Trade 143

You have been cheating on me?” I whispered as I stared at my husband who was shamelessly hugging my stepsister in my presence. He shrugged. “You don't call it cheating when I never saw you as my wife. Besides, you are barren.”  "I want a divorce." He blurted out coldly without looking at me. I gasped in shock, my heart breaking into a thousand pieces as tears fell down my cheeks. "You want a divorce after everything?" I choked out, "I gave you my love, my kidney, Liam. I risked my life for you. And you know...  you know I can’t conceive because of that surgery.” He didn’t flinch...  He didn’t even look guilty. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and said with cold finality, “And I gave you a luxury life you could never afford. I think that is enough compensation for whatever you think you have done for me.” His voice was ice, no emotion, no remorse. I pressed a hand to my chest as the pain tightened around my heart. God, He just reduced my sacrifices to a transaction… a trade for comfort. So after everything, that’s all I was to him? A debt he paid off with money? ***************************************************** Aliyah lost her womb after giving her kidney to save her husband’s life. Instead of gratitude, he mocked her, called her barren, cheated on her with her stepsister, and forced her to sign divorce papers in shame. But fate took a turn. Aliyah later married a powerful billionaire tycoon. Now, the very people who betrayed her are on their knees, begging for mercy. Will she forgive them or give them the taste of their own medicine?

Evangelina had a tough luck growing up with a family that wanted to trade her for security but one day things changed. She met her mate during a ball and sparks flew. They spent the night taking pleasure from each other. It all felt like a dream to Eva and just like a dream, it shattered when the morning came. When the morning light fell on his beautiful face, she realised with a shock that her destined mate is the vicious Zavion Kessler- the infamous alpha of Midnight pack- their swore enemy. Eva does what she thinks is best. She flees, leaving him sleeping not knowing the alpha had already planted his pup inside her. Two months later she finds out that she is pregnant. Her family decides to kill her baby and mate her off to an old chap. Eva runs away for her baby. Fast forward four years, she is a caring mother to a sweet girl and is scraping through life. Then comes a man who stinks of money and offers her millions for pretending to be his mate in front of his family during his big brother's mating ceremony. She agrees, again not knowing that the big brother of her fake mate is her true mate, Zavion. Tricky, isn't it? .................. "What are you doing?" I asked as his large callous hand wrapped itself around my left breast, clutching the lump in a tender yet firm grip. "Your heart remains calm like ocean when with my brother but flaps like a caged bird when I am around. Suspicious, isn't it?" he rasped while drawing circles over my palpitating heart with his thumbpad. I could sense it. He is close to finding out the truth. That I am his mate and that he has a daughter.

In just one day, Gemma Braun finds out her entire life has been built on lies and deception. From finding her younger sister in bed with her husband to being killed by her own brother. On her death bed, Gemma begs the universe for a chance to deal with everyone who exploited her. When a second chance is granted to her, Gemma vows to deal with all that has hurt her, with Atlanta's wealthiest billionaire by her side, she will bring everyone to their knees before her. ****** “Why are you doing this?” She asked. “Well, let's say we’ll be doing a trade by barter. You give me what I want, I'll give you what you want…” “And what do you have that I want?” the lady before him asked. “Money, power, connection… I've been watching you for a while, Miss Braun. I thought you were docile and gullible and only does what that messed up family of yours asks you to. But after witnessing what you pulled today, my view about you changed…” “What does all these have to do with what I want?” “You want revenge, you want to deal with your sister and that prick for messing with you, you want to deal with that thing you call a brother for everything he has done to you, and your parents, they deserve a share of your rage too, for neglecting you…” “Get married to me, and I'll give you the money and power to get back at them." “What do you gain from this, Mr. Ferguson?” Gemma asked. “A wife…..What do you say to a two year marriage contract. Once the contract ends, you can do what you want with your life, no strings attached,” Derek proposed.

I was never supposed to end up here. One moment I was a college student with a normal life. The next, I was standing in a courtroom while a stranger decided my fate with a voice too calm for what he was doing to me. They called it justice. I call it a lie. Now I’m trapped on an island prison surrounded by endless ocean, where no one speaks my language and every mistake costs more than I can afford. In here, survival isn’t about strength. It’s about control. About knowing when to stay silent, when to be seen, and when to let them believe they own you. I learned fast. I learned how to read men who think I’m powerless. I learned how to turn attention into protection. I learned how to trade pieces of myself just to make it through another day. But nothing prepared me for him. The Keeper of the Tower. He watches everything. He knows more than he should. And when his eyes find me, it feels like being chosen and hunted at the same time. He says he wants me. Not as a prisoner. Not as a servant. Something worse. Something I might not survive. I have a plan to escape this place. I’ve mapped every guard, every weakness, every second between freedom and drowning. I just didn’t plan for him. And I definitely didn’t plan for the way my body betrays me when he’s close. If I stay, I lose myself. If I run, I lose the only man who’s ever looked at me like I’m more than something to break. Either way… I don’t leave this island unchanged.

I used to think I understood survival. By twenty-one, I’d figured out that my body was something I could trade, and honestly, I didn’t flinch at using it. Rain pounding outside, apparently, I barely noticed. I was too wrapped up with Bobby, his cock sliding against my lips while I tried to forget the outside world. “I need to fix supper,” I muttered, and then took him in my mouth. He groaned. His hands knotted up in my hair, pushed me lower, and I swallowed every part of him. A hundred bucks. That’s what it took to make all this feel like just another night, just another transaction. That’s my reality, balancing family, hiding secrets, hustling through college by day, doing whatever it takes at night. But then my dad’s promotion depends on one dinner party. Suddenly, I’m orbiting two men who don’t just spot weakness, they exploit it. What starts with forced politeness turns into something darker. Surveillance cameras watch as I give in again and again, my body traded in deals I never agreed to. The difference between “okay” and “forced” vanishes every time I obey. At some point, I realize what this compliance has actually cost me. Not just my body, my choices, my future, all of it chipped away until the only decision left is brutal: keep giving them what they want and disappear inside myself, or risk everything to fight back against the machine trapping me here. My family’s fate is always tied to me. My body isn’t mine to bargain with anymore. So I keep asking myself: after everything, can someone like me actually claw my way back from submission when it was forced from the start? Keep reading to find out.

I married Rafe Maretti—the man who owned the Maretti Casino empire. Sophisticated, ruthless, but sinfully charming. By year three of our marriage, I introduced my little sister to his nephew, Adam Moretti—twenty-five, all sharp smiles and sharper ambition. He ran the dirtier side of the family’s business—arms, drugs, the kind of trade that dripped blood and money in equal parts. I married the powerful, irresistible uncle. She married the young, dangerous nephew. It was supposed to be our fairytale. Then one day, I got kidnapped in Rafe’s casino. Snatched by a rival mafia family desperate to force Rafe to sign over one of his biggest, most profitable casinos. Except Rafe didn’t answer the phone or even notice I was gone. The kidnappers grew impatient. First, it was slaps. Then punches. Then they shattered my leg and buried a knife in my stomach. Still no word from my husband. Until finally, after what felt like a hundred unanswered calls, a single message came through. "I’m with Bianca. She’s having a stomach. Stop calling." Once the kidnappers realized I had no value, they dumped me in a rotting warehouse like discarded luggage. It was Isla, my sister, who found me. She got me out. And then the brakes failed. The car spun out. Isla went unconscious beside me. I tried calling Adam. Isla’s husband. But as soon the call went through, all I could hear was. “Leave me along. Isla, I am in the middle of something here.” When I clearly heard a woman’s voice in the back. If not for a passing stranger, Isla and me wouldn’t have made it to the hospital, let along have survived. So when I opened my eyes again, the first thing I thought was: I’m divorcing that sorry bastard. The Maretti can go to hell.

Today is the death anniversary of Jordan Willis, the Alpha of the Moonshadow Pack. He's also known as my dead mate. My name is Sasha Calhoun, a she-wolf who descends from a family with a weakened bloodline. I'm also the current Luna of the Moonshadow Pack. In a world where the bloodline purity determines the status quo of werewolf society, I seem to exist solely to enter a marriage alliance with Jordan, the Alpha who comes from the most elite family with a pureblooded heritage. This is a political trade meant to strengthen Jordan's position in his family as well as reassure the Elder Council. A year ago, Alpha Jordan sacrificed himself in a blazing inferno while on a mission. I become the most pitied she-wolf in the pack who has to keep the only light on in my empty home. At the same time, I need to protect the only flicker of hope in this pack. As I carry a bouquet of white lilies, which were Alpha Jordan's favorite flowers when he was still alive, I approach his grave. The pup in my womb seems to have picked up on my emotions, for it kicks me gently. I can feel the hum of a powerful and pure-blooded lifeform from the movement. It's the lifeblood of a pup destined to become the future powerful Alpha. Even though I'm still carrying the pup, I still feel reassured and proud. But the next thing I know, I spot a wolf sinking down to one knee far away on the horizon. He appears to be proposing to my younger sister, Winnie Calhoun. Even though there's more than 300 feet between us, I can still smell the Alpha's familiar scent, which seizes me by my heart. After all, I had once immersed myself in that particular scent for countless days and nights in the past. That Alpha… is actually Alpha Jordan, who supposedly died one year ago! I instinctively clutch my belly, my palm caressing the newly-developed heartbeat of my unborn pup. Then, I call the pack guards.

When I was seven years old, my younger brother went into anaphylactic shock after sneaking a handful of peanuts. Outside the emergency room, my mother slammed my head against the wall over and over, her face twisted with rage. "If you had been watching him like you were supposed to be, this never would have happened! You should be the one with a ruptured stomach, not him!" After that, whenever my brother so much as caught a cold, my mother forced me to eat spoiled leftovers as punishment. I once prepared an elaborate feast. She flipped the entire table and made me crawl on the floor to lick it clean. When I said I wanted to study culinary arts, she poured hot oil over my hands. My father wanted to send me to vocational school to learn a trade, but my mother clutched my brother to her chest and wailed. "She destroyed her brother's health! She owes him a lifetime of service!" When I was fifteen, my brother's gluttony cost my father an important business deal. I took the blame without even being asked, and the furious client forced me to drink more than half a gallon of hard liquor. By the time I was sent home with a bleeding stomach, my father had already scolded my brother. My mother took out her anger on me instead, slapping me so hard my ears rang and my vision went dark at the edges. "You useless thing! You should’ve choked to death at that table! I get sick just looking at you!" I coughed up black blood. From my pocket, I pulled out a piece of sour candy that had gone soft and sticky. It was the only treat my mother had ever given me with a smile, back before my brother's allergic reaction. I put the candy in my mouth and swallowed it down with the taste of stomach acid. The candy was so sour it made my throat burn. Whatever came next, I just hoped I would not have to be my family’s garbage disposal again.

That year, during the Sicilian arms trafficking conflict, my lover of three years, Silvio, deliberately betrayed my transport routes at a critical moment in a deal with the rival "DiMarco" family, causing me to lose all my territory. He immediately defected to the DiMarco family's leader Marina, becoming her lover. As he left, he didn't even bother to disguise his betrayal, coldly tossing out, "What we had was just business, nothing personal." While I was burdened with my family's blood debts and pushed to the edge of a cliff, Lorenzo, who had secretly harbored feelings for me since childhood, found me and offered his family's entire fortune. "Isabella, don't be afraid. In my eyes, you'll always be Sicily's most formidable Queen of the Arms Trade," he said. He took the Colt pistol from my hand, and his voice was gentle yet resolute. Five years later, my power resurged. I was about to completely crush Marina's smuggling network and reclaim everything I had lost. My caporegimes, the captains of my organization, were ready and waiting for my command. But on the night before the operation, my weapons warehouse suddenly exploded, turning priceless arms into worthless scrap metal. I barely escaped through the thick smoke, my body covered in burns. In a secluded monastery, I overheard Lorenzo and Silvio whispering outside my door. "You really had the guts to blow up the arsenal. Weren't you afraid of blasting her to pieces too?" Silvio's voice carried a mocking tone. "If she died, just died. I've always loved Marina. If it weren't for that unlucky family marriage lottery five years ago, I wouldn't have had to endure this ugly bitch for all this time." Lorenzo's voice was ice-cold and unfamiliar. I closed my eyes, feeling like a dagger had pierced my chest. Explosion. Arranged marriage. Ugly bitch. So those five years of shared hardship were just his unwilling choice after losing a high-stakes gamble. "I married her to keep watch. If it weren't for me paving

From my earliest memories, my entire family is cold and distant toward me. When my parents look at my younger sister, Claire Lloyd, their eyes fill with warmth and joy. Yet, when they turn to me, only disgust remains. Claire's life is filled with applause and excessive love, while mine is filled with disdain and suffering. When the explosion erupts at the street corner, I save the stranger beside me. Later, I learn he is Byron Whitmore, a mafia family's Don. He begins pursuing me after I rescue him. Later, I quit my job and move to a new place, but he finds me and proposes in 100 different ways. "Why me?" I ask countless times. "Because it's you," he always answers. The wedding causes a sensation throughout the city. I truly seem to have transformed from an ugly duckling into a swan. That is, until I'm five months pregnant, when Claire needs a transfusion of rare Rh-negative blood after a car accident. The blood bank has a shortage. Because of that, my parents knock me unconscious and send me to the hospital. In my daze, the blood extraction machine hums continuously. As two thousand milliliters of blood leave my body, I see Byron. Tears well up in my eyes. I begin thinking he's here to save me. Instead, I hear him say, "We can't take any more. Sharon and the baby will die." "But Claire has lost too much blood. She'll die, too..." My mother pleads. "No one wants Claire safe more than I do." Byron's voice is thick with pain. "She's my first love. I've never forgotten her. I only married Sharon because her face looks so much like Claire's. "But I can't trade her life for Claire's. Trust me—I'll find another way." So, that's his reason for marrying me. The blood extraction machine continues running, but my heart has already stopped beating. The affection I see in his eyes has never been for me. He's always looking through me at someone else. Everyone in the world loves Claire, and Byron is not the exception that I foolishly believe him to be. That grand wedding is nothing but an ugly duckling's self-deceiving fantasy.