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A love story that ended in tears. A cheating scandal. A heartbroken man. A dark past. Venita Kent is desperate to find a job but she keeps hitting brick walls. Until she doesn't. A company has finally hired her and she walks in to find herself the personal assistant to the man she was in love with eight years ago. He hates her, for good reason because she shattered his heart to dust and he is only so happy to make her life a living hell. Amidst unresolved emotions, their new dynamics, her twisted present, and her dark past will these two lovers find each other again?
Venita
The cab pulls up in front of my home and I get out and fish around inside my purse. The pathetic jingle of a coin or three tinkling together greets me. I pay the cabbie and then he is on his way. With a sigh, I shut my wallet and stuff it into the back pocket of my worn jeans.
Home, I think, staring up at the apartment complex sprawled in front of me.
The word apartment complex is way too luxurious for the place I call home. The building is on the poorer side of Los Angeles. Just like everywhere else, there is the elite, expensive side where the socialites stay, the orderly side where the average men stay and then there is this side. This is the side that everyone wishes was coloured out of the maps.
I continue forward, my shoes slapping against the floor, loud in the silence of the night. My heels are in my hand as they are every other night. After spending the entire day on my feet in heels, I would rather walk barefoot home than spend one more second in those damn traps.
I push our huge main door in. There should be a doorman here, or at least a guard. Our landlord does not have the extra penny to waste on security for people like us though. This building is inhabited by people that others should guard against.
Unlike the outside of the building, the inside is quite noisy. The thin walls offer the residents no privacy. I hear a couple arguing, a baby crying, someone's phone ringing. The tiny lobby is also unmanned, and in fact many people use it to keep the few broken and useless things they don't want anymore. It will all be emptied, eventually. I walk faster, in a hurry to get out of the halls and into the relative safety of my apartment which is on the third floor.
"Shoot." I say, glancing at the huge wall clock hoisted just before the stairs. It is a miracle the thing still works. I am quite sure the batteries have not been changed in more than a year. I am later than usual today, but I did take up two shifts and still stayed an hour extra. It is past midnight.
The stairs creak under my feet like the groaning of ghosts, my weight causing each one to sag suspiciously. They will collapse one day, and I had better not be the one on the stairs when that happens.
On the second floor, a door opens and someone hurries forward, one of my neighbours, Maria. Her head is down and her hair is covering most of her face but I still glimpse the spot of colour on her face around her eye when she brushes past me. I make no comments, I simply continue to the next flight of stairs. In a neighbourhood like ours, it is much better to pretend like your neighbours don't exist. Nobody stops anyone to make conversation, we simply brush by each other, our suspicion trained on the other person, alert in case they try to do anything funny.
I encounter no one else as I hurry towards my door, jamming my keys into the keyhole and turning. The pile of papers in front of my door is unmistakable, my daily mail. The mail is the only system that still works efficiently in this building; the bills will not pay themselves. I drop into a crouch and gather the handful before I push into my apartment and shut the door behind me, hitting the switch and turning the lock simultaneously. Turning around, I behold my home.
It is tiny. I have no sitting room, there is just my bedroom which has its adjoining bathroom and kitchen. What else could a girl ask for? It is small, so small that I cannot take eight steps along the wall but it is clean and it is home. I sling my wallet and the papers onto my perfectly laid bed and go into the bathroom to freshen up. The makeup goes first, a light coating on my face more to protect myself from the rest of the world than the other way round. Waiting tables has certain expectations, cloth-wise and look-wise.
You can be the type to auction your body as much as your tray; these people have their boobs practically hanging out and skirts so tight and so short you could drop a pen and get an eyeful on your way back up. They get loads of tips at the end of the day so everyone's happy. If not that, you can choose to auction a certain part of your body, in my case my legs which have received a compliment or two in the past. I don't complain about my tips, sometimes they are the ones that pay my bills and not the actual pay. If not those two, you could decide to wear full length trousers and long-sleeved tops in the heat of the town but in a place like this, where the only person hungrier than you is the person next to you, that is almost not an option at all. The makeup is a mutual agreement between us all. Most of the other ladies wear it to look more attractive. I wear it because I cannot stand to live such a miserable life in my element. It is my war paint of a sort, a flimsy shield between myself and the world but I will take that rather than go fresh-faced and vulnerable in my irrational opinion.
After cleaning off the makeup, I have a quick shower. The hot water has long since stopped working and even though the night is a little chilly, I have bathed enough times to be used to it.
After, I stare at myself in the mirror. I look worn out and tired. There are dark circles beneath my eyes and my eyes are dim, like a shutter has been pulled over them.
"Why is my life so shit?" I ask my reflection.
If this was a fairytale, there would be a shimmer and my reflection would begin speaking to me. She would tell me that great treasure awaits me and I'm destined to be fucking rich. I huff and turn away. Fairytales don't exist.
A contract marriage brings two people that never met together. Hayden doesn't have time for marriage, she has a dynasty to rule and unruly brothers to keep in check. Tristan is a dedicated bachelor, the last thing on his mind is marriage, and especially not to the mysterious veiled woman who is rumoured to be hideously disfigured. She is not his type, and yet Tristan cannot get the thought of having her out of his mind. No matter how much she denies it, she falls for his seduction with every passing day. Neither of them is ready for the flames of desire that threaten to consume them. With her life and her inheritance in jeopardy and everything at stake, is he enough to save her from the waiting jaws of her demise?
Vekra is just a regular wolf in a regular pack, but that is until her father betrays all werewolves and her pack becomes outlawed. She must find a way to redeem herself and her pack and she knows just who can do that for her; her mate. Alpha Zaden is everything she has ever imagined her mate would be. He is hot, he is dark, he is sinfully attractive, he is powerful, and he does not want her. Rejected, unworthy, Vekra must find a way past the pain and the hurt that have become her daily mana. She must do everything in her power to bring her mate to her side. But what happens if she fails?
Death is a lullaby, and only she can hear it. She was just a normal girl with average dreams and average problems. That is, until the line between life and death blurred for her. Stuck in life, undying, Maria de Cavinne is forced to seek answers and see ugly truths in places that she had least expected it. Julius Allyrh will do anything to save his friend and king. When his journey takes him to the doorsteps of a woman that is nothing like any he has ever met, he will do anything to get her to break all of her scruples, for very selfish purposes. The potent elixir of emotions that grow between them is wrong, dangerous and forbidden. As time goes on and they both unravel truths behind dynasties, see ancient prophecies come to life, it will be a constant struggle to stay above the dark executioner's blow. Will they survive it, or will their feelings be the end of them?
It was supposed to be a marriage of convenience, but Carrie made the mistake of falling in love with Kristopher. When the time came that she needed him the most, her husband was in the company of another woman. Enough was enough. Carrie chose to divorce Kristopher and move on with her life. Only when she left did Kristopher realize how important she was to him. In the face of his ex-wife’s countless admirers, Kristopher offered her 20 million dollars and proposed a new deal. “Let’s get married again.”
Her fiance and her best friend worked together and set her up. She lost everything and died in the street. However, she was reborn. The moment she opened her eyes, her husband was trying to strangle her. Luckily, she survived that. She signed the divorce agreement without hesitation and was ready for her miserable life. To her surprise, her mother in this life left her a great deal of money. She turned the tables and avenged herself. Everything went well in her career and love when her ex-husband came to her.
After three loveless years, Neil's betrayal deeply wounded Katelyn. She wasted no time in getting rid of that scoundrel! After the divorce, she devoted herself to career pursuits. Rising to prominence as a top designer, skilled doctor, and brilliant hacker, she became a revered icon. Neil, realizing his grave mistake, tried in vain to win her back, only to witness her magnificent wedding to another. As their vows were broadcast on the world's largest billboard, Vincent slid a ring onto Katelyn's finger and declared, "Katelyn is now my wife, a priceless treasure. Let all who covet her beware!"
Everyone was shocked to the bones when the news of Rupert Benton's engagement broke out. It was surprising because the lucky girl was said to be a plain Jane, who grew up in the countryside and had nothing to her name. One evening, she showed up at a banquet, stunning everyone present. "Wow, she's so beautiful!" All the men drooled, and the women got so jealous. What they didn't know was that this so-called country girl was actually an heiress to a billion-dollar empire. It wasn't long before her secrets came to light one after the other. The elites couldn't stop talking about her. "Holy smokes! So, her father is the richest man in the world?" "She's also that excellent, but mysterious designer who many people adore! Who would have guessed?" Nonetheless, people thought that Rupert didn't love her. But they were in for another surprise. Rupert released a statement, silencing all the naysayers. "I'm very much in love with my beautiful fiancee. We will be getting married soon." Two questions were on everyone's minds: "Why did she hide her identity? And why was Rupert in love with her all of a sudden?"
"I've warned you from the beginning. Don't marry him, but you won't listen." Darcy stood close to me and smiled with concern. "You're not a woman worthy of a man as handsome, rich, smart, and virile as Blaze." My whole body trembled at her words. "Have you no shame?" I asked. "Take a good look at yourself, Heather." She stared at me in the mirror. "You can't even glance at your ugly face. Do you think Blaze can endure a lifetime of gazing at that scar?" Heather Bailey got a surprise from her husband: a divorce agreement. After a year of marriage and facing ups and downs, she couldn't believe Blaze intended to divorce her. She was devastated when she saw him gazing lovingly at another woman. After signing the divorce papers, shockwaves caught her up. Her flower shop was burned to the ground. Her father's company collapsed, and her parents blamed her. She struggled to rebuild her life from the ground up and became more successful than ever. Having many customers from influential families, she started her revenge on Blaze. She won the very thing he wanted, but that was just the beginning.
"Love is blind!" Lucinda abandoned her beautiful and comfortable life because of a man. She married him and slaved off for him for three long years. One day, the scales finally fell off her eyes. She realized that all her efforts were in vain. Her husband, Nathaniel still treated her like shit. All he cared about was his lover. "Enough is enough! I quit wasting my years with an ungrateful man!" Lucinda's heart was shattered into many pieces, but she summoned up the courage to ask for a divorce. The news caused a stir online! A filthy rich young woman recently got divorced? She was a good catch! Countless CEOs and handsome young men immediately swarmed to her like bees to honey! Nathaniel couldn't take it anymore. He held a press conference and begged with teary eyes, "I love you, Lucinda. I can't live without you. Please come back to me." Would Lucinda give him a second chance? Read to find out!