Humiliated, belittled, mistreated, and rejected because of her silence, Emma has no hope for the future. Until she meets Michaël Keller, the son of the most powerful man in town and also the richest. Michaël has it all: stunning beauty, extraordinary influence, and, above all else, power. Everyone expects him to date a girl from his background, but he falls irremediably in love with Emma. How can these two teens in a society that values appearances above everything else find the courage to love each other without restriction? Is it possible for love to survive despite the hardships of pain, sadness, and tragedies?
I tried to hold on as I saw the ground move closer and closer to my face as if in slow motion, but my arms had become useless, and then a sickening crackle stirred in the air. I hissed, an animalistic sound escaping my lips as a jolt of pain shifted from my outer to my insides; I desperately wanted to fight back - but I knew that would draw too much attention to my body. So I lay down, as I had so many times before, and a group of girls surrounded me with disgusting smiles on their faces. They all hated retards, they said - they all hated me.
And though I hated them too, I didn't lift a finger against them. I knew I shouldn't. So I didn't.
A kick to my ribs sent a scream over my bleeding lips, and my watery eyes widened as I tried to escape the pain. My thoughts, though battered, were clear as day. I had either ripped open the earlier wounds or they were swelling again. My head ached, and I silently wondered if there was a sedative lying around somewhere that I could take to keep from feeling all the pain inside me.
The leader of the gang, a girl, frowned and kept calling me rough as they kicked and stabbed and laughed. I fought the urge to cry; after so long, those words still burned a hot piece of wool inside me, making me feel like useless stuff walking around in the world when it shouldn't. They called me evil, cursed by God and the devil, a strange piece of shit who shouldn't even be alive - they called me everything they could think of.
There were about seven of them. Even with the blood in my eyes, I could only see the figures blurry, but I could hear them better. Every time I got hit, my eyesight was taken, but my hearing was still fine - it was the best I had.
I felt another metal shoe under my hip. I screamed in fear for my life as the others hit me in the ribs, but there was nothing I could do, nothing I could use against them to protect myself. I had nothing; there was nothing that could have protected me. Money, I had none. Friends, I had none. Allies, no one would even think of it; in high school I was considered a curiosity because I believed being mute wasn't the same as being human. The power, I had it, but I didn't use it - and now I'm sure with all the injuries I couldn't use it either if I tried. The anger I had, but there was nothing to let it out with. I was literally and figuratively alone in the face of all those hateful and disgusted stares.
And it was awful. My only crime was that I couldn't speak. They avoided me like the plague, maybe they thought my silence was contagious, they allowed these girls to beat me up because they thought I probably deserved it; no one was looking for a teacher, maybe it was better that way because these girls were real bullies. So I was alone and abandoned.
"Your parents created a fucking monster... Bitch, it's like you're ruining the world..." scolded the boss. Everyone else showed their approval by courting each other or something, and I was left alone with my whining. That hurt. Really, really hurt - it hurt a lot. I wanted to crawl into a hole and die and never come back. But I knew I couldn't. They wouldn't be able to bully me anymore, and those idiots would find other helpless innocents to beat up. Sometimes life wasn't fair.
"God, you piss me off..." One of the others growled. Cook let out a hysterical laugh. It showed she was fine. »
I felt another hard kick and a few harder kicks before they had enough of me. One spat on me, then another, then the other six or seven, and when they were done, my face was covered with their sticky, disgusting saliva. I wanted to vomit, oh how I wanted to, but I could not. It would hurt my stomach. Then footsteps came, hopefully far, far away, and their voices carried them away from the basketball court. When their voices had completely stopped, I waited a few more minutes before trying to move.
The floor was cold anyway. It would help my wounds.
A scowl and a cough escaped my bruised lips, sending my scratchy throat into a new whirlpool of pain. A little blood splattered onto the floor from that, too, and I had to wonder how the hell I'd managed to bite the inside of my mouth so hard that it bled so much. Carefully, I pressed myself against the wall, making sure my breathing was slow and shallow and my stomach was not on the floor. My hands were shaking as I did this. At least the wall was cool - a good feeling for my bruised cheek and aching mind.
The world around me was quiet and I was glad for it. After my public punishment, everyone returned to the school buildings in a silence that suggested nothing had ever been there.
No one came to inquire about my condition or to call emergency services. They all left the training ground without a sound and that was good. The sounds would only hurt me. I would not like that at all. My head was already hurting and my bones were already shaking - I was broken in the middle of this immoral school. I had no idea how I was going to get home or what I was going to say to my sister - or if I even would. Usually they did not hit me that hard, so I did not have to hide the injuries. But this time they hit very hard and I have severe bruising, even my face is horrible. If I were sitting here, the blood would keep flowing and not stop... Would I bleed to death here in the cold? Will they finally make it?
It's never been this bad before. I was usually able to get up and walk away - limping, but I could still do it. That's what scared me. Would I die here? Would I finally fall into the hands of eternal sleep? Maybe I would escape this world... But would I go to hell? Everyone thought that. Everyone thought I was a monster and that the devil had created me to be consumed by the flames. Maybe I would. But it could not hurt like it does now.
I took a deep breath and continued to lean against the cool, soothing brick. Just as I groaned, I felt my vision blur, and the next thing I knew, my body was collapsing in on itself...
The last thing I heard was an overwhelmed growl.
"You may be Ninite's father, but you don't deserve it. You took me by force, and your criminal life will always hurt him. You are a curse to him; you should leave us alone." "Disappear?" "Yes, if you love our son, you should disappear from his life." Min-Ho just smiled. “Ninite is the most precious thing I have in my shitty life. I will never walk away from him." His smile widened. "And neither from you. I said it before... Once inside, you are mine forever. You should already get used to me." ----------------------------- Bella is an innocent young woman who grew up in a family with strict values. She holds a deep grudge and hatred for gangs and their members. Her biological parents died because of a mafia boss, and her best friend was killed in a war between rival gangs. Since then, she has held them with immense contempt and disgust because, for her, they are all means. But after a one-night stand, which she believes to be rape, she becomes pregnant. Panicked, she runs away but quickly discovers that the father of her son is a mafia member, the most ruthless that exists, and the latter has decided that she belongs to him as his wife and the mother of his son. He will never let her leave him or get away from him. She is now bound to him willy-nilly, for better or for worse. Faced with the many dangers that await her by being with this man, will Bella be able to face them for the good of her son? Will her heart be ready to forgive and accept this man with such a cruel and possessive gaze?
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?
Amy didn't expect that her husband whom she had loved and trusted earnestly for many years would be cheating on her by having sex with his secretary. When she confronted him, he and his secretary mocked and ridiculed her, they called her barren to her face, afterall, she had not conceived for the past three years that she had been married to her husband, Callan. Terribly Heartbroken, she filed for divorce and left to the club, she picked a random gigolo, had a hot one night stand with him, paid him and dissapeared to a small city. She came back to the country six years later with three identical cute boys and three identical cute girls of the same age. She settled and got a job but soon find out that her CEO was the gigolo she had sex with six years back at the club. Will she be able to hide her six little cuties from her CEO, who happens to be the most powerful man in NorthHill and beleived to be infertile? Can Amy and the most powerful man in NorthHill get along considering the social gap between them.
Darya spent three years loving Micah, worshipping the ground he walked on. Until his neglect and his family's abuse finally woke her up to the ugly truth-he doesn't love her. Never did, never will. To her, he is a hero, her knight in shining armour. To him, she is an opportunist, a gold digger who schemed her way into his life. Darya accepts the harsh reality, gathers the shattered pieces of her dignity, divorces him, takes back her real name, reclaims her title as the country's youngest billionaire heiress. Their paths cross again at a party. Micah watches his ex-wife sing like an angel, tear up the dance floor, then thwart a lecher with a roundhouse kick. He realises, belatedly, that she's exactly the kind of woman he'd want to marry, if only he had taken the trouble to get to know her. Micah acts promptly to win her back, but discovers she's now surrounded by eligible bachelors: high-powered CEO, genius biochemist, award-winning singer, reformed playboy. Worse, she makes it pretty clear that she's done with him. Micah gears up for an uphill battle. He must prove to her he's still worthy of her love before she falls for someone else. And time is running out.
Brenna lived with her adoptive parents for twenty years, enduring their exploitation. When their real daughter appeared, they sent Brenna back to her true parents, thinking they were broke. In reality, her birth parents belonged to a top circle that her adoptive family could never reach. Hoping Brenna would fail, they gasped at her status: a global finance expert, a gifted engineer, the fastest racer... Was there any end to the identities she kept hidden? After her fiancé ended their engagement, Brenna met his twin brother. Unexpectedly, her ex-fiancé showed up, confessing his love...
The whispers said that out of bitter jealousy, Hadley shoved Eric's beloved down the stairs, robbing the unborn child of life. To avenge, Eric forced Hadley abroad and completely cut her off. Years later, she reemerged, and they felt like strangers. When they met again, she was the nightclub's star, with men ready to pay fortunes just to glimpse her elusive performance. Unable to contain himself, Eric blocked her path, asking, "Is this truly how you earn a living now? Why not come back to me?" Hadley's lips curved faintly. "If you’re eager to see me, you’d better join the queue, darling."
To the public, she was the CEO's executive secretary. Behind closed doors, she was the wife he never officially acknowledged. Jenessa was elated when she learned that she was pregnant. But that joy was replaced with dread as her husband, Ryan, showered his affections on his first love. With a heavy heart, she chose to set him free and leave. When they met again, Ryan's attention was caught by Jenessa's protruding belly. "Whose child are you carrying?!" he demanded. But she only scoffed. "It's none of your business, my dear ex-husband!"