Under the magnolia tree

Modern

Twenty minutes before the "Wedding of the Century" at The Plaza, I stood outside the Presidential Suite in a fifty-thousand-dollar Vera Wang gown. I was the girl from a West Virginia trailer park about to marry Hugh Maxwell, the golden heir to a billion-dollar defense empire. I pushed the door open only to find Hugh pinned against the bed with my own stepsister, Floy. She was wearing my bridal diamond necklace, and the sounds of their laughter scraped against my eardrums like sandpaper. I didn't scream; I listened as Hugh grunted that once the wedding was over and the trust fund unlocked, he'd dump "that hillbilly trash" on a bus back to the mountains. They weren't just cheating; they were planning to steal my family's land deeds and leave me with nothing. When I set off the sprinklers and exposed their naked bodies to the paparazzi, the Maxwell family didn't apologize. They called me a "greedy peasant" and threatened to ruin my life unless I signed a new deal to save their crashing stock. I realized then that I was never a bride to them. I was a transaction, a rounding error in a ledger to be used and discarded. They thought my poverty made me weak and my silence made me a victim. "If we don't have a marriage certificate by midnight, the bank freezes thirty percent of our liquidity," their lawyer warned. So, I gave them exactly what they wanted. I used a loophole in their hundred-year-old family covenant and married the only other direct heir available. I didn't marry Hugh. I walked into the ICU and married his uncle, Fleet Maxwell-the legendary war hero who had been in a vegetative state for months. Now, I am the matriarch of the Maxwell dynasty. I've suspended Hugh's executive powers, exiled my mother-in-law to the Swiss Alps, and taken control of the family vault. They think I'm just a gold-digger waiting for a "corpse" to die so I can collect a fifty-million-dollar widow's payout. But last night, as I lay beside my comatose husband, the man they called a vegetable gripped my hand back.

Modern

The plot concerns the activities of a group of church musicians, the Mellstock parish choir, one of whom, Dick Dewy, becomes romantically entangled with a comely new school mistress, Fancy Day. The novel opens with the fiddlers and singers of the choir—including Dick, his father Reuben Dewy, and gra

Romance

"I like her," I said, as I sat across from my mother unable to keep the frustration from boiling over.  "Like who?" "Callie," I admitted, my chest tightening as I said her name. Her expression froze for a moment before she set the papers aside and leaned forward. "You're joking, right? Callie

Literature

The Palm Tree Blessing by W. E. Shepard

Literature

Trajectory presents classics of world literature with 21st century features! Our original-text editions include the following visual enhancements to foster a deeper understanding of the work: Word Clouds at the start of each chapter highlight important words. Word, sentence, paragraph counts, and re

Modern

IN the surgical ward of the Hope Hospital at Hanaford, a nurse was bending over a young man whose bandaged right hand and arm lay stretched along the bed. His head stirred uneasily, and slipping her arm behind him she effected a professional readjustment of the pillows. "Is that better?"

Literature

On the Tree Top by Clara Doty Bates

Literature

From the book:Although he was an officer in full uniform he was a youth in years, and he had the spirits of youth. Moreover, it was one of the finest apple trees he had ever seen and the apples hung everywhere, round, ripe and red, fairly asking to be taken and eaten. Dick Mason looked up at them lo

Adventure

- Raka, an ordinary high school student, dies of exhaustion and is reincarnated with his entire class into a fantasy world. There, everyone receives a class and a blessing from the gods to start a new life. While his friends acquire powerful classes like knight, mage, healer, and assassin, Raka is g

Modern

ANY one who loves simplicity or respects sincerity, any one who feels the tie binding us all together in the helplessness of our common human life, and running from the lowliest as well as the highest to the Mystery immeasur-ably above the whole earth, must find a rare and tender pleasure in this si

Literature

Arthur D. Innes was a 20th century historian who wrote several books about Elizabethan England and the kingdom when it was led by the Tudors, one of the nation's most famous royal dynasties.

Fantasy

"And she is to be there--nay, is there already; so one more chance is given me to meet her. But for what?--to part again silently, and more helplessly bewitched than ever, perhaps. Ah, never will she learn to love me as I love her!" thought I, as I turned over my old friend's letter, not v

Billionaires

Luciano after a dark past doesn't have any thoughts for any romance, then again an incident happens and he has no choice but to arrange a mariage as soon as possible! Isabella after a darker past doesn't have any thoughts of love or romance, wants 5o live a peaceful life while ensuring her little cu

Werewolf

Diana, a struggling beautiful lady who had to do shitty jobs to survive, discovers a shocking truth about the mysterious death of her parents, and her old savior and lawyer, Mr Varane, reveals himself but he is taken down quickly or was he? But things get complicated but a new savior, Luka Jake step

Billionaires

When Elena Blake becomes a housemaid in the cold, grand Harrington mansion, she expects nothing more than long hours and strict rules. What she doesn't expect is him- Adrian Harrington, the billionaire who has forgotten how to feel anything... until her trembling voice and stubborn courage slip bene

Literature

eagerly. "Then I may as well tell you that there is a vacancy for a greaser aboard the Mohican. Will you take that? There! A passage, your grub, and a pound at the end of the trip." "You can put my name down for it," said Hal. "I'll go on the Mohican; and I thank you for your kindness."

Literature

I've drove elephants and camels, ostriches and grizzly bears, and mules, and six yellow ponies all to oncet. May be I could manage cows if I tried hard, answered Ben" who runs away as circus boy. Bab and Betty find him and his dog in the carriage house. Their mother cleans him and sends him to work

Literature

This is the history of a failure; but the woman who failed said that it might be an instructive tale to put into print for the benefit of the younger generation. The younger generation does not want instruction, being perfectly willing to instruct if any one will listen to it. None the less, here be

Billionaires

Six years ago, Stephanie Hernandez lost everything her family, her wealth, and the man who unknowingly fathered her child. Left for dead but determined to survive, she built a new life with Jack, the man who raised her son as his own. But when Sam falls gravely ill, only one man can save him Lucas R

Billionaires

She was the maid who vanished without a trace. He was the CEO who signed away their bond. Years later, Elena Weaver returns-not as a servant, but as a threat to everything Damien Thorne built. When a scandal forces them into a contract marriage to protect the empire, sparks fly, secrets unravel, an

Billionaires

One contract. One wedding. A lifetime of consequences. Elara Williams never imagined her future would be sealed with a signature or that she'd be marrying Adrian Wolfe, the cold, brooding heir to a billion-dollar legacy. She expected a cage of gold... not the quiet thrill of falling for the man hi