When Blank Bares His Teeth

Three years ago, my husband’s brother took a bullet for him. So Gwen brought his brother's widow, Eliza, into our home. I was the Donna in name only. I had to step aside for Eliza in everything. Once, Eliza faked slitting her wrists. She said I drove her to it. Gwen grabbed my throat. Murder flashed in his eyes. "Get out. The Falcone family has no place for a venomous bitch like you." He gave her the family's art foundation to "make it up to her." It was supposed to be mine. This time, I said nothing. He was signing a stack of business contracts. I just slipped the divorce papers in with them. A few days later, he noticed I wasn't home. He searched all over Chicago. He couldn't find me. That's when he saw the divorce decree. He finally understood. I was gone. For good. That day, the untouchable king of the Chicago Outfit… shattered.

I waited five years for him to love me. But love never came. Instead, she returned, the girl Brandon never stopped loving… and a little boy who looks just like him. A child I should have given him. I married Brandon Langford to save my father’s company. I gave him everything—my loyalty, my heart, my life. And he repaid me by suspending me from work and handing my project to her. Clara, his first love, is back, taking everything I built, everything I thought I owned. I’m done being a placeholder. This time… I’m claiming my life.

"I want to know," Marissa said, placing a hand on her stomach, "if you'll be here to watch me give Bryce the child you never could." She snapped. Rachel's blood ran cold. Of course! she was right. *** For three years, Rachel has lived as the perfect wife of Bryce Voss. Always gentle, loyal, and endlessly composed, she believed love could soften every cruelty, untill the day her husband walked into their matrimonial house with another woman at his side, claiming she carried his child. Declared infertile and a cancer victim after countless hospital visits, Rachel endures shame and cold shoulders from the family she once adored. When Bryce demands a divorce, she asks for one last thing...14 days. Fourteen days to remain his wife before fate decides what she'll become... but surprisingly, he is indifferent.

For three years of marriage, she—Camelia Collyn—was merely a wife on paper. Calvin Ashford—her husband—had never touched her, nor had he ever loved her. When the truth was revealed—that she was only a substitute, and that her husband had been saving himself for his first love—she knew the end of this marriage had already been decided. Calvin Ashford intended to divorce her. Of course, it was all for the sake of returning to Samantha Rose (Tata)—his first love who had come back. However, one mistake on the final night changed everything. Camelia left, leaving behind the divorce papers, and strangely, instead of feeling happy about Camelia’s departure, it was quite the opposite. Why was that so?

Zoey has been beaten down her entire life—by her pack, by fate, by the cruel truth that she has no wolf. When war pushes the packs together, her body becomes a battlefield of its own, bruised, burning, and starved for something she’s never been allowed to want. Then she collides with a dangerous male who looks at her like pain makes her irresistible and defiance makes her his. Desire turns savage, jealousy turns deadly, and love threatens to be the most violent thing of all. In a world ruled by blood, dominance, and marks, wanting him could ruin her—but being claimed by him might finally set her free.

When I accompany my best friend, Olivia Martin, to the hotel in hopes of catching her partner in the act red-handed, I end up catching my own husband, Wilson Gunner, instead. I don't break down in tears, nor do I throw a tantrum. In fact, I even shoot a smile at the young lady who's with Wilson. "Don't worry. I'll keep this a secret." The lady shoots me a grateful look before stumbling out of the hotel room haphazardly. Not only does Wilson not feel any sense of shame, but he also looks at me approvingly. "I knew you were sensible enough to not cause a fuss. Since you're a plastic surgeon, you should know that it's rare to see young ladies who have never gone under the knife nowadays. "The woman from earlier is au naturale. Besides, she's all clean and pure, so you have nothing to worry about." I lower my gaze and nod gently in agreement. But I don't plan on telling Wilson that the so-called au naturale woman was still a young man last week.

I’m a new grad human in huge debt, and cheated by my Omega bf. When I got wasted in a bar, I didn’t expect to have the best sex ever. And the very next morning, I also didn’t expect to wake up and find my ONS hookup was my bf's Alpha billionaire BOSS…. How things are going to turn out after I accidentally became his 5yo daughter's live-in nanny?____________How did this happen? How did I wind up finally becoming employed, only for it to turn out that my new employer was the same person who I had a one night stand with just two nights ago?“I didn’t know that you would be the employer. If I had known, I wouldn’t have applied….”“It’s alright. I knew it was you when I hired you. I did it on purpose.” I scrunched my eyebrows together. “What do you mean?”

At two in the morning, when the pack elders' urgent summons came, I had just crawled out from beneath my childhood sweetheart, the Alpha heir Slade. My body was still aching from his rough possession. As the only human healer in the entire Blackwood Pack, I was ordered to prepare herbs as a gift for Slade's marriage alliance with the Thorne Pack. I gently lifted Slade's arm from where it was wrapped around me. After a night of passion, his powerful Alpha body was still radiating a feverish heat. I assumed this was just another wolf princess he needed to turn away, so I poked his chest playfully and asked with a smile, "Slade, what excuse are you going to use the 99th time? That you've suddenly developed an allergy to the princess?" He rolled over and kissed my forehead, his eyes heavy with sleep. "My sweet girl, this time the herbs must be prepared by you, and you alone. The success of this alliance rests on your shoulders." I froze. For the past ten years, I had been his secret solace, the one who soothed his violent rages every night. I thought I would earn a formal bonding ceremony, sooner or later. But in that moment, I understood. I was just a convenience, a body for him to use. If that was all I was to him, then I would burn everything we had to the ground. I made a call to my old mentor at the National Institute of Medicine, Professor Sterling. "Professor, that research position regarding gene... is it still open? I'm ready to return to the human world." But when that arrogant Alpha, who claimed we were 'just friends' and 'strictly professional,' discovered he could no longer catch even a faint scent of me in the air, he completely lost his mind.

"Give me one more chances, Via," kata Dante sembari menatap manik mata Olivia. "Nggak bisa, Dante. Aku nggak bisa," sahut Olivia bersikukuh. "Kenapa? Paling nggak kasih aku alasannya," desak Dante lagi. Olivia menggeleng. Merasa sia-sia saja jika ia memberikan alasannya. "Kalau begitu akan kucari sendiri jawabannya," tukas Dante menyudahinya. Manis. Bibir yang mengecup Olivia masih sama seperti lima tahun yang lalu. Manis dan akan selalu manis sampai kapanpun. Seperti kenangannya bersama Dante. Perpisahan Olivia dengan Dante bukanlah lelucon opera sabun yang selalu berseliweran di layar kaca. Ada satu alasan yang membuat Olivia nekat mengambil keputusan itu. Suatu rahasia yang sengaja Olivia sembunyikan sejak lama. Suatu rahasia dibalik kepergiannya.

On the day of our wedding, Liam Hopkins’ childhood sweetheart stood by the bridge, threatening to take her own life. The moment he hung up the phone, he was ready to leave. Desperately, I clung to his sleeve. “Liam, if you walk out that door, it’s over between us!” “Diana! This is a matter of life and death. I’ll marry you, but don’t make a scene!” With those words, he turned and rushed away, leaving me standing alone. Determined, I spun around and completed the wedding vows with another man. But later, he dared to ask why I didn’t wait for him. I laughed coldly. “Belated love? It’s cheaper than dirt.”