The Good Life Novels & Stories

Exactly Five years ago, I discovered my union with my ex-husband was all a cruel lie. Before we married, my best friend Mirabel had introduced him to me as her brother. He was a poor talented but unrecognized fashion designer then, so I picked him up and helped him build his career with my father’s wealth. We later got married, and he eventually coerced me to sign off my father’s asset to his name and reeled by my undying love for him, I did. I trusted and believed that nothing could ever break us apart that I never saw Austin’s betrayer coming! First, I found out my best friend wasn’t his sister. They were a couple who had been having an affair under my nose, and it had been their plans to steal my heirloom. More heartbreaking enough, the day I found out was the day I discovered I was pregnant after three years of marriage. Austin, having gotten what he wanted, divorced me and threw me on the street with his seed growing inside me. He didn’t know, and I never intended to tell him. All I wanted was to hurt him back and take back everything he stole from him. However, helpless and left with nothing, I couldn't fight Austin back. I relocated to another city where I gave birth to twins who had rare talents. Five years later, their Talents brought me unexpected fortune. Now the most powerful and influential woman in the world, I could finally bring my bastard ex-husband to his knees... As if fate was on my side, everything fell right into place until it all came crumbling down again!

Adele Wilson, a bloodthirsty revenge seeker returned to LA just to find the killer of her parents. She never let her secrets and dark sides trace the well-preptended ordinary and simple life.But darkness was the only thing that pulled her like a magnet and she let herself drown into that.*** Albert Knight who was known as a cold, arrogant, rich and overbearing business tycoon was actually a heartless and ruthless mafia gang leader. He was a devil monster who was addicted to blood, power and money. But he never wanted the world to touch his darkness. Because once you stepped in, there would be no way out.*** He was compelled to marry her for the sake of his business. And she agreed just to keep her secrets safe. Neither he was interested in this marriage nor she cared. When he hid his soft heart behind his beast, she kept her secrets under the mask of a normal life. Both of them were bound to darkness, yet walked on a different paths for years. Is it possible to find any trace of light when their darkness collides?

Those words defined Claire Reid's entire life—and her death. At twenty-eight, she dies in a hospital bed surrounded by the family she sacrificed everything for: the father who forced her to quit school, the sister who took everything she had, the husband who treated her like an inconvenience, and the mother who demanded endless gratitude for their abuse. As her heart stops, Claire sees their relief and realizes the devastating truth: she wasted her life loving people who never loved her back. Then she wakes up. One year earlier. One month before her family frames her for theft. This time, Claire refuses. Refuses to give money. Refuses to stay silent. Refuses to be grateful for crumbs. Armed with knowledge of their betrayals and a fury born from her wasted first life, she systematically dismantles their manipulations, exposes their schemes, and reclaims her identity. But when she tries to leave her cold, arranged marriage, something unexpected happens.

Sapphire is from a rich and well-known family, but little does the public know that Sapphire's family has a secret; their secret, Sapphire's family abuses Sapphire. Sapphire is abused for wanting to be an Author because being an Author is not part of the family business. Brock and Grant, Sapphire's older brothers, and their friends, Tom, Nate, and Drew bully Sapphire and her only friend, Diamond, at school. Two of the boys have a crush on Sapphire and Diamond, but don't show it because of who they are friends with. After all the years of abuse, will the girls forgive the boys and fall in love with them, or will the girls crush the boys' hearts? Will Sapphire get away from her abusive family, or will she stay with them? What will happen to Sapphire's future?

When her first love died, my wife jumped from the cruise ship to end her life on our honeymoon. That was when I realized she had never let go of Tyler. Reborn back to our teenage years, she didn’t hesitate to shake off my hand and walk straight toward her first love. I watched them leave together, then turned away. From that moment on, our lives became two parallel lines that would never cross. Ten years later, we meet again at a lavish gala in Rivendell. She was now the rising star of high society, proudly clinging to Tyler’s arm as they made their entrance. When she saw me crash the gala in search of someone, she couldn’t help but advise me. “Why are you still obsessed with me? Even if you’ve waited ten years, I’ll never love you.” I ignored her and pulled my son out of the corner where he had been sneaking cake. Her eyes instantly redden as she grabs my hand in a panic. “You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you? Didn’t you say you’d only ever love me in this life?”

The day my parents divorced, the rain wouldn’t stop. Two agreements sat on the table. One meant staying in the old Eastwood District with my gambling-addicted father, Alexander Clark, drowning in debt. The other meant leaving for Silverstrand Coast with my mother, Charlotte Hayes, who was remarrying into wealth. In my last life, my younger brother, Mathias Clark, cried and clung to Mom while I quietly packed my things and chose to stay with Dad. Later, he quit gambling and struck it rich during a redevelopment boom. He poured everything into raising me right. Meanwhile, Mathias was trapped in his stepfather’s house—isolated, controlled, never allowed outside—until depression took his life. But this time, everything changed. Mathias snatched the cigarette from Dad’s hand and hugged him tightly, refusing to let go. "Tyler, I feel bad for Dad. You go enjoy the good life over there. I’ll stay and take care of him for you." Dad froze for a moment, then smiled with relief and patted his shoulder. I said nothing. I simply picked up the train ticket to the coast. What he didn’t know was that… In my last life, the reason Dad was able to quit gambling was because I had a brain tumor. I worked myself to the brink of coughing up blood just to repay his debts. I traded my life… for his redemption.

The day we submitted our college applications, the school beauty, Hayley Law, suggested we all go rafting to unwind. Every single person in class raised their hand in agreement. In my previous life, as the class monitor, I did everything I could to stop them. Wild rafting was far too dangerous. Without any safety measures in place, accidents could easily happen. In the end, everyone made it back safely and got into the colleges they wanted. But before the semester even started, news came that Hayley had gone rafting alone, slipped into the water, and drowned. When Terry Vargas, my boyfriend and the most popular guy in school, heard what happened, he took the lead in organizing a memorial at sea. Then, when the waves were at their worst, he shoved me into the ocean. Later, when the police questioned them, they all told the same story as if they had planned it. "Katrina insisted on a sea burial for Hayley. During the storm, she got swept away by the waves and disappeared." They even produced fake evidence to clear Terry's name. My parents were shattered. They went to Terry again and again, desperate for the truth, but he had them set up and locked away in a mental institution, where they were tormented to death. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day Hayley first suggested the rafting trip. I stood there quietly, watching my classmates pile into the bus she had rented, heading off to that same reckless trip. This time, I would just look out for myself.

My girlfriend, Phoebe Norton, insisted on bringing her best friend along on our trip. What she did not know was that her friend, Shanine Graham, was a shameless flirt. Wearing nothing but a tiny thong beneath her clothes, Shanine kept finding ways to tease and tempt me…

On the day the rich girl bullied me, my own mother just stood there, indifferent.But when she learned I fought back, my mother suddenly got angry and slapped me, saying, "How dare you hit Laura? Do you really think you can mess with her?"In that confusing moment, I suddenly realized something incredible!The rich girl and my mother looked remarkably alike...

Gabriel Russo had been born under a dark cloud. He knew his history like the back of his hand; his mother made sure of that. He knew what blood ran through his veins and what it meant. He also knew that there were some with that same blood who would kill him if they could. Born the product of a horrible act inflicted upon his mother by one of the Ricci brothers, now the adopted son of another very powerful family, he's the heir to two of the most powerful Familias in the West.The Life The Beginning is created by Jordan Silver, an eGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.