

All because I talked to a girl from school, my parents decided I was too young to date and sent me to a behavioral correction camp over winter break. I spent 14 days there before they came for me. When Mom reached for my backpack, I flinched and dropped to my knees. "Mom, I'm sorry. I'll carry my own things. Please don't touch me. You're the opposite sex." Her expression soured. "I told you to watch out for girls out there, not treat your own mother like one of them." I kept my head down and said nothing, because responding to the opposite sex was also a violation. On the drive home, Dad noticed me sitting rigid and perfectly still. He laughed, pleased. "Look at him. He's so well-behaved now." "It worked even better than I expected. We'll have our family dinner tonight and send him back in the morning. They need to straighten him out for good." I said nothing. I just turned and looked out the window. There would be no tomorrow. Tonight was my farewell gift to them.

After the story of last season, Ridgeline Farm Supply has grown into a community pillar — two hundred disabled veterans on the payroll, a future worth fighting for. But the Malones are back and they never forgot their humiliation. When Derek Malone spots an old man selling homegrown tomatoes at his market, he recognizes the name on the sign: Russo. Sam's father. Sofia's grandfather. A bogus fine, a towed pickup, a handful of vegetables ground into the dirt — it's nothing personal. Just payback with interest. Sal Russo never wanted to be a burden. Like his son before him, he chose silence over asking for help. By the time Sofia comes home holding a perfect math score and a promise of ice cream, it's already too late. The brothers of Ridgeline are dragged into a war that will cost them everything. Gunner lands in jail on a framed assault charge. Connor Malone — colder, smarter, infinitely more dangerous than his brother — forces Jack to his knees in front of his own company, then demands sixty percent of everything Jack built. And the one man who could have stopped it all, Colonel Frank Morrison, is lying in a hospital bed — targeted by the very family he swore to protect. Some debts are paid in blood. Some promises outlive the grave.

Eve Snow was once a SWAT team commander and a bomb-disposal heroine. Because her job was dangerous and she didn't want her family to worry, she resigned and became a clerk.Then,she met Felix Jenkins, also from the SWAT team, and they fell in love. Just as they were about to get married, Eve discovered that Felix had a long-term crush, Wanda Schwartz, who liked to act cute. He wanted to marry Eve because she was independent and brave—the complete opposite of Wanda. He hoped this would help him forget Wanda. After finding out the truth, Eve resolutely married Joseph Lutz, a CEO who had been pursuing her. However, she didn't know that Joseph was a hostage she had once saved during a bomb disposal operation.Meanwhile, Felix didn't know that Wanda had used such tricks to fool many men.

Tiana, the daughter of the Chudy family, was abducted when she was born. Her brother Bennett, fearing their mother's blame, swapped her with another baby, Roslyn, at the time of the abduction, falsely claiming that the kidnapped child was a janitor's daughter. Tiana was raised by Liala and eventually employed by Chudy Group due to her talent. On her first day at the company, she was bullied by Roslyn for saving a colleague. Bennett noticed the resemblance between Tiana and his long-lost sister, delved further into the investigation, and uncovered the truth, confirming that Tiana was indeed his sister. He vowed to protect his sister from harm. With the mystery of Tiana's identity unraveled, her future got brighter under her brother's protection.

With only two months left to live, the White Witch Morwenna ruthlessly forces her paralyzed adopted daughter, Lyra, to walk again. Hating the woman she believes ruined her life, Lyra has no idea that Morwenna sold her family's ancestral recipe, concealed her terminal illness, and sacrificed everything for her. By the time Lyra finally learns the truth and calls her "Mom," it's already too late.

Former gambling legend Ryker Miller, weary of the bloodshed and intrigue of the casino world, retreats from the underworld to live an ordinary life. Years later, Ironbriar Group chairman Bryan Taylor leverages an old favor to finally convince Ryker to emerge from retirement and help resolve a crisis threatening the corporation's survival. However, Ryker doesn't know that behind the Taylor family's glamorous facade, Bryan's son Jason Taylor is brutally tormenting his pregnant daughter-in-law, Carmen. Her suffering and despair are quietly brewing a storm powerful enough to overturn the entire Taylor family, and Ryker's return will inadvertently pull him into this vortex of family and power struggles.

I was slowly dying from Silverthorn Wolfsbane, and there was only one cure—the Miracle Elixir. But my mate, Leo Ashford, bought it and gave it to my adoptive sister, Jane Smith. He did it because he thought I was faking my illness. I gave up on the treatment and swallowed a potent painkiller instead. It would kill me in three days by shutting down my organs. In those three days, I gave up everything. I handed over the fur manufacturing business I built from the ground up to Jane, and my parents praised me for caring about my sister. I offered to sever our mate bond, and Leo praised me for finally being sensible. When I told my son he could call Jane "mommy", he happily said that his new mommy was the best! I transferred all my savings to Jane, and no one seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary. They were just pleased with my "better behavior". "Viola is finally not so bad." I wondered—would they regret it after I was gone?

.Every April Fools' Day, my boyfriend joined his childhood friend in the same cruel prank, pretending to propose to me. Last year, I slipped the ring onto my finger, my heart full of hope. Suddenly, the mechanism snapped tight. Pain shot through my hand, and I cried out. He apologized afterward and promised that, this year, the proposal would be real. As such, I arrived carefully dressed, believing him. Instead, I was met with a face full of cake. He reached out gently, wiping the cream from my face as if it were nothing more than a harmless joke. However, this time, I took a step back. After six disappointments, I chose to walk away. So why was it that, in the end, he was the one consumed by regret?