Shirley

During a turf war, I took a bullet for Daniel Wilson. When I woke up in the family hospital after three years in a coma, I discovered that Eva, the showgirl I'd saved from a black market auction, had usurped my place in the Wilson family. My husband Daniel, the family's Underboss, saw that I was awake, and his first words to me were: "The entire underworld recognizes Eva as the woman by my side now. Why did you have to wake up at a time like this?" "Alice and I both love her. She's the one who's been by our side these past three years. And you? You've just been a body in a hospital bed, absent from our lives." "We're through, Sarah." Watching the man I once loved so deeply speak such heartless words, I didn't put up a fight. I simply nodded and gave him what he wanted. But he had no idea the Wilson family was about to burn to the ground.

My husband, Kieran, is the heir to the Thompson family. In the three years of our arranged marriage, he has never once touched me. I told myself he was just cold and guarded, that I could find a way into his heart, little by little. Then one day he came home drunk, pinned me to the bed for the first time, and called out his first love's name. "Camilla, all these years... I've thought of you every second of every day..." That was when I knew. All the passion and love he possessed was already spent on another woman. I pushed him away, burned every photo of us, and went to a high-end club in New York full of handsome male models. Nine months later, I walked into the airport with my newborn baby in my arms. Later, Kieran searched the world for me, his eyes bloodshot. He asked in a trembling voice why I never told him I was pregnant, why I wouldn't let him see our baby. I glanced at him and gave a light, breezy smile. "Who said the baby was yours?"

Rocco Falcone, who is the Falcone family's Don and my so-called husband, hangs up on me for what feels like the 99th time. Having been diagnosed with leukemia, I haul my ravaged body into the family lawyer's office. "I'm here to file for a divorce," I said. … When Rocco hears about it, he barges in with my family ten minutes later. The moment he enters, he slaps me. "Did you use the emergency line just to ruin Sofia's big night? Are you out of your mind?" Lily Marone, my mom, snatches the diagnosis right out of my hand and skims through it. She chuckles dismissively. "Did you fake being sick just to get attention? How many lies have you told since you were a kid, Claire?" Sofia Moretti holds Rocco's arm with tears in her eyes. "Forgive me, Claire. I shouldn't have taken the position. Please stop hurting yourself and Rocco." I wipe the blood from my mouth and turn back to the lawyer. "I have no family left. Please hurry with the divorce paperwork. I need it settled before my cremation in three days."

The night before my fiancé, Soren, and I were supposed to leave for Northern Europe to start our new life, the sounds of a lively discussion drifted from his private club. "Christ, Boss, are you insane? Why the sudden marriage alliance with the Rosetti family to make a play for Italy? Didn't you say you were getting out of the life with Abby and heading north?" Soren leaned back into a leather sofa, his voice nonchalant and muffled by a cloud of smoke. "Plans change. Besides, remember, I'm the one who made her who she is." "Once she sees the new empire I'm building, that little canary will come flying right back to my cage. The woman can't live without me." I stood in the shadows of the club, a wine glass in my hand, a dull ache blooming in my chest. The anniversary gift I had so carefully chosen for Soren was still in my purse, waiting for me to give it to him. I slipped out of the smoke-filled club, tossed the gift into the nearest trash can, and booked a one-way ticket to Northern Europe. But what he didn't know was that just as he could betray our future for Monica, I could abandon him for mine. All those years we spent dancing with death were never just for his sake.

El día de mi boda, mi prometido miembro de la mafia, Ryder Conti, hizo que sus hombres me impidieran la entrada a la iglesia. En cambio, caminó hacia el altar con otra mujer del brazo. Por si fuera poco, me hizo encogimiento de hombros a través de las puertas de hierro. —Emilia, los Conti necesitan un heredero, y Carmela lleva un Rossi en su vientre. Una vez que use la influencia de los Rossi para consolidar mi posición en la Familia, me divorciaré de ella. Tú seguirás siendo mi mujer. Todos pensaron que asentiría obedientemente y esperaría a que regresara. Durante diez años, lo había amado más que a mi vida, incluso rompiendo lazos con mi familia por él. Sin embargo, esa misma noche subí a un jet privado a Sicile para aceptar un matrimonio concertado con el Padrino de la familia Vettori. Desde entonces, desaparecí sin dejar rastro del mundo de Ryder Conti. Tres años después, regresé a New Valley con mi esposo y mi hijo para lidiar con un traidor en la Familia. En esa ocasión, Zayn tuvo un asunto de última hora así que envió a sus hombres a recogerme en su lugar. Nunca esperé ver una cara de mi pasado. Ryder me miró con una sonrisa burlona. —¿Ya te divertiste suficiente? Ya que has vuelto arrastrándote, esto es perfecto. El hijo de Carmela necesita una cocinera. Tú puedes quedarte el trabajo. Espera, ¿me acaba de llamar a mí, la Donna más respetada del bajo mundo, la cocinera?

My fiancé stood me up at our rehearsal dinner at the Sterling family estate. Just before midnight, I got a message from Miles. Kate's pregnant. It's not my kid. But I have to marry her. The kid needs the Sterling name to be seen as legitimate. Our wedding is off for the next three years. We have to keep our distance until then. You need to handle the Alliance elders. Whatever you do, protect Kate from them. Tell everyone you're the one who called it off. I stared at the screen and typed back a single word. Fine. I was done with him. I never wanted to marry him in the first place.

Pour la centième fois, mon compagnon Alpha, Ryker, avait usé de son autorité sur moi, me menaçant de rejeter notre lien si je ne me sacrifiais pas pour ma sœur jumelle, Ivy. Je n'avais ni pleuré ni protesté. J'avais simplement signé les documents de rejet du lien de compagnon. J'avais cédé l'Alpha que j'avais aimé pendant dix ans à ma sœur. Quelques jours plus tard, Ivy avait provoqué un scandale lors du banquet de l'Alliance des meutes, humiliant la fille de l'Alpha de Silvermoon. Une fois encore, je m'étais avancée pour prendre sa place, supportant la douleur d'une marque d'argent défigurante. Plus tard, lorsqu'ils avaient exigé que je teste moi-même la sécurité du rituel de régénération de l'Esprit du Loup pour ma sœur, j'avais accepté avec un sourire. Mes parents, tous deux Bêtas, les yeux rougis, m'avaient dit que je devenais enfin la grande sœur que j'étais censée être. Même Ryker, qui s'était toujours montré si distant avec moi, s'était tenu devant la cave. Il avait doucement caressé ma joue — pour la première fois depuis si longtemps — et avait murmuré d'une voix tendre : « Harper, n'aie pas peur. Dès que l'épreuve sera terminée, je t'emmènerai voir les aurores au lac de la Déesse de la Lune. » Mais il ne savait pas que, quelle que soit l'issue de l'épreuve, il ne me reverrait jamais. Mon esprit-loup était déjà en train de s'éteindre. Plus rien ne pouvait me sauver. Cette fois, lorsque je fermerais les yeux, ce serait pour toujours.

I was once the cherished princess of the Silver Moon Pack, adored by all. Back then, I fell for Kael, one of the pack's rogues. But when I grew bored of our little fling, I cast him aside without a second thought. Years later, my pack was destroyed and my parents were killed. Kael, however, had risen to become the Alpha of a powerful new pack. He claimed me, forcing me to become his Luna. Everyone said I was lucky, but they didn't know the truth. They didn't know that he brought different she-wolves back to our territory every night. And through our mate bond, every moment of their intimacy seared my soul like a blazing fire. I never cried, never protested, simply enduring it all in silence. But my silence only made Kael more volatile. This time, he went a step further. He got his Beta, Chole, pregnant. Still, I remained calm. Enraged, Kael slammed me against a rough stone wall. "Elara, do you love me or not?" I had thought his outbursts were a twisted sign of his love, that he was waiting for me to break. But then, Chole and I went into labor at the same time. I begged him to take me to the pack hospital first, and wanted to tell him that I had no choice when I rejected him back then. He pulled me into a tight embrace, only to shove me away moments later. "See? I knew you would break." "Drop the act. Do you really think you're still that high and mighty princess?" He ignored my pleas, ignored the life of his own pup inside me. He swept Chole into his arms and left without a backward glance. His cold voice echoed through our mind-link. "Don't worry, I'm not abandoning you." "You deserve to feel a fraction of the pain I felt when you cast me aside. Savor it."

I have been dead for seven years. For seven years, a rare plague had ravaged the Silver Moon Kingdom. The new Luna, Lilith, wasn't immune either. She coughed up blood daily, her old wounds weeping anew with every full moon. Even in death, to the wolf packs, I was still the jinx. The false Luna who had beguiled the Alpha King. The cursed one destined to bring ruin to the kingdom. The entire kingdom begged Alpha King Kaelan to banish my vengeful spirit. My former mate was in the royal palace, softly consoling his current Luna, my sister. "Lilith, don't be afraid. If she insists on tormenting you with her curse even after death, then I will tear her inner wolf to shreds. You'll never be threatened by her again." But when they set foot in the Rogue Lands where I had been exiled, they found no wandering spirit of mine. Before them knelt the corpses of dozens of she-wolves, arranged neatly before my crude grave. They had all been exiled as "sinners", yet now, in death, they offered their final act of devotion. There was no trace of any spirit. There was only a small girl, about six years old, sitting beside the tombstone and clutching a photograph of me from when I was alive. Her ice-blue eyes were a perfect reflection of Kaelan's. "You're too late," she said. "Her inner wolf returned to the Moon Goddess long ago." "I've only been waiting here to get justice for my mother."

The night of our engagement party, I found my best friend playing a dangerous game with my fiancé. The casino on our family's private yacht was where I found them. Clara was sitting on the lap of my fiancé, Killian, the Falcone family heir. Killian held a sharp family dagger, its tip snagging the thin strap of her dress. The blade traced a path along her collarbone. The slightest pressure would snap the silk. It was a dangerous, intimate scene. I stepped forward with a frown, but Killian just scoffed. "It's just a little game to liven things up, Principessa. Don't be so tense." Clara's eyes narrowed, her voice dripping with false sweetness. "We're just playing a traditional family game. The knife game. You don't mind, do you, sweetie?" I was about to speak, but Killian's expression hardened. "We just got engaged and you're already trying to control me?" So I said nothing. I just drew my custom pistol from its holster on my thigh. "So, it's a game," I said. "Then let's play for something real."