Truck Time

**"This isn’t just any party, it’s your wedding."** The words hit me like a truck as I stood frozen in disbelief. **"To Angelo Rizzo."** My stepbrother’s voice was cold, detached. My heart pounded in my chest. **"You’re joking, right?"** But one look at his face told me he wasn’t. **"You’re the payment for my debt to the Cosa Nostra."** His betrayal was a knife twisting in my gut. --- Attending a party with my stepbrother, I was prepared for an ordinary night. Instead, I was thrown into a nightmare. Without warning, I found myself standing beside Angelo Rizzo—a man as feared as he is cold—as his bride. My stepbrother owed the Cosa Nostra money, and I was his only way out. With no escape and no choice, I now wear a wedding ring tied to a man I fear. Three hours later, my world has turned upside down. There’s no running from Angelo, no hiding from the life ahead. My only hope? To survive being married to the infamous Angelo Rizzo.

In her past life, when a truck barreled toward them, Lillian Hogan instinctively pushed Elton Ruiz out of harm's way. She paid the price with both her legs crushed. When she woke up in the hospital, the aloof, noble man lowered his head for the first time. Standing by her bedside, he promised to marry her. Tearfully, she accepted the proposal from the man she'd loved since she was eight. But after the wedding, Elton often stayed out all night. His attitude toward her grew cold and harsh. When an infection from her injuries left her on the brink of death, the billionaire didn't spare a single penny for her care. "I never thanked you for saving my life," he said. "Our marriage was a mistake from the start. Let me go." His face grim, he pulled out her oxygen tube. Lillian's eyes widened in shock. In the agony of betrayal and heartbreak, she took her last breath. If she could do it all over again, she vowed never to love Elton again.

My sister, Yvette Chandler, and my boyfriend, Gabriel Johnson, have never gotten along. She doesn't believe that he, a playboy, will settle down and be faithful to me. She even tries to stop us from being together after he proposes to me. To convince her of Gabriel's loyalty, I sign up for a new WhatsApp account to test him. He's frosty toward me and keeps me at arm's length. I'm gleeful over this when he suddenly sends me a voice message. "I already told you I won't fool around with anyone other than you and your sister. Who's going to satisfy you once I'm married when you're so insatiable, Yvette?"

Amanda Monroe’s life went up in flames three years ago and she can’t rest until she finds the ones responsible. Kevin and Martha Monroe had taken her into their home and treated her like family when she was found abandoned the day she was born. They hadn’t deserved to die that way. Someone would pay. They would all pay. Cole Vasco had always enjoyed his life exactly the way it was. He loved his beer, he loved his whiskey, and he loved his women. He was a bachelor for life, and he liked it that way. And then she walked into the bar. Even over the beer, the smoke, and the odor of too many people packed into a too-small building, he could smell the scent of her, and it called to him in a way that nothing had ever done before. All the while somewhere out there, a group of men in a beat-up old pickup truck drove down the road drinking cheap whiskey and loading their guns and hunting for the little bitch that had been asking too many questions in too many towns along the way.

Oliver Harding and I are on our way to get a divorce when a truck rams into our car, making us turn turtle. Before I lose consciousness, I hear him say, "If I get a second chance at life, I'll definitely accept Zara's confession. Living a life of excitement with her is what I truly want." When I open my eyes again, I'm taken back to the day I got engaged. As in my past life, Zara Cox stands before Oliver with a bouquet and asks him whether he wants to be with her. He doesn't even spare me a glance as he drops to one knee before her. He holds out a ring and says, "I love you, Zara. Will you marry me?" Brilliant. He must have been reborn, too. I give them my blessings, and he and Zara live the exciting life he wants. But later, he falls to his knees before me. Tears stream down his face as he asks whether I can marry him again.

It's Kleo's 17th birth and her closest friends have all decided to treat her for the day. While at a lounge, her mom(a nurse) surprises her with a single phone call telling her to come home early which was a shock due to how busy the nurse schedule is but when mother calls you just have to listen. Never been behind the wheel before and getting praised for her driving skills it was unanimously decided as a joke that kleo should drive which as it turns out was a bad idea to begin with. A truck hits her car and puts her into a coma and is rushed to the hospital. On the other hand there's Avan and Avan's mom has cancer. She has a year to live but as fate would have it her room is just right beside Kleo's room. Avan always used to see kleo's room full of visitors but never the girl they were there to see, however, he notices that it's empty today, the day the doctors announce his mother's remaining life span... Dejected, sad and angry he storms out of the room and happens to be around when Kleo's room was left opened, sneaking a peak to notice the beautiful girl that is unconscious.

"You are not more important than my pack's safety and the duties I possess as an Alpha to my subject. You're not worth the sacrifice", Archer declared, crushing the last hope Echo had. She walked away without a word, back to the truck loaded with people like her. She was abandoned by her parents, her pack, and her mate. Being wolfless has never been an issue to Echo Ruth Solaris until the community split into two coalitions. The Perfects and the Deviants. Echo is wolfless— a deviant. When the danger of extinction creeps around the wolf packs all over the world, creatures like Echo are axed from their respective packs. But the unexpected rejection from Archer cut her to the core and ignited a fierce determination within her and she swore to be the one people will need. Years later, she has the world at her feet and also the Alpha who once rejected her. With challenges lurking around, Echo embarks on the journey while dealing with her former mate trying his best to win her back. As she embarks on her journey, facing challenges at every turn, Echo refuses to settle for anything less than what she deserves.

On our wedding night, my husband didn't stay long enough to toast with champagne. He left me alone at the reception and retreated to the chapel. Because from the very beginning, this stoic, untouchable man had only ever loved my younger sister. For three years of my marriage, I poured myself into thawing a heart of stone, only to be met with glacial silence. "Claire," he said coldly, "I'd rather take vows of celibacy than ever love you." But when the truck came barreling toward me, the man who had resented me his entire life used his own body to shield mine. Just before I lost consciousness, I saw him gripping the paramedic's sleeve, blood staining his lips. "Don't tell that crazy woman who saved her… And don't let my family… make things difficult for her." Tears welled in my eyes. Only then did I realize I wasn't the only one at fault in this marriage. After coming back to life, I chose to join the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces and head straight to the front lines. If we were never meant to grow old together in this life, then let my final wish for him be this: A lifetime of peace, and an eternity of never crossing paths with me again.

At the factory, my arm is pulled into a machine. After the surgery, the factory supervisor tells me it's my fault. Because of my arm, the machine has to be shut down for repairs, and every day of downtime will cost them millions. "Someone has to take responsibility for this, Zachary," the supervisor tells me. "It wouldn't make sense to demand millions from you, so just compensate us with 300,000—that's all." Under their threats—and my family's desperate begging—I sign the IOU for 300,000. With one arm gone, I can no longer find a job. All I can do is collect trash to repay the debt. While picking up bottles outside a restaurant one day, I hear the factory supervisor laughing and bragging inside. "Actually, that one-armed guy didn't violate any rules. In fact, the HQ gave three million dollars in compensation. My house and car? All bought with that money," he said. "I mean, who'd ever find out? With that debt hanging over him, he's probably already run off somewhere." Shaken by the news, I stagger onto the street. A truck roars out of nowhere, slamming into me and throwing me 16 feet across the road. When I open my eyes again, I had returned to the day I lost my arm.

I'd been married to Joshua Merck for five years, but we still didn't have kids. To stay healthy, I took those pricey custom vitamins he ordered from overseas—never missed a dose. Then my cousin came back from studying abroad, took one look at the bottle, and was like, "That brand doesn't even make custom vitamins." I sent them to the hospital for testing. The lab report hit me like a truck—birth control pills. Powerful ones. Suddenly, all those mornings with Joshua hovering over me, acting so concerned while I took my "vitamins," made sense. The whole thing had been a lie. Five years of lies. Just as I was gearing up to confront him, my phone buzzed—a group chat notification. Shirley Hoare had tagged Joshua. [Honey, I had a prenatal checkup today, and the doctor said I'm carrying twins! Your family's about to get two grandchildren at once—excited?] My heart turned to ash. Everything clicked. Fine. We were done. I pulled out my phone and replied to my childhood sweetheart's message from three days ago: [After watching the northern lights, I still wanted to see penguins in Antarctica.]