2016 Book(s) Related to lady ophelia and her doctor

I have guarded the Abyss on the Ashen Plains for a thousand years.

My daily routine: chewing rock-hard rye bread, single-handedly crushing the skulls of trespassing demons, wiping their slime off on a ragged surcoat, and leaning against a bronze pillar to catch the wind.

Today, a dying girl stumbled into the wasteland. Her fingers were locked in a death grip around the bloodstained iron crest I had left behind a millennium ago. Up on the ridge, three hundred heavy cavalrymen of the Alliance drew their lances, forming a wall of steel as they closed in.

I stared at the blood on the ground. I didn't make a sound.

I just brushed the biscuit crumbs off my lap and stretched my stiff neck. Turning around, my fingers hooked onto the hilt of a rust-eaten battleaxe resting beneath the bronze pillar. I dragged it along with casual ease.

"Troublesome."

I muttered that single word, and walked alone toward the formation of steel.

My husband, Marco, in his bid for the position of Don, was forced to marry the young widow of the previous Don, Claudia.
Every night, after returning from Claudia’s place, he would hold me and swear, "You’re the only woman I love, Elena. Claudia has the connections I need. Once I have real power and secure my position, I’ll make you my wife in name and in public."
But as I waited for him to rise to power, what started as a political act turned into nights where he simply never came home.
Then, on Christmas, I was dragged to their engagement party—where I was beaten in front of everyone.
Our six-year-old daughter, Sophia, knelt on the floor, crying and begging him, "Godfather, please, let my mommy go..."
But Marco stayed silent.
"It’s okay," I whispered, picking up my wounded daughter. "Mommy’s going to take you somewhere that truly belongs to us."
What Marco never knew was this: I never cared about being the Donna of this small city.
I am the only heir of the Rossi family—the most powerful Mafia family in all of Sicily.

I was falsely accused of killing my sister. My husband personally sent me to prison. Three years later, he picked me up, and that very night he stripped off my clothes and fucked me brutally.

He said, "The child your sister and I had together has a heart condition. You have to give birth to a baby to save him. This is what you owe your sister!"

He married me because I look like her.
For three years, I played the role. I cooked his meals. I warmed his bed. I smiled when he forgot my birthday. I stayed quiet when he left in the middle of the night to hold her hand.
I told myself it was enough. I told myself I didn't need his love.
Then I got pregnant.
He said he hated children. So I didn't tell him. I was going to keep it. Our baby. The only thing that was truly mine.
But my body had other plans.
When I called him from the hospital floor, bleeding out, begging for help—he didn't come. He said I was lying. He was too busy with her.
That night, I lost everything.
The baby. The hope. The lie I'd been living.
Now he's calling me. Again and again.
But the substitute wife? She's not picking up.

After I found out about the secret admirer he’s been talking to for the past two months the, he throws divorce papers at my face after being married for six months. He claims that his admirer would give him half of the Williamson cooperation. He thinks I’m the naive middle class woman he married but what he doesn’t know is I’m the owner of the Williamson Cooperation, the company I inherited from my father’s as his only child just before he died. Throws out of the house, I decided to reclaim my power and move back to my estate. I hosted a convention where the secret admirer would be handing him the properties and I put everyone in shock when I show up and they find out it’s me. Richard begs at my feet for mercy but I totally ignore him and choose his personal assistant who has always been good to me from the very day I stepped into Richard’s mansion as his wife

I’m Scarlett, the last true revival tattoo artist, capable of defying death with my cursed ink—for a brutal price. I lost everything saving my fiancé Hunter in my past life, only to be betrayed and killed by him .

Reborn when Hunter dies again, I refuse to sacrifice myself for my murderers. In an unthinkable twist, the powerless fraud Wendy resurrects Hunter, winning universal praise while I’m branded cold. Only I know the truth: he is not alive. He is a decaying, cursed corpse. I gamble everything for revenge and resurrect the only man who once saved me.

But tampering with death twice stirs a fatal, unspoken curse.

When the Manhattan morgue finally managed to reach my husband, Victor Hawthorne, he was in the penthouse suite, fucking another woman.
"Mr. Hawthorne, this is the city morgue. We need you to come down and identify your wife's remains."
"Identify what?" he snapped, his thrusts not missing a beat.
"Burn her," he ordered. "Don't bother me with her pathetic ploys."
He tossed the phone onto the nightstand, his focus entirely on the woman beneath him.
Then my body was pushed into the incinerator.
When I was nothing but ashes, the funeral home called him again.
Selena pouted, trailing a nail down his chest.
"Is Cecilia acting up again?"
"I'll go end this farce," Victor sneered, getting out of bed.

Selene thought she'd found true love with Alexander Morrison. She was WRONG—she was just a stand-in for Jessa, the woman he really wanted.

When Alexander and his twin brother Adrian's yacht exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, Alexander came home with Adrian's ashes, claiming to BE Adrian. His goal? To steal Adrian's wife Jessa—the woman he'd always loved.

Selene knew instantly he was lying, but when she told everyone, no one believed her. Alexander called her "crazy from trauma" and locked her away in a mental facility. She was PREGNANT.

They drugged her daily. After she gave birth, Alexander told her the baby died. She broke completely.

Three years later, dying in that white hell, Selene heard Alexander's final confession:

"I always loved Jessa. Adrian just got to her first. YOU? You were just her replacement."

"The kid's alive. I gave him to Jessa. He calls her Mom now."

Selene died full of rage—then woke up reborn, back to the moment Alexander walked in with that urn.

This time, she'd expose his lies and make him PAY.

On the night my grandmother died, my husband Kael came home trailing blood.
His leather motorcycle jacket was soaked dark red, yet he flashed a savage grin: "I wiped the floor with those bastards tonight!"
For three years, he had treated our home as nothing more than a pit stop between reckless street races.
I’d finally had enough. "After the funeral, we're getting a divorce."
Before the words fully left my mouth, my phone rang. It was his riding partner, Lunn, his voice choking with sobs: "Sera... Kael drove off the cliff tonight. They only recovered bloody pieces of his helmet!"
But the "dead man" was standing right in front of me...

Ten years ago, my parents worked for the Bellamys. He was their driver. She ran the house.

Then came the crash. I watched them shove Nash Bellamy out of the wreck, and it killed them both.

That's where the claustrophobia came from.

He knew. He knew all of it.

Then at homecoming, I showed up in a dress that matched Camilla's. She was the girl he'd always wanted. So he shoved me into the abandoned supply closet backstage.

The lock turned. On the other side of the door, he and Camilla were laughing like it was nothing.

"I'm pretty sure she's claustrophobic."

"Two hours in there. She'll learn."

I clawed at my own hands until they bled, couldn't get any air, and ended up wetting myself in a closet a dog wouldn't sleep in.

When the door finally opened, he pinched his nose and laughed and said I was disgusting.

I pushed myself up the wall, inch by inch, and looked at the face I'd been looking at for ten years. And I didn't want to cry anymore. Not even a little.

"Nash. I'm done chasing you."

I spent five years loving Beckett Calloway.
When his ex-girlfriend died saving his life, I held him through every nightmare. When he said he "wasn't ready" for marriage, I waited. When he whispered "soon," I believed him.
Then her sister showed up. Crying about some terminal illness. Begging him to take care of her.
He let her move onto our private island—the one he promised would only ever belong to us.
He introduced her at the gala where he was supposed to announce our engagement.
He got her pregnant.
And when I told him she was lying about everything, he looked at me like I was the monster.
Then came our wedding rehearsal. She walked down the aisle in my dress. He slid his ring onto her finger. The chapel caught fire. I collapsed, bleeding.
He scooped her up and ran. Didn't even glance back.
So I burned my vows, deleted every trace of myself, and vanished.
This time, I wasn't coming back.

A hundred years ago, that curse was meant for him. I'm the one who threw myself in front of it.
It cost me my elven heart, shattered on the spot—and a name I could never wash off. Traitor.
I never argued. Because the moment I speak the truth, the curse goes straight back to him.
So I stayed. I became his blood servant and let him drain me, one bottle at a time, to feed the woman he'd waited a century for. I told myself that if I endured long enough, someday he'd see my heart for what it was.
Then the healer told me my heart had thirty days left.
And he walked in, knife in hand, to say his beloved needed more of my blood.
This time, I'm not enduring anything.
I'm going to give him back this heart—at the exact moment he's most sure he's won.

To avenge his beloved, my husband locked me—pregnant—in a dog cage and sank it into the icy lake outside our house.
"Wendy spent ten minutes in the water. You'll stay in there for two days."
I screamed and pleaded, "I'm not lying! I really am pregnant! Please!"
But he towered over me, his eyes full of disgust. "You'll say anything to avoid punishment—even a lie like this?"
As the iron cage sank, the freezing water swallowed me—and took the unborn child with it.
Two days later, he had the cage hauled up, waiting for me to beg Wendy for forgiveness.
But all that was left inside was a curled, lifeless body, my dress soaked in vivid red.
I hovered above, watching coldly as he clung to my corpse, howling like a madman.
Eric, why are you crying?
Isn't this what you wanted?

The sound of the gurneys almost deafen my ears, and the light from these doctors' torches is blinding me but I keep running towards the scene. It is 12 o' clock. In the midnight, I know even though I don't look at the clock over my head. With sweaty palms and terrific faces, five gurneys are wheeled towards the emergency rooms by the late night doctors. Even though their mouths are shut tight, I can hear millions of inaudible sounds coming out of them. Each of the gurneys are being wheeled by two personnels, and each time they pass me by, i peer into them to see the victims' faces clearly because I can not see them from where I am.

The first face I see is badly disfigured. It's got a big mark from the forehead down to her upper eyelid, her lips are charred and her jaw is almost totally detached from the rest of her face. Hot drops of blood trickle down her head to her chest and her dress is soiled. She looks like she is no longer breathing and just as the ambulance pass by me, I see something in her hands-A red neck piece. She is clutching it tightly like it is her whole life. My red neck piece. Yes, this victim is my only sister, Jamie but I do not cry. I mean, I always want to cry but I can't. So my face is firm and peaceful, but I am screaming inside me. My legs are hitting the air and I'm ripping my hair inside of me, but outside? I am standing tall. Somehow, with all the swiftness as they pass by me, her hands shake and she loses hold of the red neck piece. As thick and shiny as my hair, our hair(hers blonde and mine black). It falls from her hands and drops at my feet just as soon as the second ambulance approaches me. I bend to pick up my red neckpiece-the one thing that binds my sister and I together but whoosh...it is air. I can see it on the cold tiled floor but when I try to pick it up, it is not there.

Evelyn was given the sum of five hundred thousand to leave the family she had always tried so hard to please, because they finally found their real daughter and don't need her anymore.
They've always bullied, abused and humiliated her in the past while she accepts without retaliation because she thought of she continued to break her back to please them, they'll love her one day.
But she was wrong.
She still got thrown out like a stray.
Well, they've just done something that they'll regret all their lives and she can't wait to see them crawling on the floor and begging her for help when they discover who she is.
This story is filled with rollercoasters so buckle up your seat belt for you're about to go on a crazy ride with this bad-ass female lead who won't take rubbish from no-one and won't hesitate to throw back whatever they throw at her.

“Marry Damian.”
My father’s voice was cold.
“Or stop acting like a spoiled heiress.”

I laughed bitterly.
“You mean sell me to save your company?”

I was once the proud daughter of the Blackwood family—until my parents divorced, another woman moved into my house, and my father decided to trade my future for business.

Worse?

The man I was forced to marry was Damian Harrington—my childhood crush who broke my heart and now shamelessly flirts with my stepsister.

So instead of crying over him, I made a decision:

I would build my own company and take back control of my life.

Then one reckless night changed everything.

While escaping Damian, I ended up in the arms of a dangerously handsome stranger with cold blue eyes and a smile impossible to resist.

I thought he was just an expensive escort.

But later, I learned the truth.

The man I slept with wasn’t some stranger.

He was Gabriel Ashford—the billionaire every woman in Manhattan dreams about.

Earth has been invaded by aliens for years, and only a few places on Earth have natural resources. Lana becomes an alien prisoner after helping an ungrateful woman. Unfortunately, the king or leader of the aliens fucked Lana that day and Lana could not get out of the alien base. Nearly desperate, Lana finds out that there is a civil war going on and is offered a deal to dethrone the alien king. What happens next?

"You're... you're leaving me here? I'm your Luna!" I stammered. My body felt like it was burning from the inside out. I barely recognized it as my own.
"I'm sorry, Lyra," he said, already turning away. "My pack's safety comes first." With that, he turned his back on me.


What happens when the man you chose... chooses fate instead?
Lyra believed she had already won against destiny. She and Cassian were not fated mates, but they chose each other anyway. Together, they built a powerful united pack, ruled side by side, and vowed to reject whatever fate tried to steal from them.
Until the day Cassian returned from the border carrying another woman in his arms—Liora.
She was fragile, gentle, and completely different from Lyra. And most importantly, she was Cassian's fated mate.
Cassian refused to let either woman go. So, he offered Lyra an ultimatum: An open marriage.
Humiliated in her own home, accused of cruelty, and forced to watch her husband protect another woman with a devotion he had never shown her, Lyra's heart shatters piece by piece.
But fate isn't done with her yet.
Her longtime enemy, Ethan—the Alpha of the second-largest pack in the North—claims her as his contractual Luna.
As zombie rogue attacks escalate and secrets begin to surface, Lyra must choose between staying in a marriage that no longer wants her or walking away from everything she helped build.

He wanted an open marriage. I gave him exactly what he asked for—with the three men he fears most.
"You gave your body to a man who didn't know what to do with it," Cane murmured, his breath hot on her skin. "Let us show you what it means to be wanted… by three."
Riley gave everything to her marriage until she walked in on her husband and his stepsister cheating on her.
The betrayal shattered her… but only for a moment as she proposes to the one thing he's always wanted: an open marriage. He thought she'd crumble.
Instead, she chose revenge. And nothing stings more than the fact that she picked his three best friends to help her get it.
Three ruthless bikers.
Three men who don't share unless it's worth the risk.
Three Alphas who made Riley theirs the moment she said yes to them.
Now every night, she gives them what her husband took for granted—moans, surrender, and something dangerously close to love. He watches from the sidelines. Burning. Regretting but it's too late.
Because she's not just taking back her power—she's making sure he feels what it's like to be replaced.
And the worst part? He never expected she'd fall for them. And that they'd fall for her. And Riley? She's only just started.

...

"Elena, do you know what you're getting yourself into?" Layla, my best friend asked sounding concerned.

All for the right reasons though. I smirked, crossing my legs.

"He is rich, he is handsome, he is powerful..." A sly smile graced my lips "Noah Reynolds, is my target"

...

Elena Vasquez was a professional con artist, and this time she’d set her sights higher than ever: the cold-hearted billionaire, Noah Reynolds. When he mistakes her for his fiancée, Elena plays along. This was supposed to be her biggest game yet.

But the closer she gets, the harder it becomes to keep the mask on. Because Noah isn’t just another target; he’s the one man who makes her heart falter... The feelings were starting to feel real.

When the real bride-to-be returns, Elena finds herself caught in a dangerous triangle of lies, loyalty, and love. If Noah uncovers the truth, she could lose everything

Unless… he can’t remember.

Step into a world where desire knows no boundaries and every touch carries the weight of temptation. From forbidden nuns to jealous stepsisters, shy girls discovering their deepest cravings, and unsuspecting maids in the opulent mansions of billionaires—these stories explore lust, power, and the thrill of the forbidden.
Experience moments that blur the line between control and surrender, as characters navigate hidden passions and broken vows. Every encounter promises intensity, whether it’s a possessive grip, a commanding voice, or a longing that can’t be ignored. These affairs don’t just ignite—they consume, leaving both the willing and the unwilling craving more.
Warning: these tales are for readers who dare to explore the raw, unrestrained side of desire, where lust always wins, and every story leaves a lingering ache.

On the night legendary Head Elder Zane Valdez is condemned for destroying his own pack's nursery and exposed as a rogue wolf, healer Juliet Sinclair discovers the cruelest twist of fate: he is her destined mate. Before she can save him, the new Alpha exiles Zane into the Forbidden Forest, forcing Juliet into a marriage built on gratitude rather than love. Everyone believes the infamous rogue wolf died that night.

Two years later, relentless rogue attacks push the Nykaris Pack to the edge of destruction. Their last hope arrives with the Alpha of the Kaelvor Pack, a fearless ruler whose name commands respect across the region. To Juliet's disbelief, the powerful Alpha is Zane, alive, stronger than ever, and carrying scars far deeper than the ones carved into his body. Although he agrees to defend the pack that abandoned him, the warmth he once possessed has been replaced by a ruthless heart that refuses to forgive.

Forced to work side by side, Juliet begins uncovering the painful truth behind Zane's exile and the sacrifices he made after losing everything. As her feelings for him awaken once more, the marriage she desperately tried to protect begins to crumble, exposing betrayals, hidden agendas, and a conspiracy that reaches the very heart of the pack.

When the truth behind the nursery explosion finally emerges and an army of rogue wolves descends upon the werewolf world, Juliet and Zane must fight not only for their second chance at love but also for the future of every wolf condemned simply because of the blood running through their veins.

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.

“What do you do when the love of your life wants to love someone else?”
"I want an open marriage. I want sex. And I just can’t do that with you anymore."
“How can you do this to me, Tristan? After everything?”
Sophia’s heart breaks when her husband, Tristan, pushes for an open marriage after twelve years of marriage, saying her life as a housewife and mom has killed their spark. Desperate to hold their twelve-year bond together, Sophia reluctantly agrees.
But what hits worse than the open marriage is how quickly her husband dives into the dating pool, even going as far as to violate their set boundaries.
Hurt and angry, Sophia escapes to her art school, where she meets Nathaniel Synclair, a charming new sponsor who lights a fire in her. They talk, and Nathaniel suggests a wild idea: he’ll pretend to be her fake lover to get back at her husband’s double standards.
Caught in the love triangle between her broken marriage and Nathaniel’s pull, Sophia hesitates, sparking a mix of want, lies, and truth that shakes up all she knows about love, trust, and who she really is.

After finding out that he had a year left to live. Alpha Logan Wolfie, requested for six months, where he could only live in a carefree and unhindered manner. In other to numb the pain and sadness in his heart before he fulfilled his mother's wish, to give her an heir who would become the next Alpha of the Pack.

"You will produce an heir before the curse takes over..."
Those are the very words of his mother. He hated commitment, and deep down in that dying heart of his, he wanted someone to love, even if it was just for a day before he died but he never thought that someone was a human girl.
Akira Ross, the woman, with zero knowledge about wolves and their existence, the woman that got the cure to his curse, just with the taste of her blood and lips.
Will Akira be able to cure the curse that runs in his bloodline and will she be able to accept the beast she loves is an Alpha?

"What the fuck? You Left hickeys on my neck?" I yelled, "Why didn't you tell me that you left those stupid pieces of stuff on my neck, I was practically telling the whole world that I had a passionate night?"
"Stupid! They aren't hickeys, I branded you?"
"What I do not understand?" I asked, he smirked, moving closer as his breath met my neck.
"I just stick my claim on you, you are mine now, that is my mate mark on you."

Warning: Smut! Smut!! Smut!!! Rated 18. Captured by an Alpha Daddy for Christmas contains possessive alpha behavior, forced proximity, age-gap romance, plus-size heroine, daddy-dom dynamics, jealousy, obsessive protectiveness, power imbalance, and holiday-season intimacy. Not suitable for readers under 18.
Dumped a week before Christmas, Annabelle "Belle" Evans forfeits her plan to spend Christmas with her narcissistic boyfriend in New York, and agrees to travel back home to Big Bear Lake with her perfect model sister and her nerdy brother-in-law. But a funny Christmas wish has other plans for her. When their car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, Belle wanders off for help and finds herself cornered by a wolf in the snowy woods. Just when she thinks she's about to be torn to pieces, a massive stranger appears—tall, broad, and sinfully hot, his eyes glowing amber in the moonlight.
He saves her life—and claims her as his.
"You'll be safer here," Jaxon murmurs, his gaze cold yet magnetic. "The full moon rules these woods. You'll be free once it's over."
"When will that be?" Belle asks, heart racing.
"After Christmas," he replies, leaving her unable to look away.
In his secluded cabin, every glance, every touch ignites a fire she hadn't expected. He's possessive. Obsessed. Dangerous. He's everything she wished for when she jokingly wrote to Santa for a "hot werewolf boyfriend." And the way he looks at her curves, the way his presence overwhelms her, makes her question what's real and what's forbidden. Now she's trapped in his arms, a prisoner to his touch, his heat, his growl, and the wild, wicked love burning between them might just make this her best Christmas ever.

Rejecting her one true mate, Alpha Anton Bates, after all the horrible things he and his father had put her through. Nala thought moving into a new land and studying to become a doctor, her life would run smoothly, and she would have a wonderful new start, but it is not as she seems. Her being away from Alpha Anton his love for her has turned into an obsession one that is not healthy for him and dangerous for Nala. But that is not all happening within poor Nala's life. While trying to ignore her alpha mate another alpha's eyes met her. How will Nala get away from these two now or does she don't want one to leave her side.

"Get engross in an intriguing read."

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Blurb:

Rejected by her mate, sold as a slave by her family, Lilith is bittered by the amount of betrayal she suffered in the hands of those that she calls family.

Hurt by rejection, she gets herself drunk and has a one night stand with a total stranger and then sees him as the Alpha of Blood moon pack.. The same pack she's meant to become a slave at.

Meeting the Alpha of Blood moon pack and recognizing him as the stranger from that night, she did everything to avoid him.

But, the more Lilith tries to get away from Alpha Damian, the more she finds herself getting closer to him.

The more the Alpha King desires her.

"The Draganovs are moving on Celeste tonight. I'm taking her to the safe house. We'll do the claiming after this, Orla. I promise."
That's what my husband said the seventh time he chose Celeste over me.
Celeste. The girl he'd loved since before he had a wife to ignore.
The first time, she heard footsteps outside her window at two in the morning. Rafael sent his whole detail to sit on her house and left me at a meeting with two men who wanted our shipping routes and didn't like being told no. I came home with a bullet crease across my ribs. He apologized for a week.
The third time, someone tipped the cops on one of our warehouses and she got scared. He drove her upstate himself. I took a knife at the door because there was no one left standing in front of me.
By the sixth time, he didn't explain. He just texted the doctor to be ready for me and left.
He's a Don. When the guns come out, he walks away clean. I'm the one wearing his name where everyone can see it. The one they aim at first. Six scars say so.
Every time, he held my face after and promised. Founders' Day. In front of every family in the city. Once Celeste was safe. I believed him six times.
So when the seventh time came and he chose her again, my bags were already packed.
There won't be an eighth time he sends me out to die for her. Next time, there won't be a wife left for him to send.

Despite coming from different social classes, Aspen and Lexa were best friends... Inseparable... until that fateful day that changed everything. When Lexa shows up out of the blue again, years later, desperate for help to save her friends and her people, and Aspen refuses. Aspen has always been a good girl who never asked too many questions, but to ease her own mind, and her old friend's, she decides to go prove herself right. However, nothing is as it seems, and it sends her spiraling on a hunt to discover a truth that has been kept from her. But choosing between her family and what's right, is hardly an easy choice, and Lexa is nothing like the girl she once knew. But to save themselves, they have to risk everything. And nothing is more terrifying than that.

I am a hero. The saint's husband.
A country boy chosen by the temple.
I fight, I fight, I fight.
All for the saint, for the temple.
But it wasn't until I was drained of blood and dying on the altar that I finally heard clearly what the saint and her childhood sweetheart were saying:
"If you become a hero and marry the saint, you'll have to surrender your soul to the temple. I don't want you to lose your soul."
"Then let's just find some country boy to be the hero. It won't matter if he dies."
Oh, so that's how it is.
You should have said so earlier.
I can defeat the Demon Lord just fine without the saint.
When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the wedding ceremony.
This time, someone else should be on the altar.

"And now, he's certain your life is over because he kicked you out. They're probably already placing bets on how long it will take for you to bow and beg at their feet to take you back. But..." He said coldly.

"But..." I breathed.

"Imagine suddenly returning with a husband so wealthy he makes them look like paupers. Not only is he filthy rich, but he's hopelessly in love with you, spoiling you rotten. Imagine their shock, their anger, and your satisfaction that you have exceeded their expectations. Won't that be fulfilling?"

"And... who would that husband be?" I whispered.

"Me." He grinned as he caressed my cheek. "Let's get married, my dear Iris."

••~•

After being humiliated and disowned on her wedding day, Iris is suddenly approached by Gordon Graff, the enigmatic and highly controversial billionaire and also her ex's uncle, who asks for her hand in marriage.

His goal: make her family and ex pay for everything they've done to her.

But what happens when the line between pretence and true love begins to blur, and dangerous secrets begin to unfold?

Will the man who has promised to protect her be her doom? And will she be a casualty in his dangerous game of revenge?

1

On our fifth Anniversary party, Harris got admitted to the City's Hospital.

Cancer. Stage IV.

I struggled to find words to whisper some comforting words to Harris .

Instead, he held my hands, and said,"It's alright, Darcy."

"Don't be afraid of anything that may happen. Even if I am about to die, I will always be with you."

Even when he was dying, he made sure to comfort me, which bled my heart.

I spent my days researching treatments, draining my savings for "miracle" consultations.

Then came the afternoon I went to his office early to surprise him with the appointment letter with Dr. Wilson, a world famous surgeon.

Harris had been trying to contact him for weeks now. But, everytime he declined him bluntly, only this time when I tried to contact him personally, his assistant reached out to me.

Finally, he had a chance to be saved. I cried tears of joy. I wanted to share this good news with Harris as soon as possible.

But, My hands, almost pushed open the door, , a Lively and joyous laughter echoed through my ears.
"Is the paperwork ready?"

I slightly opened it ajar and peered inside.
I froze on the spot.

Clara was sitting on Harris's lap, clutching to his shoulder like she owned him.

"Everything," Harris' voice sounded, confident and excited.

"By the time 'cancer' takes me, Harris Hudson will be dead, life insurance will be processed, and you and I will be halfway across the world with a clean slate."

Clara. Harris' first love. The one he told me was a 'closed chapter' years ago.

Something broke into my heart.
I froze at my place.

The cancer, the treatment, it was all a lie orchestrated by Harris to elope with Clara?

I found my husband's vasectomy certificate while sorting medical bills. The procedure was done a year ago. But I was six months pregnant now.

I stared at the date on the paper and my hand just... stopped. I kept checking it again and again, but it was still the same. I was freaking out. I looked down at my bump showing through this baggy sweater, and my hands started shaking.

I got in my car and drove straight to my husband's private club. I needed answers about this, now.

Dante Ashford is my stepbrother, and the one person I should never have fallen in love with.

When I was ten, my parents died saving his family. The Ashfords took me in. He was good to me back then. Somewhere along the way, I fell for him.

When I was eighteen, he nearly died in an ambush. I donated blood, then a kidney to save him. I was unconscious for three days. When I woke up, Vivian Ross sat by his bed—and he believed she was his savior.

After that, he pushed me away. Vivian became his fiancée.

In my past life, Vivian's crimes brought disaster to our family. Dante got on his knees and begged me to take her punishment. I refused. She died anyway. Then he pretended to love me, planned our wedding—and on that day, his assistant announced to everyone: "This wedding was a lesson to show Miss Elena Hayes what it feels like to be abandoned by the whole world."

I jumped from the church balcony.

When I opened my eyes, I was back at that moment—him on his knees, begging.

This time, I said yes.

Dante, from now on, we're done.

The day I died in a foreign country, my boyfriend was in the spotlight with another woman.

He's the man I built from nothing. Five years ago, I saved a broke orphan fresh out of college from the gutter. He said he wanted to be famous, wanted to make it to the top of the hockey world. In exchange, he became my boyfriend for five years.

I gave him the best coaching staff money could buy. Bought an entire hockey franchise and made him the centerpiece. Called in every favor I had to make him MVP.

But while he enjoyed everything I gave him, he refused to make our relationship public. Said it would "hurt his brand." He could make headlines with reporters and models, but nobody could know I existed.

He even said on national TV: "Those owners who just throw money around are pretty boring. Hockey is about skill, not money."

So why did he lose his mind when he found out I was dead?

I almost died on the operating table trying to give Alexander Volkov a child, unaware he already had a pair of illegitimate twins with his childhood sweetheart.
My heart stopped when I saw the DNA results. Alec, the man who made the New York underworld tremble, the man who flew back on a private jet just to hold my hand, was a flawless liar.
I turned my face away, tears soaking the hospital pillow. My hand drifted to my belly. God had finally decided to give me a break after five years of needles and agony—I was pregnant. But now, it felt like the cruelest joke.
He pulled me into his arms, smelling of expensive cologne and... baby formula.
"Tell me what's wrong, honey. Whoever made you unhappy, I'll make them pay."
I stared into his lying eyes and made my decision.
I would vanish with his unborn child, leaving him to rot in eternal regret.

Forty-eight hours before my wedding, I was kidnapped and gang-raped, surviving by only a thread in the depths of despair.   When my mafia boss fiancé and my police detective best friend stood guard by my hospital bed with bloodshot eyes, I heard him suddenly switch to Navajo and ask her, "The death row inmates from the dark web—were they dealt with cleanly?"   My best friend chuckled, replying in the same language. "Don't worry. The guys who put their hands on Maya have been wiped out. Dead men tell no tales."   "Sacrificing Maya alone gave you the perfect excuse to wipe out the rival family and swallow the southern smuggling network, while earning me a high-level promotion. It was a damn good deal."   Amidst tearing, agonizing pain, it felt as if I had been plunged into an ice cliff.   They thought I could never understand this obscure tribal language, so they brazenly feasted on the spoils of victory built upon my very flesh and blood. But what they didn't know was that, to surprise my fiancé during our wedding vows... I had been secretly studying Navajo for an entire year.

My daughter has passed away, and my ex-husband abandoned us.

In my darkest hour, my first love, Lysander, reappeared; he covered the medical expenses, married me, and provided me with a home.

For five years, I believed I was the luckiest woman in the world.

Until that fateful day, four months into my pregnancy, when I overheard his conversation with a friend—

“To save Celeste, I thought... who knew it would lead to the death of Seraphina’s daughter?”

“As for Seraphina, she is a good wife, but alas... I do not love her.”

It turned out that my daughter’s death was no accident.

It was revealed that these five years of marriage were merely his quest for atonement.

The one he had always truly loved was Celeste—my ex-husband’s current wife.

As I lay on the operating table, I made a decision—

Since he had taken my daughter’s kidney, I would seize everything from him.

Including what he believed he would never lose: me.

"Valerie, you've been working yourself to death. I booked you a flight to Switzerland—take Leo, go relax for a while." My husband Cedric set an Hermès scarf down on the table. "Early gift for our tenth anniversary."
I was thrilled, twirling in front of the mirror with the scarf, admiring how it looked.
That's when my son came around the corner, iPad in hand. "Mommy, a message just popped up. Daddy said he wants to give Seraphina a real family."
My mind just... blanked out.
I opened the message myself, and there it was—a whole year of secrets I never even knew existed.
So he wants to make things right with his old flame? Fine.
Then I get to take back everything I ever gave him.

When Trevor Sullivan had nothing, I gave up billions to follow him to Silicon Valley. Everyone said I was crazy in love with him, until his first love came back to the States right after he made it big.

Seven years of playing the perfect wife and mother, and then I hear him coaching our five-year-old daughter: "Ruby, you can't tell Mommy about my fake wedding with Amber. Not a word, okay?"

"But Daddy, Mommy's gonna be sad..."

"If you tell Mommy, Daddy won't love you anymore. Got it?"

My daughter trembles, nodding frantically.

I stand outside the door, my heart turning to ash.

For the woman he never got over, he doesn't just betray our marriage. He makes our five-year-old lie for him.

Everyone expects me to cry, to beg, to fall apart.

Instead, I dial the number I blocked seven years ago: "Dad, can the family jet still come get me?"

Trevor Sullivan has no idea. I was never some gold digger who needed him to survive. I was the one with everything who made myself small for his sake.

Two weeks before my due date, my husband Ethan is racing out the door into a stormy night.

All because his childhood friend Scarlett's apartment lost power, and she says her claustrophobia is kicking in.

I'm clutching my belly, telling him my water broke, begging him to look at the blood on the floor.

"You pulling this again? Last week wasn't enough? Scarlett's actually in danger."

He shakes off my hand. The door slams shut.

I'm standing in a pool of blood, watching his taillights disappear into the rain.

My baby won't have a father anymore.