Empty Smiles

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.

Ever since my CEO husband returned from his business trip, he's been acting strange. His hugs are stiff, and his kisses are empty. Even when we're intimate, something just feels off. When I ask him why, he just smiles and says he's tired from work. But everything falls into place the moment I see his first love stepping out of his Maybach, her body covered in hickeys. That's when I finally give up. I don't argue or cry. I just smile… and tear up the 99th love coupon. Once, he wrote me a hundred love letters. On our wedding day, we made a promise—those letters would become 100 love coupons. As long as there were coupons left, I'd grant him anything he asked. Over the four years of our marriage, every time he left me for his first love, he'd cash in one. But what he doesn't know is that there are only two left.

For eight years, I was the ghost in Lorenzo Valenti's empire. By day, I was his executive assistant, the engine of his criminal enterprise. By night, I was the most submissive bird in his gilded cage, and the nameless body in his bed. I loved him with a devotion that bordered on madness, a foolish flame I'd nurtured since I was a scholarship student pulled into his orbit. I believed my quiet love could one day melt the ice around his heart. I was wrong. The day his unforgettable first love, Isabella, returned, the man I knew vanished. The rare smiles once reserved for me were now all for her. My presence by his side was erased, replaced by hers. Even when she framed me, he believed her without hesitation. He chose her, again and again. I submitted my resignation. He signed it without looking. He thought I'd crawl back, broken and begging. He was wrong. While he was busy playing house with his "cuore mio", I was quietly packing away my life, preparing to vanish from his world forever.

For the hundredth time, my dad hints at us that he really wants to become a grandfather during New Year Eve's dinner. Lydia Cooper, my wife who has insisted on living a childless life for the past decade, just smiles before placing more food on his plate. After dinner, she ducks out to the balcony and murmurs into her phone, "Be good, now. Mommy will visit you a few days later." I can feel my blood running cold in my veins as I stand in the living room with a glass of water. As I approach Lydia, I do my best to keep my voice light and teasing. "I just heard you say the word 'mommy.' Do you have an illegitimate child out there somewhere?" Lydia rubs her nose, her tone now awkward. "You might be hearing things. It was just my friend's child…" My heart plunges into my stomach pit at her words. I've been in love with Lydia for ten years. It's only natural that I know how she acts whenever she's lying.

Lila only wanted to fit in for this one night and this one party. So she had one fake boyfriend to keep her from feeling invisible in a sea of confident smiles and perfect couples. It was supposed to be simple until her fake date ditched her under the blinding strobe lights, leaving her stranded and humiliated in the middle of the hockey team’s Freshers Welcome Party. But humiliation took an unexpected turn when Ethan, her best friend’s brother, and worse, her brother’s best friend stepped in to save her. That moment should have been the start of something new. Instead, it became the beginning of everything she never saw coming. Because while her heart recognized something in his eyes, his stayed shuttered, cold and unreachable. And just when she thought she was ready to forget, the fake boyfriend returns, this time, asking for something real. Between two hearts that shouldn’t collide and a past that refuses to stay buried, Lila must choose: follow the safety of what she knows, or risk everything for what she can’t seem to let go of?

Have you ever pain so raw it feels like your hear is being dragged out of your heart? The type that breaks into pieces you could never find because they are lost to the wind of scorn and shame. Cassandra carries her pain like a weight on her shoulder everyday despite her smiles and jokes, too young to remember what it felt like to have parents before she lost hers to an accident her grandparents do not like talking about she is trying to find the little good life has in store for her. But she is given a brutal awakening when the one person she thought would bring her much needed happiness tosses her aside. So Cassandra runs away from it all, she runs far enough to never feel the despair looming behind her. And she runs into the arms of Ray, handsome, cocky, but caring, considerate, and loving. Cassandra is about to find out love works without the mate ties and build bonds with the most unlikely people. Cassandra is about to find the love acceptance she always yearned for in the most unlikely place.

They take girls and women in the depth of the night, when the moon is as high and powerful in the sky. They sit back only ready to hunt at their time crawling through the streets of our tiny town, the people all quiver in fear doing all sorts of spiritual and religion tailsman like marking their doors with the cross symbols to stay safe from the beasts... But that dosen't scare away the beast but no one wants to be the next girl or woman people pity over being mauled by the beast. No one wants to be the next girl who was found dead in the woods last week with her body parts missing. Garbage trash and sewage and many others is the next best remedy to use to hide their smell since they noticed the beast rely on their sense of smell. No one wants to be the mother, or father or sister that wakes up in an empty bed to the loved ones... The humans just want to be safe from the beasts, if only their ancestors hadn't signed some kind of treaty that made them reign over the humans now.. They once underestimated the beast but now no one wants to take the risk, everyone is advised to stay in their house under their covers to protect themselves from the beast...

Isabella Cohen had better things to do than listen to her father go on and on about her getting married to the latest man who had impressed him, as if her father wasn't fucking his assistant every Thursday and Saturday. So, when she was given the choice to either marry Ethan Hawthorn (the biggest asshole on the planet with an even bigger ego), or be disowned, you better believe she packed her bags, transferred money to her secret account and took the first plane from New York to Italy. Stephan Ferrari was bored. Now you might think being head of the Italian Mafia was exciting and full of adventure, but you would be wrong. Stephan had killed all his enemies, partied for a week straight at the best clubs in Italy (which all belonged to him) and fucked women of all types, yet he will still left with an empty feeling inside. So, when he got report that the leader of the American Mafia's daughter was seen at Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport, well he may have found his new Queen. And if he could ransom said queen to toy with the Cohen family, then that was an added bonus

When the notorious business machine Derrick Hunt crossed path with our sassy June, It was only the beginning of an epic romance. They didn't exactly have a pretty first impression. He was dark, She was innocent He reviled in power, She believed in love He was empty, She was broken He was ruthless, She was hopeful They were poles apart in every aspect but that's when destiny decided to play cupid. When June met Mr Arrogant for the first time she was appalled, Why? Well, Derrick was only a name for her. For all, she knew he was her Andrew cause of their uncanny resemblance. Andrew was supposedly the love of June's life. She hit rock bottom when she found out he died in an accident a few years ago. So then Why does Mr Hunt look like him? Were they related? Can Andrew and Derrick be the same person but in what world would that be possible? What was the mystery behind their resemblance? Can June ever find the real truth? Can June fall in love again? Read more to find out. Warning: Addictive storyline and characters. Status: Completed. Copyright © HappieGeetie21

Emma Blanton twists her ankle, and my fiance, Matthew Harrison, insists on becoming her personal chauffeur. When I voice my disapproval, he makes an even more outrageous decision. He moves Emma into my apartment at Bellemont District—the apartment I bought with my own money. He argues like he's the victim, "You're being selfish. She's injured, and living alone is too dangerous for her right now. I'm just being a decent human being. "And that place is sitting empty anyway. Having someone there helps with security." On the morning we were supposed to get our marriage certificate, he doesn't show up. I call, expecting apologies. Instead, I hear, "Emma had a fever this morning—101 Fahrenheit. I had to take her to urgent care. We can postpone getting the marriage certificate. Her health can't wait." To hell with postponing! I grab my phone and call David Rockefeller. "Do you want to marry me? Then get to City Hall. I'm serious—right now."