Too Good At Goodbye Sam Smith Novels & Stories

I was the son of the wealthiest man in Capital City, but I had never enjoyed the flattery and fake smiles that came with that title. All I had ever wanted was a normal life. Now that I was pushing twenty-eight and still single, my mom finally lost her patience. She gave me an ultimatum: go on a blind date or she’d disown me. On my way to the date, I passed by a luxury boutique and spotted a watch that immediately caught my eye. I was just about to pay for it when, out of nowhere, a man barged in from behind and slapped a black card down on the counter. “I’ll take this watch. Wrap it up for me,” he said. I stayed calm and said politely, “Sir, I saw this watch first.” However, he just scoffed and snapped back, full of arrogance, “A broke nobody like you can look but not afford it. Get lost. I’m the assistant to Ms. Jackson, the CEO of Jackson Group. In this city, if I want something, no one will fight me for it.” Ms. Jackson? Isn’t that the exact woman I was supposed to be meeting for the blind date? Without another word, I pulled out my phone and dialed her number. “Selena,” I said calmly, “do you know your assistant is out here throwing your name around to bully people?”

Winter thought the worst thing was being replaced with her cousin… until she crashed the company’s luxury retreat, almost drowned, and woke up pretending to have amnesia—right in front of the man who humiliated her. Now she’s stuck playing fake fiancée and sharing a room with a sexy stranger who clearly hates her guts… but can’t stop staring at her lips like he wants to ruin her. With an ex who suddenly cares way too much, her dream career on the line, and revenge heating up faster than the resort’s hot tubs, Winter is about to turn heartbreak into the most unforgettable comeback of the year. But there’s just one twist: her fake fiancé is actually the new billionaire chairman of the company… and he’s falling for her, hard.

I am a little ditzy all the time, and my mind is often hazy. Three years ago, I bring home a handsome drunk guy in a daze. After he wakes up and stares at me for a while, he suddenly says, "Let's get married." I do not feel like thinking too much, so I nod. Just like that, I spend three years as the wealthy Nolan Steele's wife. I am free to shop as I please, and I live in a luxury villa. I just find out I am pregnant and have not had time to tell Nolan yet when he hands me a divorce agreement. "I have gone bankrupt. This is the last sum of money. Take it and leave." At that moment, a few lines of comments suddenly appear before my eyes. "Whoa! Nolan's first love, Celia Sanders, has returned from abroad!" "Is he pretending to go bankrupt just to dump Lyra so that he can chase after his true love?" "He got drunk back then because Celia left the country. Lyra is just a substitute!" Oh? So I'm just a substitute… I nod slowly and say, "Okay. Let's get a divorce, then." The light in his eyes instantly goes out. I look at him, feeling like there is something I have forgotten to say. Forget it. I will say it when I remember.

On the day of my wedding, my fiance, Don James Colombo, left me at the altar again. "Angelina is in the ICU," he said. "The ceremony will have to wait." It was the ninth time he had abandoned me for his terminally ill childhood sweetheart. The first time, she had run away from home, and he could not rest easy. "Angelina is missing, yet you want me to stand here toasting at the wedding? Don't be so selfish, Leticia." The third time, he said Angelina was in a terrible state and threatening to take her own life — he had to go comfort her. By the eighth time, James had stopped explaining and simply had the butler notify me the wedding was off. For him, postponing a wedding was nothing. For me, the Buono Principessa left standing in a chapel, it meant ridicule and one hundred lashes from my furious father. The lashes split open my skin and left me running a fever that would not break. James would hold me afterward, apologize helplessly, and promise he would make it up to me after we married. He promised nine times. He kept none of them. So when he left me again for Angelina, I did not cry or make a scene. I packed my bags alone and in silence. It would be the last time he ever postponed our wedding. One month later, he would never be able to find me again.

Candice had witnessed Kyle’s deep affection—and suffered his betrayal. She endured in silence, tricking him into signing the divorce papers. When the 30-day cooling-off period ended, she calmly informed him, “Kyle, I don’t want you anymore. Get out of my life.” Kyle was stunned as if struck by lightning. His eyes reddened in panic. He tore the agreement to shreds. “Who said we’re getting divorced? I don’t agree!” Charlie Clemens was a powerful tycoon, a man beyond reach. She didn’t want to get involved with him, yet fate kept bringing them together. At a banquet, tipsy and reckless, she accidentally tugged on his tie. He leaned down, his voice low and teasing by her ear: “Your ex-husband is watching. You sure you want to be this... bold?”

Today was my birthday—the day Jason promised he would propose. Instead, I found him in bed with my cousin. My heart shattered into a million pieces. I had grown up in my uncle and aunt’s house after losing my parents, enduring their cruelty and coldness, and Jason had been the only light in my dark world. Now even he sided with the people who had tormented me the most. As if betrayal weren’t enough, my own family drugged me, planning to hand me over to some man to secure a business deal. I thought my life was over—until fate intervened. I ended up in the bed of Adrian, Jason’s untouchable, powerful uncle.  One night changed everything. I had decided to bury it forever in my heart, but he grabbed my wrist and said slowly, “If all you need is a marriage… how about we get married?”

Shortly after I married Andrew Lorne, my mother-in-law has my husband's widowed sister-in-law move in with us. She wants my husband to bear the responsibility of caring for two families. My husband says he wouldn't be who he is without his elder brother's help, so he won't let his sister-in-law suffer. And so, she and her son steal my home and my husband's love. Meanwhile, my daughter and I are banished to the countryside. On the first day of our banishment, I'm violated and murdered by beggars who barge into the house. … It takes three years for my husband to remember me. He comes to the countryside to take me home. "Come out, Jovana. I'll immediately bring you home as long as you agree to give your property to Tiana as an apology for the things you've done." As soon as the words are out of his mouth, my daughter emerges from the yard, which is overgrown with weeds. She tells him I was dead. He doesn't believe her. He allows his mother to beat my daughter half to death and berates me while he's at it. "How dare you, Jovana! You haven't learned your lesson at all, have you? These dirty tricks are all you know, and you even taught our daughter to lie! It's been years, yet you still can't compare to Tiana!"

By the tenth engagement party, Samantha Moore stood me up again. I called her to ask what happened. What I didn't realize was that my phone was still connected to the banquet hall speakers. A second later, the entire room went dead silent. Soft, breathless moans spilled through the sound system. Then Samantha's voice came on, shaky and uneven. "Caleb... my department planned a team hike today. We're almost at the top. About the engagement party... let's just do it another time. I have to go." She hung up. For a moment, nobody moved. Then the room erupted into chaos. Gasps, whispers, and a few harsh laughs filled the banquet hall. Some people did not even bother hiding their amusement. Even the servers were glancing at me as if I were nothing more than a pathetic joke. I had proposed to Samantha ninety-nine times before she finally said yes, and yet she had never once shown up to our engagement party—not once. I stood there quietly, took the engagement ring from my pocket, and dropped it into the fish tank beside the stage. After seven years of waiting, forgiving, and making excuses for her, I finally understood the truth. I had mistaken my patience for love, and she had mistaken my love for permission to hurt me. I used to believe that if I loved her enough, she would eventually choose me. Instead, every time I lowered myself for her, she only pushed the line further. This was the tenth time she had humiliated me in front of everyone, and it would be the last. From that day on, she was no longer part of my future.

“I was born incapable of love. My hands know only blood. My heart knows only ice. But for you… I would carve out a new soul, even if it kills me.” Alessio “Alec” Moretti rules his city like a god draped in shadow. Cold, ruthless, and untouched by emotion, he’s a mafia boss born from bloodlines and brutality. Psychopath, they whisper incapable of love, addicted only to control. No one defies him. Until Noa Hartmann spits in his face. Noa is everything Alessio doesn’t understand fiercely ,independent, maddeningly fearless, and completely uninterested in bowing to a monster. He’s just a university student working in a dusty bookstore café, trying to survive the same violence that killed his family. But one moment one public act of defiance and Alessio is obsessed. At first, it’s a game. Alessio wants to break him, tame him, make him kneel. But the closer he gets, the more the lines blur. Why does he want to protect Noa? Why does he feel anything at all? What begins as possession becomes something darker, deeper… and far more dangerous. Because monsters don’t love,they consume. And when the past reemerges in the form of a long-lost brother turned rival mafia boss one who blames Alessio’s family for the massacre of Noa’s everything explodes. Noa is caught between two devils: One who stole his life. One who wants to own his heart. With empires collapsing, secrets unraveling, and love bleeding into obsession, Noa and Alessio are forced to face the truth: Some monsters can love. But they will burn the world for it.

At the height of my career, I became the youngest law professor in the field and married my childhood sweetheart, Daisy Reid. We were known as the "golden couple of the legal world," and in the eyes of many, we were the perfect loving couple. In the tenth year of our marriage, my mother took my son, Caleb Davis, out, and they were involved in a car accident. The driver had been speeding while intoxicated. My mother only had enough time to shield Caleb in her arms before she died on the spot. To my surprise, my wife, Daisy, appeared and sat next to the murderer, James Benton, as his defense attorney in the courtroom. "Our client was just driving normally when the deceased suddenly rushed out in an attempt to stage an accident, which ultimately led to the accident. The deceased party should bear the main responsibility for the accident." Upon hearing that, I stared at her in disbelief. Soon after, anger surged within me. My eyes bloodshot, I growled, "My mom would never stage an accident! I have a witness!" However, the ten-year-old Caleb, who was to testify as a witness, grabbed James' arm and said, "I testify that Grandma was trying to fake an accident by purposely crashing into Mr. Benton's car. Dad even tried to make me lie. I would never hurt Mr. Benton." The moment those words left his mouth, my heart sank completely.