Twenty-five Thousand Five Hundred

In a world where desperation and desire collide, una chica, a struggling waitress, faces an impossible choice when a mysterious stranger offers her a life-changing sum of money for a scandalous arrangement. Trapped in a stalled elevator, his provocative proposal—three hundred thousand dollars for three months of illicit encounters—ignites a battle between her moral compass and the crushing weight of her financial burdens. With her sister life-saving surgery hanging in the balance, she grapples with the allure of security and the shame of crossing ethical lines. As temptation blurs her judgment, she must decide whether to sacrifice her principles for the promise of a better future or walk away from the only solution that could save everything she holds dear. This gripping tale explores how money and need can push us to the edge, forcing us to confront the cost of survival and the boundaries of desire.

My name is Ivy Lawson. At 3:00 am, I get a call from Christina McSpire, a parent of one of my students. "Hello, Ms. Lawson, I noticed Zoe only spent five dollars on her meal yesterday. Did she not eat any meat?" she asks. Pushing through my exhaustion, I reply, "Don't worry, Mrs. Street. I'll check on it tomorrow." Another half hour goes by, and she calls again. "It's supposed to rain tomorrow. Can you remind Zoe to bring an umbrella?" I can hardly keep my eyes open. "Got it," I reply absentmindedly. A few minutes later, my phone rings once more. "Please make sure Zoe brushes her teeth for three minutes. It's also important that she scrubs each side of her face at least three times." Suppressing my frustration, I calmly respond, "Zoe is in her senior year of high school. I'm sure she's capable of taking care of herself." I expect that to be the end of it, but when I wake up, my silenced phone shows over a hundred missed calls.

The day the Labarres declared bankruptcy, everyone assumed I would break off my engagement to Zach Labarre. In the middle of a torrential downpour, I abandoned my umbrella and helped the disheveled Zach into the car. "I'll give you ten million dollars. If you succeed, come back and marry me. If you fail, I'll marry you instead." Five years later, Zach returned, leading three publicly listed companies. In front of all the media, he announced, "Leah Chandler and I ended our engagement five years ago."

"There are over a hundred thousand werewolves in existence, but the moon goddess choose to mate me to the one I hate the most, the one behind my misery, the one that killed my father." ****** "Why do you play with me?" I whispered, my voice almost inaudible. "I don't mean to, but I cannot stop myself from wanting you." ***** Natalia's world crumbled when Aaron killed her father and took over the pack as the Alpha. She wanted nothing but to avenge her father's death. But life always had a way of playing tricks on her. She discovered that he was her mate on her eighteenth birthday and he wanted her as his Luna. Was Natalia about to experience a life of terror, or would Aaron turn out to be an Angel in disguise?

Rivergate's most elite social circle had always shared an unspoken rule. Men were free to play the field as they pleased, drifting from one woman to the next. Women, on the other hand, were only allowed a single, discreet indulgence on the day they came of age—a privately hired "life assistant" meant to take care of their physical needs. … On my coming-of-age day, I picked Elliot at first glance from a hundred applicants who came in for interviews. He wore gold-rimmed glasses, looked composed and restrained, and carried himself with a calm maturity that set him apart. He was steady, meticulous, and obsessively clean. The only condition he agreed to was that there would be no bodily contact—hands only. And after every encounter, he would scrub his hands with disinfectant alcohol a hundred times. Over five years, the empty bottles alone were enough to circle the villa seven times. I used to think that one day, I'd help him overcome his barriers and truly make him mine. That illusion shattered the night I got drunk and accidentally wandered into Elliot's room. Hidden beneath his pillow was a DV camera, and inside were several videos of him pleasuring himself. On the screen, the same man who had always been calm and rational with me was staring at the lingerie of the adopted sister who had caused my mother's death, his Adam's apple bobbing as he moaned her name, "Chloe… I love you…" Only then did I realize that every step he had taken toward me had never been about me at all. It had always been a carefully concealed, long-nurtured love for her. So, it was very odd that he cried when I took my adopted sister's place in marrying someone else.

My name's Catherine. I'm wolfless. Five years ago, I got banished by my Alpha father and evil stepmother after being accused of fooling around a random guy. On that same day, I found my wolf Eva and she told me that I was pregnant. After living as a rogue for five years with my lovely twins, I decided to join a pack and settle down. On my way to the mating gathering in Shadow Forest, I ran into a guy Blake and got attracted, not because he was handsome but because I thought I'd seen him somewhere before...

I had been dating Andy Lawson for five years. He had gone bankrupt, and during the worst of it, we had to sleep in parks and scavenge leftovers for food. After a hundred days of that life, I was just going to the blackmarket to sell some blood for money when someone sent me a video. [Surprise.] It was a livestream site, set up for rich kids to prank the common folk—and a video of me was pinned to the top. My finger trembling, I tapped on it and saw myself hidden in a corner of a park, munching on leftovers to nourish my frail body. On the split video, Andy was reclining against the armchair of a five-star hotel and savoring his gourmet menu. "Oh, this is amazing! All Andy has to do is say that he's sick, and she's selling her blood for him!" "On the sixteenth prank, she fell into the ocean… And on the fifteenth, she was sent flying in a car crash! Why is she so hard to kill?" "Well, Andy already made it clear that if she survives until the end, he will marry her and swear off women!" "One month to go! Will she die from the pranks, or marry into the Lawson family with pomp and circumstance?" "I'm betting fifty mil that she dies tragically! Hahaha!"

Francesca Levi's life as an Omega felt utterly hopeless, marked by maltreatment and suffering. She accepted that as her fate.However, the night of her 18th birthday brought an unexpected twist in her life and the arrival of her fated mate, the notorious dark Alpha king, Alexandros.Initially, she believed their love would be her salvation from her years of suffering and captivity. Not until it came crashing down sooner than anyone expected, revealing a dark truth... she was cursed with a legendary wolf.Alpha King Alexandros, known for his merciless demeanor, was incapable of loving any woman but indulged only in sexual pleasures with his harem concubines. He never expected a second chance mate to be the girl he intended to kill, her wolf serving as the key to regaining his fading immortality by consuming its heart.She fell for him first, but will he fall for her even harder?When the secret to his immortality becomes public, dark unknown enemies from both their lives stop at nothing to end it, and that means killing Francesca Levi.Will he find love while risking everything to protect her? Can little Francesca soften his heart that has been cold for over five hundred years?Read on to uncover this intriguing plot twist...

In my last life, I made the dumbest mistake—picked up a Moonlight Ring from the grass. That cursed thing locked me into a mate bond with Silvermoon Pack's Alpha. Too bad his heart already belonged to my sister, Irene. She lived to a hundred, had five pups with her real mate in Ravenshade Pack while I rotted. Every time she got cozy with her mate, Leon tossed me in the basement. "You picked up that ring! I had to watch my true love build a family with someone else!" For eighty years, she lived happily. I barely lived at all. Leon flayed me open, let my skin grow back, then crushed my bones just to watch them heal. Every day felt like dying on repeat. Only when Irene finally kicked the bucket did he let me go. Then boom—I woke up, right back on the day I picked up that damn ring. I wasn't gonna screw it up again. But Irene—always the clean freak—snatched it off the ground before I could stop her.

On the Northwind Trail, just before sunrise, my flashlight cut across the inside of the SUV and landed on five lifeless bodies. My hands shook as I dialed 911. "Hello? I'm on Route 296, the Northwind Trail. Everyone in my car… is dead." The operator's voice was calm but quick. "Please confirm your location. Officers are on their way." My words dropped heavy and flat, like stones hitting the ground. "I'm on Route 296, about three miles east of the mountain pass. The plate number is NA318X. Five people inside the car are dead… and I'm the only one alive."