Tugs Humanized

On the day Tristan Spallone, the head of a mafia family, and I mark our fifth wedding anniversary, the manager of the Spallone family vault calls. Something that was stored away for a long time has finally come due, and Tristan is to retrieve it. He's so busy that he barely has a moment to breathe, so I go in his place. What I bring back is an old roll of film. The manager warned me that if it wasn’t developed soon, its age might cause it to be ruined beyond recovery. But when I have them developed, frame after frame is filled with Winnie Leigh, his first love. Her smile looks so sweet in those pictures that they nearly suffocate me. What about me, one may ask? I never once appeared on his albums. The office door slams open. Tristan bursts in, already out of breath. "Anna, is your life really so empty that you have to dig through mine?" I turn toward him, the man who's usually so composed. I neither question him nor break down. Instead, I speak slowly. "We're getting a divorce." Tristan frowns and thrusts the stack of photos into the shredder. He then looks back at me. "They're gone. Do you still want a divorce?" A bitter smile tugs at my lips. "Yes."

“Are you trying to punish me? I…I don't know how many times I can apologize even if it wasn't my fault that I almost—” “I never asked you to. You do whatever you want, Niya, and I really don't care. Neither should you bother with what I do.” “You're hurt. You're hurt, Alex, and you're acting out. Don't worry we could talk this through. This isn't you.” I try to reach him again but he shoots me a deadly glare that pierces through my skin like a dagger. “Sure it is. You've just never seen me like this. You don't know what I look like when I'm not in love with you,” his brows grow together. “Now we’ve had enough of your drama. You'll find the papers and enjoy the party or use the fucking door.” He pulls away and my eyes cloud again. My ears and heart find it hard to process what is actually going on. The looks on their faces tell me it is awfully too late—I have already lost everything. “Niya, careful now,” my grandmother slowly tugs at my arm as if that will somehow make everything better. “We have guests. Don’t cause a scene.” A scene? I have literally just seen a whole movie, ma. ************* My name is Niya Kendrick. I’m 25, an author who once believed she had the perfect life. But how quickly can everything I love be stripped away in the blink of an eye? Or worse, what if the life, the family I’ve cherished has always been a blatant lie, a mere fragment of the truth? Now, I’m awake, and reality is far harsher than any dream.

Broken. That's one word that can be used to describe Adrienne Knight. For her, life has no meaning. Made to believe she was no more than a piece of worthless property, Adrienne developed a rather grim outlook on life, and rightly so. Happiness seemed to elude her at every turn. From a mate that turned bad, to being tortured within an inch of her life by the same person she thought would protect her. She trusts no one and sees everything as a threat. When Alpha Lucas finds his mate, she isn't what he'd expected. She was a shattered puzzle he had to put together, piece by tiny piece. Some pieces are lost and he has to make new ones, making his job that much harder. It tugs at his heart when she flinches when he touches her, or when she braces for a hit at every movement of his. He wants to kill every person responsible for the mess that was his mate. But slowly, he manages to pull her from her downward spiral and into the light. Their love is one borne from darkness and pain and not even the joined forces of heaven and hell can tear them apart.

She lives a life that isn’t truly hers, with a past she’s never questioned, and a man who claims to be her husband. But when she’s hired to care for a stranger’s child, something stirs—familiar eyes, a voice that tugs at her soul, and a home that feels too much like memory. Unseen beneath calm waters lie truths long buried. He’s been waiting for her return. In a world where love can be forgotten, will the heart remember what the mind cannot?