Twenty Eight Artinya

For our third anniversary, my boyfriend claimed he wanted to 'broaden my horizons'. However, he was just waiting for me to step into the restroom from the moment we arrived. He immediately shredded my passport and every piece of identification I owned. Before I could even comprehend what he had done, he dragged me into an underground casino. He strutted in like he belonged there, greeting everyone along the way. "This one's premium, fresh from studying abroad!" I blinked at the massive men closing in on me. The black rose tattoos on their arms… They looked like the insignias of the Lyon family, the mafia syndicate led by my ex-fiancé, who was also their newly crowned Godfather. He once loved me obsessively, pursued me for eight years, and nearly forced me into marriage under the weight of his family's power. It took everything I had to escape that life back then. What just happened? One vacation, and I somehow landed right back into their hands?

Three years after our breakup, I never thought I’d see Connor Rogers again. He was no longer the ordinary man I once knew. Now, he was the head of a powerful corporation. And me? I was broke, scraping by every day just to survive. All the love I once felt for him had turned into hatred, every ounce of pain tracing back to him. I straddled him, naked, driving him wild with desire. Leaning down, I whispered in his ear, “Give me the contract.” The moment his eyes clouded over, I knew I had won. The smile I gave him was one I had rehearsed a hundred times, until it looked real. No one could see what lay behind it: my mother’s death, and the baby I lost at eight months in my womb—our child. Now he was begging me to come back, even defying his family for me. But I... hesitated.

I've been married to Elliot Graves, the mafia drug lord in NYC, for the past eight years. But today—on our wedding anniversary—I received a photo of him with my best friend, Lila, celebrating as if they were the ones married. And in her arms was my son, Owen. I stared at the image, then typed out two words in reply. “How perfect.” Half a hour later, Elliot stormed through the front door. His voice thundered through the hallway. “Why do you always have to be so bitchy to Lila?” Owen, my own little boy, shoved at my leg and glared. “Bad Momma,” he said. “I wish Miss Lila was my real mommy.” I didn’t flinch. I simply walked over to the drawer, pulled out the crisp stack of papers I’d long prepared, and dropped them on the table with a quiet finality. “Alright,” I said, my voice calm. “It’s all my fault. Now, can I go?”

River Wilson has her entire life planned: earn top grades, avoid distractions, and graduate as valedictorian. Love? Boys? Drama? Not on the schedule. But her perfect plan unravels the moment she steps into her new university apartment… and finds Taylor DeLuca shirtless, tattooed, and infuriatingly smug, standing in her kitchen. Thanks to a university housing glitch and a name too ambiguous to question, River ends up living with the one thing she promised to avoid: a boy who looks like trouble and acts like he invented it. Now she’s armed with a list of house rules, a schedule tighter than her ponytail, and one unbreakable boundary: no flirting. But Taylor has a smirk that makes her forget her rules… and a past that’s more complicated than his cocky charm lets on. What happens when the girl who has everything under control is forced to live with the boy who thrives on chaos? Let’s just say... Rule Number Eight is about to get broken.

"Miss Camille Davidson, what a small world?" A chill went through me when I heard his dark, yet sexy, voice. I lifted my chin to look at him. Once my eyes locked with his, I couldn't stop myself from shivering. He was no longer the man he was eight years ago. He appeared to be formidable and cruel. His blue eyes nearly looked dark due to rage. As I gripped the serving tray, I retreated my steps, my cheeks burning from humiliation. Everyone was watching us with keen interest. There was a time when Scott Martinez used to work for me, and now I am working for him. I was fully aware of his intentions. I knew why he was there and what he wanted from me. This time he would never let me go after all I was the one who had destroyed his small world. I murdered his brother.

When I'm eight months pregnant, my husband, Levi West, becomes a donor to help his ex-girlfriend get pregnant. He even brings her and their illegitimate child home, wanting me to serve them. I refuse, and he calls me inhumane. "Audie's lost her husband—what's so bad about her wanting to have a child? You're a woman, too! How can you be so cruel?" I leave the house in anger, but Levi doesn't care. "Where can a country girl like you go when you're so heavily pregnant? You're going to come back and beg me to take you in again!" I head to the hospital to get an abortion. Then, I return to the countryside and rear pigs with my grandmother. Later, when Levi sees my flat belly and asks to see our child, I throw a handful of ashes in his face. "There you go. It's all there."

I gave him my love. He gave me betrayal. For eight years, I stood by Alpha Lance's side, believing our bond was sacred. I wore his mark with pride, and dreamed of becoming his Luna. But on the eve of our anniversary, I overheard the truth: I was nothing more than a “convenient placeholder” until Arielle, the woman he truly loved, returned. Worse? She’s pregnant with his child. Humiliated in front of the pack, publicly rejected, and accused of attacking the “real Luna,” I ran, shattered, disgraced, and broken. But fate wasn’t finished with me. Because that night, I was rescued by Alpha Dominic. Ruthless, powerful, and sworn enemy to the very pack that destroyed me. And he’s hiding a truth of his own: My brother is alive, and I was never meant to be Lance’s mate. Now, I’ve returned. Not as the girl Lance betrayed. But as the Luna he should have feared all along. I will make them all pay.

I regressed to the day I auctioned for the school idol’s sugar baby agreement after her family went bankrupt. This time, I chose to stand by and watch coldly, rather than saving her… Because after I saved her last time, she was forced to marry me due to the rumors spreading at the auction. For the eight years we were married, she made me keep my distance from her. At the same time, she gave her old flame my company and my assets, even bearing him three children. When Gwen Hughes kicked me out of the house, she sneered at me. “It’s all your fault! You acted holier-than-thou, buying out my contract and spreading rumors so I had no choice but to marry you! If it weren’t for you, Ivan and I wouldn’t have missed each other for all these years!” After that, I died in agony. Now that I had regressed, I would not interfere in their lives again.

Meadows Potter spent eight years of her life with a man who had only vowed to marry her if she gave him her body. Naive enough, she fell for it despite her best friend’s warning, only to wake up the next day and find out he was already married. Weeks later, she discovered she was pregnant. With no other choice, she had to find a man who would pretend to be her boyfriend while she stayed for two months with her relatives in LA. It shouldn't have been her best friend. Not Cody Larson, a.k.a. Ice. Not the notorious dirt biker her parents despised, and especially not the man who was secretly, deeply in love with her—though she was blind to it. Will she fall for him during their time in LA, or will her thirst for revenge and stubborn blindness destroy the very love she had been craving all her life? Find out now in Best Friend's Shouldn't Date.

During the third year of our marriage, my husband's ex—whom he dated for eight years—suddenly shares a photo of a ten-million-dollar marital home on her social media. It's captioned, "I've finally gotten a mansion! Who's the best at dating? I am!" I gape at the image—I see my husband swiping his card at the real estate sales office in a corner of the photo. I leave a question mark in the comments. In the next second, my husband calls me to tell me off. "I'm just making good on a promise I made her when we were dating—to buy her a marital home. Why did you have to go insult her like that? Are you evil enough to turn me into a man who goes back on his word?" That evening, his ex shares another photo of a million-dollar renovation bill. I know it's a gift from my husband to appease her, but I don't care anymore…