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"I have arranged a husband for you" This statement shook Isla Mae to the bones and left her weak in the knees. What in God's green earth made her father think he could choose a husband for her? Asides from the fact that he had recently been diagnosed with a terminal disease of course. Fucking Cancer. He felt it was only right to make sure she's properly taken care of by a loving family and wonderful husband before he dies. "And who is it? Who is the sick psycho that agreed to marry someone he doesn't know!" she yelled as her blood boiled in her veins. She couldn't direct her anger at her dad because he was sick so it was only wise to be mad at her 'husband to be' "Landon Aldridge, the son of my friend and former business partner." Her jaw dropped to the floor as every trace of anger she had felt evaporated at the mention of his name.
Isla's POV
It was 07:58am when I woke up to a text message from my dad that would change the course my life forever.
'How are you pumpkin? Come to the house as soon as you can, I'd like to see you today'
Of course at this point, I hadn't realized the weight such seemingly innocent message held. It looked like a mundane text from a father who just missed his only child whom he loved so much.
Ever since I moved out of my dad's house a few months ago to live on my own, I haven't really seen him much. He was always busy with one trip or another and often cancelled on our plans to attend several business meetings, so seeing his message this morning came as a pleasant surprise.
My mom died in a car crash when I was eleven years old and it was extremely terrible for my dad. I watched him go from the boisterous and funny young man that he was to an old sad man in a matter of months. My mom was the absolute love of his life and her death took something from him that could never be replaced.
Taking it upon myself to be the strong one of the both of us, I sucked in my broken heart and decided to take care of my dad. I learned to cook and do the laundry because we didn't have maids back then. As a result of all my effort to help my dad, I was slipping back in school, my grades depleted so bad my teacher had to call my dad in. That was when he awakened from his state of limbo and saw how I had been carrying the weight of trying to hold the little family of two together on my little shoulders and it broke him completely.
He worked on himself to become a better father, managed to get back to his old self a bit and we have been inseparable ever since. It was me and my dad against the world. So it was no surprise when I called my salon to cancel the appointment I had made for today and booked a later date.
My father always comes first.
At exactly 11:25am, I got to my dad's house and knocked on the door. I was hit by a wave of shock when I saw the man who came to open the door. This was not my father.
No.
He wore my father's face and had the same identical big smile and glint in his eyes whenever he saw me but this man's face was sunken in constant to my dad's chubby face. He looked sick, really sick.
I stood frozen to the spot for a few seconds, my dad's smile never vanished from his face as I took in the image of the person that has now been my father.
When last did I see him? Three months ago? Four? What happened to him? Has he not been eating well?
"Isla Mae my darling girl!" My dad announced, opening his arms. I went in. He had lost so much weight but the hug felt the exact same.
Warm and comforting.
"What happened to you dad?" I finally asked, still in his arms.
"Is that anyway to greet your father?" he scolded, flicking his index finger on my forehead playfully
"I'm sorry, how are you dad?" I asked as we went into the living room.
"I'm fine my dear" I doubted the sincerity of that statement, he looked frail and tired but I kept quiet.
I couldn't keep quiet for long, not when it came to my father's health
"Dad, are you sick?" my voice was small and weak, I was afraid to say the words out loud.
He looked at me and smiled, knowing that he couldn't keep it from me any longer, he said the words that shattered my heart to pieces.
"I have cancer."
My ears started ringing immediately. It felt like I had been slapped simultaneously on both side of my cheeks, leaving me almost deaf. I saw his lips moving but I couldn't hear anything he was saying? Had I really gone deaf? My vision became blurry.
Was I suddenly going blind too? The tears that had blurred my vision began trickling down my face in small droplets and in no time, it became a stream of waters.
His arms wrapped around me, consoling me, rocking me back and forth. He shouldn't be the one consoling me, I should be taking care of him.
"Is that why you have been avoiding me? I managed to ask without choking on my words.
He nodded. "I didn't know how to tell you, I didn't want to see you hurt and I was undergoing chemo, it took a toll on me"
It broke my heart even more to think that he went through that all alone.
"How long have you known?"
"A long time"
"You should have told me dad. You didn't have to do that on your own" I broke down.
"Isla Mae, look at me" he said cupping my face. I looked up at him "There's no need for you to cry, l don't want you feeling sorry for me because I'm happy. I have lived a good life with the most wonderful gift a father could ask for. A perfect daughter."
"Don't talk like that dad, you sound like you're already giving up." I wiped the tears from my eyes.
"Anyway, that wasn't the only reason I called you here today." A strange look crossed his face as he backed away from me and averted his eyes from my face.
"What is going on?" I asked feeling quite uneasy but took solace in the fact that no news, no matter how bad it was could beat 'I have cancer'
"First of all, I want you to know that, everything I do for you, is done out of love and to give you a better life than I had"
"What is it dad?" I didn't like the was this sounded already
"I have fixed your marriage" he said in a rush
I stared at my dad in shock. Surely I didn't hear him right.
"What!"
"You should hear me out first Isla" he said softly. I couldn't believe my ears.
"Wait, you did what!" I shouted louder this time, standing on my feet.
He winced and I regretted shouting immediately, I sat down next to him.
"Dad please tell me you're joking" I took his lean hands and pleaded.
"It's for your own good Isla, I won't be around much longer and I can't leave you alone in this world, knowing there's no one, no family to take care of you." The tears began to fall from my eyes again
"The person I found for you is a wonderful man from a very loving family, you will have the love and support from loved ones when I'm gone and you will never have to worry about money because he's from a wealthy home. You have to see that I'm doing this to take care of you even when I'm no more. God knows I will roll in my grave if any man ever dares maltreat you. I can't let that happen"
I suddenly felt numb, this was too much to deal with in one day. I know learning my dad had a terminal disease was the worse news of the two but how was I supposed to deal with the latter. He made plans to take care of me after his death, even though it was the worst plan I've heard of, it was the best thing any father could do.
"Dad, do you even know me at all? What on earth made you think I'd want to marry a complete stranger?"
"Because it's a wish from a sick father to his only child, let me do this for you, it will make me really happy to see that you're being taken care of. I would never marry you off to a stranger or someone I don't trust, his family approached me with the marriage proposal and I couldn't imagine a better family for you."
"Then who is it? Who is the sick psycho that wants to marry someone he's never met" I asked, getting angry for the first time since I came here.
"The son of my friend, Alexander Aldridge. I don't think you've met him, his name is Landon Aldridge"
My jaw hit the floor
"You're a creepy bastard." His eyes smolder me and his answering grin is nothing short of beautiful. Deadly. "Yet you hunger for me. Tell me, this appetite of yours, does it always tend toward 'creepy bastards'?" **** Widower and ex-boss to the Mafia, Zefiro Della Rocca, has an unhealthy fixation on the woman nextdoor. It began as a coincidence, growing into mere curiosity, and soon, it was an itch he couldn't ignore, like a quick fix of crack for an addict. He didn't know her name, but he knew every inch of her skin, how it flushed when she climaxed, her favourite novel and that every night she contemplated suicide. He didn't want to care, despising his rapt fascination of the woman. She was in love with her abusive husband. She was married, bound by a contract to the Bratva's hitman. She was off-limits. But when Zefiro wanted something, it was with an intensity that bordered on madness. He obsessed, possessed, owned. There'd be bloodshed if he touched her, but the sight of blood always did fascinate him. * When Susanna flees from her husband, she stumbles right into the arms of her devilishly handsome neighbour with a brooding glare. He couldn't stand her, but she needed him, if she was ever going to escape her husband who now wanted her dead. Better the devil you know than the angel you don't. She should have recalled that before hopping into Zefiro's car and letting him whisk her away to Italy. Maybe then, she wouldn't have started an affair with him. He was the only man who touched her right, and the crazy man took no small pains in ensuring he would be the last.
"Ahh!" She was in a moaning mess. She did not want to feel anything for this man. She hated him. His hands began to move all over her body. She gasped when he pulled down the back chain of her dress. The chain stopped at her lower waist, so when he zipped it off, her upper back and waist were exposed. "D-Don't touch m-ummm!" His fingers rolled around her bare back, and she pressed her head against the pillow. His touches were giving her goosebumps all over her body. With a deep angry voice, he whispered in her ear, "I am going to make you forget his touches, kisses, and everything. Every time you touch another man, you will only think of me." - - - Ava Adler was a nerdy omega. People bullied her because they thought she was ugly and unattractive. But Ava secretly loved the bad boy, Ian Dawson. He was the future Alpha of the Mystic Shadow Pack. However, he doesn't give a damn about rules and laws, as he only likes to play around with girls. Ava was unaware of Ian's arrogance until her fate intertwined with his. He neglected her and hurt her deeply. What would happen when Ava turned out to be a beautiful girl who could win over any boy, and Ian looked back and regretted his decisions? What if she had a secret identity that she had yet to discover? What if the tables turned and Ian begged her not to leave him?
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."
Lindsey's fiancƩ was the devil's first son. Not only did he lie to her but he also slept with her stepmother, conspired to take away her family fortune, and then set her up to have sex with a total stranger. To get her lick back, Lindsey decided to find a man to disrupt her engagement party and humiliate the cheating bastard. Never did she imagine that she would bump into a strikingly handsome stranger who was all that she was currently looking for. At the engagement party, he boldly declared that she was his woman. Lindsey thought he was just a broke man who wanted to leech off her. But once they began their fake relationship, she realized that good luck kept coming her way. She thought they would part ways after the engagement party, but this man kept to her side. "We gotta stick together, Lindsey. Remember, I'm now your fiancƩ. " "Domenic, you're with me because of my money, aren't you?" Lindsey asked, narrowing her eyes at him. Domenic was taken aback by that accusation. How could he, the heir of the Walsh family and CEO of Vitality Group, be with her for money? He controlled more than half of the city's economy. Money wasn't a problem for him! The two got closer and closer. One day, Lindsey finally realized that Domenic was actually the stranger she had slept with months ago. Would this realization change things between them? For the better or worse?
"Please trust me, I didn't do anything." "I don't believe you. I am rejecting you as my Queen and giving you the punishment of death." Alina was living outside her pack for five years. Her parents didn't try to contact her and always ignored her. Her best friend convinced her to go back to their pack and she agreed. But she had never imagined what was waiting there for her. She never thought she would meet her mate and had to face betrayal from everywhere. She had to pay for the crime which she never committed. Aaron Robertson is the king of Lycans. He is a very dominant and powerful King who not only rules Lycans but also rules other ranks of werewolves. Everyone is afraid of Lycans and he is the king of them. But who knew that he would get a mate who was just a simple Omega with no powers and strengths? He called her weak all the time but Little did he know that his weak Omega would give him the biggest betrayal of his life for which he had to give her the sentence of death.
Life was perfect until she met her boyfriend's big brother. There was a forbidden law in the Night Shade Pack that if the head Alpha rejected his mate, he would be stripped of his position. Sophia's life would get connected with the law. She was an Omega who was dating the head Alpha's younger brother. Bryan Morrison, the head Alpha, was not only a cold-blooded man but also a charming business tycoon. His name was enough to cause other packs to tremble. He was known as a ruthless man. What if, by some twist of destiny, Sophia's path were to intertwine with his?