Novel & Cerita This Kitchen's Not The Same Without You

I have been hopelessly in love with Don Lorenzo Greco since the first time I saw him ten years ago. As the only daughter of the long-established Messina mafia family, I have set aside my pride and chased after him for a decade. On my 25th birthday, the way Lorenzo looks at me finally changed. He's not seeing a child anymore. He's looking at a woman. Lorenzo says yes to me, and I finally kiss the mouth I've been dreaming of all this while. The next day, Lorenzo announces to the world that he will hold the wedding of the century. 9,999 roses, fireworks all night, and a spectacle so grand it will shock every family in Northern Darvent. I stand there with tears in my eyes as the fireworks spell out another woman's name. Elena Lagioia. The assistant who has always been at Lorenzo's side, the girl I have never once taken seriously. I plan to confront Lorenzo with a gun in my hand. However, I stop outside the door when I hear him speaking to his consigliere. "Elena's parents are gambling addicts and owe a large debt. If I don't marry her, she'll be sold to a brothel in Malicuria tomorrow. Let's keep Cinzia in the dark for now. After this is over, I'll divorce Elena and marry Cinzia. After all, she loves me so dearly." On Lorenzo's wedding day, I'm wearing a wedding dress and resting in the arms of a far more powerful Don of the Argento family from Southern Darvent. I look at Lorenzo and smile. It drives him crazy. He swears to do whatever it takes to win me back.

When my family was at its poorest, a wealthy family found me and claimed that I was their real daughter. The school heartthrob I crushed on? He was my fiancé all along! Still reeling from all these surprises, a mysterious message suddenly popped up in front of me. "This is where everything changes. The cannon fodder is taken home by the female lead's parents, forced to drop out of school, and then gets pregnant by her fiancé. In the end, everyone thinks she's a harbringer of misfortune, and she's beaten to death." My hand froze as I held the paternity test results. My mom's eyes filled with tears as she took the report from me. "My poor child, you've suffered enough all these years! Don't worry. Just come home with us and rest. You're our daughter now. The family business is enough for you to live comfortably forever. You don't even need to take the SAT if you don't want to." The school heartthrob lowered his head and whispered sensually into my ear, "Listen to me, Lucia. Studying is hard. I'll take care of you from now on."

Adrian Vale is powerful, successful, and untouchable. At twenty nine, she is the CEO of Vale Noir Group, admired for her intelligence, respected for her leadership, and protected by a family no one dares to cross. Adrian is kind, warm, and loyal, even as powerful men orbit her world, each drawn to her for different reasons. A brilliant lawyer who challenges her mind and tempts her restraint. A businessman from her past who knows the woman she used to be. A dangerous connection she never fully escaped. But danger does not always arrive openly. Celeste Ashford is charming, helpful, and always close. A friend who smiles easily and listens carefully. When envy turns into entitlement, proximity becomes a weapon, and betrayal sets off a chain of events Adrian never sees coming. Whispers turn into threats. Threats turn into violence. And a reward is placed on Adrian Vale. Forced to confront the cost of being desired and the danger of being known, Adrian must decide who truly deserves her trust and how far she is willing to go to survive. This is not a story about a woman waiting to be saved. It is a story about power, desire, loyalty, and what happens when the wrong person gets too close.

When I'm at the hospital for a prenatal checkup, I find out that the husband of the woman sitting beside me is Rupert Hensley, a renowned businessman. It's such a coincidence. Rupert is my husband, too. As we chat, I learn that her husband isn't with her because he's out of town for a meeting. This is even more coincidental—my husband is also out of town for a meeting. After a long silence, I decide to get an abortion instead of going for my prenatal checkup. It's only when I later ask for a divorce that I remember he and I never registered our marriage in the first place.

"Tell me you don’t feel the same way," Xavier murmured, his dark eyes locked on mine. "Tell me you don’t feel your heart racing every time you see me. Tell me you don’t think about me for hours, imagining things… imagining me touching you. Tell me you don’t feel jealous when you see me with another girl who isn’t you." He stepped closer, his lips curling into that infuriating smirk. "Tell me, Princess," he whispered. My throat went dry. My words stuttered. "I… I don’t feel anything for you," I barely managed. "You're such a terrible liar," he said, his grin darkening. ••• Everything changed the night my father died. Six months later, my mother’s whirlwind engagement brought me here — to his mansion, to his world, to him. Xavier Knight: arrogant, reckless and rebellious. The one person I shouldn’t want. The one person I can’t stop noticing. He’s not supposed to be mine. I’m not supposed to want him. And yet… every glance, every word, every heartbeat pulls me closer to danger.

Rivergate's most elite social circle had always shared an unspoken rule. Men were free to play the field as they pleased, drifting from one woman to the next. Women, on the other hand, were only allowed a single, discreet indulgence on the day they came of age—a privately hired "life assistant" meant to take care of their physical needs. … On my coming-of-age day, I picked Elliot at first glance from a hundred applicants who came in for interviews. He wore gold-rimmed glasses, looked composed and restrained, and carried himself with a calm maturity that set him apart. He was steady, meticulous, and obsessively clean. The only condition he agreed to was that there would be no bodily contact—hands only. And after every encounter, he would scrub his hands with disinfectant alcohol a hundred times. Over five years, the empty bottles alone were enough to circle the villa seven times. I used to think that one day, I'd help him overcome his barriers and truly make him mine. That illusion shattered the night I got drunk and accidentally wandered into Elliot's room. Hidden beneath his pillow was a DV camera, and inside were several videos of him pleasuring himself. On the screen, the same man who had always been calm and rational with me was staring at the lingerie of the adopted sister who had caused my mother's death, his Adam's apple bobbing as he moaned her name, "Chloe… I love you…" Only then did I realize that every step he had taken toward me had never been about me at all. It had always been a carefully concealed, long-nurtured love for her. So, it was very odd that he cried when I took my adopted sister's place in marrying someone else.

"it's not you it's me , I'm sorr-" I wasn't able to finished the statement with the hard slap slammed to my jaw surly breaking it. The apology flowers i held in my hands fell to the ground. Veronica crushed the flowers angryily with her foot , her gaze locked with mine glaring holes at me. Her blue eyes shone with hate. If eyes could kill I will surely be dead. "You will pay Noah Williams.. that's a promise." She finishes and left taking along my heart i never knew from these day belongs to her now. Victoria John philp the only heiress to the philp cooperation but known as Victoria John in college was once a young beautiful naive girl who fell madly inlove with the popular guy in school Noah Williams and got her heart broken and shattered in pieces. Noah Williams the typical school badboy but not really a huge players. He breaks the wrong heart unknowingly to him and now he was going to pay. Ten years later there both meet in a party hers to be precise ,the difference is that she isn't the shy good girl he once meet ,no she is the opposite and out to seek revenge.

Someone has left a message in the parents' group chat. "Whose child is this? The teacher has given her a really brutal beating!" When I tap on the video, I realize that my daughter, Hazel York, is the one getting beaten up by her teacher with a metal rod. Enraged, I rush to the school immediately. That teacher, Elise White, still has the gall to act all arrogant at the school gate. "So what if I'm the one beating her up? That filthy bitch has the guts to tell me that the gift my husband has given me is the gift meant for her mistress mom! "My gift is the one and only item that exists in this world! No amount of money can buy this gift!" As Elise speaks, she reveals a decoration made of building blocks smugly. My company's logo is printed on it. But this is the birthday gift I've given to Hazel! I call my secretary on the spot. "Freeze all of Chester's bank cards and deliver the divorce agreement to him. How dare that live-in son-in-law find himself a mistress! It seems that he truly has a death wish!"

Ana always knew she would find the one, the one you read about, the man of her dreams or so she thought. A whirl wind romance with a man who thinks treating his partner with abuse is devotion, will Ana realise she is not to blame or will she stay in this relationship until it's too late? Her friends notice the changes in her personality but she doesn't. After all he loves her, right?

[CompletedKathrina Breevort has always wanted to leave her town and start anew. Everything seemed to scream pain for her--growing up watching her parents die from lack of support, she promised herself she will forget the memories of not being able to do anything for them. She's almost graduating--without drama, not until she met Drey Punder, and falling for the bad boy. But what can she do with their feelings? She's not the first one to come into his life. For what it's worth, she knows she deserves more than an illicit love affair. But years will pass, and people change. Will she ever open up her heart again for the bad boy—if it's all the same?