Past And Present
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The Tycoon's Wrath: Protecting His Surgeon Queen
"You want a divorce? Fine. Complete an IVF cycle, give me an heir to unlock my trust fund, and I'll sign the papers." In the dim underground garage, my cheating husband gripped my wrist tightly, his face twisted in a mocking sneer. "Stop dreaming, Ellie. Your family is bankrupt! You think if you leave me, some Wall Street billionaire is going to be blind enough to be your knight in shining armor?" Looking at his arrogant face, I felt nothing but pure disgust. For three years of a dead marriage, he paraded his mistress into our marital bed, letting her wear my clothes and carry my bags. When I demanded a divorce, my own vain mother tried to force me back to be his incubator, all for a seven-million-dollar bribe. "I'd rather die than have your child." I looked at him coldly and slammed the "PETITION FOR DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE" right into his face. Infuriated, he tightened his grip on my arm, ready to explode. Just then, blinding LED headlights tore through the darkness of the garage. A custom black Bentley Mulsanne glided silently out of the shadows, stopping inches behind us. The tinted window rolled down, revealing a sharp, lethally handsome face. The most ruthless, untouchable billionaire on Wall Street-Cosmo James. He also happened to be my husband's former best friend. Cosmo's ice-blue eyes locked onto the hand gripping my arm. His deep voice cut through the freezing air like a blade: "Take your hands off her." Cosmo leaned slightly forward, radiating sheer, predatory authority. A cold, ruthless smirk touched his lips. "You asked which Wall Street billionaire is going to be her knight in shining armor." "It's me."
Chapter 1
After a grueling thirty-six-hour shift in the neurosurgery ward, a blizzard hit Manhattan. Ellie had called her husband, hoping he could pick her up, only to have him coldly reject her.
Braving the freezing snow, she pushed open the heavy oak doors of their Upper East Side townhouse and walked straight upstairs, only to look through the half-open master bedroom door and see her husband's new assistant lying on the marital bed she had once poured her heart into decorating, wearing her favorite silk robe.
Hearing the noise outside the door, Vanessa Hayes scrambled off the marital bed in a fluster. She deliberately tugged at the loose collar of the robe, revealing a fragile panic. "Mrs. Oliver, you're home early."
Ellie's eyes were like a pool of stagnant water. There was no anger, only the chilling, numb detachment of a surgeon looking at medical waste.
Three years of marriage with this man. She and Ephram had long gone from being the envied campus couple to a pathetic, shattered reality. Ephram's infidelity was an open secret, and she, once cherished in the palm of his hand, had been thoroughly reduced to a despised, discarded wife.
"You're quite special," Ellie said coldly. "Ephram has never brought another woman back here."
This townhouse was their marital home, bought three years ago when they got married.
A flash of triumph flickered in Vanessa's eyes as she softly explained, "Mr. Oliver had too much to drink. I drove him back."
Ellie hadn't seen Ephram in two months.
Two months ago, on her twenty-eighth birthday, she was eating dinner alone at a five-star hotel restaurant when she ran into him having a candlelight dinner with a young model.
She had marched up, slapped him across the face, and screamed at him with a twisted expression for being disgusting and shameless.
Ephram had only offered a chilling sneer, telling Ellie to look in the mirror and see what she had become. Then, he wrapped his arm around the model's waist and went straight to the penthouse suite to have sex.
That night, Ellie returned to this massive, empty house and smashed every fragile thing in sight. Looking at her unrecognizable face in the mirror, she suddenly broke down into loud, agonizing sobs.
How did she become this? How did she turn into such a hysterical, miserable woman?
After that night, Ellie moved out of this townhouse. Ephram never came looking for her.
She heard he broke up with the model shortly after, but she didn't expect him to find a new replacement so quickly.
Looking at Vanessa's triumphant face, Ellie felt a wave of cold disgust finally break through her numb facade.
"Take off my robe," Ellie demanded, her voice dropping to a freezing edge.
Before Vanessa could react, the master bathroom door clicked open.
Ephram stepped out, his hair damp from the shower, wearing nothing but a white towel wrapped loosely around his waist. Seeing Ellie in the doorway, his patience immediately vanished. He walked over and pulled Vanessa into his bare chest.
"You startled her, Ellie," Ephram scolded.
Vanessa's eyes immediately watered. She shrank back into Ephram's embrace.
"Miss Stark, you misunderstood," Vanessa whispered, her voice trembling perfectly on cue. "I accidentally spilled wine on my dress. Ephram just told me to put this on so I wouldn't freeze."
The deliberate use of "Miss Stark" instead of "Mrs. Oliver" hung heavily in the air.
Ellie's hands tightened inside the pockets of her wool coat. Her knuckles turned bloodless white against the lining.
Ephram frowned, his patience visibly wearing thin.
"It's just a piece of fabric, Ellie. Do you have to make a scene out of every minor detail? Where are your manners?"
"Manners are reserved for decent people," Ellie said.
She pulled her right hand from her pocket, holding a stiff manila folder.
She stepped forward and slapped the folder down onto the black-and-white marble vanity. The sharp crack echoed through the spacious bedroom.
Ephram's eyes dropped to the paper. Printed across the top in bold black letters, the header was impossible to miss: Divorce Settlement Agreement.
The room fell dead silent. Vanessa's rehearsed expression of distress froze on her face as she stared at the title.
"Sign it, Ephram," Ellie said, looking directly at him like a doctor delivering a terminal diagnosis.
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Past And Present
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Past and Present.
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Picturesque Sketches of London, Past and Present
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British Airships, Past, Present, and Future
A detailed history of British airships, including an overview of the history of airships in general. Originally published in 1919.
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British Airships, Past, Present, and Future
British Airships, Past, Present, and Future by George Whale
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When His Past Met Present
My argument with Jake still echoed, his excuses about Emily ringing in my ears. I drove to our old, tiny apartment, a monument to a past that now felt like a cruel joke. My comfortable suburban life, built on what I realized was a lie, mocked me. My Jake, the boy I married, was gone, replaced by a
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The Irish Race in the Past and the Present
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Women Wage-Earners: Their Past, Their Present, and Their Future
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An Uncertain Present
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Painful Past
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Haunted by the past and tormented with doubt about the future, a young troubled writer must overcome obstacles, question her beliefs and accept the cabalistic to discover her heritage.
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His Christmas Present
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The weary old nineteenth century had advanced into the last twenty years of its life. Towards two o’clock in the afternoon, Ovid Vere (of the Royal College of Surgeons) stood at the window of his consulting-room in London, looking out at the summer sunshine, and the quiet dusty street. He ha
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Her bloody past
Don'ton't hurt me please, I will do whatever you asked me but, chaining me won't solve anything. "You're my Damon spat angrily as he yanked her closer to himself. Liliana thought she has escaped from her abusive parents, and she has eventually have the freedom she deserves but what happened when she
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When Anabelle turned eighteen, she started having dreams, they haunted her every night. Plagued by recurring dreams about the forest with the strange vampire, then the dreams turned to her seeing this poor girl being tormented by her people, and eventually set ablaze, murdered for defending the vamp
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Haunted by the past
Tina is born in a traditional family who hold traditional values sacred, but a whim of obsession which she mistakes for love makes her defy the ways of the tradition. The gods are not happy, but it's too late for her and she can't avoid the repercussions because it's the will of the gods.
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