Then She Was Gone Book Summary

On the day of my daughter Eleanor Baldwin's second birthday party, my entire family stood nervously by the banquet hall entrance. They were not there to greet guests, but rather to keep me from showing up and causing a scene. Mom's face was written all over with anxiety. "Lucas wouldn't actually crash the party, would he?" Dad's brow stayed tightly furrowed. "Who knows? That disgrace of a son is capable of anything." My younger brother, Cody Baldwin, had his arm wrapped gently around my wife, Kendra Clarkson, trying to reassure her. "Don't worry. If Lucas dares to show up, I'll keep you and Ellie safe." Kendra nodded slowly. "If it really comes to that... maybe we should just let Ellie be his goddaughter. At least then, we're still family..." However, the party came and went, and I never appeared. I had already made up my mind to join a classified national defense research program. Only this time, it was for good.

My younger fraternal twin brother finally gets a girlfriend. Our parents, who are overseas, entrust me with the task of welcoming her. I instruct the maids to prepare a feast to welcome her. As we sit around the dining table, my brother scoops a bowl of soup for me himself. After that meal, my brother's girlfriend pulls a long face at me. "Who gave you the right to eat the soup my darling scooped? How could you be so lazy? You can't even cook, yet you're not even embarrassed to stuff yourself with all that food!" I'm stunned by her outrageous words. I reply in annoyance, "What does that have to do with you anyway? I'll do as I please!" She glares at me with hatred written all over her face and yells, "Why aren't you married yet? The family's assets belong to me and my darling. Who do you think you are that you can spend our money? "Just look at you. You will never be able to get married like this. Perhaps it'll be better for you if you beg me to introduce my elder cousin to you. He doesn't mind that you're lazy. All he wants is for you to give him a son. He earns over ten thousand dollars a month!" I'm dumbstruck by her shamelessness. I storm straight to the bathroom where my brother is and bang on the door repeatedly. "Come out here right now! What is with your girlfriend? And since when have our family's assets become yours and yours alone?"

By the fifth year of my marriage to Noah Lester, everyone insisted that I, Emma Newman, was his eternal muse. But I knew the truth. Behind my back, Noah cycled through a parade of fresh-faced, eager lovers. He even flaunted them at social gatherings, swapping one for another with shameless ease. When friends teased him—"Didn’t you swear Emma was the love of your life? Why the revolving door of mistresses?"—he’d just laugh, arms slung around his latest conquests. "Once you’ve caught your muse the glow fades. Give me someone new and tender any day—at least they keep things exciting." So I began plotting my escape. What Noah never realized was that I had grown tired of him, too. Tired of this life, of these performances. I was done.

Unnatural murders have accumulated in the suburban area of Leonska State. The bizarre details of each murders confined the state police inside a hopeless predicament and as they widen their investigation it, the possibility of catching the perpretrator slowly died down. The police force knew that it would not take long before the case goes cold and unsolved. Paige Morsen, the sagacious, resilient, and the only female detective under the Homicide Unit received the approval of taking the case under her control. Despite the chauvinism she receives and invalidation from the police men in their force, she continued following the sketchy tracks of the killer, hoping she would mark the case as closed before the frantic race of the time would end. As she dives in towards the deep and twisted mind of the killer, she finds herself trapped inside a horrific cat-and-mouse chase with no other possible way out other than executing the killer himself. Would she be able to serve the justice? Or would it take another victim to again disappear before she could call it a case-closed?

When Aster decided to confess to her childhood friend, Xavier, she feels relieved to find out that he feels the same way about her. However, he claims that he's not ready yet, asking for her to wait until he becomes the partner he thinks she deserves. Waiting for him would've been the easiest thing she'll ever have to do in her entire life if only her stupid mate, Khai, with his dangerously adorable grin and unwavering desire to befriend her, hadn't decided to conveniently show up a week after her confession. Shenanigans ensue as Aster tries to refuse her fate, believing Xavier to be the only one for her. ( cover drawn by yours truly )

The conference room had started leaking, so my fiancé, Zack Tim, and I moved to a hotel to continue discussing work. We had barely taken out our documents when the door was suddenly kicked open. “Welcome to tonight’s first live bust from the Cheaters on Catch team, a special Valentine’s edition! Just look at her and her plastic surgery. She has the face of a homewrecker…” Amidst my confusion, a storm of punches and insults came crashing down on me. Zack, on the other hand, was gagged, tied up, and dragged to the side. They tore up my contracts, ripped apart my custom-made outfit, and kicked my unborn child to death. The streamer clapped her hands cheerfully. “That’s it for today’s livestream! Client, don’t forget to leave us a good review.” If they thought they could walk out that door, well, I’d be damned.

"Xander. Please, have pity" she pleaded miserably at my feet.Disgusting. I thought and scowled....Her pitiful state did nothing to me.Seeing her lying in her own filth, crying in pain and on the brink of death brought a little bit of satisfaction to my distorted empty heart.......Crossing the threshold of her cell, I turned my head and looked one last time at the pitiful mess that was my mother. *******Meet Alexander Rage.Sociopath, psychopath and neighborhood villain with a secret agenda. You could say his behavior is influenced by his horrible past or just the fact that he's a sad miserable vampire.But then again,he might just be really evil deep down. Elite vampire. *******Meet Elle Rivers.Not so quiet,shy, straightforward kinda girl.Middle class vampire.Isn't too fond of the elites and prefers to stay at home taking of her father and serving as the village doctor.Do they find love in each other in the mad chaos that is their lives?This is a cliché-ish vampire book. Read at your own risk. Though some unexpected twists and turns are promised.

I found the lie on a Tuesday. Five thousand dollars. Every month. Going to a woman with my husband's last name. When Flynn came home and saw me sitting on the office floor surrounded by bank statements, he didn't even try to deny it. He just stood there and told me he couldn't explain. Three years of marriage and all I got was “I can't”. So I left. Three months later I met Dominic. Flynn's biggest business rival. Charming, warm, patient in all the ways Flynn never was. He made me laugh for the first time in months. He made me feel like myself again. He felt like the right choice. Except he wasn't. Now I'm pregnant, furious, and standing in the middle of two men who both claim they love me. They're both asking me to trust them. But they both already broke that trust.

After my fiancée returned from six months of traveling with her childhood friend, she realized I had changed. For his sake, she broke protocol and promoted him to be the CEO's personal assistant. I obediently stepped aside and gave up my position. When he took over the project I had spent three sleepless months completing, I handed it over without a fight. My fiancée found my sudden compliance strange. Her childhood friend, on the other hand, was smug about it. He said with a grin, "Looks like your cold treatment finally worked. If you want him to behave, you just have to train him like a dog." My heart was calm and unmoved as I listened to their conversation. No one knew that I had been reborn. No one knew that I had finally accepted the truth: she never loved me from the start. No matter how reluctant I felt, from this moment on, I would cut ties with her completely. One clean break, free of all entanglements.

Quentin Yale gets together with me to get revenge on my mother. He grips my neck with one hand and keeps the other on my belly. Then, he snorts at Mom, who's pale. "Do you see this? Your precious daughter is pregnant with my child." I hear him laugh manically when Mom collapses. I stab myself in the belly as he watches. Then, I jump into the ocean. Later, he loses his mind. He tells everyone he comes across that I'm following him while carrying our child. When I see him at the asylum one last time, he lies on the bed and begs me not to leave.