Sweethearts Cradle Novels & Stories

In my fifth year of teaching at a rural school in Mount Dalon, Melissa Snow shows up with her first love by her side. "Have you had enough of this miserable life? Go apologize, and after I'm married, I might still support you. Otherwise, stay here and rot as a lonely, broke schoolteacher." People around us begin to whisper, acting like I've been handed my golden ticket out of the impoverished area and should be falling to my knees in gratitude. I simply smile. "Teaching here suits me just fine. Besides, I'm married."

It was my first time going to my boyfriend’s home for the New Year. In the middle of dinner, his childhood friend suddenly slammed her spoon on the table. “Cole, how could you bring a bar girl to our New Year’s Eve dinner?” The room fell silent. Everyone thought she simply had too much to drink. But she spoke with complete confidence. “One of my friends works on the vice squad. He arrested her himself. There’s no way he got the wrong person.” She threw a police penalty notice onto the table. My name was clearly printed on it. I was stunned. Last month, the city’s vice squad had arrested dozens of people. I was the one who approved and signed those cases. I had just taken office as bureau chief.

When I was six months pregnant, I was visiting the hospital when I saw my husband with his childhood friend, who had recently returned to the country. I was left holding my own prenatal checkup report, watching as they celebrated their soon-to-be born child. Still, Kelly Wallace appeared worried and even sounded guilty. "Quentin, you didn't have to come with me—I'm fine alone. If Jolin finds out, she'll definitely have a fight with you. She's pregnant too… it'll affect her mood and the baby." Quentin Smith was confidently nonchalant. "No, she won't—she always obeys me and loves me too much. If she does argue, I'll just divorce her!" My heat broke, tears of misery rushing down my cheek. But it was true. I loved him so much that I couldn't even bear to argue with him and always obeyed him. Even so, that didn't mean I was going to maintain this sham of a marriage after learning about his deceit. Since he didn't want me and our child, then I could raise my baby alone. Wiping away my tears, I called a number I hadn't called for five years. "Dad, can I come home?" "Oh, Jo! You finally called. Of course you're always welcomed home!" Hanging up, I booked a ticket for a flight to Switzerland that was due to depart a week later. I'd be out of his hair, so why was he losing his mind when he couldn't find me?

My fiancé goes missing after a grand and lavish engagement party. He leaves nothing but a letter behind. It states that his childhood sweetheart has a terminal illness—her only wish is to see the aurora. On the day he returns to the country, I visit him, wanting to call off the engagement. Ivana Jennings stands beside Jacob Gardner and weeps. "I'm sorry for putting you two in a tough spot, Ariel. I'll leave now. I'll never disturb you anymore!" Jacob stops her and shields her behind him. He looks at me frostily. "I'll kill you if you dare do anything to Ivana!" I sneer. "I don't deal with just about anyone for two reasons. Firstly, I don't want to dirty my hands. Secondly, I don't want to deal with rabid dogs."

Of the five boys who'd been raised to marry me, Lance Riverford was the one who hated me the most. And yet, he was the one I loved the most. Three times I was reborn, and three times I forced him to be my husband. Each time ended the same way—he and his childhood sweetheart killed me. When I opened my eyes for the fourth time and met that same look of loathing in his eyes, something inside me finally let go. I turned away and chose his rival, Jace Elden, as my husband instead. But at the wedding, Lance demanded with tears in his eyes, "Why did you choose someone else this time? Are you doing this just to spite me?" That was when I realized… he'd been reborn too.

This is the seventh year of my arranged marriage to Frank Jackson, yet he is constantly seeing other women. Because of that, I become known in our circle as the ever-tolerant wife. Everyone is watching and waiting to see when a mistress will finally replace me. But when I unexpectedly get pregnant, I hear a furious voice screaming at me from my belly in my mind. "Mommy, are you some holy saint? In your past life, you kept tolerating everything. That was exactly why my scumbag dad's mistress drove you out and left you for dead on the streets! "That vile woman is practically trampling all over you. How can you not fight back? Slap her! While you're at it, give my fool of a dad a good slap, too! The more you tolerate, the more people push their luck. You need to stand up for yourself and divorce that scumbag!" I swallow nervously, but my hand is already itching to act. Maybe I should try doing what the baby says...

I have a secret about my body. When I'm intimate with someone, my private part emits a fragrance. Despite being married to me for a decade, my live-in husband has never smelled it. One day, my family goes bankrupt, and I'm forced to become an escort. He looks at me imperiously as I kneel on the floor. He says coldly, "I'll pay you a hundred thousand dollars to let me smell you once."

I, Calista Summers, have been in a secret relationship with Vernon Grayson, the boss of the biggest mafia organization in Merdico for five years. To others, Vernon is the epitome of a perfect gentleman, cold yet aloof, attractive yet abstaining from women. With a net worth in the tens of billions, he holds a lot of power. He has also kept himself scandal-free since the start of time. However, not many know that I am his only exception. I am the team captain of the cheerleading squad at Duke City College. I am known to be brave, straightforward, and passionate about everything. Vernon is a whole decade older than I am. He is mature and dangerous, but those are the exact qualities that draw me to him every time. He always lets me rest my head in his lap while in the back of his limited-edition Rolls-Royce, kisses every inch of my body before the floor-to-ceiling windows of his office, and takes my breath away in hidden toilet cubicles at major public charity galas. And every time, he's so gentle with me that I keep mistaking his doting on me as his love for me. Yet, he can also get cruel and merciless with me, making me beg and whine at his mercy. As for me, I was really falling for him because Vernon never lets any other woman get close to him. He chooses me every single time, and I believe that's what true love is. However, things change when his first love, Samara Horton, returns from Urop. Vernon starts showing me his cold, aloof side that leaves no room for argument. He stops being gentle with me, his mask falls away to reveal his true colors, and he no longer treats me as his equal who shares his world. At that moment, I finally realize that I am nothing more than a dirty secret he needs to keep hidden from the rest of the world. I am but a pawn that he can easily cast away at his convenience. I choose to put an end to our secret relationship altogether. I leave, taking nothing of his with me except for the baby in my womb. The baby is his heir, but he doesn't even know that he exists.

At sixteen, I took a fatal blow for him. As my wolf soul shattered, he swore with blood-red eyes: "When I become Alpha, I will make you my Luna." But two years later, when he led the pack to migrate to new territory, he told the butler before departure: "Her broken wolf soul will only drag the group down." With my bundle, I slipped out. Fate played a cruel joke: I boarded the wrong carriage, replacing a weeping bride, and was delivered to the wedding chamber of Alaric Argent, Alpha of the Sterling Pack. The tall, steady figure before me sparked an odd sense of calm. The fog of memory wouldn’t let me be sure. Was this mistaken arrival a new beginning… or the continuation of an old shadow?

The old duke had gone to the palace three times and surrendered control over three Northmere estates before my father finally agreed to the engagement. Cassian Blackwell, Duke of Northmere, was young, powerful, wealthy, and apparently handsome enough to satisfy the entire court. To me, he was simply the man my brother had chosen because he was terrified I would lose my head over some man at the border and forget my family entirely. So he ordered me home for the engagement ceremony. Out of basic respect for the occasion, I went to choose the pink diamond necklace I would wear that night. The moment I stepped into the jewelry boutique, one necklace caught my eye. “That one is pretty,” a sharp, arrogant voice said behind me. “I’ll take it. Bring it here.” Before I could react, the sales associate pulled the box out of my hand. I straightened and kept my voice even. “Did no one ever teach you that customers are served in order?” The woman looked me up and down with open contempt. “The necklace costs three point two million,” she said, smiling as she tapped the crest pinned to her jacket. “Can you afford that? I grew up with the Duke of Northmere. In this city, I decide what I get.” Blackwell. What a coincidence. Cassian Blackwell was the fiancé I was supposed to meet that night. I took out my phone and dialed his number. “Cassian, your childhood friend is trying to take the necklace I chose for our engagement ceremony. How would you like me to handle her?”