All works

My father was obsessed with his toxic, hardcore style of tough-love parenting. When I was a kid and brought home straight A’s, he sneered and said, “Grades don’t mean shit. A real man proves himself by jumping off the third floor.” When I got a community award for saving a drowning child, he scoffed, “You didn’t even get a scratch. What kind of coward wants praise for that?” For years, I believed he only did this to make me stronger. Until that freezing New Year’s Eve, when he dumped me alon

I was known as the ultimate seductress among the first-class flight attendants. Whenever a VIP passenger gave the word, I would drop to my knees beside him and cater to his every desire. "So, sweetheart, is this what your executive upgrade feels like?" His hand slid past my collar, his rough fingers caressing my skin with unapologetic heat. "Sir... a ten-thousand-dollar tip unlocks the ultimate executive suite perks." I purred, pretending to reach for the service tablet, but he swatted it a

Paxton and I went from high school sweethearts to husband and wife. I stood by him when he had nothing, enduring every hardship. We were so broke that we could only watch our first child suffer from leukemia, unable to afford the treatment that could have saved him. Five years later, I finally got pregnant again. Paxton had also become a rising star in the business world. Just when I thought my life was turning around, I received two text messages: “I have my eyes on Paxton.” “Name your pr

Chapter 1 This was the seventeenth time my boyfriend handed over my research to Melanie. The System, silent for three years, suddenly chimed in my head. "Host, you have failed to become the valedictorian as agreed. In seven days, your heart will stop, and you will die." Seven days. That exact day happened to be our anniversary. My knuckles turned white as Travis wrapped his arm around my shoulder, murmuring softly. "Melanie grew up as an orphan. Just have some pity on her. Once she makes

1 My mother-in-law was kidnapped, but my husband, a man who could bend the rules, was busy throwing a birthday party for his mistress's dog. The kidnappers said they'd kill her if they didn't see my husband, but I ignored them. Because in my last life, I dragged my husband away from that birthday party, eight months pregnant, and saved my mother-in-law. His mistress, secretly following us, was caught by the kidnappers' eyes, violated, and then dismembered and fed to the dogs. My husband, enr

Chapter 1 The seventh time I dragged Landon out of his assistant's bed, he handed me a divorce agreement. "Sign it," he said, blowing out a stream of smoke. "Kelsey is pregnant. I won't let my flesh and blood be born out of wedlock." He looked at me with complete indifference. "Don't worry. Once the baby is born, we'll remarry, and you can raise the child as your own." "That way, nobody in high society will mock you for being barren anymore." I gripped the pen tightly. Instead of screaming

Late at night, unable to sleep during another cold war with my boyfriend, I scrolled past a trending topic. “How much interaction with the opposite sex can you tolerate from your partner?” I really wanted an answer to that question. My boyfriend had zero tolerance for any men around me. Even if I just coordinated work projects with a male coworker, he would give me the silent treatment for three days. Comments below argued that love was all about possession. The more a man loved you, the les

Six years ago, an M&A deal I led for a publicly traded company imploded, and eight hundred million dollars vanished overnight. Bankrupt investors threw buckets of red paint at my front door for an entire year. My father suffered a fatal stroke from the stress, and my mother lost her mind, wandering off into the streets until she disappeared completely. I took the fall for corporate embezzlement and spent six brutal years behind federal prison bars. After my release, I buried my real identity

On the eve of the National Screen Awards, my A-list actress wife told me she had a surprise for me. She told me to dress to the nines. I thought she was finally going to take our secret five-year marriage public. I was so thrilled that I couldn't sleep all night. Yet the very next day, in front of a live national broadcast, she publicly labeled me as a creepy stalker. She kicked me out of her studio on the spot. She replaced me with Harrison Cole, her first love who had just flown back from

On our seventh wedding anniversary, I sat alone at the dining table, staring at the cold dishes until dawn. The next morning, Garrett Hayes, the man who claimed he had a business dinner, appeared on every major headline with his first love, Sienna Pierce. I flipped the table, set fire to his study, and crashed Sienna’s welcome party with bloodshot eyes. “Come home right now, and never see her again,” I demanded. “Otherwise, we get a divorce.” Garrett did not even blink. It was only when Si

On our wedding anniversary, I received an explicit video from the scholarship student my wife was sponsoring. "Mr. Reed, does the professor go this wild when she's with you?" "She is seriously so good!" I calmly shot back. "Since when is being a homewrecking side-piece a badge of honor?" "Should I award you a trophy?" 1 I was trying on a tailored suit when a friend request popped up on my phone. The profile picture showed a sunny, boyish-looking guy. I recognized him immediately as Chas

I went to my girlfriend’s house for Thanksgiving dinner, only to be publicly humiliated by her cousin over a scar on the back of my hand. “That scar is obviously from a gang shootout,” her cousin sneered. “Mandy, did you bring an ex-con home just to humiliate the family?” Panic seized the room, and Mandy yanked her hand away from mine in pure disgust. Her cousin flipped the dining table and called over a crew of thugs, demanding I be dragged to the police station. “Scum like him needs to be

My wife Audrey Carter was always tangled up with her childhood best friend, Bryce. Once, I found two tickets to the Winter Wonderland Ice Festival inside her designer coat. She panicked and made up an excuse, saying it was a surprise for our tenth wedding anniversary. I was thrilled, thinking she finally wanted to share some romance with me. When Sunday arrived, I planned our whole route and got there early. But I waited at the festival entrance until the park closed for the night. I stood

1 The first day we were together, Mark told me, "If you ever find out I've done something to hurt you, don't give me a chance to come back. If I cross that line, I deserve to lose you." So later, when he hooked up with an intern, he made damn sure nobody told me. He told his buddies, "Jen is the love of my life. I'm never divorcing her. A guy can have a little fun, but he always comes home, right?" Too bad the intern thought she was something special. She started sending me anonymous texts,

When my mother was in critical condition and needed just five thousand dollars for emergency surgery, Garrett drained every last penny from our account. He did it all to pay for his first love's mother's surgery. When I called and begged him for five thousand dollars, he screamed at me: "Leila's mom is fighting for her life! She needs this money right now, so stop making a fuss out of nothing!" My mother died later that day, and my marriage walked straight into its grave. 1. I could not bel

1 On the day my boyfriend held his grand wedding with his childhood sweetheart, I boarded a first-class flight to Manhattan. He didn't care in the slightest. "Janine has a soft spine," he had scoffed. "Give her a couple of days, and she'll come crawling back on her own." Everyone in our circle worried I would show up and cause a scene. Little did they know, I was heading to New York to inherit a multi-billion-dollar empire. I simply had no time for their petty circus. On the day I official

At my old classmate's wedding reception, my girlfriend caught the bouquet. The host teased her, "Do you have a boyfriend?" She looked shyly at the man standing nearby―my golden boy―and nodded bashfully. The host misunderstood the situation and started egging them on to kiss in front of everyone. My friends, who knew the truth, looked at me with worried eyes. But instead of making a scene, I stood up and clapped louder than anyone else: "Perfect match! Meant to be! Wishing you a lifeti

1 My fiancé, Chad, always made me bring him a specific box of coffee before his late-night work sessions. It was the 99th time I'd delivered it, and I accidentally dropped the box. The individual packets inside spilled out. My breath hitched, my mind blank. It wasn't coffee at all. It was a variety pack of condoms. Then, from inside his office, I heard Chad's husky voice, laced with lust. "Why'd you stop?" "I want Allie to personally deliver the goods. It gets me fired up. Plus, I don't

Chapter 1 "I want to terminate my pregnancy! My husband doesn't give a damn about me!" I was waiting for my prenatal checkup when I overheard the pregnant woman in front of me sobbing to the doctor. Her face was full of grievance as she listed all of her husband's faults. Oddly enough, her husband shared the exact same name as mine. Except hers was the CEO of a multi-billion-dollar enterprise, while mine was just an ordinary corporate drone. I didn't think much of it and stepped

1 My husband's childhood sweetheart's daughter got into a severe car accident and suffered massive blood loss. To save the girl, my husband actually picked up our three-year-old daughter from preschool and brought her to the hospital to drain her blood. By the time I received the call and rushed over, my daughter had already stopped breathing. She lay all alone on the freezing operating table, her tiny face utterly drained of color. Meanwhile, the other girl was nestled in a warm hospital roo