That Time I Took Down A Cult Novels & Stories

At the end of the year, the company made employees vote on who would be laid off. In front of the boss, the votes were read aloud one by one. Natalie Reed. One vote. Natalie. Two votes. Natalie... thirty votes. All thirty people on my team had voted me out. I clenched my fists and looked around at my coworkers. Every single one of them avoided my eyes. Maggie Turner was the oldest on the team. I knew she had to pick up her kid, so whenever she could not finish her work and had to rush to her kid’s school, I stayed behind and cleaned up after her. Dylan joined last year. He was losing sleep every night over money for his wedding. I squeezed time out of my own schedule, helped him complete his project, and got him a two-hundred-thousand-dollar bonus. And the trainee closest to me started trembling the moment I looked at her. She looked just as timid as she had when her hands shook and spilled wine all over a client. Back then, to fix the mess for her, I apologized to the client and drank until I had a stomach hemorrhage. Only then did she pass probation. I could not help feeling hurt. The boss looked at the result and asked if I had anything to say. I took a deep breath and asked everyone on the team, “Why did you vote for me?” My timid trainee suddenly found her courage. “Because you always pretend to help people, then steal our credit.” “Otherwise, how could someone as useless as you become the top salesperson?” I laughed, took off my employee badge, and placed it on the table. A week later, my boss was kneeling outside my door, begging me, the so-called useless one, to come back to the company.

When I was selecting a marriage partner, I saw the chat. [Girl, don’t pick Max Lawrence. He’s a mama’s boy. If you marry him, his mother would make your life miserable.] [Choose Daniel Quinn. He may be an illegitimate son who isn’t valued now, but he’ll rise to power and become the head of the Quinn family.] In my past life, I had trusted those comments and chose Daniel. After we got married, he abused me. I had three miscarriages in a row. By the last miscarriage, I could not take it anymore and ran back home. There, I saw my father’s illegitimate daughter, Pearl Sullivan. She had married Max in my place. With my father’s arm in her hand, she had pointed at me while saying, “Mindy, why do you always make Daniel angry? You’re so immature.” My father looked unhappy. “You’re already married, yet you keep coming back home. Send her back.” They sent me back to the Quinn family. Daniel beat me to death. After I returned to the past, I saw those misleading comments again. I was not going to sit back and accept my fate again.

The room falls silent when the butler of the Sherwoods places the DNA test results on the table. In my previous life, the real heiress, Phoebe Sherwood, is so greedy for wealth that she forces me to stay in the slums in her place. Later on, the Sherwood family is accused of money laundering. Their whole business empire collapses. Meanwhile, after news breaks that my poor parents and I win a lottery worth over 100 million dollars, someone targets and murders us. We die with hatred in our hearts. Now, in this life, Phoebe suddenly acts as if she's gone crazy. She throws her arms around our impoverished adoptive mother, whose clothes are covered in patches. She says, "I'm not leaving! Rosalyn is spoiled and delicate. She can't handle hardship. Let her stay with the wealthy family and enjoy a life of luxury. I want to stay with my parents and fulfill my duties as their daughter!" She cries pitifully, but when she turns around to sign a document severing ties with the Sherwoods, she can't suppress the smile tugging at her lips. My adoptive father is so moved that tears stream down his face. "Get out of here! The daughter we raised ourselves is the thoughtful one. We can't afford to associate with an ungrateful wretch like you!" The Sherwoods frown as they look at me. They open their mouths as if to say something but ultimately remain silent. My face devoid of any expression, I look at my adoptive family before turning and walking toward the luxury car. "Dad, Mom, let's go home." Phoebe is clueless. She doesn't know that in my previous life, I was the one who bought those winning lottery tickets.

I was only ten years old when Timoteo Panno found me on the streets of Sirithi. He's the Don of the Panno family, the strongest mafia family in the country. He's also the one who taught me how to protect myself. When I turn 18 years old, I become his lover as well as the weapon he's most proud of. Timoteo isn't interested in other women. I'm the only one staying by his side for many years. We've been with each other for four years. Everyone thinks I'll eventually become the Madre of the Panno family. That is, until Nadia Bellucci accidentally kills her fiance and desperately needs a clean identity to wash herself of all suspicions. As she clutches her chest that houses her heart, which is now weakened from the time she has saved Timoteo's life, she whines coquettishly, "Timoteo, I don't want to go to prison…" With a smile on his face, Timoteo doesn't hesitate to push me out as the scapegoat to take the blame for Nadia. "You've always been a pawn who gets abandoned all the time, so you might as well do it one more time."

After our parents passed away, two couples approached Serena and me at the same time, both wishing to adopt us. Serena dashed ahead, rushing toward the impoverished couple before I could move. “Hill, I’ll let you have the wealthy family,” she said, looking at me with a sweet smile. “I only care about your happiness.” However, I could hear her inner thoughts perfectly clear. She was privately gloating, telling me to enjoy being used as a mere tool for a business marriage, trapped inside a mansion for the rest of my life. That was when I knew—she had been reborn too. In our past life, Serena had been the one to rush toward the luxury cars, successfully becoming the pampered daughter of a wealthy family. Yet, she couldn’t handle their strict rules and discipline. She ended up sneaking out at night to wild out at bars, accidentally leaked classified family secrets, and was ultimately kicked out of the house. Meanwhile, I relied entirely on my own hard work to study abroad, eventually becoming a world-renowned scientific genius. On the day I was set to receive my grand award, Serena completely lost her mind. She stormed the stage and drove a knife straight into my body. “Why do you get to live such a free and successful life?!” she screamed. As she wished, we were both given a second chance to choose. Without a shred of hesitation, I turned around and stepped straight into the luxury car. She had no idea that without money, true freedom didn’t even exist. And this wealthy family? They were nothing more than my stepping stone in this life.

In their first life, Vivienne married Prince Adrian and called it hell, while Elena married a poor Alpha’s son, Derek, and used her wisdom to help him become Alpha King—only for Derek and Vivienne to betray and murder her. When both sisters are reborn, Vivienne rushes to steal Derek, believing she has taken Elena’s glorious future and left Elena with the cold, cruel prince. But Elena knows a good life is not handed over by a husband or a throne. Forced to become Adrian’s Luna Princess, she quietly rebuilds everything with her own intelligence and strength. While Vivienne’s stolen sweet dream gradually turns into a nightmare, will the “terrible” prince becomes any different？

"The Rossi family doesn't need a Don. We just need a Donna." As the only heiress of the Rossi family, this was the law that I had set when I received the Browning pistol—a pistol that resembles the ultimate authority in the Rossi family—from my Papa when he was on his deathbed. But three years ago, the police relentlessly investigated the money laundering business that my fiance, Lorenzo Moretti, was in charge of. If that business were to get exposed, the Rossi family's hundred-year-old legacy would be ruined. In order to protect my family's legacy and to allow Lorenzo to continue legalizing my family's businesses, I decided to become the scapegoat for all the crimes. On the rainy night of my arrest, I personally handed the pistol over to Lorenzo. "Protect my family for me before my return." This gave Lorenzo legitimate authority to run my family. He used the pistol to purge my subordinates and take over the family business. He even broke my law by announcing to the public that he'd become the next Don soon. An invitation with golden borders is soon leaked from the family's inner circle. Lorenzo's and another woman's names are printed on the cover. During a visit, my private lawyer says mockingly, "If you don't get out of prison now, the Rossi family might take on another man's last name for real." I just sneer in response. After that, I get bailed out of jail in advance and return home to celebrate Lorenzo's "funeral". But no matter how many times I scan my iris at the biometric scanner in the estate, the result always comes out wrong. A young woman, who's toying with the pistol, opens the door at that moment. The contempt and disdain in her eyes are plain to see. "Where the hell did a crazy woman like you come from? You came to the wrong place. This is my private turf, you know."

The night before the company went public, my wife told me she had a surprise for me and reminded me to dress up for the occasion. I thought she was planning to reveal our secret relationship, and I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep all night. However, the next day, in front of everyone, she announced that I was a creepy obsessive admirer. On top of that, she revoked my promotion and gave my position to her first love who had just returned to the country. Everyone was waiting to see me humiliated. I froze for a moment but quickly composed myself, walking up to her first love with a faint smile. Then, I took off the badge on my chest and placed it on him. “As the new director, you should celebrate, shouldn't you? How about a wedding? I’ll officiate for you two.” Glaring at me coldly, my wife told me to get lost and stop embarrassing myself. What they didn’t know was that I was the key connection holding the entire company together. If I left, none of the investors would back them anymore.

The day I buried my mother, my husband, Luca, the Don Ricci, conveniently disappeared. Later, my best friend, Annie, sent me a video. In it, she stood beside Luca in a hospital room while a doctor confirmed her pregnancy. Luca looked… happy. Radiant, even. The baby was theirs. Then another message came. Annie’s voice, “Sis, looks like you failed—just like your mother did against mine.” I had always known my father cheated on my mother and had a child out there somewhere. I just never imagined… it was Annie. That night, Luca came home—with Annie by his side. I said only four words. “I want a divorce.” Luca refused, saying I wouldn’t survive without him—but it was just gaslighting. In truth, he couldn’t afford to lose me or my family’s power. So I called one man Luca hated most in this world—his uncle, Stefan Ricci. The man who once stood equal to Luca in the race for power… If Luca believed he could humiliate me and still keep me tethered to him—his perfect little guarantee to the Don’s seat.… Then I could just as easily make another man take his place.

They say sin is a choice but they forget to tell how it's first desired. This is a collection of forbidden tales where temptation wears many faces and happens behind closed doors; the warden, the motel, twins, clinic and the most secret places you least expect. Sin takes place where they desire and if you can't control your desire, you join the cult. Each story burns differently telling its own side, every secret creates another. Together they form the creed of the cult. Enter the cult. Leave your conscience at the door.