

Serena Rivers spends three years in prison for a crime she didn't commit and uses every single day of it. She trains under four of the most formidable masters the underworld has ever produced and walks out as something entirely different from the woman who walked in. On her first day of freedom she corners the cold prison warden Xavier Stone against the water dungeon wall and kisses him without apology. He is her insurance policy and she knows it.Outside, the fake heiress has stolen her shares, her younger brother demands she kneel, and her former fiance has already moved on with a new bride. She tears up the rejection notice on the spot. Moments later, the Stone family motorcade arrives, the warden reveals himself as the family patriarch, and he shows up with a hundred billion in betrothal gifts and absolutely no intention of letting anyone touch her again. Together, they dismantle every person who had a hand in her three lost years.
![[ENG DUB] The Kiss Was Just the First Step](https://acfs3.goodshort.com/dist/src/assets/images/pc/common/f901131c-default-book-cover.png)
Serena Rivers spends three years in prison for a crime she didn't commit and uses every single day of it. She trains under four of the most formidable masters the underworld has ever produced and walks out as something entirely different from the woman who walked in. On her first day of freedom she corners the cold prison warden Xavier Stone against the water dungeon wall and kisses him without apology. He is her insurance policy and she knows it. Outside, the fake heiress has stolen her shares, her younger brother demands she kneel, and her former fiance has already moved on with a new bride. She tears up the rejection notice on the spot. Moments later, the Stone family motorcade arrives, the warden reveals himself as the family patriarch, and he shows up with a hundred billion in betrothal gifts and absolutely no intention of letting anyone touch her again. Together, they dismantle every person who had a hand in her three lost years.

After spending five years away from the United States, international humanitarian doctor Serena Hale returns to San Diego for the first time—not to come home, but to finalize her divorce from her husband, Adrian Pierce. Her younger sister, Chloe, is pregnant with Adrian’s child and is about to give birth. Everyone believes Serena is nothing more than a disgraced doctor whom her husband sent to a war zone to “teach her a lesson.” No one knows that she has already become Dr. S, the lead researcher behind a breakthrough against a deadly virus, and that she is carrying top-secret research data tied to federal biosecurity. Adrian refuses to believe her true identity. Seeking revenge on Chloe’s behalf, he even personally injures Serena’s right hand—the hand she relies on to hold a scalpel. Desperate to take Serena’s place as Mrs. Pierce, Chloe destroys the classified data drive and frames her sister for it. Only when Serena’s true identity is exposed in front of everyone does Adrian realize that the woman he destroyed with his own hands has already become someone the entire country is determined to protect. After the truth comes out, Adrian gradually uncovers everything that really happened five years ago and becomes consumed by regret. But Serena no longer loves him. Instead, she grows closer to General Ethan Grant, the man who has quietly protected and supported her all along. Three years later, shortly before Serena’s wedding, Adrian kidnaps her in a desperate attempt to stop her from moving on. In the end, Chloe chooses to save her sister and dies after taking a knife meant for Serena. Adrian is sentenced to death. Serena adopts Chloe’s child and finally leaves the past behind for good.

Serena Valentine escapes a private psychiatric hospital, three ribs broken, weeks to live. Dying of ALS, she has donated her body to an experimental chemical study that will dissolve it completely. Outside waits Adrian Cross—the man she once loved. Five years ago, Adrian's sister Isabella died in a kidnapping fire; everyone believed Serena abandoned her to save herself. Adrian had his friend Marcus send her abroad; Marcus instead imprisoned and tortured her for five years. Now engaged to Veronica Ashford, Serena's old bully who claims she saved him from the fire, Adrian keeps her as a servant and sexual outlet; sworn to Isabella's secret, she says nothing. Veronica frames her in a sea accident; enraged, Adrian throws her overboard. A forced bone-marrow donation to Veronica leaves her paralyzed. Told she fled with money, he burns every trace of her. When both are abducted, he saves Veronica—leaving Serena to the flames. The truth: Serena nursed him on a cruise and carried him from that fire; Marcus imprisoned her; Veronica stole her identity as rescuer. Her phone holds hundreds of unsent love messages—the last: "Please, come and save me." His search comes too late—Serena is dead, dissolved, with nothing to bury. He sends Veronica and Marcus to the same hospital, then endures the torture himself. After watching the video of her destruction, he tries to die but is saved, cursed: "May you live a long life—and spend every day of it with nothing." Years later, a crippled beggar wanders the New York waterfront, whispering Serena's name—condemned to live, paying for the woman he destroyed.

In my last life, my sister Serena Vega ran to Monaco the night before her wedding, and my family shoved me into her dress before dawn. Damian Lucchese, the young Godfather of New York, had been waiting at the altar for her. The moment he lifted my veil and saw me instead, the warmth in his eyes went cold. For five years, I was his hidden wife. The underworld knew he was married, but no one knew to whom. My parents blamed me for stealing Serena’s place and still failing to keep his heart. Then Serena came home. That Christmas, Damian took her and my parents to his mountain estate. When a blizzard hit, his men rushed everyone onto the helicopter. No one remembered me. I died in that frozen house, three months pregnant with Damian’s child. When I opened my eyes again, Serena had just returned to New York. This time, I would not beg for love. Only when I truly walked away, none of them had the right to regret it.

Six months ago, I was accidentally poisoned by wolfsbane. The poison is deadly, and my days are numbered. My body gradually weakens. Today, my wolf is completely gone, and I have three days left to live. On the last day before I draw my final breath, I agree to donate my kidney to my sister. Thrilled, my mate swears that he'll make it up to me someday. My sister is being swamped with insults on the college forum after she was caught plagiarizing my Belladonna thesis. But I come forward and claim that I'm the one who plagiarized it. Mom and Dad are pleased, saying I've finally become mature. At last, I've become the perfect mate and daughter in their eyes. But why are they crying after my body has turned cold and lifeless?

Six months ago, I was accidentally poisoned by wolfsbane. The poison is deadly, and my days are numbered. My body gradually weakens. Today, my wolf is completely gone, and I have three days left to live. On the last day before I draw my final breath, I agree to donate my kidney to my sister. Thrilled, my mate swears that he'll make it up to me someday. My sister is being swamped with insults on the college forum after she was caught plagiarizing my Belladonna thesis. But I come forward and claim that I'm the one who plagiarized it. Mom and Dad are pleased, saying I've finally become mature. At last, I've become the perfect mate and daughter in their eyes. But why are they crying after my body has turned cold and lifeless?

Serena Moretti believed she had the perfect life.Once a waitress from the slums, she married Alessandro Moretti—the ruthless Mafia heir who supposedly traded his throne of blood and gold for her. Until she discovered the truth. While Serena poured everything into their marriage and years of failed IVF, Alessandro had been living a second life with his childhood friend Bianca Rizzo. Bianca had given him twin sons. Heartbroken and pregnant with Alessandro’s child, Serena refused to stay. With her only trusted friend Isabella, she staged a catastrophic avalanche that “destroyed” the luxury Alpine Scenic Train—and faked her own death in the snow.

For seven years, Kelsey Dale ran a business empire from the shadows and called herself a housewife. She gave up her name, her position, and eventually her health to prop up a husband who needed her more than he admitted, including nursing him through a near-fatal illness with everything she had. On the day their infant son turns one hundred days old, Gaige Hamilton walks through the door with his mistress and their child, backed by his parents, and offers Kelsey a choice: accept them under her roof and keep managing the household, or leave without her son. Seven years. That is what they thought they were owed.

The Vampire Queen, Sera, sacrificed everything to marry Lucian, the Alpha of the Silverwolf Pack, only to catch him cheating the day she learned she was pregnant. Five years later, she returns as a powerful CEO with their hybrid son, ready to destroy him through a ruthless corporate takeover—but finds unexpected love with the Alpha Ancestor instead.