We Russian

When we get too much involved in the act of pretending, we lose the idea of knowing the pretense of others. Isn't that how it works? We don't know the acts we do thinking good for the others even to the extent of hurting them to save them from major hurt will cause them to go through much more than we can think of. Sometimes it is not too late to correct the pretenses but sometimes it is late to amend them. Let's see whether it is too late or just in time.

Living is not easy, everyday we need to find the best way to survive. Sa sobrang gulo ng mundong kinalalagyan natin hindi natin maiwasang minsan hilingin na sana, sana tapusin nalang ang buhay natin nang matiwasay. But ending our own life is a sin, and that's the main reason why we don't have a choice but to continue living, forget our problem in anyway and enduring the pain caused by everything. Can we even elude our unchangeable fate? Can we end the misfortune we don't deserve?

Liam, my stepbrother, has been a pain in the rear for three years. We fight every time we talk. Every time we see each other, we remember that moment, which we never talk about. The one in the yard behind where our parents had their wedding dinner. The event that almost made everything bad. Our parents are now going for a trip to celebrate their first anniversary, leaving us all alone in the house. Simple plan: we'll stay on different sides, ignore each other, and act like we're working. But then there's a fire on my side of the house, and all of a sudden I have to share a floor, a hallway, and a wall that is too thin to be safe with him. The worst times are at night. I hear him. I can feel him. And every disagreement ends too close. Every stare stays too long. Every breath turns into heat I can’t escape. We’re supposed to protect our parents’ happiness. We’re supposed to act like good brothers. But how do you pretend you hate someone when all you want is to drag him into your bed? Then the holidays arrive with our whole extended family. We’re forced to play perfect boys while nearly pulling each other apart behind locked doors. And just when I think things can’t get worse, Liam’s cheating ex shows up begging to take him back. The jealousy nearly wrecks me… and reveals everything. But the real disaster hits one night with a broken condom and a hurried hospital visit. Two scary weeks that make us imagine a life we’re not supposed to want. A future that feels too good to lose. The test is negative. But the damage is done. We want each other.

As a child, an innocent, our imaginations run wild. We pretend to be knights or princess', magicians or mythical creatures. Then as we age our imagination is tamed by the laws of science and everything we are taught to believe as truth. We as a race of humans can not fly or wield a wand. Dragons and mermaids don't exist. Fire burns, ice freezes, what goes up must come down. These are but a few of the truths that exist in our world, but like so many others they are false. My world was turned upside down on my 21st birthday, everything that was a truth turned out to be a lie. The world we live in, isn't what we believed it to be. My name is Alexi Drovnic, and this is my story.

My best friend and I marry into the Xylander family at the same time. Everyone says we're lucky. My best friend's husband is a master negotiator, while my husband is a bomb disposal expert. Their enemy abduct us after we've just discovered we're pregnant. He ties bombs to our bellies. When our husbands negotiate with the abductors, they choose to save Melinda Sutton, a woman they grew up with. The bombs are detonated, and we're gravely injured. After surviving the explosion, we decide to get divorced together.

My best friend and I had been abducted by the Pendragon brothers—a duo consisting of a religious CEO and a top-billed movie star. We became their secret lovers against our will. "I'm pregnant, Lilith," my best friend said, tears glistening in her eyes. "Me too, Lindsay," I replied softly, caressing my belly. "But I won't go through with it." The brothers heard us. Their control tightened. They watched us during mealtimes, while we slept, and even during our bathroom breaks. We could not endure it any longer, so we fought back. In their anger, the brothers kept mistresses who resembled us. We thought we were free until one day, they found us. They called us homewreckers and hurled insults at us. They broke into our house, scarred our faces, broke our legs, and kicked us until we miscarried. It did not matter how much we tried to explain ourselves. They removed our clothes and paraded us in the street. Finally, the Pendragons arrived. They raised their marriage certificates and declared, "Lilith and Lindsay are our wives!"

The first time I met Alessio Russo I was eighteen. He’d barged into my room. I yelled. He yelled. We argued. I slammed the door into the jerk’s face. Then I discovered that the drool-worthy prick was my best friend’s oldest brother -- who had connections to Cassio King and the mafia. The freaking mafia! The second time I saw him was at his mother’s funeral. He didn’t seem to recognize me. Or so I thought until we ended up tangled up between the sheets and he referred to our first encounter. The next time we saw each other was at his father’s funeral - the funeral of the very same man that had threatened my life. It turned out Alessio Russo was a gentleman even when he was a savage. We bickered. We kissed. We fought. We made love. He thrilled me and scared me. Still, we slowly started to find a way to each other but before I had a chance to come clean with him, I had to leave the country. Then all hell broke loose.

Bound by debt and haunted by a past she can't speak of, Annamaria is offered as a bride to Ares de Luca Sinclair, the ruthless head of the Sicilian mafia. He needs her secret; she craves revenge. Ares believes Annamaria holds the key to stopping a Russian mob invasion, but he doesn't know she blames him for her family's massacre and has vowed to get her revenge on him. As their lives intertwine, the lines between enemy and lover blur. But their fragile bond is threatened by a vengeful half-brother hungry for Ares's power, a scorned woman determined to reclaim her place by his side, and a forbidden love that refuses to be denied. When the truth is finally revealed, Annamaria finds herself a pawn in a deadly game. Kidnapped and tortured, she's forced to confront the secrets she's desperately trying to protect. Ares, consumed by betrayal, unleashes his fury, unaware he's playing right into the hands of his enemies. Will their love survive the lies, the betrayals, and the ever-present threat of the mafia underworld? Or will their dangerous dance end in heartbreak and ruin?

I was just a student who couldn't afford tuition. For five years, I was also the secret lover of Mafia Don Dante Costello. Publicly, I was his personal art restorer. In private, he spent his nights making me his, holding me close and kissing me breathless. Then his family arranged his engagement. To Isabella Rossi. A princess from a rival family. At their engagement party, Isabella stabbed the back of my hand with a shard of broken glass. He made me apologize. To her. For making a scene. Fighting back tears, I bowed my head to Isabella. When Isabella lost a bet and had to play Russian Roulette—one bullet, six chambers—he made me take her place. My hand shook as I raised the gun to my head. "You saved my life once," I told him. "Now you can have it back." The moment I vanished from his world, the ruthless Mafia Don who had everything under control...completely lost his mind.

“In a world of ruthless mafia rivalries, the Italian mafia, La Famiglia De Luca, has been embroiled in a brutal five-year war with the Mexican mafia, La Mano Roja (The Red Hand). Desperate for an advantage, Capo Ivan De Luca forges an unlikely alliance with the feared Russian Bratva, led by the powerful Pakhan Sergei Morozov. But at a steep price: his daughter's hand in marriage to the Pakhan's ruthless grandson, the future Pakhan. Meet Mikhail Morozov, a half-Russian, half-Cuban mafia heir with ice in his veins and blood on his hands. He rules with silence and steel, trusting no one and loving none. Raised in brutality, Mikhail believes emotions are liabilities and mercy is weakness. And Donatella De Luca, the sharp-tongued and fiercely independent second daughter of Capo Ivan De Luca. With a quick wit and sharp mind, she navigates the complex world of the De Luca famiglia with confidence and poise. When the Pakhan chooses Donatella as the bride, a complex web of loyalty, power, and forbidden love is set in motion. Will Donatella’s strength be enough to tame the devil, or will Mikhail cold heart consume her?”