When Did The Renaissance Start And End

It's Thanksgiving, and I'm waiting for Zeke Jones to come home after cooking up an extravagant meal. When Zeke returns, he doesn't even glance at the meal I've prepared for him. Instead, he proceeds to pack a bag. "I can't celebrate Thanksgiving with you this year," he says. I take another bite of my turkey and say nothing. At the stroke of midnight, Zeke's first love posts a new photo on her social media page. In the photo, she's lying on Zeke's back with a bright smile on her face. The moon outside the window is bright. "Happy to spend Thanksgiving with good company," her caption reads. Instead of hysterically questioning Zeke about the post, I just tap on the "like" button without reacting in any way. Zeke calls me. His voice sounds panicked as he tries to explain himself. "Please don't misinterpret the post. I will definitely spend Thanksgiving with you next year…" I freeze for a few moments, letting out a small laugh. I don't offer him a reply. Next time, he says? Oh, Zeke, I'm afraid there won't be a next time.

Sette’s only choice was to kill her mate. Her whole existence is tangled with a curse. A love she’ll once have. A life she couldn’t hold. The man she couldn’t save. The curse will take the life of her mate, Lane Emerson, the Alpha. To kill him in her own hands means she doesn’t have to suffer his death. To kill him before she’ll love him was Sette’s mission. But what can Sette do when the heart is stronger than the mind? What can she do when she’s slowly slipping to the curse? Will she save him to savor the time they have left or kill him so she could save herself from dying pain? Only one thing Sette knows. It’s either her love will save him. Or kill him. This is the first installment of Dival Sisters.

Amara a tout perdu, ses parents, son enfance et sa liberté, lorsqu'elle a été recueillie par un Alpha impitoyable qui l'a utilisée comme un pion dans ses projets. Trahie par l'homme qu'elle était censée épouser et sa meilleure amie, elle a fui sa meute, laissant derrière elle la vie qu'elle pensait connaître. Des années plus tard, Amara est une mère célibataire, vivant en secret et protégeant sa fille, Sélène, du monde qui l'a trahie. Mais lorsqu’une lettre révèle qu’elle a hérité de la fortune de ses parents, Amara est obligée de retourner dans la ville dont elle s’est enfuie. Là, elle croise la route de Lucian, un loup voyou et l'homme d'une nuit oubliée qui a tout changé. La nuit qui lui avait donné la seule chose qui lui importait désormais. Alors qu'elle découvre des secrets passés sur la mort de ses parents, Amara doit décider si elle peut faire confiance à Lucian ou affronter seule ses batailles. Avec la trahison, l'amour et la vengeance en jeu, Amara doit se battre pour récupérer son héritage et protéger la seule famille qui lui reste.

“True love stories never have endings.” Dean said softly. “Richard Bach.” I nodded. “You taught me that quote the night I kissed you for the first time.” He continued, his fingers weaving through loose hair around my face. “And I held on to that every day since.”

I had been married to Natasha Bates for ten years, and not once did she ever join me for our family's Independence Day cookout. This year, on the night before the celebration, I finally gathered the courage to ask if she wanted to come. She scoffed and said, "What are you, stuck in the past? Who even celebrates the Fourth with a family dinner anymore?" Yet that very evening, I saw a social media post of Natasha with her male best friend, Stanley Rogers. They were quite intimate in the picture, and the caption read: [True happiness is celebrating Independence Day with your bestie!] I commented back: [Hope you two lovebirds make it official soon.] Stanley did not hold back. He messaged me a bunch of intimate photos of the two of them. Then, he added, [You're just a leech living off his wife. What right do you have to question anything about Nattie?] Everyone always thought I was a gold-digger living off Natasha's success. However, they all forgot that I was the sole major shareholder of the company. This time, I’m done staying silent.

After going bankrupt, I do the unthinkable for my gravely ill younger brother, Ricky Ashford, and climb into the bed of Damien Blackwood, the notorious mafia boss. When his smoldering gaze sweeps over my shirtless body, I stay perfectly still. The reason is that I'm afraid to set off this infamous man in front of me. However, the next instant, his lips are everywhere on my skin, and the night dissolves into a wild, reckless blur. For three years, I endure every torment in his bed. Thoughts of escape and even suicide cross my mind, but the fact that my brother is fighting for his life in the ICU keeps me going. One day, I accidentally overhear him speaking with his childhood friend, Chloe Sterling. "How long do you plan to toy with your enemy's daughter? You're not falling for her, are you?" "Don't be absurd." "And what about her sickly brother?" "He died long ago." The last thread holding me together snaps. Now, there is no reason left to live. As I prepare to end my life by burning charcoal, tears well up in his eyes as he pleads for me not to leave.

A car accident leaves me unconscious for a full three years. When I wake up, my family bursts into tears of joy. They care for me with the utmost attention. But from their behavior, I sense something is wrong. There are women's clothes in the house that don't fit me. My mother's shopping cart is filled with mysterious baby items. My father's friends send congratulatory messages about a new child, and my husband is always working overtime. When my husband once again leaves me alone under the pretext that there is something urgent at the company, I secretly follow him. Inside a warmly decorated house, my parents and husband sit around a table. A woman who looks almost exactly like me is holding a baby just a few months old, gently coaxing the child to call my husband "Daddy".

Feel the fear and marry him anyways.7 years ago Emilia's whole life turned upside down when she got betrothed to a Mafia boss, Adriano Romano.At first she was the one who always kept her head down and acted on the orders of other people. But she never knew that deep inside she had quite a rebellious spirit, that makes it even more difficult for her to survive in a 'male- dominant' world.A world where everything works as per the rules and regulations of her husband, will she be able to get tamed as a grateful obedient wife or will her rebellious spirit stop her from becoming one?

I stayed by William Gavin's side for three years and proposed to him three times. He rejected me each time. With a look of utter disdain, he said, "Every time I see that scar on Whitney Spencer's stomach, I remember the baby that died in there. It just makes me think she's dirty." The words pierced my heart like a knife. And yet, I still asked him to marry me a fourth time.

À neuf mois de grossesse, j'étais dans la phase finale de mon terme, et mon corps était lourd d'un bébé qui devait naître d'un jour à l'autre. Mais mon mari, Victor Falcon, sous-chef de la famille, m'a enfermée. Il m'a retenue dans une salle médicale souterraine stérile et m'a injecté un agent suppresseur de l'accouchement. Alors que je hurlais à l'agonie, il m'a froidement dit de le supporter. Parce que la veuve de son frère, Charlotte, devait accoucher exactement au même moment. Un serment de sang qu'il avait fait avec son défunt frère stipulait que le fils premier-né hériterait du lucratif territoire de la famille. « Cet héritage appartient à l'enfant de Charlotte. » a-t-il déclaré. « Gabriel étant parti, elle est totalement seule et démunie. Tu as tout mon amour, Élisa. J'ai juste besoin qu'elle puisse accoucher en toute sécurité. Ensuite, ce sera ton tour. » La drogue était un tourment constant et angoissant. Je l'ai supplié de m'emmener à l'hôpital. Il m'a prise à la gorge, me forçant à croiser son regard glacial. « Arrête de faire semblant ! Je sais que tu vas bien. Tu essaies juste de voler l'héritage. » « Pour devancer Charlotte, tu ne reculeras devant rien. » Mon visage est devenu cendreux, mon corps s'est convulsé et j'ai réussi à murmurer désespérément. « Le bébé arrive, je me fiche de l'héritage, je t'aime et je veux que notre enfant naisse en toute sécurité ! » Il a ricané. « Si tu étais vraiment si innocente, tu n'aurais pas forcé Charlotte à signer ce contrat, renonçant aux droits d'héritage de son enfant. » « Ne t'inquiète pas, je reviendrai te chercher quand elle aura accouché. » Il a veillé toute la nuit devant la salle d'accouchement de Charlotte. Ce n'est qu'après avoir vu le nouveau-né dans ses bras qu'il s'est souvenu de moi. Il a finalement envoyé son second, Marc, pour me libérer. Mais quand Marc a appelé, sa voix tremblait. « Patron... la madame et le bébé... ils sont partis ». A ce moment-là, Victor Falcon s'est effondré.