8026 Book(s) Related to this was then this is now

"Everyone in Cedar Hollow can tell you exactly what I did. I just can't."

Twelve years ago, Vanessa Dalton walked out of Larkspur Quarry alone, covered in her best friend Jo Calloway's blood. Jo's body was never found. Vanessa never remembered what happened. The evidence disappeared with the storm, but the town reached its own verdict long ago: she was guilty.

Now a renowned forensic genealogist who solves decades-old cold cases using DNA, Vanessa is forced to return home when her dying mother leaves her no choice. She's spent years helping strangers uncover the truth, while refusing to investigate the one mystery that destroyed her own life.

Sheriff Scott Bradley wants her gone. His father ruined his career trying to prove Vanessa murdered Jo, and Scott inherited both the badge and the hatred. But when someone steals a hidden box of evidence from the Calloway case, and Vanessa begins remembering fragments that contradict everything Cedar Hollow believes, a second car at the quarry, another voice calling her name, and Jo alive long after the moment she was supposed to have died, they're forced into an uneasy alliance.

As Vanessa and Scott reopen the town's darkest secret, every new clue exposes another lie. Someone has spent twelve years protecting the truth, and they'll kill to keep it buried.

Because Jo Calloway wasn't the only person who disappeared that night.

My husband Eric couldn't speak after a car accident three years ago. Three years of silence. Not one word.

To pay for his rehab, I worked four jobs at once—worked until I was coughing up blood, until I collapsed. Winter nights, Leo and I huddled under one threadbare blanket. When my son spiked a fever and I had no money for medicine, I stayed up all night pressing wet rags to his burning forehead.

Eric? His only communication was cold texts, ordering me around. When Leo reached for a hug, he'd push him away like our son didn't exist.

I endured it all. Because deep down, I believed the accident was my fault.

Until that night.

I was hauling equipment at Selena's concert—Selena, the pop star everyone knew—when a mystery guest in a mask stepped on stage. They sang together, voices blending like they'd done this a thousand times.

That voice. That lightning-shaped scar on his elbow.

My "mute" husband of three years.

I followed him backstage. Through the door, I heard Selena's laugh: "Congrats, Eric. Your mute act is almost over—you won the bet."

Three years of sacrifice.

All of it just a game. A bet with his first love.

The day I found out Quinn Prescott had pulled strings to give away my Ivy League recommendation to some transfer student, I packed up everything he'd ever given me and dumped it on his doorstep.
The next day, I found that same box in the dumpster outside my building.
Quinn's face was twisted with irritation.
"Drop it. So what if we don't go to the same college? You can get a full ride anywhere on your own, but Paula can't even afford tuition without that recommendation letter."
He let out a cold laugh. "And if this actually blows up, I promise you—it won't be me walking away with regrets."
I pressed the UCL acceptance letter tighter against my back, looking at him one last time with perfect calm.
He looked exactly like he always did when he knew he'd already won—like the outcome wasn't even a question.
But Quinn, I don't need you either.
My one-way ticket to London was already booked. We never had to see each other again.

When they shoved me into the flames, I fought through the blinding pain to call my brother, Ethan Bennett. Fire licked at my skin, twisting my vision, but the call finally went through.

"What is it now?" He sounded distracted, like he was checking off a guest list.

"Ethan, please, help—" My voice was shattered, choked by the searing heat.

"Can't you just give it a rest for one single day?" he snapped, cutting me off. "Selina and I are getting married this weekend. If you pull another stunt, I swear I'll—"

The call died right as the flames swallowed me whole.

Agony consumed every nerve before my eyes closed for good, his unfinished threat still echoing in my ears.

But the good news is, Ethan... you don't have to swear anymore. Because I was dead.

A past generations’ wrongful case makes Julian mistake innocent Sienna for his foe’s daughter. Exploiting her crush, he ruins her Cambridge dream on graduation night, destroying her family. For five years, Sienna works in a sleazy club to fund her sick mother’s care.
Their unexpected reunion leaves Julian torn between disgust and secret affection. When the truth surfaces, consumed by regret, he cancels his wedding and spends all his wealth to atone. Yet Sienna’s love is long gone. After settling her family with his money, she leaves forever.

"You have two months to live." The doctor's death sentence was still ringing in my ears when I found the receipt in his pocket.

[Four Seasons Hotel. Romance Suite. Check-in: 3:00 PM.]

3:00 PM. The exact moment I was begging the doctor for painkillers, Alexander was in a hotel bed with another woman.

I looked at him, sleeping soundly beside me. I had loved this man for five years, sold everything to help him succeed. Now, in the final countdown of my life, he gave me the most fatal blow.

"I'm exhausted from meetings," he had lied, smelling of Santal 33 and another woman's sex.

I clenched the receipt until my nails dug into my flesh. I wouldn't tell him about the cancer.

I would use whatever time I had left to make him regret ever being born.

On the day Evelyn thought Liam would propose, he shocked her by getting down on one knee—for her stepsister, Samantha. As if that betrayal wasn’t enough, Evelyn learned the cruel truth: her parents had already decided to sell one daughter’s future to a dangerous man: the infamous War God Alpha Alexander, who was rumored to be scarred and crippled after a recent accident. And the bride could’t be their precious daughter Samantha. However, when the "ugly and crippled" Alpha revealed his true self—an impossibly handsome billionaire with no trace of injury—Samantha had a change of heart. She was ready to dump Liam and take Evelyn's place as the family daughter who should marry Alexander.
Yet Alexander made his decision clear to the world: “Evelyn is the only woman I will ever marry.”

Having an accident after catching her lover cheating and waking up in a strange place filled with robots. Alexa Ivvona never expected to become a hero in a war in the robot world, and fall in love with a robot troop commander. However, can Alexa return to her world or is she trapped there with all the secrets of why Alexa is in the robot world?

I’m a retired Special Forces soldier. After I got out, I handled problems people didn’t want on paper, and I’ve seen enough dirty work to last a lifetime.

When I finally retired for real, I wanted a normal life.

So I came back to the orphanage where I grew up, planning to adopt a quiet seven-year-old boy I’d kept in touch with for years.

But the moment I arrived, I was told he’d already been “adopted.”

I called the family to make sure he was safe. On the line he said, “I’m fine.”
Then I heard it—fingernails tapping in a pattern: three short, three long, three short.

The distress signal I had taught him.

I stormed into the director’s office and forced the truth out: the adoption papers were fake. He wasn’t taken into a home. He was sold.

They think I’m just a returning orphanage worker.
They have no idea what I’ve done out there—and no idea I’m very good at cleaning up this kind of mess.

I was Ethan Blake's perfect mistress for five years, adhering faithfully to his rules of secrecy and obedience.

I knew his coffee preferences, his pre-meeting anxieties, yet it wasn't until his arranged-marriage partner returned that I understood I was merely a replaceable 'item' in his life plan.

When my mother passed and the pressure of medical bills vanished, I realized for the first time — that contract with its monthly transfers had bought not just my time, but my very right to say 'no' to him.

And now, when I no longer need his money...

This transaction, forged in the name of bondage, will be terminated by me.

"Don't test me, Stone; your family has always thought that it was untouchable... Felt on top of the world, didn't you? You didn't care about who you needed to stomp down to get there?"

His fingers hung dangerously over the trigger; I shook as far as my binds would let me, tears rolling down to the gag in my mouth… that muffled my cries.

But even as I had the gun pointed at my head, my husband was not looking at me; his eyes were purely placed on Liliana.

“Talk to me, you bastard!.. You have to choose between your wife or your first love.”

On her wedding day, Aurora chased after her runaway groom who went to console his first love, only to be kidnapped along with that woman and tortured for 3 days straight until she was met with the ultimate pain; her fiancée, who she thought would turn to her forever, choosing another woman over her and not only that but confessing that his first love was carrying his child too. Just like she was, except he would never find out. At least not in that life; she took a bullet to the head and was reborn on the day of her wedding. When he runs off to meet his first love and console her again, she doesn't foolishly chase after him; rather, she walks towards his brother, the most desirable bachelor in the city, and says, “Will you marry me instead?"

To get pregnant, I gave up a career my peers all envied. The day I finally conceived, my husband brought his mistress home to live with us.
He shoved me into the table without a second thought.
Nana Mae fell trying to protect me—her head cracking against the marble floor.
"Call an ambulance!" Blood soaked through my hands. My abdomen tore with pain.
"Sienna's too fragile. She can't handle the sight of blood." He scooped up his mistress and walked out, leaving the two of us on the floor.
"You can't leave this bed—it could hurt the baby." I ignored the doctor's warning and stayed at Nana Mae's bedside anyway.
Ten minutes earlier, she'd posted on Instagram: a tiny band-aid on her hand, his fingers wrapped around hers.

"I want you to be my fake boyfriend.""What do I get in return?""I can give you money.""Money is not what I am after." He looked into my eyes and smirked, "I want you."Kylie Wade's happy life hit rock bottom when she found her boyfriend cheating on her with her own sister. To add oil to the misery, her adopted mother wanted to get her married off to a rich old man. Desperate to escape her fate and get back at her ex, she ends up hooking up with the captain of the football team- Elijah Crawford.What supposed to be was a one time thing changed into a dedicated courtship when Elijah took a liking on her.Was she ever going to be with that playboy? NEVER!Little did she know that Elijah had a secret- he was not an ordinary human but a werewolf.

At the wedding, Mia realized that her fated mate, the powerful Alpha Derek, despised her rogue status as much as anyone else. He has always loved his first love, Cassandra, even though she set Mia up and ruined their wedding. Heartbroken, Mia rejected Derek and left, but soon, Mia realized that she was the lost and amnesiac Alpha daughter of one of the biggest packs in the werewolf world.
And, she is pregnant......

By day, he ruins me.
By night, he owns me.
And by some cruel twist of fate… he’s now my stepbrother.

When Liana Carter’s mother marries into the infamous Ashford family, she’s thrown into a world of wealth, secrets, and one particular devil with a jawline sharp enough to cut her resolve.

Dante Ashford—golden boy of Blackridge Academy. Sinfully gorgeous. Cruel beyond reason. And her worst nightmare.

From the moment she steps foot in his mansion, he makes one thing clear—she doesn’t belong here.
Not in this house.
Not in his world.
Not anywhere near him.

But the more he pushes, the closer he pulls.
With every cruel whisper, stolen glance, and forbidden touch, he breaks down her walls.
And builds an obsession he can't escape.

He has a girlfriend.
She has rules.
And neither of them can stop the wildfire growing between them.

He’s her bully.
Her tormentor.
Her stepbrother.
And the only boy who can ruin her… completely.

Some love stories were never meant to happen.
But this one?
Was never meant to end.

It was Valentine's day; the day of love. Arianna had gone out for a date with her boyfriend, she was expecting him to pop the question tonight but instead, he did the exact opposite.
He announced that the relationship was not working and he couldn’t push on anymore. So he walked out of her life and out of the country as well.
She was broken, and ended up in a bar where she intended to drink away her sorrows. She got tipsy and that’s when Mr. handsome stranger showed up.
They both ended up in a hotel room and the next morning before she could wake up, he was gone.
Only if she knew that the one night stand would lead to an unexpected pregnancy. She was pregnant for someone whose name she didn’t even know, a complete stranger.
Six months later, she bumps into a magazine with his picture
“Oliver Gomez; Businessman of the year”
That’s when she realizes that her Baby's Daddy Is Mr. CEO!!
She confronts him but the billionaire CEO denies it, however she is not going to give up, not without a fight.

It was Valentine's day; the day of love. Arianna had gone out for a date with her boyfriend, she was expecting him to pop the question tonight but instead, he did the exact opposite.

He announced that the relationship was not working and he couldn't push on anymore. So he walked out of her life and out of the country as well.

She was broken and ended up in a bar where she intended to drink away her sorrows. She got tipsy and that's when Mr. handsome stranger showed up.

They both ended up in a hotel room and the next morning before she could wake up, he was gone.

Only if she knew that the one-night stand would lead to an unexpected pregnancy. She was pregnant for someone whose name she didn't even know, a complete stranger.

Six months later, she bumps into a magazine with his picture

'Oliver Gomez; Businessman of the year"

That's when she realizes that her Baby's Daddy Is Mr CEO!!

She confronts him but the billionaire CEO denies it, however, she is not going to give up, not without a fight.

"You can't reject a mate bond on your own, Siren. It takes two."
"Stop calling me that!"
"I prefer it."
"This is bonkers. We're step-siblings!"
"Not blood. Our parents got married. That doesn't make us related."
When twenty-year-old omega Soren moves into her mother's new husband's mansion, the last thing she expects is to discover that her arrogant new stepbrother, Felix, is actually her fated mate.
Forced to live under the same roof and attend the same college, Soren and Felix try to ignore the powerful attraction between them. But the mate bond refuses to be ignored, pulling them closer with every stolen glance and every secret encounter.
Then Soren learns the truth: Felix has been betrothed to another woman for years, a political marriage meant to secure the future of his pack. With the wedding approaching and their families only one discovery away from tearing them apart, their forbidden relationship becomes a dangerous secret.
As tension grows, Felix's reckless biker cousin Kai steps in, determined to expose their bond or claim Soren himself.
Now Soren is trapped between duty, desire, and a love that could destroy both their families.
Because in a world where alphas don't mate omegas and step-siblings should never fall in love, their connection isn't just forbidden, it's explosive.
When the truth finally comes out, will Felix fight for their impossible bond or will Soren lose the one man fate chose for her?

For nineteen years, I’ve lived as nothing more than a poor village girl, unaware that my birth was the kingdom’s darkest secret.
An ancient prophecy declares that if the girl born under the same moon as the queen survives to her nineteenth birthday, the queen will die. To protect the throne, that child was supposed to be killed But I lived.
Raised in secrecy by a humble healer, I never imagined my life would cross paths with Prince Kael Ravencrest—the future Alpha King. When everyone mocked him during his darkest days, I stood by him. He promised that one day, he would return and make me his Luna. He kept that promise.
The moment he brought me to the palace as his chosen mate, the kingdom’s greatest secret was exposed. I was the girl the prophecy had condemned. Now the entire pack demands my death.
The queen, who once welcomed me with kindness, must decide whether to save her own life or spare the woman her son loves. Kael refuses to abandon me, even if protecting me means defying the throne, the elders, and the Moon Goddess herself.

As my nineteenth birthday draws near, love, loyalty, and destiny collide. Will I die to save the queen… Or will the queen fall because I lived?

" I want nothing more than to taste your sweet blood on my tongue." His breath grazed her neck, followed by the wet glide of his tongue across her skin. Kerry shuddered, imagining his fangs sinking deep, feeding on her.

"We can't do this," she whispered, her voice trembling.

"What's stopping us?"

"You're... my brother."

"And yet, you stir something in me no other woman has." He grasped her hand, guiding it to his erection pressing against her. "You're mine, baby—made just for me."

Kerry's life spirals into chaos when her mother marries a vampire. As someone who thought vampires were just myths, she struggles to accept their reality. But nothing could prepare her for her dangerously seductive new stepbrother, who seems determined to make her his. Is their bond a twist of fate, or something far darker?

Kyla is a determined woman who toils relentlessly to provide for her family, but her life takes an unexpected turn when she enters into a contract with a brooding half-demon. As she steps into an enigmatic world, she finds herself entwined in a lavish marriage to a family shrouded in secrets and bound by wealth. What adventures and dangers await her in this thrilling new life? Only time will tell as Kyla unravels the mysteries surrounding her and discovers the true power of love—and sacrifice.

Isabel was devastated and distraught after receiving a sincere rejection from her boyfriend. Although she had intended to spend the holiday at her grandmother's house, she ended up becoming involved with a stranger and having a one-night stand with him.

When her mom introduced her fiance to Isabel, she was shocked to discover that her step father, Mr Walton had a son who turned out to be Derek– the guy she had a one night stand with.

Isabel struggled with her affections for Derek and the knowledge that he would one day become her stepbrother. Anticipating her first shift, she hoped to find her mate and get over her feelings for Derek.

What happens when an unexpected twist occured and she discovered that Derek was her true mate? As she tried hard to distance herself from him because she saw him as nothing more than her stepbrother, will she continue to ignore the bond with him? What happens when Derek's true identity as the Alpha's son was finally revealed? And what happens when more secrets come to light about why he and Isabel were fated together?

"I never loved you. You were just a placeholder for her."
On our third anniversary, I held my four-month pregnancy scan, ready to surprise my husband. Instead, I found him with my twin sister, Yulia.
The betrayal was swift and absolute.
"I'm pregnant with his child," Yulia sneered. "The heir you couldn't give him."
When I slapped the sister who stole my life, Franklin didn't hesitate—he slapped me back.
"Touch my woman again, and I'll make you regret it," he roared. To him, I was just a "convenience," a body to fill a space. To her, I was a joke.
That night, he threw me into a torrential storm with nothing but divorce papers.
"Please, Frank... I'm pregnant..." I sobbed against the locked door. He didn't open it. Inside, my sister was already in my bed, wearing my clothes.
As I collapsed in the mud, a Rolls-Royce stopped. George Williams, the billionaire I once saved, stepped into the rain.
"If he doesn't want this child," George whispered, lifting me up, "I will."
Seven years later.
Franklin is back, begging for the wife he discarded. But I'm no longer that broken girl. And when he sees the twin boys who carry his eyes but call another man "Daddy"—he'll realize that some mistakes can never be undone.

You don’t marry the devil and expect to walk away…

Two years ago, I made the most reckless decision of my life. I married a stranger — a dangerously sharp Russian with eyes like winter storms and a voice that curled around your spine.

It was supposed to be fake.
A quick, quiet wedding on a borrowed yacht.
A loophole to stop my billionaire father from selling me off to some corporate puppet in a boardroom marriage.

But the stranger-the man I begged for help—wasn’t just some wealthy businessman in an expensive suit. He was Mikhail Volkov. A Bratva king. Cold. Ruthless. Calculating.

I left him divorce papers and two million dollars on his bed the next morning… and vanished.

But the past doesn’t stay buried. And men like him don’t forget unfinished business.

Two years later, under a new name and a quiet life halfway across the world, I thought I was safe. Until my new company gets bought out. By him.

Mikhail Volkov.

He came for me.

And this time, running isn’t an option.

“Why the hell are you calling me your wife?” I snap, shoving the contract across his desk. “I paid you off. I left divorce papers. Signed.”

He steps closer, all tailored dominance and lethal calm, his voice low enough to scrape against my bones.
"You don’t end things with me unless I say so, moya zhena. And I don’t marry… to divorce."

I’m not free. I’m his unfinished business. And now? I belong to him… whether I want to or not.

Flora had to work three jobs to feed three people at the same time, her husband was a man without money, without work, lazy and worthless, but she always loved him. But in response to Flora's sincerity, Enzo – her ex-husband - treated her only as a servant and as a sexual slave. She couldn't stand the humiliation, so she decided to divorce. But after the divorce she discovered the true identity of her ex-husband, he is not a useless man but the CEO of a large multinational corporation. What's Going On? Why did her ex-husband hide her? He never spent a dollar on her or their little daughter. Does she regret choosing to divorce her ex-husband as in his warning?

Freya's an alien, from planet Eris. She came to Earth to live, and from the planet bureau system, they gave her a new identity. Daughter of the Quinn’s. On the day she came here, a mistake happened, and she almost lost her life but was saved by Ash. That's why when her “supposedly” sister escaped, she got married to Ash on her behalf.

Florence is very good at fixing other people's love stories. That's the skill she has. And boom! The business was a huge success and very profitable!

For her, it was a very easy job. People came to her, asking for help finding a suitable match for them. And so far, all her clients have been very satisfied with the work system she has put in place for them. No one complains. They walk out of Florence's office with a sense of excitement and satisfaction that their love problems have been solved.

That is, until disaster strikes when a handsome man named David arrives with a myriad of ridiculous requests.

That's where Florence finds the real challenge and difficulty. If she doesn't help David, her job is in jeopardy because he owns a newspaper and printing business. He will post information that Florence is incompetent at handling her job again. However, if Florence helps him, she doubts if she can fulfill his ridiculous request.

Oh d*mn, what should Florence do?

Chiara Benedetti thought her wedding day would be the start of her freedom, instead, it becomes her descent into hell. Before she can say "I do," the chapel doors are torn off their hinges by Nico Ferraro, the brutal Don of the Ferraro family and her father's greatest enemy. He doesn't come for blood; he comes for his property.

He reveals a chilling truth: three years ago, her father sold her to him in a blood debt, and her entire life has been nothing but a fraud to hide the transaction.

Nico doesn't want a wife. He wants a possession to break. He expects Chiara to cower, to beg, and to kneel but Chiara is made of the same iron as the men in her world. She fights, she provokes, and she talks back, turning her captivity into a psychological battlefield. Her defiance doesn't disgust Nico, it intoxicates him. What begins as a cold exchange of power spirals into a dark, erotic obsession that neither can control.

As Nico introduces Chiara to the darker edges of his desire, scenes of rough possession and degradation, she is terrified to realize she doesn't just endure him; she craves him. When a rescue attempt by her former fiancé offers her a way out, Chiara makes a choice that shocks everyone: she stays. Not for love, but for the dark intensity only Nico provides. Caught between a secret rebellion within Nico’s own family and a rival family demanding her head, Nico must decide if he will sacrifice his empire to keep the woman he swore was just a debt. In a world where love is a weakness, their mutual destruction might be the only thing that makes them feel alive.

His hand moved. Just slightly. His pinky hooked around mine. I didn't pull away. His face was inches away. His lips were parted. His breathing was soft. His bruised lip looked better today. The swelling had gone down. We were tangled. Legs against legs. Chest against side. My good arm had somehow ended up around his back. My heart lost its rhythm.


Rule one:This is my side of the room. Jack Carter—that arrogant, messy, insufferable hockey captain—stays on his.
Rule two:He's full of himself, lazy, and gets under my skin like no one else. I hate him. That's not up for debate.
Rule three: ...Absolutely, never notice the way his hair looks when it's still wet from the shower. Or the rare moments when his guard drops and he almost seems... human.

My name is Luca Rinaldi. I came here to win championships and go pro. I can handle anything—even sharing a dorm with Jack Carter, my biggest rival on and off the ice.
He mocks my accent, steals my breakfast, and grins that infuriating "what are you gonna do about it?" smile every time he tramples another one of my rules. On the rink, he plays me like a fool, chirping "too easy" every time he steals the win. The tension between us could set the whole rink on fire.
But here's the thing—when the rest of the team laughs at my accent, he's the first one to shut them down. When I'm dead on my feet after practice, he slides a water bottle into my hand and pretends it was nothing. The harder I push him away, the more he winds his way into my life like ivy I can't tear down.
In this place, rules are everything. And Jack Carter? He was born to break every single one of them. But breaking the rules might cost me everything I've worked for. So tell me—do I shove him away and protect my future, or do I risk it all for the one person who makes my heart race?

"Arthur! Ah... ah... mmm... fuck... yes..."
I came to my husband that day not only because I missed him and wanted to make love with him.
Most importantly, after three years of trying to conceive, I was finally pregnant!
But when my sister appeared before me with the same pregnancy report, I realized this marriage had completely changed.
When he trusted the rumors and personally fed me abortion pills, our eighteen years of love finally came to an end.
My heart turned to ashes as I left without looking back.
Later, at the engagement party of the rising investment mogul Howard Miller...
I appeared in a gorgeous gown, radiant and stunning, while my fiancé Howard kissed the back of my hand with deep affection and respect.
Arthur, usually so composed and elegant, lost all control, his eyes red with fury...

On her birthday, she was drugged, and her sister entered her fiancé's room instead of her, while she lost her virgin to a stranger in the neighboring room.
Ten months later, she gave birth to a baby, and the next day, the baby's daddy came looking for her.
"Do you have a house and savings?"she asked.
The man looked puzzled.
She accepted her fate and said, "Well, I guess I'm unlucky. From today on, I'll be responsible for earning money to support the family, and you'll be in charge of taking care of our baby."
But who could have told her that the man she was supporting turned out to be a billionaire, the richest man in the town...
And he was also a werewolf!
So wait, her baby is a Hybrid?

"I spent ten years scrubbing your floors, Greene. Tonight, you'll scrub mine."
Elara Vance has always been the pride the Republic until she ran away from home, fell in love with Greene Jones, a man who treated her like dirt and discarded her like she was never the girl the entire Republic feared because of her strong dominating pheromones.
Now she's back after twelve years to serve revenge to Greene Jones like a hot dish in a way that he will pay for every act meted out on her for twelve years. But things wasn't going to go as planned as she meets Silas, the handsome bulky head of her father's security but a recessive omega of her past that she has totally forgotten but now wears a new stance as her bodyguard, recognized by the entire republic as an Alpha, and her perfect chosen mate, Calvin;  ruining the comeback and revenge she planned out for herself and now she has to think about saving and claiming her mate, Silas while navigating and protecting the seat meant for her. 
The real question becomes; will Calvin ever allow her take all it took him twelve years to build?

He is Milan, always have been in love, secretly with his best friend Eron. Who is actually his stepbrother after his dad get marry with a widow woman who had a child of 19 years old... Eron. But everythin will change one day when suddenly Milan discovers He is available to create a new reality, other world in his dreams, that actually is a portal to a totally real reality, where He and Eron can be together, and their love is the most natural, as breathing.¨


"Family is the most important thing, Eron."
I'm sick of hearing that phrase every day without qualm.
They force to include me in the standard picture where the only thing that matters is the happiness of others; the happiness of those around you. It is typical to think that you should care about those who, according to the rules of modern society, love you the most. But does owning the same blood connection make the affective connection between people? I want to know if I am the only one who is wrong.
I don't feel that warmth in my chest that I'm supposed to feel.

"You only think of yourself, Eron."
I can hear the annoying Milan Montjoy's voice even in my quiet solitude. People label him as my "brother" as we are children of the same parents, or actually, one of them, but we are not. Thus we are intertwined.

Raelyn is stuck in an abusive marriage, trying to figure out a way out when she runs into the charismatic boss of her husband. Unbeknownst to her, Torin Vilkas is her mate and the Alpha of his pack and has been looking for his Luna for years.Raelyn's human nature prevents her from experiencing the mate bond, yet she finds herself drawn to Torin. Despite those feelings, she tries to stay loyal to her husband.Alpha Torin must find a way to make his married mate fall in love with him and get her away from her husband once and for all.

They took everything from her and thought she'd bow down. But in a marriage of convenience with a mysterious librarian/Billionaire, Ava is about to reclaim her life, one shocking revelation at a time.
A forced marriage to a man she barely knows is the last thing Ava Patel wanted. But when her family leaves her no choice, she finds herself tied to Liam—a man whose gentle care makes her feel things she never expected.
As his kindness and affection pull her in, Ava discovers that her husband is living under a false identity, concealing secrets that could shatter everything she believes.
Why would a billionaire hide his true self? And what secrets from the past threaten to tear them apart just as Ava starts to fall?

Three years ago, I chose the fire.

I'm Celine. Human — or so everyone thinks. I can feel things I shouldn't: the pulse of supernatural energy in ordinary rooms, the hunger coiled beneath a stranger's smile. It's why the vampires destroyed us. It's why my father died. And when I severed the bond with Elias — the pureblood vampire I'd loved since I was old enough to fear him — my gift turned on me. Every day since has been paid in blood.

Then he walked into my office. My new boss. The man who broke me, three years and a hundred scars ago.

Elias never let go. Not when his family tore us apart. Not when he believed I'd rejected him for what he is — and I believed he'd betrayed me. Someone made sure we believed both. Now he's back, tailored and relentless, and he's made his intentions clear: he's not leaving. He thinks the truth will save us. He doesn't know what it will cost.

Neither do I. Somewhere between a mother's lies and a family's vengeance lies the real reason we were destroyed. And when it finally surfaces, it won't just save us.

It might destroy everything.

Berliana Margaretha is a robot inventor who is so telling in her circles. She was the first to develop a method of making a robot like a normal human being and she has secretly done that and made a robot that looks so much like her dead ex-boyfriend.

She named the robot Victor Valdes, almost the same name as her boyfriend. But one day the robot she created went out of control and made her feel that the handsome human-like robot had begun to dominate her.

"You are mine, Berliana Margaretha."

"Oh my God, Victor! You're a robot so go back to your place, don't move!"

"No way, I'm your boyfriend, you're my girlfriend."

Would Berliana's rejection continue to escalate or would she be swept away by the passion of the artificially intelligent robot she had created that almost resembled a human being?

It took her five years to follow her own wishes and marry him. Yet he sold her to the Resorts World LA, killed their baby with his own hands...... What he did reduced her to the unprecedented misery and uncountable unhappiness. However, when she finally got rid of her love for him, which was like a poisonous thorn, he changed his mind and begged her to stay as if he"s gone mad. But for her, none of them mattered--love or reputation. He"d rather die than crawl back to the grave he built for her!

After my parents passed away, I regarded the Carter family as my last blood relatives and Jessica as the light for the rest of my life. Until that day, Dafu, who was sitting next to me on the sofa, suddenly looked up and his voice hit me directly in the head.
It said that Jessica holding Brad's arm was a ploy to force me to sell my house. It said that my parents' insurance money had long been "borrowed" away by Carter time and time again. It said that in thirty days, extreme cold would arrive, with temperatures dropping to minus eighty degrees Celsius, turning the world into hell.
Memories of my past life were also poured in by Dafu—they broke my legs and threw me outside, where I froze into an ice sculpture in a blizzard.
Dafu rushed to save me, but Brad pinned him to the snow, skinned him, made a fire, and ate him.
I silently pulled out the Glock 19 my father had left me and chambered a round.
Click.
In this life, I won't listen to people anymore; I'll listen to dogs.

One snide comment from my worst enemy, and I dropped eighty million gold coins on a custom golem built to look exactly like him.

My requirements were simple: same face, same body, and a personality that's submissive, obedient, and takes whatever I dish out without fighting back.

I've had that insufferable face fetching me coffee, rubbing my feet, massaging my shoulders, even wearing a maid outfit.

Watching him bow and scrape for me finally lets out most of the resentment I've been carrying.

Then tonight, the workshop sends a message out of nowhere:

[Due to a shortage of high-purity mithril, your custom golem needs another month to complete. Thank you for your patience.]

I look over at the man kneeling by the couch, rubbing my legs.

So who exactly have I been treating like a dog for the past two months?

That wedding in Rome was the last time I ever saw him as his “stepsister.”
I was the Roxie family’s only daughter. After my father remarried, my mother and I moved into the Corleone estate, and from that day on, Elias became my stepbrother—also the one obsession I should never have touched.
Out in public, he was always calm and controlled. At home, though, one line from him “Don’t call me brother” made my heart race.
Until the day he held Sophia’s hand in front of a priest and announced he was going to marry her.
I was outside the venue, bending down to pick up empty bottles because I needed dialysis money. He crushed them under his shoe in front of everyone, humiliated me, and forced me to trade my dignity for cash, like he was nailing the word “step-siblings” onto a pillar of shame.
He hated me. He said I’d “gotten back at him” in the filthiest way. I just smiled and never explained.
Because he would never know the truth: back then, the reason I shoved him away with everything I had was only because I wanted him to live a little cleaner.
That night, he locked me in a pitch-dark storage room. Outside the door was wedding music. Inside was my blood and the suffocating despair.
When he finally opened the door… I was already dead.

Spring is the season I dread the most.

Because every spring, my mere existence becomes a lethal weapon against my own son.

Theron told me he suffers from a highly rare condition: Maternal Stress Rejection Syndrome.

If I so much as get near Flynn during the spring months, it triggers severe asthma attacks and terrifying asphyxiation.

To keep our boy alive, Theron takes him away to an isolated treatment center for three months, every single year.

And I stay behind, swallowing antidepressants by the handful just to survive the crushing guilt.

That is, until I found a photo hidden in Theron's burner phone.

In the picture, my husband and my son are tightly embracing another woman.

The so-called Maternal Stress Rejection Syndrome was nothing but a sick lie—a meticulously crafted excuse so my husband could spend the season playing "happy family" with his first love.

......

I had just arrived abroad for a legal conference when my best friend sent me a video.
An unfamiliar woman was chatting while pushing Dexter’s mother, Jenny, around the neighborhood, claiming to be Dexter’s wife.
My hand, holding the phone, froze.
If she’s Dexter’s wife… then who am I?
I immediately called my husband and asked,
“Did you change family doctors?”
He paused for a second, then replied with a laugh, “Yes. Mom didn’t like the old one, so we switched. I haven’t had a chance to tell you yet. Why do you ask?”
I forced a casual chuckle. “No reason. I just missed you.”
After hanging up, I rushed home overnight.