Window Shopping Tessa Bailey

My son is gravely ill. His inner wolf is too weak to awaken, and the healer warns that without the Alpha’s blood to strengthen his spirit, he may not last the next full moon. He clutches my hand, his feverish golden eyes dimming. “Mother, can Father take me to the Barnum & Bailey Circus？” But no matter how many times I summon my mate through the pack bond, he does not answer. His presence in the mind-link is an empty void. I can only hold my son as his small body trembles. I whisper stories of wolf warriors and great Alphas, but his breathing grows weaker. When the dawn breaks, his tiny fingers slip from mine. His wolf never wakes. A few days later, the scent of wild roses floods our pack’s sacred grounds. I turn—and there he is. My mate. My Alpha. He strides into the hall with my sister cradled in his arms. Her neck bears his fresh scent mark. His mark. I watch as he presses a lingering kiss to her lips, his hands caressing her like a treasure. Their love is bold, shameless—an unspoken declaration to the entire pack. And only then do I learn the truth. While my son lay fighting for his life, waiting for his father’s touch, longing for his Alpha’s strength… my mate was deep in Rose Valley, tangled in passion with my own blood. I thought my heart had long since gone cold from his neglect, but at that moment, it shatters. I make my decision. I will leave this pack. Yet just as I turn to walk away, the mate who had only ever treated me with indifference suddenly drops to his knees. A broken sob rips from his throat. For the first time, my proud, untouchable Alpha weeps.

“You want to say the person belongs to the same field as you?” Sebastien shrugged his shoulder at Abigail’s question “Don’t you have any doubt on anyone that you think could be behind you?” Abigail shook her head “I wish I could get any hint” there was silence after that. Both have nothing to say about this anymore. When Dylan’s raspy voice took their attention, Abigail raised her eyebrows at him “What happened Dylan?” Dylan took deep breaths to bring back his heartbeat to its proper rhythm “Chloe, her mother received a call” the words that left his mouth were enough to make Abigail and Sebastien leave their places swiftly “What they said to her?” this time Sebastien was one to ask, but Dylan didn’t answer him, he had a pained expression on his face “Dylan? What they said” Abigail’s harsh voice forced him to answer her “They will kill Chloe and they know she is currently out shopping at the supermarket” after listening to him Abigail rushed towards the door ushering him to the side “Wait Abigail” Dylan and Sebastien followed her but she ran fast to save her friend Abigail is finding the suspect of her parent\'s accident, she knows that it was not a normal accident but instead was planned and wants to reach out to the person who was behind it. She has her own team who was working on this but the past holds many secrets and when she starts to dig her team increases, and many characters of the past came forward to help her, somehow they were also affected by that accident. What happened in the past, the secret her mother knows and pays the cost of knowing it.

The day before our engagement, Stellan Graves came shopping with me, but his mind was clearly elsewhere. I bought a chili dog from a street stall and held it up to his mouth only for him to swat it out of my hand, sending it flying to the ground. Fury flashed across his face as he snapped, "Ivy Stein, the Graves family needs a woman who can actually show her face in public. Stop buying cheap trash like this. You're embarrassing me. How do you expect my parents to accept you like this?" I picked up the food in humiliation, threw it into the trash, and nodded meekly for the sake of our four years together in college. "As you wish." … However, the very next day, he switched his fiancee to Amelia Lane. "Ivy, Amelia tried to kill herself just to marry me. She's in the hospital now. Once she's stable again, I'll come back and marry you." Four years later, he showed up at my tiny apartment with a diamond ring in hand. "Ivy, Amelia has already agreed to divorce me. We can finally be together. I told you before—once Amelia lets go of her obsession with me and stops hurting herself, I'll come and marry you." I frowned at Stellan's so-called heartfelt expression. I must have had terrible luck that day. Who'd have thought I'd run into this wacko when I'd come back to my place on a whim?! "Move," I demanded, shoving him out the door. "You're blocking the way. I need to pick up my kid from school."

The only audible sounds for the next few minutes were the platters of rain against the window and our heavy breathing. I saw him walk his naked ass to the bedside drawer, returning with a document in his hands. "What's this?", I questioned as I reluctantly took it from him. "A contract you need to sign to live." I grew silent as I read through the document. "If you sign that, you're going to be mine and mine alone. I'm going to have you whenever I want, and do with you whatever I please. In return, your father gets to live." *** Sofia's miserable life even darker when she is forced to be the payment for her father's debt to the most ruthless Mafia Lord in the city. Enzo had just one taste of her from a one night stand, and now he can't get her off his head. To keep her close he makes her sign a contract - BE MY SEX DOLL, AND IN RETURN, YOUR FATHER GETS TO LIVE. How long will the lustful contract hold? How will Sofia survive when she's suddenly exposed to the dark rollercoaster of Enzo's underworld? Will she keep being his private prostitute, or will there ever be an unlikely spark of love and desire?

"I think the both of us were destined to meet," he leaned closer, casually trapping me between him and the tree behind me. As intense as this was, I had to pull myself together. Maxine Carlisle doesn't show emotions! "Well I think you're delusional. There is no such thing as destiny," "And yet here we are," he gave me a sly smirk. "We were just unfortunate to be here," I reciprocated the gesture. I wasn't going to show him that he's gotten to me. "I'm starting to like you Maxine," somehow, those words sent butterflies in my stomach. "You don't want to make that mistake Ryan. I'm bad news!" Maxine isn't one to feel sadness, or pity or even compassion for anyone. She doesn't gossip with her friends and she doesn't giggle about boys. When girls her age are out shopping, she's out on the streets doing graffiti on walls... so no, she isn't your typical average teen. Her father may have all the money in the world, but even he can't get her a new attitude. And all the love he showered her with still didn't manage to soften her heart. Tired of her daughter's rebellious attitude, her father takes her to a Summer camp in hopes that her daughter may at least learn to tolerate people if not live with them. 'Nothing good could come out of this' she told herself, 'a total waste of valuable time. But she ended up slightly enjoying life without WiFi... and shocker! Actually making a friend. Miseri Camp changed her life completely... and the pessimist arrogant rebellious girl who hated the world and didn't believe in love.. Well... Read and find out!!!

Sara married to Lucas. In order to support her husband, Sara is willing to live simply and work as an ordinary clerk at her family's shopping center, without receiving a penny from her family's inheritance. She became the backbone of the household, providing for Lucas and his family, believing that her love and sacrifice would be rewarded. However, those sacrifices turned into wounds when Sara learned that Lucas was having an affair with a woman who had been considered his business partner. To make matters worse, the business she had helped build became a tool for Lucas to betray her. Not wanting to be victimized any longer, Sara decided to stand up. She returned to her family and used all her resources to destroy Lucas. With her intelligence, she slowly took over the business that she had helped grow, leaving Lucas pressed and losing ground. Sara utilized her father's connections to pressure Lucas' investors to withdraw their support. She also manipulated distribution channels, making it difficult for Lucas's company to secure raw material supplies. However, Lucas is not a man to give up easily. He tried to turn things around by threatening Sara with a secret document that could destroy Sara's family's reputation. Sara is faced with a dilemma: let Lucas off the hook to protect her family, or keep bringing him down despite having to face huge consequences. At the end of the story, Sara finds a way to get rid of Lucas without destroying her family. She works with the authorities to frame Lucas, proving that he has committed tax evasion and financial manipulation in the company he manages. Lucas is eventually arrested, and his business is completely destroyed. However, before he was completely defeated, Lucas made one last threat: that he would come back and take revenge.

My sister-in-law, Hannah Martinez, was eight months pregnant when someone shoved her to the ground. Due to the heavy bleeding, she was rushed to the hospital. I happened to drive past, but I rolled up my window and pretended I saw nothing, pressing down on the gas pedal. In my previous life, I had immediately taken Hannah to the hospital when I saw her pass out from the blood loss. However, the situation was critical. After the severe bleeding, she developed an amniotic fluid embolism. My wife, Lauren Martinez, was the best obstetrician in the city. I called her, begging her to hurry to the hospital. Yet, she thought I was throwing a tantrum out of jealousy because she was having dinner with her first love, Isaac Poole, and his family. She believed I was using Hannah's emergency to force her to come back. By the time her family finally arrived, Hannah had already died from the failed treatment of the amniotic fluid embolism. Her entire family blamed me for Hannah's death, convinced that I had deliberately caused Lauren to misunderstand and let Hannah die. My brother-in-law, Jacob Turner, who rushed back from out of town, believed their lies. In his overwhelming grief, he hacked me to death with a knife at Hannah's funeral. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day Hannah was pushed and started bleeding out.

The Garcia family's notorious illegitimate son — violent, obsessive, and dangerously unstable — had sent out a public marriage summons. One of us, my sister or I, was to become his bride. My father, with his career in ruins and his influence dwindling, had no choice but to agree. In desperation, I begged my boyfriend Eric Jordan to return home and make our engagement official. He did rush back, travel-worn and anxious — but only to ask for my sister's hand in marriage. Shattered, I demanded to know why. Eric frowned, his voice icy. "You're just a foster daughter of the Lynch family. You've eaten their food, lived under their roof for years. And if it weren't for Willa, you would've frozen to death on the street. Now's your chance to repay her. Don't be ungrateful." I refused to stay silent. He shoved me aside in frustration. "I told you — Willa and I are only pretending. Once she's out of danger and that lunatic forgets about the proposal, we'll divorce. I'll come back for you. However, stop embarrassing yourself like this — it's pathetic." What Eric did not know was… Willa Lynch escaped the marriage. However, I did not. Later, on the day of the wedding, as the bridal car passed the Jordan family estate, I looked out the window — and locked eyes with Eric. His face turned pale as a sheet.

For five years, I was Carlos’s dirty little secret. In the light of day, I was his executive assistant, handling his legitimate businesses while he treated me with cold, professional detachment. In the shadows, I was the woman he claimed to love more than life itself, the one who warmed his bed while he whispered promises against my skin. That was until I found out I was pregnant. I was ready to tell him, to finally ask for a life in the light. But then, I discovered Carlos had purchased a secluded estate in the suburbs—a fortress meant for a wife. I followed him there, heart in my throat, only to watch through the window as his hand slid beneath a woman’s silk lingerie, his eyes burning with a raw desire I thought belonged only to me. "Sophie," he groaned, his voice rough with emotion. "I stayed unmarried all these years for one reason. I was waiting for you to come back to the States. Marry me." The sounds of their pleasure echoed from the room. The shock was a physical blow; my body revolted, and the stress induced a miscarriage right there in the cold. When I woke up in the hospital, empty and broken, I made a call I had been avoiding for years. I accepted the arranged marriage my family had set up for me—a political alliance with a rival syndicate. The next morning,I would vanish from Carlos’s life forever.

When Seth Gibson told me his legs were crippled and that only snowmelt from a mountain's peak could cure him, I did not hesitate. I scaled the mountainside, climbing over 15,000 feet just to get some snow for him. When I staggered back, bruised and scratched, cradling the snow outside the hospital room, I overheard cruel voices down the corridor. "Seth, today's the deadline. Nevaeh still isn't back. Could she have died up there?" "I heard that the mountain's pretty high. She might have gotten altitude sickness. What a shame! She's already risked herself for Seth ninety-nine times. This was supposed to be the last time before the game ended." "Serves her right! She used to bully Janice, Seth's childhood friend, didn't she?" I saw Seth through the crack in the door. He was standing at the window, his legs perfectly intact, and his expression ice-cold. "Enough," he said flatly. "If she dies, the game ends." I froze in disbelief until it finally sank in. Seth had been pretending all along. A laugh nearly escaped me. What a relief! I could finally get rid of this weight on my shoulders. I pulled out my phone and called his uncle. "I'll marry you," I said.