"You are nothing but a whore like your mother!" He had snarled and left her with crutches in the rain. That was the last thing he had said to her years ago. Now she was back in his life as his PA... After a high school relationship that never should have been, Louis breaks Zoe's heart when she needed him the most and blamed her for his father eloping with her mother. After years of picking up the broken pieces of her life and heart, they meet again. But Zoe Carter is here not for an income, she is back for revenge. She finds out that the perpetrators are the very organization that Louis is suspected to be tied to. The Mafia. What Is it that Zoe's mother knows that makes a target? Where is Louis' father? Will Zoe alone face this new woe in her life and get the revenge she so desperately wants? Or will she be pushed into the arms of Louis, her enemy when she goes asking for help?
Zoe's POV
"I love you," I whispered as Louis planted a kiss on my forehead.
He rested his forehead on mine and smiled. "I love you too. You are my world."
The memory dissolved, pulling me back to the present and its harsh reality.
Louis loomed over me, his face twisted with undiluted loathing. His azure eyes bored into mine as he sneered. "Fucking bitch," he spat.
It felt like being slapped repeatedly. I looked up at him from my wheelchair, unable to rise and cradle his face like I used to, to bring him back to me, to the person who showered me with love just yesterday afternoon.
"Answer me!" he growled, taking a step closer.
It all felt like a nightmare, yet it was real. My tears slid down my burnt cheek, the salt stinging the wound. "Louis..." I mumbled, my voice breaking. "I don't know what you are talking about," I insisted.
But my words only agitated him more. "Jennie told me you would deny it."
My eyes widened at the mention of my bully, who had tormented me throughout school. What had Jenny told Louis to make him believe her?
"She was right about you. You are nothing but a cheap gold digger," he continued, each word a bullet to my heart.
"I am as clueless as you are!" I tried to tell him, but the fire had left my throat sore. First, the fire that almost killed my family, then my mother's and brother's sudden disappearance from the hospital, and now Louis's accusation. Each time I believed things couldn't get worse, they did.
"You helped your mother elope with my father," he said through gritted teeth, "and then you deny it to my fucking face!" he yelled.
I quivered in my wheelchair. I loved Louis more than I could ever love myself, but I wanted nothing more than to turn around and run. He did not look like the man I loved. He looked like a stranger.
"It's your fault my mother is dying," he pointed an accusatory finger at me.
I couldn't take it anymore. It was all too much. "Louis, look at me!" I screamed, my tears a salt stream down my flushed and wounded face. "What do you see? I am injured, I almost died! I am in no condition to conspire with my mother. I had nothing to do with them eloping."
Louis let out a bone-chilling laugh, but it lacked joy. It was an empty sound. "You think you're the victim in this? You have always been a fucking witch, and now your exterior finally matches your interior."
His expression remained cold and unforgiving in the face of my pain. I would never get through to him. He had completely turned his back on me.
"You are going to have to talk at some point. You can't keep trying to protect your mother. I'll make sure of it. You thought your life was hell before? Just wait and see what happens when you make me an enemy." His voice was low and filled with the promise of his threat. "I will make you wish for death."
The door opened suddenly, and in stepped someone who made my blood run cold.
"Louis!" Jennie said gleefully before jumping to hug him.
My stomach turned at the sight before me.
Jennie looked up at Louis. "Did she confess?" she asked.
"No," he replied.
Jennie turned her villainous dark eyes on me, making me squirm in my wheelchair. "Then it seems she will need a little push," she said with a sinister glint in her eyes.
A chill ran down my spine. "You believe her words over mine?" I couldn't quite wrap my mind around it. Just a few months ago, Louis had rejected Jenny in front of everyone and chosen me instead.
"Be careful how you speak about my fiancée," Louis murmured.
My heart dropped at his words. The promise ring he had given me suddenly felt like it was throbbing. My mind raced, trying to comprehend the betrayal unfolding before me. Louis's sudden change in attitude, left me feeling dizzy and disoriented.
The weight of Louis's words hung heavily in the air, suffocating me. How could he so easily cast aside our love, our shared dreams, for the poison whispered by my tormentor?
Tears welled up even more in my eyes as I struggled to find my voice amidst the chaos of emotions swirling inside me. "Louis, please," I pleaded, my voice barely a whisper. "You know me. You know I would never betray you."
But Louis's expression remained cold and impassive, his eyes fixed on Jenny with a determination that sent a shiver down my spine.
Jennie's laughter cut through the tension like a knife, sending a chill down my spine. "Looks like the little witch finally got what's coming to her," she sneered, her eyes glittering with malice.
"You gave me a ring!" I yelled. "Promised me..."
"I promised you nothing!" Louis fired back. "But I promise you suffering beyond anything you have ever experienced if you do not tell me my father's location."
"I don't know!" I said, exasperated. "I really don't."
"Then I'll have a little fun ruining your life," he grinned.
"You can't do that," I said more to myself. "I am carrying your child."
Louis's eyes widened slightly before the cold mask of indifference returned.
"So?"
The single word brought my world crashing down. "Louis..."
"You opened your legs like your mother and got pregnant, and you think that will sway me. You are fucking pathetic."
"Bruce," Louis called. "Get her out of here."
The guard guided my wheelchair out of the Blackwell mansion. I tried to withhold my tears but failed when Louis said his parting words. "Get ready for a war, Zoraya Carter."
Jennie's shrill cackle followed me out of the mansion, a sound that would resound in my nightmares for years to come.
Louis Rodriguez, heir to the city's largest conglomerate, hates one person the most: the woman who tore his family apart, his father's mistress. When her daughter enrolls in his elite school as a scholarship student, he vows to rain hell on her. But Zoraya Carter is nothing like he imagined. Tenacious and beautiful, she puts him in a horrible dilemma. He wants nothing more than to destroy her, yet he craves her with every breath. A forbidden romance blooms, only to be crushed when a horrible tragedy strikes. Years later, they meet again, with Zoraya as his secretary. Despite their enmity, desires rise from the ashes, ready to ignite once more. Will they let the inferno of their desires engulf them again, or will they be torn apart by the secrets and mysteries that haunt them?
"Sign the divorce papers and get out!" Leanna got married to pay a debt, but she was betrayed by her husband and shunned by her in-laws. Seeing that her efforts were in vain, she agreed to divorce and claimed her half of the properties. With her purse plump from the settlement, Leanna enjoyed her newfound freedom. The constant harassment from her ex's mistress never fazed her. She took back her identities as top hacker, champion racer, medical professor, and renowned jewelry designer. Then someone discovered her secret. Matthew smiled. "Will you have me as your next husband?"
Elena, once a pampered heiress, suddenly lost everything when the real daughter framed her, her fiancé ridiculed her, and her adoptive parents threw her out. They all wanted to see her fall. But Elena unveiled her true identity: the heiress of a massive fortune, famed hacker, top jewelry designer, secret author, and gifted doctor. Horrified by her glorious comeback, her adoptive parents demanded half her newfound wealth. Elena exposed their cruelty and refused. Her ex pleaded for a second chance, but she scoffed, “Do you think you deserve it?” Then a powerful magnate gently proposed, “Marry me?”
On the day of their wedding anniversary, Joshua's mistress drugged Alicia, and she ended up in a stranger's bed. In one night, Alicia lost her innocence, while Joshua's mistress carried his child in her womb. Heartbroken and humiliated, Alicia demanded a divorce, but Joshua saw it as yet another tantrum. When they finally parted ways, she went on to become a renowned artist, sought out and admired by everyone. Consumed by regret, Joshua darkened her doorstep in hopes of reconciliation, only to find her in the arms of a powerful tycoon. "Say hello to your sister-in-law."
On her wedding day, Khloe’s sister connived with her groom, framing her for a crime she didn’t commit. She was sentenced to three years in prison, where she endured much suffering. When Khloe was finally released, her evil sister used their mother to coerce Khloe into an indecent liaison with an elderly man. As fate would have it, Khloe crossed paths with Henrik, the dashing yet ruthless mobster who sought to alter the course of her life. Despite Henrik’s cold exterior, he cherished Khloe like no other. He helped her take retribution from her tormentors and kept her from being bullied again.
It was supposed to be a marriage of convenience, but Carrie made the mistake of falling in love with Kristopher. When the time came that she needed him the most, her husband was in the company of another woman. Enough was enough. Carrie chose to divorce Kristopher and move on with her life. Only when she left did Kristopher realize how important she was to him. In the face of his ex-wife’s countless admirers, Kristopher offered her 20 million dollars and proposed a new deal. “Let’s get married again.”
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."