All works

1 My husband, a man who'd always avoided physical intimacy with me, displayed a photograph at his hundredth photography exhibition. It was an art photo of him embracing another woman. Both were completely nude, intertwined in the frame without a shred of modesty. There was even a matching tattoo on her inner thigh, identical to his. Before the guests, he spoke eloquently: "This is my first attempt at bold, avant-garde art, and I especially want to thank Jessica for making such a huge sacrif

The world turned into a nightmare of rotting flesh. My boyfriend insisted on delaying our escape. He wanted to wait for his annoying childhood friend so she could make the last rescue flight. That was the final extraction after the outbreak, our only chance at survival. Seeing her delay, I knocked him out and dragged him onto the chopper myself. His precious friend died in the horde that followed. I survived and lived a comfortable life with him in the safe zone. But the night before I wa

1. On my seventh wedding anniversary, I cut my book signing in Brooklyn short, rushing back to our penthouse on the Upper East Side. My daughter, Lily, peeked out from the study, running towards me and waving a color printout. "Mommy! Look! It's the book cover Daddy drew for Chloe! He said it's a secret surprise!" I froze, forcing a smile. "Honey, who's Chloe?" "The new neighbor who just moved in downstairs. Daddy said she's going to be even more famous than you and win a Pulitzer Prize!"

1 It was the sixth year of my mission to conquer Bennett Sterling's heart, and he married his first love. A friend once asked him, "You've been with Natalie for six years. Haven't you felt even a spark of genuine love for her?" Bennett's eyes held nothing but icy detachment. He let out a cold sneer. "Why would I fall for a woman who threw herself into my bed? I find her disgusting." So on the day of his wedding, I stood alone on the edge of an abandoned high-rise construction site. Bennett

On my wedding day, my fiancé suddenly announced that he had already registered his marriage with my older sister. The Voice in my head declared my mission a failure. Just as I was about to be erased in a fatal car accident, Nathan rushed out to save me. He lost the use of his legs to keep me alive. Later, the System gave me a second chance. I chose a new target for my mission―Nathan―and accepted his proposal. But in the third year of our marriage, I accidentally overheard a conversation betw

Chapter 1 I stopped my chemotherapy after the leukemia diagnosis. During the final month of my life, I put on a wig and applied heavy makeup, all for the sake of taking a beautiful funeral portrait. My friends from the hospital liked the post on social media. But my husband's sister left a comment: "Such a drama queen. Do you really think my brother will even look at you? You're disgusting!" I paused for a moment before replying, "He won't ever have to see me again." ...... It was suppose

1 Fresh out of college, no job prospects. Then my cousin, Jessica, got pregnant and asked me to help out with the postpartum period. Room and board, plus a measly $1800 a month. From tending to Jess, bathing and changing the baby, to cleaning the whole house and cooking for everyone, it was all on me. Then a wealthy woman from our gated community, Mrs. Sterling, heard about how detail-oriented I was, and wanted to poach me to care for her sister after she gave birth. $30,000 a month, only f

On the eve of our anniversary, my wife replaced my heart medication with vitamins. I was rushed to the ER in critical condition, but she didn't even show up. Instead, she let her young assistant take my place on our planned getaway to the Maldives. By the time I was discharged, I saw her leaning on that same assistant's arm at the clinic for a pregnancy checkup. When I confronted her, she didn't even blink. "You're just a kept man, Harlan. I don't know what gives you the right to be angry."

All because my junior wanted a permanent position at the museum. My fiancée actually drugged me with sleeping pills just so I would miss the deadline for restoring the ancient manuscript. When I finally woke up and rushed to the lab, the Director screamed at me for professional negligence. My fiancée stood right there, pointing her finger and accusing me of being lazy. I simply shrugged, threw my hands up, and handed the entire project over to my junior. "Since you're so dedicated, Garret,

I had spent six years trying to win Sienna Ashford's heart. My mission was simple: get her to propose to me. After my progress stalled at ninety-nine percent for a full year, she finally asked the question. But that was the day I decided to switch my target to someone else. In my previous life, I ignored the system's warnings and accepted her proposal without hesitation. I was delusional, thinking she might actually love me. Ten minutes before the ceremony, she swapped me for a different groo

1 I went to the lounge to pick up my drunk best friend. But in the private suite next door, I saw my boyfriend passionately kissing another woman. The same man who, just this morning, told me he would love me forever. By nightfall, he was flirting with a stranger in a dark corner of a bar. Later, people would mock him behind his back. Sia Thompson's baby was already a month old, and yet Lucas Harrison still couldn't let her go. ... My best friend, Stella, had a rough night after a bad br

1 On the day Tristan's condition took a turn for the worse, needing urgent surgery, I did something unthinkable. I called him a burden in front of everyone. I abandoned him despite his desperate, tearful pleas. Seven years later, he returned as a world-renowned billionaire. He was back for blood. To get revenge on the woman who broke his heart, he silenced my mother and sent my father to prison. He used every connection he had to find me. He wanted to see me crawl and beg for mercy. Finall

For eight years, I devoted myself to Silas, the cold and ascetic billionaire who lived like a monk. Finally, his affection for me reached a pathetic one percent. To celebrate, he took me to a concert. But the star on that stage looked exactly like his first love. My heart shattered, and I prepared to walk away forever. Suddenly, chaos erupted as gunmen stormed the venue. The man I thought was paralyzed suddenly leaped from his wheelchair. He didn't run to me. Instead, he shoved me aside to sh

My husband locked me in the basement to starve to death. On the last day of my life, he was upstairs having dinner with another woman. I could hear the clink of silverware against porcelain, hear her laughter, and hear him say: "The one in the basement will be quiet in a few days." And he really didn't come down again. The first second I was reborn, I lay in the darkness with my back against the cold concrete floor. The butterfly tattoo on my inner thigh was still faintly burning. I had been

1 I threw in the towel on my Ph.D. program, and my folks, bless their hearts, bought me a one-way ticket to Europe to clear my head. But then she showed up �C my ex-boyfriend's "perfect" girl, blocking my ride to the airport like she owned the place. See, I was this close to finishing my research. Last time around, she'd somehow beat me to the punch by a day, turning in a paper that was practically a carbon copy of mine. The internet mob came for me, calling me a no-good plagiarist. I show

When my biological parents finally tracked me down, I was sitting on a folding stool by the curb, reading someone's palm. "You cannot marry within the next three years," I told my client calmly. "Otherwise, your fortune will be completely drained." My biological family stood in a stiff line, staring at me in sheer disbelief. Lucas let out a loud, mocking snort. I glanced at him. "If the reading is not accurate, it is completely free. Would you like a reading, sir?" Tears instantly flooded my

1 I had been with Gavin Sterling for three years. In those three years, he had a revolving door of women. "Didn't we agree when we got married? We both play the field," he'd say. The ninety-ninth time he abandoned me for one of his flings, I finally made up my mind to leave. Gavin thought I was just throwing a tantrum. He accused me of being petty. I looked at the man standing beside me. "Am I being petty?" I asked. He pulled me into his arms. "Of course not. My Hayley is the most consid

Everyone in the city knew that the underworld kingpin, Killian Thorne, loved me to death. He was most afraid of me vanishing from his sight. To give me a sense of security, he would check in with me even in the middle of a literal firefight. But the night before our wedding, he didn't come home. When he finally returned, he was carrying a weak woman covered in bruises. He knelt before me, his voice trembling. "Saffron, Isla only took that lethal aphrodisiac to save my life. I couldn't jus

When my mother jumped from the third floor, I was standing behind the rose bushes in the garden. My six-year-old fingers dug deep into the mud. I didn’t cry. My mother’s blood stained the white dress she loved so much. It turned a deep, sickening crimson. Fourteen years later, I stood by the window of that same bedroom. I watched my grandfather, Silas Sterling, collapse from a stroke. My father, Arthur Sterling, knelt before me, trembling. I leaned down and gently lifted his chin with my fi

On our wedding anniversary, I wanted to give my wife a surprise, so I invited our friends and colleagues over for a house party. Everyone waited all evening, but she never showed up. Around midnight, I initiated a FaceTime call, only for her boy toy to answer completely naked. "Shh... she is fast asleep." Through the screen, she was lying in bed wearing nothing but her lingerie, her cheeks flushed with afterglow. I ended the call, sent every guest home, threw the flowers and cake into the d