Trading Yesterday

During the ten years since I was found and brought to my biological family, Sonia Baxter, the girl who took my place, and I have been as close as real sisters. Even Mom says that Sonia cares more about me than a real sister would. I once swore I'd give my life to protect our special family of four. When Sonia is rushed into emergency surgery with a ruptured cerebral aneurysm, I am in my office, calmly practicing a basic suturing technique on a surgical simulator. On the screen, the robotic arm threads the needle with such precision that it looks like a work of art. A few minutes later, my boyfriend, Oliver Lyons, slams open the office door and shouts at me, "Amelia Baxter! Sonia's in critical condition. Only your micro-dissection skills can save her! Every expert in the hospital is waiting for you! We've got less than an hour before the window closes!" He looks at me with hopeful eyes. I'm the only person in the country capable of performing a surgery this complex. My hands are even known as the "Hands of God". However, I simply reply with a hum and continue fiddling with the model. Suddenly, my parents rush in. Mom grabs my arm and cries out, "Amelia! That's your sister in there! How could you just stand by and watch her die?" I gently pull away from her and hold my right hand out in front of them. This hand, which had once created countless medical miracles, is now trembling slightly. "Unfortunately, since yesterday, I've been showing symptoms of essential tremor. Dad, Mom… this hand is ruined."

On our third wedding anniversary, I brought a gift to my husband’s office. Walking past the secretary's suite, I stopped dead. A king-size bed had been set up inside. A young woman in a designer dress was sprawled across it, a handheld game console in her hands, surrounded by imported snacks of every variety. "Kevin, the lunch you ordered yesterday was pre-packaged meals. Marcus and I both felt sick after eating it. Today, make sure it's from The Palace Hotel." Kevin -- my husband's personal assistant -- bowed and scraped before her, his face a mask of obsequious flattery. "Mrs. Thorne, please don't worry. Mr. Thorne made it very clear -- everything should be tailored to your preferences and the baby's. He knows you love the chef at The Palace Hotel, so he set up a standing VIP account for you. Anything you want, anytime." She was Mrs. Thorne? Then what exactly was I? My brow furrowed. I glanced down at the wedding ring I'd worn for years. The girl beamed, radiant. "For the baby's arrival, my husband is throwing a lavish yacht party. Every important person in New York is getting an invitation. I want the whole world to know that I'm the love of his life, and that our son will be blessed by the most powerful people before he's even born. The champagne and flowers must be the finest available -- no budget limit. Our child is going to have the best of everything from day one." I stared at the gentle swell of her belly and called my father. "Dad, that divorce agreement you drew up three years ago -- you can have the lawyers send it over now."

“Please just kill me. Please.." with tears in my eyes I begged for my own death. I am not one to have suicidal thoughts but I could no longer bear the humiliating torture I was being subjected to any more. However my abductor smiled at my pain and suffering with joy. “You will surely meet your end but it will be when I decide your pu"*y is no longer of use to me and my men. But don't think that's the only terrible thing I can do to you. So you better apologize to me and my honored guest before I allow the dogs and horses to also get a taste of you too and make no mistake it's not going to be pleasant at all," he said wickedly and I felt so humiliated.. How did my life end up this way? Physically assaulted, starved, molested and made naked; being offered as an object of pleasure to his uncharacteristically attractive but intimidating guest? I used to have a perfect life. A family who cares for me and a man who loves and cherishes me. He only just proposed to me yesterday and I have been dreaming of raising a happy family with him. So where did it go wrong? Oh, I remember now. I was stabbed in the back by the person I love and trusted the most. I didn't know she has always been envious and jealous of my happiness. My best friend Gloria, she betrayed me and sold me out to a gang of ruthless thugs to be violated and murdered. However when it seemed all hope was lost the person I least expect to help me would be my savior.

Ninety-nine lashes. That was the price of loving the Alpha’s son. Bettoni Williams gave everything to Ardon. Her heart. Her trust. Her dignity. In return, he accused her of witchcraft, stripped her of her rank, and watched as she was whipped ninety-nine times in the public square. Broken, disowned, and demoted to a Gamma, Bettoni swore she would never trust a royal again. She planned to rot in the slums, to remain invisible and forgotten. But fate, and a bored Alpha Commander, had other plans. When the kingdom's most feared war hero, Commander Zachery, returns home, Alpha Jaceon fills the grand hall with silk-dressed noblewomen and forces him to choose a wife before the blood moon or lose everything he has. Annoyed, Zachery slips out the back. Bettoni, hiding from the feast in a dark alley, stumbles upon him in a moment that would make any sensible woman run. She doesn't run, but calls him a wild animal to his face, and this only makes him immediately obsessed with her. He drags her into the feast by the wrist, declaring; "You're going to be my Commandress tonight." Now, Bettoni is trapped in a marriage with a brute who collects wives like trading cards. Zachery is uncouth, violent, and dangerously seductive. He treats the palace like a playground and his brother, the King, like a joke. Bettoni intends to use this monster to climb back to the top and destroy the family that ruined her. But Zachery is not a ladder. He is a cliff. And he has no intention of letting his new sweetheart go. Revenge is a dish best served cold. But the Commander likes his nights scorching hot. ~•~ ️ Mature Content Warning (18+): This story contains 18+ content including explicit erotica, detailed sexual scenes, and mentions of sexual violence including rape and assault. If such themes make you uncomfortable, please read with caution.

Zara Storme was the ghost in the machine at Sterling Global. For three years, she wasn’t just Mark Sterling’s fiancée she was The Architect. The unseen force who patched his weaknesses, outplayed his rivals, and quietly engineered a billion-dollar empire while he collected the applause. Then, over an elegant dinner, Mark slid a severance check across the table instead of a ring. To him, Zara was indispensable but temporary. Brilliant, yes. Loyal, certainly. But she lacked the pedigree required for his permanent throne. So he chose optics over love, trading her for a strategic merger and a well-bred socialite. Mark expected tears. Begging. A woman unraveling. What he didn’t know was that abandonment had trained Zara long before him. Her father had taught her the art of leaving without looking back. Fueled by a quiet rage, Zara committed one final act of treason which was leaking Mark’s most valuable upcoming deals to his greatest rival, Asher Vane. It was meant to be her clean exit. Then fate intervened. She was pregnant. Five years later, Zara returns to the city reborn as the formidable CEO of Lucent Capital. No longer the woman behind the throne, she is the throne. A venture-capital titan whose influence eclipses every man who once dismissed her. At her side is Luca her five-year-old masterpiece. Disciplined. Brilliant. And unmistakably the son of the man who walked away. When Mark Sterling’s empire begins to collapse under the weight of its own lies, desperation drives him to seek salvation from a firm powerful enough to save him. He comes to the boardroom expecting mercy. Instead, he finds Zara Storme seated at the head of the table untouchable, and finally holding his fate in her hands. This time, she’s here to watch it burn.

My family was supposed to be the richest of the land, yet I had to refund even a cheap delivery. Why? In my previous life, my housekeeper's daughter got her hands on a trading system. Every cent of money I spent would be hers. She started trying to guilt-trip me into donating to all the impoverished students in her school. It was charity anyway, so I signed a check worth 300 grand. The moment I did, that money became part of her savings, and the amount on my check was zero. Everyone called me names, called me a charlatan. Even the boy toy I spent good money on broke up with me. That girl used my money to donate to charities and became the kind and beautiful heiress. She told everyone I was the housekeeper's daughter instead. Furious, I grabbed my black card and started shopping like crazy. I wanted to prove I was the real heiress, but the balance in my account was cleared immediately. That girl then spent 1.2 million right away, like it was one dollar. She scoffed at me. "Don't try to act like you're rich when you're a broke loser. Your mother doesn't make enough as a housekeeper." The Internet decided to hunt me down. I could not handle the stress, and my mind broke. For some reason, my body withered away at a blistering rate. Before my father could save me, I drew my last breath. When I opened my eyes again, I returned to that fateful day. The day the housekeeper's daughter made me donate to the school.

LOVE HATES YOU ALANIS grew up without a mother, because her mother died with cancer when she’s still young. So her father raised her alone. He didn’t remarry again , instead he spent his time making a good relationship with his daughter to make sure she got everything. Alanis was okay with the set up, she loves her father dearly and she wants to make him proud in every way. But everything changed when his father decided to sponsor their driver’s son Rafe. She got jealous of him, she thought maybe her father was regretful that he had a daughter instead of a son. RAFE was offered a full scholarship by Don Miguel where his father worked as a personal driver. He grabs it, as an opportunity only comes once, but the Don wants him to stay and live at Esmeralda mansion so that he can focus on his studies without worrying about anything. It was when she met the young Alanis. He thought that she was just another spoiled rich kid when she treated him as if he’s invisible. There are times when she pulls a prank on him just to see how long he can stand the humiliation he’s going through. Years pass by without them having a problem until the Don suddenly dies in an accident and they find out that the Don leaves a will that Rafe will be the guardian of Alanis until she turns at the age of 25 or marry someone who’s capable of handling the Esmeralda Trading and it’ll depends whether Rafe agreed to it. Rafe promised to retract the guardianship after they solved the case of Alanis father's accident.

Rosie White, the only daughter of the whites who had fallen in love with her boyfriend since first grade, finally managed to date him and became his fiancé despite all the difficulties. But in the third year of their relationship, he cheated on her with an unknown woman, the truth chattering her will to love again, until she had a one-night stand with an unknown man, who pestered her to take responsibility. Rosie is the best surgeon doctor in eastern Georgia, popularly known as Miss Rose. She always appears cold-hearted and looks strong, but breaks on the inside. Being a twenty-eight-year-old spinster and having been pressured by her family to get married, the Whites were desperate to marry their daughter to someone of similar status. Mr. Logan, as Rosie calls him, is clingy as hell, and will pester her on a day-to-day basis, and finally decides to get married to him, on the premise of repaying him for rescuing her and according to the contract, divorce after after three years! But why is this man not planning to divorce at all? Who is Mr Logan? The most devilish and feared man in the United States! With so many secrets looming behind the scenes, her life is just like a Pandora's box, following the uncovering of so many truths. Excerpts “Wifey, you taste sweeter today, let me have some more.” James hugged Rosie possessively, unwilling to let the squirming woman underneath him go. “You wish! That’s what you said yesterday!” Rosie rolled her eyes and attempted to push him off her. “I’m hungry, wifey.” “There is food in the kitchen.” She stated, still typing vigorously on her laptop. “No... I want you...”

"CODE BLUE!" shouts the nurse at the emergency room accompanied by a flat-line in the cardiac monitor. Clive Aster arrived in his matte black Audi in his all white coat. Upon hearing the wailing sound of the cardiac monitor, he immediately removed his coat and jumped to the patient's location. "I'll start CPR!" as he jumped to the patient's side and started pumping. "Administer Epinephrine now!" he shouted again. Then the cardiac monitor goes tooot-tooot-tooot. There's a heartbeat! The patient was saved. Clive Aster is a well-known doctor. He has mastered multiple specialties which includes Emergency Medicine, Neuro and Cardiac Surgery. Nobody in the City Hospital knows who he was. He just came in today and rushed to the patient immediately. When the commotion was over, the director of the City Hospital, Celeste Klatt, came in and welcomed him. "Welcome Dr. Aster! Welcome to your new home." Celeste shook Clive's hand and gave him a light kiss on the cheeks. "Parting ways seemed like yesterday, Celeste. It's nice seeing you again." "It's lovely seeing you again too, Clive. Come, follow me to my office." When they entered Celeste's office, Celeste ordered Clive to kiss her to which he abode. "Kiss me! I've missed you!" Clive started to kiss Celeste on her cheeks, then to her lips down to her neck and back to her lips again and he stopped! Slap! Celeste's hand landed on Clive's face. "Who told you to stop?!" Celeste angrily asked. "You never changed Celeste." Clive fixed his face and left Celeste's office.

“Stay,” Chance rasped, his thumb tracing the curve of my bottom lip. “One night where you don’t think about the past.” ​I leaned into him, the heat of his skin against mine, making me forget why I ever ran. “And if I don't want to think about tomorrow, either?” ​“Then don't,” he whispered, his breath hot against my neck. “Just feel this.” ____ ​Zara Payson was discarded like yesterday’s news by her billionaire husband, Wilson Adams. He didn't just break her heart…he stripped her of her daughter and her dignity. Now, she’s hiding in a small town, rebuilding her life on a single vow: Never trust a man with a gold-plated name again. ​Then there’s Chance, her rugged, brooding neighbour. He’s a fallen hockey god with a body made for sin and a past concealed in shadows. Zara thinks he’s just a man running from an injury. She doesn’t know he’s the disowned third son of the very empire that destroyed her. ​When Wilson discovers he’s sterile…making Zara’s daughter his only heir…the hunt begins. He’s coming to reclaim his property, and he doesn't care who he crushes to get it. ​Chance is the only man powerful enough to stand in his way, but protecting Zara means stepping back into the billionaire world he loathes. As the brothers go to war, Zara is caught in the crossfire of a dangerous game. ​Chance is playing for keeps, but is he saving her from a monster…or is he just the more dangerous brother?