Sweethearts Cradle

In my tenth year of marriage, my old childhood friend, Joshua Sears, posts a photo on social media. Both Joshua and my wife, Sabrina Lawson, are hugging his son, Andy Sears, and my daughter, Tiana Jenkins, in it. The four of them look very close to each other. The caption accompanying the post says, "Blessed to have the perfect son and daughter." I leave a comment below the post, saying, "Looking good together." A few seconds later, the post is deleted. The next morning, Sabrina rushes home and yells at me. "Ashton Jenkins! Joshua was finally feeling better for once. Why did you have to trigger him again?" Tiana shoves me hard and snaps in an accusatory tone, "It's all your fault that Andy's crying now!" I take out a copy of the divorce agreement and slam it down before them. "Yes, it's all my fault. That's why I'm stepping out of the picture now. Then, the four of you can form the wholesome family you've always wanted."

My two childhood friends act like they don't see anything when their assistant locks me in a cold storage. They're filled with regret when I thoroughly vanish.

Ever since we were kids, I'd always known how to make use of my gentle childhood friend for things like sending him on errands, and borrowing his allowance. He never complained. Just silently indulged me. Things continued the same way until the day we got engaged. That's when everything snapped into place. That was the day we both woke up. I was just a throwaway character in a novel. He was the male lead—fated to fall in love and end up with the novel's heroine. I was stunned. Ready to walk away. But he was furious. Jaw clenched, eyes wild. He grabbed my hand and dragged me straight to City Hall. "Screw the novel. Screw the plot. The only thing I know is that I love you, and I want forever with you." After we got married, he treated me like I was made of glass. Gentle. Meticulous. We worked side by side, building a reputation as a power couple in the business world. The events of the novel faded into the background. I fell deeper in love with him. Three years later, the youngest daughter of a real estate tycoon started her internship at our company. That day, there was a fire in the office. In the chaos, the girl stumbled into a shelving unit. It came crashing down, headed straight for my husband. I didn't hesitate. I threw myself in front of him. Pain exploded in my skull. Blood poured down my face. The girl, in her panic, had fallen to the ground, crying out, "Aaron, help me!" My husband's face went pale. His expression—pure terror—as he ran toward her without a second thought. "Grace!" he cried. Lightning split through me. My face drained of color. The heroine in the novel—her name was Grace.

On the way to get our marriage certificate for the twentieth time, Rolf Trivett regretted it once again. In eight years, this was our twentieth attempt to get the certificate. But every time we reached City Hall, he would always say he needed time to care for his seriously ill childhood friend and couldn't promise to marry me. This time, I couldn't take it anymore and asked him, "If she’s never going to get better, does that mean you’ll never marry me? What am I to you?" Rolf immediately lost his temper and yelled at me, "I've already promised to take care of her for life. Can you stop being so selfish? "Besides, we've been together for eight years. What difference does it make if we don't get this certificate?"

***Dark Romance. This story contains triggers of MA and SA*** Mykel and Lilith were high school sweethearts they only ever had eyes for one another, and when they turned eighteen, they realised they were mates- things couldn’t have been more perfect. When their pack comes under attack and his parents die, Mykel is forced to step up and become Alpha, though his once kind heart now turned to stone. At an alpha meeting three years later, he meets a mystery woman and realises she too is his mate. Can Lilith accept her mate is fated to two and can Mykel let go of the past when he finds out who she is?

I loved Spencer. Even though I knew he only saw Fiona when he looked at me. I clung to the wedding dress he picked out himself, holding onto the dream of a future that felt so close. But on our wedding day, she came back. In front of everyone, he has my dress ripped apart—for her. Now, he knelt before my grave, begging for forgiveness. But all I could think was, even here, he was ruining my peace.

My husband finally keeps his promise to take me on a trip abroad after I've given birth to his child. However, he disappears the moment we get off the plane. I roam the foreign land alone, unable to reach him. Two hours later, I stumble upon his childhood sweetheart's social media update. It's a photo of her and my husband sweetly feeding each other ice cream. It's captioned, "Someone who cares about you has you in their heart wherever they are." After a long silence, I comment, "Now you can live in his heart forever." I walk away after leaving nothing but a divorce agreement behind. That's when my husband, who's always been cold and aloof, panics.

Everyone in Sparrowville said that Margaret Chapman was the happiest woman in town. Gavin Hartley showered her with gifts—a sapphire ring, an asteroid after her name—treating her like she was the center of his universe. Margaret had always believed it, too. Until the day she accidentally discovered the woman he had been hiding in his villa. For ten years, he had kept her there—his childhood sweetheart. After she lost herself to schizophrenia, she had said, "Margaret is me." And so, for nearly seven years, Gavin had courted Margaret and cherished her, playing out a love story that had never truly been hers. Margaret's heart crumbled to ash after she found out the truth. She left without looking back, moving to a country thousands of miles away. But she never imagined that Gavin would lose himself to rage, his eyes burning red as he nearly tore Sparrowville apart. "Where the hell is Margaret?!"

I was Rebecca, mate to Gavin Clarke, Alpha of the Ironpelt Pack—the strongest among the northern werewolf packs. Gavin was a once-in-a-century business genius, his trade networks expanding across a dozen northern packs, making his pack a successful business empire. He'd claimed me for four years. We stood together, awaiting our bonding ceremony... until his childhood sweetheart Vivian returned. The moment I saw them reunite, the truth shattered me: What I'd believed was love had only ever been my own delusion. His eyes held only her. I'd just been... convenient. At least he'd never marked me. No mate bond, just cold paperwork from the Pack Council. That made things simpler. So I crafted my revenge—disguised the Mate Bond Dissolution Agreement as a routine university permission slip. When his pen touched that paper, our bond dissolved in the stroke of an inkwell. He never realized what he'd truly lost that day: Not just a mate. But the future heir to the Ironpelt legacy. Now he hunts me across continents. Is it love? Or the pup? Or just an alpha's pride, burning because I made him dissolve the mate bond without even realizing he'd been outplayed?

Once, the love between me and my mate, Logan Hunt, seems almost invincible. He loves me, and I love him. Even if no one knows I'm the wife of Hunt Corporation's CEO—and our relationship remains a secret—we still love each other deeply. Until one day, his childhood sweetheart, Bianca Miller, returns to the city after a divorce. Since then, Logan has started coming home late. It hits me that our love may be nothing more than my one-sided feelings. I'm only one of his many. When Bianca moves into our home under the excuse of unfinished renovations, disrupting our private space, I know our relationship is destined to fall apart. If anyone is going to leave, it has to be me. So, I disguise the Mate Bond Dissolution Agreement as an inconspicuous document and make him sign it. Everything is on track until fear and anxiety dawn upon me. I find out I'm carrying a pup. Deep in my heart, I know Logan would never allow me to take away his pup. Therefore, I shrink myself and avoid him. The moment the agreement takes effect, I leave quietly, carrying our pup, an existence he knows nothing about. By the time he finds out the truth, I'm already gone from his world…