Wretched A Never After

I spent five years as Dominic Santoro’s wife in name only. Five years hidden behind closed doors, buried under his sheets, erased from his world. When he finally agreed to take me back to Chicago—to stand beside him, to be seen—I thought I had won. I bought a new dress. Soft. Elegant. Worthy of a Don’s woman. The night before we left, he looked at me through the mirror and said calmly, “Take the makeup off. Change into pants.” I asked why. He adjusted his cufflinks like I was nothing more than background noise. “Juliana Lancaster is back. Tonight is our engagement.” Russian Bratva. Lancaster blood. A marriage alliance. Seeing my silence, he laughed—careless, cruel. “What’s with that look? Didn’t we agree on this when we married? Brotherhood. Loyalty. No love.” Then he turned, eyes sharp and mocking. “Victoria Miller… you didn’t actually fall in love with me, did you?” I stood there, frozen. Because inside the inner pocket of his tailored suit— was my pregnancy report. And the Don of Chicago had no idea the woman he was about to sacrifice was carrying his heir.

My mom and dad died heroically in a fire rescue, trying to protect an orphan. Afterward, my brother brought the orphan, Audrey, home. To make her smile, he'd throw away photos of me and our parents. He even kicked me out in front of everyone. For Audrey's coming-of-age celebration, he took her to Cranburn—the place I'd always dreamed of going. In his eyes, I had nowhere else to go. He believed that once I realized I was wrong, I'd come back on my own. But what he didn't know was—I had joined an overseas rescue team. This might be the last time we ever see each other.

It's often said "If you love something, let it go. If it comes back, it was meant to be." When you lose someone, sometimes they will find their way back to you. They'll find their way back into your life because maybe they have something else to teach you. Maybe they'll come back into your life at a time where they felt you need them the most. When they do, though, you will both no longer be the same people you once were. You won't understand each other in the same way. But, if they do find their way back, allow yourself to understand how beautiful your new bond with them could be and the new memories that can be made.

18 years is a long time to search for someone who went missing but the Russo family never gave up on their Principessa and they never will. Luna is eighteen but her life has been anything but rainbows and sunshine, the complete opposite in fact she's known nothing but darkness and pain. She knows nothing of the outside world and that there are people out there searching high and low for her and these people are her real family. Can she be rescued and if she is can she lead a normal life after her past trauma? Join Luna on a ride facing I life she never knew.

She took her twin’s place to survive. But falling in love with the man meant to ruin her was never part of the plan. When Layla Ross steps into the shoes of her missing twin, she’s thrust into a marriage with Dominic Foster the dangerously powerful man who married her sister for revenge. But nothing is as it seems. Unknowingly poisoned by Layla herself under her father’s manipulation, Dominic’s life ticks on a secret clock. Layla, a woman with fifteen elite identities and a heart she swore to keep frozen, must find the cure she couldn’t create herself. Love wasn’t supposed to bloom. Secrets weren’t supposed to unravel. But in a city of lies, identity swaps, and deadly desires, one truth could shatter everything. How do you love the man you were sent to destroy… and who might destroy you first?

Seven years ago, one night inside a hotel suite changed everything. Luna Herrera-an honor student struggling to survive college-never imagined that a single assignment at the Blackwell Grand Hotel would cost her everything. In one heartbreaking night, her innocence was stolen by a man too powerful to remember... and too untouchable to confront. Damon Blackwell-billionaire heir to the Blackwell Empire-is feared, admired, and dangerously controlled. But behind his cold success lies a night he cannot recall, and dreams that whisper of a woman he may have broken without knowing. Now a licensed psychologist and a single mother, Luna lives quietly with her six-year-old son, Callyx-his gray eyes the only link to a past she tried so hard to bury. Damon, on the other hand, is unraveling. Public breakdowns. Family pressure. And an ultimatum that forces him to seek therapy... under a false name. When fate brings them face to face-patient and doctor, unknowingly connected by a secret neither of them is ready to confront-can the truth stay buried? Or will six weeks after midnight come back to rewrite everything?

"Sasha, Mira's already engaged to Vincent. Stop messing with it. We booked your flight. You'll stay overseas until after the wedding." The whole 'this is for your own good' routine was back. That's when Sasha Clarke realized—she'd been given a second shot. Right to the day her parents forced her out of the country and made her give up Vincent Scythe.

It is the third year of my marriage when the video of my bodyguard, Julian Sutherland, holding an umbrella over me in a downpour goes viral. Overnight, the internet becomes obsessed with the "Icy Protector and his Forbidden Heiress." Netizens are relentless; they dig through the archives until they unearth a ten-year-old clip. In the video, a girl was holding a pair of high-heeled shoes while sprinting through the Folander airport. My friend teased, "No way, Ms. Serina Brown. Are you really flying back home to confess to that poor man? What could you possibly see in him?" The camera shakes, capturing my youthful face. I was just a reckless 20-year-old. "I love Julian. I love everything about him." That night, after seeing the video, Julian loses his composure and bursts into my room. "I didn't know you loved me back then. I thought… I thought… God, it was never supposed to end like this." I pull my coat around me and stand rooted on the spot, remaining silent. Suddenly, a mocking laugh echoes from behind me. Someone places their hand firmly on my waist and says, "Are you trying to reminisce about your love with my wife right in front of me? Do I look dead to you?"

"You will serve me," said the Crown Prince. Bella shook her head in denial. "You will be my Crown Princess!" He carried her in his arms and took her into his bed. He was determined to never let his beautiful Bella go. Not even life after death, he will come looking for her. That he promise, for she was his only love. ....Ten years ago, Bella Li woke up and everyone was gone. Her mother, her father, and her whole Phoenix's clan have disappear. On her own she struggle to survive. Being voiceless, weak, and meek, she was force to be the maid of Crown Prince Wallace Zhang. The Crown Prince hated her. For she brought shame to him. Bella have bruises all over her face, and being a mute, he despise her. He bullies her, whips her, and frames her to leave the palace. Through the hardship and struggle, she grew up to be a beautiful woman. Every men chases her, and every women admires her. The Crown Prince who saw her years later have fallen madly in love with her. Believing that she is his true love, he uses ever trick in the book to make her his.

At the reunion, someone asked when I was getting married. Grinning, I pulled out the invites. "Mid-October. Be there." Cheers broke out. Everyone peeked at the girl next to me. "You've been with Daphne forever, right? Finally making it official?" Daphne hurled her drink at me. "Ethan Everett, is this your idea of pressuring me into marriage?" The room froze. I wiped my face, cool as ever, and opened the invite in front of her. "Maybe check the name. It doesn't say you're the bride."