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Community Service. Two words I should be thankful for, but I’m not. I resent the hours it’s away from building my business. When they push the little girl into the room, her crazy curls barely held back by the barrette in her hair, and studious glasses on her face, I can tell she’s scared. Something inside of me breaks, and I want this girl to feel wanted again. What I’m unprepared for is meeting her mom. The second our hands touch, there are fireworks, bright lights, and a picture of the future I could one day have. The future I’ve never allowed myself to wish for. Community service becomes more than a chore. In the months that follow, I realize they’re just like me: they’ve been abandoned, left behind by the world, forgotten by those who should love them. Thanks to the one last hope in both our lives - we found the light in the darkness we’d been searching for.Trick is created by Laramie Briscoe, an eGlobal Creative Publishing author.

I was going to tell my husband I was finally pregnant. Instead, I found police at my door, arresting me for his murder. Someone faked Chris's death and framed me with a man I've never met: Von Castellano, whose wife conveniently provided evidence against us both. The proof is flawless. The conspiracy is airtight. And I'm thrown into a men's prison where I lose everything, including my baby. But Chris isn't dead. He's alive, living in paradise with my high school rival and my company's fortune, after poisoning me for years to ensure I'd never have his child. Von isn't just any man. He's the secret son of a mafia king, and he's ready to reclaim the throne he abandoned. Now we're married. Not for love but for survival. For revenge. For power. They destroyed us once. Together, we'll become the nightmare they never saw coming. Because I don't forgive. And I never forget.

On the day of my daughter Eleanor Baldwin's second birthday party, my entire family stood nervously by the banquet hall entrance. They were not there to greet guests, but rather to keep me from showing up and causing a scene. Mom's face was written all over with anxiety. "Lucas wouldn't actually crash the party, would he?" Dad's brow stayed tightly furrowed. "Who knows? That disgrace of a son is capable of anything." My younger brother, Cody Baldwin, had his arm wrapped gently around my wife, Kendra Clarkson, trying to reassure her. "Don't worry. If Lucas dares to show up, I'll keep you and Ellie safe." Kendra nodded slowly. "If it really comes to that... maybe we should just let Ellie be his goddaughter. At least then, we're still family..." However, the party came and went, and I never appeared. I had already made up my mind to join a classified national defense research program. Only this time, it was for good.

Even before marrying Wayne Cooper, I knew he had a fierce sister-in-law. He would always tell me to never get into a fight with her. After we marry, we spend Christmas Eve at his parents' house for the first time. I'm forced to bustle around in the kitchen as I prepare a feast for over a dozen people. Meanwhile, Wayne's family lounges in the living room. They chatter away while enjoying the fruits I've washed and sliced. As I place the last dish on the table, Wayne's brother and sister-in-law, Kyle Cooper and Lucy Wren, arrive. When I want to take my seat, I discover there isn't one for me. That's when Lucy snorts and says sarcastically, "I heard you're a good wife who's obedient and easygoing, Melanie. I have to say that your cooking is… mediocre, though." This infuriates me. I'm about to retort when she turns to my mother-in-law. She says, "I think you should do the cooking from now on, Gloria. Your food is delicious…"

Sometimes, when we are drunk we may not know what we are doing so one day we will just think that what we are doing is not right. "Babe, go ahead ...... kiss me." Said a woman where she hugged a man and begged him to kiss her. "No way, just go to sleep." The man stopped, the woman immediately wrapped her hand around this man's neck "What the?" The man said annoyed but before everyone else the woman kissed her. "Uhm." The woman growled sharply, she didn't care about the mistake she had made because of the heat and pleasure she felt "Uhm ..... Jacob plea-." She could not continue what she was going to say when a man suddenly spoke. "I'm not your boyfriend." Gracel Velasquez a simple woman who once made a mistake, can this mistake change her life? or it will yet be the igniter of the ruin of her life.

“You're still my wife! ”Ryan yelled clutching onto her arm. “ oh please, spare me that crap”. Valerie said, rolling her. eyes. ” Can we at least talk ?”. He asked her Instead, she yanked her arm from his, and without a second glance or word she turned to leave, but then she halted and turned to him. “ I'm going to make this very clear and I'll do it once only, the Valerie you are looking for is dead and long gone, so stop following me about because I won't hesitate to deal with you, now if you'll excuse me I have better things to do with my time “. Valerie said and turned to leave. “ I looked for you Val, I did. I searched for you for three whole years. None one knew where you were, what else could I have done !”. He yelled. “ we’re still married you know, I did not sign those papers“, Ryan told her. “ see yourself out of my house and don't show your face around here again “. And she left. “Oh, but we will see each other again very soon “, he smirked. **************************************************** Valerie and Ryan’s marriage wasn’t near perfect .Ryan, forced to leave his girlfriend and marry Valerie yet Valerie loved Ryan so much and was the perfect wife to him she gave him her life and did everything to please him yet he never cared about her. Until that night. The night he chose his girlfriend over her and her baby’s life. Barely making it out alive Valerie left and never looked back. Five years later. Valerie is back in town and she and Ryan's paths cross but she is no longer the same girl he once knew.

Jermaine's voice echoed in Dylan's condo unit as she caught him with someone else. "All this caution I've taken for myself, and for what? For you!" Jermaine exclaimed. "You're too paranoid, Maine. What do you think of me? Chasing you just because you won't give me what I want? Are you gold?" Dylan scorned her, "Hey, Maine, if you can't give it to me, I'll find it elsewhere! Just leave, you're causing us unnecessary trouble!" That marked the beginning of her downfall. It was her last semester in business administration, but her former boyfriend shattered it all. She became her own investigator, trailing him wherever he went, until her parents found out. They sent her to the province to reflect. There, she met her uncle's best friend, Demitri, a man left behind by time. He offered her an opportunity she couldn't refuse. "Marry me, and together we'll seek revenge for all the pain we've endured!" he proposed. "Bu--but why me?" she was confused. "Because I know, nothing's gonna happen between us. Besides, our gap means a lot to me, looks like i'm your uncle. I just want to take revenge. That cheaters need to receive their karma!"

On the company's designated monthly day off, Gigi Lott, Donald Hoover's secretary, posted an Instagram story. The caption read, "So what if you're the boss of me when we're at work during the day? At night, I'm the one on top!" In the photo, she was lying atop a water bed covered in rose petals, and the usually stern Donald was kneeling down to massage her feet for her. From his pocket hung a brand new golden necklace. Just that morning, I bought several gold bars and gave them to Donald while beseeching him to make our relationship public. He happily took the locket from me, but when I tried to take a photo of us with our phone, he smacked my phone out of my hands, smashing it into pieces. With a look of pure derision, he declared, "Why don't you take a good look at yourself in the mirror first? You really are a motherless wretch who wasn't raised right. Look at the lengths you'd go to just to ruin me!" Throughout the last five years, I had meekly gone along with his demand that we keep our relationship a secret, claiming it was because office romances were forbidden. But now, I was abruptly hit with the realization of how laughable it all was. The next day, I sent my father a message. "I admit defeat. I'm willing to come home and inherit the family business."

George Sunther doesn't show up on the day we're supposed to get engaged. His family is nowhere to be seen either. Mom's and Dad's faces become increasingly darker as our relatives whisper disapprovingly. I'm about to contact George when I see a social media update from Winona Sunther, the Sunther family's adopted daughter. "From today onward, we're siblings and also spouses." A photo of her and George decked out in wedding attire while holding each other close is attached. Later, I find George, and he says guiltily, "Winnie is pregnant out of wedlock, and her boyfriend has made a run for it. I have to marry her first so that her reputation remains untainted. It's all so she can have the baby without any hitches." I'm stunned. The invitations for our wedding have already been sent out! George wraps an arm around my waist, his tone as gentle as always. "I'll marry you once the baby is born, okay? You're the only woman I'll call my wife, Mary. You have to trust me." I look into his eyes, which I had once loved with all my heart. My heart twists painfully. He's always like this. He always tells me I have to be more tolerant and magnanimous when it comes to Winona because she's his sister. I watch as he leaves in a hurry after answering a call from Winona. Then, I stop hesitating and call my parents. "Mom, is the Zowski family still up for a wedding?"

Before anything else could happen, I stood up from squatting in front of him and walked toward my work table. My hands were shaking, but I tried not to show it. "Now you have time to listen to my proposal," I said firmly, trying to sound confident even though my heart was racing. I picked up the document I had placed there earlier—a simple sheet of paper, but one that could change everything. I held it up for him to see. Yes, kidnapping him had been desperate. But what I was about to offer? Even more so. "You just have to sign this marriage contract," I told him. "If we get married, I can claim my inheritance, solve my problem, and then we’ll let you go." He raised an eyebrow, amused. “And what’s in it for me? I don’t gain anything here. Why should I let you manipulate my life like that?” I clenched my fists. "You’re my hostage! Your freedom depends on me. You have no choice but to do what I say!" I snapped, voice rising with frustration. As soon as I said it, regret washed over me. I sounded like a child throwing a tantrum, and I saw it in his eyes—disappointment. Disgust. “I already have a fiancée, Kourtney. We’re getting married soon. I can’t marry you,” he said with finality. Of course I knew. I knew everything about him. I kept tabs on his life not because I wanted to, but because I had to. “I love her,” he continued. “And if I ever get married, it’s going to be with the woman I love. That’s Kim.” I bit my lower lip to stop the trembling. I was humiliated… but worse, I was heartbroken.