1670 Book(s) Related to how many i survived graphic novels are there

My twin sister and I were born on the same day. She got the love. I got the debt.
Some doctor told my parents I stole Colette's immune system in the womb, and after that, the rule was simple: every time she got sick, I had to hurt worse. Fever meant the basement. Below freezing, no blanket, no socks, door padlocked from the outside.
I was seventeen and I weighed under seventy pounds. My teeth were coming loose. My hair was falling out.
Then, on the coldest night of the year, something moved behind the cracked mirror in the basement. A man in a tailcoat. He said he could give me anything, as long as I could pay.
All I wanted was a blanket and a piece of bread.
He asked what I had left to trade.
I didn't have anything. So I offered him my last years.

On my birthday, I lost my pup from overwork, and at the same moment, a photo popped up on social media—my boyfriend kissing another woman under fireworks.

The caption read: "Found my lost mate."

I finally understood: I was nothing more than a replacement after Kathy left, a temporary harbor while he waited for his true love.

I quietly signed my resignation letter, burned eight years of memories, and turned to leave Stone Lake Pack.

Then, I met another Alpha.

Dangerous, captivating, untouchable—yet he dropped to one knee at our first meeting: "Marry me."

I nodded yes, but my ex lost his mind.

At eighteen, I gave my virginity to Hunter in his bed.

I swallowed all the pain and hesitation, naively believing that three years of a pathetic crush had finally earned my way into his heart.

Until the next morning, when I heard his teammates' unabashed mockery:

"Damn, you finally bagged the nerd? How was it?"

Hunter scoffed, his tone dripping with utter contempt.

"Just messing around. If I'm bringing a real girlfriend out, it's gotta be someone on Serena's level—head cheerleader."

I wordlessly opened my college application portal, deleted the garbage local state school I had picked just to stay with him, and changed it back to Yale.

He confidently thought I would follow him blindly, until he video-called me on opening day and completely lost his mind seeing who was beside me: his own stepbrother.

Three years barren, and Jessamine walked on thin ice in the elite household. Her mother-in-law spat venomous curses daily, calling her a "worthless waste of space" and threatening to force her son into divorce.

She could still remember when Damien had severed all ties with his family to marry her—kneeling outside their door in the pouring rain, begging his parents to accept her: "Jessamine is my one true love! I can't survive without her!" Back then, she was the only woman who existed in his eyes.

But now, for the sake of family inheritance, he had the audacity to demand her consent for his childhood sweetheart Celeste to bear their child. Jessamine endured the soul-crushing agony of watching her husband entwined with another woman, night after torturous night.

Even more devastating—after Celeste delivered a daughter, Damien had the shameless nerve to declare: "The family still needs a male heir."

In that shattering moment, Jessamine finally saw the brutal truth.

A horrific car crash left me paralyzed.
The doctors said I'd never walk again. With no family left, my Aunt Martha and Uncle Thomas took me to their isolated farmhouse.
They cared for me, promising their treatments would help me walk again. After everything I'd been through, I thought I'd finally found safety.
Until today, when the feeling in my legs suddenly came back—but something told me not to tell them.

I once thought I’d married the perfect husband, Kael, pouring all my heart and soul into trying to have a baby—until the birth certificate and adoption agreement in the study safe shattered every beautiful lie.
He and my dearest friend, Celeste, had long ago secretly had an illegitimate child,
and even plotted to trick me into being his foster mother, keeping me in the dark for the rest of my life.
What was even crueler was that on the very day I uncovered the truth, the doctor gave me the news—I was pregnant.
Once I faced the harsh truth, I resolutely faked a shipwreck to flee, going into hiding with my unborn child and leaving my old life behind.
He searched the entire world to find me, casting aside all his pride to beg for my forgiveness with a humble heart—but he could never win me back, not ever.

On our wedding day, my fiancé, Preston Vale, didn't come to walk me down the aisle. Instead, he brought Silas Rowan—the "unstable" son of his family's former driver.
"Walk through the ceremony with him," Preston demanded, wrapping his arm around his secretary, Lydia. "Consider it your apology for upsetting her."
Lydia smiled with practiced delicacy. "It's just a little joke, Maren. Don't be so dramatic. I'll be keeping Mr. Vale company today."
Preston looked down at me with arrogant certainty. "It's a prank. Why are you getting so hysterical?"
Seeing the smugness in his eyes, the love I had protected for five years finally shattered. I calmly turned to the quiet man standing in the borrowed suit.
"He came dressed as a groom to take his bride. How is this a game?" I stepped away from Preston and held my hand out to the supposed lunatic. "If we are going to do this, we make it real. Silas, will you marry me?"

They left me to freeze to death in our basement freezer.

The night before prom, my foster sister Leila came crying that I'd burned her Ivy League recommendation letter. My birth parents didn't even listen to one word of explanation—they threw me into that frozen hell in forty-five below.

I beat on that door until my fingers were shredded, screamed until my throat tore apart, but all I could hear from upstairs was their laughter celebrating Leila. Even Justin—the boy I'd loved since we were kids—texted calling me a fucking psycho.

As I drew my last breath, I heard Leila's soft voice outside the door: "Rest in peace, sister."

Now I'm a ghost, watching them lose their minds when the truth comes out.

My parents and twin sister faked their own deaths so she could steal my college acceptance.

I believed it. Sobbed until I couldn't breathe when the cops showed me photos of the burnt yacht. Thought my words—"I hope you all die"—had somehow made it happen.

Two weeks later, I found my sister's backup Instagram: "Finally ditched the boring sister! Bahamas is paradise 🏖"

Something inside me snapped.

Wanna play dead? Stay dead.

I took their death certificates. Canceled their social security numbers. Drained every joint account—every last cent. Sold the house to John, the kind of guy even cops don't mess with.

One month later, they came home tanned and loaded with designer bags, expecting to find me broken on the streets.

What greeted them instead were cold gun barrels pointed at their heads.

“Dad… please… help me…” I pleaded, my shattered ribs piercing my lungs, blood soaking the stretcher.
But Richard, the hospital's top surgeon and my biological father, didn't even glance at me. Instead, he rushed to the next bed.
“Don't be afraid, Chloe. I'm here,” he cooed to his stepdaughter, who merely had a tiny scratch on her arm. “Get the best equipment over here now!” he roared.
As the heart monitor flatlined and my soul left my broken body, I realized the chilling truth: in the choice between life and death, my father gladly let me die.

I was marrying Boone Ashcroft on a Saturday morning. Before I could step out of the truck, his mother walked up with a rope and pointed at the cattle chute behind the barn.
Her terms: hands and knees through six inches of mud and manure. A metal headgate clamped around my neck at the end. That was the price of walking through her front door.
I said no.
Then forty Ashcrofts surrounded the truck. My phone had zero signal. My family was blocked behind a hay baler a quarter mile back. And the man I'd spent three years with looked me in the eye and said: "You're going through that chute today. Crawling or walking — pick one."
They cornered my best friend. Threw hog blood on the windshield. Thought nobody was coming for me.
They didn't know about the CB radio under the console — or the ten cousins listening on the other end.

Ten years ago, my mate faked his death in the war and ran off with his childhood sweetheart.
No goodbye. No contact since.
All he left me were two things — a debt of six hundred and eighty thousand, and a notice declaring him lost, stamped four years later by people who'd never met him.
The bank took our den. I moved into a shared burrow-flat at the edge of the settlement.
Three jobs after hours. Sold blood. Scrubbed latrines. Tested tonics for the healers until my nose stopped working right.
Ten years to pay off the debt. A desk at the Missing and Fallen Registry Office, once the ceasefire finally came.
My first case file was a man the law had already declared dead.
He said he'd been young and reckless. Walked out. Never looked back.
Now his family's land was due a war reparations payout, and he needed his name restored to collect it.
I stared at the name on the form. Recognized it instantly.
Smiled.
"Insufficient documentation. Application denied."

In order to rush to comfort his assistant whose apartment was leaking, Richard signed his name hastily without even glancing at the documents on the table.
I put away the divorce agreement with a wry smile.
When he and my son completely disappeared, he finally panicked.
Three months later .
He knelt down on the streets of Chicago in despair, begging me to remarry him.
My six-year-old son looked coldly at his biological father and said, "Get lost, you bad uncle! You don't deserve to be my dad!"

My uncle has a hunting cabin in Alaska. Every December, I stay there for a few days.

This year he wasn't there—left me the keys.

When I walked in, I noticed there was a new deer head mount above the fireplace.

Not a whitetail deer. A moose. Very large.

But I noticed its eyes weren't made of glass.

Those two eyeballs looked... too real.

The pupils even contracted in the light.

I texted my uncle asking when he'd shot this moose.

He replied: "What moose?"

I looked at the mount again.

Its lips moved slightly.

Not the rise and fall of breathing, but... trying to form a word.

“A powerful opener to a series [that] will produce a combination of feisty protagonists and challenging circumstances to thoroughly involve not just young adults, but adult fantasy fans who seek epic stories fueled by powerful friendships and adversaries.”--Midwest Book Review (Diane Donovan) (re A Throne for Sisters)“Morgan Rice's imagination is limitless!”--Books and Movie Reviews (re A Throne for Sisters)From #1 Bestselling fantasy author Morgan Rice comes a new series for middle grade readers (and beyond)! Fans of Harry Potter and Percy Jackson—look no further!In THE OBSIDIANS: OLIVER BLUE AND THE SCHOOL FOR SEERS (BOOK THREE), 11 year old Oliver Blue once again finds himself in the race of his life. His beloved friend Esther is dying of time-travel sickness, and the only chance of saving her is to risk his life and travel back in time once more.This time, it is to the Italy of the 1400s, to visit two very important people: Leonardo Da Vinci, and his rival, Michelangelo. Only Leonardo’s inventions hold the answer; and only Michelangelo’s paintings hold the key.The Obsidians, though, are bent on revenge, and Chris is determined to not stop until his little brother is done.An uplifting fantasy, THE OBSIDIANS is book #3 in a riveting new series filled with magic, love, humor, heartbreak, tragedy, destiny, and a string of shocking surprises. It will make you fall in love with OLIVER BLUE, and keep you turning pages late into the night.Book #4 in the series will be available soon! “The beginnings of something remarkable are there.” --San Francisco Book Review (re A Quest of Heroes)

WARNING …. WARNING…. This isn't your regular werewolf romance. This novel is a bloody werewolf romance with rated scenes that you could find disgusting at any time. In case you do not have the heart to read it, please you can quit it. But at the same time, I'll be glad if y'all could support my first story.

Blurb

When a banished Luna became a slave to the most dangerous Three Alpha brothers. Ashina thought everything that was happening to her was just a mere dream, but little did she know it was never a dream but her reality.

~
~
~
It all started on the night before her birthday When she suddenly received the doctor's reports that she was pregnant. How? When? Not when her husband, Alpha Ethan is an impotent man who has an extremely low sperm count. Secondly, the arrival of her stepsister, who happens to be her husband's long-awaited mate. Everything happened just the night before her birthday.

Ashina thought she didn't have anything to worry about since her husband had chosen her as his wife and cherished her a lot. She thought it didn't matter that her stepsister was her husband's mate.

While expecting the man to reject her stepsister, Jessica just like he said he would, instead she was the one that got rejected and banished from the pack.

“I, Alpha Ethan, reject you as my wife and banish you from the pack, Ashina!” Those were the words playing in her head when she left the pack and finally crossed the border with her maid.

But little does she know that there's more awaiting her when she finds herself begging for her life in front of the three most ruthless alpha brothers.

I accidentally entered an S-rank horror dungeon, but thought it was some immersive dating show.

Facing the bloodthirsty Ghost King BOSS:

Others: Begging for mercy.

Me (blushing): Those pecs, that battle-damaged look—where did they find such a gorgeous contestant? I'm obsessed!

When he tried to strangle me, I touched his hand. "You're so cold, let me warm you up~"

Ghost King: ???

Facing the psycho doctor with a chainsaw:

Others: Screaming and running.

Me (swooning): Doctor, those beautiful fingers are meant for piano, not chainsaws. Be sweet and put that down!

Doctor: ...

Facing the flesh-eating demon:

Me: Raw meat isn't healthy! Here, have some chocolate instead!

Seven days later, the dungeon collapsed.

Me, waving goodbye through tears. "Even though it was acting, you became my family!"

When I woke up, I was locked at a round table, surrounded by four strangers.

A masked clown said: "Tonight there are only four gifts. The extra person... who could it be?"

The clown invited us to play a game.

The rules were simple—Liar's Poker.

Liars die. Those successfully challenged also die.

In the first round, the tattooed brute beside me lost and was dragged into the "Meat Grinder Ferris Wheel."

I heard the sound of his bones being crushed by gears.

The clown wiped blood from his hands, laughing: "Children who lie must be punished, you know~"

"Did you enjoy the game Penny prepared for you all?"

The moment he uttered "Penny's" name, everyone's faces broke out in cold sweat, because she had been dead for three years.

And everyone present... including me...

Remembered clearly.

What happens when Kyrah Bailey falls in love with the son of a tycoon, Blake Dawson and later finds out that he has strings attached with his neighbor Sabrina Johnson? Will Kyrah be able to dig out Blake's past? Will she forgive Blake or not? Torn between her boyfriend, Blake and her best friend, Scott Stone, her world crumbles down as she tries to fight for her lover forgetting about her friends and family. Will she realize her mistakes and who will she end up falling for?

Amara Cole has always believed in doing the right thing. A scholarship student at the city’s most elite high school, she’s learned to keep her head down, protect her family, and avoid trouble at all costs. But the one person she’s been warned to stay away from — Adrian Vale, the principal’s golden son — is about to turn her carefully ordered world upside down.
Adrian was supposed to be the enemy: charming, untouchable, and the reason her brother’s future was shattered. Yet, every time he’s near, her heart betrays her. And when a school project forces them together, secrets begin to unravel — secrets that could destroy both their lives if anyone finds out...
In a city where every mistake is magnified, Amara must navigate first love, jealousy, and the painful choices that come with it. Can she protect her heart without losing herself? Or will falling for the one she’s not supposed to love become the only way to truly live?

Maddison Huston loses everything in one night; her job, her home, her reputation, and the man she loved. Branded a seductress and cast aside at her ex-lover’s wedding, she is left broken, homeless, and humiliated.
One drunken night leads to a dangerous encounter with a stranger whose touch she can’t forget, only to discover he is Aldric Hawthorne, the ruthless CEO who holds her fate in his hands.


“That’s how you show appreciation?” he asked quietly. “To someone who saved you from danger? Protected you because you were careless enough to drink yourself unconscious in a bar?”
I blinked in confusion. “Protected… me?”
“Yes. And you dare accuse me of taking advantage of you? Seriously, Miss Huston?” He stopped in front of me and trailed his eyes from my legs up to my face.
I felt cornered, stupid and confused.
“No, I remember everything.” I tried to keep my voice steady but my shaking breaths betrayed me. “You kissed me, you touched me, you even…” I trailed on my last words because I couldn’t bring myself to say it.
His eyes glinted with something I couldn’t read.
“You don’t seem to have recovered from the alcohol,” he said with a smirk on his face, stepping closer while I backed away until my back hit the wall.
His arm braced beside my head, and my breath caught as he leaned in, heat radiating from his body like fire contained in a man.
“You must be so delusional to have imagined me having sex with you,” he murmured, his lips brushing so close to my ear my knees weakened.
My breath stuttered. “I didn’t imagine—”
He lifted my chin to look at him, his mouth hovered on my lips and his hot breaths hitting my face;
My heart was beating so fast at the closeness and the look in his eyes, like he was going to devour me.
Then his voice dropped into a dark whisper behind my ear.
“I don’t fuck virgins.”
My stomach flipped as his breath grazed my neck.
How did he know?

After escaping a brutal forced mating ritual in the mountains, I arrive in Manhattan alone, broken, and desperate—with nothing but the clothes on my back and a painful mark that allows my ruthless former Alpha to track me anywhere.

Everything changes when I'm rescued by mysterious Rhydian Vaughn during a deadly encounter with human predators.

But my savior makes me an unexpected offer: become his temporary mate and help him escape a centuries-old arrangement with a powerful Luna bloodline his family expects him to claim.

What I don't know is that Rhydian Vaughn is far more than he appears.

He is the hidden Alpha King.

The most powerful wolf in existence.

Yet instead of seeing me as a weak, wolfless outcast, he treats me like something precious. He looks at my silver hair—the curse that made my old pack despise me—as if it's the most beautiful thing he has ever seen.

But why would a man who has everything choose a broken girl like me? Someone born without a wolf, who spent her entire life being told she was worthless?

I've never believed in the Moon Goddess or fated mates—not after everything I've suffered.

But what if the Alpha King's mysterious devotion means I'm actually his destined mate?

After eight years in the military, Frank Moore returned to New York.

He had intended to attend his comrade's sister's wedding, only to witness her being utterly humiliated by mafia thugs, forced to drink their foot-washing water.

Enraged, Frank crippled the young thug's legs, condemning him to a wheelchair for life.

Faced with assassins from both the underworld and above, Frank made a phone call.

Hundreds of elite mercenaries descended from the sky, and the entire New York mafia fell to their knees in terror.

The tide in New York was about to turn!

The first thing they took was my baby.

The second was my parents.

The third was my freedom, my eyes, and every reason to live.

My husband gave me to three men on our anniversary. He chained me in a doghouse while his mistress laughed. He fed me my own son’s remains and called it mercy.

He said I was dirty. He said I deserved it.

But the DNA test he trusted was a lie. The video was staged. And the woman he’s about to marry is the one who destroyed us all.

I tried to die. Four times.

Now I’m done trying.

They put a dead woman in the ground. They’re about to find out she brought hell back with her.

After three years of marriage, the first thing my husband did upon waking from his vegetative state was to humiliate me for my stepsister. I once thought that my three years of devoted care would earn me a shred of his affection, only to discover that he had always loved the woman who stole everything from me including my identity. For her sake, he forced me to leave with nothing and had me blacklisted throughout the city.

But what they didn't know was that the woman they discarded like a piece of trash would shed her apron and become a legendary racer who struck fear into the hearts of the entire racing world. When my husband's archrival extended an olive branch to me, this game of revenge began—who will ultimately be the winner?

Gabrielle Wheeler is a plus-sized nerd from a struggling pack and feels trapped by her life.

Wanting to rebel, she drinks too much at a party and drives home drunk.

On an empty road near the pack borders, she hits a lone motorcyclist.

Panicked, she rushes him to the hospital, but the doctor tells her he has a severe spinal injury and might never walk again.

Afraid of jail or exile, Gabrielle leaves him there and runs away.

When Gabrielle returns home, she discovers her mother is marrying Ronan Blackthorn, the richest and most powerful Alpha in the country.

All their debts are wiped clean, and Gabrielle must leave her old life behind to attend the prestigious Raven Wood University, a mixed human-werewolf school.

At the Blackthorn estate, Gabrielle meets her new stepbrother, Kalvin Blackthorn, the same boy she hit on her birthday.

The pack discovers she was responsible for the accident. Her mother pleads for her, but Gabrielle is punished: she must take care of Kalvin for one year until he is fit for surgery.

That same night, the full moon rises.

Gabrielle discovers that Kalvin is her fated mate. Kalvin almost rejects her, furious over his injury, but he comes up with a dark and wicked idea.

He will use the mate bond to punish Gabrielle for what she did to him.

Gabrielle’s life is turned upside down, trapped with the boy she almost ruined and forced to live under his control while learning the power of their bond.

I was reborn, and so was my husband. But he chose his true love as his wife...

"Spread your legs. If you don't do as I say, I'll open your pussy with my whole hand. Understand?" His voice was calm and firm.

I whimpered loudly but nodded.

"Good baby, now let's get started on what I want. Will you be a good girl?" His voice was once again filled with coldness.

"Yes." I whispered as I clenched my teeth and managed to place my hands in his. His hands were big and held me firmly.

"Good girl." He replied sarcastically. But before he let go of my poor nipples, he rubbed his palms over the sensitive and delicate pussy...

Alan Hillman is a man with a singular interest in revenge. Kidnapped as a young boy and sold into slavery by a power-hungry mobster, he has thought of nothing but vengeance.

For twelve years he has immersed himself in the world of pleasure slaves searching for the one man he holds ultimately responsible.

Finally, the architect of his suffering has emerged with a new identity, but not a new nature. If Alan is to get close enough to strike, he must become the very thing he abhors and kidnap a beautiful girl to train her to be all that he once was.

But what if he falls in love with the girl he kidnapped?

Is it a sin to love? If secret love is a sin I am willing to accept whatever is at stake.

I'm Marina Daughn Welch, who will pretend to be the wife of my twin's fiancé.

"Walk with me," he said.
Not a question. A decision.
"I don't think that's a good idea," I replied.
"Why not?"
"Because I don't belong in your world."
Ava Morgan has one rule: never mix emotions with ambition. Focused and independent, she has no interest in powerful men or complicated relationships.
So when a billionaire approaches her at a high-profile event, she does the one thing no one expects.
She rejects him.
Days later, she walks into her new job and finds out her new boss is the same man.
Ethan Blackwood is powerful, ruthless, and not used to hearing no. But instead of revenge, he becomes determined to break through Ava's walls.
As secrets unravel and attraction grows, Ava is forced to question everything she believes.
What happens when the man you rejected becomes the one person you can't escape?

Vanessa Williams has three ironclad rules: hate hockey, avoid hockey players, and never, ever get hurt by one again. Her father was the first to break that last rule, and Danny Glover—the campus hockey god with a smile that once wrecked her—was the second. Three years ago, she ran. Now, her graduate degree depends on studying the very sport she despises, and her advisor just assigned her to work with him.

Danny Glover has spent three years regretting the night he lost Vanessa. When she walks back into his life, all sharp edges and guarded green eyes, he sees a second chance. To protect her from his teammates’ relentless gossip and unwanted advances, he proposes a solution that’s as brilliant as it is dangerous: fake date. Publicly, they’ll be the picture-perfect couple. Privately, it’s just business.

The rules are simple: no feelings, no sex, just performative affection when people are watching. But every whispered study session, every pretend date that feels too real, and every old memory that sparks to life makes those boundaries blur. As their carefully staged romance starts to feel alarmingly genuine, they must confront past betrayals, a scandal that could ruin everything, and the terrifying possibility that the greatest risk isn’t getting caught in the lie…

It’s falling in love—for real this time.

“You only have to carry our baby.”

Evelyn Carter never imagined that her mother’s staggering medical bills would force her into a secret arrangement she could never tell anyone about.

Desperate to save her mother, Evelyn signs a confidential surrogacy contract with the wife of one of New York’s most powerful billionaires. Her only job is to give the Whitmore family an heir.

But there is one problem she never expected—

The baby’s father is her billionaire boss, Alexander Whitmore.

And Alexander has no idea who she really is.

By day, he is an untouchable business king. By night, Evelyn is summoned to his private apartment under the terms of their secret arrangement.

She keeps telling herself it’s nothing more than a transaction.

Until an unexpected encounter at the hospital makes Alexander notice her for the first time.

He becomes fascinated by the woman who always seems desperate to avoid him.

Why does she look at him like she’s hiding something?

And when Evelyn finally discovers she is pregnant with his baby, Alexander begins to realize—

The mysterious woman carrying his child may have already become the woman he can’t let go.

Warning!!! Rated. 18+
{She was my tool for revenge, but I ended up falling for her}
"I'M sorry, but I beg of you don't sell me out like the others please, remember I'm your family right?" she cried.
"How many times am I gonna tell you that you are not in any way related to me Gianna? I found you in the orphanage and took pity on you, the fact that I nursed you up till this moment does not make you my family. I only took good care of you because I know one day you gonna bring me so much money and that day is today so go get ready. You have already been bought my dear Gianna", she nulled with a wicked grin on her face.
Seventeen and still bubbling, already blessed with all womanly features endowed in the right places, Gianna was adopted by an Aunt Christa, when she clocked two.
Aunt Christa was a restaurant owner, more like a delivery slut restaurant, and in there, Gianna served her diligently and faithfully.
Then, the time came when she needed to fulfill that which had been on her mind for like fifteen years, and what was that? To sell her off, to make up money to cover up expenses spent,... and to make more money.
Guess who bought her?? Greg Starr, a 24 year old young entrepreneur, and a Mafia King under cover, very ruthless and heartless.
She was bought to be his tool for revenge, purchased to get back at Clemson, the brother she never knew she had, and his enemy from the past.
And then what happens his female folks?Cassandra Mayor and Beverly Kingstown? Are they all going to just fold their arms and watch this little fragile beauty take their man away?
The worst of it all, she got pregnant for him; got pregnant for a beast in human form.
Was he happy when he got to hear the news? Did he agree to keep the baby? What about her? Was she happy to keep the baby of a ruthless Mafia King?

I once believed that if I was obedient enough, my birth family would finally love me. Instead, they gave everything to Anna, the fake heiress—my competition spot, my reputation, even my kidney.
Then I opened my eyes and returned to the year it all began.
This time, I won’t beg. I won’t yield. My achievements, my dignity, and my life belong to me.
When everyone called me vicious, Damian Sterling draped his jacket over my shoulders and asked in a low voice, “Am I an outsider?”
I leaned into him and smiled. “Of course not.”
But soon I discovered he was being slowly poisoned—and the culprit might be someone closest to him. Worse, the truth behind my death in my previous life may be darker than I ever imagined…

Dear readers, I'm sorry — due to personal reasons, I can no longer keep updating. Thank you for understanding.

I woke up on the operating table—minutes away from having my kidney harvested for the girl who ruined my life. Last time, I died alone, infected, while my family celebrated her “recovery.” Not this time.
I refused the surgery, exposed their lies, and walked out. Now, they call me crazy, ungrateful, a disgrace. But I see them for what they are: parasites who drained my talent, my money, and nearly my life.
I’m done begging for love that was never mine. Instead, I’m selling my music, acing exams, and building my own future—without them. Let them coddle their precious adopted princess. I have a second chance, and I’m not wasting it on people who’d bury me for their convenience.
This time, I choose me. Watch me burn brighter than their golden girl ever could.

<>



Vanessa thought rock bottom was signing divorce papers with Derek Holland, a man with the emotional depth of a teaspoon. Turns out, rock bottom had a basement, and Ryker Holland was waiting for her down there with a smirk and a plan.

Ryker, Derek's older half-brother (aka the family's dirty little secret), shows up offering Vanessa a deal: help her make her ex-husband, Derek Holland, jealous enough to come crawling back. In exchange, he secures his position as CEO.

But Ryker isn't doing this out of kindness. He is petty and cruel. He would do anything to trample all over Derek, and now he has the perfect weapon. Vanessa, freshly dumped and just desperate enough to play along. And if she happens to enjoy making her ex suffer too? Well, that's just a bonus.

As Vanessa sinks deeper into Ryker's twisted world of fake romance, secrecy and family dysfunction, things start getting real. Because fake love? It's a lot easier to control than real feelings. And Ryker has no idea what to do when the game stops being a game.

Is Vanessa walking into a trap or building one of her own? Either way, the Holland brothers are going down. One's going to break, and the other's going to enjoy every second of it.

_Disclaimer:

This story contains morally complex and flawed characters, who often operate with hidden motives and questionable ethics. Themes explored include emotional manipulation, gaslighting, power imbalance, dual identities, and blurred lines between love, control, and obsession. Certain scenes may be intense or unsettling. Reader discretion is strongly advised.

Kimberly Smith thought winning a scholarship to Greywood Academy would be her way out. Straight A’s. A fresh start. A future that her mom could finally be proud of.
Instead, Greywood takes one look at her thrift shoes and homemade lunch—and decides she’s entertainment.
They call her Scumbag of the Week.
They film her, mock her, and turn every mistake into a headline.
And the worst part? The boy who started it is the one person she can’t avoid.
Xavier Grey is the heir everyone fears, the boyfriend every girl worships, and the bully who knows exactly how to break people with a smirk. Kimberly swears she’ll survive him, not fall for him.
Then the lines blur.
A “dare kiss” goes viral. Someone pushes her into a pool. Her scholarship is suddenly under review—with “evidence” that makes her look guilty. Her only friend turns against her. Even her mother starts to doubt her.
And Xavier—cold, controlled Xavier—starts showing up when it matters. Warning her away from traps. Paying to erase posts. Touching her tears like he hates that they exist.
Greywood is built to crush girls like Kimberly.
So why does its most dangerous boy look like he might burn it down for her?

Emily Fields never meant to become a killer.

She was twenty-two when she stabbed a man eleven times behind the bar where she worked. She remembered the first strike. She never remembered the other ten.

Seven months later, the victim suddenly withdrew the charges without explanation.

With nowhere to go and only forty-one dollars to her name, Emily accepts an offer that sounds too good to refuse: become the live-in maid and companion of a wealthy widow at an isolated estate.

The job is simple.

Take care of the old woman.

But the Holloway estate is full of things that don't make sense.

Emily starts waking in parts of the house she has been forbidden to enter, with no memory of how she got there. She finds old photographs that leave her with a strange sense that she has seen them before. The widow watches her with an unsettling familiarity, as though Emily's arrival has been expected for much longer than she realizes.

Then there are the widow's three sons.

Max likes to watch her.

Will can't stop touching her.

And Finn avoids her so completely that Emily begins to wonder what he is afraid will happen if he gets too close.

Emily has spent most of her life believing her story began when she was found and taken into care. No family she could remember. No real answers about where she came from.

But someone inside the Holloway estate seems to know.

And as Emily begins digging into the family's secrets, she realizes everyone around her has been hiding something... including herself.

Because the greatest mystery isn't simply what happened before she ended up in the orphanage.

It's why she can't remember any of it.

When Nathan Hayes set the divorce settlement in front of me, he placed another file beside it.
A man's photograph lay on top.
Thirty-four. Single. A steady career, a home of his own, no complicated family obligations.
It was more thorough than a dating profile.
Nathan sat across from me, as calm as if we were making dinner plans.
“Evan Brooks is heading back to Charlotte next week. He's interested in getting to know you. His rehab center is hiring, too. You used to work in speech therapy. You could have a job and a place to settle down.”
I left the file untouched and picked up the divorce papers.

At my wedding, I stood up to tell my groom how much I loved him.
I didn't even get through the first line.
He grabbed the cake beside him and smashed it into my face.
My ex-boyfriend stood up in the audience, clapping. "Cut! That's a wrap!"
Then he grinned at me. "Hazel, you actually bought it?"

When we moved to the estate on the hill, all the bedrooms had already been assigned.
My parents had the primary suite.
My brother, Adrian, had the east wing.
The south suite, with its view of the Hudson—the nicest room in the house—was marked Grace's Room.
There was no room with my name on it.
In the hall, a worker was fastening brass plaques to the bedroom doors.
Not one of them read Claire.
Ten years earlier, Grace's father had been my dad's underboss. He had gone into a burning warehouse to rescue Adrian from the Bellinis. He hadn't come out.
Standing over his coffin, Dad had declared that Grace would be his daughter from then on.
What the Don said was law in our family. Somehow, though, I was always the one expected to cover the cost of that promise.
I asked Mom where I would sleep.
“You're going off to grad school soon, aren't you?” she said, as if it were obvious. “What would you need a bedroom for?”
Then she turned back to the pink curtains she was choosing with Grace.
Adrian knelt on the floor, lifting different fabric swatches for them to see.
Nathan, my boyfriend of three years, was putting up Grace's paintings. He insisted on hanging each one himself; apparently the movers couldn't be trusted with them.
Sitting on a packing box, I finally got it.
Nobody had overlooked me by accident.
They thought Grace should have the room, the family, even the boyfriend I had believed was mine.
I brought up the agreement on my phone.
A federal research site in the Nevada desert. Classified work.
A five-year commitment, with no outside contact.
I added my signature.
Ten days from now, I would be out of their lives. And I wouldn't be coming back.

In my past life, under the guise of "testing" my boyfriends, my so-called best friend systematically stole my haute couture, hijacked my identity as a wealthy heiress, and seduced every man I ever dated.

It culminated in the ultimate betrayal: she conspired with my fiancé to drug me, broadcast my private photos at my own wedding, and shove me off a rooftop.

She took absolutely everything from me—even murdering my parents by tampering with their gas line to stage a tragic accident.

But fate gave me a second chance.

My eyes snap open. I’m sitting right back in the VIP suite of that lavish restaurant.

My fiancé has just slid the spiked glass of whiskey right toward my hand.

I silently stare at the swirling ice cubes. Instead of picking it up, I raise my hand and casually sweep the heavy glass to the floor.

Crash.

In this life, I am done playing defense.

Since she is so utterly obsessed with stealing my men, I’ll gladly build a magnificent stage for her performance. I'm going to let her claw her way up, let her believe she has finally reached the absolute peak of high society...

Only to personally watch her plunge into the abyss.

I spent ten years turning a thug into a top boxer, but he and my wife kicked me out of the game, mocking me for "not understanding business and being outdated."

I didn't argue, and turned around to pick up a homeless man who had fought in underground boxing matches on the roadside.

A year later, the homeless man's apprentice knocked out the defending champion with one punch and won the gold belt; while that ingrate who betrayed me was beaten into a cripple in the underground boxing ring.

The geniuses you all think they are are nothing more than half-finished products under my tutelage!

On the night of the charity gallery opening, I caught Lucas and Lila tangled together in the storage closet.
He pulled the girl tight against his chest and sneered, “Stella, you’re eight whole years older than me. You’ve controlled my life for five years—when are you gonna realize you can never hold onto me?”
Lila giggled, snuggling deeper into his arms. “You’re past your prime, ma’am. Why cling to someone who was never yours to begin with?”
Snickers and mocking laughter rippled through the onlookers.
I gave a slow, hollow smile.
For five years, I single-handedly kept Scott Enterprises afloat, mopped up every mess he made, and buried every scandal spawned by his endless string of flings.
Still, he hopped from one girl to the next, weaponizing our age gap to mock and hurt me, over and over again.
Then he shoved me hard. I crumpled to the floor in a pool of my own blood, watching him bolt out with another woman in his arms, not a single glance thrown back my way.
I knew right then the baby was gone.
Everyone whispered how pathetically I’d bent over backward for love.
No one ever learned the truth: I endured everything only because his face mirrored my late fiancé, Elias.

I planned to give up on life.
Then I heard a cat yelling at a dog.
"Stop being so stubborn, meow! You will die!"
Wait, I can hear them?
Naturally, I bought the dog.
I spent my life savings—twenty dollars—to save a Golden Retriever who apparently curses in dog language.
We just make sense together: a broken human eating crushed instant ramen, and a broken dog deciding to protect her anyway.
I thought my sudden ability to understand their constant, hilarious bickering was just fate tossing me a bone.
But what I was completely unaware of was that this wasn't a glitch in the universe.
It was a supernatural kind of love.
And these two beautiful, damaged little animals hadn't just saved me from the edge... they were about to change my entire life...

I'm the forgotten eldest son of the Cross family.
My parents see me as a walking blood bag for my brother Colin, while my wife views me as a sinner destined to spend my life atoning for my mistakes.
When Audrey pressured me to donate a kidney, I agreed.
Not only did I agree, but I also liquidated all my assets and transferred them to my lab.
They thought I was foolish, that I was still begging for their love.
In reality, I was just tying up loose ends.
The night before the surgery, I coughed up a pool of blood.
Audrey laughed coldly over the phone: "Stop the act, Evan. You just want to dodge responsibility. You'll go to any lengths for attention."
The surgery was a "success."
Colin got the kidney he'd always dreamed of.
And I died in the recovery room.
My soul floated in the air as I watched Audrey push open the hospital door, wearing a smile that dripped with pity, ready to put on a show of "redemption."
"Evan, I know you've been wronged. Let's start over..."
The only response to her was the white sheet covering my lifeless body.

In my previous life, the Vance Corporation stuffed me into an iron barrel and sank me alive to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

The agonizing pain of suffocation still lingered in my bones, yet I suddenly jolted awake in my own bedroom.

The digital clock on the nightstand flashed red: 11:55 PM.

Exactly five minutes remained before the Corporation's elite cleaners would break down the door to silence me.

What is five minutes enough for?

Enough to hide my feverish younger brother in the closet and kill any thought my parents had of calling the police;

Enough to use waste motor oil, broken glass, and a modified industrial nail gun to transform this apartment into a meat grinder tailor-made for assassins.

When the lock clicked softly from a master key and a red laser sight pierced the darkened living room... these battle-hardened professional cleaners thought tonight would be an easy hunt.

But little did they know, the one who had crawled back from the abyssal hell was a grim reaper who had mastered every art of slaughter.

Tonight is just collecting the interest. Before dawn breaks, I will turn the entire Vance Corporation to ashes.

The day I walked in on my boyfriend screwing that blonde tramp, I dropped the homemade tiramisu right there on the floor—our two-year relationship smashed to bits, messier than the splattered cream.

I ducked into a bar, slamming back whiskey, when this guy in a sharp black suit sidles up, his voice smooth as silk laced with bourbon. I spat out, "Help me forget him," but ended up totally lost in the presidential suite. He backed me against the wall, tore open my blouse, his tongue circling my nipple before biting down hard, leaving me breathless. "You taste like candy, baby—tonight, I'm gonna eat you up."

But then my boyfriend FaceTimes, spots the guy behind me, and loses it, screaming, "Dad!"

I went ice-cold—my hookup was my boyfriend's stepdad? Even worse, this thirty-three-year-old powerhouse was Brooklyn's deadliest mob boss.

What began as a vengeful fling spiraled into a forbidden nightmare?

My twin sister, Genevieve, caught the eye of a mafia don, Kael Rourke, at a charity gala.
Kael declared on the spot that she would be his wife, the donna of Rourke family.
But she was already deeply in love with her boyfriend.
When a ambush left the Kael in a deep coma, his cartel demanded their bride immediately. 
They believed a wedding would stabilize their empire and, by some old tradition, wake Kael up.
Genevieve refused to marry a dead man walking.
So, she knocked me out—her identical twin sister—and sent me to the Rourke estate in her place. 

Then, she eloped overseas with her boyfriend, vanishing without a trace.
I was forced to marry Kael. Miraculously, on our wedding night, he woke up. He quickly took back his empire, his power greater than ever. 
Since I was forced into this marriage against my will, I resented him and never gave him a smile. 
And he only saw me as a substitute for Genevieve.
When he was happy, he spoiled me. When he was angry, he was cruel.

Ten years later, Genevieve suddenly returned.
She ran to Kael, crying that I had pushed her into a lake to steal her place as his wife.
She claimed the drowning caused her to lose her memory, making her miss out on ten years with him.
Furious, Kael ordered his men to lock me in the dark basement of his compound.
Taking advantage of a visit, Genevieve tightly wrapped a iron chain around my neck.
"I'm sorry, dear sister. If you don't die, my lies will be exposed one day!"
I was strangled to death cruelly.

When I open my eyes again, I am back to the day the Rourke men came to collect the bride.
I step forward willingly. "Genevieve, go with your boyfriend. I will marry Kael Rourke in your place!"
In this life, I must be the mafia don's true obsession!

My husband bought a necklace for the woman who killed my mother.

When I saw my foster sister Rebecca Rebecca wearing that emerald necklace with Aaron at the party, I knew history would repeat itself. Seven years ago, my mother lost everything the same way—her husband, her dignity, and finally her life.

I wouldn't follow in her footsteps.

So after slapping Rebecca across the face, I told everyone I was divorcing him and walked out with my suitcase.

Rebecca thought she'd won again. Aaron thought I was just being hysterical.

Neither of them saw it coming—

This time, I'd make them pay.