Marrvelous

My billionaire boyfriend refused to loan me fifty thousand dollars to bring my brother' s body home. Three days later, I found his assistant wearing my silk robe in our penthouse. That was the moment I decided to marry my childhood friend instead. For eight years, I was Callen House' s dirty little secret. I accepted the shadows, believing his "Relationship Protocols" were just the quirks of a tech genius. But when my brother died tragically overseas, Callen didn't offer comfort. He offered me a corporate loan application, which his assistant, Daniella, promptly denied. While I was drowning in grief, Jaren stepped in. He paid for the repatriation without hesitation, proving what real love actually looked like. I went to Callen' s apartment to end things, only to find Daniella there, sporting a fresh hickey and a smug grin. The truth came out like a landslide. She hadn't just stolen my boyfriend; she had been intercepting my bonuses and sabotaging my career for years. And Callen? He defended her. He called me a liability and threatened to ruin me if I made a scene. So I didn't just quit. I sent a picture of me and Jaren to the company group chat with a caption that silenced the entire office. "I' m getting married. And it' s not to Callen House."

My husband told me to hide away in our cabin after my daughter fell into a coma. He said he would handle the media storm and the plagiarism accusations against me. I trusted him. Two years later, I saw my best friend on a Times Square billboard, accepting an award for my art, with my husband cheering her on in the crowd. Overhearing their celebration, I learned the horrifying truth: they orchestrated my daughter's "accident," stole my life's work, and my husband was planning to pull my daughter's life support. He thought he had me trapped, threatening our daughter's life to force my silence. He even made me sign a divorce agreement, thinking he was stripping me of everything. What he didn't know was that my lawyer brother had already filed a different set of papers. And I had just walked away with everything.

Ava Green pressed her back against the cool wood of her bedroom door, listening to the quiet hum of her foster home. Ahead of her, her foster brother, Jake Stone, held her close, his hands on her waist. For seven years, he had been her secret, a dangerous poison she had been drinking, waiting for his thirtieth birthday when he promised to finally claim her. But in a crowded bar, clutching his phone she had rushed to return, she overheard his cruel confession to his friends: she was merely a "convenient distraction," a "placeholder" until the "real thing," Chloe, was ready. The future she had so carefully built shattered around her. His words, "She's not Chloe. She's not the future Mrs. Stone," hit her like a physical blow. The seven years of whispered promises were a brutal lie. She was just a toy to be discarded. The phone grew impossibly heavy in her hand, her legs unsteady as she stumbled away from the bar, away from his laughter, into the cold night. Back in her room, a lifeline appeared: "Your Application to Architects Without Borders," an acceptance to a conflict zone in the Middle East. It felt perfect, a place to tear down her old life and build something new. She replied with two words that promised to erase him and everything he represented: "I accept."

The drug pulsed through my veins, every inch of my body screaming for release, yet my husband, Ethan, stood over me, his face etched with familiar disgust. Just thirty minutes earlier, his childhood sweetheart, Scarlett, had forced 99 pills down my throat, challenging me: if Ethan was still repulsed by my 200-pound body, even under the aphrodisiac's influence, I had to sign the divorce papers. Scarlett' s taunt echoed: "I bet even if you strip naked and beg like a dog, he won't touch your two-hundred-pound body!" Consumed by the drug, I sank to the floor, pressing my lips against Ethan' s polished shoes, begging for help, for the man who once swore to protect me. He commanded, cold and devoid of emotion: "Use your mouth. Unbuckle my belt." He promised to help if I complied. My heart, already shattered, splintered as I fumbled with his belt, a memory piercing through the haze: I had endured agonizing experimental treatments, nearly dying, to cure the rare disease that was killing him. He had vowed eternal gratitude, promised to cherish me forever. But the cure had ravaged my metabolism, ballooning my body and his affection dwindled just as fast. Then, his sneer: "You really think I'd touch this? You' re disgusting. Trying to manipulate me with drugs? You' re pathetic." He kicked me away, walking out, leaving me to burn while Scarlett posted a triumphant selfie with him: "He's mine. Alone." I was just a placeholder, a life-saving tool that had outlived its usefulness. The fire inside raged, but a chilling resolve hardened. I wouldn't die here. A numb voice whispered: "I will erase Ava Miller, the hopeful artist, the loving wife, the pathetic, two-hundred-pound woman begging on the floor. I will leave this life behind and become someone else. Someone powerful."

After two decades in a black-site prison, Elara was finally free, stepping back into a world she believed her husband had fought to reclaim for her. But an overheard conversation shattered that illusion: her husband, Marcus, coolly admitted he' d orchestrated her imprisonment as a 'perfect sacrifice' to protect their son, Alex, and clinch his climb to power, all while collaborating with Elara' s own adopted sister, Chloe, his mistress. Returned home a ghost, Elara watched as Chloe usurped her prestigious position, flaunting Elara' s own uniform. At a public gala, her father openly slapped her, demanding she yield her family legacy to Chloe, while Marcus and Alex turned their backs, leaving her isolated and humiliated. The final blow came when Chloe feigned an attack, leading Alex to violently shove his mother against a pillar, and Marcus to threaten Elara with a return to the very prison she'd just escaped. Twenty years of torture and isolation, endured with the false hope of vindication, were exposed as a cold, calculated transaction by those she loved most. The once unwavering love she held for her family incinerated into ash, leaving only a chilling clarity: they valued power over her life. With her past reduced to embers and her future with them extinguished, Elara activated a secret family protocol, erasing every trace of her existence, and walked out into the night, reborn to forge a new identity-and a new life-far from their toxic shadow.

I'd built my catering business from scratch, pouring every dollar into my daughter Emily's future, envisioning a modest, joyful wedding. But then Kevin's mother, Brenda, dropped a bombshell: Emily was pregnant, and they demanded a $50,000 wedding plus another $50,000 for a house – my "responsibility." My own daughter, manipulated by Brenda, sided against me, echoing their absurd demands and cutting me off. They married without me, then Emily even tried to set me up with a strange man, and Brenda openly demanded my house. How could my sweet, cherished Emily become so unrecognizable, so deeply brainwashed by this monstrous greed? The absolute betrayal tore my heart apart, leaving me shattered and utterly bewildered. Desperate, I listed my house, planning to escape to Oregon. But Emily's final call, a plea for reconciliation over dinner, was a trap. Drugged and helpless, I overheard Brenda order Kevin to murder me and inherit everything. This wasn't just about money anymore; it was about survival.

My college graduation trip was supposed to be a final adventure, a last taste of freedom. My best friend, Jessica, was squealing with excitement beside me on the wild coast. Then, two men emerged: Ethan, the enigmatic Selkie leader from the crashing waves, and Marcus, the formidable werewolf Alpha from the treeline. While Jessica's gaze fixed on Ethan, Marcus's amber eyes found mine with a predatory intensity, sealing my fate with three chilling words: "You're mine." My life spiraled into a nightmare. Trapped as Marcus's captive "Luna" in his brutal pack, I endured his suffocating control and the jealous glares of his she-wolves. When Jessica, weary of her quiet life with the Selkies, sought my help after her own reckless mistakes, I created a risky diversion. But she repaid my loyalty with a chilling betrayal, screaming lies that sentenced me to death. I drowned, my life extinguished by the cold ocean, murdered by the very people my supposed best friend had chosen, all because of her cruel deceit. How could I have been so blind? How could someone I loved betray me so utterly for nothing? But then, I opened my eyes. The salt spray hit my face. Jessica squealed beside me. I was back. Back at the beginning. This time, as the two powerful leaders emerged, my choice would be different. I would not be his captive. I would not be her victim. I would choose my own path.

The Northwood University acceptance letter felt heavy in my hand. It was a golden ticket, meant for both me and Ethan. We were young, hopeful, ready to build our future together. But I'd already lived this life once, and it ended with Ethan's hands around my throat. He blamed me for Tiffany Bell's death, his forever crush. Now, Tiffany beamed, announcing she wasn't going to Northwood. And Ethan, standing beside me with his own acceptance letter, chose to follow her instead. "Northwood can wait. You're more important," he told Tiffany. He dropped his future onto the coffee table like trash. "You wouldn't understand, Sarah. This is something I have to do," he said to me, already casting me aside. His obsession to "save" Tiffany was already in motion. His twisted narrative was forming, just as it had before. He thought he was rewriting his past, but he was mirroring the delusion that killed me. A cold wave washed over me – he was convinced of his heroic path, even if it meant abandoning our shared dream. How could he not see he was stepping onto the same dangerous road? This man, who had crushed me once, was now alienating me, with a smirk on his face. I wouldn't beg him this time. My survival was paramount. I was back, and this second chance was mine to seize. Let him chase his ghost; I was going to rewrite my own destiny, without him.

It was supposed to be my ten-year anniversary, a glittering party celebrating a decade I’d devoted to building Ethan’s empire. As I stood under the opulent chandeliers, Chloe, his sister, beamed, raising a toast "to new beginnings"—then pressed divorce papers into my hand. The celebratory evening shattered, turning into a public nightmare. While Ethan schmoozed with his Ivy League "ideal," Victoria Vance, I suffered a violent miscarriage right there on the polished ballroom floor. His family hissed, stepping back as if I carried a plague, and Ethan’s only concern was for the “scene.” Later, I found my meager belongings shredded, my grandmother’s cherished letter torn, and “GET OUT” scrawled in my own lipstick on the bathroom mirror. How can a man, who knelt at my grandmother’s grave swearing eternal vows and built his fortune on her ancient wisdom, accuse me of being ungrateful? For ten years, I was the mud from his bayou origins he desperately tried to scrub away, yet the foundation of everything he built. Now he wanted to erase me completely? But when his sleek new fiancée arrived with bulldozers, threatening to desecrate my ancestors' precious burial ground, the meek "swamp girl" Elara they thought they'd broken finally snapped. Clutching my grandmother's secret, powerful seeds, I vowed to reclaim my power, one fiery breath at a time. They wanted a show? I was just getting started.

In order to meet Phil, I sacrificed my Demon Spirit. After going through countless hardships, I finally saw him. The first thing he said to me was, "Get out!" Not long after, I broke free from the mortal world and became an immortal. Meanwhile, he couldn't have the love he wanted and was trapped in the same place. I advised him to let go of his obsession.

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!"

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.

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."

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?

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."

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.

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."