Zero With Slash Through It

After being disfigured by a fire, Annabelle Sanchez was kicked out by her parents. Twelve years later, she was brought back, not out of guilt but out of the need of a victim of an arranged marriage. What was worse, her fiancé, disdaining her looks, dumped her in public. In desperation, she married Kendrick Gregory, her ex-fiancé's brother. After marriage, Kendrick was surprised to find that Annabelle was incredibly gorgeous. She, on the other hand, realized Kendrick was actually a cunning fox.

It is in the human nature to expect things from a person. And of course, as a human, one will tend to try to reach their goals no matter how big or small it is. One will strive hard to reach those expectations, sometimes even ace it. However, not all things goes the way one planned it and that is what happening to Pharynne Mauridelle Cortés. Pharynne Mauridelle Cortés is a full of hope woman. She's a woman who will give her all selflessly no matter what and how much struggles she have in life. However, no matter how beautiful a rose can be, it wouldn't change the fact that it still have thorns. Thorns that even she herself can get hurt by it. She is beyond what the society wants her to be. For beyond what it seems to be in the strongest façade a woman can have, is her broken and wounded self that she couldn't even mend it herself. And when she reached her outmost endpoint, her world clashes with Jhariêx Ivan Romanov Strëízhnnërr IV. The man full of mystery who will be her anchor and thread of light that will help her heal and rebuild herself. But then, when things are almost at its place, she will suddenly discover the mystery behind his life. Being lied to and destructive pain she felt, causing her demons to fully swallow and win against her. No matter how beautiful and delicate a flower is, if it starts to get rotten inside, it will still wither and die.

My sister abruptly returns to the country on the day of my wedding. My parents, brother, and fiancé abandon me to pick her up at the airport. She shares a photo of them on her social media, bragging about how she's so loved. Meanwhile, all the calls I make are rejected. My fiancé is the only one who answers, but all he tells me is not to kick up a fuss. We can always have our wedding some other day. They turn me into a laughingstock on the day I've looked forward to all my life. Everyone points at me and laughs in my face. I calmly deal with everything before writing a new number in my journal—99. This is their 99th time disappointing me; I won't wish for them to love me anymore. I fill in a request to study abroad and pack my luggage. They think I've learned to be obedient, but I'm actually about to leave forever.

The richest man in the country, Sebastian Vance, has a ring custom-made to my exact measurements, worth billions of dollars, for the woman who will be his bride. In the first life, my stepsister, Mia Lowe, slips on the ring and marries him. Sebastian claws her face, shouting, "She's not the one!" In the second life, my other stepsister, Lorraine Lowe, loses 30 pounds before marrying him. He shoves her down the stairs anyway and says, "She's not the one either." In the third life, my stepmother, Vivian Cole, grits her teeth and slices off a piece of her own flesh just to force the ring onto her finger. Sebastian sneers and pushes her under the bathwater, holding her down until her body goes limp. By the fourth life, out of options and terrified, they finally send me. I slide the ring on, and it fits perfectly. My entire family lets out a sigh of relief. But the second Sebastian lays his eyes on me, he draws a knife and stabs me to death. "Why is it still not her? Where is she?" In the last life, he has his assistant, Owen Hayes, deliver a ring to us. All four of us insist that it won't fit. Owen shoots us a strange look. "Mr. Vance said the rightful owner of this ring is among you."

She's chaos in lipstick. He's order in an Armani suit. They were never meant to mix - and now the office might burn. When Katerine Brown storms into Mason & Co as the new creative hire, her loud laugh and unapologetic flair clash with everything Sebastian Mason stands for. He's the CEO with a no-nonsense policy. She's the woman who doesn't know how to stay quiet. But as late-night meetings stretch longer, stolen glances turn bolder, and tension crackles between coffee breaks and deadlines, Sebastian starts breaking all his own rules - especially the one that says he can't fall for a woman like her. A woman who challenges him. A woman who makes him feel. A woman who refuses to lower her voice.

Persephone Jade Velasco is the heiress of the great Venge Intelligence Org., a secret agency where the country's biggest and most dangerous undercover missions happen. Home of fearless and smart agents, Persephone's also a baddie herself. Meanwhile, Sidapa Aiden Delgado, the heir of one of the country's richest families that is not just that known, is a tall and handsome yet skinny soul that has been isolated all his life because of his very strict parents who just recently died. With his little to nothing knowledge about the world, he was overwhelmed when he was left with only one other female presence after Persephone captured him to get a rare gem off his possession. Considering that she's already the greatest agent to walk the earth, Persephone thought the job would be easy. But one look from the Delgado heir and she immediately knew that that mission of her might not be going... the way it should be.

Zoriana Gregory, a young woman of about 22 years, shares her secrets, dreams, her life experiences and desires about her future husband with her diary. Her fantasy of her ideal future husband soon turns reality when her diary somehow falls in the hand of someone she never thought she'd meet again after many long years. Her first love... Liam Whyte Liam visits his country again after closely 11 years, now a grown up and a successful young man. While on his quest to finding his childhood friends again, he came upon a diary during his meeting with an acquaintance of his brother. NOTE: THIS IS THE SYNOPSIS OF THE FIRST BOOK IN THIS ANTHOLOGY. AND IT IS TITLED 'DIARY OF ZORIANNA' IT WAS, A BEAUTIFUL BREAKUP; Is simply a collection of several short stories, combined into one. Each book in the anthology is a standalone.

I was the perfect wife. Loyal, loving and patient. I gave him ten good years of my life— my inheritance, my body, my heart. I was beside him when he had nothing. I helped him build an empire he could call his. I treated his family like they were mine. And how did he repay me? With a mistress and a daughter I never knew existed. He thought I wouldn't find out— he thought I was too blind, too soft and too in love to see the cracks. But he's the one who made a mistake, he underestimated me. Now I'm done playing the fool and I won't leave empty handed. This time, I'm taking back everything— I'm done… I'll make him regret those ten years he spent deceiving me!

“See, malyshka, you walk in here wearing that little skirt and dare to talk about modesty?” I glanced down at my blazer skirt, heat crawling up my neck as his gaze dragged over my legs. “If I weren’t your patient…” He turned slightly, gesturing to the examination bed, his voice dropped dangerously low, “I'd put you right there and demonstrate… “Mr. Ferrari!” I snapped, leaping to my feet, my heartbeat pounding in my ear now. I had never met a man as vulgar, audacious, and devastatingly magnetic as Gideon Ferrari, especially not one wearing a hospital gown. My first therapy session with the sex-addict patient who should have been a simple case… became the moment my ordinary world spinned off its axis. I wasn’t supposed to think of him. I wasn’t supposed to dream of him. And I definitely wasn’t supposed to wake up breathless, aching, and ashamed of how desperately I wanted him. I prayed I’d never see him again. But part of me wondered, hoped, if he’d ever cross my path once more. When he did, everything changed. It became clear that there was more to this infuriating gorgeous Russian than meets the eye. He seemed too willingly to carry my weight and I had deep wounds from the past that needed healing but the problem was, he's already taken. Will we get away with satisfying our deepest dark desires in secret or will he eventually step up and claim me as his forever?

My husband, Hank, is dead.  On our wedding anniversary, he ventured out in the pouring rain to buy me a cake, only to be hit by a truck. His body was badly mangled in the crash.  My sister-in-law, Lyra, called me a killer, claiming that I did not deserve Hank’s inheritance.  My mother-in-law, Judy, kicked me out of the house.  Overwhelmed by grief and guilt, I often wondered if he would still be alive had I stopped him that day. Eventually, emotions gripped me, and I was diagnosed with cancer.  Judy came to visit me on my deathbed. “You’re an idiot to believe everything!”  She threw a family photo in my face.  The shock and anger were more than I could handle, and I breathed my last.  It turned out that Hank was never dead. He had a child with his old flame.  When I opened my eyes once more, I returned to the day my husband faked his death.