8835 Book(s) Related to returning to the end of the world novel

Rain and Ami are the best of friends since their nappies, however as they were growing
up, Rain's feelings for Ami grew beyond friendship. Ami was a hoyden and boyish due to her environment. As she was orphaned at a very early age, the only people around her were her uncle and his uncle's stepson, Rain and his male cousins.
Rain and Ami's friendship became shaky on the night of Rain's bride search ball. Rain's passionate kiss addled Ami's mind into thinking she was to be his bride. Will it be a happy ever after for them both or will Rain continue to defy fate?

She was invisible in her own home. Now she's about to become untouchable.

For fourteen years, Queenie Vale has been a prisoner in her own mansion—a servant to the stepmother who stole her inheritance and the stepsister who delights in her pain. Framed for attempted murder and thrown out with nothing but the clothes on her back, Queenie faces an impossible choice: pay fifty thousand dollars in five days or go to prison for a crime she didn't commit.

Enter Jamal Devereaux—billionaire, enigma, and the most dangerous man she's ever met. His offer seems like salvation: a contract marriage that will give her the power to destroy her enemies and reclaim what's rightfully hers. But Jamal has secrets darker than the night, and his own thirst for vengeance runs deeper than she could ever imagine.

What Queenie doesn't know is that she's not just his contract wife—she's his ultimate revenge. Her father destroyed Jamal's family, and now he intends to start his payback with her.

But when enemies circle like vultures and bullets start flying, the line between hate and love becomes dangerously thin. In a world where trust is a luxury and betrayal is a weapon, Queenie must decide: Is the man who saved her life her greatest ally... or her most lethal enemy?

Some fairy tales are written in blood. This is one of them.

My name is Arthur, a bottom-tier financial drone relying on liver cirrhosis to survive on Wall Street. My greatest dream is to land a normal labor contract that includes weekends off and social security, but this is destined to be impossible.
Because my dad is a Primordial Vampire, my mom is an Alpha Werewolf, and my older brother is an Urban Legend Wraith.
When my tycoon boss, trying to save on severance pay, deployed over a hundred heavily-armed mercenaries to physically eliminate me, I had no choice but to blow the bone whistle my old man gave me...

When the fourth victim from the Chicago arsonist landed on my brother's autopsy slab, I watched from above, a ghost trapped in the room.
As the city's star medical examiner, he recited his findings with detached precision. "Female, twenties. Evidence of controlled, prolonged burning prior to death." He had no idea he was cataloging my murder.
Three days earlier, in that same warehouse, I'd begged into my phone. His fiancée, Harper, held it for me, her smile a blend of sugar and venom. "Call him again, Ivy. Maybe he'll answer for his poor little sister this time?"
A click. Then, his voice.
"Julian, please—"
"Not now, Ivy. I'm choosing our wedding rings."
The dial tone pierced the air. Harper struck the match.
Now, in the morgue's fluorescent glare, I see the blood drain from his face. The report trembles in his hand. Every measurement, every scar—they all whisper my name.
Oh, Julian. With every incision, you were reading my last words.
The killer is right beside you, already in her white dress.

"Priest, I'm requesting to transfer my registry to the Forbidden Lands. And I need the materials to forge a Moonshadow Puppet. In three days, it will stand in my place at the mating altar."

I spoke into the communication rune in my palm.

From the other end, the Moon Priest's voice spiked with warning. "Aria, do you have any idea what you're saying? The Forbidden Lands is an abyss of no return! It's ruled by the Lycans. You don't even have a wolf spirit—walking in there is a death sentence!"

"My decision is final."

After a long beat, his heavy, suppressed sigh echoed through. "Using a puppet substitute is an act of absolute blasphemy against the Moon Goddess... You've waited for Kaelen for so many years. Why walk away now?"

"Because a puppet will never betray a sacred vow."

Our engagement has gone unfulfilled for ten years.

My parents saved his family in that yacht accident. With their dying breath, they asked his family to look after me. In return, we go to city hall every year, trying to fulfill this obligation.

Ten attempts. Ten failures.

Elevator malfunctions, food poisoning, home invasions, car crashes... Every single time, I get hurt at the worst possible moment while he walks away without a scratch.

This makes ten. A truck slams into the passenger side, my head smashes against the window, and he's already running across the street, pulling that woman into his arms.

On my way to find him after they stitch me up, I hear his assistant's voice in the hospital corridor:

"Mr. Ashford, the truck driver's been taken care of. Money'll hit his account like we agreed... but is this really fair to Miss Bennett? It's been ten years, every single year—"

William's voice comes out low and tired. "I don't have a choice. Her parents saved me, but I'm in love with Emma."

I look down at the diagnosis. ALS. Late stage.

Turns out I've been trying to marry a lie this whole time.

I spent two years quietly building something I thought was worth building.
Full recovery support after birth, someone checking in on meals, leave approved the moment you asked for it. I worked out a deal with the best facility in the city and covered the difference myself, out of my own account. Not a cent of company money.
I did it because I'd watched a good employee disappear from the company the year she got pregnant. No announcement. Her desk just cleared out one day.
Then one of them posted about it.
She called it surveillance. A golden cage. The comment section called me a predator. By morning it was trending.
Here's what none of them knew: not a single dollar of that program belonged to the company.
So I listened to what they wanted and gave them exactly that.
I shut the whole thing down.

After losing control due to alcohol, I slept with the guy next door.
He was an incredibly responsible man. When he sobered up, he proposed to me.
Later, I found out that the woman he loved most had gone abroad that night.
So, I hid my deep love for him and played the role of a perfect, obedient wife in the wealthy family.
In countless quiet nights, we were in perfect sync, yet we kept our distance, never crossing boundaries.
My friends all said I could never leave him. I thought so too.
Until one day, I found his second phone.

"Marry me and give me an heirs, but not with love! I'll give you 500,000 dollars as compensation or more." Allan Watson

Evelyn Adam is a beautiful 19-20 year old girl who has always had misfortune.

Her parents had just passed away in a plane crash. Evicted by his evil uncle from their home and seized his entire inheritance.
Living on the streets without a penny in his hand.
Worst of all, finds out that his only sister has cancer and needs a lot of money.

She needs one hundred thousand dollars to pay for her sister's illness in two days!

A desperate Evelyn Adams is forced to accept a one-year contract marriage proposal and produce Heirs for a handsome 28-year-old Billionaire named Allan Watson. The sole heir to the Watson empire that controls businesses across most of Wellington County.

Will Evelyn be able to accept?

Is Evelyn ready to be the wife of a Billionaire and give him an heir? Without love between them?

Can they fall in love with each other?

What happens when the Billionaire's ex-fiancee comes back into their lives?

What happened when Eve found out she was pregnant?

Jevan Hollen was the most popular boy at his highschool. Blossom Wright was the new student who earned a scholarship to Jevan's school during their senior year. When she first laid eyes on him, she knew she immediately liked him although the fast friends she made warned her against it due to Jevan's ex-girlfriend, head-cheerleader and 'queen b' but Jevan and Blossom grew closer and eventually started dating which made his ex-girlfriend furious. She cooked up a lie and it led to Blossom and her mother getting deported.
It's years later when Blossom returned and she now has a son. And Jevan has a fiancee.

“You’re not having her,” I spoke, shielding her with my body.
“So be it.” And he fired.

Six years ago, a stupid lie shattered the bond between rich heiress Zenobia Hollen and her best friend, Kyle Livingston. Now, Kyle is back—broke, regretful, and desperate for a second chance. When Zenobia needs a new personal bodyguard, he seizes the opportunity, determined to prove he’s more than the boy who betrayed her.

But forgiveness isn’t Zenobia’s strength. Forced into proximity, their past is a minefield of resentment and unresolved passion. As Kyle risks his life to protect her from real threats, the line between duty and desire blurs. Can they navigate the dangers of the present and the ghosts of their past, or will the secrets and scars they carry destroy any chance of a future? In a world of luxury, lies, and lethal intentions, some second chances come with a bullet.

When your husband kept cheating and you're finally divorced,
you somehow had an ONS with your ex's single billionaire dad.
When you two dated, you run into your ex and his gf,
Ex🤨: We're not getting back together even if you beg my father to talk to me.
Dad😡: Son. Come meet your mom

After Grace Foster married into the Hayes family, everyone eagerly awaited the day she would give birth to an heir for the ailing young master. Grace thought marrying Alexander Hayes meant she was doomed to a lonely life, especially since her husband was in a coma. But to her surprise, he suddenly woke up. Overnight, with nothing more than a divorce agreement, she was cast aside by the wealthy family.
Seven years later, Grace returns with two sons by her side—and a line of men eager to become their stepdad. The thing Alexander regrets most is forcing Grace to sign those divorce papers. Now, the once-proud man will do anything to win her back—showering her with love, even risking everything for her.
But winning her heart again isn’t so easy, especially when his two mischievous sons seem determined to stand in his way. Alexander never expected that the biggest obstacle on his journey to win back his wife would be these two little troublemakers!

"I, Charlotte Jane Attwood of the Crimson Moon Pack, reject you, Knox and Kane Maddox, as my mates and sever my bond to you both and your pack!" I recited, my eyes dancing with my unspoken pain seeing my mates entwined together with a female! A female who was not me!

Shaking my head of the tears I felt threatening to fall from my icy hues. I straightened and waited for them to accept my rejection! But the words that left their lips left me stunned.

"I, Knox Maddox and Alpha to the Crimson moon pack refuse to accept your rejection!" He snarled, slipping from the bed, naked and unashamed to step into me, the female sprawled out on the bed forgotten. Kane was quick on his heels, the pair caging me in a wall of muscle and testosterone.

"You belong to us, Lottie! I, Kane Maddox, Alpha of the Crimson Moon Pack, refuse to accept your rejection."

"Ours!" Knox repeated anger swimming in his baby blues.


Follow the story of Charlotte, Knox and Kane as they try to find their footing in a cruel world filled with betrayal, heartbreak and secret obsessions that threaten to destroy the bonds of brotherhood and love!

“You’re supposed to hate me right now,” I whispered.

Louis’s fingers gripped my chin, his thumb brushing slowly across my lower lip. His voice was low, rough, almost dangerous.

“I do,” he said. “But that doesn’t stop me from wanting you.”

My breath caught as I looked into his darkened eyes.

“Then stop pretending,” I whispered, pulling him closer. “Or admit this was never fake.”


In a single devastating night, Serena Reed dies betrayed—only to wake three years earlier with memories of her family’s ruin, her lover’s betrayal, and everyone who destroyed her.

This time, Serena won’t be the victim.

Armed with deadly foresight, she creates the perfect revenge plan: make Louis Maverick—her ex’s brooding best friend and the campus’s untouchable star quarterback—become her fake boyfriend.

He’s supposed to be nothing more than a weapon.

A way to make her ex regret losing her. A pawn in the game she’s determined to win.

But fake dates turn into stolen moments, staged kisses become real, and the line between revenge and love begins to disappear.

Because Louis is more than the charming quarterback everyone sees. Behind his billionaire image lies a world of secrets Serena never expected.

One fake relationship. One dangerous attraction. One chance to rewrite fate.

But falling for Louis Maverick might be the one thing Serena can’t control.

Hi, My name is Kat and I feel like I should make something clear. I am no expert on magic and there's no reason why I should be. Us humans only discovered that magic exists a few years ago and really it wasn't the big deal you would expect. it exists, I don't have any magic of my own so it makes no difference to my life.

So when I get asked to play tour guide for a stupidly handsome fae as he attempts to capture some escaped criminals I realise that the fae know about as much about us as we do about them. I find myself helping him navigate weird human things like mobile phones, credit cards and why we wait at red lights when there are no cars approaching.

It's safe to say that I'm a little overwhelmed by it all.

But it will be fine, right? I mean, It's not like I'm the one facing down criminals or, even worse... Crazy fae fangirls. All I have to do is show the hot guy around and do my best not to embarrass myself too much in the process. What could go wrong?

Wish me luck!

"She was mine first," Dimitri whispered, his voice deadly calm. "And you stole her in the dark."
Dimitri and Alexei Volkov—twin brothers, mafia kings, two halves of a single shadow. They ruled cities together, buried enemies together, breathed through each other’s rage and silence. Nothing had ever broken them. Not bullets. Not blood. Not betrayal from the outside world.
Until her.
Irina was Dimitri’s quiet refuge, the only softness in his brutal life. His maid… yet the only woman he ever allowed close. She soothed him without knowing it. She steadied the chaos he lived in. Over time, she became the one thing he couldn’t live without.
He loved her. Deeply. Quietly. In a way a monster shouldn’t love anyone.
But one night changed everything.
A drunken party. A dark hallway. A room lit only by shadows. Alexei wearing Dimitri’s robe. Irina whispering a name that wasn’t his. A mistake born from darkness—a moment that spiraled into sin.
And now… Irina carries the child of the wrong brother.
When Dimitri learns the truth, something inside him shatters. Rage becomes a living thing in his chest. Alexei’s smirk—claiming Irina, claiming the baby—turns brotherhood into war.
For the first time in their lives, the Volkov twins are standing on opposite sides.
One wants the woman he loves.
One wants the woman who will give him an heir.
And Irina… is trapped between a love she didn’t choose and a fate she never asked for.
Two brothers.
One woman.
A child powerful enough to crown one king…
and destroy the other.
In the Volkov world, betrayal is paid in blood.
And this time, the blood spilled may belong to the brothers themselves.
When this war ends… who will be left standing?

[Where is Bryce?] I signed.

Serena's lips curled into a cruel smile. "Looking for your husband?" She tilted the phone away from her face, panning across the rumpled sheets until the camera revealed Bryce.
 
He was naked, sprawled across the king-sized bed, fast asleep. One arm stretched beneath Serena's neck, the other hand rested possessively on her bare breast.

"He's exhausted," Serena whispered, the camera returning to her smirking face. "We've been at it for hours. Did you know he calls my name when he comes? Has he ever done that with you?"

Evelyn lost her voice due to an accident in her childhood, which made her the mute wife when married to Bryce Finch. After three years of marriage, her husband ignored her, her mother-in-law despised her, and her husband's lover humiliated her. On her birthday, Evelyn recorded the evidence of her husband's infidelity and decided to leave this marriage. Just then, she discovered that she was pregnant. What’s more, she found that there were still many secrets about herself that remained unsolved... Thus, she began her counterattack.

Zara Torres has three rules at Harlow University.
No drama. No distractions. And absolutely no hockey players.

She breaks all three before October ends when a journalism assignment lands her in Declan Mercer's orbit starting center, infuriatingly perceptive, and somehow always exactly where she isn't expecting him.

Zara tells herself it's professional. She's documenting the ice conflict between two programs sharing one rink. She's not falling for the guy who shows up at six AM with terrible coffee and the unsettling habit of telling her the truth.

She's definitely not thinking about the jump.

The quad Lutz she hasn't fully landed in two years. The fall that broke her wrist and quietly broke something else. The confidence she rebuilt around a gap she keeps pretending isn't there.

But when a journalism assignment becomes something larger, a testimony, an investigation, a story that reaches backward through thirty-three years and fifteen countries. Zara discovers that the thing she thought was a skating problem was never really about skating.

It was about learning who built the walls around the thing that was hers.

And deciding to tear them down anyway.

This story is a young adult sport romance about the cost of excellence, the courage of going first, and what it means to fight for the thing that was yours before anyone decided it was worth something.

The ice was hers first.

She just had to remember that.

He is my best friend's father. My ex-boyfriend's creator. And my most dangerous temptation.
One night of betrayal sent me running back to the only Pack I ever called home. I sought safety in the arms of my best friend, Ember, but instead, I found her father, Alpha Varg Lowell.
He is older, powerful, and deadly. Every time he looks at me, my wolf trembles. He knows my scent. He knows my secrets. And he makes me crave the one thing I can never have.
But a secret seer warned me:
"The Alpha's power is slowly destroying your body. The closer you get to him, the faster your life will fade."
My time is running out. My body is failing.
But Alpha Varg Lowell is just getting started.

"You're going to run on the count of three, Janice Cross," He whisper. "And make sure you don't let us find you."
"No… Lucian."
I moved my gaze to the men at either side of him, willing—begging them to say something.
Help me. "Calder, please… Aiden…"
Both turned their heads to the side. They couldn't even look me in the eyes as they chose their brother.
"One."
"Lucian…"
"Two."
"I didn't mean to."
"Three."


After losing the man she believed she would marry and her parents within a week, Janice just wants to care for her sick sister. She doesn't want a man. She doesn't want three men.
But one night is enough to change her life and point her in a new direction.
Aiden Grant. Calder Vaughn. Lucian Graves.
She doesn't expect the line to blur when it comes to these older men.
And when it comes to an end, she does not expect these men to continue wanting her as badly as she wants them.

After eight years in the military, Frank Moore returned to New York.

He had intended to attend his comrade's sister's wedding, only to witness her being utterly humiliated by mafia thugs, forced to drink their foot-washing water.

Enraged, Frank crippled the young thug's legs, condemning him to a wheelchair for life.

Faced with assassins from both the underworld and above, Frank made a phone call.

Hundreds of elite mercenaries descended from the sky, and the entire New York mafia fell to their knees in terror.

The tide in New York was about to turn!

"Ava," Alex's voice rumbled across the room, a playful glint in his drunken eyes, "but you're not her, are you? You're someone else."Evie, heart hammering against her ribs, forced a casual smile.

"I don't understand" she stammered, hating the way her voice wobbled, because he was right. He raised an eyebrow, hand reaching out to cup her face. "Some days it really feels like you are and on other days..." Before he could finish, he closed his eyes, falling asleep.

Evie's breath hitched. But how could he know? A cold dread pooled in her stomach."Alex, I—" she began, but the words died on her lips. Evie's carefully constructed world tilted on its axis.

Could he see through the charade? Had her deception finally caught up to her? In From Lies to Love: Deceiving My Sexy Billionaire, Evie must confront the consequences of her deception as love and truth collide in a high-stakes game of hearts.

“You don’t know me,” he murmured, pressing me against the mirrored wall of the room, his gaze sharp, burning with an intensity that made my heart race. “But your fiancé calls me ‘Uncle.’”
Uncle?
I gasped, trying and failing to stay composed. “Then why are you here?”
He leaned in, his voice low, almost a whisper. “To stop you from making the biggest mistake of your life—by marrying me instead.

Celeste Ashford had always been the perfect daughter—silent, obedient, and engaged to the man her family chose. But perfection is a prison, and the price is her life. Betrayed by her fiancé and half-sister and murdered by her stepmother, Celeste’s story should have ended in the coldness of a hospital room.
But fate had other plans.
She is reborn a month before her death, Celeste makes a choice that shatters the Ashford legacy—she walks away from her engagement and marries his uncle instead. Lucien Blackwell is cold, calculating, and infuriatingly untouchable. Their marriage is a contract. Their chemistry, undeniable. But behind his detached mask lies a secret powerful enough to bring empires to their knees—just like the one Celeste plans to burn down.
As lies unravel and enemies close in, Celeste discovers that her new husband isn’t who he claims to be. Neither is she. Because this time, she’s the woman rewriting the rules.
This time, she is out for revenge.

He called her boring. He said their marriage was a mistake. Then he left her bleeding, heartbroken... and pregnant.

Lily devoted seven years of her life to a man who only saw her as a convenience. When her husband, Alex, demanded a divorce, she begged him to stay only to discover he'd already proposed to his ex… and planned it all behind her back.

But betrayal wasn’t the end, it was just the beginning.

Left for dead, humiliated, and crushed by the ultimate heartbreak, Lily had nothing, until a billionaire stranger offered her a deal: a contract marriage, a new identity, and a chance to make the man who shattered her beg on his knees.

She accepted.

Now, Lily is no longer the soft-spoken housewife he threw away, she's the storm he never saw coming. Beautiful. Untouchable. Dangerous.
And Alex? He’s about to learn that the woman he underestimated is now the one who holds all the power. He broke her soul. Now she’s coming for him…

Rejected by her husband, Alpha, Evangeline decisively chooses divorce, only to discover he's deeply in love with his eldest brother's wife. Heartbroken, Evangeline is forced to feign innocence, guiding her husband to remove the mark he's placed on her so she can truly find freedom. Orphaned and without family, Evangeline's only source of warmth is her adopted brother, the handsome and powerful Alpha. But that warmth didn't last a few years before he ruthlessly abandoned her. Evangeline has always been the one who was not chosen, but when Alpha finally lost her, he realized he'd fallen deeply in love with her. Evangeline also gradually discovered the truth behind her brother's abandonment. What choice will she make?

He called me his lucky charm. I never knew I would become the price he was willing to pay for.

Wren Kelly was never supposed to belong in Cole Ashford’s world. She was the daughter of a building manager, while he was the heir of a wealthy family and a rising tennis star.

But since childhood, Cole believed she was the secret behind every victory. Until one desperate night, Wren had no choice but to make a deal with him—four years of her life in exchange for the money that could save her mother.

She thought she was selling her freedom.

She never expected that the boy who needed her luck would one day need her heart even more.

A mysterious old man’s visit flips Yvette’s world, transforming her from a chaos magnet into a magic academy student. She thought the trouble was over. She was wrong.

Fumbling into forbidden zones, Encountering a man riding a dragon, and being brutally betrayed by her closest friends, Yvette is now a target—battered, bruised, and caught in endless trouble.

Then, he arrives.

A man so breathtakingly gorgeous he radiates power. He is done hiding. Stepping into the light, he chooses to face St. Daye Academy, vowing to stand by Yvette’s side forever...

Freya's POV

Cold raindrops pelted my face, mixing with the stinging pain on my cheeks. I couldn't tell if it was rain or tears.

The black Bentley's windows blocked out the noise from outside, but they couldn't block the chill radiating from the man in the back seat.

Blake Jenkins held an unlit cigar between his fingers, his eyes as cold as ice.

When his gaze swept over me, there wasn't a trace of warmth—only deep-seated hatred.

"Freya Stewart, remember your place."

His voice was low and hoarse, each word drilling clearly into my ears.

"Starting today, you're no longer the adopted daughter the Jenkins family doted on. Now you're just a nanny, a servant to wait on Lena."

My body trembled violently, my fingers clutching desperately at the hem of my clothes.

I lifted my head, eyes red and rimmed with tears, my voice shaking uncontrollably: "Blake, you went through all this trouble to find me just to make me a nanny for you and Lena Johnson? Why should I? What happened back then..."

"Shut up!" Blake cut me off sharply, crushing the cigar hard into the ashtray.

"You still dare bring up what happened back then? If it weren't for you, how would my parents have died so horribly? I almost didn't survive either! If it weren't for your gambling-addicted father, how would Lena have ended up disabled, stuck in a wheelchair for life!"

The night before the engagement, Rosaline was tricked by her cousin. She was drunk and sent to a stranger’s room. She broke free from their control, went to the next room through the window, and had a one-night stand with a mysterious man.

She didn't want to have anything to do with him, so she matched wits with him and finally escaped. The man stared at silhouette with a smile: "You will never escape from me."

It was five years later when they met again. Neither of them recognized each other, but she was stopped by him in a dramatic way,
"Sir, anything can I do for you?"
"Yes."
"So, what's the matter?"
"I need a wife." He looked at her, and his lips twitching slightly.
"Sir, I don't quite understand what you mean."
"I needed a wife, and you are just the right one for me."
"What! Why?"
"I don't like women who are too beautiful or too smart."
“...”
"I'll see you at the Bureau House at ten a.m. tomorrow."
“...”
What?Was she proposed by the richest bachelor in this City!

“Well, now you’re a widow,” he said, smearing the blood of the man I had just married across my face before pulling his hand away. “What a pity. I am going to make you my mistress too",

“And nobody runs from me, mate.”

Four desperate men—Adrian Kane, Liam Cross, Ezra Black, and Damien Hart—receive identical invitations promising unimaginable wealth in just thirty days.
There’s only one condition: survive.

Taken to a secluded estate and cut off from the outside world, they are thrown into a series of escalating challenges where failure is not an option—it’s a death sentence. What begins as a high-stakes competition for money quickly turns into something far more sinister: a controlled experiment designed by a shadowy organization that rewards ruthlessness and punishes hesitation.

Alliances form. Trust shatters. And every decision comes with a cost.

As the days grow darker, the truth becomes clear—this is not a game meant to be beaten. It is a system designed to break them, reshape them, and choose only one survivor.

In the end, only one will walk away.

And survival may be the worst fate of all

Accepting her fate as a slave, Danica Grimsley, the low born Omega never thought that she had to share her love not with her mate Konrad Winston only but with his enemy as well, Cassius Winston, the king of Lycans. When secrets threatened to spoil her life, Danica needed to choose between revenge and fate. Worst of all, both Alphas wanted not just her body but her soul.

When I called my husband with trembling hands, clutching my cancer diagnosis, all I heard was his sweet laughter with his young, hot influencer girlfriend. Ten years of marriage, and when I needed him most, he chose betrayal.

In divorce court, I was painted as the "crazy ex-wife" while the entire internet mocked me. Everyone took their side. No one knew I was fighting for my life.

Until the day he finally learned the truth.

“Smile, Natalie,” Callum whispered before he walked onstage.

So I smiled while he thanked another woman for the crisis plan I had written. I smiled when he pinned my grandmother’s sapphire brooch to her dress. I even smiled when his message came in, canceling our nineteenth appointment at the county clerk’s office.

Then I walked out with our unsigned marriage license papers in my purse and called the one CEO he hated most.

By the time Callum realized I wasn’t waiting anymore, I had already taken my name, my work, and my future back.

I gave my Alpha fiancé to my stepsister.

My mother's face lit up. "You're giving Damon to Maya? Don't come crying later, Kira. That man is the most powerful Alpha alive."

I won't. Never again.

Last life, I married him. Suffocated for three years.

He wanted a perfect Luna. I showed up to the full moon gala in a mini skirt. The elite ladies circled in—*"Shameless. Like a bitch in heat."* Damon walked over, draped his jacket over my shoulders.

I thought he was protecting me.

"Must you embarrass me like this?" His voice cut like ice. "Every damn time."

That's when I knew: he loved the perfect Luna. Not me.

Then came the conservative gowns, endless etiquette training, and every time I fought back—*"Pack law, Kira. Obey."*

Until the flames took me, I swore: If I ever got another chance, I would never marry that man.

I woke the night before our engagement and pushed the contract away. "Let Maya be his perfect Luna. I just want my freedom."

But I didn't expect—

When Damon discovered the switch, the cold Alpha completely lost it.

Eighty-eight times.
That was how many times I had put on a white dress, or packed my ID, heading to the registry office to marry Harrison Churchill. And eighty-eight times, I ended up in an ambulance.
The first time, it was a street drive-by. A bullet tore through my shoulder just two blocks from City Hall.
The fifteenth time, a car bomb shattered three of my ribs.
The forty-second time, a steel frame plummeted from a construction site, cracking my skull.
......And this time?
The eighty-eighth time. A massive cargo container "accidentally" slipped from a crane at the docks, crushing my car.
Maybe, it’s time to say goodbye.

"Where is my son?"
My husband wouldn't look at me.
I had just come out of anesthesia. The bassinet next to my hospital bed was empty — except for a stack of cash, a christening card, and a ring pinned to the corner of the card.
The card had another woman's name in the godmother box.
That woman walked in behind my husband. She picked up the ring and slid it onto her own finger.
"He's safe, sweetheart. We've been talking about this for months."
My husband is Damiano Marchetti. He runs the family that runs this city. The woman wearing the ring is his father's young widow.
The baby on that card is my son.
For four years now I have been the woman this house pretends not to see. The wife told to use the servants' entrance. The mother of a boy who calls another woman Mommy.
Last night I asked my husband for a divorce.
He laughed in my face.
He has no idea how much that's going to cost him.

The Vane family has carried the vampire's curse for generations. Of every pair of twin sisters born into our bloodline, one will not live to see twenty-five.

Everyone assumed it was my sister — the one always coughing up blood.

Nobody knew that for twenty years, every full moon, the one gritting her teeth through the pain, never making a sound, was me.

The Divine took pity on me and gave me three chances. Win the genuine love of my parents, my brother, or my husband — any one of them — and the curse would lift.

Three chances. Three failures.

The only hope I had left was the baby inside me, seven months along. Bring him into this world, and I'd live.

Then my husband kicked open my hospital room door. My own brother pulled on a surgical gown and picked up a knife. My parents signed the forms outside.

They were going to cut me open, take the last thing keeping me alive, and use it to save my "cursed" sister.

After my life slipped away entirely, the truth came out.

So why is it that the people who sent me to my death are the ones who lost their minds?

On our fifth anniversary, Caspian gifted me a luxury yacht bearing my name. Everyone said I was the luckiest woman alive.
But when I finally conceived his child and prepared to share the news, his mistress sent me photos—him cradling a baby she'd given him, his eyes filled with a tenderness I'd never seen.
Five years of waiting, five years of infertility—all an elaborate lie.
He once whispered in my ear: "Even if every man in the world betrays his wife, I never will. You're my life. Without you, I can't survive."
I quietly packed, left behind my pregnancy report and all the evidence, and drove away. Three hours later, he received the call: my car exploded on the highway. No survivors.
From that day on, the most powerful man in Valen City lost his mind completely.

I saw a post on Reddit, "Urgent! How do I convince my wife to donate bone marrow to my mistress?"

I scoffed and typed back, "What a piece of shit."

Right after I hit send, my husband came home. He grasped my hand, his voice shaky: "You have leukemia... but it's okay, we found a donor."

His right eye twitched—he always did that when he lied.

Then I remembered the worst comment on that post, "Trick your wife into thinking she's the patient."

Life imitating the internet, apparently.

He wanted to harvest my bone marrow for someone else.

When I finally saw his mistress's face, my world fell apart.

I never thought his mistress would be her......

After the crash, my husband, Darius, lost his ability to speak. The trauma to his cervical spine left him unable to even lift a finger.
The doctors said his only remaining way to communicate was to nod, or to shake his head.
Sitting by his hospital bed, I finally asked the question that had been eating away at me for three months.
"When the crash happened... were you on your way to see your mistress?"
Darius stared dead at me. Then, slowly, he nodded.

Connor Mitchell and I are the golden couple of our industry. Everyone sees him as the devoted husband, always bringing me soup when I work late into the night.

On our fifth wedding anniversary, he gave me an expensive diamond necklace and posted something sweet on Instagram. The comments were all variations of the same thing: jealousy.

I used to believe it too.

Until I cut my trip to Europe short and got into that SUV. The passenger seat was set at the wrong angle, too far forward for my height. A contact lens case fell out of the sun visor, and neither of us wears contacts.

When I had my cousin pull the dashcam footage and saw him with his arm around some petite girl getting into the car, the truth hit me. My attentive husband, the one who called me every night I was away, had been using my connections and resources to play successful mentor to a twenty-two-year-old intern.

The irony is, he thinks he's gotten away with it. He has no idea I can see right through every move he makes.

Once rot sets into a perfect marriage, no amount of perfume can hide the stench.

Last time, I was the first student to walk out of the SAT.
A news crew was waiting by the doors. The camera found my face, and I made one bored little joke — the test was too easy, I'd rather be surfing in Miami. By midnight the clip had two million likes, and my whole life had a price tag on it.
An agency came knocking within the week. My parents signed the contract before I understood what I was signing away, and they pulled me out of school. I stopped being a person and became their product.
And Mia — my best friend, the girl who cried at my locker and braided my hair before exams — Mia copied my notes, rode them into Yale, and smiled into the cameras while she told the internet I'd slept my way through high school.
By the time the agency had wrung me dry, I had nothing left. No school. No name worth defending. Not one person who believed a word out of my mouth.
The night it ended, Mia came up to the roof to "talk." She said she would never forgive me for being the lucky one. Then she put both hands flat on my chest and pushed.
The last thing I saw was her face, smiling down at me over the edge.
Then I blinked — and I was back in the testing room.