You Don't Own Me Saygrace

For my birthday, my husband, Don Damien, gave me his dead wife’s pearls. I wore them to the dinner party. My enraged stepson, Leo, doused me in red wine. I became the laughingstock of the party. “You whore,” he hissed. “You think wearing my mother’s jewelry makes you her?” He stared at me, his eyes cold as ice. Then he screamed. "Get out of my house." But his mother died when he was a baby. I raised him. Someone had whispered poison in his ear. They told him I was the one who killed his mother. Now he thinks I'm a scheming bitch who tricked his father. And his father? My husband? He never saw me. He only saw Krista’s ghost. My heart didn't break. It shattered. They didn't love me. They didn't even care. So I walked. Then why, after I was finally gone, did they come crawling back, begging me to return?

“Perempuan angkuh! Kau hanya seorang penari erotis, tapi sikapmu yang pongah ini seolah-olah kau adalah putri. Aku bisa saja menawarmu dengan uangku lalu memuaskan diriku dengan tubuhmu dan setelah itu membuangmu seperti sampah." Sean berbicara perlahan, dengan sengaja menekankan setiap kata. "Jadi Kesya mulai sekarang perhatikan sikapmu padaku, sebelum aku benar-benar menghancurkanmu tanpa sisa." Kesya tersenyum sinis lalu menjawab perkataan Sean yang seperti tak punya perasaan itu dengan sikap tenang. “Memangnya kenapa kalau aku penari erotis? Apa pekerjaanmu mengusik ketenanganmu? Kau mengataiku sampah tapi lihat dirimu sendiri, bukankah kau sangat menyedihkan? Jika kau sudah mengetahui bahwa aku ini sampah dan menjijikkan, kenapa kau malah mengejarku?” sambungnya dengan menohok ke dalam hati Sean.

I’d been dead a month before my family even noticed. It wasn’t concern that brought them to that realization. It was my silence after the so-called “dinner” with Adam Rossi, the infamous mafia boss. My father scoffed like always,“She probably shacked up with that bastard. Too busy spreading her legs to pick up the damn phone.” My sister texted me a photo of them smiling under the Christmas tree, ornaments twinkling like nothing was wrong. Bitch, she wrote. You better talk Mr. Rossi into working with Dad, or you might as well be dead already. And my mother—once the softer one—was now colder than the frost on their windows. “I told you, we should’ve sent Gia to charm Mr. Rossi. Serena always screws things up.” They didn’t think I would die. Not until they found my body—broken, rotten, and forgotten—in Adam Rossi’s basement.

When I was ten, I accidentally overheard my mother on the phone. It seemed like she was talking about me being a switched-at-birth rich girl, and that my real last name was Gardner. The coldness and cruelty my mother had shown me all these years suddenly made sense. When I turned 11, I paid an adult to get a maternity test done for both my mother and me. The results confirmed that I was indeed her biological daughter. I kept the report to myself and pretended I was still in the dark.

After five years in a secret relationship with my boss, Eric handed my hard work to his childhood sweetheart, Shelly. Suddenly, they were the perfect power couple. And me? Just the girl he kept hidden. He never even looked my way. So why was I still holding on? One phone call later, I was done. Time to leave—and see what else was out there.

Business tycoon Kieran Kingsley swears that he will never marry. That is, until one day, a young wife is forced upon him. From that day on, Mr. Kingsley's life takes on a new chapter!"Mr. Kieran, Ms. Valerie just wrecked the Chesters' home.""Is she happy yet?""No …""Get a few more of our men to help her out.""Mr. Kieran, Ms. Valerie got into a fight with someone. The other party has just been admitted into the hospital.""Is she happy yet?""No …"Kieran carries on with his work. "Let her continue."One day, Kieran finds out that Valerie Wood got herself into a fight again. "Valerie Wood, do you need me to teach you a lesson?""Honey, you were never like this before," Valerie whines.Kieran points at her tummy. "Were you pregnant before?"At seven months pregnant, Valerie still gets herself into a fight? She succeeds in scaring the other party off and gets Kieran so scared that he nearly loses his mind. But she is elated that she won without doing anything!

Alicia lived a successful life. She was a respected doctor and a bestselling author. Despite her accomplishments, she had never been in a relationship. She was known for being feisty, brave, and sassy, many saw her as cold-hearted and difficult to please. After a painful heartbreak, she built high walls around her heart to protect herself from pain and betrayal. But everything changed during a one-month vacation she had planned just to relax. What she didn't expect was to meet someone-someone who would challenge everything she believed. An Alpha who boldly claimed her as his mate. What happens when the walls she built start to crumble? When mysteries begin to unfold, and long-buried secrets come to light? Will Alicia be able to face the chaos, adapt to this new world, and open her heart to the Alpha who's determined to claim it?

When Park Seraphine realizes that she had transmigrated to be a character in the novel, she was shocked. On top of that, she was the Female Lead whose life she despised. Even though the Female Lead wasn't her favorite character, that wasn't where the problem lied! It was the fact that all the men around her was sadists— her three brothers, the crown prince, her knight, and the mage! Although the Female Lead bore with them, Park Seraphine wasn't willing to do the same. She was ready to fight against those sadists for her rights no matter what it took! As for having a happy ending with the Crown Prince at the end, she discarded that thought from the beginning. What she wanted was that Crown Prince was to be at her mercy!

Three years ago, Laura signed her name on divorce papers that ended what she believed was the perfect marriage. Her husband, Michael, once the most devoted man she knew, had become cold, detached, and cruel, pushing her away with a precision that shattered her heart. She believed the rumors, the lies, and the whispers that every act of care he’d once shown her was borrowed from another woman, his first love. Kayla. Now, years later, Laura is a successful lawyer, determined never to fall prey to love again. But when Michael walks into her firm seeking representation for his own divorce from the same woman who destroyed their marriage; the truth begins to unravel. What she thought was betrayal was, in fact, sacrifice. And when their child is kidnapped in a web of supernatural politics and bloodline secrets, Laura and Michael are forced together once more.

My husband, a regiment commander, once promised me he'd only accompany his depressed first love ninety-nine times. But when I finally reached that ninety-ninth tally, I saw the two of them locked in a tight embrace. After that, I stopped crying and begging him not to go to her. I only asked him for a safety locket—a small blessing for our soon-to-be-born child. At the mention of the baby, his expression softened. "When I get back," he said gently, "I'll go with you to the hospital for the checkup." I nodded obediently. I didn't tell him that ten days earlier, I had already filed for divorce. Now, our divorce was final.