Ai Huo

My fiancé, Keith, was supposed to pick me up from the airport after my two-week solo trip. Instead, I was stranded alone in the rain, abandoned for his "fragile" protégé, Kandice. He claimed car trouble, but a single phone call revealed the truth: he was at a party, celebrating with her. Then came the text from Kandice-a selfie of her on his lap, captioned: "Don't worry, Dr. Blackburn is all mine tonight! " Moments later, a text from Keith: "Sorry, sweetheart. Car trouble. Had to drop Kandice off first. I'll be there as soon as I can. Don't wait up." The blatant contradiction, the years of his gaslighting and emotional abuse, finally shattered something inside me. He had spent three years making me feel small, insecure, and crazy, always prioritizing Kandice's manufactured drama over my well-being. I used to think love meant enduring his cruelty, but standing there, soaked and betrayed, I realized my love had its limits. So, I made a call. "Mr. Davies," I said, my voice steady. "About that five-year overseas assignment in London. I'd like to accept."

The phone buzzed frantically during my board meeting. It was my mother, her voice a shredded mess, whispering, "He's here. At the university. He's making us..." before the line went dead. "He" was Gustav Bradford, the man I loved, the man who was destroying me. I raced to Westwood University to find my parents on their knees, humiliated, with Gustav standing over them, beautiful and terrifying, beside his therapist, Estelle Strong. Estelle, his new everything, whispered lies about my parents disrespecting them, while my father, a man who debated world leaders, bowed his head in shame. My mother sobled silently as a drone live-streamed their humiliation. When I confronted him, Gustav, with a chilling smile, ordered his guard to break my father's leg. A sickening crack echoed, followed by my father's agonizing scream. Then, my mother's. They both lay broken. The love I had for Gustav shattered, replaced by a cold, vast emptiness. "I will kill you," I whispered, the words tasting like poison. He just smiled, kissed my cheek, and left, telling me he'd be home for dinner. That night, my parents, in a desperate act to free me, took their own lives. My scream was soundless. I called Amit, my friend, for the drug that would make me look dead. I had to die to live, and I had to live to see Gustav Bradford burn.

My husband told me his true love, Francesca, was dying. As a master healer, I was the only one who could save her. For months, he drained my life force in daily rituals, leaving me a hollow shell of myself. Then he demanded the ultimate sacrifice: a forbidden ceremony that would transfer my entire life force to her. It was a death sentence. "It means Francesca lives," he said, his eyes empty of the love he once had for me. He shattered the wooden bird he carved for our anniversary, forced me to sign divorce papers, and promised to remarry me after I died for his fantasy. Finally, he tied me to an altar and set it on fire. As I burned, my four-year-old daughter screamed the truth-that Francesca was faking her illness. But Kane pushed her away, choosing his lie over our lives. He watched me die. But when I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day he first told me Francesca was sick. This time, the only life I'll be saving is my own.

On our third mating anniversary, I prepared a feast. For three years, my Alpha husband, Mark, had treated me like I was made of glass, using my "fragile" constitution as an excuse for his coldness. Still, I hoped tonight he would finally see me. But he came home smelling of another she-wolf, took one look at the anniversary dinner I'd poured my soul into, lied about an urgent pack meeting, and walked out. Days later, he demanded I attend the annual Gala to present a "united front." On the way, he took a call from her, his voice dripping with a tenderness he never gave me. "Don't worry, Sarah, I'm on my way," he said. "Your ovulation cycle is paramount. I love you." The three words he'd never said to me. He slammed on the brakes, shifted into his massive wolf form, and abandoned me on a dark, rain-swept road to run to her. I stumbled out into the storm, my heart finally shattered. I wasn't his mate. I was a placeholder, a prop to be discarded when his true love called. Just as I wished the rain would wash me away, headlights cut through the darkness. A car screeched to a halt inches from me. Out stepped an Alpha whose raw power made my husband seem like a child. His piercing silver eyes locked on mine as a possessive growl rumbled deep in his chest. He looked at me as if he'd found the center of his universe and uttered a single, life-altering word. "Mine."

The plan was simple: two weeks of quiet solitude at my apartment, a much-needed break from the relentless grind of my architecture career. But the moment I unlocked the door, a cloying, unfamiliar perfume assaulted my senses, followed by the sight of a stranger lounging on my custom velvet sofa, nonchalantly filing her nails. "Can I help you?" she drawled, dripping with disdain, as I stood dumbfounded in the doorway of my own home, apartment 3B. This woman, Tiffany Stone, introduced herself as my brother Liam' s new girlfriend, claiming this was "Liam's place," scoffing at my very career and dismissing my deeply personal space as a mere "graduation present" for a girl who "drew buildings." The audacity escalated swiftly. Tiffany and her mother, Mrs. Stone-a woman cloaked in fur and radiating venom-informed me they were "redecorating" my apartment and expected me to find a hotel. My cherished minimalist decor and art prints had vanished, replaced by gaudy, tasteless clutter. When I tried to reach my bedroom, where my personal safe contained the deed to the apartment, they physically blocked my path, declaring, "It's not your room anymore. It's our guest room." My own family, my own brother, seemed to be orchestrating this hostile takeover. The situation spiraled into a nightmare; a physical altercation broke out, leaving me bruised and bleeding, yet they accused me of assault. The building manager, Mr. Davis, shockingly sided with them, presenting falsified records to claim the apartment belonged to Liam. Then Liam himself arrived, not as a rescuer, but as the architect of my downfall, embracing Tiffany, feigning concern, and publicly humiliating me. He flatly stated he had transferred the deed to his name and then, with a chilling smile, proposed to essentially sell me off to a business associate. Every accusation, every betrayal, shattered my reality. He even revealed I was adopted, not truly a Reed, trying to strip away my entire identity. But in that moment, as I lay on the floor, a cold clarity crystallized. He had given me a weapon. I seized my T-square, shattered a mirror in a defiant act, and ran, finally breaking free to call for help. From the depths of betrayal, armed with undeniable evidence from a hidden camera and a desperate revelation that Liam, not I, was the adopted one, I watched as Liam, Tiffany, her mother, and the building manager were arrested, their carefully constructed lies crumbling on national television. This was not just about reclaiming an apartment. It was about rebuilding a legacy, reshaping my family's future, and redefining my own purpose.

My wedding day. The most beautiful day of my life, or so I thought. I stood at the altar, beaming in my white dress, ready to marry Liam Maxwell, the man I loved. Then, the whispers began. Not of happiness, but of scandal. My fiancé, the love of my life, had rushed off to a rooftop, not to save me, but his "childhood friend," Olivia Chen, who was threatening to jump. He returned with her, fragile and apologetic, yet she wore a white dress eerily similar to mine. I was humiliated, sidelined in my own fairytale, as Liam asked me to postpone our wedding for her sake, for his reputation. But this wasn't the first time. In a nightmarish vision, I witnessed our future: a gilded cage, a forced miscarriage after his careless shove, and my agonizing death, alone and abandoned. He had orchestrated my public downfall, framing me as a gold-digger and a villain, while he and Olivia cemented their twisted bond. The pain of that future, the betrayal and the loss, was too real to ignore. It wasn't a dream; it was a warning. Now, as Liam stood before me, expecting my compliant understanding, I knew I had a second chance. The naive fiancée was gone. This time, I wouldn't just survive; I would make him pay.

My name is Eli Vance, and in my world, everything has a price. I lived in a small, sagging house that perpetually smelled of stale beer and disappointment, a stark contrast to the academic potential I desperately cultivated. Every cent I secretly earned from doing other kids' homework was a deliberate step away from a future my parents had already planned for me: a grueling factory job. My younger brother, Cody, was their sole focus, their "lottery ticket," and his mediocre athletic career consumed every last ounce of their hope and meager funds. Then, one evening, they finally showed me attention-enough to deliver their verdict. "You're sixteen now," my father grunted, avoiding my gaze. "The plant is hiring full-time," my mother chimed in, her voice sharp, "You can quit school. We need the money for Cody's gear and his camp fees." My heart turned into a cold, hard stone in my chest as their words extinguished my last flickering hope for a different life. "What do you have? Books?" my mother sneered, dismissing my intelligence, my ambition, everything I was. My father sealed it with a flat gaze: "You'll do what you're told," effectively erasing my future to fund a pair of football cleats. The suffocating injustice burned a hole within me-this town, this school, my own family; it was all the same oppressive system. They saw me as a burden, a cost, a ready-made sacrifice, but I refused to accept that. How could they demand I relinquish my education, my only path to escape, for a futile dream that wasn't even mine? I couldn't fight my parents head-on, not yet, but watching the cafeteria manager's blatant favoritism, I knew exactly how to break a smaller, visible cog in this unfair machine. The battle for my freedom, and my future, had just begun-a ruthless, calculated game where I would stop at nothing to change the rules.

To save my family's vineyard and my sister, I, Ava Hayes, agreed to marry Ethan Reed, my childhood friend turned enemy. I hid a terminal illness silently consuming me. It wasn't a marriage; it was a public humiliation. At a lavish gala, Ethan announced his engagement to another, introducing me as his "desperate offering," a mocking "trophy." Trapped, I became his property, enduring relentless physical and emotional abuse, worsened by my secret illness and his fiancée Chloe's sadistic torments. Yet, I heard Ethan's inner thoughts-conflicted, sometimes tender, a secret lifeline that broke when his accidental blow severed our connection. Then came the crushing truth: my own family had conspired in my mother's murder and abandoned me to die by withholding funds for my treatment. Critically ill and with my last hope gone, Chloe abducted me. She revealed her family's involvement in my mother's death, then cruelly forced an abortion, ending my life and our unborn child's. My body vanished, my memory erased. But what will Ethan do when the horrifying truth of my death and the child lost, finally surfaces?

Daisy' s memorial service was a haze, the thick lily scent a painful echo of my little girl, gone. I stood a hollow shell, while my wife, Casey, seemed eerily calm, almost serene. Then I overheard her chilling confession: she' d authorized an "unproven" treatment that "hastened" our daughter' s death. My blood ran cold. She dismissed Daisy' s complex care as "draining," before reconnecting with her old flame, Ethan Holloway. Days later, she callously planned to convert Daisy's vibrant room into her new home office. I found Ethan lounging in my living room, Casey laughing with him, more animated than I' d seen her in years. "It's my parents' house, Alex!" she snapped when I confronted her, mocking my award-winning brewery as a "hobby." Her family had already frozen our accounts, accusing me of financial mismanagement. Now, Ethan and Casey were trying to steal my revolutionary brewing process-my life's invention, meant for our family's legacy. The betrayal was absolute, desecrating Daisy's memory and everything we built. How could the woman I loved not only hasten our daughter' s end but then brutally disrespect her memory, seemingly conspiring to ruin me? My marriage was shattered, but my spirit was not. I vowed that day to leave the wreckage, launching "Daisy Chain Brews" with my secret patents. This wasn't just for me; it was for Daisy.

I stood outside our bedroom door, the cool wood pressed to my forehead. My wife, Victoria, was inside, her voice low and urgent. "Liam, stop it. He could be home any minute." Liam. My paralegal. I froze when I heard his next words: "He needs to know you're not some broodmare, Vicky. That pregnancy scare? You told me you almost panicked." Pregnancy scare? She told me she miscarried months ago, blaming my stress. My heart turned to stone. The betrayal deepened with every new piece of evidence. My phone buzzed with anonymous photos: Victoria, laughing, Liam' s arm around her. Then came a video: Victoria, in lingerie I' d never seen, playfully fanning Liam with my inscribed first-edition Gatsby. "He' ll never know," Liam' s voice sneered. "He' s too wrapped up in his dusty old books to notice anything." Victoria giggled, "He's sweet, but so predictable." Then the ultimate blow: Liam proposing "a little Walker," and Victoria' s chilling, calculating smile as she agreed to fake illness to conceal it. I felt nothing but a vast, cold emptiness. The woman I married, the one I truly loved, was a complete stranger. She was a manipulative stranger, plotting a future behind my back, mocking me with my own heartfelt gifts. How could she be so utterly cruel? How could I have been so blindly naive? A small, cool chime sounded in my mind, a sensation only I could perceive: The Legacy. My mother' s deathbed words echoed: "One time, Ethan. A clean break. If you ever need it." I needed it now, more than anything. I watched as my hands began to flicker, growing faintly transparent. The erasure had begun. I was ready to disappear.

I, Ava Miller, an architect, spent eight years with Ethan Hayes, though our shared life felt built on shifting sand. He constantly chipped at my confidence, yet I clung to the hope of 'us'. At a New York charity auction, Ethan bought my grandmother's unique sapphire pendant. My stomach plummeted as he publicly presented "my" heirloom to his young intern, Chloe Vance, then whispered, I'd get "something new." His words were a gut punch. A video soon showed him boasting he'd propose to Chloe. He did, at a party, using my sapphire, crudely reset, branding me "strong" while asserting Chloe "needed him." Post-confrontation, he replaced the damaged stone with a worthless glass replica, convinced I wouldn't notice. His manipulations peaked when he dragged me into Chloe's staged suicide attempt at the ER, ditching me bleeding to chase her drama while caught with her lipstick on his face. Eight years of my life, systematically cheapened and discarded for his brazen, theatrical lies. The audacity, the disgusting manipulation, his absolute lack of remorse – it was suffocating. How had I been so blind? But the script truly flipped. Abandoned again at the ER, one name cut through the noise: Julian Thorne. The man who, years ago, unexpectedly offered, "Ditch the zero. Marry me." My shaking hand steadied as I called. "Is that offer still on the table?" I whispered. A liberating breath. "Okay. Yes." San Francisco was my final destination. I was coming.

In his greed to get his hands on his father's company, Jacob drugged his own girlfriend and sneaked her into his uncle's bed. And so Mandy and Andrew's story began. Filled with burning anger and desperation upon finding out the truth, Mandy would stop at nothing to get her revenge—even agreeing to cooperate with Andrew, the devil CEO. However, there is no such thing as a free lunch in this world. He drafted a contract, wanting her to be his wife and give birth to his child. Biting her lips tightly, she signed her name on the paper and sealed her fate...She made a pact with the devil. Nobody had ever managed to capture the devil's heart before... but before he knew it, he had already lost his heart to her.

Elliana, the unfavored "ugly duckling" of her family, was humiliated by her stepsister, Paige, who everyone admired. Paige, engaged to the CEO Cole, was the perfect woman-until Cole married Elliana on the day of the wedding. Shocked, everyone wondered why he chose the "ugly" woman. As they waited for her to be cast aside, Elliana stunned everyone by revealing her true identity: a miracle healer, financial mogul, appraisal prodigy, and AI genius. When her mistreatment became known, Cole revealed Elliana's stunning, makeup-free photo, sending shockwaves through the media. "My wife doesn't need anyone's approval."

"Stella once savored Marc's devotion, yet his covert cruelty cut deep. She torched their wedding portrait at his feet while he sent flirty messages to his mistress. With her chest tight and eyes blazing, Stella delivered a sharp slap. Then she deleted her identity, signed onto a classified research mission, vanished without a trace, and left him a hidden bombshell. On launch day she vanished; that same dawn Marc's empire crumbled. All he unearthed was her death certificate, and he shattered. When they met again, a gala spotlighted Stella beside a tycoon. Marc begged. With a smirk, she said, ""Out of your league, darling."

For three quiet, patient years, Christina kept house, only to be coldly discarded by the man she once trusted. Instead, he paraded a new lover, making her the punchline of every town joke. Liberated, she honed her long-ignored gifts, astonishing the town with triumph after gleaming triumph. Upon discovering she'd been a treasure all along, her ex-husband's regret drove him to pursue her. "Honey, let's get back together!" With a cold smirk, Christina spat, "Fuck off." A silken-suited mogul slipped an arm around her waist. "She's married to me now. Guards, get him the hell out of here!"

Sunlit hours found their affection glimmering, while moonlit nights ignited reckless desire. But when Brandon learned his beloved might last only half a year, he coolly handed Millie divorce papers, murmuring, "This is all for appearances; we'll get married again once she's calmed down." Millie, spine straight and cheeks dry, felt her pulse go hollow. The sham split grew permanent; she quietly ended their unborn child and stepped into a new beginning. Brandon unraveled, his car tearing down the street, unwilling to let go of the woman he'd discarded, pleading for her to look back just once.

After five years of playing the perfect daughter, Rylie was exposed as a stand-in. Her fiancé bolted, friends scattered, and her adoptive brothers shoved her out, telling her to grovel back to her real family. Done with humiliation, she swore to claw back what was hers. Shock followed: her birth family ruled the town's wealth. Overnight, she became their precious girl. The boardroom brother canceled meetings, the genius brother ditched his lab, the musician brother postponed a tour. As those who spurned her begged forgiveness, Admiral Brad Morgan calmly declared, "She's already taken."

Maia grew up a pampered heiress-until the real daughter returned and framed her, sending Maia to prison with help from her fiancé and family. Four years later, free and married to Chris, a notorious outcast, everyone assumed Maia was finished. They soon discovered she was secretly a famed jeweler, elite hacker, celebrity chef, and top game designer. As her former family begged for help, Chris smiled calmly. "Honey, let's go home." Only then did Maia realize her "useless" husband was a legendary tycoon who'd adored her from the start.

In their previous lives, Gracie married Theo. Outwardly, they were the perfect academic couple, but privately, she became nothing more than a stepping stone for his ambition, and met a tragic end. Her younger sister Ellie wed Brayden, only to be abandoned for his true love, left alone and disgraced. This time, both sisters were reborn. Ellie rushed to marry Theo, chasing the success Gracie once had-unaware she was repeating the same heartbreak. Gracie instead entered a contract marriage with Brayden. But when danger struck, he defended her fiercely. Could fate finally rewrite their tragic endings?

Linsey was stood up by her groom to run off with another woman. Furious, she grabbed a random stranger and declared, "Let's get married!" She had acted on impulse, realizing too late that her new husband was the notorious rascal, Collin. The public laughed at her, and even her runaway ex offered to reconcile. But Linsey scoffed at him. "My husband and I are very much in love!" Everyone thought she was delusional. Then Collin was revealed to be the richest man in the world. In front of everyone, he got down on one knee and held up a stunning diamond ring. "I look forward to our forever, honey."

Blinded in a crash, Cary was rejected by every socialite—except Evelina, who married him without hesitation. Three years later, he regained his sight and ended their marriage. "We’ve already lost so many years. I won’t let her waste another one on me." Evelina signed the divorce papers without a word. Everyone mocked her fall—until they discovered that the miracle doctor, jewelry mogul, stock genius, top hacker, and the President's true daughter… were all her. When Cary came crawling back, a ruthless tycoon had him kicked out. "She's my wife now. Get lost."

The whispers said that out of bitter jealousy, Hadley shoved Eric's beloved down the stairs, robbing the unborn child of life. To avenge, Eric forced Hadley abroad and completely cut her off. Years later, she reemerged, and they felt like strangers. When they met again, she was the nightclub's star, with men ready to pay fortunes just to glimpse her elusive performance. Unable to contain himself, Eric blocked her path, asking, "Is this truly how you earn a living now? Why not come back to me?" Hadley's lips curved faintly. "If you’re eager to see me, you’d better join the queue, darling."