why did althea leave in the heat of the night

On a stormy night, Yvette Searle, a powerful businesswoman, paid $3 million to buy five years of Jesse Sharp's life. Jesse was a violent underground fighter.Yvette didn't want a loyal servant—she wanted a weapon to help her destroy her enemies. She trained Jesse to survive in boardrooms, fight, and shoot. Over time, Jesse fell in love with her.He was willing to be both her weapon and her shield, helping her fight the Zeal family and build her power.As they took revenge, their relationship grew complicated. Desire mixed with power. Jesse wanted to be the only person in Yvette's life, but Yvette saw love as a weakness.When Yvette had to keep a marriage promise and their enemies set a deadly trap, they faced one last challenge: could they defeat their enemies without losing each other?

On a torrential rainy night, Lewis Kane is accidentally hit by a dump truck and sent straight to the underworld. A judge is fretting over problems plaguing the three realms when Lewis is mistakenly brought in. The judge notices Lewis glowing with golden light—the mark of someone with immense karmic merit—and sees hope. He appoints Lewis as the liaison officer for the three realms,serving as the underworld’s representative in the mortal world to help meet their quotas. When Lewis refuses, the judge reveals that Lewis is cursed with nine lifetimes of loneliness, and this is his ninth life. If he doesn’t accept the position, he’ll be trapped in endless reincarnations of solitude. Terrified, Lewis throws a tantrum, begging the judge to grant him a life of romantic fulfillment this time around. The judge tosses him a smartphone, explaining it can connect directly to the underworld, then sends Lewis back to the mortal realm. And so,Lewis’ destiny begins to shift because of that one mysterious phone.

Jeana Dylan and her husband were in love for 7 years and married for 5, only to find him having an affair. She then discovered that the past 7 years were all a scam. The man she slept next to every night was only after her family's wealth. After her pain, she decided to retaliate. She joined forces with the mistress, set a trap for her husband, lured him into investing, and made him return all the transferred assets. She also uncovered her husband's secret family and son outside. When everyone was gathered, Jeana let them fight amongst themselves. In the end, Sean Finn was jailed for attempted murder, Lucy Leon lost everything and almost got killed by him, Nina Finn was drowning in debt and forced to pay with her body, and the malicious mother-in-law suffered a stroke and was left unattended. As for Jeana, she reunited with Aaron Grant, the man she liked 10 years ago, and started a new life.

Na-yul had been having a miserable time lately. The workload was already overwhelming when shared among three people, and on top of that, she constantly had to clean up the messes caused by her junior colleague. “…Kwon Si-jin….” That bastard. Kwon Si-jin was a completely hopeless human being. Hopeless in character, hopeless in the words he spoke—a man who knew better than anyone how to trample on another person’s dignity and self-worth with his words alone. And once again today, because of that utterly hopeless man… Grinding her teeth, Na-yul stared at her frozen computer screen for ten straight minutes. It was already 11 p.m. Friday night. 11 p.m. Drawn by the distant glow of light, guided purely by rage and instinct, she marched straight into CEO Kwon Si-jin’s office and flung the door open. “Sir, I really don’t think this is acceptable. I—” “……” “Sir? Are you okay?” Their eyes met in midair. Hot breaths tangled with cold ones. Time seemed to stop completely— Leaving Na-yul face to face with her boss, who was behaving suspiciously late at night during overtime.

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.

I was eight months pregnant and had just gone into labor, but my Alpha mate, Damien, locked me in a silver cage in the basement to delay my labor. When I cried out for help, he just told me to wait. Because his late brother's mate, Victoria, was also giving birth that day. The Pack Seer had foretold that only the firstborn pup would be blessed by the Moon Goddess and become the future Alpha. "The title belongs to Victoria's child," he said. "She lost Marcus. She has nothing. You already have all my love, Elena. The silver cage will make sure you deliver after her." The contractions were torture. I begged him to take me to the clinic. He grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him. "Stop pretending. I should've known you never loved me. All you've ever cared about is wealth and status!" "To force your labor early, just to steal what belongs to my nephew… You're truly wicked." Pale and trembling, I whispered: "The pup is coming, I can't stop it. Please, I'll make a blood oath. I don't care about the inheritance. I only love you!" He scoffed."If you loved me, you wouldn’t have forced Victoria into that contract to give up her pup’s birthright. I'll come back for you after she delivers. After all, that's my pup in there, too." He stood guard outside Victoria's delivery room. Only after he saw the newborn pup in her arms did he remember me. He ordered his Beta to release me. But the Beta's voice trembled. "Luna… and the pup… they're dead." And in that moment, Damien went feral.

I was born broken. My Alpha mother was the one who branded me. She said emotion was a sin. A weakness. Especially for a werewolf. Especially for an Alpha’s heir. The day we were born, she clamped emotion-suppressing collars around our necks. Mine and my twin sister's. The slightest flicker of emotion, and the collar flashed red. My mother would then push the button, injecting me with a diluted "silver solution" to suppress my feelings. But my sister Cassia's collar? Always a calm, steady blue. Even when she shattered Mom's precious moonstone, it just pulsed gently. And me? I’d just whisper, "Mom, the thunder scares me," and my collar would erupt in a violent red. Then came the sting of silver poison burning through my blood.. I used to argue. But Mom always said the same thing. "The data doesn't lie. Pain is a teacher. This is for your own good." After thousands of these injections, I started to believe it, too. That I was born out of control. The night of the alliance's Moon Goddess Festival, Mom was taking my sister to the rooftop party. Something scared me during the day. The collar flashed red, and my mother started the punishment. But this time, the collar malfunctioned. It shot a dose a thousand times stronger into my neck. I collapsed on the carpet, begging, "Mother, the collar... it hurts so much... help me." My collar was flashing a frantic red. My mother just looked down at me, drenched in a cold sweat, and pressed the button for the maximum dose. "You'd lose control like this just for attention? You're a lost cause." She turned, took my sister, and slammed the door. I couldn't help but think, Mom must be right. The collar is red. It doesn't really hurt. I'm just being dramatic, looking for pity again. I'm sorry, Mom. In my next life, I'll be the perfect daughter you always wanted.