The House At The End Of The Lane

I was madly in love with James Gates for 10 years. So mad that everyone in the Imperium said that I was addicted to him. How far did it go? I wouldn't allow any woman to get close to him. I wanted to eliminate every woman around him. In the end, James sent me to rehab. While others quit smoking, drinking, or gaming, I was quitting James. But later, I truly moved on from him. Yet, he regretted it and, in the pouring rain, begged me to love him again.

After five years of dating, my girlfriend, Rachel Meyers, cancels our wedding 52 times. The first time, her intern, Ethan Cole, messes up a form at the law firm where she works. She rushes back to fix it, leaving me stranded on the beach for the entire day. The second time, during the wedding ceremony, she hears that Ethan is being bullied by another attorney. She abandons everything to help him, leaving me to become the laughingstock of our guests. After that, no matter when we hold the wedding, Ethan always seems to have some kind of emergency that demands her attention. Eventually, I grow numb and decide to break up with her. But on the day I move out of Westerbay, Rachel loses her mind trying to find me.

My childhood sweetheart and I are about to exchange rings at our wedding ceremony. Just then, a young woman charges into his arms and says pitifully, "Don't abandon me." My childhood sweetheart brought her home when he was in high school after chancing upon her by the roadside. Everyone knows how doting he is toward her. When she charges into his arms, she "accidentally" shoves me aside. I lose my balance and fall off the stage, knocking my head on the steps. I end up in a coma. When I wake up again, I'm taken back to the day my childhood sweetheart meets the young woman.

When my husband returned home to visit his parents, I noticed that he forgot to bring back the specialties he had bought. I ran after him, only to find him getting out of a car in a suit. His childhood friend stepped forward to welcome him. They held hands and smiled as they looked into each other’s eyes. They looked like a happy, newlywed couple. Only when my husband saw me standing not too far away did he hurriedly distance himself from his childhood friend. “Her mother’s critically ill, and her mother’s only wish is to see her get married. I’m just helping her.” I simply smiled. I pushed him right back to his childhood friend’s side and started cheering with everyone else. “When’s the baby coming?! I’ll be sure to wrap a nice gift!”

"You think you know hate, Avery?" His voice a dangerous rumble that seemed to roll straight through me. "Hate is easy. It’s the love that complicates everything." "Love? Don't talk to me about love. You wouldn't recognize it if it clawed its way into your heart." Liam's expression darkened, "And whose fault is that, remind me? You destroyed every ounce of it." My eyes filled with tears instantly, my voice so thick, it hurt my throat as the words came out. "And you made me pay for it, in the most horrible way. A person who loved a girl with his whole heart would never be able to do what you've done, what you've allowed to happen. That's why I hate you, because you never loved me, or else you couldn't do all this to me." His eyes sparked with anger "You have no idea what you're talking about." "Maybe I do, maybe I don't," I shot back bitterly, "But it seems like the only thing you're good at is pretending. Pretending to care, pretending to love—" "That's enough!" his voice boomed. "You want to see how real my feelings are? I should teach you a lesson on underestimating them." I tilted my chin up in defiance "Go on then, teach me." The next moment was a blur of motion as he closed the distance between us. His hands gripped my face, not gentle but not cruel—a fervent, desperate hold. His lips met mine in an intense, raw kiss, fueled by anger and deep, relentless desire. The kiss was punishing, his mouth moving against mine with a fierce urgency that left no room for doubts or second thoughts. As he pulled back, his eyes bore into mine, challenging, questioning, daring me to deny what lay between us.

After being reborn, I'm taken back to the day I confessed my love for my childhood friend. In my past life, I had to plead and beg before he begrudgingly agreed to marry me. "You look pathetic when you beg me for anything, Annabelle." That was what Hayden Gulman always said to me. He was so cold to me that he even canceled the part where we read our vows to each other during the wedding. When I was eight months pregnant, he took a photo of my belly covered in stretch marks. Then, he complained to his true love about the unhappiness he faced after marrying me. When I went into a difficult labor due to my agitation, he and his true love were on vacation. At that moment, my heart finally died. It turned out my one-woman show couldn't be considered love at all. Now that I've been reborn, I smile when I see the disdainful look in his eyes. I say, "We have nothing to do with each other from this moment on. I only wish to be happy."

Dale reincarnates in a woman’s body when he promised to live again not wanting to leave his beloved, Chelsea. However, how can he show his love towards Chelsea when he is a girl and how will he make her love and accept him as a woman? What if the woman he reincarnated happened to be… his ex-girlfriend?

Avery Sallow wants nothing more than saving her ailing mother from the clutches of death. Graduating with honors from one of the best colleges in Empire City, she hustles through the city for a job, which landed her in the net of Michael King, her 'devilishly handsome' boss. Michael King is the cassanova of Empire City, the richest and youngest CEO in town. Betrothed to his childhood friend, Nicki Sandalwood, he is caught between fulfilling his promise to Nicki, or taking his chance with the 'nerve-wrecking' assistant that haunts his night. Will their hatred for each other quench the spark of love they feel for each other? Will they prevail over the forces that put them on the other side of the divide?

I sat at the table, watching the food grow cold, much like my heart. Today was my birthday. It was also Leslie Buck's birthday—Katherine White's childhood sweetheart. I unlocked my phone and opened Leslie's social media page. As expected, a new post awaited me. "Grateful to have you by my side for every birthday. Let's keep our promise to celebrate every one of them together in the future!" The photo showed two hands forming a heart in front of a cake. One of them was Katherine's. I could tell from the bracelet she wore. It was the one I had given her. I gave the post a like, then set my phone aside. Without hesitation, I dumped the dishes Katherine liked into the trash and went out to a restaurant to order the food I liked, celebrating my birthday alone. From now on, I would make sure to enjoy every birthday of mine.

Hungry and desperate, Luna Reyes crashes a wedding looking for food—and accidentally becomes the bride. Married to cold-hearted CEO Grayson Vaughn in a business merger gone wrong, she has three months to play the perfect wife or lose her chance at freedom. But with a dangerous ex hunting her down and a husband who's more complicated than he seems, Luna's carefully planned escape is about to get complicated. One wrong move could expose her darkest secrets—or steal her heart. A captivating marriage of convenience romance where survival meets unexpected passion.