The Cruelest Month

I had just returned early from a business trip abroad, eager to surprise my five-year-old son. However, as I stood at the entrance of his preschool, the sight before me froze me in place. My son was clinging to my husband's "first love," calling her "Mom." I moved forward to get my son back, but before I could do anything, she screamed, "Help! A kidnapper is trying to take this child! Let's do the right thing today! Stand up for families who've had their kids stolen!"  She egged on the bystanders, rallying them to act in the name of justice. Without a second thought, a crowd of people pummeled me right there in the street, hitting me with rocks that smashed into my face, breaking my legs with metal pipes, and ripping the clothes from my body before tying me to a streetlamp. It was only then that I realized that in the month I'd been away, my husband had moved his first love into our home, taking my place. However, did he forget? He was nothing more than a man who married into my family! I couldn’t wait to see who couldn’t live without the other!

The world knows no master like Lucian Daiuz. While they claim that no one is above the law, he stands far beyond it—beyond governments, kings, monarchs, or mafias. All bow to him. His face is a mystery, his voice unheard by any who live to tell the tale. To some, he is a devil, a monster. Whispers and rumours paint him in a thousand shades of darkness, even questioning his manhood for remaining without a wife at 33. Every woman he takes as a wife vanishes before a month passes, and his wealth, so immense, could feed the entire country and still leave a fortune untouched. Lucian Daiuz—he is the man who haunts every nightmare. And now, I have been chosen to be his wife... She is the embodiment of grace in a world marred by shadows, a damsel whose beauty radiates across the kingdom. Men fall to their knees for a chance at her favour, but none have succeeded in capturing her heart. She turns them all away, waiting for the one who can truly claim her. Her purity and light are enough to banish the darkness that surrounds me. She is Princess Aurora von Dysheria, and I have claimed her to be my bride.

Nine years into my "non-cohabiting partnership" with Simon, his father passed away. The first condition in his will was simple: Simon and Ella had to conceive a child. On the day the child turned one month old, Simon would inherit his father's fortune. Simon told me this himself—the night I walked in on them tangled in our bed. Afterward, as he took a slow drag from his cigarette, he murmured, "Lily, just wait a little longer. Once I get the inheritance, I'll marry you." But he went back on his word. From then on, every time Simon planned to meet Ella at our house, he would hang a string of bells on the door. Since his father's passing, those bells had chimed ninety-nine times. After the ninety-ninth, the news arrived—Ella was pregnant, and their engagement party was set. My daughter saw the invitation, hesitated, then softly asked, "Mom, is Daddy's name on this?" I forced a smile and gently smoothed her messy hair into a neat ponytail. "Daddy is marrying the one he loves," I said. "And I'm taking you home." Simon never understood—I never cared about that marriage certificate.

By my third month on the job, I discovered that my coworkers had been calling me "the old crow" behind my back. The nickname came from none other than Jace's condescending secretary—because at 32, I was still clutching onto an eight-year relationship that hadn't ended in marriage. I confronted Jace. "Do you know your employees have been calling me the old crow?" He didn't even bother to look up. "That's just Sadie—she speaks her mind and means no harm. You're 32; why get so worked up over what a young girl says?" Then he gave me a faint, mocking smile. "Though honestly, it's a pretty fitting nickname." It felt like a cold hand had wrapped around my heart. So that was it—eight years of my youth, nothing more than a joke to him. I turned and walked away, handed in my resignation, and blocked every way he could reach me. But for the first time, the man who had always seemed so calm and untouchable finally panicked. "Elara," he pleaded, "please come back."

I had been dating Andy Lawson for five years. He had gone bankrupt, and during the worst of it, we had to sleep in parks and scavenge leftovers for food. After a hundred days of that life, I was just going to the blackmarket to sell some blood for money when someone sent me a video. [Surprise.] It was a livestream site, set up for rich kids to prank the common folk—and a video of me was pinned to the top. My finger trembling, I tapped on it and saw myself hidden in a corner of a park, munching on leftovers to nourish my frail body. On the split video, Andy was reclining against the armchair of a five-star hotel and savoring his gourmet menu. "Oh, this is amazing! All Andy has to do is say that he's sick, and she's selling her blood for him!" "On the sixteenth prank, she fell into the ocean… And on the fifteenth, she was sent flying in a car crash! Why is she so hard to kill?" "Well, Andy already made it clear that if she survives until the end, he will marry her and swear off women!" "One month to go! Will she die from the pranks, or marry into the Lawson family with pomp and circumstance?" "I'm betting fifty mil that she dies tragically! Hahaha!"

Juniper Hallowell has survived a lifetime of humiliation—an illegitimate Omega, a rejected mate, and the secret obsession of Prince Elias Whitmore, who keeps her chained with threats and a forbidden tape. But the night he chooses another woman over her, Juniper walks into a biker club and into the arms of two strangers who feel like destiny. Ronan and Soren Graves—ruthless biker princes and heirs of the Crimson Pack—have lived under a deadly Christmas curse since childhood. Every 24th of the month, they turn feral… until one night with a mysterious Omega brings them peace for the first time in years. They don’t know she’s their sister’s enemy. They don’t know she’s Elias’s mate. They don’t know she’s the witch-blooded cure they’ve searched for all their lives. But when the truth is exposed, chaos erupts. Juniper becomes torn between danger and desire, vengeance and destiny, power and love. And when she discovers she carries the twins’ children, the race to break the curse becomes a war—against Elias, Seraphina, and even fate itself. This Christmas, bloodlines will clash, curses will break, and love will demand a sacrifice no one is ready for.

On the day we're supposed to register our marriage, my girlfriend Jenny Sutton has me removed from the city hall. She walks in with her childhood sweetheart, Ronald Walsh. She looks at me without a flicker of guilt and says, "Ronald's kid needs his legal status sorted out. Once we divorce, I'll marry you." Everyone assumes I'll wait. I'm the devoted fool who's already waited seven years, so one more month seems trivial. That night, I went along with my family's plan and left the country for a marriage of convenience. I cut myself cleanly out of Jenny's life. Three years later, I return to the country with my wife, Ellie Olsen, who's a CEO, to pay respects at her family's graves. A last-minute issue pulls her away, and she asks the local branch to send someone to pick me up. I didn't expect Jenny, not after three years. "You have dragged this out long enough. Come back. Ronald's kid will be starting kindergarten soon. You can handle the school runs."

By the fifth year of my marriage to River Grayson, I had stopped checking his call logs and chat records. Instead, I spent my nights drinking and partying with my girlfriends at the poolside bar. When his ninety-ninth missed call lit up my screen, I let out a cold laugh and tossed my phone straight into the water. It didn't take long before he came storming in. The moment he pulled the strawberry-scented condom out of my pocket, he turned grim and banned me from leaving the house after 7:00 PM. "Joanne, you weren't like this before." I thought back to last month, when I had run into him at the hospital. He had lied about being on a business trip out of town, but there he was, holding Yvonne Sinclair's hand. I still remembered his words. "You lost your uterus from saving me back then. My sperm is perfectly fine. I'll give you a child—with your mother's help." Now, staring into his furious eyes, I said coldly, "Don't worry. There's no going back for us anymore."

"There there. Now you look like the attention-seeking slut you truly are," Thomas said, as he gripped my right arm and pulled me close till we stood eye to eye, his dark gray eyes glinting with maniac desire, which sent a chill through me like someone had doused me with freezing water. *** Innocent Nivea Scott got married to Thomas Westington to help save her family, and this became the beginning of hell for her. One month into the marriage, she escapes the house and runs to a nightclub in search of a passionate touch, which she finds. Only for her one-night stand to end up being her stepson, Zane Westington. Zane is shocked when he finds the mystery woman he slept with and can't get out of his mind is none other than his new stepmom. Forced to live under the same roof with his father's new wife, Zane finds his forbidden desire for her increasing with every breath. He has tasted the forbidden fruit and he wants more! But Zane knows how monstrous his father truly is, and if Thomas finds out, it might just be too late to save Nivea from his wrath.

In the second month of my relationship with my best friend Sophie Vaughn's older brother, Elias Vaughn, Thanksgiving arrives. Sophie leans in, eyes gleaming with mischief. "Elias is bringing his girlfriend home for the holiday. Let's see what all the fuss is about." I take my time getting ready, heart fluttering with hope. Just maybe, I'll finally be formally introduced as his girlfriend. But the moment I step inside, I see him with another elegant, beautiful woman, smiling as he introduces her to his parents. "This is my girlfriend," he says. He then inadvertently looks over at me, stiffening for a moment, clearly caught off guard. But just as quickly, he recovers and turns to the woman beside him. "That woman over there is my sister's friend and a part-time student. You could say she's a maid in our household." A maid? As it turns out, I'm nothing more than someone for him to kiss and sleep with. I was never someone worthy of standing by his side publicly. I turn away and board the train back to Ashcroft University, choosing my future over another night in his bedroom.