Winnie Zhong Feifei

On the day Tristan Spallone, the head of a mafia family, and I mark our fifth wedding anniversary, the manager of the Spallone family vault calls. Something that was stored away for a long time has finally come due, and Tristan is to retrieve it. He's so busy that he barely has a moment to breathe, so I go in his place. What I bring back is an old roll of film. The manager warned me that if it wasn’t developed soon, its age might cause it to be ruined beyond recovery. But when I have them developed, frame after frame is filled with Winnie Leigh, his first love. Her smile looks so sweet in those pictures that they nearly suffocate me. What about me, one may ask? I never once appeared on his albums. The office door slams open. Tristan bursts in, already out of breath. "Anna, is your life really so empty that you have to dig through mine?" I turn toward him, the man who's usually so composed. I neither question him nor break down. Instead, I speak slowly. "We're getting a divorce." Tristan frowns and thrusts the stack of photos into the shredder. He then looks back at me. "They're gone. Do you still want a divorce?" A bitter smile tugs at my lips. "Yes."

George Sunther doesn't show up on the day we're supposed to get engaged. His family is nowhere to be seen either. Mom's and Dad's faces become increasingly darker as our relatives whisper disapprovingly. I'm about to contact George when I see a social media update from Winona Sunther, the Sunther family's adopted daughter. "From today onward, we're siblings and also spouses." A photo of her and George decked out in wedding attire while holding each other close is attached. Later, I find George, and he says guiltily, "Winnie is pregnant out of wedlock, and her boyfriend has made a run for it. I have to marry her first so that her reputation remains untainted. It's all so she can have the baby without any hitches." I'm stunned. The invitations for our wedding have already been sent out! George wraps an arm around my waist, his tone as gentle as always. "I'll marry you once the baby is born, okay? You're the only woman I'll call my wife, Mary. You have to trust me." I look into his eyes, which I had once loved with all my heart. My heart twists painfully. He's always like this. He always tells me I have to be more tolerant and magnanimous when it comes to Winona because she's his sister. I watch as he leaves in a hurry after answering a call from Winona. Then, I stop hesitating and call my parents. "Mom, is the Zowski family still up for a wedding?"

Arianna Draco, a 22-year-old orphan, is barely surviving under her uncle’s crippling debts. Desperate, she takes a job at Arthdal Strike, Thania’s infamous strip club and secret underworld empire. There, Damon Dark—a werewolf Alpha with a dark past and a brutal reputation—takes an interest in her defiant spirit. When she refuses a patron’s humiliating demands, Damon steps in, offering her a contract she can’t refuse. Though wary, Arianna accepts, only to find herself drawn deeper into Damon’s violent, complicated world. Unknown to Arianna, she and Damon share a hidden bond as mates, a connection that only intensifies as her own suppressed powers begin to awaken. She learns of her lineage as the last of the Luna Supreme Pack, a bloodline Damon’s father tried to destroy. While Arianna grapples with her true nature, Damon’s twin brother, Dominic, reemerges, seeking to tear down Damon’s empire and claim Arianna for himself. Caught between two powerful Alphas and her growing attraction to Damon, Arianna must uncover the truth of her past and fight for control over her destiny—before the forces around them tear them apart.