Through A Glass Darkly Shakespeare

At our daughter’s three-month milestone party, my husband Garrett’s so-called "best friend" publicly humiliated me. “Hey, Vivian. I heard you're a little loose down there after popping out the kid.” "If it's that bad, you better get some tightening surgery quick—don't wanna mess up your marriage vibes!" Garrett shot her a playful glare and snapped, "Knock it off, Scarlett! You can't just say whatever pops into your head." Then he turned to me with a breezy shrug. "She's just like that—total tomboy. We grew up together; she means no harm." Scarlett shook her half-exposed breast and pouted, "Oh, come on, don't take it personally, Vivian. Honestly, I'm kind of jealous of you." "See, my problem is the opposite. I'm way too tight—hurts like hell during my period. No clue who's gonna get lucky with this later." Then she cut her eyes toward Garrett with a playful wink. " Oh right, you've tried it before, haven't you?" The room went dead silent. Every pair of eyes drifted toward me, barely concealing their curiosity. I smiled, set down my wine glass, and looked at Scarlett with fake concern. "That's strange. I don't remember making it that tight when I did your surgery."

BLURB She was collateral—payment for a debt her uncle never intended to repay. Dragged into Don Rossini’s glittering casino as leverage, Cleopatra thought she had reached the depths of hell. Until the night rival gunfire shattered the empire and she ran straight into the arms of something far worse. Desperate and terrified, she collided with a powerful stranger in the chaos. Not knowing who he was, she begged him to save her—offering anything, everything, to escape Rossini’s grasp. Valentine Corenza didn’t save her. He claimed her. From that moment, there was no escape. No mercy. No choice. In the opulent cage of glass and steel, Valentine keeps her as his. His gaze follows her like a shadow, his touch brands her, his presence consumes her. The ruthless shadow king rules her world with ice in his veins and fire in his possession. She belongs to him now—body, soul, and every fractured breath. Cleopatra is no longer collateral. She is his obsession. His prize. His captive. He will burn empires to keep what is his. He would take anyone out including his own family in order to save her. She tries all she could to keep calm the storms in her chest whenever he stands close to her. And she has no option of ever leaving the devil who answered her plea. The only question left is how long it will take before the line between fear and forbidden desire completely disappears.

"Why would you try to hurt her?" Victor shouted back. His voice was cold towards me, as he held onto Lily's hand. "So you're just going to believe her over your own wife?!" I fired back. Victor ignored my words and drew his attention to Lily and the broken glass. I watched as he carefully collected the pieces and threw them away. "Are you hurt anywhere? Did the glass get you?" Victor asked softly, giving her hand a light squeeze. "No, no. I'm okay now that you're here." Lily's smile was small. "Please don't leave me alone with her again..." **** I, Emelia Russo, once thought I was a woman who had it all—a successful career, and a loving husband. But when a "childhood friend" by the name of Lily Marino re-enters my husband's life, everything takes a turn for the worse. All of a sudden, my once faithful and loyal Victor was lying for her, favoring her, and trusting her word over mine. I became the outsider in my own marriage. When I finally had enough of his secrets and mistreatment of me and called for a divorce, he begged me to stay. "Please, let's go back to how the way things used to be! I'm begging you! Don't leave me!" Victor pleaded. But what happens when I tell him "It's too late."?

I was beginning to shed tears, couldn't wait any longer. "All the time I cry just because of you, and it doesn't touch you, you don't love me!" I said wiping off my tears with my hands. He took a sip from his glass cup. "You're mine, so it's your body. Why do you resist? Until then, a man has needs" He said confidently. "Because…" I was going to let it all out, tell him what a jerk he is, but I couldn't, he wasn't one to be messed with. Matt hated being disrespected or intimidated in anyway. "You know what… " I sobbed, Cleared my face "I would rather give another man my body!" "I would kill any man that touches you" he said with a light smile. "You wouldn't give me happiness, and you don't want me to get happiness from somewhere else, what kind of a man are you?" "No, Arianne, don't you dare question my authority." I ignored his words. "I'm a woman, I have needs too." "Come live with me, but you won't. I will make you a queen, give you all you want and—" "You mean make me your sex slave?" ....

The year the Rossi famiglia falls, my personal Underboss, Lorenzo Santoro, rises to power—becoming the Don and seizing control of the underworld. Once, I was the untouchable Principessa. He was the Soldato, ready to die for me at a moment's notice. For something as trivial as a paper cut on my finger, he would drop to his knees with red-rimmed eyes, blowing on it for half an hour. Now, to earn a smile from his new flame, Elena Marino, he forces me to sign a contract and makes me his live target. He watches with indifference as I am battered and bloodied under a hail of bullets. During a blast-resistance test, shattered glass slices the corner of my eye, but Lorenzo merely looks on. "The once-delicate Principessa Rossi can't even handle a little pain?" During attack-dog training, I am bitten to the bone, yet he shields a trembling Elena instead. "Animals don't know any better. Why are you holding a grudge against a dog?" Then comes the real kidnapping. To save Elena, who is desperate to become Donna, he personally cuts off my escape. "This is just a drill, Isabella," he scoffs. "Stop acting like it's real." On the surveillance monitors, flames engulf me as I take my final breath. A bloodstained termination contract is delivered to him. "Don Santoro, I return the life I owe you." Only then does the man who believes he rules the world finally lose his mind.

One contract. Two broken hearts. Zero chance of walking away. My life shattered in a single night. Betrayed by my fiancé, drowning in my family's debt, with nowhere left to turn. Then he appeared. Damien Cross. Billionaire. Bastard. The most dangerous man I've ever met. His offer was simple, marry me for one year. Save your family. Ask no questions. I should have said no. Should have seen the trap. But desperation makes you reckless, and I signed my name next to his at 3am in a Vegas chapel, our hands shaking with rage and champagne. The rules were clear: Separate bedrooms, No feelings, When the contract ends, we walk away But... We broke every single one. Now I'm trapped in his world of glass towers and cruel games, where every touch is a weapon and every kiss is a war. He looks at me like I'm his to own, like he'd burn down the world to keep me. I hate him. I crave him. I'm addicted to the chaos we create. But contracts expire. Lies unravel. And when I discover the devastating truth about why he really married me, I'll have to choose, walk away with my heart intact—or stay and let his obsession consume us both. He warned me not to fall in love with him. So, he should have warned himself.

I've spent a huge sum of money on a custom-fitted gown just so I can go on a date with my fiance, Vincenzo Rossi, on New Year's Eve. He's also known as the rising star of the mafia underworld. But Vincenzo sounds very impatient on the other end of the line. "Can you stop being so clingy, Grazia? I have an important business gathering to get to on New Year's Eve!" His younger sister, Valentina Rossi, adds, "My brother's doing this for the sake of your shared future, Grazia. Stop causing trouble for him, okay?" I end the call, feeling disappointed. After that, I console myself, saying that Vincenzo is working very hard for the sake of our future. But that illusion only lasts till the moment my friend sends a video clip to me. Vincenzo can be seen hugging a gorgeous woman in the clubhouse. They are in the middle of making out with each other. Valentina, on the other hand, leads her friends on as they cheer for the couple. It turns out that Vincenzo's "important business" is to spend the night with another woman. I drain my glass of the strong alcohol. Scorching pain flares from my stomach immediately. Since Vincenzo can find himself a woman to toy with, then why can't I do the same? I swipe a finger across my phone and dial the number of the rival family's Don. "I want you to order the two most good-looking male escorts for me right now."

The last place Ava expected to see her ex-husband was the hotel bar on a rainy Thursday night in Manhattan. She froze the moment her eyes found him. Ethan Mitchell looked older. Broader. More tired. But the way he stood, one hand wrapped around a glass he had not touched, was painfully familiar. For a second, the noise around her faded. The laughter. The music. The clinking glasses. All she could hear was the echo of a life she once lived. She should have turned around. Instead, she walked closer. “Ethan.” He looked up, and whatever calm he had shattered instantly. “Ava.” Her name sounded different on his lips. Softer. Careful. Like something fragile. “I didn’t know you’d be here,” he said. “I didn’t either,” she replied, her voice steady even though her heart was not. They stood there, strangers tied together by memories too heavy to name. The divorce papers. The last argument. The silence that followed. “Do you want to sit?” he asked after a moment. She hesitated. Then nodded. It was supposed to be harmless. Just a drink. Just conversation. Just closure. But as the night stretched on, the distance between them shrank, and Ava realized something terrifying. Some loves do not die. They just wait. And that night, neither of them walked away. This is a story full of twist and emotions will the come back together after all these years of separation ? Or will they cheat on both of there spouses.

He scammed me out of my fortune. Now, I’m going to scan the marrow from his bones. Ethan Walker was the Golden Boy of Neo-Veridia. A billionaire tycoon with a shark’s smile and a god complex. Until Caleb Morgan—his rival, his shadow, the only man who ever saw beneath his tailored armor—liquidated his empire in a single, cold-blooded night. Ethan fell from the penthouse to the fighting pits, stripped of his name but fueled by a new, terrifying hunger. Because the bankruptcy wasn't a failure. It was a trigger. Deep in Ethan’s DNA, a 1998 secret is waking up. A silver-furred beast that doesn't want a board seat—it wants a mate. And it has its sights set on the man who ruined him. Caleb Morgan played the ultimate game. He didn't steal Ethan’s billions for the money; he did it to save Ethan’s life from the "Hunters" closing in. But Caleb’s mask is slipping. As the Universal Beta, he is the only one who can anchor Ethan’s rising Alpha fury. But anchors can be dragged under. From the glass halls of the city to the ancient shadows of the Moon, their rivalry is no longer about stocks and bonds. It’s about Skin. Silver. and Submission. In a world where thirty percent of humanity is shifting, Ethan is no longer looking for a merger. He’s looking for a total hostile takeover of the one man he’s forbidden to love. The Ledger is open. The Moon is rising. And the Audit is going to be bloody.

Receiving a glass of wine from her sister on the night before her wedding was the worst mistake Annalisa could have ever made. Unknown to her, the drink had been spiked, setting her up into having a one night stand with a stranger. But the stranger had been none other than Cristiano Morano, a powerful and ruthless man who controlled half of the city's underworld. To make matters worse, he was also the sworn enemy of her fiancé. Annalisa thought she was going to lose it all, her career and her life, when a scandal about her unfaithfulness broke out. Not only that, she found out her fiancé had been cheating with her blood sister. As her family were about to announce their disowning in a press conference, a dashing man from the audience had come out and said he was going to take responsibility for Anna. They got married, but Cristiano had stated a condition in the contract she signed; He would have full control over her life and career. Would a timid girl like Annalisa survive in Cristiano's world? “You’re mine now, Annalisa. And I always get what's mine.” “W-what do you mean?” “I mean I'll break you,” Cristiano said, a dangerous glint in his eyes. “And then, I'll put you back together again, my way.”