Tag: Betrayal

  • The Jilted Heiress And Her Spectacular Comeback novel by Bian

    The Jilted Heiress And Her Spectacular Comeback novel by Bian featuring

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    I was double-checking the final payments for our upcoming wedding when I saw it.

    A $50,000 transfer from our joint account to a woman named Alyssia Stuart, labeled “living expenses and Connor’s tuition.”

    My fiancé, Jairo, the tech mogul I had spent ten years building from the ground up using my family’s hidden resources, was secretly sponsoring another family.

    I hacked into his laptop and found a hidden social media archive filled with photos of him, Alyssia, and a little boy with his exact eyes.

    “J says he’s going to give me a real home soon, make me his one and only wife.”

    Alyssia’s caption glared at me, posted the same week Jairo claimed to be on a business trip.

    He had even used the anonymous Ivy League scholarship fund I had secretly established for him to pay for his mistress’s degree.

    For a decade, I gave up my name and my powerful family to be his quiet, supportive partner, designing the very tech that made him a Wall Street wunderkind.

    And to this woman, I was just a “complication” to be handled.

    Instead of crying, I calmly took photos of every single screenshot and packed my bags.

    I dialed a number I hadn’t called in years.

    “Mom, we’re finished. Is that marriage arrangement with Culver Collins still on the table?”

    It was time to reclaim my identity as the Montgomery heiress and watch the empire I built for him burn to the ground.

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    The Jilted Heiress And Her Spectacular Comeback Chapter 1

    Denice’s fingers froze over the keyboard. She had been finalizing the pitch deck for Jairo’s roadshow, the logo for Slater Dynamics—her design.
    Suddenly, a notification silently popped up in the lower right corner of the screen, like a silent bomb exploding in the stillness of the study.
    A bank transfer.
    Fifty million dollars.
    She told herself it was a business expense. A corporate acquisition.
    But the recipient was a personal account: Alyssia Stuart.
    Alyssia. The woman who was the subject of so much gossip in the company, the one entangled with Jairo.
    Her heart skipped a beat, a painful, jarring thud in her chest. Her fingertips went cold. She clicked on the transaction details, her breath held tight in her lungs.
    The memo field contained a single word.
    “Gift.”
    Just then, the laptop screen lit up with an instant message. The sender ID was “Alyssia S.”
    “Darling, the money came through. You’re too good to me. Connor is asking when Daddy is coming home to see him.By the way… Connor asked when you’re coming home to see him. Come over as soon as you get a chance, and forget about that stupid woman of yours.”
    The air rushed out of Denice’s lungs.
    Connor?
    Daddy?
    It felt like all the blood in her body was flowing backward, a cold, sickening tide rising to her throat.
    Her hand trembled as she moved the mouse, clicking open the chat window that Jairo had carelessly left running in the background. It wasn’t just one message. It was years of them.
    Years of explicit flirtations, intimate promises, a secret life laid bare on the screen.
    She saw Jairo complaining that his engagement to her was a “business necessity.” He promised Alyssia that as soon as the company went public, he would break things off with Denice and marry her.
    Denice’s vision blurred. She bit down hard on her lip, the taste of blood a sharp counterpoint to the nausea churning in her stomach. The man she had loved for eight years, the man she had abandoned her family and birthright for, the man she had helped build from nothing… he had been using her as a tool.
    A new message from Alyssia appeared in the chat log. It was a photo. Alyssia, smiling softly against the backdrop of the Hamptons shoreline.
    That was where Jairo had been last week for his “business trip.”
    Denice’s fingers, stiff and numb, moved to the browser history. She found Alyssia’s social media profile. It was private, but the profile picture was a silhouette of a blonde woman holding a young boy.
    She logged in using Jairo’s saved credentials. His account followed Alyssia’s.
    Instantly, a flood of images and videos filled the screen.
    There was Alyssia wearing the limited-edition couture gown Jairo had supposedly bought as an investment. There she was, wearing the watch Denice had picked out for Jairo’s thirtieth birthday. Posing in restaurants Denice had booked for them. Vacationing in resorts Denice had researched.
    Each photo was a knife, twisting in her heart.
    She clicked on a pinned video. The location was unmistakable. It was this very apartment. This very study.
    In the video, Alyssia was perched on the edge of Jairo’s desk, wearing nothing but his white dress shirt, her legs swinging playfully. She smiled at the camera, a sweet, provocative smile.
    The camera panned down to a small boy playing with blocks on the floor. He looked to be about four or five years old.
    “Connor, do you miss Daddy?” Alyssia’s voice was syrupy sweet.
    The boy looked up, his face a blur as the camera shook, but his happy cry was perfectly clear. “Daddy! When is Daddy bringing me and Mommy home?”
    “Soon, baby,” Alyssia cooed, her voice filled with the certainty of a winner. “Soon, we’ll be a family.”
    Denice slammed the laptop shut.
    The loud crack echoed in the cavernous room.
    She scrambled from the chair, stumbling into the master bathroom. She fell to her knees on the cold marble floor, dry heaving. Nothing came up but the bitter taste of bile.
    She looked up, catching her reflection in the mirror. Her face was pale, streaked with tears she hadn’t realized she was crying. The last trace of love in her eyes was extinguished, replaced by an absolute, chilling cold.
    In a world she never knew existed, she was the villain standing in the way of their “true love.”
    Her phone buzzed on the bathroom counter. A text from Jairo.
    “Still working, baby? Get some rest. Love you.”
    The words “Love you” were so obscene, so disgusting, she felt another wave of nausea.
    She took a deep, shuddering breath, wiping the tears from her face. Her eyes were unnervingly calm now.
    She stood up, straightened her clothes, and walked back into the study.
    She didn’t delete a single file. She simply returned the laptop to its sleep state, as if nothing had happened.
    She reopened her laptop, her movements becoming precise and detached. She returned to Alyssia’s social media page, digging deeper, past the public facade. Inside a private photo album labeled “Family” — the password, absurdly, was Jairo’s birthday — she found it.
    A photo of Jairo holding the boy. Connor’s face was clearly visible. He was smiling, his eyes a deep, soulful brown, perfectly mirroring Jairo’s eyes.
    She found another scanned PDF file, from NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. A DNA paternity test. She zoomed in on the results. Probability of paternity: 99.99%. Father: Jairo Slater. Child: Connor Stuart.
    She stared at the black text until it blurred. Her lungs finally expanded as she drew in a long, ragged breath. She closed her laptop.
    Jairo hadn’t just stolen her money. He had stolen her life. And now, she was going to destroy his.

    The Jilted Heiress And Her Spectacular Comeback Chapter 2

    Denice slumped into the leather chair in Jairo’s study.
    Her chest rose and fell in a slow, steady rhythm. No tears. Crying was a physical response to pain, and at this moment, she felt none. Instead, she felt a cold, terrifying clarity.
    She took out her phone and connected it to the laptop.
    She dragged all the chat logs, photos, videos, bank transfer receipts, and the DNA report into her highly encrypted cloud drive. When the progress bar reached one hundred percent, she titled the folder: “Reckoning.” Then she unplugged the USB, cleared the system access logs, and shut the laptop.
    She took a deep breath, the air burning her lungs, and pressed the call button.
    The dial tone echoed in the dead-silent room, each ring a hammer blow solidifying her resolve.
    After three rings, a woman’s voice answered, elegant and imperious, with a sharp edge of impatience. “Denice? Do you have any idea what time it is?”
    It was her mother, Eleanor Montgomery, the true matriarch of the Montgomery family. Since Denice had walked out eight years ago for Jairo, their conversations had been brief and cold.
    Denice ignored the reprimand. “It’s over between Jairo Slater and me.”
    A long silence stretched from the other end of the line. Denice could picture her mother perfectly: one perfectly sculpted eyebrow raised, assessing the information.
    Finally, Eleanor’s voice returned, laced with a faint, unmistakable thread of satisfaction. “A wise decision. Albeit eight years too late.”
    Denice didn’t argue. She cut straight to the point. “A few years ago, you mentioned a business arrangement… a marriage alliance with the Collins family. Is that offer still on the table?”
    Another silence, this one weighted with calculation. The Collins family. Kings among New York’s new money, their power was immense, enough to elevate the Montgomery’s old-money empire to new heights.
    “Culver Collins is not an easy man to handle,” Eleanor said slowly. “Are you sure you’re prepared for that?”
    A cold smile touched Denice’s lips. “I only need his name and his resources, Mother. As for affection, I no longer have a use for that sort of thing.”
    That seemed to please Eleanor. To her, emotion was the most useless commodity in the world of business. “Very well,” she replied briskly. “I’ll make the arrangements. Vincent Hayes, Mr. Collins’s executive assistant, will contact you tomorrow morning at ten.”
    The call ended. Denice lowered the phone, feeling a profound, hollowed-out exhaustion. Her relationship with her family was just another transaction.
    She turned back to Jairo’s computer, scrolling through Alyssia’s social media again.
    She noticed a post where Alyssia thanked an “anonymous Ivy League benefactor” for the scholarship that allowed her to finish her degree, accompanied by a photo of her and Jairo on the Yale campus.
    A flicker of confusion crossed Denice’s mind. She remembered Jairo taking a short course at Yale around the same time. She had even encouraged him to apply for an anonymous grant. A coincidence?
    She didn’t dwell on it, but a gut feeling told her something was wrong with this woman. She took a screenshot and saved it to a new, encrypted folder on her cloud drive. The folder was titled: “Reckoning.”
    She stood and walked to the floor-to-ceiling windows.
    She twisted the engagement ring off her finger. The diamond Jairo had given her, once her most treasured possession.
    She didn’t throw it. She didn’t smash it.
    She walked to the desk and casually tossed it into the back of a drawer, where it landed with a soft clink among discarded pens and paperclips.
    With that done, an unprecedented calm settled over her. She walked into the bedroom. Jairo was still fast asleep in the guest room.
    She opened her closet, filled with the muted, conservative clothes she’d bought to suit Jairo’s taste for a “low-key” partner.
    Her eyes scanned past them, landing on a garment bag tucked away in the very back. It was the only piece of couture she had brought with her when she left home, the last dress she had worn as a Montgomery heir.
    She unzipped the bag. A cascade of shimmering, dark blue silk, embroidered with crystals was revealed.
    She took out her phone and sent a text to her personal assistant. “Chloe, have all of my clothes and jewelry in storage sent over. Yes, all of it.”
    Then, she walked into the bathroom and began to remove her makeup.
    She turned on the shower, the hot water washing over her skin, as if it could cleanse her of eight years of foolishness and naivety.
    She closed her eyes. The faces of Jairo and Alyssia, and the boy named Connor, were seared into her mind.
    She would not let them have their happiness. She would make them pay the steepest price for what they had done.
    Outside the bathroom door, her phone lit up. A new email notification glowed on the screen.
    Subject: Meeting with Mr. Collins. From: Vincent Hayes.

    The Jilted Heiress And Her Spectacular Comeback Chapter 3

    Denice sat in the small, temporary office Jairo had set up for her at Slater Dynamics, a place for her to handle his “miscellaneous” tasks. She glanced down at the diamond on her finger—a ring she had fished out of the drawer this morning, not as a symbol of love, but as a weapon for the performance ahead. The employees who walked by cast glances at her, a mixture of pity and poorly concealed schadenfreude.
    They had all heard the rumors about Jairo and some woman named Alyssia. They all thought Denice was the poor, clueless fiancée.
    She ignored their stares. She opened the project management software on her desktop and located the file for a core project codenamed “Phoenix.”
    It was the company’s key to profitability for the next quarter, a plan she had spent countless sleepless nights perfecting. Jairo had staked his reputation on it.
    She moved the mouse. Without a flicker of hesitation, she clicked the “Terminate Project” button.
    In the reason-for-termination field, she typed: “Core design contains irreparable flaws.”
    A system prompt appeared, warning that the action was irreversible.
    She clicked “Confirm.”
    The entire project vanished from everyone’s worklist.
    Almost instantly, her phone began to scream, the screen flashing with Jairo’s name.
    She didn’t answer. She declined the call, switched her phone to silent, and tossed it onto the desk.
    The office was suddenly quiet. Everyone was stunned by what she had just done. Whispers erupted. “Is she crazy? That’s the Phoenix project!”
    Denice stood up, picked up her handbag, and prepared to leave. Her sole purpose for coming here today was complete.
    Just as she reached the main entrance, the elevator doors opened on her floor. Denice looked up and saw a figure step out of the elevator. She immediately recognized the face—Alyssia.
    Alicia also saw Denise, having seen her photo in Jairo’s phone before.Her eyes widening in shock, followed by a flash of ugly, naked jealousy. But she quickly masked it, flashing a sickly sweet, triumphant smile.She wore an ill-fitting, off-season Chanel tweed suit that screamed “nouveau riche trying too hard.” She gripped a gaudy designer handbag. When she saw Denice in her deep-blue silk gown, her eyes widened in shock, followed by a flash of ugly, naked envy. But she quickly masked it, putting on a sickly sweet, triumphant smile.
    She straightened her back and puffed out her chest. She walked straight up to Denice, her voice cloyingly saccharine, laced with feigned innocence and gloating. “Miss Montgomery, are you here for Jairo? He’s probably busy right now. An urgent meeting came up.”
    Denice looked at her coldly, as if observing a pathetic, show-off insect. “I’m just here to take out the trash.” Her gaze flicked meaningfully toward Alyssia. A flicker of irritation crossed Alyssia’s face.
    Then Alyssia strode past Denice, deliberately trying to bump her with her shoulder. At that moment, Denice sidestepped. Alyssia’s footing wavered, and she stumbled backward in her cheap high heels. She lost her balance and landed hard on the hallway carpet, her Chanel bag spilling open, lipstick and receipts scattering everywhere.
    Denice looked down at her, her eyes icy cold. Alyssia’s eyes were bloodshot with anger and humiliation; she struggled to get up but fell back again. She pointed at Denice, her voice sharp enough to pierce the air: “You’re nothing but a stand‑in! Jairo doesn’t love you at all! He gave me fifty million dollars yesterday, and he’s going to marry me next month!”
    Denice looked down at her, who was slumped on the floor. “That Chanel suit is a spring 2019 outdated style,” Denice said, her voice flat and bored. “If you’re going to steal fifty million dollars, at least buy something that fits.”
    Alyssia’s face went pale. Her mouth opened and closed like a dying fish.
    “Remember your place, Miss Stuart.” Denice’s voice was soft but carried an unmistakable authority. “As long as this engagement ring is on my finger, I am Jairo’s legally recognized fiancée. And you,” she paused, letting her gaze sweep contemptuously from head to toe over Alyssia, “are nothing.”
    Without another glance, Denice turned and walked toward the elevator, leaving Alyssia staring after her elegant, resolute back. As the elevator doors slowly closed, Denice saw Alyssia’s face contort with rage.
    The elevator descended smoothly. Only then did the cold mask on Denice’s face crack, revealing a hint of weariness.
    Jairo’s calls and texts kept flooding her phone. Without a single glance, she cleared them all.
    She knew he must be frantic. The Phoenix Project was his biggest promise to his investors. But she also knew that he wouldn’t dare break up with her now. Not now. Because without her, he couldn’t explain the core design of the project to anyone. He needed her. And that was her greatest leverage.
    Stepping out of the office building, the New York sunlight felt harsh. Denice put on her sunglasses, hiding her eyes and every ounce of emotion within them.
    She hailed a taxi and gave the driver the address of one of New York’s most exclusive private clubs. She was going to see Culver Collins, heir to the Collins family. She needed a new, more powerful ally.
    The taxi merged into the flow of traffic. Denice leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes.
    She was going to make Jairo understand that he had lost far more than just a project.

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  • He Chose Her, I Chose Myself novel by Xiu Luo

    He Chose Her, I Chose Myself novel by Xiu Luo

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    Just a few weeks before my wedding to Hudson, his ex-girlfriend moved in next door to us.

    She constantly made a huge deal out of the fact that her father had sacrificed his life to save Hudson, and even destroyed my wedding dress, yet Hudson just stood by and comforted her.

    Just as I secretly found out I was pregnant, he publicly announced that he was going to hold a “fake wedding” with her, claiming it was for her psychological therapy.

    This news quickly went viral online, sparking the fury of netizens who even ganged up to attack me, causing me to fall to the ground and bleed heavily.

    I lost our child, and the doctor told me that my hopes of ever becoming a mother again were almost completely destroyed.

    As I lay in the hospital bed, my heart completely dead inside, Hudson appeared in the ward.

    “Please understand why I have to hold this fake wedding for her.”

    He begged me to support his fake wedding, and my heart was thoroughly shattered.

    After he left, I immediately packed my bags, contacted the wedding venue, and changed the groom’s name to the man who had always stood by me through thick and thin.

    When he found out about this, he actually went crazy trying to win me back at all costs!

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    He Chose Her, I Chose Myself novel Chapter 1

    Caitlin’s POV
    Just a few weeks left until my wedding, but a wave of icy dread gripped me tightly. It all started the day Bella Peterson moved into our apartment building.
    Of course, I knew her name. My fiancé, Hudson Rice, had always harbored a deep sense of guilt toward her—her firefighter father had sacrificed his life to save Hudson years ago.
    That afternoon, I was walking my golden retriever in the apartment building’s private garden. Suddenly, it excitedly broke free from the leash, ran over to the rose bushes, and nudged out a shivering white stray cat with its nose.
    As I gently stroked its fur, I noticed a small silver tag on its collar. Engraved on the silver tag was the word, “Snowflake.”
    I flipped the tag over, and sure enough, there was a number engraved on the back, along with a brief message: “This is my kitty. If found, please contact me, thank you so much. —Bella.”
    My breath hitched. Bella? The name echoed in my mind, and I had a very bad premonition.
    “Snowflake!” A soft voice broke the tranquility of the garden.
    I looked up. A few yards away stood a woman with long, jet-black hair. She was younger than I had imagined, possessing an almost fragile quality.
    “Oh, Snowflake, my little baby!” She gathered the cat into her arms, hugging it tightly. The cat let out a loud purr, clearly enjoying the feeling of being back in its owner’s embrace.
    “Thank you, thank you! I was so worried. I just moved in here, and she ran out. I didn’t even know what to do.”
    “It’s nothing. She is a beautiful cat.”
    “I’m Bella Peterson.”
    “Caitlin Norris.” I wore an increasingly stiff smile, my mind in utter chaos.
    Bella Peterson. This couldn’t be a coincidence. This was Hudson’s ex-girlfriend, whose father had died saving him.
    “It’s nice to meet you, Caitlin,” Bella said, her eyes still fixed on the cat in her arms. “You are so kind.” She looked up, her gaze meeting mine. “Norris… that last name sounds a bit familiar. Do you live nearby?”
    “Yes, I live here.”
    We walked toward the apartment building entrance together, but the unease in my heart grew heavier.
    “I just moved back from abroad and rented a unit in this building.”
    “Rented an apartment in this building?” I asked, unable to stop myself from taking a sharp breath. This building was one of the most luxurious apartments in the whole city, and the rent was terrifyingly high.
    Bella smiled, a fragile smile that seemed to hide an unspeakable sorrow. “Yes. This building is beautiful. And… it’s close to my past.” She paused, her eyes dimming.
    “You wouldn’t happen to know Hudson, would you?” I tried to make my voice sound casual, but my curiosity was intense.
    Bella just offered a small, meaningful smile. “Yes, and Hudson has actually mentioned you to me, saying you are very understanding.”
    “Oh, really?” I forced a very strained smile.
    The elevator doors opened, and we both simultaneously pressed “15.”
    “Well, I’m here.” She walked toward the door of 1503, but just as she reached it, the door of 1502 opened.
    Hudson stood there, dressed in casual clothes, his hair slightly messy. He held a bag of groceries in his hand, a small smile on his face.
    He looked at me, and then his gaze landed on Bella.
    His smile vanished, and he was so surprised that the grocery bag almost slipped from his hand.
    Seeing Hudson, Bella froze in place. Snowflake, still in her arms, let out a soft meow.
    Bella’s eyes filled with tears, and her lower lip began to tremble.
    Time seemed to stretch out. I stood between them, feeling like a redundant outsider. The silence was suffocating.
    “Hudson,” I said, my voice flat. “You know Bella, right?”
    Hudson blinked, as if waking from a dream. He looked at me, then at Bella, a complex and conflicted expression surfacing on his face. “Bella, what are you doing here?”
    Bella nodded, a tear slipping down her cheek. “Yes, Hudson.”
    “I need to lie down for a bit,” I said, my hands trembling as I unlocked my apartment door. Shaking, I closed the door behind me, shutting out that oppressive scene.
    Through the thick door, I heard Bella go from soft sobbing to heart-wrenching, agonizing wailing.
    “Bella, shh, it’s okay now.” I heard Hudson’s voice, deep and gentle.
    The crying gradually subsided, turning into soft whispers. The hallway finally fell silent.
    I don’t know how much time passed before I gently cracked the door open. The hallway was empty, and the door to 1503 was shut tight. Hudson and Bella were inside, a lone man and a lone woman.
    The future I had so carefully planned completely collapsed in this very moment.

    He Chose Her, I Chose Myself novel Chapter 2

    Caitlin’s POV
    Despite the world outside turning upside down, I desperately tried to maintain a pathetic sense of dignity inside the apartment. The wedding was fast approaching, and my wedding dress was still waiting for my final fitting.
    I clung desperately to these anchors of the future, constantly brainwashing myself: Hudson is just acting out of survivor’s guilt. He won’t abandon me. As long as he helps Bella stabilize her emotions, we can get back on track.
    Late that night, Hudson finally returned to the apartment. I pretended to be asleep, listening to him tiptoe into bed, my body stiff and my breathing heavy.
    The next morning at the breakfast table, I decided to break the ice. “So, Bella moved in next door to us.”
    Hudson’s hand trembled, and he nearly spilled his coffee. He didn’t dare look at me, his face full of guilt. “Yeah, it’s… it’s complicated, Caitlin.”
    “Indeed. She cried terribly yesterday, and you were busy comforting her next door.” My tone was sharp.
    Hudson ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “She had an emotional breakdown yesterday, it was really serious! Her therapist suggested she move somewhere she feels safe. She had no idea we lived here.”
    “Her therapist suggested she move next door to the ex-boyfriend whose life her father saved?” I raised an eyebrow, the skepticism in my tone barely concealed.
    Hudson finally looked at me, his eyes full of pleading. “Caitlin, please. She’s not doing well, her mental state is very fragile. We can’t just abandon her. Her father… he sacrificed himself to save me. I owe her.”
    “You do owe her.” I gritted my teeth, forcing myself to maintain that “understanding” facade he had praised. “But what about our wedding? The final fitting for the wedding dress is next Tuesday. Are you still going?”
    He hesitated for a long second, a second so long it made my skin crawl. “Of course,” he finally promised. “Everything goes according to plan. Bella will get better, we just need to take care of her feelings a little bit.”
    I nodded, but my heart shattered piece by piece. That night, Hudson tossed and turned in his sleep, muttering a name under his breath. I couldn’t hear it clearly, but I knew for a fact it wasn’t “Caitlin.”
    Next Tuesday, I arrived at the bridal boutique with anxious anticipation. It was an ivory silk wedding dress designed specifically for me, with hand-sewn pearls and lace perfectly matched.
    The moment I put it on, I felt as if I saw the reflection of happiness once again.
    The boutique owner, Mrs. Albright, looked at me with absolute awe. “It’s too beautiful, Caitlin! Hudson is going to be head over heels for you.”
    Just as I was handing the dress back, my phone buzzed. A text from Hudson came in: “Going to be late. Bella had another episode, I have to rush over to her now.”
    My heart plunged into an ice cellar. Bella again. Always Bella.
    Then, Bella stood in the middle of the store. Her eyes were bloodshot, her gaze frantic, and in her hand, she tightly gripped a pair of sharp, heavy tailor’s scissors. Mannequins around her were knocked over, and high-end fabrics were scattered all over the floor.
    “She wants to destroy everything!” Bella screamed, her eyes locked onto the wedding dress hanging on the rack.
    The next second, her eyes ignited with the mad fire of jealousy. “What right do you have to have him! What right do you have to steal our life!”
    Before I could react, she lunged forward like a lunatic. The owner screamed and dodged out of the way, while I froze in place.
    The cold steel of the scissors flashed.
    Riiip—
    The silk was slashed, the lace was torn, and pearls bounced all over the floor. Bella frantically wielded the scissors, shredding the wedding dress of my dreams into pieces, cut by cut.
    “Stop!” I finally screamed at the top of my lungs, but it was too late.
    After the destruction was complete, the scissors clattered to the floor. She fell to her knees amidst the shredded fabric, trembling all over as she began to sob delicately.
    Bang! The door burst open, and Hudson rushed in, looking panicked. He surveyed the chaotic store, me standing with the shredded dress, and Bella kneeling on the floor.
    His gaze briefly met mine, revealing a fleeting trace of helpless apology.
    But that look vanished in an instant. His eyes immediately darted to Bella. “Bella! Are you okay?” He knelt beside her, pulled her into his arms, and comforted her.
    “We have to call the police,” the owner said, trembling.
    “No need.” I was surprisingly calm, my cold gaze locked on Hudson and Bella. He was still holding her, and Bella had buried her face in his shoulder, crying pitifully. He was heartbroken, but his heartbreak existed only for her.
    Customers around us gathered and whispered, and some even took out their phones to record. I had become the most pathetic clown in this farce.
    “Caitlin, I can rush to make you a new dress, or try my best to repair this one…” the owner suggested cautiously.
    “No need.” I cut her off decisively. What was destroyed wasn’t the dress, it was this damn marriage. “I will pay for all the damages, settle the bill for me.”
    Without any lingering attachment, I turned and walked out of the bridal boutique. The cold wind hit my face, and not only did it fail to blow away the pain in my chest, but it also made me completely sober.
    I didn’t return to that so-called home. I didn’t want to hear any of Hudson’s hypocritical apologies and excuses.
    I took a taxi straight to an unfamiliar private hospital.
    A nameless fear haunted my heart, making me instinctively place my hand over my still-flat lower abdomen.
    I had to confirm whether my child was still safe and sound.

    He Chose Her, I Chose Myself novel Chapter 3

    Caitlin’s POV
    The cold white fluorescent lights of the clinic buzzed overhead. I lay on the examination table, my heart pounding with anxiety. Dr. Evans finally straightened up, a gentle smile appearing on her face.
    “Caitlin, although it’s still very early, everything is completely normal.” She pointed to the blurry image on the screen. “Here is the heartbeat. It’s strong and steady.”
    A sense of profound relief brought tears to my eyes instantly. My child, this fragile little life, was still stubbornly surviving after experiencing the chaos, the betrayal, and the shredded wedding dress.
    “Thank you, Doctor,” I choked out. “Thank you so much.”
    Dr. Evans handed me a tissue. “Congratulations, this is wonderful news. Have you told the child’s father?”
    The smile on my face froze. Tell Hudson? Share this sacred joy with him? It felt like an absolute fantasy. All of his attention, sympathy, and his entire being had already been completely swallowed up by Bella.
    How could I dare entrust this precious secret to a man who couldn’t even protect my wedding dress or my dignity?
    “Not yet,” I said, my voice dropping. “Too much has happened, I’m not ready yet.”
    Dr. Evans nodded, her eyes showing understanding, but she also became more serious. “Take your time. But given your past medical history, you must avoid any stress or physical exertion. We will monitor your condition closely.”
    Her reminder awakened my deepest fears. Two heartbreaking miscarriage experiences. When I lost the first one, Hudson held me and cried for days; but the second, late-term miscarriage a few years later almost drained all of our energy.
    Since then, a layer of cautious distance had grown between us. I was afraid to embrace hope again, and perhaps he was afraid of facing loss again.
    Her reminder awakened my deepest fears, two heartbreaking miscarriage experiences. When I lost the first one, Hudson held me and cried for days; but the second, late-term miscarriage a few years later almost drained all of our energy. Since then, a layer of cautious distance had grown between us. I was afraid to embrace hope again, and perhaps he was afraid of facing loss again.
    And now, with a new life awakening inside me, I couldn’t bear another blow.
    Especially right now, with Hudson deeply entangled in Bella’s drama and completely ignoring me, it was highly likely he would treat this child as an unmanageable burden.
    Leaving the clinic and returning to the apartment building, I didn’t go upstairs. Instead, I hid in the lounge area. I needed time to digest all of this.
    My phone buzzed. It was a news push notification. Glancing at the screen, I started shaking with anger.
    My face—that face covered in tear stains and shock inside the bridal boutique—was glaringly displayed on the cover of a viral video.
    The video clearly captured the footage of Bella frantically shredding my wedding dress, and the most piercing scene of all: Hudson holding Bella tightly to comfort her, while I was left hanging to the side like a pathetic joke.
    The title was highly inflammatory: “Homewrecker Caitlin Finally Gets Her Just Desserts! Bella Fights Back to Reclaim True Love Hudson!”
    With stiff fingers, I scrolled through the comment section. The internet had thoroughly nailed me to the pillar of shame.
    “Oh my god, poor Bella! She’s been through so much. Caitlin is obviously a gold digger trying to steal Hudson away.”
    “Hudson and Bella are a match made in heaven. Caitlin should step aside.”
    “Look at Caitlin’s expression, she’s so damn cold. Bella is clearly heartbroken. This woman is simply a monster.”
    “Her father sacrificed himself to save Hudson! How can Caitlin be so cold-blooded?”
    The direction of public opinion was ruthless and twisted.
    Netizens quickly dug up Bella’s tragic background: the daughter of a hero firefighter, a genius artist deeply traumatized by her father’s sacrifice. Rumor had it she had received psychological treatment abroad and had now returned covered in scars, only to face the vicious woman who had stolen her high school sweetheart.
    Bella, the tragic hometown goddess. Hudson, the hero tortured by conflict, forced to bear a debt of gratitude he could never repay. And me, Caitlin Norris, the vicious homewrecker.
    The comments grew increasingly malicious, demanding that I leave, slapping all sorts of labels on me, and even starting to send threatening messages. An online campaign to support Bella had already begun.
    Late that night, Hudson finally came back. He saw me sitting alone in the unlit living room, the cold light of my laptop screen reflecting those vicious insults.
    Looking utterly exhausted, he sat down next to me. His hand hovered in mid-air, but ultimately, he didn’t touch me. “Caitlin, I’m sorry about today. Bella completely broke down. Her therapist just finished checking her into the hospital.”
    “So you were with her the whole time,” I stated coldly.
    He sighed. “She kept crying and calling my name, refusing to let go. This building is too triggering for her, and seeing you made her break down even more. She misunderstood everything, thinking you wanted to steal me away from her.”
    “Misunderstood?” I laughed out of pure anger. “She shredded the wedding dress we were going to use for our marriage! And you held her in your arms, leaving me alone to watch my future turn into a pile of rags!”
    Hudson rubbed his face in agony. “I know how bad this looks! But she’s sick, and she only feels safe when she’s by my side! I know this is unfair to you, but I’m begging you, can you please just endure this for a little longer? Once she stabilizes, I promise everything will go back to normal. We will get married, I swear.”
    Looking at this face full of guilt, my heart hardened bit by bit.
    “Alright, Hudson,” I said in a low voice, a cold tear quietly slipping down. “I will endure it.”
    He let out a long sigh of relief, hugged me tightly, and pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “Thank you, Caitlin, you are the most understanding woman I have ever met.”
    I closed my eyes in his embrace, letting my tears soak his shirt.
    He was so immersed in his “great responsibility” that he didn’t notice my despair at all. As long as Bella remained his first choice, I would always be the dispensable one!

    👉 CONTINUE READING

  • The Ex Wife’s Revenge novel by NovaBlaq

    The Ex Wife's Revenge novel by NovaBlaq

    👉 READ NOW

    My ex-husband’s mother never hid her contempt for me.
    She thought money could erase my existence and paid me five million to walk away from her son.
    “You’re beneath my son. Take the money and leave him.”
    She had no idea I was already sick of her cruelty. And even sicker of her spineless son.
    I accepted the money. Utterly devastated, of course.
    ~~~
    A month later, she was furious because I was dating her brother.
    “Ten million. Leave my brother alone.”
    I refused, intentionally trying to provoke her.
    She offered me twenty million this time and I accepted her offer.
    But she had no idea what I had in store for her. She had no idea what she started.

    👉 READ NOW

    The Ex Wife’s Revenge novel Chapter 1

    Nadia’s POV:
    Today was my husband, Dorian’s twenty-third birthday.
    It should have been a happy day. But it wasn’t. Happy days didn’t really exist inside the Hargrove mansion… at least not for me, anyway.
    I woke up early. The morning sun came through the curtains and landed on my face, and for one single second, before I was fully awake, I thought: today might be different. Then I heard the voices outside my bedroom door and I remembered where I was and who I was married to and nothing was different at all.
    It was barely past seven when the stylists arrived.
    Vivienne had sent them. She always sent them before any Hargrove event, because she didn’t trust me to dress myself. I’m not sure she trusted me to do anything, if I’m honest. Except breathe, maybe. And even then she was probably watching to make sure I did it correctly.
    I was sitting at my vanity in my robe when the bedroom door opened without a knock. Three women walked in, carrying bags and cases. Vivienne walked in behind them. She was already dressed. She stopped in the center of the room and looked at me. She didn’t say good morning.
    She just looked at my hair.
    “Careful with her hair,” she said, to the stylist. “It’s a bit thin, isn’t it?” She tilted her head slightly, as if she were studying a problem that needed solving. “Add extensions. Lots of them. I won’t have her walking around today looking like a peasant. My son is turning twenty-three. This party matters. I won’t have guests thinking I let him marry a woman who can’t even grow a decent head of hair.”
    The stylist nodded. She didn’t argue. She just agreed, which was what everyone did around Vivienne.
    “Yes, Mrs. Hargrove. I see exactly what you mean. We’ll fix it.”
    I looked at my own reflection in the mirror and said nothing.
    What was there to say? I had learned, a long time ago, that saying anything only made it worse. Silence was my armor.
    I sat in that chair for four hours.
    My neck ached from holding still. My head felt heavy from all the pins and clips they were pressing into my scalp. Every time I opened my mouth to say anything… even something harmless, like asking for a glass of water… Vivienne found a way to cut me off.
    “Don’t move your mouth, Nadia,” she said at one point. “The lipstick needs to be set perfectly. If you keep moving, we’ll have to start over. And we don’t have time to start over.”
    Then she looked at my waist in the mirror. She pressed her lips together.
    “That dress,” she said. “Well. It’s the best we could do, given your figure. It’s a shame you haven’t managed to lose that extra weight I mentioned to you in August. The silk is pulling at the waist. It makes you look…” She paused, as if searching for a word that was just polite enough to say out loud. “…fat and desperate. But then, I suppose that’s always been your problem. You’ve always tried a little too hard to belong in spaces that weren’t built for you.”
    I stared at my reflection. There was absolutely nothing wrong with my figure.
    The woman looking back at me looked expensive. Her hair was thick and glossy, her makeup was flawless, her dress was simple but elegant. She looked like she belonged at an event like this.
    But her eyes were empty. She looked like a doll that had been dressed by someone else.
    I didn’t recognize her at all. I didn’t recognize myself anymore.
    ~~~
    The party began at noon.
    The Hargrove garden had been decorated beautifully. The tables were covered in white linen and flowers that probably cost more than most people’s monthly rent. Servers in white jackets moved between the guests, offering champagne and tiny food arranged on silver trays.
    It was beautiful. Everything about the Hargrove world was beautiful. That was the worst part of it.
    I moved through the crowd slowly, holding a small box wrapped in gold paper. Inside was a watch, a vintage one I had spent three weeks searching for. I heard Dorian mentioning it once, almost a year ago. I remembered because I always paid attention to him more than he ever paid attention to me. I had thought it would mean something to him. I had thought that maybe, on his birthday, he might actually pay attention to me a little bit.
    I found him near the fountain.
    He looked good. He always looked good. His tuxedo was perfectly fitted. I walked up to him and touched his arm.
    “Dorian,” I said. My voice came out quieter than I intended. “Happy birthday, honey. I got you something. I spent a long time finding it. I thought maybe we could find a quiet corner for a minute so you could open it?”
    He didn’t look at the box. He didn’t look at me. His eyes were scanning the crowd over my shoulder, searching for someone or something more important.
    “Not now, Nadia.” He said. “Don’t try making today all about you please.”
    “But it’s your birthday. I just…”
    “I said not now.” His voice was firm. “My mother is standing in the sun. She might get a headache. I need to bring her a drink before she asks me twice. Just put the gift on the table with the other ones.”
    I looked at him, and tried to keep my voice even.
    “Dorian, there are over fifteen people here in white jackets whose entire job tonight is to carry drinks. Can’t you stay here for one minute? It’s your birthday. I just want to give you your gift.”
    His face tightened.
    “Don’t be selfish,” he said. He lowered his voice, not because he was worried about hurting my feelings, but because he didn’t want to create a scene. “She’s my mother, Nadia. Now stop making this about yourself and move out of the way. You’re blocking the path.”
    He walked right past me.
    He didn’t even brush my shoulder. He just stepped around me like I was a potted plant.
    I stood there with the gold box in my hands, and I breathed. In, out. In, out. I had gotten very good at breathing through moments like this. It was either that or cry, and I refused to give this garden the satisfaction of seeing my tears.
    I turned around to go find somewhere to sit, and that’s when I saw her.
    Lena was standing about ten feet away, right where Dorian was heading. She was tall, with cheekbones. She had been introduced to Dorian by Vivienne a few months ago… a model from a good family, Vivienne had said, as if she were presenting a business proposal. I smiled at that introduction. Because I knew exactly what she was trying to do.
    Lena was laughing at something now, her head thrown back, her hand reaching out to touch Dorian’s arm. He was laughing back. He looked alive in a way I hadn’t seen in three years of being married to him.
    Something moved through my chest. And I walked over to them.
    I wasn’t going to stand in the shadows and watch my husband laugh with another woman at his birthday party. I wrapped my arm through Dorian’s and stepped in close. I made sure my wedding ring was visible.
    “There you are, honey,” I said. My voice was softer than I expected. “I was starting to wonder where you disappeared to.” I turned to look at Lena, still smiling. “Oh, hello, Lena right? I didn’t see you standing there. You look very… shiny today.”
    Lena looked at me like I was a bug on her shoe. Then she smiled and tilted her head.
    “Nadia. How sweet. I was just telling Dorian how great he looks.” She glanced at me from head to toe. “Some people just keep improving, don’t they? And others just… stay the same.”
    Before I could respond, a woman I didn’t know appeared at my elbow. She was older, elegantly dressed, and she was looking at my dress with a genuine smile.
    “Oh, my dear,” she said to me. “What a stunning color. That shade of blue is absolutely beautiful on you. Is it a designer piece?”
    I opened my mouth. But suddenly, Vivienne materialized from the left.
    I didn’t see her coming. She looked at my dress and then looked at the guest with a fake smile.
    “This old thing?” Vivienne said, touching the fabric of my sleeve with one finger, as though checking it for stains. “It’s a sweet little dress, isn’t it? We had it pulled together quickly. Nadia doesn’t really have a strong eye for fashion. She tends to gravitate toward things that look expensive but aren’t, if you know what I mean.” She laughed softly. “It’s difficult to teach taste to someone who didn’t grow up surrounded by it. Some women are just born with the instinct, and others have to try much harder and still don’t quite get there. Don’t you think, Lena?”
    Lena covered her mouth with her manicured hand. She made a sound that was supposed to be a polite laugh.
    “Absolutely,” Lena said. “Fashion is practically a language. You’re either fluent or you’re not.”
    The woman who had complimented me looked slightly uncomfortable. She glanced between me and Vivienne and said nothing else.
    I felt heat rise in my face, then I looked at Dorian.
    I waited for him to say something. To tell his mother to stop. To defend me, even once. To say: that’s my wife you’re talking about.
    Instead , he looked at the ground. Like he had nothing to say.
    I took a sip of my wine. “Actually, Vivienne,” I said. My voice was calm. I kept my smile exactly where it was. “Dorian chose this dress for me. He picked it himself. He told me it was the most beautiful thing he’d seen in years.” I looked at her steadily. “So if you think the dress has no taste, perhaps the conversation you need to have is with your son. He might be the one with the fashion problem.”
    The silence that followed was deafening.
    The guest looked down at her champagne. Lena’s mouth fell open. Vivienne’s expression didn’t change exactly, but something in her eyes shifted. She went very still.
    Then I felt a hand on my arm.
    Dorian.
    He grabbed me just above the elbow, his fingers pressing hard into my arm. He didn’t pull me away properly because that would have been too visible. He just gripped me and leaned in, his face still arranged into a pleasant expression for anyone watching from a distance.
    “What is wrong with you?” he said against my ear. His voice was low and firm. “Do not talk to my mother like that. Do you understand me? This is her event. These are her guests. You do not embarrass her in front of them. Not tonight. Not ever.”
    I kept my eyes forward. I kept my smile in place.
    “She basically called me a peasant this morning, Dorian,” I said, very quietly. “In front of the stylists. She said the dress makes me look fat and desperate. I have been sitting and smiling through this all day.”
    “She’s trying to help you.”
    “That’s not helping.” My voice was still quiet but my jaw was tight. “She is cruel. And you stand next to her every time and say nothing. You have never once…”
    “Because she’s right!” he snapped. The words were out before he could take them back. He pressed his lips together. “She knows how this world works. You don’t. And instead of being grateful that she tries to show you, you stand here and make scenes and make me look like I can’t control my own household. Now you will smile, you will say nothing else, and at the end of the night you will apologize to her. Are we clear?”
    He let go of my arm.
    I looked down. There were red marks where his fingers had been.
    I didn’t say anything because I didn’t trust my voice.
    From across the garden, I heard my father in law, Richard’s voice cut through the music and the crowd noise.
    He was standing near the oak trees, at the head of a large table surrounded by men in dark suits. Richard himself was tall and broad, he was the kind of man who had never once in his life needed to raise his voice to be heard.
    He raised his glass.
    “A toast,” he said. “To my son, Dorian. Twenty-three years ago he arrived in this world, and I’m pleased to know that he’s become such a fine young man.” He smiled. “He has a great deal still to learn, about business and about life. But he is a Hargrove. And that means he will always have the best of everything.”
    The garden erupted.
    “To Dorian!”
    Everyone cheered. Everyone raised their glasses. I raised mine too, because I was very good at doing what was expected of me.
    Richard didn’t join the cheering, he didn’t immediately sit back down also. He stood for a moment, the glass still in his hand, and his eyes moved across the garden like he was searching for something.
    They moved past Past the fountain and the people who had come to celebrate his son.
    They landed on me.
    It lasted less than two seconds. He didn’t look at me with hate, or with contempt like the others did. His eyes were warm. It was the only warmth I had felt all day. Then, just as quickly as it happened, he moved his gaze away and went back to his business partners, raising his glass again to the men at his table.
    I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.
    ~~~
    I walked to the gift table.
    I set the gold box down at the end of the row. It landed among the huge, perfectly wrapped gifts from jewelers and designers and the kinds of people who bought presents as statements. My box looked small and lonely. Just like me.
    Nobody would know that it was from me. Nobody would care.
    “I’m sick of this,” I said quietly, to nobody. My voice was barely a whisper. “I am so sick of all of you.”
    I turned around and looked at the party. I looked at Vivienne, who was standing with Lena’s mother now, deep in a conversation, probably planning a wedding that didn’t include me. I looked at Lena, who was at Dorian’s side again, her hand on his arm, her laugh rising above the music.
    Then I looked at Dorian.
    He was laughing. He was having, by all appearances, a wonderful birthday.
    I had given him three years. Three years of my life. I had given up the one thing I loved doing because his mother said it was beneath the family name. I had given up the friends who made me feel like myself because they didn’t fit the Hargrove social calendar. I had given up the person I was before I walked into this garden for the first time, on Dorian’s arm, believing that love was enough to make a life.
    It wasn’t enough. It had never been enough. It wasn’t even love anymore, if I was honest. I had no idea what we were doing anymore.
    I took a fresh glass of wine from a passing server.
    I didn’t care if Vivienne saw me drinking. I didn’t care if Dorian decided to grip my arm again. I stood in the middle of the beautiful, glittering Hargrove garden and I drank my wine and I watched the trees.
    They were beautiful. Everything here was beautiful. But it was so easy to mistake beautiful for good. It was so easy to look at marble and crystal and think: this must be a place where people are happy.
    I looked at Richard one more time. He was deep in conversation with one of his business partners, gesturing with his champagne glass. He didn’t look my way again.
    But he was the only one who had looked at me like I was a person.
    “Happy birthday, Dorian,” I said, under my breath.
    The party was supposed to run until 4pm. It was barely three o’clock.
    I had one more hour of standing up straight and holding my glass correctly and laughing at the right moments.
    I could do it for one hour.
    I had done it for three years. What’s one hour compared to that?

    The Ex Wife’s Revenge novel Chapter 2

    Nadia’s POV:
    The party ended around 4pm. The last of the expensive cars drifted down the long driveway and disappeared through the gates. The garden was suddenly quiet… just the sound of the catering staff collecting glasses and folding linens. I watched it all from the edge of the terrace, my heels in my hand because my feet ached too much to keep them on.
    My head was heavy. The extensions Vivienne had forced on me that morning were still pinned into my scalp, and the weight of them had been pressing down on me all day. I wanted nothing more than to reach my bedroom, pull every single pin out, and cry into a pillow until there was nothing left.
    I was already on my way there. I had made it to the end of the hallway, when I noticed the library door was open.
    I should have kept walking. But something made me stop and look.
    Vivienne was sitting behind the desk.
    She wasn’t doing anything. She was just sitting there, very still, with her hands folded in front of her. She looked directly at the door. And sat up when she saw me, like she had been waiting for me.
    “Nadia,” she said. “Come in. Close the door behind you. We are long overdue for a real conversation.”
    I walked in. The heavy wood door clicked shut behind me. The library smelled like old books and cigar smoke left behind by the men who had occupied it earlier. I stood in front of the desk, my heels still in my hand, my feet sore on the cold floor.
    Vivienne stood up. She walked around the desk slowly and stopped a few feet in front of me.
    “I have had enough,” she began. Her voice was still controlled. “I have been tolerant with you, Nadia. More tolerant than most women in my position would have been. But tonight at the party, you crossed a line that I cannot overlook. You spoke back to me in front of our guests. You implied that my son has no taste.” She tilted her head slightly. “Do you have any idea how much work goes into maintaining the reputation of this family? And in thirty seconds, you open your mouth and ruin it with your low-class attitude.”
    Something shifted in my chest. I felt my heart beating fast. Usually, I would just look at the floor and say sorry, but today something was different. Maybe it was the wine, or maybe I was just broken.
    “With all due respect, Vivienne,” I said, and I was surprised by how steady my voice sounded, “I am not the one who started that conversation tonight. You are the one who walked up to a guest complimenting my dress and told her I have no taste. You called me cheap. This morning, in front of three strangers you hired, you told me my hair was thin and called me desperate. You have been doing things like this since the day I moved into this house, and I have never once said anything back to you.” I paused. I made myself hold her gaze. “Today I said one thing. One sentence. And now I am standing in this library being told I have crossed a line. I have lived in this house for three years. And in those years, you have told me I am fat, or I am ugly, or I am poor, and I have no family. You treat me like I am a dog you found on the street. No, you treat your dogs better than me. but you make me feel like I shouldn’t even breathe the same air as you. I am the one who has been putting up with the disrespect, not the other way around. I am your son’s wife, but you treat me like a maid who isn’t even good at cleaning.”
    Vivienne looked at me for a long moment. There was no emotion on her face. “You have lived in this house for three years,” she said. “In those three years, I have housed you, clothed you, given you access to a life that a girl from your background could never have reached on her own. And you stand here and tell me that I have been disrespecting you?” She let out a short, clipped sound… not quite a laugh. “You are not his wife in any way that matters to this family, Nadia. You were a phase. A little experiment my son tried because he wanted to rebel against me. But even children eventually outgrow their toys.”
    I opened my mouth to respond but no words came out.
    The library door opened and Dorian walked in. His tie was undone and his jacket was gone. He stopped when he saw us, his eyes moving from me to his mother and back again.
    “What is going on?” he said. “I could hear voices from the hallway.”
    “Dorian…” I started.
    “What did you do now, Nadia?” He cut me off, and the ease with which he did it… the automatic assumption that I was the problem, before he had heard a word of it… was like a slap. “After what I told you at the fountain? I thought I told you clearly to watch your mouth around my mother. And now you are still in here trying to pick a fight with her? You are just… you are being impossible tonight.”
    “She is not fighting,” Vivienne said, calmly, from behind me. “She is speaking. Apparently she has quite a lot she has been holding inside.”
    “She has been saying horrible things to me all day, Dorian,” I said, turning to face him fully. “She has been mean to me for the last three years. I know you know that. I know you have heard it. And I am asking you, right now, in front of her, Don’t you care? Don’t you love me enough to tell her to stop? Even tonight?”
    Dorian looked at me. Then he looked at his mother, and looked at the floor.
    The clock on the wall ticked very loudly in the silence.
    “She is only telling the truth, Nadia,” he said. “You don’t fit in here. You never have. And instead of trying to adapt, you just push back and make everything harder.”
    “You are unbelievable!” I yelled.
    “Keep your voice down.”
    “You are standing right here listening to your mother call me a toy and all you can tell me is to keep my voice down?”
    “Because you love making a scene and this is not the time…”
    “Dorian.” Vivienne’s voice cut across both of us like a blade. She had moved back behind the desk, then she opened the top drawer and removed something I couldn’t yet see. She uncapped a pen and wrote. Then she slid a piece of paper across the surface of the desk and left it there, facing me.
    I looked down.
    A check. The numbers were printed in clean, precise figures. I counted the zeros once. Then again, because the first count didn’t seem possible.
    Five million dollars.
    “Take it,” Vivienne said. She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms, and her expression was the expression of a woman who had just laid down the winning card and was waiting for the other player to accept it. “Take the check, Nadia. You’re beneath my son. Take it and get out of my son’s life right now. Before Richard comes home, I want you packed and gone before the sun comes up. Five million dollars is more money than your whole family will ever see in ten lifetimes. It is a very generous offer for a girl who brought nothing to this marriage but a few suitcases of cheap clothes. And it is the only one I am making.”
    I could not breathe. I stood there looking at the check and I could not breathe.
    I looked at Dorian.
    “Dorian,” I said. My voice came out barely above a whisper. “Look at what she is doing. She is trying to buy me out of your life. Tell her no. Tell her that our marriage means something. Tell her…”
    “Nad.” He said my name like he was tired of saying it. “Maybe… maybe it’s for the best.”
    I heard the words. But it still took several seconds for their meaning to arrive.
    “What?” I said.
    “I said maybe it’s for the best.” He shifted his weight. He still wasn’t looking at me properly. “Look at us, Nadia. Look at what we are. We argue constantly. My mother is always stressed because of the tension in this house. It’s not working. It hasn’t been working for a long time, and I think somewhere you know that too.”
    “I know that we have problems,” I said. “Every marriage has problems. That is not a reason to…”
    “It’s more than a problem,” he said.
    The certainty in his voice was a different kind of blow. 
    “Then tell me what it is,” I said. “The real reason. Not the version your mother rehearsed with you. Tell me yourself.”
    He was quiet.
    “Tell me, Dorian.”
    He looked up. His jaw tightened.
    “I don’t love you anymore,” he said. “I haven’t for a while. And I have met someone else. Someone who actually belongs in this world. Someone who makes me feel like myself instead of making me feel like I’m always doing something wrong.”
    There it was. All of it. Laid out clean and simple in the library of his father’s house.
    “It’s Lena,” I said. It wasn’t a question.
    Dorian said nothing. He just looked at the wall.

    The Ex Wife’s Revenge novel Chapter 3

    Nadia’s POV:
    His silence was the only answer I needed.
    “You are leaving me,” I said, slowly, “for a woman your mother selected for you. You are ending our marriage because Vivienne decided she wants someone different in this house, and you don’t have the backbone to tell her no.” I looked at him. “Three years, Dorian. Three years I was your wife. And this is what I get in return.”
    “It’s not like that…”
    “Then tell me what it’s like,” I said. “Because from where I’m standing, it looks exactly like that.”
    Vivienne picked up the check and held it toward me again. 
    “Does it matter what it’s like?” she said. “He doesn’t want you. That is the only thing that matters. And if you stay and choose to fight this, I want you to understand very clearly what that will look like. If you fight us, I will make sure the story that comes out is not kind to you. I can tell the press you were unfaithful. I can tell them you were stealing. I can tell them anything I like, and I can make people believe it, and when it is all over you will walk away with nothing except a reputation that will follow you for the rest of your life.” She held the check a little higher. “Or you can take this money. Take it and go quietly, and I will say nothing about you to anyone.”
    I looked at Dorian one last time.
    “You are going to let her threaten me,” I said. “After everything. You are just going to stand there.”
    He put his hands in his pockets.
    “Take the money, Nadia,” he said. “Please. It’s a lot of money. You can start over somewhere. Find a nice place, find someone new. Just…” He exhaled. He sounded genuinely exhausted. “Just go. I don’t want tonight to get any uglier than it already is. It’s been a long day.”
    I looked at the check in Vivienne’s outstretched hand, and I took the check from her hand.
    Vivienne’s expression didn’t change. But I saw it… just for a fraction of a second, there was a flicker of surprise. She must have expected resistance. She must have been ready for tears, and begging.
    But I gave her none of that.
    “Good,” she said, recovering. She opened the drawer again and produced a document already prepared. A divorce agreement. “Sign this before anything else. I want everything settled before Richard comes home. He doesn’t need to be involved in this.”
    I looked at the papers, then at Dorian, who was staring at the window.
    I picked up the pen. Before I put it to the paper I looked up at Vivienne one last time.
    “The money first,” I said. “Not a check. A transfer. I want it confirmed in my account before I sign anything.”
    Vivienne’s eyes narrowed. Just slightly.
    “You are in no position…”
    “I am in exactly the position I need to be in,” I said. “You want me to go quietly. I want a confirmed transfer. Those are my terms. I’m sure a woman with your resources can arrange it in a few minutes.”
    The silence stretched between us.
    Then Vivienne reached for her phone.
    It took eleven minutes. When the notification arrived on my phone, I put the pen to the signature line without another word. I signed cleanly. Then I placed the pen back on the desk.
    Vivienne picked up the document and checked the signature thoroughly. Then she set it down, and a very satisfied smile moved across her face.
    I did not give her a reaction. I turned and walked out of the library.
    ~~~
    The staircase felt longer than usual.
    I went up the big stairs to our… no, his… bedroom. I found my suitcase under the bed. I started throwing my jeans and my t-shirts into it. I changed into a hoodie and sweatpants and left the silk dresses on the hangers. I left the expensive shoes in the closet. 
    I took off my wedding ring.
    I held it for a moment. It was beautiful. He had good taste in rings, at least. I set it on the nightstand next to the lamp and I did not look at it again.
    I zipped the suitcase and picked it up.
    I took one last look at the room. The expensive curtains and the artwork I had never been allowed to change and the bed where I had laid awake more nights than I could count, listening to a marriage slowly come apart.
    “Goodbye,” I said. I wasn’t sure who I was talking to.
    I walked downstairs.
    They were waiting in the hallway. Of course they were. Vivienne stood with her hands clasped, watching the bottom of the stairs. Dorian stood a step behind her, his jacket still off, his expression somewhere between guilt and relief. 
    I crossed the hallway toward the front door.
    At the door I stopped.
    I looked at Dorian.
    “I hope she makes you happy,” I said. My voice was even. “But if she isn’t… and she won’t, because no one is happy in a cage your mother built for them… I want you to remember standing here and letting her do this to us because I really did love you, Dorian. But you don’t deserve my love.”
    Dorian opened his mouth.
    Vivienne put her hand on his arm. She shook her head once and he closed his mouth.
    That was, in the end, the most honest image I would carry of my marriage. Dorian, with something to say, chooses his mother’s happiness instead.
    I opened the front door.
    The air was cool and clean, I breathed it in for a moment at the top of the steps. Then I walked down.
    There was a car waiting at the bottom of the drive. I loaded my suitcase and got in. The driver asked where I was going, and I told him the hotel near the park, and he nodded and pulled out through the gates without another word.
    I watched the mansion through the rear window as we drove away. 
    I put my hand in my hoodie pocket and felt the check.
    Vivienne thought she was paying me to disappear. She was proud of herself. I could see it in the set of her shoulders and the small satisfaction behind her eyes when I walked out. 
    She was wrong about what the money was.
    It was three years of silence and humiliation. 
    This was less than what they owed me. She could have written me a check ten times this size and still owed me something.
    But it was only the beginning.
    I had expected to be devastated. I had braced myself for it. But what was actually sitting in my chest as we drove through the dark was not grief. It was anger… the kind that didn’t make you cry or scream. The quiet kind. 
    “Enjoy it, Vivienne,” I thought, watching the city through the window. “Enjoy thinking you have won. Because this is not the end. This is not even close to the end.”

    👉 CONTINUE READING

  • From Brokenness to Bliss: My Peaceful Choice novel by Kinship

    From Brokenness to Bliss: My Peaceful Choice novel by Kinship

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    On the night before my wedding, I opened an anonymous message card, only to find out that my fiancé had been cheating on me with my maid of honor for four years.
    The engagement ring on my hand was actually a cheap reject that she didn’t want; her so-called “emergency business trip” was actually to cover up the fact that she had just given birth to his child last week.
    What sent the worst chills down my spine was that his entire family knew about this perfectly well, yet they still happily watched me meticulously prepare for this scam of a wedding.
    When I canceled the wedding and confronted them, his mother actually slapped me across the face.
    “You’re nothing but a poor girl clinging to my son. Camilla is the one he truly loves.”
    And my fiancé didn’t even defend me. Instead, he pushed me to the ground, causing me to hit my head, all just to comfort his crying mistress.
    I spent eight years by his side, accompanying him from having nothing to where he is now, only to realize I was nothing but a convenient placeholder.
    I took off that discarded ring, blocked all of them, and bought a one-way ticket to Oregon, USA.
    This time, I decided to leave forever and never look back.
    But now, he’s going crazy begging for my forgiveness!

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    From Brokenness to Bliss: My Peaceful Choice novel Chapter 1

    Isla Simmons’s POV
    The moment I read that anonymous card, my life instantly collapsed. It brought not wedding blessings, but Harding’s lies.
    It was the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding. My bridesmaids and close friends were sitting around the table. My fiancé, Harding, the man I had loved for eight years, was at another table discussing business with his parents.
    As for my maid of honor, Camilla, she was supposedly unable to attend due to a sudden business trip.
    “Alright, Madam Bride!” bridesmaid Sarah excitedly held up a beautifully decorated box. “Everyone wrote a blessing card for you. Let’s see what advice they have to pass on!”
    Smiling, I reached into the box and pulled out a thick white card. I thought it would be sweet words, but as my eyes swept over the text, my smile instantly froze.
    “He and she have been secretly sleeping around behind your back for four years.”
    Right below it was a line: “Your maid of honor.”
    Camilla.
    That was my childhood best friend, the “sister” I had entrusted my life to.
    A freezing terror seeped into my bones. This had to be a prank. With sweating palms, I eagerly pulled out a second, light blue card.
    “The engagement ring he gave you? He actually bought it for Camilla first. But four years ago, she rejected him, saying she wasn’t ready for marriage. You are just his backup.”
    I instinctively touched my left ring finger. It turned out Harding had taken the ring Camilla didn’t want and pretended to carefully select it for me.
    I hurriedly pulled out a third, cream-colored card, trying to find evidence to refute this.
    “Remember your anniversary trip in college? You found suspicious texts on Harding’s phone and cried in the bathroom for hours. He wasn’t chatting with a client then; he was in the hotel room right next to yours, celebrating his one-month anniversary with Camilla.”
    The shame and pain of the past surged over me. That night, he comforted me as I cried, making me believe it was a misunderstanding.
    With trembling hands, I pulled out the last card, a thick, dark green one.
    “Camilla isn’t on a business trip. She is at the ‘Serenity Postpartum Retreat Center.’ She just gave birth to Harding’s child a week ago. They want to wait until your wedding is over to go public. Surprise.”
    My world completely overturned. They even had a child behind my back!
    I felt like I had fallen into an ice cave. I stared at the handwriting on the green card; it was Harding’s mother, Karen Frank. His entire family was involved in this scam.
    Eight years of dedication and compromise were nothing but a carefully woven joke. I took off that piece of trash that belonged to Camilla and threw it hard onto the table. The diamond hit a wine glass with a sharp clink.
    The surrounding conversations stopped. Everyone looked over in shock. Harding looked up, a smile still hanging on his face.
    I walked toward him. “Harding, what is Camilla Gillespie to you?”
    His smile instantly vanished. He glanced at his mother, then at me. “Isla, what are you talking about?”
    I held up the green card. “I’m talking about your child, Harding. The one born just last week.”
    The air froze. Harding’s face turned deathly pale, and Karen gasped. The relatives who were just laughing a moment ago now mostly stood with their mouths hanging open, and some even wore knowing smirks.
    I immediately shouted, “I announce that this wedding is canceled!”
    Harding walked over to the table, picked up the ring, and spoke in a low voice, “Isla, don’t be so dramatic. We can postpone the wedding and solve this problem. Don’t make a scene here.”
    “Solve what?” I sneered. “Solve you cheating with my best friend for four years, or your whole family helping you hide the truth?”
    He finally looked at me. There was no remorse in his eyes, only shrewd calculation. “It’s complicated. Camilla is very fragile right now; she needs my support.”
    “She’s fragile?” I raised my voice. “What about me? What about my eight years, my dignity!”
    “You’re strong, Isla. But Camilla has been through a lot, having a baby, keeping secrets…” He defended her casually.
    My hand swung out before my brain could process it. With a loud, crisp slap, Harding’s face was violently thrown to the side, a red mark surfacing.
    He didn’t fight back, but his eyes turned dark. “You think getting physical changes anything? Camilla is pregnant with my child. And you… are just you.”
    My rage was instantly replaced by despair. In his eyes, I was just a convenient alternative.
    “We are done.” I turned and walked away.
    “Isla, please, we can talk about this!” he shouted from behind, his tone still carrying that self-righteous desire for control.
    I ignored him. Walking past the flowers and tables I had spent months meticulously arranging, every detail now felt like a cruel joke.
    As I reached the door, my phone vibrated. It was a text from Camilla:
    “Isla, I’m so sorry! My business trip got suddenly extended. So sad I can’t attend your big day! I’ll contact you when I’m back!”
    I stared at the screen and typed a reply:
    “Enjoy your postpartum confinement. I hope the baby is healthy. Harding will be by your side to support you; he’s really good at that.”
    Hitting send, I blocked Camilla, Harding, Karen—blocked all of them, completely.

    From Brokenness to Bliss: My Peaceful Choice novel Chapter 2

    Isla Simmons’s POV
    My phone vibrated all night long. I didn’t answer any calls, just stared numbly at the ceiling. The first rays of dawn spilled in. Today was supposed to be the happiest day of my life, but right now, there was only coldness.
    Urgent knocking came from the door. Then, the sound of a key turning in the lock.
    Harding pushed the door open, leading a team of florists and makeup artists. He was wearing a brand-new white shirt, acting as if nothing had happened last night.
    “Isla, what are you doing?” he asked impatiently. “The makeup artist will be here any second, you need to get ready.”
    I slowly sat up from the bed. “Harding, I told you last night. The wedding is canceled.”
    He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “Stop messing around! You can’t break the contract a few hours before the wedding. You have to think about the guests, the expenses, and our reputation!”
    “Your reputation?” I scoffed. “Didn’t you lose your reputation when you cheated with my best friend for four years and had a baby with her?”
    “That’s not fair! It’s complicated. Camilla is in poor health, and she just had a baby.” He raised his volume.
    “So I should just pretend nothing happened, marry you, and fulfill this ridiculous fairy tale?”
    “We will fix this! You’re just too emotional right now.” He took a step forward, stubbornly insisting.
    Just then, the main door was pushed open violently. Camilla stood there panting, pale-faced, hair messy, wearing loose casual clothes. Her eyes were red and swollen, and a frantic desperation filled her gaze.
    “Isla!” She rushed over, trying to grab my hand. “Please listen to me, it’s not what you think!”
    I dodged her touch with disgust. “Then what is it? You slept with my fiancé and had his child. What else am I supposed to think?”
    “No! It was a terrible mistake!” she cried and begged.
    “A four-year mistake? Camilla, is that newborn baby at the ‘Serenity Postpartum Care Center’ a mistake too?”
    She jerked her head up, shocked that I knew such specific details, while Harding stood to the side, looking guilty.
    “How long have you been lying to me? Was there ever a single ounce of truth in our friendship?”
    She couldn’t make a sound, only shaking her head through her tears.
    At that moment, I caught sight of the gold bracelet on her wrist. It was exactly the same as the one Harding gave me for our fifth anniversary—he had sworn it was a one-of-a-kind design.
    I suddenly remembered two years ago, when Harding lost the leather bracelet I gave him and replaced it with a new one. Right now, on his other hand, he was wearing the matching couple’s bracelet to Camilla’s.
    It turned out he had already built a parallel reality for them long ago, and I was nothing but the smokescreen.
    Camilla was sobbing and trembling all over. Harding immediately walked over and pulled her into his arms, gently stroking her hair. He didn’t dare look at me, but his eyes were full of heartache for her.
    My gaze fell on the expensive limited-edition diaper bag on Camilla’s shoulder.
    “Harding, how much money have you spent on this secret life?” My voice was freezing, almost broken. “Am I just the cheap spare tire you kept around for stability?”
    “Enough, Isla!” Harding finally roared at me. “You’re going too far! Camilla is very fragile right now, and you’re agitating her!”
    “I’m agitating her?” I laughed out of sheer anger. “You two betrayed me, and somehow I’ve become the villain?”
    I stood up, forcing my trembling legs to walk toward the door. I had to leave this suffocating room.
    Just as I reached the entryway, the door was pushed open again. Karen Frank stood there in an elegant suit. She glared at me sternly. “What is going on here? The wedding cars will be here any minute, why aren’t you dressed yet?”
    “There won’t be any wedding cars, Karen. The wedding is canceled.”
    Karen’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Did you just say you canceled the wedding? Do you have any idea how much of a scandal this will cause for Harding?”
    As soon as the words left her mouth, she finally noticed Camilla, who was sobbing and trembling, curled up in Harding’s arms, looking weak and in pain.
    Karen’s anger vanished instantly. She walked right past me, her eyes full of concern for Camilla.
    “Camilla, sweetheart! Why aren’t you resting at the retreat center?” Karen exclaimed, then turned to scold Harding. “Why is she so heartbroken? What did Isla do to her now?”
    Watching this utterly absurd scene, my heart turned completely cold. Harding, Camilla, his mother—they were all accomplices.

    From Brokenness to Bliss: My Peaceful Choice novel Chapter 3

    Isla Simmons’s POV
    Karen Frank didn’t even look me in the eye. She pushed right past me, grabbed Camilla’s hand, her face full of artificial concern.
    “Sweetheart, why did you come running over here?” she chided hypocritically. “You just had a baby, you should be resting well. Harding, how could you let her run out?”
    Camilla whimpered softly, burying her face into Harding’s shoulder, but she quickly stole a glance at me, her eyes full of provocation.
    “Isla, what exactly did you do?” Karen spun around and interrogated me, her voice shrill. “What right do you have to upset her? She just gave birth!”
    “Whose child?” I asked coldly. “Isn’t it your son’s? Isn’t it the child your whole family knew perfectly well about, yet kept treating me like a fool while I planned a wedding?”
    Karen sneered with utter contempt. “Don’t play the saint. You’re nothing but a poor girl after money, latching onto my son. Camilla comes from a prominent family; she is the one truly worthy of Harding.”
    “I latched onto him?” I raised my voice in disbelief. “When he had nothing, I worked two jobs to help pay the rent for his rundown apartment! And now you’re telling me I latched onto him?”
    “You were never good enough for him.” Karen became even more vicious. “We only tolerated you back then because Harding found you somewhat novel. Camilla is the one who can give him a future, not some penniless girl from a single-parent home like you.”
    Her insult toward my mother stabbed me deeply.
    “He loves her, yet he wanted to marry me?” I retorted, suppressing my rage. “Loved her enough to let her secretly give birth outside while making me plan the wedding? That’s not love, that’s shameless!”
    Before I could finish speaking, a loud smack rang out. Karen slapped me hard across the face. My cheek burned with pain.
    “How dare you speak about my son that way!” she shrieked.
    “Mom, don’t do that,” Harding finally spoke up, though his tone was weak and powerless.
    “Mind your own business!” Karen snapped at him. “This is what happens when you let lower-class girls like this through the door—absolutely no breeding. Camilla is a true socialite; she would never cause a scene like this.”
    Camilla was still sobbing. She pulled back slightly from Harding’s embrace, looking at Karen with teary eyes. “Karen, please don’t. It’s not Isla’s fault. I… I made a mistake too.” Her voice was so low it could barely be heard, performing her frailty perfectly.
    Karen’s tone instantly softened. “Sweetheart, you’re just too kindhearted, that’s why you get bullied by this woman.”
    Camilla turned to me again, reaching out a hand, her voice perfectly mimicking fragile remorse. “Isla, I am truly, from the bottom of my heart, sorry. I never thought it would turn out like this.”
    I stared at this hand that had once promised me a lifelong friendship.
    “Are you sorry for getting caught, or are you sorry for destroying my life?” I asked coldly.
    She flinched. “I… I just wanted to be loved. Harding was too good to me.”
    “Now you’ve gotten what you wanted—him, and his child. Are you satisfied?”
    She shook her head, tears raining down. “No! I never wanted to hurt you!”
    I could no longer bear to watch this nauseating performance. I turned and walked toward the door.
    “Isla, wait!” Harding chased after me and grabbed my arm. “Don’t go. We need to fix this.”
    “Fix what?” I violently shook off his hand. “Your mother just hit me, humiliated me, and you stood there like a piece of garbage. We are done.”
    “She was just overly emotional!” he pleaded desperately. “She just wants what’s best for me.”
    “And who cared about me?” I fired back sharply. “When have you ever stood up to protect me?”
    He stared at the floor, speechless.
    “I spent eight years giving you everything. I trusted you, supported you. And what I got in return was betrayal, and a family that looked down on me from the very beginning.”
    I walked out the door without looking back, leaving Harding’s shouts, Karen’s roaring, and Camilla’s fake sobbing far behind me, completely walking out of those absurd eight years of my life.

    👉 CONTINUE READING

  • My Foolish Husband’s Regret Comes Late novel by Edik Brandwein

    My Foolish Husband's Regret Comes Late novel by Edik Brandwein

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    For three years, I secretly used my hidden network of connections to build my husband’s pathetic mafia syndicate into the absolute pinnacle of this city.
    Tonight was supposed to be the birthday dinner where I planned to finally reveal my true identity to him.
    Instead, Cassio left me all alone in that high-end restaurant and froze every single one of my accounts.
    Hours later, he returned with his mistress Lola and a group of heavily armed men.
    “You have nothing. No power, no money. You are completely worthless,” Lola sneered triumphantly, viciously smashing a bottle of vintage red wine at my feet before landing a hard punch to my jaw.
    He announced to the roaring crowd of mobsters that I was being cast aside.
    Then, he gave me a cruel ultimatum.
    If I couldn’t produce three hundred thousand dollars in thirty minutes, his men would strip me naked and throw me out onto the street, leaving me to be publicly humiliated for the entire city to see.
    Those sleazy capos closed in on me, staring with the greedy eyes of predators sizing up their prey.
    Looking at the man I had married out of genuine love, I finally understood that our wedding vows were nothing but a carefully calculated experiment to him.
    He truly believed I was just a helpless, penniless woman whom he could trample on at will just to please his mistress.
    He had no idea that I was Serena Falcone, the legendary heiress of the most cold-blooded mafia family on the East Coast.
    When the countdown ended and his men reached out to tear my dress, I calmly picked up a phone and summoned my real family.
    It was time to burn his entire empire to the ground!

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    My Foolish Husband’s Regret Comes Late Chapter 1

    Serena’s POV
    I sat alone at a banquet table meant for twenty. The polished mahogany surface reflected my solitary silhouette. The restaurant manager, who had been bowing and scraping before me just an hour ago, now wore a contemptuous sneer. He arrogantly informed me that my accounts had been frozen. He gave me exactly ten minutes to come up with a “compensation fee” of three hundred thousand dollars, or else he would have his men “escort” me to the back alley.
    A waiter slammed the leather bill folder onto the table, the sharp smack echoing harshly in the vast, empty restaurant. I stared at the astronomical figure on the receipt, feeling a wave of disorientation.
    This was supposed to be my birthday dinner.
    Three years ago, I married the boss of the Greco crime family, Cassio Greco. Tonight, he brought me to this famous mob-affiliated French restaurant, ordered a lavish spread of dishes and vintage wine, and promised me that his inner circle would arrive shortly. Then, he pressed a cold kiss to my cheek, made an excuse about taking a phone call, and walked out the front doors.
    I waited for three hours. The candles burned out, and the restaurant emptied. Not a single person showed up.
    I reached into my designer bag for my black card, only to find the cold surface of my compact mirror.
    An astringent sourness rose in my throat, and a numbing sensation spread from my fingertips through my entire body.
    Cassio had taken the card from my bag before we even left the penthouse, claiming he would handle all the expenses.
    I picked up my phone and dialed his number. It went straight to voicemail. Seconds later, the screen flickered and went completely dark—the battery was dead.
    The restaurant manager marched over to my table, his previous subservient demeanor entirely gone. With his arms crossed, he looked down at me condescendingly, his eyes failing to hide his hostility as he demanded to know if I had an alternative payment method.
    I told him my husband would be back any minute.
    The manager let out a dry, abrasive laugh. He reminded me that the mafia never allows debts to be delayed, regardless of whose wife it is.
    Then, a flicker of cruelty flashed in his eyes as he deliberately brought up what happened to Lola last month.
    Lola was Cassio’s secretary, but within the syndicate, it was an open secret that she was his mistress.
    Last month, I discovered that she had been abusing a credit card the family had given me, buying piles of luxury bags and jewelry, all while spreading rumors that I was nothing but a useless trophy wife.
    To strike back at her blatant disrespect, I froze the illicit accounts she used for her spending sprees, which left her unable to pay off a massive debt she had racked up at an underground casino.
    She was briefly detained and taught a lesson by the family’s enforcers, and it was Cassio who eventually bailed her out.
    When I confronted Cassio about it, he brushed my actions off as the “jealousy of an aging woman,” completely dismissing the insult she had dealt to our marriage vows.
    Now, looking at the predatory smile on the manager’s face, a dark certainty settled in my heart.
    This was all Cassio’s meticulously planned revenge, all for the sake of his mistress.
    As if summoned by my very thoughts, the air across the restaurant suddenly shifted. The heavy oak doors creaked loudly on their hinges, and the distant clatter of cutlery abruptly ceased.
    Cassio strolled into the restaurant, his arm wrapped tightly around Lola’s waist, pulling her flush against his side.
    A trailing entourage of armed goons and drunk, corrupt businessmen followed them in, their faces flushed with alcohol and the eager anticipation of a good show.
    Cassio stopped a few paces away from me, his gaze sweeping over me with utter disdain.
    He deliberately projected his voice, letting it echo theatrically into every corner of the room: “Since you love punishing people who can’t pay their bills so much, it’s only right you experience that exact humiliation for yourself.”
    The onlookers began to whisper. “Gold-digging bitch,” “Slept her way to the top,” and “Now she’s finally getting tossed out.”
    My husband had personally designed this brutal public execution, tearing my dignity to shreds.
    Cassio pulled out a chair, seating Lola at the table next to mine as if attending to a queen, loudly promising that he would avenge her. Lola slowly pressed her lips to Cassio’s in a deeply possessive kiss.
    Then, she turned to me, her eyes brimming with smug malice: “What right does a useless, ordinary woman like you have to freeze my accounts?”
    Before I could answer, Lola grabbed a bottle of reserve red wine from the ice bucket and hurled it viciously at my feet.
    The glass shattered. The dark red liquid splashed over my calves, staining my white silk dress like fresh blood.
    “You are nothing!” Lola shrieked. “You have no money, no power! Cassio pays for me, but you have absolutely nothing!”
    Cassio sneered, taking his time to light a cigar. He told me that if I could come up with the cash, I could pay the bill and get the hell out. The crowd erupted into roaring laughter. One of his associates pointed at me and shouted that without Cassio’s protection, I was nothing but a lamb waiting to be slaughtered in this city.

    My Foolish Husband’s Regret Comes Late Chapter 2

    Serena’s POV
    Cassio raised a hand, and the grating laughter in the room instantly died down.
    His voice rang out loud and clear in the sudden silence, carrying an unquestionable authority as he issued a public decree.
    “Anyone who dares to help her tonight makes an enemy of the entire Greco family.”
    A few legitimate business partners who had been secretly shooting me looks of pity immediately shrank back into their chairs, their eyes darting away, terrified of drawing the mafia’s wrath.
    Low murmurs of agreement rippled through the crowd, and I could clearly hear some bold whispers noting that the boss obviously favored his young, beautiful mistress over his own wife.
    That was the moment my heart shattered.
    I stood up, the wine-soaked dress clinging to me like a freezing shroud. I grabbed the lapels of Cassio’s tailored suit, consumed by fury: “You orchestrated this entire humiliation just to elevate your mistress?”
    Cassio stared at my hands gripping him with pure disgust. Instead of answering, he raised his hand and slapped me across the face with brutal force.
    The sheer impact threw me back into my chair. The metallic taste of blood instantly bloomed in my mouth as he finally spat out a single, cold word: “Yes.”
    I sat there in a daze, the stinging in my cheek the only thing grounding me to reality.
    In a trance, my mind drifted back to our wedding three years ago. He had sworn before God and the family that he would protect me with his life. Now it was clear that the dignity of a mafia wife was nothing but a laughable lie.
    I married Cassio out of pure love, not for wealth. The deepest irony was that it was precisely because I secretly used my hidden network to clear his path that his once-insignificant family was pushed to the apex of the city.
    Yet, Cassio felt no gratitude. He casually pulled a linen napkin and slowly wiped the hand he had just used to strike me, as if he had touched something filthy. Watching his movements, I finally realized that these three years of marriage were an absolute scam.
    He scoffed, tossing the soiled napkin onto my lap. He leaned down, his breath, heavy with the scent of whiskey, fanning across my face.
    “If you can’t pay,” he said, his voice lethal, “I’ll have the manager strip your clothes off. My men will throw you out into the street and let the whole city see what happens to you.”
    The vicious threat drew a chorus of laughter. The men in the crowd raked their sickening gazes over my body. They muttered among themselves that Serena Greco was finished—I had officially been stripped of the title of the Don’s wife.
    Over by the mahogany bar, a few greasy, middle-aged capos lazily swirled their drinks, openly evaluating my chest and legs, their eyes flashing with the excited anticipation of watching me be publicly humiliated.
    I could even hear them crudely making bets on who would get the privilege of dragging me out the door.
    I looked up at Cassio. The man I thought I knew was gone, replaced by an absolute demon.
    The card slot in my purse was empty—he had taken it back at the penthouse.
    The flashing low-battery warning was no accident either.
    The conspiracy of this public execution finally pieced itself together in my mind. He had even calculated the delay in my ability to call for help, savoring every second of my torment.
    The manager took a step closer, slipping a gleaming brass knuckle over his fingers. He smiled obsequiously at Cassio: “Boss, should I start tearing her clothes off now?”

    My Foolish Husband’s Regret Comes Late Chapter 3

    Serena’s POV
    Lola stood up, her stiletto heels clicking sharply and urgently against the smooth marble floor. She stalked toward me step by step, her gaze like a knife.
    “Where is the protection fee, Serena?” Her tone was sickeningly sweet but as deadly as a viper. “I demand you pay up immediately.”
    She had no intention of letting this go, smugly bringing up old scores. Even the time she was locked in the syndicate’s holding cell for maxing out my card and spent the whole night crying had somehow become a badge of honor for her to flaunt.
    She pulled a cigarette from her designer bag, lit it, and leaned in, blowing a thick cloud of smoke directly into my face. Through the acrid haze, she smiled arrogantly, acting as if she possessed a death-immunity card bestowed by Cassio himself.
    I didn’t hesitate.
    I shot to my feet, raised my hand, and slapped her across the face with everything I had. The crisp smack echoed through the suddenly dead-silent room.
    Lola shrieked and stumbled backward, dropping her cigarette. Sparks flew, burning a scorch mark into the pristine white tablecloth.
    Cassio roared, a deep bellow exploding from deep within his chest. Infuriated that I dared to strike his mistress in public, he flew into a rage and immediately signaled his enforcers to intervene.
    Two massive goons lunged at me. Their rough, calloused hands clamped down on my collarbones like iron vises, their thumbs digging deeply into the hollows of my shoulders. The pain forced a sharp gasp from my lips.
    They forcefully shoved me back into the chair, pinning me heavily against the mahogany backrest.
    I glared at Cassio, my chest heaving.
    “Why do you get to trample on the very bottom line of loyalty,” I said, my voice trembling but filled with suppressed rage, “while I don’t even have the right to fight back?”
    My heart was as cold as frost, a murderous intent surging beneath the surface.
    It was the ultimate irony. The Greco family had only managed to become the top syndicate in the city within three short years because I had secretly mobilized my family’s massive power to clear their obstacles.
    Originally, at tonight’s birthday dinner, I had planned to reveal my true identity.
    I was going to tell him the truth: that I am the heiress of the Falcone family, the descendant of the most powerful, cold-blooded mafia empire on the East Coast.
    I even intended to bring him into my family’s inner circle and introduce him to my father—the supreme mafia don.
    I never expected him to design such a despicable betrayal.
    But in those three hours of lonely waiting, a monumental shift had occurred within me.
    Before my phone died, I sent one last encrypted message, ordering my syndicate’s legal advisory team to immediately draft the severance papers.
    “Cassio, do you really plan to let me walk out of here in such disgrace?” I asked, my voice terrifyingly calm and flat.
    Cassio sneered, casually adjusting his gold cufflinks.
    “Serena, this humiliation is exactly what I designed,” he admitted smugly, a flash of cruel satisfaction in his eyes. “It’s meant to put a pathetic commoner right back where she belongs.”
    Taking advantage of the goons pinning me down, Lola stepped forward, her face twisted in rage.
    She clenched her fist and punched me hard in the jaw.
    My head snapped back, my vision blurring for a second as the coppery taste of blood flooded my mouth.
    Before I could recover, Lola violently grabbed my hair. A sharp pain shot through my scalp as she forced my head up, making me look directly at her.
    She gave me a choice.
    “You can either be thrown into the syndicate’s underground cells and let the men have their fun with you,” her hot, foul breath hit my face, “or you can crawl out that door on your knees like a dog.”
    I balled my hands into tight fists, focusing so hard that even the searing pain in my scalp felt distant.
    I looked straight at Cassio, completely ignoring Lola as if she were nothing but a buzzing fly.
    I made a cold vow, my voice low and icy.
    “When the Greco family is reduced to ashes, Cassio,” I said, barely above a whisper, “the blood of every single one of your men will be on your hands.”
    Lola let out a grating, fake laugh, giving my hair one last vicious tug before letting go.
    The surrounding socialites and mob bosses joined in her mockery, their laughter echoing off the marble walls, sneering at me as if I were a delusional heroine in some cheap romance novel.
    “Is she having a psychotic break?” one of the capos by the bar sneered.
    Infuriated by my unyielding attitude, Cassio grabbed a half-eaten plate of steak from the table and hurled it at me with a curse.
    The heavy ceramic plate slammed into my shoulder and shattered. Scalding grease and black pepper sauce slid across my exposed skin, adding another filthy stain to my already ruined dress.
    “Stop bluffing, you crazy bitch! Pay your debt!” he roared.
    Taking the cue, the restaurant manager approached with a dozen heavily armed thugs. He expertly racked the slide of his pistol, the crisp click cutting through the crowd’s laughter as he coldly asked how I intended to settle the bill.
    The goons loosened their grip on me slightly, allowing me to stand. I scanned the hostile crowd, my eyes slowly sweeping across the sea of betrayal.
    I locked eyes with a legitimate businessman who used to work with the Greco family.
    Ignoring the guns pointed at me, I walked straight toward him.
    The man shrank back into the leather booth, terrified that I would ask him for money and draw Cassio’s wrath.
    “Relax,” I said in a low voice dripping with utter contempt. “I just want to borrow your phone to call my family so they can bring the money.”
    The room erupted into roaring laughter once again.
    “An ordinary family is going to pay off a mafia debt?” someone from the crowd mocked loudly.
    Lola pointed her perfectly manicured finger at the trembling businessman.
    “Give her the phone,” she ordered.
    She turned to me with a cold smirk and announced, “You have thirty minutes, Serena.”
    Pointing toward the bar, she threatened that if the money didn’t arrive by then, that fat, sleazy capo would publicly humiliate me and strip me bare.
    The capo slowly licked his lips, taking a step forward with the excited gleam of a beast staring down dying prey.

    👉 CONTINUE READING

  • When Love Becomes A Monstrous Joke novel by Kora

    When Love Becomes A Monstrous Joke by Kora

    👉 READ NOW

    I spent three years, drained all my savings, and gave up my career as an architect, all just to help my husband Caden pay off his debts.
    Yet, at his residency appointment ceremony, I watched with my own eyes as he publicly thanked his “beautiful fiancée”-a wealthy heiress named Brianna.
    While I wore old clothes bought from thrift stores and survived on instant noodles just to barely cover his rent, he used my hard-earned money to buy her a brand-new BMW and gifted her a set of antique Cartier jewelry.
    Even the Montblanc pen I carefully selected and had engraved became a gift he gave to her.
    He kept our marriage a secret from the world, treating me like a nameless ATM, while using her family’s hospital connections to climb step by step to the peak of his career.
    The most ironic part was when one day, Brianna unknowingly took out that very pen of mine to show me.
    “These kinds of men are just leeches. They will drain everything from you and then throw you away, shattered.”
    Everything from my past three years had actually become an absurd joke.
    I blocked his number, tossed that cheap pawnshop wedding ring into the trash, and left this city to build a kingdom of my own.
    Later, Brianna also discovered his true colors, and together, we made sure he received the punishment he deserved.
    To think he actually ended up crying and screaming, kneeling down to beg for our forgiveness!

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    When Love Becomes A Monstrous Joke Chapter 1

    Alyssa’s POV:
    Caden Barry’s chief resident pinning ceremony became the moment my world collapsed. For the past three years, I paid off his medical school debts and supported his life. Now, I watched helplessly as he stood on stage, affectionately thanking his “beautiful fiancée,” Brianna Vega.
    The auditorium lights dimmed, and my husband Caden stepped onto the stage, looking radiant in a custom suit. I sat in the corner of the fifth row, filled with pride. The hospital director passionately praised his outstanding talent and bright future.
    I clapped hard, my hands turning red. For today, I endured countless late nights doing architectural design side gigs, skipped meals, and sent every penny to him. All of this was for us.
    Caden walked up to the podium, his voice steady and magnetic. After thanking his mentors and colleagues, he paused, his gaze sweeping over the audience. My heart raced; our secrets and sacrifices were finally about to be witnessed.
    “Finally,” his voice was gentle, “I want to thank the most important person in my life. She is my pillar, my future.”
    I held my breath, anticipating the subtle nod that belonged to me.
    “My beautiful fiancée,” Caden continued, “Brianna Vega.”
    A stunning woman in the front row, wearing a haute couture gown, stood up. Brianna Vega. Caden flashed her a brilliant smile—a smile that in the past, only belonged to me when we were alone. Amidst the thunderous applause, Brianna happily blew him a kiss. A bone-chilling cold instantly submerged me.
    As soon as the ceremony ended, I immediately pushed through the crowd to head out. Fiancée? What on earth was going on?
    “Excuse me, I saw you clapping so enthusiastically for Caden just now. Are you his colleague too?”
    I turned around. It was Brianna. Her eyes were bright and friendly, and the massive solitaire ring on her left hand stung my eyes under the lights. I forced a smile.
    “Something like that,” I answered with difficulty.
    Brianna smiled brightly and extended her hand. “I’m Brianna, Caden’s fiancée. It’s so nice to meet friends who appreciate him.”
    I held her warm hand, though my own was freezing stiff. “Alyssa. Yes, Caden is indeed very talented.”
    “He’s truly amazing!” Brianna’s eyes were full of pride. “These past three years of residency have been so hard. I tried my best to support him, making sure he ate well and helping him manage his schedule. Plus, my father is the director here, so he helped us quite a bit with interpersonal connections at the hospital.”
    My brain buzzed. Three years, connections, director father. I knew Caden had been actively socializing, and this was clearly a calculated climb.
    “You are so sweet,” my voice was flat. Yet in my mind, the image of my three years staying up late drawing plans surfaced—the three years of exhausting all my savings to pay his rent and bills.
    “Oh, you can’t even imagine.” Brianna chuckled lightly. “My dad even helped us find a new apartment in Beacon Hill. Caden also bought me a new model BMW to make my commute easier.” She pulled out a set of keys flashing the BMW logo.
    That was the car Caden had dreamed of months ago. He said that once he finished, we would save up to buy it together. But now, my savings were already depleted.
    “A new BMW, what a nice gift.” My mouth was full of bitterness.
    “Right? He always says, ‘My career is our future.’ I even helped him handle some spatial planning for a few architectural projects, just some basic ideas. He really values details.”
    Spatial planning. The chill struck again. Caden once said that was his personal research project, that he paid someone to help, and rejected my professional involvement, claiming he didn’t want my opinions to influence his “vision.”
    “So, you’re not a doctor?” I asked, suppressing my emotions.
    “Oh, not at all! I majored in art history.” Brianna waved her hand casually. “I mostly manage my family’s investments. But Caden really values my aesthetic opinions. By the way—” She tilted her head to look at me. “You look a bit… unkempt, I hope you don’t mind me saying. Are you a student?”
    Her words felt like a slap to my face. I was wearing clothes from a thrift store, ate instant noodles most nights, and invested everything I had into Caden.
    “I am a designer.”
    Brianna’s eyes lit up. “That’s awesome! Caden did mention a designer was helping him with conceptual designs. He said she was very ‘practical.’ Is that you? He never mentioned your name, though.”
    His evaluation of me, his legal wife, was “very practical,” without even a name. I was just a tool.
    Just then, a video celebrating Caden’s promotion played on the screen in the hall. “Without the relentless support of my brilliant fiancée Brianna, I couldn’t have achieved any of this,” his voice sounded sincere from the screen.
    I wasn’t on the screen. I was invisible.
    Brianna clapped lightly, her face glowing with happiness. “He is so sweet, isn’t he? We’re both so excited. Once his residency ends, we’ll sign the legal papers. We had a commitment ceremony in Cabo last year, it was a dream come true. All white flowers, a live band, hundreds of guests. My dad arranged everything. It was so beautiful.”
    Cabo, a commitment ceremony, hundreds of guests. Just waiting for legal papers. A bitter laugh caught in my throat.
    Three years ago, rushing to get our marriage license at the courthouse, I wore a cheap dress, with only us and two strangers as witnesses. Caden insisted on keeping it a secret, saying that if people knew he got married during his busy surgical residency, it would “affect his career prospects.” He promised to make it up to me with a “real” wedding, a grand and beautiful one, once his career stabilized. That promise now sounded like a cruel joke.
    Brianna continued, “Sometimes I really worry about Caden. He’s so focused on his career that he easily attracts people who want to use him. Alyssa, you look like a very kind girl. Don’t let a man like that play you. If he doesn’t put a ring on it, if he doesn’t invest in you, then he isn’t worth your effort. Some men just take, take, and take.”
    She pointed at her diamond ring, reminding me of my own thin silver band, bought from a pawnshop because Caden said we needed to “cut expenses.”
    “You’re right,” I answered, surprisingly calm. “Some men are just like blood-sucking leeches.”
    Brianna nodded in deep agreement. “Exactly! I have a friend who used to date a surgeon, and the guy practically drained her dry and gave her nothing. Always talking about his ‘grand plans,’ but never delivering anything tangible. Always asking for money, favors, and connections. Disgusting.”
    I felt a profound sense of absurdity. With my money and time, I built a luxurious life for him and another woman.
    And this woman was now oblivious, accusing him of his parasitic nature right in front of me.
    The knot in my stomach suddenly dissipated, replaced by an ultimate clarity. I was going to end this.
    “I have to go.”
    “Oh, you look a little pale.” Brianna dug through her designer bag and pulled out a pen. “Take this. Caden gave it to me, but I already have one. Keep it as a lucky charm.”
    It was a Montblanc pen. Engraved on it were the intertwined initials “C.B.” and a caduceus symbol—the painstaking result of my frugality, custom-made to celebrate his graduation from medical school.
    He gave my gift to her. A cold smirk crept onto my lips.
    Brianna thought I was pleased. “Pretty, right? Caden said he personally picked the engraving style. He’s really thoughtful.”
    “Yes,” I took the pen, my fingers gripping it tightly like a weapon. “Truly… priceless. Thank you for the advice, Brianna. I wish you both long-lasting happiness.”
    The lie dripped with venom, while she remained completely unaware in her naive bliss.
    I turned and walked toward the exit, my steps firm. The sacrifices and love of the past three years were nothing but a sick game, and now, I would end it with my own hands.

    When Love Becomes A Monstrous Joke Chapter 2

    Alyssa’s POV:
    I was heading toward the lobby exit when my phone screen suddenly lit up. It was a text from Caden.
    Caden: “Don’t forget, I need you to attend the hospital’s charity gala tonight. Dress decently, and don’t talk to anyone important. Just smile and look pretty.”
    My blood instantly ran cold. “Don’t talk to anyone important.” He only cared that I stood next to him like a quiet accessory, never stealing the spotlight.
    Just then, a familiar voice came from an alcove nearby: “Honey, I’m almost there. Just dealing with something.” Caden had his back to me, talking on the phone.
    Brianna walked around the corner, her smile radiant: “Caden! I just met a lovely lady, Alyssa.”
    Caden turned around, and his eyes briefly met mine. A trace of impatience flashed across his face, but it was quickly replaced by a gentle smile. He pulled Brianna close and kissed her forehead.
    “My beautiful Brianna,” he whispered, then lifted his phone. “It’s fine, Mom. I’m with Brianna, and we’re about to enjoy a romantic dinner. No, of course I’m not going to the gala. I have to accompany my fiancée.”
    He wasn’t going to the gala. The very gala he had just texted me to “dress decently” for.
    I remembered our third wedding anniversary last year. I cooked his favorite meal, wore a blue dress I usually saved for special occasions, and bought a bottle of cheap sparkling wine to pretend it was champagne. Caden came home late at night and didn’t even glance at the dining table.
    “Don’t you know I have an important presentation tomorrow? I don’t have time to play these boring games with you.” He waved his hand and knocked over the wine glass. Cheap liquor and glass shards scattered across the floor, and he walked into the study without looking back.
    Such a contrast shattered my heart into pieces.
    Brianna took out an exquisite jewelry box from her tote bag: “Look at the gift Caden gave me today! As a thank you for helping him plan the proposal. It’s an antique Cartier bracelet, very expensive.”
    The fine gold chain sparkled under the light. I stared blankly at that bracelet. I had seen it on a top-tier antique jewelry website; it cost a fortune. And I knew exactly where that money came from.
    How disgusting!
    Two months ago, a hundred and fifty thousand dollars was transferred out of my savings account. Caden said it was to buy “emergency research equipment” and that he would pay me back once his funding was approved.
    He had sworn to me, “This is for our future, Alyssa.”
    That was my blood, sweat, and tears! Now it was all worn on the wrist of another woman.
    Brianna noticed my silence and tilted her head. “Are you still thinking about that man who doesn’t cherish you? My grandma used to say, where a man spends his money is where his heart is. If he’s not willing to spend money on you, just tell him to get lost.”
    My phone buzzed again. Another text message.
    Caden: “Make sure you transfer the rent tomorrow. Also, my dry-cleaning bill went over budget, remember to send a bit extra.”
    I stared at the screen, astounded by his shamelessness. While planning a romantic dinner and showing off a gift bought with my money, he was still limitlessly demanding more from me.
    Brianna caught a glimpse of my screen. “Is it him? Still asking you for money? He’s just a pathetic parasite, absolutely disgusting. Cut ties with him clean and just block him!”
    This was advice for a stranger, yet it accurately pronounced the verdict on my reality. Cut ties clean, block him.
    “You’re right,” I said, my voice not trembling in the slightest. “Thank you, Brianna. Thank you for making me see everything clearly.”
    I turned and left, no longer looking at the “engaged couple” immersed in their sweetness. My legs, which were weak just minutes ago, were now filled with strength.
    I strode out of the dazzling lobby, thoroughly leaving Caden’s lies behind me, and walked toward my own future.

    When Love Becomes A Monstrous Joke Chapter 3

    Alyssa’s POV:
    I was almost at the exit, my heart beating a steady, resolute rhythm in my chest.
    A hand suddenly touched my arm. I whipped around. It was Brianna, who had chased after me again, panting slightly, holding a small package in her hands.
    “Alyssa, wait!” Her voice was bright and rushed. “I almost forgot, this is something Caden made for me last week. He’s always so busy, but he still wanted to make a special gift. A little leather pouch for my paintbrushes.”
    She smiled as she opened the package, her laughter full of affection. “Even though the stitching is clumsy, he made it with so much heart.”
    Inside was a rough leather pouch sewn with thick thread. The dark brown leather was incredibly soft, yet it made my heart feel indescribably cold.
    “He said he made this from some old scrap leather he had lying around,” Brianna said, handing the pouch to me. “Although it’s not perfect, the thought is what counts.”
    I took the leather pouch, tracing the crooked stitches. This wasn’t some “old scrap leather lying around.” This was the leather from my late grandfather’s cherished old armchair!
    After my grandfather passed away, I cut a piece of leather from it as a keepsake. Caden knew perfectly well how precious this was to me. He was the one who helped me cut it back then, promising he would make a memory box for me out of it.
    Yet months later, he nonchalantly claimed he “lost it” when we moved, even scolding me for being “too sentimental” over a piece of old furniture. And now, my grandfather’s relic, my grief, had all become his “sweet gift” to please Brianna.
    “This is truly… precious.” My voice was tight as I handed the pouch back to her.
    Brianna tucked it away, unbothered. “Precious? Maybe it was just something he bought for a few bucks at a flea market. What matters is the intention.”
    Next, she pulled out her phone and showed me a photo. “Look at this! Last month, Caden took me to a special charity gala. The board members from my dad’s hospital were all there. Everyone said we were the perfect couple. He’s especially good at mingling with everyone, really charming. All the ladies absolutely loved him.”
    In the photo, Caden was holding Brianna’s arm, laughing radiantly among a crowd of VIPs. This was his glamorous life—the world he desperately hid and kept me out of.
    His countless warnings echoed in my head: “Alyssa, we can’t be seen together in public. A married resident will make people think I’m not focused enough. Once my career is stable, we’ll go public.”
    Her phone suddenly rang, and a sweet smile bloomed on her face: “It’s Caden!” She answered the call, her voice light. “Honey? I’m almost there. I know you miss me, see you in five minutes!” After hanging up, her cheeks were slightly flushed. “He just gets so anxious whenever I’m not around. Always worrying over nothing.”
    Yet I had never received a call like that from him. When my grandmother was hospitalized, he told me to “handle it quietly” and not disturb his studying; when I was bedridden with a high fever, he only texted me to get well soon because no one was there to do his laundry. He never cared if I lived or died, only whether I could continue to serve him.
    “Really, Alyssa,” Brianna said earnestly, “don’t waste any more time on that man who is just using you. You deserve true happiness.”
    Her words were like the final push I needed to make up my mind. Looking at the text from Caden demanding money still on my screen, I calmly pulled up his contact and decisively hit “Block.”
    His needs, his lies, vanished in an instant. Next, I switched my phone to airplane mode.
    “You’re right.” A smile of sheer relief surfaced on my lips. “From now on, I won’t waste any more time.”
    “That’s the spirit! Don’t let anyone step all over you ever again.” Brianna checked her watch and waved goodbye. “Caden is waiting for me, I have to go!”
    I watched her jog briskly toward the entrance, running straight into the trap Caden had meticulously designed for her.
    Gripping that Montblanc pen tightly, I turned and walked toward the subway station. The cold wind brushed my face, but it made my mind clearer than it had ever been before.

    👉 CONTINUE READING

  • Gaslit By Him, Reborn From Ashes by Xiao Wang

    Gaslit By Him, Reborn From Ashes by Xiao Wang

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    I have a deadly peanut allergy, but my fiancé Jason’s childhood best friend Kelly thinks I’m just making a big deal out of nothing.
    Under the guise of “treatment,” she deliberately poured peanut oil into my soup, sending me straight to the ICU in anaphylactic shock.
    And Jason didn’t defend me at all — instead, he emotionally manipulated me, saying she “meant well.”
    While I was fighting for my life, they secretly moved away and stole my multi-million-dollar matcha café brand, putting Kelly in charge.
    When I went to confront them, Jason’s family surrounded me and threatened me — I couldn’t leave unless I ate a bowl of noodles with peanut oil.
    I was forced to eat that bowl of noodles, which resulted in a stomach perforation, and I nearly died again.
    I couldn’t understand how the man who once supported my dreams could watch me struggle in agony and still call me “hard to please.”
    In his eyes, my love and my life were worthless — nothing compared to his sick loyalty to her.
    After the surgery, I didn’t shed another tear.
    I called my lawyer. Let the full-scale legal battle begin!

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    Gaslit By Him, Reborn From Ashes Chapter 1

    Arielle Fischer’s POV
    My throat felt like it was closing up, my lungs burning, the world around me blurring into flickering gray shadows.
    The doctor’s words echoed in my ears: peanut oil. This wasn’t an accident — it was deliberate. I knew who did it. And what hurt even more, I knew Jason would defend her.
    Jason is my fiancé, yet our lives were built on fundamentally different foundations, especially when it came to food. I have a severe peanut allergy.
    I carry an EpiPen with me everywhere, my diet is carefully curated, every ingredient meticulously checked. Jason, on the other hand, grew up in a family where food was meant to be explored.
    He always treated my caution like some kind of quirk, which caused constant friction between us.
    His mother, Mrs. Davenport, always tried to be thoughtful when I visited their home. She once prepared a separate dish just for me at a family gathering. She never seemed to fully grasp how serious my allergy was. She’d say things like, “Just a little bit, it won’t hurt, right?” but back then, I still gave her the benefit of the doubt.
    Kelly Cruz, Jason’s best friend since childhood, often came over to our place. At one family dinner, as I carefully picked at the steamed chicken on my plate, Kelly leaned forward, her gaze sharp and judgmental.
    “Still on that strict diet plan, Arielle?” Her voice was sickly sweet. “Don’t you think life is just… too limited that way?”
    I forced a smile. “It’s not a diet plan, Kelly. It’s a medical necessity.”
    She snorted. “Oh right, the peanut allergy. Jason told me you used to eat peanuts as a kid. Are you sure you’re not just overreacting?”
    My stomach twisted, but I chose not to respond. Jason, sitting beside me, cleared his throat — and said nothing. He always hated conflict, especially with Kelly.
    Kelly clearly wasn’t done with me. She took a loud bite of her stir-fried peanuts. “Honestly, I don’t know how you two make it work. Food is such a huge part of life, especially around here. What if you have kids someday? They can never try a good bowl of peanut butter?”
    There was something pointed about her words, as if my dietary restrictions were an obstacle between Jason and me.
    That night, Jason’s father hosted a barbecue in the backyard. The air was thick with the smell of grilled meat and rich spices. Trying to be “accommodating,” Jason handed me a drink.
    “Try this, honey,” he said, a little too eagerly. “It’s my dad’s signature bourbon. Everyone loves it.”
    I hesitated. “Is it… safe? You know how sensitive I am to allergens.”
    He waved impatiently. “It’s just bourbon, Arielle. There’s no peanuts in alcohol. Stop being so paranoid. It’s a special batch, really smooth.” Kelly and his parents were all watching. I didn’t want to cause a scene, so I took a small sip.
    It was spicy at first, then a strange sweetness spread across my tongue. Before I could process it, my throat started itching. My vision began to swim.
    Terror washed over me. I clutched my throat, eyes wide with fear, trying to gasp — but I couldn’t draw a single breath.
    The world tilted. I stumbled, knocking over a tray of drinks. Jason rushed over, confusion on his face.
    “Arielle? What’s wrong?” he asked urgently, a sudden edge of panic in his voice.
    I couldn’t speak. I just grabbed at my throat, fighting to breathe. My EpiPen, my bag — where was it?
    Everything blurred. Only the suffocating fear consumed me. Jason finally realized how serious it was and frantically rummaged through my bag.
    He found the pen and administered the shot. Adrenaline surged into my bloodstream, a sharp sting that gradually restored my breathing. I gasped for air, each breath a small victory. The ambulance arrived, its siren shattering what should have been a pleasant evening.
    At the hospital, after the emergency passed, Jason sat beside my bed, looking genuinely shaken. He held my hand, his touch surprisingly gentle.
    “Arielle, I’m sorry,” he whispered, his voice rough. “I really had no idea. I thought it was just bourbon. My dad sometimes adds his own spices… maybe he used a batch with some peanut residue.”
    “I promise it’ll never happen again. From now on, I’ll personally prepare all your food.” He squeezed my hand, his eyes filled with a fleeting look of remorse.

    Gaslit By Him, Reborn From Ashes Chapter 2

    Arielle Fischer’s POV
    Hospital food was bland and tasteless, like a bowl of unappetizing mush. After weeks of it, weakness and exhaustion had pushed me to the brink.
    That day, Jason walked in carrying a picnic basket. The aroma hit me, and my empty stomach growled.
    “Look what I brought!” he announced cheerfully, setting the basket on my nightstand. “Your favorite! Kelly helped me make it.”
    Despite my hunger, my stomach immediately rebelled. Kelly. Always Kelly. The moment her name left his lips, the enticing aroma turned nauseating. I felt sick — not from hunger, but from disgust.
    “Kelly? The Kelly who doesn’t take my peanut allergy seriously?”
    Jason’s smile froze. “Oh, Arielle, don’t be like that. She feels terrible. She just wanted to do something nice for you.”
    The scent drifted over — roasted chicken, aromatic herbs. It did smell good, but beneath it all, I could smell betrayal.
    “No, thanks,” I said, pushing my hospital tray aside. “I’m not hungry.”
    Jason looked genuinely hurt. “But it’s your favorite roast chicken! The one you taught me to make, remember? That special marinade.”
    I gave a bitter laugh. “Of course I remember. I taught you every step. From picking the freshest herbs to balancing the spices so the skin comes out crispy and fragrant. I spent hours teaching you how to debone it properly, how to truss it.”
    “Are you trying to tell me Kelly somehow mastered my unique techniques out of nowhere?”
    Jason shifted uncomfortably. He avoided my gaze. “Well, she tried, really tried. She watched me do it, chopped some things. But… I did most of it in the end. She almost cut herself during the deboning.” He gave a dry laugh. “But it’s the thought that counts, right? She really wanted to make you happy.”
    “So you’re saying Kelly, who can barely be bothered to open a jam jar, genuinely wanted to learn how to replicate my signature dish?” I pressed.
    He sighed, his patience wearing thin. “Arielle, what does it matter? It’s just a chicken. Why do you have to be so difficult?” His tone was dismissive, completely indifferent to what I was going through.
    Anger and exhaustion left me too weak to argue. Tentatively, I picked up my fork. The chicken was still warm, wrapped in foil, and it smelled wonderful.
    As I ate, Jason rambled on about Kelly’s kitchen disasters. “You should’ve seen her, Arielle! She almost set the kitchen on fire trying to sauté the herbs. And she kept complaining the chicken was ‘too raw’ when I’d barely seared it. It was hilarious.” He laughed — that easy, carefree laugh I hadn’t heard in weeks. The way he described Kelly’s clumsiness with such fondness made my chest ache.
    He seemed genuinely amused by her mistakes, but he’d never laughed like that when I messed up. I felt more and more like an outsider.
    Every bite of perfectly cooked chicken — the dish I’d taught him myself — became a symbol of his betrayal. Food that was meant to comfort me was now impossible to swallow.
    Just then, my phone buzzed. A message from an unknown number — a video. I opened it and trembled with rage.
    The video was shot in Jason’s kitchen. Kelly, her hair casually tied up, was holding a camera, filming Jason wrestling with the chicken. Her voice came through, dripping with sarcasm.
    “Aww, look at Jason, playing chef for his ‘sickly’ fiancée. How domestic! You know, she’s always saying no to this and no to that with food — so high-maintenance, it’s unbearable. Can’t she just eat normal food like the rest of us?” She laughed shrilly, and on camera, she poured some peanut oil onto the plate, then winked at the lens.
    My spoon clattered against the plate. My hands were shaking, and I nearly dropped my phone.
    “Jason!” My voice was hoarse and trembling, full of anger and disbelief. “What is this?” I held the phone up to him. The video was still playing, Kelly’s smug, vicious face filling the screen.
    He watched the video, and the color drained from his face. “That… that can’t be… Kelly wouldn’t…” he stammered. Then his expression shifted, a flash of anger crossing his features. “Who sent you this? This is an invasion of privacy! It’s slander!” He tried to grab my phone — clearly more concerned about Kelly’s image than my safety.
    “Slander?” I repeated, my voice rising. “Isn’t what she did obvious enough?” I pushed the plate away. The thought of taking another bite made me sick.
    Jason slammed his fist on the nightstand. “God, Arielle! You always blow everything out of proportion, it’s exhausting! Can’t you just let it go? Kelly made a mistake! She apologized! Why do you always have to make everything so complicated? You’re impossible to please!”
    Those words hurt more than any physical blow. I was the victim, yet somehow I was the one who was always in the wrong.

    Gaslit By Him, Reborn From Ashes Chapter 3

    Arielle Fischer’s POV
    A heavy feeling settled over me. Jason’s words echoed in my mind: “so picky it’s unbearable.” It wasn’t just criticism — it was a weapon. It negated my fear, my pain, even my right to exist safely.
    I remembered when Jason was different. Back then, he was my staunchest supporter. When my “Refined Matcha Wellness Café” was just getting started in the city, when investors questioned the concept, Jason stood by my side, his hand steady on my shoulder, advocating for my business.
    He helped me draft proposals, stayed up late tasting new matcha blends, and celebrated every small win like it was his own victory. My parents were initially skeptical about my choice to start a business, but it was because of his unwavering support for me and my dreams that they gradually accepted him.
    But that Jason was gone. In his place was a man blinded by a twisted childhood bond. He couldn’t see Kelly’s malice. His judgment had vanished, leaving only a near-pathological need to protect his “old friend.”
    I stared at him, saying nothing. My silence wasn’t weakness — it was a deliberate choice. There was no point arguing with someone who refused to listen.
    His mind was made up. In his eyes, Kelly was the innocent friend, and I was the problem.
    That night, lying in my hospital bed, I posted a brief message on my private social media: “The taste of betrayal is more bitter than losing your sense of taste.”
    Minutes later, Kelly’s name appeared on my screen. She messaged me directly:
    “What’s that supposed to mean, Arielle?” Her tone was feigned innocence. “Are you still blaming me? I apologized. I made a mistake. You’re being so dramatic. You should apologize to Jason — you’re the one stressing him out.”
    Furious, I replied: “Kelly, you’ve tried to set me up more than once!”
    She shot back immediately: “C’mon, you’re fine. Stop being so sensitive. Listen, I’m having a barbecue at Jason’s parents’ place tomorrow night. Everyone’s coming. Why don’t you come? We can hash it out face to face. You can tell everyone what a ‘monster’ I am, and I can tell them how hard I tried to help you. Let’s see who they believe.” She added: “Unless you’re too scared to face me, right?”
    She knew I was weak, yet she provoked me anyway. I didn’t have the strength to deal with Jason and his parents’ stares.
    But then a sense of shame — of being labeled “cowardly” — washed over me. The thought of Kelly “winning,” of her painting me as the villain, was unbearable. I wouldn’t let her get away with it anymore. I had to face her.
    “I’ll be there,” I typed, my resolve hardening.
    Minutes later, Jason called. His tone was impatient: “Arielle, Kelly said you’re coming to the barbecue. Why? You just got out of the ICU. Why are you causing trouble?” He sighed, exasperation in his voice. “It’s just a small gathering. Why do you have to make everything so complicated? Your… picky eating is already going to be an issue. Don’t make it worse.”
    His words hit me like a sledgehammer. He didn’t care about my health — he cared about his friends’ “vibe.” He’d reduced my life-threatening allergy to “picky eating,” nothing more than an inconvenience that would “ruin everyone’s mood.” His friends’ opinions mattered more than my safety, my health, even my existence.
    I was done.

    👉 CONTINUE READING

  • The Penthouse Wife’s Ultimate Revenge by Star Cruiser

    The Penthouse Wife's Ultimate Revenge by Star Cruiser

    👉 READ NOW

    One week before my wedding, I walked into the master bedroom of my fully-paid penthouse apartment and caught my fiancé cheating with my best friend.
    They were laughing about his fake “insomnia”—the lie he’d used to trick me into sleeping in the guest room so they could have the master bedroom to themselves.
    Gage was a top surgeon, and I’d sacrificed almost everything to care for his supposedly fragile health. I’d even brewed essential oils from my late mother’s precious collection to steady his hands.
    But behind my back, they were planning to pretend to marry me, then slowly push me out and take over my home.
    When I confronted them, they didn’t show a single ounce of guilt.
    Gage deliberately destroyed the essential oil my late mother had left me, then violently shoved me against the wall and locked me in the room to suffer the pain and bleeding alone.
    I had poured everything into building a safe harbor for this man, and in his eyes, I was nothing but a convenient stepping stone.
    I didn’t even bother shedding a single tear.
    I took out my phone, canceled our honeymoon trip, and listed the penthouse on the market—cash sale, 24 hours.
    Time to take out the trash.

    👉 READ NOW

    The Penthouse Wife’s Ultimate Revenge Chapter 1

    Eliza Anderson’s POV:
    One week before my wedding, I noticed the master bedroom door was slightly ajar.
    Then I heard their voices—my fiancé Gage and my best friend Caroline. They were laughing about their secret relationship, how they’d been together behind my back!
    Gage Morrison was a top cardiovascular surgeon. In public, he was quiet, brilliant, compassionate.
    The media praised his steady hands and calm demeanor on the operating table. He spoke softly, always looking at you with that focused, concerned gaze. He cultivated an aura of sensitivity and thoughtfulness, and everyone around us fell for it.
    Gage claimed he suffered from severe insomnia. He said even the slightest sound or light would disturb his sleep. To deal with it, he needed to lock himself in the master bedroom every night.
    He needed absolute darkness and silence, no distractions whatsoever. And I believed him. I made sure the house stayed quiet. After nine o’clock at night, I always tiptoed around, terrified of disturbing him.
    I made so many sacrifices for Gage. His health became my top priority. I moved into the guest room, sharing it with Caroline. A few months earlier, she’d needed a place to stay after a bad breakup, and I’d taken her in without hesitation.
    I bought a special white noise machine for his room, installed blackout curtains, and prepared soothing herbal tea for him every night. I thought I was supporting the man I loved, helping him through a difficult condition.
    Seven days before the wedding, I was in the living room adjusting the wedding guest list when I heard a faint sound coming from the master bedroom.
    Gage always kept the master bedroom door locked tight, but now it was cracked open. I quietly approached the door and heard soft laughter, followed by Gage’s deep chuckle.
    My mind went blank. I pushed the door open a little more and peered through the crack.
    Caroline was sitting on the bed, wearing one of Gage’s oversized shirts, her hands casually draped over his shoulders. They looked far too intimate.
    Caroline spoke first, her voice teasing. “So, my dear heart doctor, how long do you plan to keep up this ‘insomnia’ act after the wedding? Eliza will get suspicious sooner or later.”
    Gage laughed. “Not too long. Just until she’s used to you living here. Once we’re married, my ‘insomnia’ will miraculously clear up. Then we can slowly talk her into moving out on her own. She’s so used to accommodating me, she’ll never suspect a thing.”
    Caroline leaned in closer. “And then? Just the two of us? In our penthouse?” She emphasized “our” with a possessive, triumphant tone.
    I held my breath. The penthouse was mine. I’d bought it with my own money.
    Gage leaned in and kissed her hair. “That’s right. Once she’s gone, we can really enjoy our lives. No more sneaking around, no more sharing the guest room with your fake best friend.”
    The world tilted. My vision blurred. My body went rigid. Their sweet words and cruel laughter filled my ears.
    His “insomnia” was a lie. His “insomnia” was an elaborate ruse. It had all been just to cover up their affair.
    I walked back to my room, and the first thing I did was take out my phone. I canceled the honeymoon trip—the Bora Bora vacation we’d always dreamed of.
    Then I opened the real estate app on my phone. The penthouse—I’d bought it outright, all cash. I listed it as “For Sale by Owner,” looking for a buyer who could close fast.
    I wanted them out. I wanted everything cleaned out. A notification popped up on the screen: “Listing successful. Expect high interest.” A cold satisfaction rose in my chest.
    I picked up the carefully blended essential oil from my nightstand. It was a soothing oil I’d specially formulated for Gage, using a precious plant essence my late mother had left me. I’d poured my heart into that tiny bottle with love, thinking it would ease his stress and steady his surgeon’s hands.
    It was a symbol of my care, my love, my devotion. I walked to the trash can and dropped it in. The small bottle hitting the plastic made a soft sound, but it felt like a gunshot.
    Just then, my phone vibrated. A message from the real estate agent: “Cash offer accepted. Closing in 48 hours.”
    I heard Gage and Caroline coming out of the master bedroom, their laughter still echoing. Caroline, as innocent as ever, walked into the kitchen and ran straight into me.
    She gave me a bright, fake smile. “Good morning, Eliza! Sleep well?”
    Gage followed behind, looking refreshed. The moment he saw me, he flashed his signature gentle, charming smile. “Good morning, Eliza. Sorry I’m up so early—another emergency. How did you sleep last night?”
    He walked toward me, reaching out to put his hand on my shoulder, and I felt a surge of revulsion. His touch used to comfort me, but now it sickened me like poison.
    I caught a faint, unfamiliar scent on him—sweet and cloying, Caroline’s cheap perfume, barely masked by Gage’s cologne.
    “Fine, Gage,” I answered calmly, betraying no emotion. Caroline was busy making coffee in the kitchen, humming a little tune.
    Then she turned around, looking at me with feigned innocence and concern. “Eliza, you look a little tired. Everything okay? Gage got a call last night, and we were just talking about his surgery.”
    Gage nodded, meeting my eyes. His gaze held that usual sincerity, like he’d practiced it a thousand times. “Yeah, honey, just a quick briefing. Caroline really understands my work. You know, I have to be ready for surgery.”
    He added a little apologetic shrug. His charm was still intact, a weapon he wielded at will. A flicker of unease crossed his eyes, but it was quickly masked by his usual calm. He was so good at pretending, it was terrifying.
    “It’s fine,” I said again, forcing myself to smile, not a single emotion showing on my face.
    Gage leaned in closer, his voice low and soft. “You know, this job… it’s really exhausting. But knowing you’re waiting for me—that’s what keeps me going.” He finished with a gentle squeeze of my hand and a smile.
    “I understand. Your work is important,” I replied perfunctorily.
    Gage smiled, satisfied. He picked a fresh rose from the vase on the counter and tucked it behind my ear. “Thank you for being so patient, my love. You’re the best.”
    There was a sparkle in his eyes. He was still so handsome, so perfect—but it felt like a cruel mockery, laughing at the trust I’d once had.
    Caroline stepped forward and took my arm. “Eliza, you know, sometimes you need to relax. Gage needs you to stay strong and happy. Maybe you should take a little trip, clear your head before the big day.” She patted my arm, smiling like a harmless little bunny.
    Gage looked at me with adoration in his eyes. “Yes, darling. You work so hard, you deserve a good rest. Your presence helps me so much—you’re my rock.”
    And then I saw it. A tiny, almost invisible fleck of glitter on the left lapel of Gage’s suit. It was Caroline’s.
    The last thread of my self-deception snapped completely. The so-called perfect life had all been a lie.
    My phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out, trying to look casual.
    It was an email from a private investigator I’d quietly hired a few days ago, out of desperation as Gage’s behavior grew stranger.
    The subject line read: “Caroline Stafford Pregnancy Confirmation Report.” My hands trembled slightly as I opened it.
    Attached was an ultrasound image and a doctor’s diagnostic report confirming Caroline was twelve weeks pregnant. At the bottom of the report, the doctor’s signature read: “Dr. Gage Morrison.” My world crumbled.

    The Penthouse Wife’s Ultimate Revenge Chapter 2

    Eliza Anderson’s POV:
    My phone vibrated again, and I clenched it tighter. Gage glanced at my trembling hand, his eyes narrowing slightly, a flicker of suspicion crossing his face.
    He met my gaze, and his smile faltered for a split second, almost freezing.
    “Eliza, is everything all right?” he asked, his tone carrying a hint of concern—or was it wariness? He picked up his phone from the kitchen counter and swiped through notifications with practiced ease.
    “Just work emails,” I lied, my voice flat and emotionless, my face immediately shifting into an apologetic, charming smile.
    “Ah, these late-night emails. I’m so sorry, darling, for disturbing our morning.” He walked over, slipped an arm around my waist, pulled me close, and his lips brushed lightly against my forehead.
    “Actually,” he whispered in my ear, “I almost forgot! I have a surprise for you.” He pulled out his phone again and showed me the screen. It was a booking confirmation.
    “Bora Bora, first class, for two. Just us.” His eyes sparkled with feigned delight. “I know you’ve always wanted to go there. A little pre-wedding trip, just the two of us—my way of making up for being so busy with work.”
    He shook his head and laughed self-deprecatingly. “My job is absolutely crazy, but I carved out this time. Just you and me, away from everything.”
    He held the phone out to me, waiting for my reaction. I stared at the booking information, the text blurring. Bora Bora. The honeymoon I’d just canceled.
    The honeymoon he’d planned with Caroline. My stomach churned. The taste of irony was bitter in my mouth. “That’s wonderful, Gage.”
    I forced the words out, my voice dripping with false enthusiasm. “I’m so looking forward to it.” This was the game I had to play, and I’d play it well. I wouldn’t let them see me break.
    The next morning, the penthouse was filled with the aroma of coffee and freshly baked croissants.
    Surprisingly, Gage was in the kitchen, wearing a crisp white apron over his perfectly pressed shirt. He hummed a cheerful tune as he flipped pancakes.
    Caroline sat at the breakfast bar, drinking orange juice, glowing. “Good morning, Eliza!” she greeted cheerfully, looking up from her phone screen. “Gage made us a feast!”
    Gage turned around with a gentle smile. “Good morning, darling. Caroline specifically requested her favorite French toast. And you, my love—your usual berry smoothie.”
    He set the smoothie in front of me, then turned to Caroline and gently pushed a plate of French toast toward her. “Eat up, baby. You need your strength.”
    He came over to me and kissed my forehead. “Eliza, I’ll be working late at the hospital tonight. Big surgery, complex case. Don’t wait up for me.” He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.
    “Of course, Gage,” I said softly. I reached up and smoothed his hair—a gesture I’d practiced a thousand times. “Be careful. Try to rest when you can.”
    I watched him leave, his handsome figure disappearing down the hallway. Caroline followed him to the door, waving goodbye. Then she turned around, a smug expression on her face, and walked back into the kitchen.
    Once they were both gone, I headed straight for Gage’s master bedroom. I pulled a small metal key from the bottom of my jewelry box. The lock clicked softly and swung open with a dull thud.
    I pushed the door open. The room was spotless, a perfect reflection of his obsession with tidiness. It smelled of Gage’s cologne, mixed with a hint of Caroline’s cheap perfume.
    I walked straight to the bed—the luxurious king-sized bed where they’d carried out their betrayal. I lifted the heavy mattress. Beneath it, a small velvet pouch was hidden. I found it. Caroline’s diary. Filled with her elegant handwriting, documenting every sordid detail.
    I started reading. Her words leaped off the page, each one a stab to my heart.
    “Gage’s ‘insomnia’ is such a brilliant excuse. Eliza is so naive! She actually believes it. She even buys him special tea! Haha! While she’s sleeping peacefully in the guest room, I’m in her master bedroom, in her bed, with her fiancé.” My hand tightened around the diary, fury rising.
    “Poor thing, always trying to be the perfect girlfriend, the supportive partner. Doesn’t she know Gage needs excitement, not some tame little perfumer? I’m what he really wants.”
    “He says I’m lively, fun. He says Eliza is… comfortable. Boring. He can’t wait for the wedding so he can finally be rid of her. Then this penthouse, his career, our baby… it’ll all be mine. All mine!”
    The more I read, the colder I felt. I recalled countless conversations with Caroline—her subtle barbs, her fake compliments.
    “Eliza, you’re so lucky to have a man like Gage. He’s so handsome and successful. But you know, men sometimes need a little passion. You’re just so calm, so grounded.”
    At the time, I’d brushed it off, thinking it was her own insecurity talking. Now I saw the truth behind her words. She wasn’t envious of me—she was studying me, waiting for her chance to take everything. She wanted to take everything from me.
    I was about to tear the diary to shreds when something else caught my eye. Hidden beneath the diary was a snow-white envelope with my name scrawled across it in hurried handwriting.
    I opened it. Despite my resolve, my fingers still trembled. Inside was a medical report.
    And an ultrasound photo. “Patient: Caroline Stafford.” Date: two weeks ago. “Estimated gestational age: 12 weeks.”
    My vision blurred. On the signature line, clearly visible: “Attending Physician: Gage Morrison.”

    The Penthouse Wife’s Ultimate Revenge Chapter 3

    Eliza Anderson’s POV:
    I stumbled out of the master bedroom, clutching the diary and the ultrasound photo tightly in my hands.
    I needed to be alone. I retreated to my own room, closed the door, and the lock clicked shut, as if sealing off the entire world.
    My legs gave out, and I slid to the floor, my back against the cold wall. I bit down hard on my lower lip—the taste of blood was the only thing that made me feel real.
    I slowly stood up and walked to the mirror. I tried to smile, to give myself some comfort, but my lips wouldn’t obey. The corners of my mouth trembled, then fell. I closed my eyes.
    In that moment, I knew—the Eliza I used to be was gone forever.
    A few hours later, I heard the familiar sound of the front door unlocking. Gage and Caroline were back. Their voices drifted down the hallway, light and cheerful.
    Gage walked in first, carrying a large insulated bag. “Darling Eliza, I’m home. I hope you ate something. I brought your favorite Thai curry, to make up for my recent absences.” He gave me that deliberately practiced apologetic smile.
    He opened the bag, and the rich aroma of coconut milk and spices filled the room.
    “I know there’s always something pulling me away lately,” he continued, arranging the containers on the dining table, “but I really want you to know how much I care.”
    “I’m not hungry, Gage. I don’t feel well.”
    “Oh, Eliza, you really should eat something,” Caroline chimed in, her voice laced with concern. She gestured toward the food on the table. “Gage went all the way out there just for you.”
    I ignored her. I pressed “send” on my phone, and a notification popped up on the screen: “Penthouse sale confirmed. Cash buyer, closing within 24 hours.”
    Gage’s smile froze. Caroline’s eyes widened. They both stared at my phone, then at me. Their usual composure was cracked with shock and confusion.
    “What… what is this, Eliza?” Gage’s voice was tight, with obvious anger.
    “I sold the penthouse,” I said calmly and clearly. “Cash buyer, closing tomorrow morning.” I stood up, my chair scraping harshly against the floor.
    I walked past their stunned faces and back to my room. As I passed the living room sofa, I saw it—my engagement ring, sparkling in the light.
    I remembered the day Gage proposed. He knelt before me, his eyes full of what I’d thought was love. “This ring,” he’d said, holding up the dazzling diamond, “is a symbol of my endless loyalty, my promise to spend my life with you, Eliza.” Those vows I’d once cherished now sounded like hollow lies.
    The next morning, I woke up early. My phone vibrated. A notification from Caroline’s social media. A photo. Her hand intertwined with Gage’s, my engagement ring glittering on her finger. The caption read: “Finally got the ring that’s mine! And a little one on the way! Can’t wait for our future, my love @GageMorrison.”
    I felt that familiar rage rise up again, but then my phone rang. It was Gage.
    “Eliza, what is the meaning of this?” His voice was tight with anger.
    “What meaning, Gage?” I asked calmly.
    “Caroline’s post! And the ring! Why is she wearing your ring?” he demanded.
    “She’s carrying your child, Gage,” I stated the obvious. “Maybe she feels entitled to it. Or maybe you gave it to her.”
    He stammered for a moment, then forced himself to sound composed. “Eliza, don’t be ridiculous. She… she’s just emotional. I let her try it on to calm her down. You know how sensitive women get when they’re pregnant.” His tone was condescending, dismissive. “It’s nothing. I’ll buy you a bigger one, a better one.”
    “That’s fine, Gage,” I said in a voice so cold it could freeze. “You two keep it. I don’t need it.” I hung up before he could say anything else.
    I looked at the email on my laptop. The penthouse closing documents. “Transaction complete.” A cold, triumphant smile tugged at the corner of my mouth. His promises of bigger rings, better lives—they all meant nothing. I’d cut everything off. He could keep those material possessions; I didn’t need them.
    I crumpled the engagement ring receipt into a ball and tossed it in the recycling bin. Then I called a taxi.
    Time to take back what’s mine.

    👉 CONTINUE READING

  • Guest User: My Marriage’s Betrayal by CHRISTINE ROBINSON

    Guest User: My Marriage's Betrayal by CHRISTINE ROBINSON

    👉 READ NOW

    I sacrificed my career and endured agonizing IVF treatments, all just to give my husband’s wealthy family an heir.

    But when I checked the smart ring app his company had launched, I discovered my personal profile was labeled as a “Temporary User”—all data automatically wiped every 90 days.

    And positioned right above me, the name of his junior employee, Katerina, was glaringly listed as the “Primary User,” complete with a detailed log tracking her 24-week pregnancy.

    When I confronted him, Calvin didn’t apologize. Instead, he brought his pregnant mistress home.

    He actually demanded that I act as her caretaker, while his mother sneered, calling me a disposable ornament and ordering me to leave the marriage with nothing.

    My husband had merely used my painful fertility struggles to beta-test his algorithms, while secretly using our marital assets to fund his new family.

    In this marriage, I was nothing but a temporary data point.

    They thought I would silently accept being treated as a disposable “guest.”

    But I handed over the evidence of his severe data privacy violations to a shrewd, ruthless lawyer, and then decisively exposed the truth to the world.

    👉 READ NOW

    Guest User: My Marriage’s Betrayal Chapter 1

    Allison Benson’s POV

    The doctor’s appointment was scheduled for ten in the morning. I needed to download my three-month health report from the smart ring app. Dr. Chen specifically requested a detailed data report covering my menstrual cycle regularity, sleep patterns, and stress levels.

    Calvin, my husband, had insisted I wear his company’s prototype product—the “Aura” smart ring—claiming it was to “support my IVF journey.” He said my data was crucial for optimizing their women’s health algorithms.

    I opened the Aura app on my tablet. The company’s logo flashed on the screen, a glowing, stylized feminine symbol. My finger hovered over the “Download Report” button. Right at that moment, an unexpected window popped up on the screen—”User Selection.” It listed two names: my name, Allison Benson, and right below it, another name: Katerina Copeland.

    Katerina Copeland. The name struck me like a bolt of lightning. She was a junior product manager at Calvin’s company, AuraTech.

    I had seen her at a few company events. Young, smart, and always impeccably dressed. But why was her name on my app? This was my ring, my data. An icy wave of unease washed over me.

    Almost involuntarily, my finger tapped Katerina’s name. A brand-new page loaded. It was her personal profile, detailed and comprehensive.

    My eyes scanned the data: cycle records, sleep scores, activity levels. Her data logs stretched back for months, continuous and complete, far exceeding what I saw in my own account.

    I kept scrolling, past various charts. The final entry was highlighted in a glaring green. It wasn’t a standard cycle log, but a status update, clear and piercing—”Pregnancy Log: Week 24.” My vision began to blur. Week 24, six months, a baby. Her baby, Calvin’s baby.

    My hands shook violently. I quickly navigated back to my own profile page. My data was there, but sparse and fragmented. A few weeks here, a few days there, leaving massive blank gaps.

    My cycle logs, my desperate attempts and efforts to get pregnant, had been reduced to these incomplete fragments. I noticed a nearly invisible little tag under my name: “Temporary User. Data auto-clears every 90 days.”

    A Temporary User, a temporary placeholder.

    My mind was in utter chaos. He gave me the ring, saying it was for us, for our shared dream of a family. But in reality, he was just treating me as a temporary data tester, a disposable account that could be tossed aside at any moment.

    And Katerina was the “Primary User.” All the way to delivery. His system had clearly defined our roles. I was the temporary guest, and she was the permanent resident.

    It was absolutely sickening!

    Calvin’s late nights at work, his sudden “business trips,” the absent-minded look in his eyes whenever I talked about IVF treatments.

    They had planned it all along, how they were going to replace me.

    The doctor’s appointment now felt like a sick joke. I grabbed my phone, found the appointment, and deleted it without hesitation.

    An intense urge to flee surged within me; I wanted to escape this life.

    I looked around the luxurious living room. Every piece of furniture, every decoration felt tainted; I stood up, walked into the bedroom, pulled a small duffel bag from the closet, and haphazardly stuffed a few clothes inside. I had to leave. I needed air.

    The sound of the front door opening echoed through the silent house. Calvin was back, earlier than usual. My heart raced, like a drum pounding wildly against my ribcage. He never came home this early unless he thought I wasn’t here.

    “Allison?” His voice sounded light, tinged with surprise. “You’re home?”

    He walked into the living room, briefcase in hand, and stopped. His eyes swept the room and finally landed on me and the half-open bag. He frowned slightly. “What’s going on? Did you miss your appointment?”

    “No.” My voice was flat, devoid of emotion. “I canceled it.”

    He took off his coat and casually draped it over a chair. “Why? Is everything okay? Weren’t you really anxious about this checkup?” He didn’t wait for my answer, walking straight into the kitchen and tossing his keys onto the marble counter with a sharp clink. “I’m starving. I’ve been busy all day, didn’t even get to eat lunch.”
    He opened the fridge, looking down to rummage for food, and hastily took a few bites; I watched him. This man was actually sleeping around with another woman!

    He returned to the living room holding a bottle of water. “I need a shower, today’s meetings were exhausting.”

    A few minutes later, he walked out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, drying his hair as he walked. He looked refreshed and completely oblivious. “So,” he said, running a hand through his damp hair, “ready to go get some dinner? I was thinking we could try that new Italian place.”

    “Calvin,” I started, my voice perfectly calm, without a single ripple of emotion, “are you going to come with me to my next IVF checkup?”

    He paused, the towel still in his hands. His shoulders stiffened almost imperceptibly. “Another checkup? Allison, we just did one last week. You know how swamped I am right now; the Series C funding is urgent.” His voice was gentle, but I could hear the underlying impatience. “This is a critical time for AuraTech, you understand that, right?”

    “This is critical for us too.” I raised my voice slightly. “This is for our baby, Calvin. This is our last cycle, and if it fails, we have to re-evaluate everything. You promised you’d be there for me.”

    He walked over and placed a hand on my arm. “Of course, honey. I’ll try to make time. I’ll see if I can rearrange my schedule, it’s just… work is absolutely crazy right now. You understand, right?”

    “No, Calvin. I don’t understand why Katerina Copeland is listed as the ‘Primary User’ on the Aura app, and why her profile says ‘Pregnancy Log: Week 24,’ while I am just a ‘Temporary User’ whose data gets wiped every 90 days.”

    Calvin froze. A flash of panic crossed his usually confident eyes. He took a step back.

    “What are you talking about, Allison? What app? Are you snooping through my things again? That is company property, you have no right to look at internal data.”
    My heart was beating frantically, but a strange calmness settled over me. This was his playbook. Manipulate, deflect.

    He had always done this, but today was different. I recalled the countless times he accused me of being paranoid or overreacting whenever I questioned his overly intimate texts with Katerina, or the necessity of him “mentoring” her late at night. He always brushed me off like this.

    “She’s new, Allison. She needs extra guidance.”

    “She’s smart, Allison. I need her on this project.” That was his explanation when I found Katerina’s name repeatedly popping up on his personal phone.

    And I, like a fool, always apologized for my “insecurities,” thinking it was my problem.

    “No, Calvin, I was just checking my own health report—the data report on the ring you gave me specifically for the IVF. And I found Katerina’s profile, a ‘Primary User’ account, logging 24 weeks of pregnancy.”

    His eyes narrowed as he tried to find any sign of wavering on my face. “Allison, that… that’s a system glitch. I can explain it to you.”

    I let out a cold laugh, heavy with sarcasm. “A glitch? A ‘glitch’ that turns a wife who has poured everything into realizing our dream of a family into a ‘Temporary User,’ while making your subordinate the ‘Primary User’?”

    He ran a hand through his hair. “Allison, stop talking nonsense. You are my wife. This is just… a technical error. It has nothing to do with us.”

    “Does it really have nothing to do with us?” A wave of nausea hit me. “Does your ‘technical error’ also include bringing Katerina home? Into our house?”

    His eyes darted around the room, as if looking for hidden cameras. “She… she wasn’t feeling well, she got dizzy suddenly. I just brought her back to rest for a bit before taking her home.” He stammered.

    “And are the ‘special notes’ in her pregnancy log about ‘high risk, continuous monitoring required’ and ‘prenatal care expenses paid from shared account’ also technical glitches, Calvin?”

    He exploded. “Allison, you’re crazy! This is internal company business! You are clearly unstable and making things up!” He pointed at me, his face flushing red. “I have a board meeting tomorrow, I don’t have time to listen to your baseless accusations!”

    He turned to leave, fleeing to his usual safe haven—”work.” “We’ll talk when you calm down. Maybe you need to go see Dr. Evans again and get your stress levels adjusted.”

    I stepped in front of him, blocking his path. “There won’t be a ‘later,’ Calvin. And I won’t ‘calm down.’ I am leaving you!”

    He tried to push past me. “Allison, move! You are being utterly unreasonable!”

    I stood my ground, unmoving, but inside, I had completely woken up!

    Guest User: My Marriage’s Betrayal Chapter 2

    Allison Benson’s POV

    The next morning, Calvin left, slamming the door hard. He didn’t even look at me.

    His usual routine of a hurried morning kiss on the cheek and a mumbled “love you, honey” was gone. He just walked straight out, leaving behind an empty silence and the lingering scent of his cologne.

    Right before walking out, he had paused, turned around, and put on a forced smile. “Listen, Allison, about Katerina. Maybe you’re right, maybe I’ve been too invested. I’ll keep my distance. It really is just work-related, you know how crucial the company is right now.”

    He made a placating gesture with his hands. “Let’s just stop obsessing over the past, okay? Focus on our next steps. That’s what really matters.”

    “Our next steps? Is that the plan where you expect me to keep trying to get pregnant? While in the meantime, you’ve already gotten her pregnant?”

    I took a step forward, staring right at him. “Tell me, Calvin, who is the father of Katerina’s baby?”

    His eyes widened, then narrowed again, and he shifted his stance uneasily. “What does that matter, Allison? She is an adult, her private life is her own business.”

    “Then why would you list her pregnancy logs as a ‘Primary User,’ and why are her prenatal checkup fees listed under our ‘marital assets’ expense reports? Are you really standing there telling me you don’t know who the father is?”

    He was visibly annoyed now. “Allison, you’re being irrational. This isn’t how we communicate.” He was trying to regain control of the narrative, trying to make me doubt myself. “You’re losing control of your emotions. You need to calm down.”

    I laughed again. “Irrational? Losing control of my emotions?” I slowly shook my head. “Tell me, Calvin, what role did you want me to play in this meticulously woven farce? The loyal, understanding wife? Or the ‘barren woman’ who silently accepts her husband’s illegitimate child? What exactly do you want from me?”

    He didn’t answer. He just stood there, jaw clenched, avoiding my gaze. The silence was like a massive boulder, heavy and suffocating.

    “Allison, you’re just too stressed out, it’s the hormones from the IVF. You aren’t yourself right now.”

    I wanted to scream, wanted to smash something, but I held back, continuing to stare at him, never looking away for a second. He couldn’t face my anger; he just wanted me to go back to being the quiet, submissive wife.

    He sighed. “I have to go. We’ll talk later.” Saying that, he turned and left, leaving me standing alone in the hallway.

    Talk later? There would be no “later.”

    The morning sunlight streamed through the windows, illuminating the dust motes dancing in the air, as if narrating a broken story.

    I walked back to the tablet. The “Aura” app was still open. I clicked on Katerina’s profile again. Her diet, moods, and doctor’s appointments were all meticulously detailed, clearly having taken up a lot of time.

    I recalled the day he first brought the ring home. “This is state-of-the-art tech, Allison. My team did a fantastic job. It tracks everything—sleep, heart rate, ovulation. It’s going to revolutionize women’s health. And it will help us too, honey. For our baby.” He had slipped the ring onto my finger with such ceremony.

    But it was just a prototype, a data collection device. And I was just a convenient, temporary test subject. I was the “Guest User” whose data would “automatically clear every 90 days.”

    The doorbell suddenly rang, interrupting my thoughts. I jumped, walked to the door, and looked through the peephole. Calvin’s mother, Bobbie Brooks, stood on the porch, her designer bag looped over her arm, a dark expression on her face.

    I slowly opened the door. Without even a greeting, she pushed her way in, her eyes scanning the living room. “Allison, what is this mess? Why is the house so quiet? Where is Calvin?”

    “Calvin went to work.” I replied calmly, my tone flat.

    She turned around, her eyes boring into me. “And you? Why didn’t you go to the doctor? Dr. Chen called me and said you canceled your appointment. What’s going on, Allison? Are you giving up? I told Calvin ages ago that this IVF nonsense wasn’t reliable, you need to give the Brooks family an heir.”

    I looked at her, this woman who had tormented me for years over my fertility issues, who constantly humiliated me for “failing” to give her a grandson. This woman who secretly enabled her son’s affairs and supported his plan to replace me.

    “I canceled it,” I said in a low but firm voice. “I have stopped the IVF treatments. There is no longer a need.”

    Her eyebrows shot up, her face twisting into a mix of shock and anger. “Stopped? What do you mean, Allison? You can’t just give up! You have a duty to this family! What about our heir?”

    “You already have an heir, Bobbie.” I looked her straight in the eye, my voice calm but sharp. “Katerina Copeland is twenty-four weeks pregnant, and Calvin is the father.”

    The color instantly drained from her face, her jaw dropping slightly. In that split second, I saw pure panic in her eyes, which confirmed my absolute worst suspicions.

    She knew everything all along.

    Quickly, she regained her composure, the mask of anger slipping back into place. “Allison, what kind of nonsense are you spouting? Are you crazy? Katerina is a bright young thing, yes, but there is absolutely nothing between her and Calvin. They are just colleagues.”

    “Really?” I asked with a cold smirk. “Then why were you so desperate to ensure the ‘Brooks name’ was carried on? Why were you so obsessed with making me have a baby when you already knew Calvin had a child with Katerina?”

    “You cannot cause a scandal, Allison.” Bobbie’s voice held a threat, her eyes ice-cold. “It would ruin Calvin and destroy the Brooks reputation. That child will be a Brooks. You must accept it and remain silent.”

    My blood ran cold. “Accept it? Remain silent?” I slowly shook my head, my movements resolute. “What am I in this house, Bobbie? A breeding tool that gets tossed aside because she can’t conceive? An insignificant guest in my own home?”

    She stared at me, confusion written all over her face. “What are you talking about? A guest? Allison, what nonsense are you babbling?”

    I picked up the tablet. The screen still displayed Katerina’s profile. I pointed at the “Primary User” label, then to my “Guest User” status. “This is how Calvin’s system defines me, Bobbie. Temporary, disposable. While Katerina is permanent. The mother of the heir.”

    Bobbie looked at the screen, then back at me, her eyes filled with disgust. “You’ve lost your mind. You are completely crazy. I will not tolerate this. You will not ruin my son’s career because of your hysteria. You have until Calvin gets home to pack your things. You will leave quietly. Otherwise, you will regret it!”

    She marched toward the door, her heels clicking furiously against the hardwood floor. Without waiting for a reply, she threw the door open and stormed out, leaving me alone once more.

    I stood in the middle of the living room, gripping the trembling tablet with both hands. My knees gave out, and I slumped onto the floor. Tears finally cascaded down my face. All these years of sacrifice, and I was nothing but a temporary stand-in.

    My parents had warned me about the arrogance and prejudice of the Brooks family, the hubris born from generations of wealth. But I loved Calvin then, and I believed him.

    And now, I saw the truth. I had never truly been accepted by them.

    However, the tears dried quickly, replaced by a cold determination. I absolutely refused to be a “Guest User” in my own life.

    They wanted me to leave quietly? They wanted me to accept the betrayal? Never! I wouldn’t cover for them anymore. I was going to fight for myself!

    Guest User: My Marriage’s Betrayal Chapter 3

    Allison Benson’s POV

    Calvin didn’t come home that night. Around midnight, I received a text: “Very busy today. Staying overnight at the office, don’t wait up.”

    I thought about all those other similar nights. The nights I lay in bed staring blankly at the ceiling, my mind doing backflips guessing where he was and why he had grown so distant. Now, it all made sense.

    “Allison, you just don’t understand my stress. This company is everything to me. It’s all for our future.” And I had always believed him, always trying to play the supportive wife, suppressing my own anxiety. I had learned to bury the loneliness deep inside, carrying the weight of our supposedly shared dreams all by myself.

    But it was different now. His absence actually felt like a release.

    I went into the bedroom, pulled out my largest suitcase, and started packing. Not just clothes, but documents, financial statements, my old work laptop… everything that proved my independence outside of “us.”

    Just as I zipped up the suitcase, I heard a key slide into the lock.

    My heart jumped, and for a fleeting moment, I actually felt something akin to hope. Had he come back for me? Had he realized his mistake? My brain had momentarily reverted to the past, to the “old Allison” who longed for his affection and desperately wanted to believe in his love.

    The front door opened. Calvin stood there, his clothes rumpled, but he didn’t look exhausted. He looked anxious. A second later, Katerina Copeland stepped out from behind him.

    Her hand rested lightly on his arm. She was pale, her eyes slightly red, and she was wearing one of Calvin’s oversized dress shirts, draped loosely over her pregnant belly.

    My breath caught in my throat, the air suddenly turning thin. The image of them standing there shattered whatever lingering doubts and hopes I had into a million pieces.

    Calvin’s eyes landed on my packed suitcase. He grew even paler. His gaze darted back and forth between the suitcase, me, and Katerina.

    “Allison, I… I can explain. Katerina… she fainted again. The doctor said she needs complete bed rest. She didn’t have anywhere else to go. I just brought her here to stay for a few days until we figure something out.”

    Katerina took a small step forward, her lips trembling. She looked up at Calvin, unshed tears welling in her eyes, looking like a frightened fawn, totally helpless.

    Calvin turned to me, his tone pleading. “Allison, please. She needs help. And you… you’ve always been understanding and compassionate. Can you just… take care of her for a few days? Just a few days, until I figure things out.”

    “You expect me, in my own home, to take care of your pregnant mistress, and look at the belly carrying your child?” This was so far beyond my imagination.

    “Allison, don’t say that!” he snapped suddenly, a sharp edge to his voice. “She isn’t my mistress. She is a colleague who needs help. Yes, she is pregnant with my child. But she’s in a dangerous condition right now, she needs a stable environment, a home.”

    Katerina let out a soft sob, leaning her face slightly against Calvin’s shoulder as if seeking comfort, sneaking a glance at me with feigned vulnerability.

    “You actually expect me to take care of the woman who stole my husband and my future?” My voice rose, filled with incredulous fury. “Do you think I’m crazy, Calvin?”

    “Allison, calm down.” He stepped closer, trying to grab my arm. “You don’t have a job right now, you have plenty of time. It’s just temporary, for the health of the baby.”

    I forcefully shook off his hand, my movement full of disgust and anger. “No,” I said, my voice shaking, speaking through gritted teeth. “Absolutely not. I will not be your pregnant mistress’s nanny. Get her out of my house, Calvin. Right now!”

    Katerina let out a soft whimper and pulled away from Calvin slightly. “Maybe I should just go,” she said in a weak, frail voice, taking a step back, pretending she was going to leave.

    “No, Katerina, you are staying!” Calvin’s voice suddenly boomed. He pulled her back to his side, shielding her protectively. He turned to me, absolutely furious. “This is my house, Allison! My family! I decide who gets to stay!” He pointed at my suitcase. “If you can’t handle it, then you can leave!”

    Those words hit my heart like a massive boulder, heavy and final. “My house, my family, my decision.” His words were a knife twisting deep into my chest. The pain was excruciating, as if I had been hollowed out.

    Katerina looked up, a smug smile barely playing at the corners of her lips. “Allison, I am so sorry. I never meant for things to turn out this way.”

    Calvin let out a cold laugh, mocking. “She never meant for it to turn out this way? Allison, this is all your fault! You’re the one being unreasonable! Now, are you leaving or not?”

    I sneered. “Oh, I’ll leave, Calvin. And when I do, I am taking every single thing that belongs to me. Don’t think you’ll get to keep a dime. Sooner or later, you will pay for what you’ve done!”

    I walked right past him toward the bedroom and grabbed my packed suitcase.

    He didn’t try to stop me. He just stood there, Katerina clinging tightly to him, a hint of fear in her eyes.

    As I headed for the front door, Bobbie Brooks suddenly stepped out from the shadows of the hallway.

    She shot a glance at my suitcase, a gleam of satisfaction flashing in her eyes, before quickly looking away and walking straight toward Calvin and Katerina.

    “Oh, sweet Katerina, are you feeling better, darling? Don’t worry. You are safe here now. This is your home.”

    She put an arm around Katerina’s waist, pulling her closer. “Katerina, you are carrying our heir. You are part of our family now. I will protect you, we will all protect this child.”

    I stopped at the threshold, her words echoing in my ears. “You are part of our family now.”

    That phrase, which I had so desperately craved, now sounded like the death knell of my old life.

    👉 CONTINUE READING

  • My Heartless Ex-Husband Volunteers To Be My Baby Daddy by honey keyboard

    My Heartless Ex-Husband Volunteers To Be My Baby Daddy by honey keyboard

    For three years, Georgia devoted herself to being the perfect housewife, only for her husband to hand her divorce papers the moment his first love returned.

    She erased every trace of herself and vanished from his life completely. By the time she reappeared, powerful men were competing for her attention, and her countless hidden identities had left everyone stunned.

    Her usually composed ex finally lost control after noticing her baby bump.

    “Whose child is it?” he demanded.

    Georgia scoffed. “Some jerk’s.”

    Desperate to keep her close, he replied, “Then let me volunteer to be the baby’s daddy.”

    My Heartless Ex-Husband Volunteers To Be My Baby Daddy Chapter 1 Love Only Makes Fools Out Of People

    “Do you truly want to end our marriage?” Georgia Campbell stared at the divorce agreement lying before her. Every trace of happiness disappeared as the truth sank in and turned her blood cold.

    “I do. Isabel’s back,” Cayden Marshall, her husband, said without warmth.

    Today was their third wedding anniversary. Georgia had visited the market, chosen fresh ingredients, and spent hours preparing a special dinner. In return, Cayden had placed a divorce agreement in front of her.

    What a surprise, she thought bitterly.

    “If any part of the settlement troubles you, let me know,” Cayden added. He regarded the quiet, obedient woman before him with the same distant calm he used during business negotiations.

    Georgia dropped her gaze and read through the document as quickly as she could. Cayden had offered her generous compensation, including a valuable shop facing a busy street, a villa downtown, and fifty million dollars in cash. The entire settlement was worth no less than a billion dollars. She could spend the rest of her life in comfort without ever worrying about money.

    One billion dollars would repay her for enduring a marriage of three years without love or sex. Anyone looking at the arrangement would say she had received more than enough.

    Georgia knew the sensible choice was to accept the offer without objecting. But she had not married Cayden for his money in the first place.

    Silence dragged on until Cayden placed a cigarette between his lips and lit it. He inhaled slowly before looking at her through narrowed eyes. “Tell me if you want anything changed in the agreement.”

    Georgia raised her head and held his distant gaze. “Cayden, did you ever care about me at all during our three years together?”

    “Not once.”

    The answer came at once, firm and merciless, and crushed the final hope she had kept alive. Pain spread heavily through her chest.

    “Now I understand,” she murmured as her lashes lowered to conceal the hurt in her eyes.

    The weakness passed quickly, and her familiar gentle smile returned. “I cooked your favorite dishes. Could you stay and share one final dinner with me?”

    Cayden only frowned and offered no reply.

    Georgia swallowed her tears before carrying the dishes from the kitchen and arranging each plate in front of him.

    At that moment, Cayden’s phone began ringing.

    “Cayden, I’m in so much pain. Will you please come to the hospital and stay with me?” a woman asked softly through the phone.

    Georgia stood near enough to hear every word. Her hands closed into tight fists.

    “All right. Try to be good until I arrive,” Cayden replied. “I’ll be there shortly. Tell me what you’d like to eat, and I’ll bring it with me.”

    Georgia had never heard him speak to her with that kind of tenderness. The light faded from her face as she realized that love could make someone treat two people in completely different ways.

    When Cayden moved to leave, she hurried forward and caught the hem of his shirt. Her plea carried the same quiet obedience she had always shown him. “Cayden, will you stay until we finish dinner? Please, just this once.”

    “Georgia, don’t turn this into a scene.” Cayden removed her hand without care and walked away without looking at her again.

    Georgia pressed a hand against the pain in her chest. Her control finally broke, and warm tears streamed down her cheeks.

    Three years ago, Cayden had approached her and proposed marriage. She had loved him quietly for years, so accepting his proposal had required no thought at all.

    After marriage, they had treated each other with courtesy and kept their distance. She had given up her own life to become a housewife and devoted herself to caring for his every need. Cayden had never shared her bed as a true husband, yet even that empty marriage had once been enough to make her happy.

    Cayden’s grandfather had died two weeks earlier. Georgia had stood beside Cayden and handled the funeral arrangements. Once the funeral ended, Cayden began returning home less often. Tonight, he even asked for a divorce because Isabel Brooks, the woman he had always loved, had come back to the country.

    Georgia remained alone in the living room and let grief swallow the passing hours. By the time she forced herself to stand, stiffness had spread through her entire body. She gathered the untouched food and dumped it into the trash. The abandoned meal felt too much like her broken marriage.

    The shower didn’t help her relax. When she lay in bed, Cayden’s familiar scent surrounded her, making it impossible to sleep.

    A sudden chime from her phone broke the silence.

    For one hopeful second, Georgia believed Cayden had sent her a message. Instead, she opened a series of photographs delivered by an unfamiliar number.

    Every picture showed Cayden resting comfortably against Isabel’s shoulder with his eyes closed.

    A message appeared beneath the photographs. “Cayden is in love with me. Holding on to him will change nothing, so stop embarrassing yourself, Georgia.”

    Georgia tightened her grip on the phone and saw how close they were. The ache inside her chest soon grew too painful to bear.

    She stayed on the bed until morning arrived. Ian Dale, Cayden’s assistant, later entered the room carrying the divorce agreement.

    Sympathy crossed his face when he noticed how pale and exhausted Georgia looked. Still, he forced himself to deliver the message.

    “Ma’am, Mr. Marshall asked you to sign this. He’ll accept any terms you wish to add.”

    Georgia said nothing for a long while. Then she picked up the pen and placed her signature on the document. She did not want any compensation from Cayden and chose to leave with nothing. His wealth was never the reason she had married him, after all.

    Ian stared at her in surprise. “Ma’am, are you certain you don’t want any of the settlement?”

    She answered with a quiet hum.

    Georgia left soon afterward. A few changes of clothes were all she packed before leaving the home she had shared with Cayden for three years.

    All the happiness she had carried into the marriage was gone. Nothing remained for her to take when she walked away.

    Beyond the front door, a hollow feeling settled inside her. She no longer knew where she belonged. Even so, she understood that her life had to go on.

    Cayden had never loved her, and she refused to keep chasing someone who didn’t want her.

    Georgia pulled out her phone and called her closest friend, Jake Mitchell. “Jake, my marriage is over. I’m divorcing Cayden.”

    Jake arrived without keeping her waiting. His car stopped beside her and sent a cloud of dust across the road.

    “Love only makes fools out of people. Leaving that marriage might be the smartest decision you’ve ever made,” he remarked.

    “Enough with the nonsense. Start driving.” Georgia took out her phone, entered the surveillance network, and deleted every record that could reveal her whereabouts.

    She gave the house one final look, then faced forward and left without a moment of doubt.

    My Heartless Ex-Husband Volunteers To Be My Baby Daddy Chapter 2 Now This Is Interesting

    In the CEO’s office on the top floor of Marshall Group, Cayden looked at Ian and asked, “Did Georgia put her signature on the divorce agreement?”

    “Yes, but she refused the entire settlement,” Ian replied as he passed Cayden the signed agreement.

    Brief surprise showed on Cayden’s handsome face when he learned that Georgia had walked away without asking for anything.

    He hadn’t realized she possessed that much pride. In fact, he had expected her to make the divorce difficult. Instead, she had accepted it without making a fuss, which left him with an uneasy feeling he couldn’t explain.

    For three years, she had done nothing except manage their home. She had no career or friends to rely on. He couldn’t help wondering how she planned to support herself after leaving the marriage empty-handed.

    The concern made him frown. Once he recognized that he was worrying about her future, he immediately drove the thought from his mind.

    Their divorce would soon be final, and he reminded himself that her life would no longer concern him.

    He dropped the agreement into a desk drawer without care. Then he raised his head and asked, “Have you located Kendra Leigh?”

    “We still haven’t found her,” Ian responded. “She knows how to disappear completely, and none of the places she’s visited have given us a trail to follow.”

    “Offer a reward through the Dark Web,” Cayden instructed. “Anyone who gives us reliable information about her location will receive 100 million dollars.”

    Three years ago, Isabel had been poisoned by an extremely rare toxin. Cayden had visited every respected doctor in the country, but no one could treat her. She’d been staying overseas for treatment these years, but her condition had only deteriorated.

    He later heard that there was a legendary doctor named Kendra Leigh. Stories about her remarkable medical skills claimed that she could rescue patients whom everyone else had given up on.

    Finding Kendra seemed like Isabel’s last chance for a cure.

    “I’ll handle the bounty immediately,” Ian responded.

    Meanwhile, Jake drove Georgia to a private villa.

    “This will be your home from now on,” he muttered. “Have you decided what you’ll do next?”

    “Not yet,” Georgia answered.

    Jake set his phone down in front of her. “Someone has posted a reward of 100 million dollars for your location. Does that offer interest you?”

    Georgia barely glanced at the screen. “Not at all.”

    “Fine. Take some time to rest,” Jake replied lightly. “There’s still the Douglas family assignment you accepted earlier. They’ve contacted us several times. When do you think you’ll be ready to visit them?”

    “I’ll go on Saturday,” she answered briefly.

    “Understood. I’ll send them your decision.”

    Georgia arranged the few belongings she had brought before shopping for everything she needed. She also replaced her phone number and cut the final thread connecting her to her former life.

    Saturday arrived sooner than expected.

    Jake drove Georgia to the Douglas residence, where she treated Laura Douglas, an elderly member of the family.

    As they departed, their car passed a black Bentley. Georgia looked through the window at the passing vehicle and briefly saw a man with sharply defined features sitting inside.

    Cayden? She couldn’t imagine what had brought him here.

    Thirty minutes ago, Cayden had received word that Kendra planned to treat Laura at the Douglas residence. He had rushed over with Ian.

    Kendra left no trail and avoided appearing before strangers. Since there was no other way to approach her, Cayden decided to wait at the residence himself.

    By the time he arrived, the Douglas family informed him that the doctor had already gone. The failed meeting darkened his face.

    He remembered the car that had just pulled away from the property. He spun around, climbed behind the wheel, and pressed hard on the accelerator to chase it.

    Through the rearview mirror, Jake spotted the black Bentley staying close behind them. “Someone is following us. Is that the husband you’re divorcing?”

    Georgia checked behind them and recognized Cayden’s car. Her heartless husband was the one pursuing them.

    Her face remained calm as she gave Jake a short command. “Lose him.”

    Jake slammed his foot onto the accelerator, and the car surged forward with enough force to press them into their seats as it tore down the road.

    Cayden had no intention of losing them. His Bentley stayed close behind their car while he pursued them with relentless focus.

    Both vehicles sped along the road as each driver fought for the lead.

    Several attempts to pull ahead ended in failure, and frustration began wearing down Jake’s patience. “Damn it, I never thought he’d be this good behind the wheel. He clearly won’t give up until he forces us to stop!”

    Georgia’s eyes opened at once. “Move over. I’m taking the wheel.”

    After exchanging seats with Jake, she fixed her attention on the road ahead. She pushed the accelerator to its limit and aimed the car toward Devil’s Bend 303, the most famous curve in the city.

    Behind them, Cayden’s black Bentley continued gaining ground and steadily reduced the space between the two cars.

    Georgia brought the car to a sudden stop when they arrived at the base of the mountain. She waited until Cayden almost reached them before hitting the accelerator again.

    Every turn came with a quick sequence of movements. She braked, worked the clutch, changed gears, guided the car through the curve, and accelerated out of it without breaking her rhythm.

    Only a few curves later, Cayden’s Bentley had fallen far into the distance.

    Georgia rolled down the window and extended one hand outside. Then she raised her middle finger toward the car chasing them.

    The rude gesture made her confidence impossible to ignore.

    Cayden’s expression sharpened at the sight. The hand outside the window looked slender and smooth enough to belong to a woman. And something about it seemed strangely familiar to him.

    When Cayden finally crossed the finish line, the other vehicle had already vanished.

    Ian held the grab handle with both hands while his heart hammered against his chest. Never before had he watched Cayden lose a race to a woman. He expected the defeat to send Cayden into a terrible temper, but an unsettling smile appeared on his face instead.

    “Now this is interesting,” Cayden said.

    Ian couldn’t agree with him. The race had left him feeling as though he had narrowly escaped death.

    “I don’t care what it takes—find that woman and bring me every piece of information you can uncover about her,” Cayden demanded.

    His reason for pursuing Kendra remained unchanged. She was the only doctor who might be able to save Isabel.

    My Heartless Ex-Husband Volunteers To Be My Baby Daddy Chapter 3 She Had Cut Him Off

    Once they arrived at the villa, Jake showed Georgia the payment notice on his phone. The Douglas family had already transferred three million dollars for the treatment.

    “I’ll send the full amount to your account,” he said.

    Three million dollars wasn’t a fortune, but it at least made their trip worthwhile.

    He continued, “Are you still turning down that 100 million dollars? People with too much money don’t come along every day, especially ones willing to spend it so carelessly. You paid 40 million dollars for this villa alone.”

    Over the years, Georgia had devoted herself to becoming Cayden’s perfect wife and hadn’t accepted any work. Purchasing the villa had drained almost all of her savings. It was time to begin earning money again and enjoy a more comfortable life.

    “I’ll accept the assignment if it won’t put me in danger,” Georgia said. “Before agreeing to anything for me, investigate every detail and make sure there are no hidden problems.”

    Jake knew what had made her so careful. Three years earlier, Georgia had saved someone’s life during a job, but the rescue had damaged the interests of some dangerous people, who had hired assassins to eliminate her. Without her quick instincts and Jake’s help, she might not have survived that attack.

    “Understood. I’ll meet with them first and find out what they really want,” Jake replied.

    After leaving Isabel at the hospital, Cayden drove to Celeste Estate, the home he had once shared with Georgia.

    The darkness surrounding the villa reminded him that she no longer lived there.

    Cayden remained inside his car and lit a cigarette. He smoked it to the end in silence before stepping out and entering the house.

    As he looked around the living room, he somehow thought of how Georgia used to keep the lights on and wait for him to come home.

    He had taken those quiet, warm moments for granted, but now they were gone. Their absence irritated him more than he wanted to admit. He approached the liquor cabinet, poured himself a drink, and swallowed it all at once.

    He took out his phone and searched for Georgia’s number before calling her. However, the number was no longer in service.

    Cayden checked the number and confirmed that he hadn’t made a mistake. Once he understood what Georgia had done, a short laugh escaped him without any real amusement.

    He was surprised to realize that she had cut him off even more firmly than he had expected.

    Throughout their three years together, she had remained quiet, gentle, and easy to control. Even when he asked for a divorce, the pain on her face had made it obvious that she wasn’t ready to let him go.

    Only a few days had passed, yet she had already canceled the number he knew.

    Cayden called Ian and gave him a firm order. “Find Georgia.”

    The next day, Ian approached Cayden. “Mr. Marshall, I couldn’t locate Ms. Campbell.”

    Back then, Georgia had entered Cayden’s life without warning. He discovered that she was an orphan, and since he needed a wife who could satisfy his family, he chose her.

    She had no powerful background or personal influence, which meant she couldn’t threaten his position. Those qualities had made her the safest choice.

    Cayden never imagined that the woman who accepted nothing from him would disappear so thoroughly after leaving. No one could tell him where she had gone.

    “Continue searching!”

    He refused to believe that Georgia could vanish without leaving a single clue.

    Just then, Cayden received a call from the hospital.

    “Mr. Marshall, the toxin has caused Ms. Brooks to suffer another episode. She’s only partly conscious and keeps asking for you. She refuses to settle down until she sees you, so we had no choice but to call.”

    “Tell her I’m coming now.” Cayden ended the call, rose from his seat, and hurried out.

    Three years ago, Cayden’s enemy had tricked and drugged him. While the drug threatened his life, he had become intimate with a woman he believed was Isabel.

    Since that night had been her first time, guilt and sympathy led him to accept responsibility for her.

    Even so, something had always felt wrong whenever Cayden spent time with Isabel. Instead, he had found himself more relaxed and at ease whenever he was with Georgia.

    Thoughts of Georgia’s sudden disappearance tightened Cayden’s expression.

    Shortly after Cayden entered the hospital, Georgia arrived wearing a baseball cap and a mask.

    She rode the elevator upstairs and made a call after stepping into the hallway. “I’ve arrived. Where should I meet you?”

    The directions led Georgia to the neurosurgery director’s office.

    “Benjamin!” she called out.

    Benjamin Gordon, her former classmate, recognized the voice immediately. He turned around and pulled her into a tight hug. “You finally came back. Where have you been the last three years? You disappeared without giving me a single word.”

    “I got married,” Georgia replied plainly.

    Shock crossed Benjamin’s face. “You got married? Who is your husband?”

    He could hardly believe that someone had convinced a woman like Georgia to become his wife.

    Georgia ignored the question and gave him a different answer. “I’m divorcing him.”

    Benjamin went quiet as uncertainty crossed his face. The congratulations he had nearly offered never left his mouth.

    Georgia showed no concern as she sat down. “What made you reach out to me?”

    “Our mentor has a longtime friend who requires surgery. The family came to me because they wanted my help, but the patient is elderly and the condition is difficult. I don’t trust myself to handle the operation alone, so I hoped you would assist me.”

    Benjamin had contacted her without expecting much. Georgia had vanished for three years without a single message, so reaching her the previous night had come as a complete surprise.

    One of Georgia’s eyebrows rose. “I haven’t entered an operating room in years. What if my skills have become rusty and I end up damaging your reputation?”

    Benjamin refused to entertain the idea. “If a surgeon as skilled as you could fail, then I have no right to attempt the operation by myself.”

    “Alright. Show me the patient’s scans first.”

    After reviewing the scans, Georgia rose from her chair. “Choose a time for the surgery and send me the details.”

    Another thought came to her and she added, “Find out which hospital room Isabel Brooks is in.”

    Benjamin asked without thinking, “Who is Isabel? Is she someone you know?”

    “She’s the love of my husband,” Georgia said casually. “Our marriage is ending because of her.”

    Benjamin stared at her in shock and couldn’t think of anything to say.

    Georgia soon located Isabel’s room and looked through the glass panel in the door. Isabel rested on the bed in striped hospital clothes. Her soft, innocent features were the kind that easily stirred a man’s protective instincts. Still, Georgia found nothing especially beautiful about her. In fact, Isabel was not nearly as beautiful as she was.

    Cayden must’ve been both blind and stupid to choose a woman like that. His taste was truly terrible.

    Beyond the glass, Cayden peeled an orange with his own hands and fed Isabel one piece at a time. He spoke to her gently, and a soft smile occasionally appeared on his face.

    Cayden had always treated Georgia properly throughout their marriage, but an unseen wall had kept them apart. Not once had he shown her the tenderness he now gave Isabel so freely.

    Georgia refused to watch any longer and ruin her own mood, so she turned away.

    Some instinct made Cayden raise his head at that exact moment. He then left his chair and hurried into the hallway, where he caught sight of a familiar figure disappearing around the corner.

    The person looked very much like Georgia.

    Cayden went after her but crossed paths with Ian, who had arrived to take him to the office.

    “Mr. Marshall, is something wrong?” Ian asked.

    Cayden stopped and asked him in a low voice, “Did you pass anyone on your way here?”