They Them Theirs

The prettiest girl in our class, Mandy Smith, died unexpectedly in our dorm. When the police took statements, my two other roommates and I pleaded guilty. I took out Mandy’s love letter to my boyfriend. “I killed her because she was seducing my boyfriend.” Anna Anderson took out a purchase history for cyanide. “I killed her because she snatched my overseas studies spot from me.” Fiona Lee took out an expulsion letter. “I killed her because she reported me for cheating.” All three of us hated Mandy. However, the police found that all of us had alibis during Mandy’s time of death. The counselor also asked us to stop lying. However, the three of us sneered. “Whether you believe it or not, one of us is the murderer.”

Freya loved the wrong Alpha for eight years. She gave him her body, her loyalty, her soul—and in return, he kissed her with someone else's name. When she finally walked away, she believed she'd found peace—and love—in Silvano, the Alpha who saved her. But years later, on her birthday, silence greeted her again. “Bella,” she whispered to her daughter, “did you forget Mommy’s birthday?” “Not now, Mommy. I'm making a gift for Aunt Aurora. Daddy helped.” The name landed like a wound reopening. Freya once survived being ‘the other woman’. Now, fate flipped the roles—and the silence, late-night absences, and missed calls feel all too familiar. As betrayal knocks again, she must choose: bury herself in heartbreak once more—or rise, not for love, but for herself. When even your mate forgets your worth, how many times must you walk away before you stop coming back? This time—maybe for the last time—she won’t look back.

For my birthday, my husband, Don Damien, gave me his dead wife’s pearls. I wore them to the dinner party. My enraged stepson, Leo, doused me in red wine. I became the laughingstock of the party. “You whore,” he hissed. “You think wearing my mother’s jewelry makes you her?” He stared at me, his eyes cold as ice. Then he screamed. "Get out of my house." But his mother died when he was a baby. I raised him. Someone had whispered poison in his ear. They told him I was the one who killed his mother. Now he thinks I'm a scheming bitch who tricked his father. And his father? My husband? He never saw me. He only saw Krista’s ghost. My heart didn't break. It shattered. They didn't love me. They didn't even care. So I walked. Then why, after I was finally gone, did they come crawling back, begging me to return?

On the night of her anniversary, Anna Santos walks into her boyfriend’s bedroom wearing the red dress her best friend helped her choose… only to find them together in his bed. Humiliated and betrayed, she runs into the rain—and into the life of Xavier Cortez, a powerful CEO known for his cold control and untouchable reputation. Weeks later, the world is shocked when Xavier announces his bride. No one expected it to be Anna. Not her ex. Not her former best friend. Not even Xavier himself. What begins as a contract marriage soon turns into something far more complicated as Anna steps into a world of power, pressure, and hidden expectations. But when her past resurfaces and threatens everything she’s built… will she remain the wife they never expected— or the woman no one can replace?

After the plane crash, my body was never recovered. My soul drifted back to the home I hadn't stepped foot in for five years. They didn't know I was dead. They were still waiting for me to come home for Christmas. When my mom got the call from the airline, she froze for a long time, completely at a loss, before breaking down in tears. I followed them as they went to the memorial crash site. That was when I noticed something strange—I could see their levels of regret hovering above their heads. My brother's regret level read: 40%. My father's showed: 60%. Even my sister-in-law had 30% over her head. But my mother's regret level? It flashed a cold, unchanging 0%.

When the SAT scores are out, I've scored 400 out of 1600. That's because I never wrote anything on my exam papers. My mom goes crazy, whereas my younger sister, Melinda Bolton, bursts into tears. But I just laugh at them instead. In my previous life, Melinda had formed a pact with the score-swapping system. That was how she swapped our SAT scores. She became the top scorer that all prestigious universities fought to recruit. I, the valedictorian of my year, not only got into a trade school, but I also got expelled from my previous high school. Melinda had the gall to comfort me. "Didn't you call yourself a genius, Melissa? Trade schools are very popular right now. In the future, you'll secure a job at a factory out there!" In this life, I spend my exam hours sleeping in my seat the whole time. Melinda wants to swap her scores, right? Then, let's do it properly!

I am the youngest daughter of the White family. As rulers of the Moon Shadow pack, the White family showered me with love from the young age. That was until my brothers brought home an orphaned Omega named Calista. In less than a month, she had stolen all the affection that once belonged to me. All it took was a slight frown from me when she tried to move into my bedroom, and my eldest brother, the Alpha, slapped me on the face. My second brother, the Beta, locked me in the cellar. I never wanted to compete with Calista. All I wanted was to live the rest of my days quietly. But on the day of my eighteenth birthday, Calista falsely accused me of attacking her when I shifted. My brothers called me evil, and they cut all ties with me. They believed that I was spoiled rotten and that my jealousy of Calista had made me turn vicious. Little did they know that I had already secretly applied to be the guard of the Land of Winter and to live there in solitude for 20 years. After this farewell, I would never see them again. On the day that I left, they all broke down in regret.

Lumi-as someone who's being told what to believe and hope in everything as she grows up-reckons that living is a way to comply with and entrust one's entire life to serving superiors on top of the hierarchy. Who will not think of that way anyway? Being harbored in the lands of Castellanos, it is engraved in her mind that she lives to pay her debt of gratitude to the family who sheltered her, who protected her from all the cruelties the outside world has to offer behind those fences. What they're doing is to protect her life and welfare-that's what they told her. So there's no other way to live but be the gullible and obedient yokel of the Castellano clan, because they're doing everything just for her safety. But that's before her life turns upside-down as she discovers a strange note from the attic. "To whoever finds this message, they erased us. This is all that remains. Remember us, please." What does the note want to convey? Is it just one of those mundane trivial stuff found in an attic like the usual when someone decides to clean it? Or is it something connected to her... "safety?" For sure it is for her safety. That's what they always tell her. But what one hears is not always the version of reality. Most of the time, it is the most convenient scheme to twist and bend the truth. That... That's what they will never tell her.

Ten years ago, I lost my sight saving Ivan Hardman. Now, a decade later, Ivan lets his mistress live under the same roof as me. Every night, he coaxes me to sleep in the first half, only to spend the rest tangled up with her. Even my son secretly calls her "Mom." What they don't know is, I've regained my sight. And I'm planning my escape.

“You have such a pretty face, if only you would lose some weight.” Tory has heard that all of her life. In her solitary life she eats alone and daydreams about having a handsome boyfriend who could accept all of her. Daily she finds herself running to catch her bus and knowing that she is the laughing stock of the other commuters. And then one day she literally finds herself ‘falling’ into the lap of one of the commuters; an exotically handsome white man. Tory finds that she is unable to stop thinking about him and daydreaming about the life he must live. But Mr. Gorgeous must be either married or gay because she sees him dismissing the attention of gorgeous women left and right.Never in a million years would she ever guess that hers was the only attention he was interested in… They Say Love is Blind is created by Pepper Pace, an EGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.