When The Times Get Tough Quotes

My childhood friend promised to marry me once we came of age — but at my wedding ceremony, he gave my wedding ring to my stepsister, Summer Hugh. At the time, it was Victor Lowell, the fearsome mafia heir, who saved me by publicly announcing he had loved me for years. In the five years we had been married, he would fulfill every wish I had, even those I mentioned offhand. I truly believed I was the center of his world. All that changed when I stumbled across a top-secret folder as I was cleaning his bookshelf. The very first page was a file on Summer, with three red words printed in bold, “Top protection priority.” It was followed by a mission report I knew too well. On the night of the mission, there had been an attempt on my life. My blood had almost run dry before I was saved. When I woke up at the hospital, I found out that I had lost a baby I did not know I had been carrying. I wept bitterly in Victor’s arms, but I did not tell him about the baby. I did not want him to worry about me more. Now, I finally found out — Summer had been attacked that night as well, and Victor’s orders had been: “Save Summer first.” My tears soaked into the paper, smudging his handwriting. “Alright,” I said softly but firmly into the silence. “If my marriage had been a lie all along, I’ll disappear from your life. Forever.”

Lyra Riley, a twenty-one-year-old virgin psychology major, and Blaze Cunningham, a twenty-five-year-old CEO, have encountered the worst relationships. Blaze has been used for his money and cheated on during all his long-term relationships. Lyra has been dumped time after time for not giving up her most prized possession. Both yearn to find their soulmate, someone to grow old with. And then, one night, Fate steps in for Lyra and takes the lead. Could she finally have found love, or is this another disaster in the making?

My mating ceremony with Alpha Kaelan Blackwood was supposed to happen today. He'd gone to claim the Luna's Crown for me—the final ritual before we would be bound forever. Instead, he walked into an ambush. He survived. Barely. But his wolf didn't survive. Whatever had come back from that attack wore Kaelan's face but doesn't know me. Doesn't recognize his fated mate. Instead, he looks at Seraphina like she's the one who matters. Dr. Theron Vance, our Pack Healer, gave me hope anyway. The pup I was carrying is Pureblood—a miracle, even between two Pureblood wolves. He said it might be enough to wake whatever wasleeping inside Kaelan. I was going to tell him tonight. Then I heard him talking to his Beta, Beckett. "You're really going through with this? Pretending your Wolf is gone just so a dying woman can play mother before she—" "Drop it. Elara's the only one I've ever loved." Kaelan's voice came low, steady. "This thing with Sera is just medical. A procedure. It means nothing. When it's over, Elara and I complete the mating ceremony. End of story." I didn't storm in. Didn't scream. Didn't cry. I just turned around and walked away. I don't want an Alpha's love if I'm never going to be his priority.

After the 100th failed fertility treatment, my husband, who had been previously diagnosed with a low sperm count, spoke coldly. “Lucy is very fertile. She gets pregnant after our first time, unlike you. You just can’t conceive.” Lucy was my adoptive sister. While holding her hand, he laid out three options for me. I could either ignore their affair and retain my title as the CEO’s wife, take the ten million dollars and disappear, or walk away with nothing at all. The whole town knew how proud I was. They also knew how deeply I loved him. They surely expected me to be mad with jealousy and choose honor over compromise. But I neither cried nor made a scene. I calmly slid the check back across the table. “The child will call me Mom. I’ll stay and be Mrs. Carter.” After all, this was my third time to live such a life. The first time, I chose to leave with nothing but my dignity. The second time, I took the money, but had to live in shame. Both decisions ended in tragedy. For the third time, perhaps three of us could just... make it work.

On the day of our wedding, I went to my fiancée's house to bring her to the venue—only to find her at her ex-boyfriend's wedding. When I confronted her, she didn't even blink. "Having a wedding with me is Keith's obsession. It's just a sham. I'm only putting on a dress to go through the motions with him. We're doing the ceremony. It's not like we're actually going to sleep together. What are you so worked up about?" I didn't argue with her anymore. I chose to respect her decision. So I called the childhood friend who had secretly loved me for years. "I'm ready to marry you now." But when she saw me marrying that childhood friend, she completely lost it—like a woman possessed. She insisted on marrying me instead, demanding to know why I had chosen someone else.

You never really know if it's dark or if you're actually blind till the blindfold is removed. Niamh Cross's marriage to Caspian Blackwell, the man of her dreams, was going well till she allowed her desperate and homeless cousin, Isla, to come live with them. It started slowly at first, from telling her he wanted them to have separate rooms to denying her access to his room. But it didn't take long for the blindfold to be removed and Niamh saw everything that had been happening under her very nose, in a house bought with her own money. She did what any sane woman would do and with a gun aimed at his head, she forced him into signing both divorce papers and transfer of funds to her name. Caspian didn't know what he had lost till his wife completely left his life and he became miserable. When he found her again at an event, he held her wrist and asked her to come back. But she was with another man already. She looked at him like he was a nuisance and said, "Get down on your knees and beg."

Trapped in a gilded cage, a defiant artist becomes entangled with a ruthless mafia Don. Valentina, a talented artist and stripper struggling to survive in the city's underbelly, witnesses a brutal act that plunges her into a world of danger. Captured by Dante Russo, the enigmatic head of the Russo famiglia, she finds herself a prisoner in his opulent mansion. Haunted by a violent past, Dante is a man shrouded in secrets, ruling with an iron fist and a hidden vulnerability. As tensions rise between rival factions vying for control of the city, an unlikely bond sparks between Valentina and Dante. She uses her art to capture the brutality and fleeting moments of tenderness within his world. But their connection is a dangerous dance. Can they navigate a web of deceit and betrayal, or will the city's dark secrets consume them both?

Amelia's husband bangs another woman when the results from the hospital show that she's infertile. Unknown to him, the results are fake. Now Amelia is pregnant and he regrets his decision.

She is Nasha Atlas, the first of her name; optimistic laced with beauty and brains. Getting admission into the University of Cambridge, to study her dream course, was her greatest desire; it came cos whatever she desires, she gets. But how did she feel when her boyfriend who she wants to share in her joy, betrays her by sleeping with another woman? Would she breathe fresh air when she became a prime suspect in the murder of her new neighbor? Would George Powers: a strict officer et billionaire be able to find out who the culprit is when he fell in love with the suspect and make love to her at a supposed investigatory dinner night? And amid the many deaths, would his prowess as a detective be proven? What happens when Nasha's ex-billionaire lover keeps coming back when she already has a new love life? Would she revenge or accept him back?