When I'm Gone I'm Never Really Gone Novels & Stories

I sat at the table, watching the food grow cold, much like my heart. Today was my birthday. It was also Leslie Buck's birthday—Katherine White's childhood sweetheart. I unlocked my phone and opened Leslie's social media page. As expected, a new post awaited me. "Grateful to have you by my side for every birthday. Let's keep our promise to celebrate every one of them together in the future!" The photo showed two hands forming a heart in front of a cake. One of them was Katherine's. I could tell from the bracelet she wore. It was the one I had given her. I gave the post a like, then set my phone aside. Without hesitation, I dumped the dishes Katherine liked into the trash and went out to a restaurant to order the food I liked, celebrating my birthday alone. From now on, I would make sure to enjoy every birthday of mine.

When I was nine, I was hit by the blast of an explosion while saving Simone Scott. From that day onward, I have to rely on hearing aids to get by. Overwhelmed with guilt, she suggests we get engaged and swears to me with teary eyes, "Justin, I'll take care of you for the rest of my life." But at 18 years old, to satisfy a dare from the school heartthrob, she rips off my hearing aid and humiliates me in front of him and our classmates. Disgust fills her voice as she says, "You're nothing but a burden. I've been sick of you for a long time. I wish you'd died back then instead of being saved." I clutch the hearing recovery report in my hand and say nothing. After that, I quietly change my college applications, bring my parents with me, and formally call off the engagement. Simone, this is where our paths split. There is no reason for us to ever see each other again.

CAUTION: This has MATURE CONTENT. Read only if comfortable with genres like this. Evan Hart's heart aches as he watches the man he secretly loves suffer from the disappearance of his fiancée who is also his older brother. It's even more painful because Evan knows the truth—His elder brother wasn't kidnapped; he ran off with someone else, abandoning everything. Unable to bear the sight of Nathan Collins, the man he loves, falling apart, Evan makes a desperate and unthinkable decision: to become a substitute for his brother. What starts as an attempt to be close to Nathan quickly spirals into a tangled web of passion, possessiveness, and deception.

On my girlfriend's birthday, I was in the middle of preparing a surprise for her when the property management office of our marital home called first. "Sir, we've received a complaint from another resident," the staff member said. "They claim there's been… quite a bit of noise coming from your unit at night. From you and your wife." I frowned. The only person I had given a key to that apartment was my girlfriend. I called her immediately. She answered with a soft, teasing tone, "They must have made a mistake. I'm at my best friend's place." "Alright," I said evenly. "Enjoy yourself." After hanging up, I opened the smart home system without hesitation and remotely locked every door and window from the outside. Then I dialed the police. "Hello, I'd like to report an unlawful entry."

Jordan Bennet looked at his girlfriend and sneered, “Avery, let’s break up. In fact, I have never loved you, but I pitied you because your mother didn’t love you. I have wasted so many years with you and I am tired of pretending. I never knew what love is before I met the love of my life, Tiffany Spencer. Please move on with your life and forget about me.” Then he kissed his new girlfriend on the lips in front of Avery. She was so shocked, she couldn’t believe her eyes. She was dumped in front of his new girlfriend. She felt humiliated. After everything she had done for him, he cheated on her. Tears were brimming in her eyes but she held them back. She didn’t want to cry in front of them. Was she hallucinating? She pinched her thigh hard to check if she was not dreaming. After she realized that she wasn’t dreaming, she calmed herself down. A faint smile appeared at the corners of her mouth and said to Jordan, “Everything you have achieved because of me, you will lose it.”

Having been in a two-year long-distance relationship with my girlfriend, Kayleigh Richards, I finally have time to visit her family for the holidays. In doing so, I want to hash out the details of our upcoming wedding as well. What I didn't expect is that Kayleigh would actually show up with a hooligan at the banquet. She even goes as far as to terminate our engagement in front of everyone. The hooligan, Gerald Shaw, looks at me haughtily. A trace of mockery can be seen in his eyes when he notices how wretched I look. "What makes you think you can fight with me over my woman? Kay, how the heck did you even fall for this wretched-looking beggar in the first place? He's even carrying an old sack with him! Don't tell me he just came back from collecting the trash!" All of Kayleigh's relatives who are present at the banquet roar in laughter. My future mother-in-law even shoves me in an attempt to kick me out. I merely gaze at Kayleigh calmly. "Are you sure you want to choose him?" Kayleigh sneers at me in return. "You're just a stupid miner! Gerald's dad is the owner of the gold mine, you know!" I raise an eyebrow at her words. Then, I open the woven sack I've brought with me. The gold bricks that scatter from the sack shine brightly under the light. "Oh? I have no idea that my gold mine has somehow become someone else's property."

I was born without a wolf. To my pack, I was a disappointment. To my father, I was a political pawn. To my mate... I was never enough. The day he rejected me for my own sister, my father arranged my marriage to the most feared Alpha on the continent. **Zamir Vaughn.** A ruthless Alpha whispered to have buried five mates—one by his own hands. He made one thing clear. *"This marriage is political. Don't expect anything from me."* Perfect. Because I had secrets of my own. By day, I was the wolfless Luna everyone pitied. By night, I was **The Wren**—the legendary healer every Alpha, king, and criminal network had spent years trying to find. The last thing I needed was a husband who kept showing up wherever I was, asking questions he shouldn't, watching me a little too closely... and making me forget what betrayal felt like. The attraction between us was instant. We fought it with every sharp word, every lingering glance, every excuse we could find. It didn't matter. Some fires refuse to burn out. Then his wolf chose me. Long before he did. And suddenly, staying away from each other was no longer an option. Now enemies are hunting me, my past is catching up with me, and the husband who never wanted a wife is willing to start a war to keep me. The man who rejected me thought I had lost everything. He never imagined I'd become the Luna every pack would fight to claim.

Alpha Damon was an exiled monster, feared for his cruelty. He chose Selena—an omega from a worthless pack—as his mate. There was just one problem. Our Mating Ceremony, mine and my fated mate Alpha Ethan's, was set for the same day. When Ethan found out, he vanished for three days. I found him just in time to overhear his plan. "At the Mating Ceremony, I'll fake a sign from the Moon Goddess. I'll make it look like she rejected Elara." "Pack law will force her onto that pathetic excuse for a brother, Damon. Then Selena won't have to mate with him." "An outcast like Damon doesn't deserve a true Alpha's fated mate. Once Selena is safe, I’ll just take Elara back." My heart turned to stone. He was throwing me to a monster to save another woman. And he thought he could just take me back? Fine. I would play along with his little scheme. But once his little show was over, I'd be gone for good. Except when Ethan came to "rescue" me, he found Damon's mark burned into my neck. That's when he finally broke.

My fiancé’s first love Chloe had returned. Rumor had it she’d been overseas, treating some rare disease. I hadn’t believed it—until the day she showed up at my engagement party. And I watched as the man I’d been hopelessly in love with since I was sixteen left our party with her. “Wait for me,” Nathan said, “She is fragile. I need to make sure she is well.” He ignored me, but accompanying her to everywhere. I threw away the rings, trashed the wedding gown. When I was pale and trembling from a heart failure later. Nathan finally showed up. “Don’t you dare die on me, Emily,” His hands were shaking. His voice cracked. “We still have a wedding.”

Victoria Lewis was twenty-one years old, kind-heated, smart, and beautiful, her father and her late mother promised her that they will never interfere in her love life. However, when Victoria found her father trying to commit suicide, she agreed to an arranged marriage to James Johnson to save her father’s company from bankruptcy. James Johnson’s father Emmanuel Johnson arranged this marriage because he didn’t want his son to marry Serene Logan since she was not compatible with his son James Johnson. However, James Johnson was head over heels in love with Serene Logan, he threatened his parents that he would kill himself should they separate him from Serene Logan. Would James agree to the arranged marriage to Victoria Lewis? Will they be happily ever after?