Empty Smiles

My wife, Jana Webster, uses her work at the company as an excuse to skip out on Leah Haynes, our daughter's field day. She even tells us not to participate in the activity. Having noticed how disappointed Leah looks, I decide to take her to the field day myself. As soon as we walk into the school, I spot Jana sitting on the couch located on the stage with her first love, Barton Ritter, as well as his son, Trenton Ritter. They look so close, as though they were an actual family of three. With a microphone in her hand, Jana goes on and on about how she's capable of keeping her family happy while maintaining a successful career. As she speaks, she smiles at Barton from time to time. The audience beneath the stage applauds heartily, giving Jana an ego boost. Even Trenton wears a haughty look. Soon, it's time for the Q&A session. I quickly snatch the microphone over. "Ms. Webster, since when do you have a son? Does your husband know about it?"

Serafina Rabbia dies believing betrayal is the cruelest sin a human can commit. On her three year anniversary, she is executed by the man she married, betrayed by her sister, and forced to watch her parents burn alive for crimes they never committed. Death should have been the end. Instead, she wakes up in silk and blood . She's reborn on the very day everything was stolen from her. Her wedding day. This time, she smiles at the altar. This time, she kisses her murderer. This time, she plans his death slowly. As Serafina begins dismantling the empire that destroyed her, she uncovers a world far darker than revenge. A world ruled by seven people who hide behind wealth, corporations, and polished power. They are not myths. They are not monsters. They are the Seven Deadly Sins – walking among humans and pulling the world apart quietly. Serafina should run. Instead, she steps willingly into their shadows… and straight into the arms of the most dangerous sin of all. He listens as she whispers her darkest wish: revenge. And he.. he is ready to burn the world for her.

During an elective class, the campus belle, Jemima Ford, who is our senior, describes her ideal type with everyone egging her on. She says, "My future husband has to be at least six feet two inches tall. His parents must be college professors, and his grades should be top three in his major…" The room buzzes with teasing chatter and gossip. At the same time, I snap up my head in surprise. Why does Jemima's description of her ideal type sound like my boyfriend, Elijah Sanders? The next second, the professor standing by the podium smiles obsequiously and says, "Very well said. If Eli hears this, he'll definitely be very happy! Later, the two of you can meet. That way, he won't get tricked by some naive girl into going abroad." Amid the burst of laughter from the class, I lower my eyes and look at the message my parents sent me. It reads, "Sweetheart, are you really going abroad with your boyfriend? There'll be no one left to inherit our company with you gone."

While we're having our dinner on Christmas Eve, my mom suddenly asks me loudly, "Do you have your chastity?" I look confused. "What?" My mom just smiles very smugly. "I knew you were the adventurous type! You must have lost it because of someone else!" After that, she shoots my husband, Louis Hartson, a knowing look. "You don't know about this yet, right? Before Yvonne married you, she was an absolute player in the dating pool. Her father and I couldn't keep her under control at all!" I widen my eyes in shock. "What are you talking about?" My mom is even happier when she sees how angry I am. "Oh? You have the guts to do it, yet you're too cowardly to admit to it?" I can only clench my fists tightly under the table after hearing my mom's slanderous accusations. Since she likes spreading baseless rumors about me this much, I'm not going to keep her secret for her anymore.

The werewolf lands are the only world Maria has ever known. Lands ruled by packs, bound by tradition, and governed by fate. Born the alpha’s daughter of the Veilwood Pack, Maria grows up among women blessed with extraordinary abilities. Some command the elements. Some read minds. Others glimpse the future. But as her twenty-first birthday approaches, Maria has nothing. No gift. To protect their legacy, her parents arrange her marriage to a stranger. They ignore her pleas and seal her fate with a man she never chose. Desperate to escape, Maria runs, only to stumble into a land that looks different from the world she knows. When escape fails, she is forced back into a marriage empty of love. Betrayal soon follows, shattering what little hope she has left. Seeking solace, Maria flees to a tavern, where fate introduces her to her mate, a man who hesitates. And then there is the rogue. Pulled between an alpha and a rogue, Maria is forced to confront a truth the moon itself cannot change. Fate will never grant her two mates. She must choose. Only one man can claim her. And the choice may cost her everything.

My disabled husband, Nico, had lost his will to live. I had to give him a reason to stay—a hope. I had to give him a child. But where was I to find this life for my empty womb? "Lena, how unexpected," my husband’s brother said to me, standing in his penthouse office in the heart of Manhattan. I found myself begging this cruel man—a man who had just left mottled scars on another woman’s skin. I needed him to claim me. I needed him to leave his seed inside me. I needed his child. "If you want to seduce someone," Salvatore said, "you should start by taking off your clothes." I stripped. I held my own breasts and pleasured myself before him, desperate to ignite his desire. But he only shoved his fingers into my mouth, drew his belt, and lashed it across my hips. "Slut," his voice was low and lethal. "You want a child? Then you’d better pray for the moment I finally sink myself into you."

It was a bad idea. She knew it but she had no choice. After finding herself penniless after the death of her parents who nevertheless had a good fortune, Rose had no other idea than to loot the trunk of her old house to pay for her little sister's treatment. Anyway, it wasn't a theft because nobody knows about this safe... The house was empty because it was for sale, she was going to sneak in and she would never set foot there again. It was a perfect idea... When she entered the house, she suspected that there was someone but she persisted and continued... -Who are you? What are you doing at my house? She was so relieved that no one had touched her money so she hadn't even heard the footsteps... She turned to see a man...a man with a mask covering half his face. .. Frightened, she did not expect that this night could change her life... -I'll let you take your trunk and I'll offer you double more so that you serve as my escort, for one night... Rose could not understand such a proposal. However, she had no choice...

For five years, Elara was the "peasant" wife, the woman who gave her kidney to save Shawn’s life, only to be rewarded with his cold indifference and his family’s verbal abuse. She was the dutiful housewife, hiding her true identity as the world’s most feared cybersecurity genius, and the secret heiress to a global empire. She stayed for love. She stayed for the hope of a family. But hope dies in a cold swimming pool. When Shawn pushes a pregnant Elara into the water to save his mistress, he not only breaks her heart, he kills the only thing she had left to love. Waking up in a hospital bed with an empty womb and a frozen heart, Elara is done playing nice. As Shawn prepares to discard her for his mistress, he’s met not with a weeping wife, but with the arrival of five of the most powerful men in the world—Elara’s brothers. Now, the "peasant" is the predator. While Shawn’s empire begins to crumble under a mysterious cyber-attack, he finds himself desperately chasing the woman he once despised. But Elara has already moved on to a man who never had to be taught her value.

In the middle of the night, young Euroah Minari’s life changes forever. A dark twist of fate occurs and she finds herself captured and sold off to the highest bidder. Now a slave living in a whole new world of advanced technology, she must learn to cope with her new reality, make new friends, and learn how to please her master. Zion Velucia is a 29 year old business man. At a young age, he inherited the massive family fortune and became the CEO of the largest technology company in the kingdom of Symphonia. An empty hearted man who trusts no one. He’s lived his entire life knowing that everyone around him is after something and wants to use him for their own benefit. But when he sees an innocent girl on the auction block, she brings back pieces of his past that he’s hidden away for so many years. Can Euroah bring out a side to him he thought he’d driven out? Or will his being accustomed to getting exactly what he wants stand in the way of obtaining what his soul truly craves? You can't escape destiny!

Five minutes before the graduate admission exam began, the campus heartthrob quietly slipped a crumpled piece of paper into my pencil case. Lines of floating text drifted across my vision. [The paper is filled with answers. The school heartthrob has reported it, and the proctor will be here any second!] [As long as they find it, his admission slot will be canceled immediately!] [Serves this bookworm right for standing in our heartthrob’s way. The proctor is his aunt. He’s doomed today!] The next second, the proctor stormed into the classroom and headed straight for my seat. “Someone has reported you for cheating,” she said sharply. “Empty your pencil case. We’re checking it.” Without a word, I turned the case upside down. A few pens fell onto the desk, but there was no paper. The campus heartthrob’s eyes widened in disbelief. “How is that possible? I–” Before he could finish, a slip of paper covered in answers slid out of his own pocket and dropped onto the floor. What they didn’t know was that I was born with a weird power called “Misfortune Rebound.” Anyone who tried to harm me would end up suffering the consequences themselves.