Would've Could've Should've

Someone pushes me off a cliff when I'm eight months pregnant before taking their life on the spot. Meanwhile, blood pools underneath me as I'm rushed to the hospital. As despair washes over me, I hear Jacob Langley's voice come from outside my hospital ward. "Are you sure it'll work this time?" "Yes, Mr. Langley. Mrs. Langley has taken good care of herself during her pregnancy, but the branch pierced her belly. There's no chance of the baby surviving this, and she won't ever be able to conceive again." "Good. Make sure the culprit's family has been sent away. I won't let anything go wrong before the Adkins agree to adopt Clara." "Yes, sir. Still… why did you need to push Mrs. Langley off a cliff if you wanted to adopt Ms. Jennings' daughter? Mrs. Langley is kind; I'm sure she would've treated the child well." Jacob snorts. "What do you know? Why would Selene agree to adopt Clara if she had her own child? She'll only treat Clara as her own once she can't have children and leave everything she has to Clara. I couldn't marry Kaia back then; this is all I can do to make it up to her." The voices slowly fade away, but they reverberate loud and clear in my mind. I've spent six years by Jacob's side, yet all I've gotten in return are lies and betrayal. His so-called love for me is nothing but a trick to steal my inheritance for someone else. Since this is what he wants, I'll make his wish come true.

I've been the perfect daughter for seventeen years. When my twin sister Sage proposed we switch lives for one semester, I was supposed to disagree. Good girls don't swap identities. They don't pretend to be someone else. They definitely don't fall for bad boys with dangerous secrets. But I'm suffocating at elite Ashford Academy, and Sage is one mistake away from juvenile detention. We need each other's escape more than we need our own lives. One switch. Two liars. Four broken hearts. And a murder that should have stayed buried.

My husband, once a powerful CEO, had become bankrupt and sank into depression. Overnight, I went from being the wife of a CEO to a lowly worker. To help him pay off his debts and cover the costs of his depression treatment, I took a job as a hostess at an auction house. However, I never expected to see my husband there, who should've been in the hospital undergoing therapy, sitting in the VIP section. Without any hesitation, he bid on an exorbitantly priced necklace and gave it to the woman beside him. That necklace—the one I had pawned to pay off his debts—was my grandmother's heirloom.

I wanted a start over, somewhere quiet. That is why I agreed to move to a new town with mom. The haunting memories were too much to handle. I felt like I couldn't breathe anymore. Entry into a new home should be rewarding, refreshing even. But is It? Why does it feel like I've run into a place that has me question every noise, people and even my own dreams? Something lurks in the deep parts of the forest, it's calling my name- a summon. 'It's You!' That's what I heard. But I never realised that my very own existence, was what GRIPPED the secrets of the moon.

My son, Kaden Watt, shouted at me menacingly, “I don’t have to pretend anymore! I bet you didn’t know that I could hear your conversations with the System. I never once thought of you as my father. Every bit of it was an act. A man that desperate makes me sick.” My wife, Silvia Watt, walked in with her true love, her affectionate eyes reflecting hostility. “If it weren’t for fear of the System punishing Simon Bartone, I would’ve filed for divorce a long time ago. My son doesn’t deserve a spineless man for a father. Watch yourself, or I’ll come after you.” The trio stood there, as if they had their perfect ending. I curled my lips. Well, who was to say that I wasn’t acting too? A player in a game could never fall in love with NPCs.

Slave. Broken. Wolfless. I've always been the perfect toy for pain and pleasure to the ruthless Alpha Jax who owned me. Twenty years, I've lived in abuse, toture and slavery so one night I decided to run away from it all to find freedom, only to discover I had stepped into the pack of our enemy. I'm taken to their cruel and merciless Alpha Ares who fails to recognize me as Jax's slave so I thought I was free, but the only way he lets me stay in his pack is to be a slave once more.His slave.

I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it has an underlying truth. You can try but one's heart is never to be put into words. "Are you saying that I'm pestering you?", she asked chuckling lowly. Had it been somebody else she would've fired them right away? As of now, her grip only tightened slightly on the little spoon in her hand while he slowly opened his cat-like eyes and avoided her gaze. "Torturing would be a better word," he whispered in hopes of staying alive so he could go home and cut his tongue for being so sharp. What was wrong with him? "Glad you understood my intentions." An arrogant boss lady whose mood flips like a switch every day who runs from the idea of love. A cute Barista leading a second life as a camboy who wishes for nothing but love. What could be a better combination?

CONTENT WARNING: This story contains themes of non-consensual encounters, emotional manipulation, and intense dark romance. Reader discretion is advised. Blurb: One stolen thing. One dangerous mistake. Now, she belongs to him. She didn’t know the fire she was playing with… until it burned her. He’s a devil in an Armani suit—a cold, calculating billionaire whose empire is built on blood. To cross him is to sign your own death warrant. But she never meant to steal from him. She didn’t even know what she was taking. And yet, in his eyes, she is the ultimate betrayal. She should’ve been broken, discarded like all the others. Instead, she became his obsession. Trapped in his dangerous world, she’s torn between hating him and craving the fire he awakens in her. The deeper she falls, the darker his secrets become—secrets that could cost her more than just her heart... they could cost her very soul. In his world, love isn’t salvation. It’s a death sentence.

She's always been described as "her" shadow. The shadow of a beautiful, intelligent sister that she could never beat. Her whole life, she has tried her best to meet up to her sisters standards but it has never been the same. She has never been able to shine by herself without being compared to Willow. For 20 years now, she's been the shadow and never once has she realised that she was equally as beautiful and intelligent. Today was the day, the day that it would be all about her, well that's what she thought initially. It was her 20th birthday party where she will be revealed as her fathers heir of the company after being abroad for a year studying 24/7 to be able to live up to her fathers standards. Today was her day being in the spotlight after disappearing from it for 2 years. In this year, she has changed drastically. So much that her parents didn't recognise her when she stepped out of her fathers private jet. So much that her old high school bullies wouldn't even have recognised her. She was finally back and stronger than ever. Neveah was back to show everyone that she is not the same girl as she was 2 years ago. Alec McKinley, the typical playboy of the century. Having flings left, right and centre but discarding them after a night with their bodies. He was notorious for this but it didn't stop females from dropping their skin tight dresses to state to the world that they've has a night with the heir to the McKinley Enterprise. These naïve females all through that they would be the one to change him. To be able to tame the beast in bed. However, they leave empty handed, without their clothes but just a robe as always.

Isidora Moretti always appeared to be a chess player, overseeing her family’s massive enterprise and grappling with the city’s menacing mafia clans. Her father orders her to marry the Vescari heir, and she discovers that theirs is not romance that would involve love-it is of power and obedience. Declining could be her last word so she thinks of an escape-engagement, a lie she is betting would work. She teams up with Dante Romano,the boy who beats her every time in school. He is good looking, cold, smart and has chased the same deal she wants. He often mocks her stubborn ways and never offers real help. Still, he oddly agrees to act as her fiancé. The agreement sees only looks, no real feeling involved. It may mean just a clever contract. Business agreement looks clean, no feelings. But Dante seizes Isidora at the engagement party and kisses her in front of the city. Everything becomes upside down. Rivalry and obsession — everything seems to blur. Others soon witness Isidora as Dante’s Achilles’ heel. In another world, weakness is a weapon. Maybe they both have this tilt, not just one side. With threats growing closer-in business offices ,back alleys, and mob hits, both find they need to stand up together. As they fight, they come closer and closer, and each threat reduces the boundaries they’ve constructed between them on their feelings. As danger narrows in on Isidora, Dante’s left to contemplate the sacrifices he’ll make just to keep her safe. He’ll do anything he can to protect her, to make her his, even if it’s damaging everything in his path. In the end, the promises they’ve made, no matter how unserious, appear to be the only thing they can reasonably believe.