurt over Elena's betrayal.

After witnessing her parents death, she starts to live with her aunt in hopes of starting a new life although She is left under a curse. Wolf less and mateless, she's despised by all. One day, the moon goddess finally gives her a mate. But he despises her, rejects her yet covets her beauty. She kicks the hell out of him and has a one night stand with a stranger, and gets pregnant. But her damn mate still has his eyes on her. Bullied, enslaved and isolated by all, she lives in hell until the Lycan King comes and claims her his mate. Threatened to either be a tool of her first mate or leave the pack, she chooses the latter but is forbidden to take anything out of her OWN house. That's when the Lycan King comes to her rescue, claiming she is his mate and face-slapping all those mistreated her. Misled to believe that the Lycan King caused her parents' death and worried he might kill her and her unborn baby, she fakes her own death and runs away. She returns after a while completely different but the Lycan king recognizes her. Together they try to solve the mystery surrounding their lives.

On the first day Thea Storme is accepted back to her wealthy family, she signs a betting contract with the fake heiress, Clara Storme. The contract states that if Clara is able to steal from Thea nine times in a row, Thea will have to leave the Storme family on her own. Thea agrees to the bet. On the ninth time, Clara has her eye on Thea's boyfriend, who's a low-income student. She gives him two million dollars and demands that he marry into her family as a live-in son-in-law. "You want me to marry into your family? Sure." Thea raises her head in disbelief. Leonard Falkner taps a finger on the bank card. The moment he meets Thea's gaze of despair, he flashes her a comforting smile. "But I will marry into your family as Thea's husband. I might be poor, but I still have my pride. Except for the woman I love most, I won't lower my head for anyone in this world." That day, Clara cries as she runs out of the house. She even agrees to marry into the Larkin family out of spite. Leonard remains unmoved. He just watches Clara making a fool of herself coldly. But that night, Thea overhears something…

"Ace...please...I had nothing to do with your father's death..." I whimper, protectively placing my hand over my abdomen. His grip tightens around my throat as my eyes water when I look into his eyes reddened by the effect of the alcohol that he has consumed. All I can see is my death looming over my head as I try my best to be able to breathe through my nose even if he is trying his best to block my airways. "Well, all evidence seems to state otherwise, bitch! You were the one leaking all information about us back to your father. And here I was...thinking that we had something..." his words slur but his actions are completely focused on me. Completely focused on killing me. I can feel it...I am not going to make it... ———————— I wanted to tell him that I didn’t ruin his empire. I wanted him to believe it. But he didn’t listen. And because of him, I ended up losing my baby growing inside me. I lost everything because of Alejandro Harrington. And I have spent the last two years running from him. But now he has finally found me. He is my new boss and to top it all off, I have to remain in this firm as his personal assistant. He still remembers everything and even now, he has no regrets about whatever he did. He’s here to make my life hell.

My husband was dead. He had saved a girl from drowning, yet he himself perished in the icy river. As I sank into a chasm of grief, the girl's father appeared at my door. He glared at me and demanded, "Where is my daughter's necklace? She was wearing it before she fell into the water!" Rage surged through me, and in the heat of our confrontation, he ended up dead. Then my phone… came alive. "Hide the body. The police are coming. I'll teach you how to dispose of a corpse…"

It was the first night we spent together as a married couple. When my husband insisted that the hotel manager clean our bed for us, she cried and said to him, "You're asking me to clean up after the two of you made love! How heartbroken do you want me to be before you're finally satisfied?" My husband claimed not to know that the manager was his ex-girlfriend, but when the woman threw a kettle of hot water and left, he chased after her instead of coming to my aid.

After my husband, Trevor Penn, abuses me for the 98th time just to stand up for Callista Whitcombe, I've completely given up on him. That's when I accept his best friend, Maddox Harlow's confession. After spending the night with Maddox, he agrees to help me fake my death. That way, I'll be able to use a brand new identity to marry him overseas. I've taken the fake-death drug Maddox has given to me, only to wake up in a coffin earlier than expected. I can't move a single muscle in my body. But that's when I overhear Maddox's conversation with another person outside the coffin. "Mr. Harlow, you convinced Trevor to abuse Judith before pretending to save her from her abusive life. Now that you've obtained her full-fledged trust, why did you still arrange for her to be buried after faking her death?" "Only by doing this will the Whitcombes trust that Judith is truly dead. That way, Callie's position as the heiress will be unshakable. No one will ever bring up the fact that she's an illegitimate child ever again." The other person sounds hesitant. "Won't it be too long if we only dig the coffin out one week from now, after you've held the wedding with Callista?" "The fake-death drug's effects can last for five days. I've already had someone put enough water, food, and oxygen tanks in the coffin. There's no way Judith will die."