The Study Of Vanitas

“I now pronounce you both, husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.” ━━━━━━༺༻ ━━━━━━ Nadia Petrov Jules, barely eighteen years old, only had one dream in her life - to study abroad and become a doctor. She had even managed to convince her traditional and overprotective strict uncle to let her pursue her dreams in New York. Despite her family's political connections to the mafia cartel, her life was surprisingly calm and peacefully simple. Until he claimed her and took away her virginity. Anatoly Kiseleva, the Russian mafia heir is one word only - destruction in human form, a dedicated hunter who hunts down his enemies until he makes them bleed to their death. He is rumored not to have any beating heart inside his left sided chest. His marriage was fixed with the beautiful Ivanova, Nadia's maternal cousin. On the night of his engagement party, he was a bit drunk and met a girl with a mask on who he had believed to be Ivanova. He made love to the girl in the mask and didn't bother to notice the obvious differences. When the morning came, he was beyond furious after he took off the mask. Now they are both married and Anatoly despises and loathes his new bride who doesn't even have two complete legs. Nadia's life was much too sweet before she was forced and pulled into bitterness and sorrow with a husband who hated her and was disgusted by her disability. To Her, it wasn't a marriage but her death sentence. And to Him, it also wasn't a marriage but an endless torment of shame.

Mia George. A reporter, a tomboy. Never been involved in anything related to having a relationship with any guy. But is quite okay with her not so boring life. She is suddenly endangered, when the man who was thrown into prison because of her is back...and is out to take revenge on her. Alex Friedrich. He's ruthless, cold and distant to everyone around him. A lawyer who hasn't lost any case before. He prefers being alone, in his study with heaps of books. He's more closer to his dogs than humans. But he's bound to know his life will never remain the same when he saved the life of Mia George. Bolu Afolabi. An elegant doctor. She's independent, has it all. She meets Alex and falls deeply for him, hoping reciprocate her feelings. Her love for him, turns into a dangerous obsession and she is willing to take lives down because of him. Charles Douglas. A cop and also a single parent. He believes he's contented. He loves his job, his daughter. Yet he despises women. He's vowed never to have any relationship with them or whatsoever. Ever since the mother of his daughter abandoned his daughter, when his daughter was an infant. His six years daughter goes missing and is brought back to him by a lady. But, what happens when he starts developing feelings for this same lady? Worst, his life and his daughter's is at stake, when an infamous hardened criminal is after him. ****Totally worth reading****

The day before we are supposed to go abroad to get our marriage registered, George Anderson slips a five-carat diamond ring onto my ring finger. "Geri, once you wear this, you'll be Mrs. Anderson for the rest of your life." Before I even have time to feel moved, his tone suddenly shifts. "But I've already canceled tomorrow's flight and asked for a refund. Let's put off the registration for now." He slowly turns the rosary beads on his wrist, speaking as if it's the most natural thing in the world. "Mia's depression has relapsed. She's threatening to jump off a building. The only thing that can calm her down is getting a marriage certificate with her. "I have to go register my marriage with her right now. If she finds out I married you abroad, she'll lose her mind." I freeze and stare at him in disbelief. However, he ruffles my hair with eyes full of indulgence and helplessness. "Be good. It's just a piece of paper. Once her condition is stable, we'll have our wedding. If you really want to go to Frosh Isle, just join a tour group yourself." I watch as his figure retreat in a hurry and touch my lower abdomen. Then, I tear the prenatal checkup report for the twins in my bag into pieces. Next, I make the call for my final confirmation of starting the overseas study program. I no longer intend to see the aurora in Frost Isle with George.

After claiming another pack, Kyler Vaughn of the Frostfang Pack was now the most powerful Alpha in the western region. But in all that glory, he seemed to have forgotten someone. Me, his destined mate, Elsa Thorne. Seven years ago, I took a poisoned strike meant for him. Because of that, I never awakened my wolf and was left a weak Omega. A year ago, he promised that once he became the strongest Alpha in the west, we would hold our bonding ceremony. Now that he had achieved it, my heart leapt as I ran to his study, full of hope. The door was slightly open, and I heard his voice. "We'll move forward with the plan tomorrow. Split into two teams, one for the Ember Pack and the other for the Shadow Pack." Another voice hesitated. "But Ms. Thorne..." "Why mention that useless Omega? She'll only slow us down. Enough of her." I froze outside the door, my excitement twisting into a bitter ache. I remembered the times he went on missions, while I could only wait in our territory for his return. So, this was how he actually saw me. A stubborn fire rose in me. I would go to the new territories and prove I wasn't useless. The next day, I disguised myself as a Warrior and stood at the rally point. When asked which team I wanted, the names Shadow Pack and Ember Pack spun in my mind. His disdainful gaze leaving me flustered, I blurted out, "The Ember Pack! I want to go to the Ember Pack!" I didn't know that my rushed choice would throw me headfirst into an unknown whirlpool...

What would you do if you met your boyfriend in bed with your best friend? For Aurora Gibson, she met a fate that changed her life forever after that night. She married Damien Vladimir, the man who hit her on a rainy night after she was heartbroken by the scene she met in her little apartment she shared with her boyfriend. The contract marriage was to last for only six months which was the time the doctor gave for her to regain her memory from the accident. On the night Damien was to travel, Aurora confessed her love to him but only to be declined. After Damien left that night, she left the mansion heartbroken but what Damien didn’t know was that Aurora was pregnant. He searches and turns New York City upside down for the woman he once rejected because his heart longs for her presence and innocence but she is nowhere to be found. What will he do if he finds out the woman he rejects is pregnant? ******** “I’m in love with you Damien” Aurora calmly said after thinking for days about it. She is scared this heartless man who doesn’t even look at her will reject her. Damien who arranged his wrist watch stop and turn towards the little woman standing inside his study. “Are you stupid? Mind you, you are here because you lost your memory from the accident. Do you think you are a match for me?” He asked for Aurora to bite her lower lips scared to speak. “Don’t take the sex for love. It’s nothing to me.” She heard Damien say and walked out of the study which made her break down in tears…..

We all have seen woman under the ruthless mafia but what if a little girl emerging from mafia leads her self army? Eva is a twenty year old woman playful and the most interesting woman in her college. She is sweet and vibrant living a beautiful life but has extraordinary powers. Her father earns a living by taking contracts for various crimes and Eva was dragged into the business. Damon, twenty five year old was the man leading his father's business and is considered the most powerful man of the country. However, he is ruthless and there is no second chance for anyone crossing his way. What will happen when Eva will encounter Damon in an evil fight? Who will survive the second chance? Will Eva lose her morality? Damon and Eva, after knowing each other Eva finds a way to encounter her revenge. She is a secretive serial killer with blood in her head. Damon however, secretly wipes her sin after she completes her work. The thrill carrying both of them on the roller coaster of sins and love will describe how Damon unlocks Eva from her cruel stones heart. However, by the time you will reach the seventieth chapter, you will find that Eva has lost her cruel memory. She turns into becoming an innocent lady living the princess life with Damon. You will now watch Eva becoming an innocent girl who hates to study and seeks love, a girl with no goal but with high teenage emotional drama. What will happen when Damon finds that she no more the woman he loved? What will happen when the reborn child in her would experience that Eva was once a serial killer. Will Eva regret her life or will she ever forgive Damon?

Everyone warned me never to fall for Dante Moretti. They said he was the ghost of the Velasco family—an underboss who ordered hits without blinking, his heart colder than the barrel of his gun. But when he bent me over that mahogany desk, his mouth against my ear commanding me to say his name, I was stupid enough to think that was possession. It took me an entire year to see the truth. The photographs locked in his study drawer were never of me. The woman in white waiting for him in the cathedral district on Sunday mornings was never me. The girl who took a bullet for him, the one he called his "salvation"—her name is Elena Abate. And Elena happens to be my stepmother's daughter. My father is trying to sell me to a half-dead Agosti heir for five hundred million to save the family. My stepmother is scheming to erase me from existence entirely. And the man I thought would burn this city to the ground for me? On the day I needed him most, he was lifting Elena up a flight of stairs, cradling her like something sacred. They all thought I was just a pawn to be moved around their chessboard. They were wrong. If Dante can't let go of his precious white moonlight, his "salvation," then I'll become someone else's "widow." If Elena believes she's already won this game, I'll let her watch from the front row as a woman with nothing left to lose burns it all down. My name is Serafina. Remember it. Because I am about to become the reckoning none of them saw coming.

Banished on the same day she was supposed to be made Luna of her pack, Sofia left heartbroken and found herself alone, battling depression. Just as she began to rebuild her life, she discovered she was pregnant with twins, carrying the legacy of her former mate, Nathan—the Alpha who betrayed her. In her darkest hour, she met Luca, a wealthy and renounced CEO, whose kindness and friendship helped her start anew. In a bold move to secure a better future for her children, she left the country with her babies to study at a renowned culinary school. Five years later, she was back! Back with her twins as a celebrated chef! But as time goes on, Alex, one of Sophia's twins, begins to show signs of shifting—awakening the werewolf bloodline within him and bringing the past crashing back. With the pack’s dangers resurfacing, Nathan reappears, desperate to reclaim his family after uncovering the truth behind his mistakes. Caught between the loyalty of the mate bond and her growing love for Luca, Sophia faces impossible choices that could determine her children's fate. “Mommy, Daddy, we want to be together!” > Alex and Alexia. “It’s not possible!” > Sophia. “Tell her it’s not!” > Nathan. Will she find it in her heart to forgive Nathan? Can she protect her family from those who threaten their safety? And with Victoria—the woman responsible for her banishment—still lurking, how far will Sophia go to secure a future for those she loves? With enemies closing in and her children caught in the crossfire, she must decide: Return to the pack with Nathan or forge a new future with Luca! Will love or loyalty prevail?

By the third year of my marriage to Daniel Hawthorne, the war had already taken more than it ever returned, and this time it took his younger brother, Thomas Hawthorne. My sister-in-law, Eleanor, collapsed, and in the weeks that followed she tried to follow her husband into death— once with sleeping pills, once by the river beyond the officers’ quarters— only to be dragged back both times, each time clinging to me afterward as though I were the last thing keeping her grounded. I stayed with her, wiped her tears, and whispered that Thomas would want her to live, until the day she received the test results confirming she was three months pregnant, and the grief of losing her husband was slowly softened by the arrival of new life. I smiled too, believing grief had finally loosened its grip. That night, holding my own pregnancy test in my hand and thinking it was finally time to tell Daniel, I passed the study and heard his friend say quietly, “She’s carrying your child. You convinced the doctors to adjust the timeline so everyone would believe the baby belonged to your brother. Aren’t you afraid Margaret will find out?” Daniel didn’t hesitate. “She won’t,” he said calmly. “She loves me. She wouldn’t leave. I won’t let her know.” I didn’t step inside. I didn’t confront him. Instead, I opened the letter I had received weeks earlier— an official deployment order from the international medical corps, assigning me to a frontline war zone— and tapped Accept.

I turn down a dream research program at Hefford University just so I can stay and help my debt-ridden boyfriend run a burger stand. This time, he says he's serious. I give him all the money I've saved up over the years, hoping we can build a better future together. A few hours later, I discover he's forgotten two hundred dollars in the drawer. I grab the money and run out, hoping to catch him. What I catch is a scene straight out of a corny movie. The loan sharks who used to beat and threaten him are now bowing and nodding deferentially. "Sir, I guess we don't need to show up at your house anymore, right?" Kurt Saunders rubs his temples and replies, "Yup. Anna gave up her entire future for me. She even turned down an opportunity to study at Hefford just to help me pay off my debts." Before he even finishes, his childhood friend lets out a giggle. "Kurt, that's still not enough. You'll only know if she really doesn't mind being poor if she sticks around through a year of flipping burgers without any complaints." Kurt looks at her sly expression and lets out a helpless laugh. "Alright, we'll do it your way. One more year of pretending. Anna would never leave me anyway." I stand there, listening to the sound of my own heart shatter. Kurt, you think I'm giving up my future for you, but it's still mine, and I can take it back.