Duwu Qingyang

I was the top financial analyst on the network, my predictions legendary. But one morning, my husband, Augustus, and his intern mistress, Baylee, orchestrated a live-on-air sabotage that vaporized my career. I was forced onto a leave of absence, only to be called back to prep Baylee-the very woman replacing me. That night, an anonymous text arrived. It was an audio file from years ago: Baylee' s panicked voice confessing to a hit-and-run, and Augustus' s calm voice promising to cover it up. The victim was my mother. The accident that left her crippled wasn't an accident at all. My husband, the man who comforted me, had protected her attacker all along. He thought he had broken me. But as I listened to their lies, I knew my old life was over. I picked up the phone and called my old mentor. "Eliot," I said, my voice shaking with rage. "I'm ready to sue. I'm taking everything from them."

The day my world fell apart was my 21st birthday, meant for joy and family warmth. Instead, it brought the stinging heat of a slap across my cheek. My older brothers, Ethan and Liam, surprised our family by bringing home Lily, a seven-year-old orphan, daughter of a student who died alongside our revered parents in an accident that orphaned us as well. They saw her as a duty, showering her with the affection that had once been mine. On my birthday, the day I was supposed to feel special, Lily had a little "accident"-a glass of milk spilled on my laptop, destroying years of my medical research. Lily cried, claiming I had pushed her. Ethan' s cold voice, "Anna, what is wrong with you?" was followed by his hand cracking across my face. Liam, usually gentle, pointed a shaking finger at the door: "Get out. Don't ever come back." They believed Lily, condemning me without a second thought. I was cast out, a stranger in my own home, dismissed as dramatic. Their blind devotion to her twisted everything between us, turning love into an unbearable weight of betrayal. While they took Lily on the Northern Lights trip they had promised me, I signed away the next ten years of my life. Days later, they would receive a formal letter: Anna Miller had been accepted into a confidential, ten-year medical research program, in complete isolation. She could no longer come home.

The sterile white ceiling of the hospital room was the first thing I saw when I woke up, a dull ache throbbing at the back of my head. The kind nurse told me I' d fainted at the clinic, and that my son, Leo, was in the pediatric ICU. My son. Leo. The name alone brought back a flood of terrifying memories: his pale, sweaty face, his eyes wide with a terror that seemed to swallow the light. And Jake' s voice, cold and hard: "My son shouldn' t be weak and afraid of the dark! His bad habits need to be cured." I, no, Ava Miller, as I had been for the last five years, had clawed at the locked therapy room door. "Leo is terrified of the dark, and extreme fright can be fatal. If you need to punish someone, punish me…" Jake just laughed, his arm around Chloe Davis, the woman he claimed was the "real" Ava Miller, the one who needed a kidney. A news report on a private island wedding flashed on the hospital TV: "Billionaire heir Jake Hayes is celebrating his wedding to Chloe Davis." Chloe Davis. My name. The name I hadn't heard in five years. Memories crashed down, violent and agonizing: a rainy night, a car accident, my mother' s terrified face, and then Jake, whispering "You' re Ava Miller. You were in an accident. You need a kidney. You feel so guilty, don't you?" He had twisted everything. He wanted my kidney for the real Ava Miller. He stole my identity, my health, my memories. And now, he had stolen my son. Leo. "Mom… if I overcome my fear… will Dad love me?" His voice message, garbled and frantic, echoed in my mind. Rage pulsed through me. I was Chloe Davis. The woman on that island, wearing my name, had my kidney. And they were trying to steal my son. I ripped the IV from my arm. I had to get to Leo. When I found him, his chest wasn't moving. His eyes were wide open, fixed in terror. My mother-in-law, Eleanor, who had once pitied me, was sobbing. "Mom," I said, my voice flat, holding back tears. "I remember everything. I am Chloe Davis. It' s time for me to leave." His eyes finally, slowly, drifted shut as I whispered, "Mommy's here, Leo. Mommy will take you away from here. We'll go somewhere far away, and we'll be together forever." The nurse in the hallway sighed, envying Jake Hayes's "love." If only they knew that his real wife and son, lying dead in a hospital bed, couldn' t earn a fraction of that look. Not even in death. Later, in the house I had shared with Jake, I held Leo's urn tightly. Jake and Ava Miller were on the sofa. "Did you leave Leo with my mom again?" he asked, a condescending edge to his voice. "Bring him back to apologize to his aunt immediately." I turned to him, my eyes direct. I articulated each word with chilling clarity. "Leo is dead."

A romantic getaway, a beautiful Texas hotel, my fiancé Kevin by my side—it should have been perfect. I thought our future was set. Then searing pain hit. A ruptured ovarian cyst, internal bleeding. I was dying. Kevin? He ignored my pleas, focused on a non-refundable hotel, dismissing my agony as 'period cramps' before I ended our engagement and called an Uber to the ER. But his cruelty didn't end there. From my hospital bed, I learned he'd slandered me online as a 'drama queen.' Then, his mother stormed my office, scattering AI-generated fake intimate photos, trying to shame me publicly. My life was falling apart, not from my illness, but from their calculated malice. How could the man I almost married, and his family, be so vindictive, so determined to destroy me, the actual victim? They thought I was broken. But I was just getting started. I exposed their lies, saw his mom arrested. And when Kevin, desperate and armed with a knife, tried to manipulate me in front of everyone, threatening self-harm to escape consequences, I didn't just stand there. I gave him a taste of his own drama. I faked a surgical emergency, turning the crowd, and the cops, squarely on him. This wasn't just about survival; it was about turning the tables completely.

I was Ethan, a PhD candidate, proctoring the Chem 101 final, my future in chemistry looking bright. Then, without warning, the exam sheet blurred, students' faces dissolved, and my vision vanished into impenetrable darkness. My world went black, doctors found no cause, and my promising academic career evaporated into years of navigating a sightless existence, a struggle that culminated in my murder at a community fair, just moments after I shockingly overheard an arrogant student, Mark Jensen, boast that my inexplicable blindness was the best thing that ever happened to him. To die senselessly, just as I' d found the answer to why my life was stolen, was an unbearable injustice. But then, I blinked, and the fluorescent lights of the Chem 101 exam room flashed above me once more, the clock ticking down to the very moment my world first went dark.

My eyes burned, another all-nighter done, just like the thousand others I'd pulled for my demanding wife, Brittany, and her "successful" friend, Marcus. Then, darkness. I woke up floating, looking down at my own wake, my grieving parents, and in a corner, Brittany and Marcus — she wasn't crying, she was relieved, nestled in his arms. "The Prosperity Bond is a marvelous thing," Marcus murmured, his lips brushing her ear, "It took his earnings, his life force, and multiplied it for me. Tenfold." My breath caught in my spectral throat, my entire life's work, my very essence, stolen and sold by the two people I trusted most, fueling their lavish lifestyle as it drained me dry. The betrayal was a jagged blade, twisting in my non-existent gut, leaving behind only the cold, sharp fury of pure, white-hot rage. Suddenly, blinding sunlight hit my face; I gasped, sitting bolt upright in my own bed, alive, solid, on the very morning of the car crash that killed me, armed with the horrifying truth. "Ethan! Get up! You're going to be late for that presentation!" Brittany's voice, sharp as ever, cut through the silence, but this time, I wasn't just hearing a nagging wife—I was hearing a co-conspirator plotting my demise, and my patience was gone.

Sarah Miller had spent three years engaged to Jake Mitchell, her life quietly devoted to their struggling Texas ranch under the shadow of his family’s loan. Most folks saw her as just a quiet country girl, sweet and a little sheltered, her secret passion for barrel racing hidden from judgmental eyes. Then, Jake returned from Dallas, not alone, but with Tiffany, a flashy rodeo hanger-on who immediately made her presence known. He brutally broke off their engagement, dismissing Sarah and her "quiet farm ways," smugly declaring she’d "never understand the adrenaline of the rodeo arena." Adding insult to injury, he'd given Tiffany Sarah’s most cherished heirloom: her grandmother’s silver dollar bolo tie. When Sarah dared to ask for it back at a pre-Fair party, Tiffany, with a scornful smirk and Jake’s tacit approval, snapped the tie’s cord, sending the precious silver dollar clattering to the floor, dented and broken. “It’s just a thing, Sarah,” Jake carelessly remarked, offering to buy a new one, utterly oblivious to the depth of her hurt and the heirloom’s meaning. The public humiliation and blatant disrespect burned, turning Sarah’s heartbreak into a simmering fury she’d never known. They thought she was weak, easily managed, a charitable case with no fire. But Jake's condescending words about "adrenaline" had struck a chord. She would show them. She would take back her power and her identity. Tonight, under the bright lights of the County Fair, Sarah Miller would unleash her secret talent, and with her trusted horse, Dust Devil, prove just how much adrenaline she truly possessed.

Ava Hayes lived a life that glittered like ice, a promising figure skater poised for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, coached by an ambitious mother and partnered with the charming Ethan Vance. Then she woke up, not from a dream, but from a terrifying, crystal-clear memory of a future that hadn't happened yet—a future where her partner, her rival, and her own mother combined forces to publicly shatter her career. She remembered the disastrous flameout, the chilling smiles, the calculated betrayals, seeing herself broken, humiliated, quitting everything she ever loved, vanishing from the sport that defined her. The ache in her head wasn't from a fall; it was the raw, sickening wound of a betrayal so deep it stole her very identity and left her wondering how the people closest to her could orchestrate such a cruel downfall. But this time, the disaster was still weeks away. Armed with the painful blueprint of her past self's ruin, Ava Hayes found a new, cold resolve, determined to break free from her gilded cage and reclaim her future, starting now.

Irene, at the age of 16 was on a visit to her fiance's house. She was ecstatic about her visit, dreaming of the day when she would come of age and marry him. But the visit shattered her dreams when she realized that her fiance fancied her stepsister instead of her. She chanced to witness the love between the two of them. Heartbroken she rushed on to the street right in front of an over speeding car. The convalescing period after her near-fatal accident gave her ample tie to dwell on her life. Realization dawned on her that her life was not to be wasted on a man who never reciprocated her love.

"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."

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."

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!"

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."

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.

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."

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.

For three years, Cathryn and her husband Liam lived in a sexless marriage. She believed Liam buried himself in work for their future. But on the day her mother died, she learned the truth: he had been cheating with her stepsister since their wedding night. She dropped every hope and filed for divorce. Sneers followed-she'd crawl back, they said. Instead, they saw Liam on his knees in the rain. When a reporter asked about a reunion, she shrugged. "He has no self-respect, just clings to people who don't love him." A powerful tycoon wrapped an arm around her. "Anyone coveting my wife answers to me."

Two years of marriage left Brinley questioning everything, her supposed happiness revealed as nothing but sham. Abandoning her past for Colin, she discovered only betrayal and a counterfeit wedding. Accepting his heart would stay frozen, she called her estranged father, agreeing to the match he proposed. Laughter followed her, with whispers of Colin's power to toss her aside. Yet, she reinvented herself-legendary racer, casino mastermind, and acclaimed designer. When Colin tried to reclaim her, another man pulled Brinley close. "She's already carrying my child. You can't move on?"

In her previous life, Kimberly endured the betrayal of her husband, the cruel machinations of an evil woman, and the endless tyranny of her in-laws. It culminated in the bankruptcy of her family, and ultimately, her death. After being reborn, she resolved to seek retribution against those who had wronged her, and ensure her family's prosperity. To her shock, the most unattainable man from her past suddenly set his sights on her. "You may have overlooked me before, but I shall capture your heart this time around."