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Maya Picori didn't have a normal childhood. After her father died when she was only ten years old, Maya's mother became a sex worker at home. There were always naked men walking in their house. Maya was just curious about the things her mother did. But curiosity can be dangerous. Men will be lying, taking advantage of her innocence. And now she is paying the price. Tears are running down my face. 'Mom, I'm pregnant.' I felt the pain she left behind by slapping me across my face. I lower my head. I don't want her to hit me again, just by looking at her. I take a step back, now with my back against the door, I have no way to go. 'No, you're not! You told me you didn't have a boyfriend! Don't lie to me, Maya!' she screams at my face. 'Look at me you slut!' I was kicked out of the house that day. I'm 15 years old, pregnant and homeless. This is my story. It's full of love, lies and betrayal.
MAYA
I had been running for a while now. I did something stupid. The secret is out. It was not my intension for my boss to find me while hugging the toilet yesterday. She thought I was just lazy, taking another break after my lunch ended. She hated me from the beginning, but only gave me a job because she knew my mother. I threw up three times before she helped me to the sink and cleaned my face. She looked up to me, my boss Chrissie was an old lady and really tiny. She asked me one question:
'Are you pregnant?'
I assumed she was just crazy and I was just getting sick. But what if I wasn't? I took a test out of the grocery store I worked at to be sure.
I run upstairs to the third floor of the building and open the front door. I found my mother in the kitchen, preparing dinner. Her blond curly hair up in a messy bun. I looked a lot like her, but with darker hair and skintone. My stepdad Vin is sitting on the couch, watching a tv show about gold hunters. Of course, with a bottle of beer in his hands, like always. He loves beer.
My mother looks up from the veggies she was cutting and sees me standing, sweating and panting against the door. 'Maya, what's wrong? Did something happen?'
'I did something stupid.' My eyes go from my mother to Vin and back again. They both look confused.
My mother lays down the knife she was holding and walks away from the counter. 'What did you do?' My mother has always been strict. Go to church, do your chores, don't dress slutty, no boyfriends, all that kind of shit. She was not prepared for what I'm about to tell her. All her radars are going wild in her head now.
I just shake my head, while I feel tears forming in my eyes. 'I didn't want to tell them, but Chrissie found out. I couldn't lie anymore. I don't know what to do mom.'
'Maya Picori, what the hell did you do?' Only anger was coming from her now. I know this look. She was going to hit me if I lied.
Tears are running down my face. 'Mom, I'm pregnant.' I felt the pain she left behind by slapping me across my face. I lower my head. I don't want her to hit me again just by looking at her. I take a step back, now with my back against the door, I have no way to go.
'No, you're not! You told me you didn't have a boyfriend! Don't lie to me, Maya!' she screams at my face. 'Look at me you slut!'
I look up, totally shaking with fear for her. She didn't care for me, not anymore. Not for a long time now.
'I didn't lie, mom.' I couldn't even step away when she tilted up her arm to hit me again. My cheek burned and I almost fell over to the ground when she hit me.
'You are a slut! You are a foul creature. I'm ashamed of you. How could you even stand here? You are a whore, a slut, Maya.'
'What did you say to me?' I suddenly felt my anger getting stronger. How could she say that to me? After all, she is the hooker, the slut, the sex worker. Well, at least she was. For almost five years she got paid to have sex with men. If it wasn't for my stepfather Vin, she still would have been.
'Well, you heard me!' My mother takes a step back, with disgust for me.
I look over to Vin. He hasn't said anything this whole time. He isn't moving. It's like he's been frozen onto the couch. 'Vin please, say something.' I beg him, but he ignores me and only looks at my mother with pain in his eyes. 'Please.'
'Maya, leave him alone. He is not your father.'
I want to scream. She doesn't know anything. 'But mom...' I can't finish my sentence. I fell to my right when my mother hits me again. My head hit the small table next to the door. The faze with cute little flowers in it, tumbles down after me. Tiny little pieces of glass lay all around me. Black dots are forming in my eyes, until the only thing I see is black.
I wake up laying on the couch. My head hurts like hell. Not only my cheek burns from being hit by my mother, but there is something on the left side of my head. My hand is touching something wet. I pick it up. I almost scream when I see a white little towel with my blood on it. Then I remember hitting my head. I slowly turn my head to the door and see the table, but the pieces of glass and the flowers are gone.
I can hear my mother crying in her bedroom. When she told me, Vin asked her to move in with her, I never could have thought I was going to live in an apartment this small. The couch almost filled the whole apartment. There is a tv hanging on the wall, a blue rug, and the now empty table next to the door. The kitchen is next to the tv, with only a sink, a coffee maker and a fridge. The counter we also use to eat from. It barely fit three chairs. But above all: Vin's apartment only had one bedroom. I had to sleep on the couch for almost three years now. Did I need to go to the bathroom, I had to go through their bedroom. Did I need clothes, I had to walk past their bed to get it. They slept naked by the way, my mom and Vin. Vin was nice to me, maybe too nice. He took me to fun trips, like the beach and Disneyland. Fun thing my mother didn't take me to.
'I don't know what to do with her.' my mother says. Once again, the thin walls of their bedroom behind my couch are a nightmare. I can hear everything they say, even when they talk soft to each other.
'She is your daughter.' Vin said to her. 'Who is she been sleeping with?'
'I don't know.' My mother's cries, but are being silenced. Great, they're kissing now. I heard enough. She only cared who I was sleeping with. She didn't even ask me how far I was with my pregnancy or how I felt about it. If I was keeping it or taking it away. She really thought I was a whore. She wouldn't believe even if I told her the truth. I ignore the pain in my heart and walk to the fridge to fill a big glass with Fanta. It's cold and exactly what I need right now. I sit down on the floor and take a big sip. Then I hear the sound of their bed squeaking. Really? I told them I was pregnant and they're having sex? I close my eyes and lift my hands up to my ears.
'Oh, Vin. Harder, harder.' my mother screams in pleasure.
I don't want to cry, but I do. Is it the hormones already? Or is it because they have sex, with knowing I could hear everything?
After a while the squeaking sound stopped. I drink the rest of my Fanta. Then my mother steps out of her room, wearing nothing but a pink silk bathrobe.
'Here.' she throws my schoolbag next to me on the ground. I look at it in disbelieve. What does it mean? 'Vin and I talked.' She sighed and exhaled a few times. Then Vin hugged her from behind, giving her strength to say what she needs to say. 'We decided you can't live here anymore. I packed your bag with some clothes and other things you'll need. There is enough money for you to take a bus to Tucson to go to your aunt's house. We can't raise a baby here and we don't want too either. I can't even look at you.' She buries her face in Vin's chest, crying again.
'Maya, just take your bag and go. I want you out of my house.' Vin finally spoke with a soft but angry voice. I just looked at him with tears in my eyes. I had hope he would talk my mother out of this, but he didn't. 'Now, Maya.'
I pick up my schoolbag and go. Yes, I'm fifteen years old, I'm pregnant and now homeless.
All I knew was: My life would never be the same again....
What if you actually have nine lives and only have four left? My name is Carmen and this shit all started at the day I was born. There was a witch that cursed me to this fate. The only way to survive is when I turn eighteen with still one or more lives left. But how older I get, how harder it is to survive. Not only a group of scientists are looking for me, to test me, cut me open, to let me die again. Now there is someone else looking for me too. A priest who believes I made a deal with the devil. How am I ever going to live when everyone wants me dead? Ps: there will be some cursing about and against god. I'm so very sorry if I offend you in any way. Pps: I'm Dutch, English is not my first language.
What if your family is one of the most famous families of the word, all but you? Your whole life you are kept hidden away. They threat you like dirt, like you don't even matter. While all you want is to be seen. Not by the whole world like your family members, but by your mom, the one that supposed to take care of you but hasn't spoken to you in months. This is the reality of Shelly Weekland. Mistreated, bullied, abused, tortured, ignored. While her family is living the happy life in their own realityshow, their lives aren't that perfect when the camera's are off. Every single one of them has their own secrets, their own stories and somehow Shelly knows them all. But is it safe to know so much?
July Greek (18) grew up in a world of money problems, alcohol and drugs. She has a brother and two sisters, all from different fathers but the same mother. Their lives weren't easy. They have been homeless, they have been abused, they have been mistreated and drugged. They don't tell anyone about their lives and keep to themselves. Oldest brother Sept moved away a long time ago, leaving oldest sister Marchi to the task of taking care of mom and her sisters July and Deci. But then one day mother gets arrested and all goes to shit. Their house got broken into, Marchi gets fired and child protective services tries to take Deci away. Men are hunting them. Their mom is hiding something and they think the sisters know where it is. It's not safe for them to stay home. Who are those men? What has mom been hiding from them? Who can they trust? Where is Sept? The hunt begins. Ps: I'm Dutch, English is not my first language. I'm sorry if I made any spelling mistakes.
Nova Hawk has it all. Money, reputation, a loving family and amazing friends. But she lost it all when she wakes up in the middle of the night after her eighteenth birthday party. Someone is in her room. She gets kidnapped by a group of six men that form a rockband that tour around America, giving concerts along the way. The lead singer Brad is the scariest of the six men, he also claims to be her biological father. After a while Nova finds herself enjoying the freedom she never had. She learns to play electric guitar, she travels to places she never went and feels closer to her mother that ever. Will she choose to stay in the live of rock, sex and alcohol? Or will she escape her horny father and friends to live with her younger sister at her aunt's house? Ps: I'm Dutch, English is not my first language. I'm sorry if I made any spelling mistakes. Pps: Be aware of strong language, abuse and rapings. Don't read it if it's too dark.
COALESCENCE OF THE FIVE SERIES BOOK ONE: THE 5-TIME REJECTED GAMMA & THE LYCAN KING BOOK TWO: THE ROGUES WHO WENT ROGUE BOOK THREE: THE INDOMITABLE HUNTRESS & THE HARDENED DUKE *** BOOK ONE: After being rejected by 5 mates, Gamma Lucianne pleaded with the Moon Goddess to spare her from any further mate-bonds. To her dismay, she is being bonded for the sixth time. What’s worse is that her sixth-chance mate is the most powerful creature ruling over all werewolves and Lycans - the Lycan King himself. She is certain, dead certain, that a rejection would come sooner or later, though she hopes for it to be sooner. King Alexandar was ecstatic to meet his bonded mate, and couldn’t thank their Goddess enough for gifting him someone so perfect. However, he soon realizes that this gift is reluctant to accept him, and more than willing to sever their bond. He tries to connect with her but she seems so far away. He is desperate to get intimate with her but she seems reluctant to open up to him. He tries to tell her that he is willing to commit to her for the rest of his life but she doesn’t seem to believe him. He is pleading for a chance: a chance to get to know her; a chance to show her that he’s different; and a chance to love her. But when not-so-subtle crushes, jealous suitors, self-entitled Queen-wannabes, an old flame, a silent protector and a past wedding engagement threaten to jeopardize their relationship, will Lucianne and Xandar still choose to be together? Is their love strong enough to overcome everything and everyone? Or will Lucianne resort to enduring a sixth rejection from the one person she thought she could entrust her heart with?
Elena, once a pampered heiress, suddenly lost everything when the real daughter framed her, her fiancé ridiculed her, and her adoptive parents threw her out. They all wanted to see her fall. But Elena unveiled her true identity: the heiress of a massive fortune, famed hacker, top jewelry designer, secret author, and gifted doctor. Horrified by her glorious comeback, her adoptive parents demanded half her newfound wealth. Elena exposed their cruelty and refused. Her ex pleaded for a second chance, but she scoffed, “Do you think you deserve it?” Then a powerful magnate gently proposed, “Marry me?”
On her wedding day, Khloe’s sister connived with her groom, framing her for a crime she didn’t commit. She was sentenced to three years in prison, where she endured much suffering. When Khloe was finally released, her evil sister used their mother to coerce Khloe into an indecent liaison with an elderly man. As fate would have it, Khloe crossed paths with Henrik, the dashing yet ruthless mobster who sought to alter the course of her life. Despite Henrik’s cold exterior, he cherished Khloe like no other. He helped her take retribution from her tormentors and kept her from being bullied again.
Linsey was stood up by her groom to run off with another woman. Furious, she grabbed a random stranger and declared, "Let's get married!" She had acted on impulse, realizing too late that her new husband was the notorious rascal, Collin. The public laughed at her, and even her runaway ex offered to reconcile. But Linsey scoffed at him. "My husband and I are very much in love!" Everyone thought she was delusional. Then Collin was revealed to be the richest man in the world. In front of everyone, he got down on one knee and held up a stunning diamond ring. "I look forward to our forever, honey."
She was a world-renowned divine doctor, the CEO of a publicly traded company, the most formidable female mercenary, and a top-tier tech genius. Marissa, a titan with a plethora of secret identities, had hidden her true stature to marry a seemingly impoverished young man. However, on the eve of their wedding, her fiance, who was actually the lost heir to a wealthy dynasty, called off the engagement and subjected her to degradation and mockery. Upon the revelation of her concealed identities, her ex-fiance was left stunned and desperately pleaded for her forgiveness. Standing protectively before Marissa, an incredibly influential and fearsome magnate declared, "This is my wife. Who would dare try to claim her?"
After three secretive years of marriage, Eliana never met her enigmatic husband until she was served with divorce papers and learned of his extravagant pursuit of another. She snapped back to reality and secured a divorce. Thereafter, Eliana unveiled her various personas: an esteemed doctor, legendary secret agent, master hacker, celebrated designer, adept race car driver, and distinguished scientist. As her diverse talents became known, her ex-husband was consumed by remorse. Desperately, he pleaded, "Eliana, give me another chance! All my properties, even my life, are yours."