The Summer That Melted Everything Novels & Stories

I sponsored Emily Fagan from an underprivileged background just to help her get through school. She was good-looking but wasn't exactly the brightest. Despite my warning not to tamper with my things, she slipped stimulants into my water bottle. Thanks to her, I was accused of cheating in the swimming competition. Our team's score was nullified. As for me, I was banned from competing for life and kicked out of college. When I confronted her, she cried pitifully, "Julie, I just wanted you to win. I didn't know that'd happen." My boyfriend, Elijah Strauss, held her and comforted her. He even snapped at me, claiming, "Em had good intentions. Why are you giving her a hard time?" Crushed, I shut myself in at home. Feeling sorry, she and Elijah visited me and brought along some vodka as an apology. After I took ten shots, I asked her to buy some over-the-counter pain relievers for my splitting headache. Little did I know that she'd make me take a dangerous dose of Ibuprofen mixed with alcohol. The bleeding in my stomach was what killed me. Emily looked pitifully remorseful at the hospital. "I'm so sorry. I couldn't even tell what I shouldn't have given her…" During the police interrogation, my boyfriend gave false testimony to protect her. He accused me of taking my own life by mixing Ibuprofen and alcohol because I couldn't handle the mental stress from cheating in the competition. When I reopened my eyes, I found out that I was transported to the day before the competition.

My chosen mate, Alpha Wyatt, promised that we would finally have our bonding ceremony on the night of the full moon. But every year, he would delay it over some ridiculous bet. Every single time, he was so certain that I loved him enough to forgive him endlessly. This year, he lost my Luna necklace to a female wolf named Harper for an entire year. He wore the exact same playfully apologetic look on his face as the last few times. "I'm so sorry, babe. It was just a bet, but I'm an Alpha. I can't go back on my word." "Don't worry. Next year on the full moon, I promise I'll give you an unforgettable bonding ceremony." But this time, I calmly took off the mate-to-be ring he gave me and dropped it on the floor. "Don't bother. We're done." He didn't know that I wasn't just some ordinary, orphaned Omega. I am Valerie Sterling, the only daughter of the Alpha King. To escape my father's arrangements and the fated mate the Moon Goddess chose for me, I hid my name and my bloodline, stubbornly searching for a chosen mate of my own. For three years, I thought Wyatt was the one. Today, I realized how wrong I was. I gazed down at the text message from Leon, my father's Beta: "Lady Valerie, the Alpha King has reserved the last three days for the Heir Declaration. The private jet is on standby. He is waiting for you to come home." I didn't hesitate anymore. "I'll be there in three days."

I had loved Damian Moretti from a distance for two years. He was my boss, the untouchable heir to one of New York's most dangerous families, and the kind of man no woman should want unless she was ready to be ruined. Then he handed me a lipstick. At first, I thought it was just a gift. Until I touched it, and Damian Moretti, the coldest man in the room, almost came apart in front of everyone. That was when I learned his secret. The lipstick was bound to him. Every touch, every twist, every swipe of color, he felt it. He had not given me a present. He had handed me power over him. And when the office started whispering, when another woman tried to claim what was mine, Damian finally showed everyone the truth. The ruthless Moretti heir only knelt for one woman. Me.

After Nathaniel Cross promises to break things off and refocus on our marriage after having an affair, I give him three chances to meet with the young lady to end things between them completely. He uses every possible moment to spend time with her. They have dinner and do crafts. He even stays by her side through the night. When he comes back, he throws away everything that has to do with her and takes my hand again. "Trust me. I'll never betray you again," Nathaniel promises. One day, I collide with a young woman on the road. She makes a phone call to ask for help. The voice that answers belongs to one of my husband's friends. "Nathaniel, I don't think you should go. You've already used up all three chances. If Caroline finds out about this, she'll definitely ask for a divorce." Then, I hear Nathaniel's confident reply. "Caroline is an orphan. No one has ever loved or cared about her. She's more afraid of divorce than I am. Just keep quiet about this. I know what I'm doing. This is the last time." I feel my entire body turn cold. Only then do I realize that the sobbing woman in front of me is the mistress he has been so devoted to protecting. 20 minutes later, the man who has just sworn to return wholeheartedly to his family with me rushes frantically to the hospital.

At the factory, my arm is pulled into a machine. After the surgery, the factory supervisor tells me it's my fault. Because of my arm, the machine has to be shut down for repairs, and every day of downtime will cost them millions. "Someone has to take responsibility for this, Zachary," the supervisor tells me. "It wouldn't make sense to demand millions from you, so just compensate us with 300,000—that's all." Under their threats—and my family's desperate begging—I sign the IOU for 300,000. With one arm gone, I can no longer find a job. All I can do is collect trash to repay the debt. While picking up bottles outside a restaurant one day, I hear the factory supervisor laughing and bragging inside. "Actually, that one-armed guy didn't violate any rules. In fact, the HQ gave three million dollars in compensation. My house and car? All bought with that money," he said. "I mean, who'd ever find out? With that debt hanging over him, he's probably already run off somewhere." Shaken by the news, I stagger onto the street. A truck roars out of nowhere, slamming into me and throwing me 16 feet across the road. When I open my eyes again, I had returned to the day I lost my arm.

Claire Michel woke up in a hotel room with a man she didn't know. Her wedding to her fiancé, Ludwig Beyer, was about to take place, but she had no idea what to expect. One day, a video of her going crazy in a nightclub was leaked. Her extended family was furious and her wedding plans were canceled. She was kicked out of the house. Newly living on the outside, Claire found herself pregnant. A few years later, she was reunited with the stranger who had spent a thrilling night with her in the past. He is Felix Homann, a very special client that Claire's boss has asked her to take care of. So, what will Claire do?

Ryan Carter came to Arkwood University to escape his past especially Jake, the possessive ex who blurred every line between love and control. But his “fresh start” takes a messy turn when he clashes with Daniel Brooks: the cold, perfect, student body VP with too much power and zero patience for Ryan’s sharp tongue. They hate each other on sight. But hate has a way of burning too hot and the line between enemies and something else is thinner than either of them is ready for. What starts as tension becomes obsession. And when the past comes knocking, Ryan finds himself stuck between who he was, who he’s becoming, and a boy he never planned to want.

On Christmas night, my husband, Finnick Carson, can't spend the holidays with me because he's on a business trip. In order to make it up to me, he's specifically ordered a Christmas feast from a fancy restaurant and has it delivered to our home. But when I open the box containing the feast, I'm shell-shocked by what I see. Not only an array of seafood—that I'm allergic to—is arranged in containers, but there's also a kid's meal set included in the feast. When the deliveryman sees the food, he apologizes to me and tells me that he's mixed up the two meals that Finnick has ordered. This leaves me feeling uneasy. Why would my husband order two meals? So, I decide to find my way to the delivery address that the other meal is meant for. Shockingly enough, I see Finnick standing in a villa's backyard while picking candies from a Christmas tree with a mother and a son. The little boy then rushes into his arms happily. "Daddy, I'd like an amusement park for my birthday gift this year!" Finnick pinches his cheek gently. "Okay. I'll give your mommy a set of jewelry, too." The woman cuddles with him happily. "You're so nice to us, honey!" Having recorded the entire scene quietly, I send it to my lawyer. "Help me expedite my divorce so that my husband can reunite with his family as soon as possible."

While my husband, Gerald Brown, was abroad negotiating a business deal, he was drugged and spent the night with a female secretary from a rival company. The drug’s side effects scrambled his memory so badly that he forgot who I was. He kicked me out of the master bedroom and let the secretary smash my grandmother’s heirloom. I told myself he was sick and stayed silently by his side. But when I suggested taking him for a medical checkup, he hit me for the first time. “Who do you think you are? Only Ailey is allowed to touch me. If she gets jealous, you’ll regret it.” When the secretary framed me, he pushed me down the stairs, and I suffered a miscarriage. Late one night, when my heart condition flared up, I went to his study for medicine but overheard him talking to his friend outside the door. “Faking amnesia to bring Ailey home is one thing, but why replace your wife’s heart medication? Now, she’ll never return to the hospital for surgery.” Gerald just chuckled. “If I don’t keep her weak, she’ll go to the hospital and check the hospital records and find out I was never drugged. Ailey’s been timid since childhood and even went undercover for me in a rival company. I can’t betray her.”

At the age of 25, Esmeralda Martin is a highly wealthy and prosperous businesswoman. But she abdicated her fictitious monarchy in order to lead a straightforward life away from the media. She applied to work as a secretary in a foreign nation when she suddenly fell in love with her boss's disguised assistant. The shooting that occurred at his father's wedding earlier in the relationship put an end to its budding. Victor never met her parents, who soon after she went into a coma and took her away. Victor believed that if he found her, they could be married and stay together forever. However, she was now engaged to a man who resembled him perfectly. Why do they have the same name and similar appearance? Will he ever show her that the Victor she first fell in love with and even put her life in danger for is actually him? Choose this option to find out!