Novel & Cerita The Rescuers Down Under: Jake

My husband, Lawrence Schwartz, and I were both liars. He lied to me, saying he would forget his first love, yet his phone is filled with photos of her. I lied to him, saying I would never leave, while secretly planning a future without him. A month ago, I tricked Lawrence into signing the divorce papers. Today was the final day to complete the entire divorce process.. Three hours left. I packed all my luggage and bought a plane ticket for the next day. Two hours left. I cut up every photo of us together, leaving only myself in the album. Last hour. I thought about leaving a message, then decided against it. Today marked the tenth year I had loved him and the first day I left him.

The seventh time Claire Fisher bailed on our marriage license appointment, I finally cut her out of my life—for good. From then on, if she was at a party, I wasn't. When she was scheduled to perform at our college's anniversary celebration, I made sure to leave early. The moment my company announced a collaboration with hers, I resigned without a second thought. Even on Christmas Eve, when she showed up at my parents' house with gifts, I slipped out with a half-hearted excuse about "visiting a friend." I blocked her number. Deleted her from my contacts. Burned every bridge and salted the earth behind me. No calls. No texts. No social media. I didn't reach out. She couldn't reach me. Simple as that. For the better part of my life, I was hopelessly in love with her—waiting on her, caring for her, putting her first in every way that mattered. I gave her all of me without ever holding back. But after the seventh time she left me sitting alone at the City Hall, something inside me broke. I was done. If that meant spending the rest of my life alone, so be it. Better that than sitting in an empty apartment, listening to the silence, holding on to hope for someone who never planned to show up.

The most popular girl in school, Mona Culver, could only apply for the city's worst community college because of her poor school results. My childhood friend, James Holden, got our entire class to fill out application forms for community college too. It was his attempt to negotiate with Northrind University's admissions department to make an exception for Mona to study there. The top thirty students in the city shared pictures of their amended application forms to community college. Back in my past lifetime, I tried my best to talk them out of it. The application submission deadline was the next day, and no amendments would be allowed after that. If they wasted their time threatening Northrind by applying to community college, and the deadline passed, nothing could be done to change the results, even if they were the city's top thirty students. Their dreams of attending an Ivy League school would be quashed after ten years of hard work, and no one knew what their future would hold after that. James got angry and berated me, "You're just afraid Mona will be better than you once we start classes at Northrind. Stop pretending like you're doing this for us!" The rest of my classmates were also upset with me, and they turned their fury on me. "Our high school results mean nothing. With our abilities, we would still be able to attend Northrind next year if we repeat the year. You should just mind your own business!" We had been classmates for three years, and I could not let them compromise their futures. I informed our principal and their parents of their plans, and their application forms were amended. I managed to stop them from threatening Northrind's admissions department. All of them were accepted by Northrind in the end, and they became elites in their respective industries with bright futures ahead. Mona ended up getting pregnant with a thug's child while in community college, and she suffered from both physical and mental issues. She fell into deep depression and even attempted suicide several times. James broke down when he learned the truth, and he blamed it all on me. He worked with our classmates to fabricate evidence that I committed plagiarism, and they poisoned my drink. Even my parents were burned to death by a patient from a mental hospital. When I was reborn into this lifetime, I saw James change our group chat's name into 'Fight for True Love! Let's Go to Northrind Together!' I left the group without hesitation and blocked everyone's numbers.

I could see the countdown above a person’s head when they had already decided to leave their partner. The day my father’s countdown hit zero, he slapped a lawyer’s letter on the breakfast table and walked out on my mother and me. The day my best friend’s countdown hit zero, she finally threw her parasite of a boyfriend out of her apartment and changed the locks before sunset. That was why I’d always been terrified of seeing a countdown above my fiancé, Lucian Bellandi. Luckily, for seven years by his side, the space above his head had stayed clean. Lucian was the youngest Don the Bellandi family had ever seen. He owned the docks, the casinos, and half the South Side’s dirty money, yet he saved every soft part of himself for me. Until last month, when he picked me up after a family auction. I looked up and saw blood-red numbers stabbing into my eyes. [702 days, 14 hours, 22 minutes.] Less than two years. My heart tightened like a cold hand had closed around it. I started searching for an answer like a woman losing her mind. Had I done something wrong? Then, during a blizzard by the lake, we ran into Mia Crane at the back entrance of the Bellandi Hotel. Lucian had just brought her into his charity foundation as a new assistant. Snow clung to her hair and lashes. She was shivering from head to toe, but her smile was bright and painfully innocent. Lucian pulled a black silk handkerchief from his breast pocket and handed it to her. His face was calm. There was nothing openly improper in the gesture. But in that exact second, the countdown above his head jumped. [327 days, 4 hours, 47 minutes.] More than three hundred days, gone. And I knew I had found the reason.

I watched the Pack’s doctor congratulate my husband—not for the child growing inside me, but for another. When Clementine, Alpha Maximillian’s former lover, returned carrying his pup, my world shattered in a single heartbeat. In one cruel moment, I lost everything. My place in the pack. My crown as Luna. My marriage. So I did the only thing I could. I planned my escape. With two weeks to count down, I plan my disappearance—returning to my parents’ legacy with a secret growing inside me. His child. I told myself distance would be enough. That time would heal the bond he shattered. I was wrong. No matter how far I ran, the Alpha still found me. And this time, he came to claim what he believed was his. Me. And the child he once rejected.

WARNING: MATURE CONTENT! An EROTIC-ROMANCE story! *** Since high school, Isla Peterson, a college student, had a crush on her brother's closest friend. She wished to be noticed by the man not just as a young sister, but also as a lover. She begged her brother, Apollo, to invite him to her 18th birthday party. Because her brother adores her, he eventually agreed. She was overjoyed when her long-time crush arrived—her wish had been granted. After reaching the legal age, Isla relaxed during her after-party and assured her brother that she would only drink a little. However, she got drunk and involved herself in a situation that forever changes her life. She had sex with her long-time crush, Zero, the famed womanizer. Zero Cohen is a well-known monster in bed who prefers extreme sex over making out. He only had one rule: "keep up with his pace," and he will lavish you with joy. Zero didn't realize it was Isla he claimed that night because they were both drunk at the time. And he admits, the lady was too good for first-timers. He began to crave her body, and every time he saw her, his pet hardened and desired to delve deeper into her core. But can they really expect to go very far in this game? What if they have to face their difficulties? Will one of them give up, or will they fight? What could it bring if the playboy faces his downfall?

Oh my goodness! "You... You killed him" My lips trembled as I spoke. My eyes focused on Cyrus blood which was spreading out. "Your turn, Step Sister" ******** Betrayed by her lover, Grisella Morretti falls into the trap of Don Raniero, her foster brother who was a ruthless Mafia Boss. To Don Raniero, she was a gold thief that he had to teach some sort of lesson and extract a heavy price for crossing him. But what he doesn't know is that Grisella's capture is just merely a pawn in her own game of REVENGE. Put on your seatbelt as we dive into this gripping tale of secrets, lies and hidden truths.

I dated my younger brother’s best friend, Dylan Lane, for three years. More than once, he told me how much he loathed arranged marriages and how he hated being chained by family interests. However, one night, after another bout of indulgence, he wrapped his arms around me and begged me sweetly to design a wedding ring for his fiancée—someone he had never even met. The smile froze on my face, yet he just said indifferently, “Aren’t people like us all destined to marry for our families' benefit?” Seeing the blood drain from my face, he even chuckled. “Vee, don’t you tell me you're still as naïve as a 20-year-old girl, thinking I would ever marry you? At most, we're just… pillow friends." Later, I agreed to the marriage my family had arranged for me. Dylan showed up on my wedding day, disheveled and red-eyed. He fell to his knees and begged me not to leave. I stood beside my new husband, hand in hand, and smiled faintly as I chuckled. “Didn’t you say people like us were born for arranged marriages? I’m simply doing what you always wanted me to do. Shouldn’t you be happy?”

I still have a week before my due date when a truck suddenly hits me, sending me flying several feet and leaving me bleeding profusely on the ground. As I lose consciousness, I call my husband, Wallace Brown, begging him to rush over and save our unborn child, only for him to reply coldly, "It's Beth's 18th birthday party today, Meryl. You can't seriously be pulling one of your stunts on a day like this, can you?" In the next instant, I hear my son, Daniel Brown, exclaiming, "You're always using the baby to threaten us, Mommy! I really hate it when you do that!" Wallace stresses the importance of Beth's birthday party again, demands that I attend immediately, and then hangs up on me. With a pool of blood spreading beneath me, I close my eyes, overcome by despair. When I open my eyes again, I am met by the sight of a death certificate. The doctor delivers a crushing pronouncement. "I'm sorry, but if you had gotten here sooner, we might have been able to save the baby's life…" I look at the death certificate, feeling as though my heart died with my baby. I finally decide to leave this family, yet now they're the ones begging me to stay.

The moon goddess hosted a feast on a full moon night and an alpha was born on that night. Drunk to stupor from all the drinking at the feast, the moon goddess makes a blunder and mates the alpha with a human. It's irreversible because it has been scripted in their destiny and they'll be mated for eternity no matter how many times they are reborn. Alpha Dominic, the alpha that was mated to a human grows up thirty years later still without a mate so his father consults a priest and he's told of his unknown destiny; being mated to a human. His father is horrified but Dominic's happy to finally know he has a mate after so many years. Samantha Cosgrove, a mate to the alpha but has no idea about it, is a married woman and a baker that owns a bakery in the city. She finds out her husband's cheating on her and files a divorce immediately. With her alimony and her savings, she moves elsewhere to start afresh. Unknown to her, her bakery is just at the outskirts of alpha Dominic's pack.  Fate brings them to meet each other and alpha Dominic knows he's met his mate once he sees her. He makes advances towards her and Sparks fly; she's instantly drawn to him too. Fate seems to test their bond though on several occasions and we're left to wonder if Samantha will accept Dominic for who he is, if she will survive being the mate to a werewolf or if they'll eventually end up together happily despite all odds.