When You’re Gone Novels & Stories

Seven days before our bonding ceremony, I overheard my mate joking with his friends. He had already moved our bonding from the snowfield altar I chose to the coastside grounds because Lyra liked the sea. But that was not the part that made them fall silent. What shocked them was that he had also prepared a Luna crown for her. One of them laughed nervously. “Changing the bonding site is one thing. Maybe Serena will forgive that. But the Luna crown? That’s different. For a woman, that crown means everything. Aren’t you afraid she’ll leave?” My mate only smiled, calm and certain. “It’s just a crown. Serena won’t care.” “She loves me. When has she ever refused me anything? She’s not going to throw a tantrum over something this small.” And for the first time, I realized he was right about one thing. I had loved him enough to forgive too much. But not anymore. So when the bonding day came and he stood at the coastside grounds calling for me again and again, I only watched the snow fall outside the window and thought: He was right. I did not make a scene. I did not demand an explanation. I just walked away without a word. He thought that meant it was nothing. He would only understand later that a woman who leaves in silence is not giving you another chance—she is leaving you with nothing but regret.

Amara Georgia Musk, the 20-year-old granddaughter of the powerful tycoon Elton Musk, has returned to T City after years of being hidden away overseas. Labeled as "the retard" by her own family and sent away to protect the Musk legacy, no one expected her return much less her claim to the empire her late parents left behind. Amara, the daughter of a renowned traditional doctor and a wealthy businessman, carries a secret strength beneath her quiet and misunderstood exterior. But not everyone is pleased with her return. Her cunning adopted uncle, and his ambitious family will do anything to stop her from taking back her rightful place even if it means ending her life. To them, Amara is nothing more than a brainless obstacle standing in the way of power and wealth. Across the city, Zogo Walton, the ruthless 30-year-old CEO and infamous underworld mafia boss, is racing against time. His beloved mother is slowly dying from a rare, mysterious poison, and not even the best doctors can help her. Known for being cold, enigmatic, and allergic to female attention he once punched a woman for trying to cling to him......Zogo makes a desperate public plea. "Whoever can save his mother will be rewarded with unimaginable wealth." When fate throws Amara and Zogo into each other's world, secrets begin to unravel. For Amara it is not who the world thinks she is. Behind her soft gaze and clumsy steps lies a hidden identity......one that may be the key to saving Zogo's mother... and changing the destiny of the Musk family forever. But in a world ruled by greed, betrayal, and power... can a misunderstood girl and a heartless mafia boss survive each other?

" No one wants to kiss chubby cheeks or sleep with a girl covered in rugs," Vince smiled as the corners of his mouth went up in a smirk. " Now get off your high horse and stop fantasizing about my perfect chest," he growled. My name is Perez, but the bullies call me Fatrez because I'm fat, not that I like being fat, their is nothing I can change about it, unless the angels decided to work out a miracle. But everything that has a beginning has an end, I could do the bullying, not that I can't. But the head of bullies is sinfully handsome, he leads as they follow. Always throwing the first comment before the rest come along. Even if he is sinfully handsome, I could never dream of me with him, the fact that am fat, call it obesity and dumb in class with extra front teeth. No one wants such a girl. Even if I was a boy I wouldn't date me. Why would he look at me twice without laughing so hard and crumbling down. The best I can do is disappear and never come back or kill myself to stop the bullies from finding other victims, they would probably die of guilt, that's my plan. But Vince is such an arrogant jerk, he could never crack, let alone feel guilty. I've got to stay alive to pay back, make his life miserable, perhaps I'll sleep at night satisfied that he is suffering because of me. But maybe the bully isn't strong like I thought, is his heart made of stone or it's all a mask to fool the world and make him feel better. His heart bleeds after all and I can injure it.

I was slowly dying from Silverthorn Wolfsbane, and there was only one cure—the Miracle Elixir. But my mate, Leah Ashford, bought it and gave it to my adoptive brother,Jason Smith. She did it because she thought I was faking my illness. I gave up on the treatment and swallowed a potent painkiller instead. It would kill me in three days by shutting down my organs. In those three days, I gave up everything. I handed over the fur manufacturing business I built from the ground up to Jason, and my parents praised me for caring about my brother. I offered to sever our mate bond, and Leah praised me for finally being sensible. When I told my son he could call Jason "dad", he happily said that his new dad was the best! I transferred all my savings to Jason, and no one seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary. They were just pleased with my "better behavior". "Victor is finally not so bad." I wondered—would they regret it after I was gone?

I loved Killian Joe for ten years. I married him when he was nothing—fought for him, covered his mistakes, and built his empire beside him. But he repaid me with betrayal: a mistress, a child, and silence when I begged him to choose me. Now he wants me to stay. But I didn’t walk away to be begged. I walked away to win. I’m not the girl who cried behind closed doors anymore. I’m the woman who owns the building. And the man I once loved? He’ll have to watch me become the thing he fears most— Untouchable.

Synopsis Katherine McQueen's world shattered when her father borrowed from Massimo Hollingsworth, a ruthless New York billionaire who commands the fearsome Hollingsworth dynasty. When Massimo arrived to collect his due, a tragic accident left him in a coma. Desperate and cornered, Katherine was forced into a marriage she never wanted. His powerful relatives plotted his death, certain he wouldn’t survive, eager to erase her as well by throwing her out once she becomes a widow. But Massimo did survive. When he awakened, the ice in his gaze was nothing compared to the fury in his heart. He recognized Katherine as the daughter of the man who orchestrated his accident. Hatred replaced reason. Cruelty became his weapon. “I heard you might be pregnant with my child already? Abort it. I don’t want a child from your wretched bloodline.” Devastated, Katherine fled, building a new life far from his shadow. But seven years later, fate played its cruel hand again. At a bustling amusement park, her brilliant young son, a boy who looked like a miniature Massimo, pointed to a man on stage. “Mom, why does that man look so much like me?” “Because he’s your uncle. But remember, never cross his path. He’s dangerous… he even threatened me while I carried you.” Yet her son was no fool. Taking matters into his own hands, he wrote a letter to Massimo. "You are my dad, but you terrified my mother while she was pregnant with me. What kind of father does that make you? I hate that I look so much like you. But guess what? I’ve come to stay and suffocate you.”

My boss, Walton Frazier, loves tricking me into wearing tight shirts and having the top three buttons undone before forcing me to entertain the female clients. Then, he drops hints to said that I'm young and have a great physique, only to wait with bated breath for the clients to start touching me. His excuse is that he wants to test the clients' characters to see if they really are worthy to work with. As soon as the clients fall for the trap hook, line, and sinker, Walton will rush out toward them in a righteous manner and slam his wine glass onto the table. After that, he'll start lecturing me as though I've done something awfully wrong. "Is there not a prideful bone in your body? Do you want to hit your sales target that badly that you're willing to forsake your pride as a man?" Walton chooses to trample all over me just so he can build his manly and righteous persona. This time, he specifically prepares a suit with a deep V-line that's made of light material. Then, he forces me to toast to a client with an extremely rich and powerful background in that suit. He even threatens to dock off three months' worth of perfect attendance pay if I don't do this. When I notice the familiar cold-looking yet striking face at the main seat, I can't help but smile. If my older sister, Mable Cobb, were to see me toasting to her in this kind of outfit, I have a feeling she'll clean out the trash for me and make me the boss of this company by tomorrow.

Alice Long and I were caught in the crossfire. When my boyfriend—a combat medic responsible for saving the wounded—came to our rescue, he pushed me aside. Gently cradling Alice, the girl I had shielded, he shot me a cold glance and said, "Crystal, I'm deeply disappointed in you. She needs immediate care to avoid infection!" What about me? Was I meant to die instead? When my flag-draped coffin arrived home, he had the nerve to weep openly at my memorial. This once-renowned combat medic, celebrated around the globe, never set foot outside his room again.

It was the third year of my marriage to Antonio Rizzo, Don of the Rizzo mafia family. He kept a younger woman on the side and had everyone keep it from me. They all said I was his first love, his weakness, the treasure he brought back from Cocily. However, when he got drunk, he laughed and told the family members, "I love Elena, but she's a bit boring in bed. She's just not wild enough. "You all know how it is. Men like a little excitement, like Caterina. She's young, beautiful, and knows how to have fun." The boy who had sworn in church at 17 that he would love me forever now held a young, beautiful blonde in his arms as he coaxed her, "As long as Elena doesn't find out, you can do whatever you want." The day I left, everything seemed normal. No one noticed anything unusual. The maid, Maria Russo, even smiled and asked me, "Signora, are you going shopping?" I smiled lightly and nodded. "No need to prepare dinner tonight." Antonio did not know that the 'boring' Elena he spoke of was the daughter of the Santoro mafia family. The women of the Santoro family never forgave betrayal.

On the road, I met a woman unlike anyone I had ever seen before. Her name was Janet Smith. She seemed slow and almost childlike, yet she had been wandering alone for two years without ever going home. Even with one leg crippled, she had forced herself to climb the Highveil Mountains. This time, however, she was caught in a blizzard. Injured and stranded, she could no longer make her way down. As her vision blurred and her strength slipped away, tears covered her face. She placed a pair of small handmade clay dolls in my hands. "I'm probably going to die here," she murmured. "Please give these to my adoptive brother, Chester Graham." She was clearly at death's door, yet her smile was soft and unexpectedly serene. "Tell him I've seen enough of the world. I don't love him anymore. And tell him he doesn't need to worry. I'm not so foolish now. I won't cause trouble for anyone again." Chester? At the sound of his name, I stood rooted to the spot. In Riverton City, everyone who worked at the harbor knew him, the so-called Ship King. Right before I left for the mountains, news of his engagement had been everywhere.