Rabbit

As a wolfless charity case at the Hyde Pack's celebration, my world shattered when Braydon, my supposed protector, publicly announced Katherine Parrish as his Luna, erasing me. Heartbroken, I fled into a terrifying contract marriage with Alpha King Dallas Marshall for protection. Braydon's public assault and threats forced me to reveal my secret marriage, challenging the King. My "protection" felt like a prison. Braydon revealed I was a "key" to power, not a mate, confirming my fears. Enraged by my attempt to take a morning-after pill, Dallas forced me to swallow it, then branded my lips with a furious kiss. His chilling silence hardened my resolve. I immediately drafted an addendum to our contract, setting strict boundaries to reclaim control.

On my wedding day, my father sold me to the Chicago Outfit to pay his debts. I was supposed to marry Alex Moreno, the heir to the city's most powerful crime family. But he couldn't even be bothered to show up. As I stood alone at the altar, humiliated, my best friend delivered the final blow. Alex hadn't just stood me up; he had run off to California with his mistress. The whispers in the cathedral turned me into a joke. I was damaged goods, the rejected bride. His family knew the whole time and let me take the public fall, offering me his cousins as pathetic replacements-a brute who hated me or a coward who couldn't protect me. The humiliation burned away my fear, leaving only cold rage. My life was already over, so I decided to set the whole game on fire myself. The marriage pact only said a Carlson had to marry a Moreno; it never said which one. With nothing left to lose, I looked past the pathetic boys they offered. I chose the one man they never expected. I chose his father, the Don himself.

My fated mate, Alpha Kaden, watched me die slowly for three years while he groomed his mistress. When our pup withered and died inside me due to his neglect, he publicly accused me of murder. That was the day I stopped dying for him and started living to defy him. The Pack Healer confirmed our pup's soul returned to the Goddess; Kaden's weakened bond was literally killing me, forcing a procedure to remove the last physical tether. Immediately after, Kaden returned with Cori Mullins, his 'true love', and found me. He snarled accusations I'd destroyed his heir-a lie Cori eagerly reinforced. He dismissed my cries that he killed our baby, believing their narrative. My inner wolf gave a final gurgling howl as necrosis spread, and he swallowed Cori's lie that she, not me, saved him from rogues. I looked into his eyes and saw only disgust; he deemed my pain a performance, blind to the bond rotting me. Realizing he would never believe me, I formally rejected him as my Mate. He laughed, dismissed it as a tantrum, and refused to accept. But as he walked away, leaving me to die, I vowed to reclaim my life. I vanished into the night, determined to live for myself, whatever the deadly cost.

The acrid smell of smoke still clung to Evelyn in the ambulance, her lungs raw from the penthouse fire. She was alive, but the world around her felt utterly destroyed, a feeling deepened by the small TV flickering to life. On it, her husband, Julian Vance, thousands of miles away, publicly comforted his mistress, Serena Holloway, shielding her from paparazzi after *her* "panic attack." Julian's phone went straight to voicemail. Alone in the hospital with second-degree burns, Evelyn watched news replays, her heart rate spiking. He protected Serena from camera flashes while Evelyn burned. When he finally called, he demanded she handle insurance, dismissing the fire; Serena's voice faintly heard. The shallow family ties and pretense of marriage evaporated. A searing injustice and cold anger replaced pain; Evelyn knew Julian had chosen to let her burn. "Evelyn Vance died in that fire," she declared, ripping out her IV. Armed with a secret fortune as "The Architect," Hollywood's top ghostwriter, she walked out. She would divorce Julian, reclaim her name, and finally step into the spotlight as an actress.

My marriage to Joshua Caldwell was a prison sentence. I was a Hartman trophy, sold to the powerful family who had destroyed mine. Then I discovered he was cheating. His mistress was pregnant with the child he denied me, and he was stealing my secret song lyrics to build her career. When I confronted him, he called me a spineless liability and threatened to destroy what was left of my family. To make matters worse, a one-night stand with a stranger turned out to be with my husband's brother, Anthony Caldwell-the Don of the city. He knew all of Joshua's secrets and used them to trap me in a twisted game, seeing me as nothing more than an asset. They both thought I was a broken doll they could control. I wrote a song for his mistress, a beautiful execution with a single, impossible note I knew would destroy her voice. She sang it, and now her career is over. Now the Don has summoned me to Chicago, not knowing the woman he thinks is his asset is the one who just burned his brother's world to the ground.

For two years, I was the Alpha's secret wife, a duty he resented. But the positive pregnancy test in my hand was a miracle, a blessing from the Moon Goddess. This baby, our heir, was supposed to be the bridge that finally mended our broken mate bond. That night, he left without a word. I saw on a gossip site that he'd gone to pick up his ex-lover, Isadora. Reaching for him through our bond, I wasn't met with his usual coldness, but with her emotions bleeding through him-triumph and smug possession. The next morning, I went to his office, ready to tell him about our baby, believing our child could fix us. But I stopped when I heard him talking to our Pack Healer about me. The healer said I looked fragile, that he should care for his mate. My husband laughed. "You seem to care for her more than I do," Demetri said, his voice dripping with ice. "Do you want me to give her to you? Take her. She's of no use to me." My world shattered. I wasn't just unloved; I was a thing to be discarded. I looked down at the pregnancy report, the proof of the life inside me, and made a vow. He would never know about our child, and I would sever our bond myself.

Yelena discovered that she wasn't her parents' biological child. After seeing through their ploy to trade her as a pawn in a business deal, she was sent away to her barren birthplace. There, she stumbled upon her true origins-a lineage of historic opulence. Her real family showered her with love and adoration. In the face of her so-called sister's envy, Yelena conquered every adversity and took her revenge, all while showcasing her talents. She soon caught the attention of the city's most eligible bachelor. He cornered Yelena and pinned her against the wall. "It's time to reveal your true identity, darling."

My wealthy husband, Nathaniel, stormed in, demanding a divorce to be with his "dying" first love, Julia. He expected tears, pleas, even hysteria. Instead, I calmly reached for a pen, ready to sign away our life for a fortune. For two years, I played the devoted wife in our sterile penthouse. That night, Nathaniel shattered the facade, tossing divorce papers. "Julia's back," he stated, "she needs me." He expected me to crumble. But my calm "Okay" shocked him. I coolly demanded his penthouse, shares, and a doubled stipend, letting him believe I was a greedy gold digger. He watched, disgusted, convinced I was a monster. He couldn't fathom my indifference or ruthless demands. He saw avarice, not a carefully constructed facade. His betrayal had awakened something far more dangerous. The second the door closed, the dutiful wife vanished. I retrieved a burner phone and a Glock, ready to expose the elaborate lie he and Julia had built.

I, Serena Sterling, was infamous in our social circle for being ugly. Heavy bangs that hid my eyes, a face scattered with freckles, and clothes that never quite fit right made me unpleasant to look at. And yet, somehow, this very appearance caught Adrian Blackwood's attention. Even under pressure from his family, even as people mocked him for having a "taste for the ugly," he still insisted on marrying me. In the three years that followed, he spoiled me into becoming the most envied wife in our circle. I thought it was real love-the kind that saw past appearances and reached the soul. Until the day I stumbled upon ninety-nine love letters in his study-and a trust document bearing another woman's name. Only then did I realize that all his devotion had been nothing but a lie-one that turned me into a shield for the woman he truly loved. He had never loved me. Now that he had secured his position in the Blackwood family, he was finally free to be with her. I didn't argue. I handed him the divorce papers, wiped away the disguise that had made me "ugly," and disappeared from his life.

Nina had been by Julian's side for ten years, ostensibly as his personal doctor, but in reality, she was his lover. Whenever he was injured in conflicts, she treated him; during his moments of loneliness, she was there to comfort him. Nina believed that if she devoted enough, she would eventually win his heart. That was until his idealized love returned to the country, rendering Nina worthless in his eyes, and he discarded her like yesterday's news. Even his assistant couldn't bear to see it and advised Julian to appreciate her, but he scoffed at the suggestion. "Nina was never part of my life plan. I kept her around because she bore a slight resemblance to Aria." In that instant, Nina's infatuation seemed like a joke. When he wrapped his arm around his idealized love's waist, smiling as he asked her to help plan their wedding, Nina didn't cry or cause a scene; she just smiled through her tears and obediently agreed. Then she turned around and dialed a number. "There are seven days left in the ten-year commitment. I am applying for termination, and from now on, I will have nothing to do with Julian."

Julian Laurent was known as the most notorious playboy in Rivermont, changing girlfriends as often as he changed his clothes and treating marriage like a joke. Clara Sterling, on the other hand, had always been the most quiet and obedient daughter of the Sterling family. Raised as the heir since childhood, she had been flawless in every word and every gesture. A family-arranged marriage forced these two complete opposites into the same life. On their wedding night, Julian openly made out with a young model at a nightclub. For the first time, Clara cast aside her propriety, slapping him and demanding a divorce on the spot. But before the next day was over, their families had forced them to remarry. This time, Julian managed to stay faithful for a month before he cheated again. Clara filed for divorce once more, cutting ties with him completely. However, that very same day, it was revealed that Clara was not the real daughter of the Sterling family, and she was thrown out. At her lowest point, Julian found her and solemnly promised to protect her from then on. They remarried again, and from that day forward, the scandals surrounding Julian ceased. Everyone said Clara was lucky. Even her best friend insisted that Julian had truly settled down, and Clara believed it. Until she saw him in a hospital corridor, holding her best friend's hand, his voice strained with deep emotion, "I never liked her. You're the one I've always loved!" It turned out all of his tenderness had been a lie. This time, she walked away and never looked back. And the man who had once treated her as disposable only realized after she was gone that he had long since drowned in her quiet love, unable to escape.

"You cheated." I, Audra Frost, had just given birth, yet Kieran Ashford, my Alpha mate, publicly declared before the entire pack that I had betrayed him. All because the child in my arms bore an unfamiliar silver-white mark on his forehead. "That mark... doesn't it look like the White Wolf Mark from the legends?" someone whispered hesitantly. The hall fell into a brief silence. "White Wolf? Don't make me laugh," Elara Voss scoffed. "The White Wolves belong to royalty. And her? She doesn't even have a wolf." Suspicion turned into open mockery in an instant. I dropped to my knees, clutching the child tightly. "Kieran, he's your son." Kieran only looked at me, his gaze cold and distant. "The Silvermoon Pack does not tolerate tainted bloodlines." But what they didn't know-far away in the Northern Wilds, the White Wolf Royal Bloodline had already sensed that presence. "Find her."

To save the pack, my fated Alpha, Loren Vale, had sacrificed the wolf inside me with his own hands. He had promised to make me Luna. But when the Council of Elders branded me a curse, he had only said one thing. "Follow the rules," Loren said. I, Elena Whitmore, was offered up as a trophy to the most brutal Lycan King of Northreach. On the night of the full moon, he turned into a beast, his power spiraling out of control. Everyone else ran. Only I walked against the tide, closing the distance between us step by step. They were all waiting to see how I would die. But the moment I touched him, silver light erupted. The frenzy began to subside, and something ancient in the blood awakened.

Natalie Harrington never expected that less than a year after remarrying, Adrian Brown would cheat on her again. As the design director of Brown Group, she had worked late into the night once again. When she returned home, she saw the servants standing in a row at the foot of the stairs, blocking the way. The moment they spotted her, their faces turned deathly ashen. "Mrs. Brown... why are you back? Didn't Mr. Brown say you'd be working through the night and wouldn't be coming home? I... I'll go upstairs and ask him to come down." As the servant turned and went upstairs, Natalie heard the sounds coming from above. "Ah... that feels so good! Adrian, slow down, I can't take it..." "Go on. Louder. Natalie isn't home anyway. You can scream all you want." "You're so bad... ah!" Seeing Natalie's expressionless face, the servant asked nervously, "Mrs. Brown, I'll go tell Mr. Brown right away that you're back." "No need." Natalie turned and walked toward the dining room, her voice calm. "I'm hungry. Prepare a late-night meal for me." The servants were utterly shocked, not expecting her to remain so composed, unaware that she had already decided to divorce.

After ninety-nine punishments under the family rule, Clara Whitmore had finally earned her freedom to choose her own marriage. Dragging her weakened body, she hurried forward, desperate to share the news with her childhood sweetheart, Adrian Hayes. But what she saw instead froze her in place. Adrian was down on one knee, proposing-to Sienna Mercer, the girl who had once stolen her identity. "Sienna, marrying Clara was my responsibility... but loving you is instinct," he said. So love had been nothing more than a cruel joke. The man who once swore he would marry no one but her had already changed his heart. With her world collapsing around her, Clara dialed home. "I'll agree to the marriage alliance in Kingshaven," she said.

After seven years in a dungeon for a crime I didn't commit, my fated mate, the Alpha who let them drag me away, finally opened my cell door. He announced I would take my place as his Luna, not out of love, but because the law demanded it. But the moment a frantic mind-link came through that his precious Seraphina-my adopted sister, the one who framed me-was having trouble breathing, he abandoned me without a second glance. That night, huddled in a dusty shack, I overheard my own parents' secret conversation. They were planning to have me exiled. Permanently. My return had upset Seraphina, and her "weak heart" couldn't take the shock. I lay there in the darkness, feeling nothing. Not surprise. Not even pain. Just a profound, empty coldness. They were casting me out. Again. But as they plotted my exile, a secret message arrived for me-an offer of escape. A new life in a sanctuary far to the north, where I could leave the Blackmoon Pack behind forever. They thought they were getting rid of me. Little did they know, I was already gone.

When the boy I had loved in silence for five years dropped to one knee and proposed to the very girl who had bullied me, the entire room burst into laughter at my expense. "That fat, ugly Lydia Prescott actually thinks she has a shot with a mafia boss?" In a single night, I became the city's favorite punchline. I fled in humiliation. The next time I appeared, I had transformed. The weight was gone, and so was the ridicule. I stunned everyone into silence. Miles Calloway begged through tears for another chance, but I simply slipped my arm through the arm of the mafia godfather beside me and smiled. "Sorry. I'm married." The man rumored to be cold-blooded and untouchable pulled me closer and declared with chilling certainty, "Lydia is my wife." The room erupted. Only my best friend, Annie Sinclair, gasped, "Lydia, you seriously locked down my dad?"

Audrey had been abducted by the trusted housekeeper for ten years before finally returning to the Winslow family. Upon her return, she discovered that the housekeeper's daughter had been adopted as the Winslow family's own, and her fiancé was particularly attentive to this adopted daughter. In response, Audrey had the housekeeper imprisoned and evicted the adopted daughter from the house. However, her parents and fiancé berated her harshly, consistently siding with the adopted daughter. Feeling betrayed and unwelcome, Audrey decided to sever ties with the family.

"Anya, a 'wolfless' in a world of powerful werewolves, was invisible, drowning her sorrows and desperately lonely. One drunken text, a desperate cry for attention, accidentally reached the Alpha, pulling her into his terrifying orbit. Now, she's trapped, a pawn in his game, forced to warm his bed while he waits for his true mate, her heart breaking with every stolen moment. As a 'wolfless' in the Blackwood Pack, Anya felt like an outsider, always yearning for a connection. One night, in a drunken haze, a misdirected text meant for her best friend landed in Alpha Declan Blackwood's inbox: ""Send me something hot."" Minutes later, the most powerful, terrifying man in the Pack stood at her door, claiming her with a possessive kiss that ignited a dangerous, unwanted fire. The next morning, his cold indifference shattered her world. Publicly humiliated and instantly fired, Anya became a pariah. Her dying mother's urgent need for a million-dollar heart transplant left her with an impossible choice: accept the Alpha's cold, transactional marriage proposal or watch her mother die. She became his ""placeholder"" wife, a contract, not a partner, all while battling a confusing attraction to the man who treated her as property. Why did he demand her, only to remind her constantly of her worthlessness, especially when everyone knew he waited for his true mate? Her world crumbled when she overheard Declan tell his returning ""true mate,"" Kristin Larsen, that Anya was ""just a substitute."" Despite the crushing betrayal and a strange, unyielding pull, Anya, fueled by her mother's desperate need, vowed to survive this gilded cage and reclaim her life before she lost herself completely."

After five years of marriage, my husband is always absent on my birthday. No gifts, no blessings. He said, "I've given you the money, buy whatever you want." But he started preparing for Fiona's birthday half a month in advance. He said, "She's different, she only has me." As the sole survivor of a unexpected fire, he has been heartbroken for over a decade. Watching Fiona in Moments holding a cake and kissing his face. I slowly commented. 【Just this useless person, I'm giving him to you.】

Working during summer vacation, a strange customer threw hot milk tea at me and even damaged the machines in the store. The milk tea shop sided with the customer and even took all of my wages to compensate for the damages. When I went to argue about it, I was crushed into minced meat by a large truck on the way. Opening my eyes again, I found myself back at the moment when the customer threw milk tea at me.

This was the ninth time I had discovered women's clothing in my husband Carl Wade's storage cabinet that didn't belong to me. Each time, he brushed it off with excuses like "holding it for a colleague" or "a friend's prank," then hugged me tenderly and apologized. This time, what I found was a set of baby clothes. He still smiled and explained, "A new intern at the company is struggling financially. I'm just helping her out." I nodded and gently straightened his tie. "You're always so kind," I said. "Then let's go help her together right now." The smile on his face froze. Before he could come up with a new lie, I had already pulled him out the door and headed straight to the apartment across the hall. I knocked on the neighbor's door. The door opened, and our beautiful neighbor who had recently moved in and claimed to be single stood there holding a crying baby. She wore the exact same style of dress that had appeared in my husband's storage cabinet before. I smiled and looked at my husband's ashen face. "Honey, look how wonderful fate is. The intern you mentioned from the company turns out to live right across from us."

Kaelen was supposed to be my destiny. The future Alpha of our pack, my childhood love, and my fated mate. But one night, I smelled another woman on him-a sickly sweet Omega scent I knew all too well. I followed him and found them under the great oak, locked in a lover's kiss. His betrayal was a slow and deliberate poison. When his precious Omega, Lyra, staged a fall, he cradled her like she was made of glass. But when he sabotaged my saddle during a dangerous jump, causing my horse to throw me and break my leg, he called it a "warning" not to touch her. His care for me afterward was just damage control to avoid my father's suspicion. At a public auction, he used my family's money to buy her a priceless diamond, leaving me humiliated and unable to pay. I finally understood what I'd overheard on the pack's mind-link days before. To him and his brothers-in-arms, I was just a "pampered princess," a prize to be won for power. Lyra was the one they truly desired. He thought he could break me, force me to accept being second best. He was wrong. On the night of my 20th birthday, the night I was supposed to be bonded to him, I stood before two packs and made a different choice. I rejected him and announced my union with a rival Alpha, a man who sees me as a queen, not a consolation prize.

On the seventh anniversary of my marriage, I, Clara Hart, received two "gifts." One was an urgent alert from the embassy-armed conflict in Arkania was imminent, and all citizens were advised to evacuate immediately. The other was a message from my husband, Adrian Foster, "Pack your things. Wait for me downstairs. Ten minutes." I quickly packed an emergency kit and rushed downstairs. People around me were already evacuating in a panic, yet Adrian was nowhere to be seen. I called him, my voice trembling, only to be met with a cold, clipped response. "The car's packed with confidential company documents. There's no room left. Sophie has a severe fear of war. I need to get her out first." My blood ran cold. "What about me?" I asked, barely believing what I was hearing. Adrian clicked his tongue impatiently. "Clara, stop being so dramatic. Just take the embassy bus. It's the same." Explosions thundered in the distance, shattering everything I had believed in over the past seven years. Whatever love had once existed between us crumbled to dust. I stopped waiting. Slinging the emergency pack over my shoulder, I turned and walked away into the chaos of war.

As the New Year's dinner concluded and we prepared to leave, Miranda Wells, the manager, blocked my path and forced me to pay the bill. I firmly refused, but Miranda was tough. "I am doing you a favor by asking you to pay the bill! Who in this country would dare to defy anyone from the Harris family? Do you have a death wish?" She sneered, rolling up her sleeves and pointing at me before I spoke. "Do you know who I am? Nikolas Harris, the CEO of the Harris Group, is my husband! I am Mrs. Harris!" I was stunned. I was married to Nikolas, so why was Miranda claiming to be his wife? In the next moment, I called Nikolas at the spot. "Why am I unaware that you have another wife?"

My husband promised me forever, but gave me endless lies. On our anniversary, I found his secrets on social media, exposed by his mistress. He didn't just break my heart; he broke my entire world. Seraphina sat alone in her opulent mansion, preparing their anniversary dinner, feeling the suffocating weight of her cold, hollow marriage. An Instagram post from Tiffany Sloan then brazenly revealed Harrison's hand at a romantic dinner, shattering his flimsy excuses and exposing his blatant infidelity. The betrayal turned Seraphina's despair into cold resolve. He gaslighted her, dismissed her pain, and reminded her she was "nothing." He chose his mistress over her dying brother, caused her to break an ankle, and finally abandoned her on a desolate street corner, stripped of dignity. How could she have sacrificed her entire violin career for a man who so casually discarded her? Under that bridge, her foolish love died, leaving only a fierce desire for reclamation. Shivering and alone, a faded flyer for a violin teacher caught her eye. It was a defiant whisper of her old self, a promise: Seraphina Vanderbilt was gone, and a new Seraphina was finally free.

The rain assaulted the glass, mirroring the storm inside me. For three years, I, Vivian Sterling, played the perfect wife to Julian Kensington, draining my life. The antique clock ticked, a reminder of time lost. Then, I found it: a blonde hair on Julian's suit, reeking of Midnight Rose, and a text, ""Candy: You left your cufflinks on my nightstand. I'm already missing you."" My world shattered, revealing his betrayal. This was just the beginning. I exposed Julian's fraud and his family's violent plots, surviving assassination. But their malice stole my past. Then Alexander Vance, my protector, uncovered a terrifying truth: my birth mother was alive, held captive by a shadowy order. My life was a lie, built to shield me from my dangerous bloodline. I found strength and love with Alexander, the man who walked into fire for me. Yet, as I prepared to rescue my mother, a new life stirred within me, a secret threatening to complicate the impending war.

For three years, Dara endured endless humiliation to be the perfect wife to billionaire Donavon Monroe. But on their third anniversary, which was also her birthday, Donavon coldly threw divorce papers on the dining table. He wanted her gone for his returning childhood sweetheart, completely ignoring the blistering burn on Dara's hand—a cruel injury intentionally caused by his brother just hours ago. When Dara tearfully reminded him how she had bled and almost died to save his life three years ago, Donavon looked at her with pure disgust. "I have zero interest in looking at the ugly scars you picked up in whatever slum you crawled out of." He accused her of fabricating a savior complex just to secure a ring, perfectly content to let his mother and brother treat her like a glorified maid. Dara's heart completely shattered. She had sacrificed her life and dignity for a ruthless capitalist who viewed her as nothing but disposable trash. With her last shred of pride, she signed the papers, ready to leave this suffocating nightmare forever. But that night, a freak lightning storm struck the estate. When Dara opened her eyes the next morning, she felt incredibly heavy and her center of gravity was completely wrong. She looked in the mirror and saw Donavon's cold, chiseled face staring back at her in absolute terror. They had swapped bodies. Now, she held the absolute power of the Monroe empire, and Donavon was finally going to experience his family's vicious abuse firsthand.

Claire Sterling, the daughter of the Sterling family, and Ethan Quinn, a bodyguard within the Sterling Group's underworld operations, came from entirely different worlds, yet their love burned fierce and unstoppable. During a violent clash with a rival faction, Ethan risked his life to shield Claire. Back then, Claire had been held tightly in Ethan's arms. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him firing with cold precision, while his other hand covered her ears, shielding her from the deafening shots. Her heart had pounded wildly, and she found herself unable to look away from those deep, unfathomable eyes. To escape the marriage arranged by her family, Claire decided to run away with Ethan. But after waiting through an entire night in the rain, the only ones who came were the bodyguards sent by her father, forcing her into a marriage she never wanted. Claire had jumped from a moving car to escape, breaking three ribs. The moment she woke in the hospital, she called Ethan and sent ninety-nine emails... Every single message disappeared into silence. In the end, she forced herself to let go, and they went their separate ways. Five years later, when Claire returned home, she discovered that the CEO of her new company was none other than her ex-boyfriend. Ethan had transformed into the man in control of Quinn Group. On the surface, he mocked her at every turn, meeting her with cold hostility, yet behind the scenes, he shielded her from every harm. She thought her heart had long gone still, yet under his relentless pressure, it began to race out of control once more.

The daughter of the Winslow family and the mafia leader of the Yates Group were born as enemies, their families locked in a feud that spanned generations. And yet, somewhere in the clash of blades and pride, love took root. On the day they first met, Lucien Yates should have killed Mira Winslow. Instead, he shifted the aim of his gun and spared her-saving the proud, untouchable daughter of the Winslow family before him. She could have run after being saved. Instead, she chose to fall-straight into the depths of his gaze. For three years, they lived together in secret. Mira was the only light in his endless night. And for her, Lucien allowed himself a dangerous fantasy-a grand wedding in Silvera, where their love could finally break free from the chains of their families' hatred. At the height of their love, she was willing to abandon her family name for him. And he was willing to stand against the entire underworld for her. On his thirty-second birthday, Lucien saw it with his own eyes-Mira handing over a hundred-page document to the head of the Winslow family. Soon after, the Yates Group suffered a devastating blow. The pain tore through him, drowning everything else. He couldn't believe that the woman who had shared his nights... had betrayed him. Mira knew nothing. The moment she stepped outside, she was taken. Iron chains clamped around her ankles. Seawater flooded her throat. The executioner let out a cold laugh. "This is Lucien's order." Until her final breath, she believed it was the man she loved who had sentenced her to death.

On the fifth anniversary of their marriage, Evelyn did not receive a gift; instead, she received a wedding invitation featuring her husband and another woman. The bride was none other than the woman Evelyn had diligently cared for over the past five years, the woman who had been his unattainable ideal love, now awakened from her vegetative state. "If possible, I hope you can give the ceremonial address in our wedding," Adrian said, his eyes filled with unwavering anticipation, certain that she would agree as she always had. Evelyn tightened her grip on her phone in a wave of emotion, and after a moment of calm, nodded in agreement. Unbeknownst to Adrian, Evelyn's quick acquiescence came from having been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Today would become the day he would come to regret most in his life.

For four years of marriage, my husband, Julian Crawford, had avoided me, repulsed by my crippled legs, never once willing to touch me. And yet, in cruel contrast, my body betrayed me, my desires spiraling out of control. During a gynecological exam, under the hands of a stranger—a male doctor—I lost control, soft, broken sounds slipping from my lips. Outside the consultation room, my husband stood beside the woman he had never forgotten, Vanessa Whitmore, holding her in plain sight as he called me a "useless burden." The doctor adjusted my skirt for me, his fingertips brushing slowly along the side of my thigh. Then, in a low voice, he asked, "Do you want me to help you?"

Celine was a top negotiation expert in the police force, but she never imagined encountering her husband's assistant attempting suicide during a call to action. She rushed to intervene, only to discover her husband's affair with the assistant. To appease the assistant, her husband even tricked Celine into signing divorce papers. Heartbroken and disillusioned, Celine ultimately chose to divorce him and joined a secretive military boot camp, determined to sever all ties with the unfaithful man. Yet, the jerk was left in utter regret!

In my previous life, I, Claire Holloway, was eight months pregnant, kneeling in a storm, begging Lucas Ashford to save the bankrupt Holloway family. But he held his first love, Vanessa Wren, in his arms, looking down at me with cold disdain. "The Holloway family's downfall was orchestrated by me. Did you really think I'd fall for a spoiled rich girl like you? If it weren't for getting my revenge today, I'd have found even touching you disgusting." In despair, I died that freezing night—two lives lost with me. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day I was diagnosed with pregnancy. Lucas was gently peeling shrimp for me, smiling as he asked what kind of diamond ring I wanted. I looked at his hypocritical face and let out a quiet, cold laugh. This time, I wouldn't make the same mistake again.

After years of marriage, Adrian Foster still only spoke to me in bed. The moment he got out of it, the warmth vanished, replaced by cold indifference. I, Nora Bennett, had endured it all in silence, hoping that if I stayed obedient, he might show our daughter, Nina Foster, a little more care. Yet in his eyes, Sophia Graham was his one and only-the woman he put on a pedestal, shielding and indulging her at every turn. For her child, he had even taken my daughter's bone marrow. In that moment, I finally understood. I was nothing more than a pawn in his battle with the woman he truly loved. So I stopped holding on. I took my daughter and left without hesitation.

Serena, six months pregnant, continued to save lives on the battlefield, despite her severe illness. Her husband, Logan, who had once chosen her over his family, gave her life-saving medicine and prenatal care items to his lover, Amy. When the artillery struck, he let go of Serena's hand without hesitation to protect another woman, leaving Serena to collapse on the battlefield. Later, Serena earned the respect of everyone in the midst of conflict with her medical skills. Her ex-husband, eyes filled with remorse, knelt before her, saying, "I married her out of gratitude, I won't divorce..." Before Serena could respond, a gun was already aimed at Logan's forehead by the undisputed leader of the safe area. "Sign the divorce papers. She's with me now."

My grandmother died in a car accident. Ethan Griffin forced me to operate on his mistress, Tessa Langley's dog. At the family banquet, he looked down on me like a king. "Kneel and apologize to Tessa," Ethan said coldly. "Then I might forgive you." I, Nina Sterling, said nothing. In front of everyone, I lit the engagement contract and dropped the burning paper into a champagne glass, watching it curl into ashes. Then I turned and walked toward the man sitting in the corner in a wheelchair, Adrian Griffin, the one the Griffin family treated like their greatest disgrace. "Adrian," I said, bending slightly to meet his eyes. "Do you have the guts to gamble on this with me?" Ethan exploded in rage and lunged toward me. With a sharp click, the lighter in Adrian's hand snapped shut. He caught Ethan's wrist in a firm grip. Adrian lifted those dark, brooding eyes and spoke to Ethan in a voice that cut through the room. "Watch your manners. She's my wife."

During a snow-mountain expedition, an avalanche buried me alive. By the time they dug me out, the cold had already drained every last trace of warmth and life from my body. Julian Crowe dug through the snow with his bare hands for ten straight hours. His fingers were torn and bleeding by the time he finally pulled me out. Then he chartered a private jet and rushed me to the most elite private hospital for emergency treatment. Inside the thermal recovery chamber, a faint thread of consciousness returned to me. Through the haze, I heard Julian arguing with the doctor. "Weren't we supposed to amputate just to save her life? Why are you draining all of her hematopoietic stem cells too? Mr. Crowe, you're personally destroying her last chance of survival!" Julian's voice, usually so controlled, carried a chilling cruelty. "Letting her live safely and comfortably until today is already the greatest mercy I've ever shown her. The only woman who will grow old with me is Serena Vale. And the only thing that can save Serena is her life. She owes Serena that much, and now it's time to repay it." So the promise to live and die together had only been my own foolish fantasy. Julian had married me, Stella Hart, for one reason only. To turn me into a walking blood bank for his precious mistress. If that was the truth, then I would give them exactly what they wanted.

At the proposal ceremony, my husband, Ethan Carrington's so-called true love, Chloe Langley, showed up uninvited, her pregnant belly on full display as she crashed the event. I, Nora Whitmore, didn't argue. I didn't make a scene. I simply took off the engagement ring and returned it in silence. In my previous life, I had desperately forced him to drive Chloe away, which led to her getting into a car accident and losing the baby. Five years into our marriage, I finally became pregnant. But when I was about to give birth, Ethan personally pulled the life-support equipment from my bedside. With a cold laugh, he told me the child in my womb was nothing more than a bastard he had arranged with some street thug, just to get revenge on me. "You owe her this. Today you'll pay it back, along with that bastard child." I fought back with the last strength I had left and drove a shard of broken glass straight into his throat. When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the proposal ceremony. To hell with love. This time, I would take control of the company myself and make sure they lost everything.

My husband, Ethan Vance, glanced at the wrong intake report and thought I was the one dying of late-stage brain cancer. He instinctively stepped back. "The company's about to go public. Cash flow is tight. For the sake of the business, we should stop treatment." I clenched the real diagnosis in my coat pocket, the one with Ethan's name on it, and swallowed the impulse to save him. To force me out with nothing, he cut off my medical payments, transferred 50 million dollars in assets, and even sent our daughter to the Silverpeak Republic as leverage. A month later, at the Meridian Exchange celebration gala, he wrapped an arm around Bella Carrow, his mistress, and sneered at me. "How are you still alive?" The next second, blood gushed from his nose, splattering across Bella's white dress. As he convulsed and collapsed, I curved my lips into a cold smile. "Because the one who's terminally ill is you."