Went Towards

I had been married to Alexander for three years. Everyone feared his ruthlessness, but he had always been incredibly gentle with me. But ever since Elena took a bullet for him during a shootout six months ago, everything changed. He always said she got hurt saving him, so I had to be accommodating. At the family’s most prestigious gala, my husband—the Don, Alexander—arrived with his secretary, Elena, on his arm. Pinned to her chest was the ruby brooch that symbolized the position of the Donna of the family. "Elena took a bullet for me. She liked the brooch, so I let her borrow it for a while. Regardless, you are the only donna here. Try to show some class." I didn't argue with him. I just removed my wedding ring and pulled out the divorce papers: "Since she likes it so much, she can have it. Including this seat next to you. I'm giving that up, too." Alexander signed without hesitation, a cold smile on his face. "What kind of manipulative trick are you playing now? You're an orphan, separated from your family, you won't survive three days in Sicily. I'll wait for you to come back begging me." I took out an encrypted satellite phone I hadn't used in three years. Alexander didn't know that I was actually the youngest daughter of the oldest Mafia family in Europe. But my family and Alexander’s had always been enemies. To marry him, I had changed my name and even severed ties with my father and brothers. The call connected. I took a deep breath and whispered, "Papa, I regret it. Send someone to pick me up in two weeks."

I suffer from extreme mental illness. My sister, Ava Monroe, became a facial model to earn money for my expensive medical treatment. She was 5’3” tall but was noticed because of her beauty by a wealthy young man by the name of Dominic Pierce with a leg obsession. He imprisoned her. “This is the most beautiful face I’ve ever seen. If only your legs were a bit longer, I’d die with a smile.” Ava was forced to have leg-lengthening surgery. After the operation, her legs began to rot. Dominic found her disgusting and locked her in the basement. He tortured her until she died. I got kicked out of the mental health institute because I could not pay the medical fees. I found Dominic surrounded by beautiful women with long legs. “Those are the prettiest legs I’ve ever seen. If only your face were a little cuter, I’d die with a smile!” I pointed to the painting of Ava and scoffed, “What if I become her?”

As my body was pulled from the desolate marsh, Kian, the Alpha I had been mated to for ten years, was in the middle of his Mating Ceremony with his Beta, Sienna. My rotting corpse was mangled beyond recognition by layers of different wolfsbane poisons, my very bones stained black by the toxin's deep penetration. Even the pack's eldest healer retched at the sight of it. But, Kian, seemingly unfazed by the gruesome discovery, exchanged vows with Sienna before the Moon Altar. They received the blessings of the entire pack, while no one remembered me, even though I had only been missing for three months. It wasn't until my brother Ronan, the pack's Head Enforcer, began his investigation and found a shattered moonstone deep within my skeletal remains. "Ronan... if anyone can hear this... the Rogue Alpha has infiltrated..." The fragmented, static-laced voice that emanated from it made my brother freeze. When the truth was finally revealed, I was proven to be not the traitor who eloped with a Rogue Alpha, but the hero who died protecting the pack. And as for that Alpha who always looked down on me? He completely lost his mind.

Three days after my boyfriend’s adopted sister died a tragic death, I clutched a so-called "hush money" check in my hand and became an accomplice in everyone’s eyes. My boyfriend once knelt in the pouring rain to beg me, and his sister’s five-year-old daughter cried and begged me to testify, but I refused them both. Ten years later, when I was dying of cancer, my boyfriend had become a billionaire. The first thing he did upon returning to the country was to forcibly extract my memories, even though I would suffer endless pain. "Elara, you vain, heartless monster! Lily and I must have been blind to ever treat you like family!" "Lily has been dead for ten years, and you’ve been walking free with that dirty money the whole time!" "Today, I’m going to find out exactly who paid you off—the person you protected just for money!" My boyfriend held a press conference to publicly crucify me for my crimes. But after seeing the whole truth, he went completely insane.

Kieran Voss is my boyfriend, and his first love has slept with every one of his closest friends. Yet, she still manages to play the innocent little angel in front of him. I plan to expose her, especially after I accidentally uncover her biggest secret. But before I can, Chloe Bennett uses dark magic and somehow transfers all her physical reactions onto me. She's flirting with a man below the stage while I'm giving a company presentation. I can't help but let out a soft moan at the podium the moment his hand slips under her skirt. I become the shameless and indecent woman everyone despises. Despite this, my boyfriend goes against public opinion and proposes to me in front of everyone. Chloe spends ten hours in bed with ten men on our wedding day. Meanwhile, I collapse on stage and tremble uncontrollably in a white gown, my face burning red with heat. I die of heart failure from sheer excitement and carry a tarnished name even in death. As I open my eyes, I'm back to the moment I first discovered Chloe's secret. This time, I close my eyes and say "Don't worry, I swear I didn't see a thing."

My name is Margaret Turner. After my daughter, Sarah McDowell, becomes pregnant, I am shocked to find that I can hear the thoughts of the baby in her womb. "Grandma, please don't let Mommy get the prenatal checkup! If they learn I'm a girl, Dad will make her get rid of me. I don't want to die!" I can't believe what I'm hearing. Knowing that my son‑in‑law, Jeremy O'Brien, works at a hospital and can use his connections to learn the baby's gender, I do everything in my power to keep Sarah from being examined. But three months later, doctors confirm that Sarah's baby has a congenital deformity and is fated to be born disabled. Sarah is devastated, and guilt consumes me. Suddenly, I hear my granddaughter's voice again. "It's all because of Dad. He cheated with that nurse and returned home soaked in her cheap perfume. As soon as Mommy breathed it in, I was fated to come into the world deformed. Poor Mommy…" Rage explodes inside me. Without a second thought, I storm into Jeremy's workplace, determined to catch him in the act. I don't expect to walk in on a critical heart surgery he is performing. My intrusion throws the room into chaos, and the patient dies on the operating table. The patient's family loses control, and they cause a violent scene in the hospital. In the mayhem, Jeremy is killed on the spot. When Sarah learns what I've done, she is consumed by rage and declares she wants nothing more to do with me. At that moment, my granddaughter's voice echoes in my mind once more. "Mommy is heartbroken and needs time to heal. Grandma, please don't make things worse. Mommy will be okay after she rests." Hearing this, I force myself to stay calm. But that very night, word arrives that Sarah has thrown herself into a river and ended her life. Shattered by grief, I eventually make the same tragic choice. As my final breath fades, my granddaughter's chilling laugh echoes in my ears. When I open my eyes again, I find myself back on the day her voice first crept into my mind.

That night, Liam served me my usual evening tea. I trusted him completely—he was my mate, after all, and a respected healer of Thornpack. I shouldn't have. When I woke up the next morning, my head was spinning. The special safe where I kept the morphing inhibitor—the one I'd spent my entire savings to import from Europe for our daughter Isla—was empty. Racing to the healing center, I found Liam celebrating. He was handing out moon-blessed wine, beaming with pride as Natalie's daughter Anna showed off her perfect transformation. My inhibitor had been used on his first love's pup instead of our own daughter. The shock triggered something in my brain. When I collapsed, they diagnosed me with the rare tumor that plagued our kind. Without inhibitors, I couldn't stop Isla's transformation that came early, her six year old body couldn't handle the massive wolf form and the force ripped through her young body. And I, for one, don't even have enough money to keep her in a treatment center. She died in my arms three days later, her little claws drawing blood as the pain overwhelmed her. Until her last breath, she kept asking why Papa hadn't come. Now, in my cold, empty home, with the white porcelain urn containing her ashes on the table, I touch her and decide to sever our partnership.

My boyfriend of three years had a secret true love: my vicious best friend. For her, he swallowed my family business whole, froze every cent I had, and crushed my dignity into the dirt. When my father lay dying from a brain hemorrhage, I begged him for $50,000 to save his life. He refused cold-heartedly. At the exact moment my father died on the operating table, he was busy spending millions on rare jewelry for her. I didn't show up to our engagement party. Instead, I sent a "gift" that played on the big screen. That arrogant man went completely insane in front of the whole world.

On the day I go to the car dealership to pick up my car, I'm told that the previous salesperson has resigned, so a different salesperson will attend to me. Yet the first thing the salesperson does is say that I paid too little for the car and demand that I pay more to make up the difference. "The other salesperson is truly an idiot. How could he sell a car for 300 thousand dollars in cash? It's no wonder he got chewed out and quit. If you want to take the car, you'll have to switch to a five-year loan with an interest rate of 12%." I'm rendered speechless as he blatantly tries to extort me. "I've already paid and signed the sales contract. You're breaching the contract!" The salesperson scoffs. "So what? The car is with us anyway. If you're not going to pay the difference, don't even think of taking the car with you!" I can't help but chuckle. I calmly pull my phone out of my suit pocket. "Walter, place Mr. Paul Roland's loan application on hold for now. He's earning big bucks for his business. It seems like he doesn't need it anymore."

"Sorry, it was a dare", that's what I utter after the passionate kiss. I can still feel the familiar taste of that familiar mouth. He still feels the same, he still kisses me like there's no end, he's still passionate and possessive when he holds me in his arms. But he still doesn't look the same. A devilish smirk appears across his fierce face, his eyes darkening at me, making my breath catch. I'm still obsessed with the way he looks at me. "No, Emily. Not again", I tell myself and turn back, escaping the man who knows each bit of my soul, heart and body. The tough palm wraps around my arm harshly, pulling me back against his hard chest as he possessively secures me in his arms. I knew it was going to go well. "Let me go", I whisper. "Not after you reminded how you taste, Em", his hoarse whisper lets his warm breath brush across my neck as I shiver in his grip, weakening to my knees. Amid all similarities, I can't find the old chirpy— vibrant man anymore, instead, I feel the familiar man turning into a demon who wants nothing but to consume me again. This time not in love, but . ~~~~ Kane Gabriel was a kind and vibrant man with excessively features and a heart of gold until his girlfriend Emily Benson betrayed him. Years later Emily herself walked into him only to complete a dare but she didn't know what she invited for herself— a wounded lion who now knew nothing but breaking. With a vow to taint her with pain, will Kane achieve his motives or end up losing his heart once again? Or will a new truth break him from the core?