what were the vikings really like

Rachel Sheldon's world was turned upside down when she was drugged and woke up in the bed of Barrett York — the most powerful man in the city. When she discovered she was pregnant, Rachel disappeared from the spotlight, determined to raise the child in secrecy. But on the very day she gave birth, Barrett found her. Fiercely independent, Rachel was unlike any woman Barrett had ever met — and he couldn't stay away. As he launched a relentless pursuit, Rachel's hidden identities were revealed one after another, each more surprising than the last. Drawn to her strength, Barrett began to fall — and so did Rachel. Slowly, she opened her heart to the man she had once tried to escape. What had begun as an accident just might have become forever.

"Why does your son look so much like me?" Upon hearing this question, Holly Shaw fell silent. Five years ago, her parents divorced, and her callous father expelled her from their home. In order to pay for her mother's medical treatment, she agreed to substitute for another girl's companionship that night. Now, five years later, she returns with two adorable children, determined to reclaim what is rightfully hers. Little does she expect to once again encounter the man from that fateful night—Allen Carter.

Five years ago, Su Li and the fugitive Fu Jiuchen shared a whirlwind, passionate night that led to an instant and deep connection. But they were soon separated. Now, five years later, Li has a sickly son and is at her wit's end. Desperate, she decides to pawn the jade pendant Jiuchen had left her. However, fate takes a strange turn when Jiang Ting acquires the pendant and, using it as a key, infiltrates the Fu household pretending to be Li, bringing her son along. In order to raise money for her son's medical treatment, Li takes up a job as a maid in the Fu residence. Unknowingly to Jiuchen, the woman he has been searching for all this time is living right under his nose. Unable to resist his intense attraction, he finds himself drawn to her once more, repeatedly taking what he desires by force...

When I turn 20, my grandfather's old friend—now the richest man in the country—lays out photos of his grandsons in front of me. He says, "Pick one to be your husband." Without hesitation, I choose Nathaniel Chapman. Everyone in the room is stunned. After all, it's no secret I've always been hopelessly in love with George Chapman. I used to swear I'd marry no one but him. In my previous life, I got what I wanted—I married George. And because of that marriage, he inherited the lion's share of his grandfather's wealth. But after the wedding, he started an affair with my sister. My parents were furious and sent her abroad to study. George thought I was the one who exposed them. From then on, he hated me to my very core. Women came and went at his side, each one resembling my sister more than the last. The betrayal crushed me. I fell into deep depression. Later, he secretly replaced my medication with slow-acting poison. I died with a child in my womb—alone, bitter, and betrayed. Now, I've been reborn. This time, I choose to let them have each other. But what I don't expect is that George has been reborn too.

In her first life, set against the backdrop of 1970s, Josie Cole married a dependable, simple man who rose to become a respected cultural official, and she stood faithfully beside him. Her cousin Gracie Hill, meanwhile, married into wealth, watched it crumble, fell into ruin, and in a fit of bitter envy, ended up murdering Josie. Reborn on the very day the marriages were being arranged, Josie watches Gracie steal her original match. Josie ends up with the one everyone wrote off as a spoiled playboy, but she’s lived a whole life already; she knows how to read people. Josie and Sam Jordan agree to a cold, transactional marriage and leave it at that, until they don’t. She helps him rebuild his family’s fallen fortune; he becomes someone worth keeping. This time, Josie wins, not by fighting for what she had before, but by building something better.

Anne Cooke is about to get married when she discovers her fiance has been cheating. With her mother gravely ill and five years of love too heavy to just drop, she swallows it, until the sleeplessness becomes unbearable and she wanders into a traditional medicine clinic. There she meets James Young,and something shifts. On impulse she propositions him. Just one night. What she doesn't know is that James already knows exactly who she is, and has quietly decided to help her find her way back to herself. Through carefully prescribed remedies and steadier conversations, he walks beside her as she slowly remembers she has a spine. On her wedding day, she exposes her fiance in front of everyone and walks away with her head up. By then the feelings between Anne and James have long stopped being subtle, and the revelation that he comes from money and that his mother once knew hers feels less like a plot twist and more like something that was always going to happen. He proposes in the same clinic where they first met.

In her first life, set against the backdrop of 1970s, Josie Cole married a dependable, simple man who rose to become a respected cultural official, and she stood faithfully beside him. Her cousin Gracie Hill, meanwhile, married into wealth, watched it crumble, fell into ruin, and in a fit of bitter envy, ended up murdering Josie. Reborn on the very day the marriages were being arranged, Josie watches Gracie steal her original match. Josie ends up with the one everyone wrote off as a spoiled playboy, but she’s lived a whole life already; she knows how to read people. Josie and Sam Jordan agree to a cold, transactional marriage and leave it at that, until they don’t. She helps him rebuild his family’s fallen fortune; he becomes someone worth keeping. This time, Josie wins, not by fighting for what she had before, but by building something better.

Attending the ten-year high school reunion for the cheerleading squad and football team, I arrived in an old domestic Ford, while the parking lot was filled with Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Maybachs, and even a gold Bugatti. It was as if I were the only relic from another era. The moment I stepped out of my car, a former classmate, whose name I could no longer remember, looked at me with a sneer. “Well, if it isn’t the coach’s pet. How is it that after all these years, you’re still driving this beat-up old Ford?” “This thing looks like it belongs in a scrapyard from the last century!” During dinner, everyone gathered around the Bugatti owner, raising their glasses in celebration, while I was left ignored at the side. Only the cheerleading assistant sat next to me, raising a glass in my direction with a comforting smile. “Don’t let it get to you. Your car may be old, but I believe you’ll be driving a luxury car one day.” I let a small smirk curl at the corner of my lips and lowered my voice. “This car may look unimpressive, but it’s been fully upgraded with a carbon fiber body. It’s already worth over half a million dollars. Too bad, none of you even recognized its true value.”

To prevent the merfolk from being slaughtered, I decided to go ashore and seduce my childhood friend Cyrus, who had become the Alpha King. He still loved me deeply, and we spent three passionate days and nights together in bed. Waking up from a haze of pleasure, I hadn't even had the chance to rejoice before a corrosive elixir was dunked over my head. Listening to my pained wails, Cyrus smirked. "So even an immortal mermaid can feel pain, too? "Well, this is just a taste of what's to come if you don't tell me where my parents are!" Yes, he was convinced that the merfolk were behind his parents' disappearance. From then on, I was forced to watch him flirt with his mistress, Emily; had to extract my mermaid pearl to help heal her body; was forced to dance barefoot to entertain Emily so that she could sleep… Cyrus hated every fiber of my being, yet always held me tenderly in his arms whenever I was on the brink of death, carefully feeding me medicine. Sometimes, he was cruel. "Do you think I'll go easy on you just because I love you? Quick, continue torturing her!" Sometimes, he was gentle. "Can't you be good and tell me where my parents are?" Silently, I endured his twisted love without a word. Soon, however, these days would come to an end, and I wouldn't have to keep that secret any longer. After all, a mermaid who did not return to the sea after three years on land… Would turn into seafoam. And now, there were only three days until my time was up.

To prevent the merfolk from being slaughtered, I decided to go ashore and seduce my childhood friend Cyrus, who had become the Alpha King. He still loved me deeply, and we spent three passionate days and nights together in bed. Waking up from a haze of pleasure, I hadn't even had the chance to rejoice before a corrosive elixir was dunked over my head. Listening to my pained wails, Cyrus smirked. "So even an immortal mermaid can feel pain, too? "Well, this is just a taste of what's to come if you don't tell me where my parents are!" Yes, he was convinced that the merfolk were behind his parents' disappearance. From then on, I was forced to watch him flirt with his mistress, Emily; had to extract my mermaid pearl to help heal her body; was forced to dance barefoot to entertain Emily so that she could sleep… Cyrus hated every fiber of my being, yet always held me tenderly in his arms whenever I was on the brink of death, carefully feeding me medicine. Sometimes, he was cruel. "Do you think I'll go easy on you just because I love you? Quick, continue torturing her!" Sometimes, he was gentle. "Can't you be good and tell me where my parents are?" Silently, I endured his twisted love without a word. Soon, however, these days would come to an end, and I wouldn't have to keep that secret any longer. After all, a mermaid who did not return to the sea after three years on land… Would turn into seafoam. And now, there were only three days until my time was up.

Leo inherits his late brother's position as Alpha after seven years of dating me. He also inherits his brother's wife and the pack's former Luna, Jasmin. Each time he sleeps with her, he comforts me gently. "You're my only mate, Mia. Once Jasmin gets pregnant and gives birth to Blazetooth Pack's heir, I'll hold the marking ceremony with you." He tells me that's the only condition his family asked of him before allowing him to inherit the position of Alpha. Over the six months after returning to Blazetooth Pack, he sleeps with Jasmin a hundred times. He starts with only spending one night a month with her to sleeping with her every night. Jasmin was finally found pregnant on the 100th night of my staying up the whole night waiting for him. At the same time, I receive news of her and Leo holding the marking ceremony. Upon hearing this, my son asks in confusion, "Didn't they say Dad is having the marking ceremony with the Luna he loves? Why isn't he here to take us home yet?" "Because I'm not the Luna he loves." I caress his head. "That's okay, though. I'll take you back to a place that we can really call home." What Leo doesn't know is that I'm the only daughter of the Alpha King. I've never cared about being Blazetooth Pack's Luna.

In her past life, Celeste found out the girl she'd been sponsoring, Renee Hopper, was actually her husband Larry's secret daughter. When she confronted him,Celeste and her daughter Sherrie were killed by Larry and his mistress.Reborn, Celeste exposed the affair and kicked them out. Renee, unwilling to back down,tried to ruin Sherrie's name—but was stopped just in time by Sherrie's real father, Nathan Sampson. In the end, Renee and her mother were disgraced and driven out.

Evelyn, heartbroken by her boyfriend's infidelity, drowned her sorrows in alcohol and unexpectedly had a one-night stand with renowned pilot Grayson. Afterward, fate kept them apart. Evelyn forgot what Grayson looked like, but Grayson fell head over heels for her at first sight. He found her lost employee badge and sent his assistant to track her down. Unfortunately, the assistant made a mistake—Evelyn's coworker Katie claimed the badge and impersonated her, sparking a series of misunderstandings and conflicts between Evelyn and Grayson. Finally, heartbroken and disillusioned, Evelyn accepts her friend Liam's proposal for a fake marriage to comfort her ailing grandmother. Just then, Grayson returns and publicly steals the bride...‍

David Ashcroft has spent his life training on Tempest Peak under a master who turns out to have one very specific weakness: he needs three million for renovations and isn't above bending the truth to get it. Conned off the mountain and broke, David answers what looks like a generous job listing and finds himself face to face with Aria Blackwood, a CEO who has just invented something powerful enough that foreign interests have put a bounty on her head. David neutralises the first assassination attempt almost by accident. He's hired on the spot. When a rival moves in under the pretense of romance to steal her technology, David dismantles the scheme in public.The rival is not gracious about it.

An accident leads to Priscilla Hilton becoming pregnant with a CEO Samuel Walker’s child. Years later, through a twist of fate, she enters a flash marriage with Samuel while bringing her son along. What was supposed to be just another business deal turns into something completely unexpected.Samuel's family falls head over heels for her.His mother dotes on her like her own daughter, his father showers her with gifts, and his sister becomes her biggest supporter.They spoil both Priscilla and her little boy beyond belief. She keeps reminding herself this is all temporary, just until the contract ends. But when the truth finally comes out, she discovers she might actually be the real deal after all.

The night before high school graduation, Ethan Luciano pulled me into his bedroom. His hands were rough, his touch demanding, yet my heart overflowed with a decade's worth of unspoken longing. I'd loved Ethan for ten years, and finally, it seemed my silent wishes had come true. Afterwards, as we lay tangled in his sheets, he whispered that he'd marry me after graduation. Once he took over the Luciano family's empire from his father, he'd make me the most cherished woman in the family. I believed him. The next morning, I sat curled up against his bare chest as he casually told my foster brother, Lucas, about us. My cheeks were flushed, and my heart raced, still clinging to the sweetness of the night before. However, then their conversation shifted into Italian. Lucas smirked, leaning back against the doorframe. "Not bad, Young Boss. Your first time, and the school's 'it girl' just threw herself at you. So, how's my little sister taste?" Ethan gave a lazy chuckle. "Looks like an angel, but a freak in the sheets. Who would’ve thought?" The room erupted in low, conspiratorial laughter. Lucas raised a brow. "So, should I call her my little sister or my future sister-in-law?" Ethan’s tone darkened, his arm tightening around my waist for a moment. Then he let out a sigh. "She’s nothing. Just practice," he said, his voice dropping to a whisper. "I’m trying to hook up with the cheer captain, Sylvia Dawson, but I don’t want her thinking I’m clueless in bed. Cynthia Saville’s just a warm-up." He paused. "But don’t tell Sylvia. I don’t need her getting all emotional." They didn't know that I’d spent months secretly learning Italian, preparing for the life I thought I’d share with Ethan. I didn't say a word. Later that day, I quietly withdrew my early decision application to Caltech and applied to MIT instead.

On her own wedding day, Jane Shaw sacrificed herself by taking the fall to save her in-laws and spent five years behind bars.When she walks free, she returns to find her husband’s childhood sweetheart, Wendy Wood, has slipped into her life like a cuckoo in a borrowed nest, adored by the very in-laws Jane once protected. Wendy plays the sweet, wounded innocent in public while weaving poison behind closed doors. But Jane didn’t survive five years as the prison’s top dog by being soft.Rather than strike hard and fast, she plays dumb, letting the scheming girl overreach, then springs a carefully laid trap that unravels every lie Wendy has ever told, right in front of the family. The question is whether she can reclaim what was always hers.

Mabel was originally the daughter of the wealthy Grant family. However, her happy family was torn apart when she was eight. Since then, her days were hard and challenging.