They Celebrated My Death for Ten Years, So I Came Back to End It
Rose · Completed · 6.8k Words
Introduction
Every day, people walk all over me, and I live on moldy bread.
Until one day, an old man I saved handed me a photograph. "This is my granddaughter. She's being held at the Black Swan Casino."
That used to be my place. Ten years ago.
Her father was a brother who died in my place.
I was once the king of the underground.
And now, at the banquet celebrating the tenth anniversary of my death, they're treating that old man's granddaughter like a toy.
If my disappearance only made those animals more brazen...
Then they can finish that drink and celebrate their own deaths next.
Chapter 1
My name is Jack Morris. At least, that's what I've been called for the past ten years.
East Coast, Pier Nine.
I pushed along my busted cart, piled high with tags from the cargo that had just been unloaded.
My right leg was bad.
Every step made my knee click.
The dockworkers called me Limping Jack.
But I didn't hate this kind of life.
The sound of the cart wheels crunching over gravel was steady. Dull, numb, free of blood.
VROOOOM—
The roar of an engine ripped through the quiet of the docks.
It was a Ferrari, doing at least eighty.
I stopped the cart on instinct.
Thirty yards away, at the entrance to the scrapyard, Old Frank was bent over picking up glass bottles.
The sports car didn't slow down. Didn't honk.
It came straight at him.
"Frank!"
I didn't even have time to think. I dropped the cart, grabbed the iron chain off the ground, and whipped it at the plastic crate by the old man's feet, slamming it into his leg.
He cried out and crashed to the ground, barely rolling out of the Ferrari's path.
BANG!
The car slammed into the pile of scrap, and the front end flipped my cart over too.
The door opened.
The man who stepped out was wearing a custom-tailored suit, with a scorpion tattoo peeking out at his collarbone.
Luke Harrison, the only son of the biggest mob boss on the East Coast.
He didn't even glance at Old Frank sprawled on the ground. He just crouched down to inspect the front of his car, running a finger over the scrape.
"Fuck!"
He stood up and kicked at the broken glass. A bottle burst apart, and shards sprayed against my pant leg.
I pulled myself upright using the cart handle.
"I'm sorry, sir." I kept my head down, making my voice as humble as I could. "My stuff was blocking the way."
That was when Luke finally noticed me. He frowned like he'd just spotted something filthy.
"A cripple?"
He walked over, his dress shoes crunching across the broken glass. "The fuck are you doing standing here?"
"I'm cleaning up trash, sir."
"Cleaning up trash? Then what the hell does that make you?"
He shoved me. I staggered back, my bad leg nearly giving out under me.
"Look at you. You've got some nerve getting in my way looking like that."
Then he looked down and saw the sandwich on the ground—half my lunch, still wrapped in grease paper.
He nudged it with the tip of his shoe. The paper came loose, and the sandwich rolled into the pile of broken glass.
"Two-dollar garbage food? No wonder you're so damn skinny."
My right hand curled into a fist.
My nails dug into my palm.
Ten years ago, on a rainy night, my men had gone down one after another in pools of blood.
Their eyes had stayed open.
They were looking at me.
I remembered their faces.
Every single one.
My mother held my hand in her hospital bed and begged me not to keep living in that world.
Outside, sirens tore through the night.
I jumped into the ocean.
And the reason for all of it... was his father!
Luke pulled a twenty out of his wallet and tossed it onto the ground without even looking at me.
"Go buy yourself a cane, Limping Jack."
Then he got back in the car and tore off with the engine screaming.
I crouched down and picked up the bill, smeared with muddy water.
My hand was shaking.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
"Kid..."
Old Frank shuffled over, trembling, and held out half a crumpled napkin and a bottle of water with only one swallow left.
"Thanks for saving me."
I took the napkin and wiped the cut at the corner of my mouth. I hadn't even realized I'd bitten through it.
"It's nothing. I'm just glad you're okay."
Old Frank was a good man.
When I first came to the docks ten years ago, I'd been so weak I could barely stand. He was the one who brought me food every day, showed me how to find work around the docks, even cleared out half of his shipping container so I'd have a place to stay.
The old man went quiet for a moment, staring at the broken bottles on the ground, then let out a sigh.
"I was trying to save up enough to buy my granddaughter some new clothes."
He bent down and started picking up the shards. One sliced his finger open, and blood dripped onto the dirt.
"Not sure what's been going on with that girl lately. She hasn't come by to see me in a long time."
He straightened up and looked out at the water in the distance.
"Too bad my no-good son got himself killed by the mob a few years back."
His voice was calm, like he was talking about somebody else.
His son had died ten years ago. I thought I knew why.
But there was nothing I could do about it...
Now even my body started trembling before I could think about fighting back.
Last Chapters
You Might Like 😍
Tempted By The Enemy
She escapes to Preston Island to attend the wedding without informing him only to collide with Lucas’s hot, fiery and arrogant brother, the twenty-three-year-old, Nicholas Donnelly. Sparks immediately fly between them but Alyssa refuses to acknowledge them fearing her brother's wrath.
The wedding is over and Alyssa tries hard to forget the mysterious Nicholas Donnelly but can he forget her? Can he ignore the attraction he feels for her, feelings that have resurfaced after ten years?
What will Allyssa do when she is stalked by the man who has been invading her dreams since the day she met him? What will she do when she is whisked away to a deserted island by the unpredictable Nicholas Donnelly? Can she tame her heart or surrender to sinful temptations? Read to find out!
Part of the Temptation Series. Can be read as a standalone.
The rejected white luna
Where The Ice Gives Way
Blake Atlas scents his mate the moment Charlotte arrives. The bond hits hard and unmistakable, but Charlotte doesn’t recognise it. She doesn’t know why her chest keeps pulling toward the one boy she absolutely cannot afford to want. Blake is Charlie’s new hockey captain. Charlie’s chance at making something good. Charlie makes it clear; his sister is off-limits and Blake tries to do the right thing, but secrets don’t stay buried forever. Rogues prowl the edges of town. The ice cracks. The bond tightens. Then Charlotte’s rare white wolf awakens, the very thing that makes her powerful, also makes her a target.
Shanti needs Shakti. (Peace needs strength.)
Where the Ice Gives Way is a slow-burn YA paranormal romance filled with fated mates, protective alpha energy, fierce sibling loyalty, found family pack bonds, hurt/comfort, and quiet, aching tension. It’s a story about first belonging, learning to be cared for, and what happens when the girl who has always held everyone else up finally falls, and someone catches her.
The Lycan Kings and the White Wolf.
MOONLIT CHASE
But no, I had to walk through the park at midnight like an idiot. Now I've seen something I can't unsee—a massive black wolf tearing apart three men, then shifting into the hottest guy I've ever laid eyes on.
Kieran Vaughn. Wealthy lawyer, werewolf, and apparently, he thinks I'm his mate.
Here's the problem: I don't do relationships. I definitely don't do supernatural things. I absolutely don't do rich guys who think they can control my life just because their inner wolf has decided I smell like home.
When hunters start targeting me to get to him, Kieran drags me into his pristine penthouse for "protection." Now I'm living with a man who looks at me like I'm his last meal, whose touch sets my skin on fire, and who's barely holding onto his control.
He says everyone he loves dies. I say that's not my problem except it is because I'm falling for this broken, dangerous man and his beast.
And in his world? Love will get you killed.
Everybody is Guilty Here
Middlesbrough's underworld is a dangerous game, and Matthew Smith finds himself right in the middle of it. A once-feared gang leader, he is now forced to be a pawn in a deadly cat-and-mouse game. Matthew's only shot at freedom is helping the police bring down Mr. K, the elusive mafia boss of the city. The only problem is that the detective he is forced to work with is the same man who arrested him years ago.
Masahiro Payne is everything Matthew hates: cold, calculating, and relentless. But their only hope for survival is by pretending to be a happy couple, blending in amidst dangerous crime, deceit, and power struggles. The closer they find themselves to taking down Mr. K's empire, the more they are attracted to one another, an affair too potent to turn from.
As their undercover mission spirals into a web of lies and hidden desires, they face a growing threat from all sides. But the greatest risk is the one they can't control-their own feelings. With every touch, every stolen kiss, the line between their fake relationship and real emotions blurs.
In a world of betrayal, trust is a luxury, and falling for each other may be the deadliest mistake of all. Can they survive the deadly mafia games or will their passion be their demise?
Moonfire: Betrayed By The Alpha
Alpha Caden Blackwell believed those words would break me. That after three years of marriage marked by silence, humiliation, and quiet rejection, I would fear a life without him.
I did once.
As the Luna of the Shadowcrest Pack, I gave everything to a man my wolf recognized as her mate, enduring whispers, cold stares, and a pack that never truly accepted me. I stayed because I believed love required endurance. Because I believed patience would one day be rewarded.
That belief shattered the night Caden welcomed his former lover back into our home, along with a child he claimed as his heir. It ended the moment his choices nearly cost me my life and the life of one of my unborn pups. Leaving was no longer a matter of pride. It was survival.
Caden does not know the woman who walked away. He still sees the Luna who waited, who forgave, who loved without limits. He does not see Nova Ashton, a woman capable of rebuilding her identity and claiming a future on her own terms.
I will never crawl back.
The CEO Above My Desk
“I know she does.”
“And what if she doesn’t want this kind of protection?”
“She will,” I say, my voice lowering slightly. “Because she needs a man who can give her the world.”
“And if the world burns?”
My hand tightens subtly at Violet’s waist.
“Then I’ll build her a new one,” I reply. “Even if I have to burn the old one down myself.”
I don’t work for Rowan Ashcroft.
I work beneath him.
From my desk, I decide who gets access to the most ruthless CEO in the city, and who never makes it past the lobby. I manage his time, his silence, his enemies. I keep his world running while my own quietly collapses under unpaid bills, a mother locked in rehab, and a brother who vanished without a goodbye.
Rowan Ashcroft is power wrapped in a tailored suit.
Cold. Untouchable. Merciless.
He doesn’t flirt. He doesn’t smile. He doesn’t see people, only usefulness.
And for a long time, I was just useful.
Until he started watching.
A shift in his attention is subtle at first. A pause too long. A look that lingers. Orders that pull me closer instead of pushing me away. The man who stands above my desk begins to control more than my schedule, and I realize too late that being noticed by Rowan Ashcroft is far more dangerous than being ignored.
Because men like him don’t crave affection.
They crave possession.
This was supposed to be a job.
Not a test of my limits.
Not a slow, deliberate descent into his authority.
But if Rowan Ashcroft decides I belong under his desk, then so be it.
Survival has a price, and the bills don’t care how I pay them.
Mating Moon
Letters to a Dark Prince
Thrown into Isteros Academy—a world of old money, blood money, and cruel social games—she's an outsider by birth and an afterthought by design. Her sister Solyn is the school's untouchable queen and Mara is her favorite target.
Everyone expects Atreus to treat his fiancée’s scholarship sister like everyone else does—as if she doesn’t matter.
Instead, his dorm room sits directly across from hers, close enough that she can see his light go out at night. Some nights, he climbs the old maintenance trellis just to check on her. He teaches her chess. He shows up exactly when something's gone wrong—and never once asks to be thanked for it.
"Don't fall in love with one piece," he warns her, over a board neither of them treats like a game anymore. "It punishes the person who only sees half of it."
Mara doesn't understand why the boy who's supposed to make her life harder keeps quietly making it easier—not until she realizes the anonymous stranger she's been writing to every week already has a name.
His.
He doesn't know he's writing to her, either.
By the time they find out, it's too late to stop what's already happening. Far too dangerous for anyone to find out.
In an empty studio, in the middle of a rainstorm, she asks him: 'Am I the kind of girl who kisses a boy engaged to my sister?'
He doesn't answer.
So she asks: 'What are we?’
He told her not to fall in love with one piece.
She fell anyway.
And he was never far behind.
Let Them Kneel
Cast out by her pack. Forgotten by the Lycans.
She lived among humans—quiet, invisible, tucked away in a town no one looked at twice.
But when her first heat comes without warning, everything changes.
Her body ignites. Her instincts scream. And something primal stirs beneath her skin—
summoning a big, bad Alpha who knows exactly how to quench her fire.
When he claims her, it’s ecstasy and ruin.
For the first time, she believes she’s been accepted.
Seen.
Chosen.
Until he leaves her the next morning—
like a secret never to be spoken.
But Kaelani is not what they thought.
Not wolfless. Not weak.
There is something ancient inside her. Something powerful. And it’s waking.
And when it does—
they’ll all remember the girl they tried to erase.
Especially him.
She’ll be the dream he keeps chasing… the one thing that ever made him feel alive.
Because secrets never stay buried.
And neither do dreams.
