A Father's Betrayal: The Marrow

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.

Chapters

Chapter 5

For Nina's sake, I rented an apartment near the hospital.

Over the years, even though caring for a sick child left me with little time, I still made delicate jewelry pieces and sold them online.

Over time, I built up a group of loyal customers and managed to save a decent amount—enough to support basic living expenses.

As for Nina's future medical expenses, I would naturally ask Adrian for them.

As her father, that was his responsibility.

"Mom, I kind of miss Dad. He never used to stay away this long without coming to see me." At the dining table, Nina looked down, her voice low. "Does Dad not like me anymore? Is he really going to be someone else's dad?"

It had been a week since we moved. Aside from the call he missed on the first day, Adrian hadn't contacted us at all.

"No, that's not it. Dad's just been busy trying to find ways to treat your illness. Next week, I'll take you to see him, okay?"

I didn't want to see her upset.

Besides, once I finalized the details of the collaboration, it would be time to meet Adrian and move forward with the divorce procedures.

At the same time, Adrian had just left the hospital.

Mia's surgery had gone smoothly. Only then did he feel at ease enough to come look for me.

While waiting at a red light, Adrian lit a cigarette out of habit. As he rolled down the window, his pupils suddenly tightened.

In a café not far away, I was discussing plans to establish my own jewelry brand with a business partner, completely unaware of Adrian's call.

When I got home, Adrian was already standing at the door.

"I brought your favorite seafood salad. Let's talk inside."

Thinking of Nina, I silently took it and let him in.

In truth, I hadn't been able to eat seafood for a long time. After giving birth, I developed a severe allergy to it.

Even the cleaning staff at the Foster Estate knew that.

"You came at the right time. Let's settle the divorce today. I know you've always loved Sophia. I'm willing to step aside for her. I only have two conditions—Nina's custody must go to me, and three hundred million dollars in cash. I'll spend every cent of that on Nina. No matter what, you're still her father. She cares about you a lot, so I hope you'll come see her when you have time."

"Nora, when did I ever say I wanted a divorce?" Adrian dropped his usual impatience, his voice turning gentle. "If you leave me, what will you rely on to survive? The outside world isn't what it used to be."

He glanced around the 150-square-meter apartment before continuing, "How much money can those little things you make even bring in? It'd be hard just to cover the rent for this place. Nora, I just neglected you for a while. You've made your point. Come back home with me."

Adrian raised his hand to touch my head, but I stepped back and avoided him.

"It wasn't neglect. Adrian, you never cared about me at all."

But what about Nina?" I demanded, my eyes red. "She's your biological daughter! Do you even know her life-saving bone marrow is gone?"

The words that had been choking me finally burst out. My emotions broke loose completely, and I sobbed uncontrollably.

"I know. I know." A flicker of guilt passed through Adrian's eyes as he pulled me into his arms. "Nora, didn't you say before… that if it came to it, we could have another child? That way, we can definitely save Nina."

My heart wavered.

I had mentioned it before. But Adrian also knew that after giving birth to Nina, my body was no longer the same. Another pregnancy might be more than I could endure.

But now that he brought it up himself, it probably meant there were no other options left.

"Dad! You're here!"

Nina ran out, still half-asleep. After the initial excitement, she puffed up her cheeks and turned her face away.

Adrian knew exactly why she was upset. He had already prepared her favorite doll.

"Nina, I bought this just for you. Forgive me, okay? And I've decided—over the next three days, I'll take you and Mom to a hot spring resort. I'll stay with you the whole time. I won't leave at all!"

Nina's eyes lit up. Adrian lifted her into his arms and shot me a glance.

I was still hesitating when Nina looked at me eagerly, "Mom! Mom! I want to go!"

Nina hadn't been this happy in days. I didn't want to disappoint her, so I nodded in agreement.

Continue to next part

In my past life, the Cerberus strain leaked, turning the world into a blood-soaked hell of rotting flesh and mutated monsters. I thought my boyfriend Declan and my best friend Hailee would have my back as we fled the quarantine zone. Instead, when the surging crowd of the infected cornered us, they didn't hesitate. They shoved me backward into the horde just to buy themselves three seconds to run. As I fell into the mud, I saw them fleeing without a single backward glance. "She's dead weight anyway!" Hailee screamed. "Just keep running, she'll distract them!" Declan yelled back. I was torn apart, feeling the agonizing tear of rotting teeth sinking into my neck and the hot spray of my own blood. Before the apocalypse, my greedy uncle had locked away my ten-million-dollar trust fund, leaving me with nothing but a fake boyfriend who only wanted me for my money. Until my last breath, I couldn't understand how the people I loved most could trade my life for a head start. Why did I blindly trust them? Why didn't I see through their perfectly choreographed lies? Opening my eyes again, the stench of decaying flesh vanished, replaced by the sterile smell of my college dorm room. Hailee and Declan were standing over my bed, faking tears of concern over my meningitis fever. I was back exactly seven days before the world ended, and my spatial vault ability had come back with me. This time, I'm extorting my uncle for every cent, hoarding the city's supplies, and leaving them all to rot.

Action Horror Modern Sci-Fi

8.0

Our Marriage: A Twisted Revenge

8.0

My husband, Aiden, brought his mistress to a gala. She was carrying my clutch bag, a gift from him. He was laughing, daring me to make a scene. But the ultimate cruelty wasn't the affair. It was when he brought up my kidnapping from ten years ago, using my deepest trauma as a weapon to publicly shame me. His mistress, Ember, piled on, her voice dripping with false pity. "Oh, Julia, I just can't imagine what you went through. Aiden told me everything. How you were… so damaged." I suddenly realized who she was: the daughter of the man who had orchestrated my kidnapping. This wasn't just an affair; it was a long-con revenge plot to destroy the company I had sacrificed everything to save. Aiden, the man who once swore to protect me, was her willing pawn. His cruelty had already cost me our unborn child years ago. In that moment, the last bit of love I had for him turned to ice. He thought he was breaking me. He had no idea he was just handing me the keys to his destruction.

Action Modern Romance

9.6

Revenge Marriage: The Jilted Ballerina's Comeback

9.6

I stood in the ballroom of the Pierre Hotel, holding a champagne flute that felt like a fragile anchor against a rising tide of anxiety. Across the room, the crowd of New York's elite parted as my fiancé, Campbell Brock, stepped onto the stage to announce a historic merger-and a shocking engagement to someone else. "I am proud to announce my engagement to Kandice Rose," he said, pulling the "real" daughter of the family into his arms while looking right through me as if I were a ghost. I dropped my glass, the crystal shattering at my feet, but the public humiliation was only the beginning. By the next morning, I was a viral meme dubbed the "Meltdown Girl," and the American Ballet Theatre had suspended me from my position as principal dancer for "moral turpitude." My bank accounts were frozen, my reputation was in tatters, and Kandice was on a livestream tearfully claiming I was a jealous foster girl who had tried to seduce Campbell behind her back. I had spent four years building a life with this man, only to be discarded like a piece of old wallpaper the moment a better business deal came along. How could the man who promised me a future turn me into a national joke overnight, and why was the world so eager to believe I was the villain in my own tragedy? When my high school best friend, the notorious billionaire playboy Charlton Bernard, found me drinking tequila in a dive bar, he didn't offer me a shoulder to cry on. He slid a marriage contract across the table and pressed a black titanium credit card into my hand. "Marry me for a year, Daphne," he said, his eyes burning with a dark, protective intensity that made my heart race. "We'll join their reality show as newlyweds and show the world exactly who the real winner is." I looked at the card, then at the man who had always been my shadow, and realized that being sensible had only gotten me dumped on a stage. "Let's go get married."

Action Modern Romance

7.5

Stepbrother's Dangerous Obsession

7.5

I didn't fall for him. I crashed. Liam Cage wasn't supposed to matter. He was just the arrogant stranger with a dangerous smile and eyes that undressed me in a single glance. Just a man passing through my life. Until our parents got married. Now he's everywhere, in the kitchen at midnight, leaning against doorframes like he owns the air I breathe. In the hallway, too close. Always too close. Every look between us feels like a secret. Every argument feels like foreplay. Every silence feels loaded. We don't talk about it. We don't have to. Because the truth is there in the way my pulse stutters when he says my name. In the way he watches me like he's trying to decide whether to ruin me - or save me. He's wrong. For me. For my family. For my sanity. But when he touches me, the world narrows down to skin and heat and the terrifying realization that some mistakes don't feel like mistakes at all. They feel inevitable. This story is about craving what you shouldn't, crossing lines you swore you wouldn't, and discovering that sometimes the most dangerous love is the one that feels the most real.

Action Mafia Romance

7.0

Stolen Heart, A Mother's Revenge

7.0

My five-year-old daughter, Lily, was dying. I used my entire tech fortune to secure a donor heart, a last-ditch effort to save her. The only surgeon I trusted to perform the transplant was her father, my husband, Graham. But on the day of the surgery, he vanished. He diverted the heart I bought to another child-the daughter of his mistress, Bella Savage. Lily died. As her heart monitor flatlined, Graham called not to console me, but to celebrate the successful surgery for his lover's child. He blocked my number as I screamed for him. He didn't even come to the funeral. He called me selfish. He said I didn't deserve to be a mother. He stood at our daughter's grave and asked her to forgive the little girl who now had her heart. My love for him died with our daughter, replaced by a cold, surgical rage. He thought he had destroyed me. He had no idea he had just created the monster who would incinerate his entire world.

Action Mystery Romance

8.0

The Empress Who Buries Her Past

8.0

I sacrificed my womb and my youth to build Alec' s architectural empire from the shadows. He repaid me by bringing his mistress, Billie, to frame me for plagiarism and destroy my reputation. When my father suffered a massive heart attack, Billie used her influence to block his life-saving surgery. Alec held my dying father' s life hostage, forcing me to my knees in front of the woman who ruined me. "Apologize to her, Cydney," he commanded, "or I pull the plug." I begged. I scraped my dignity off the floor. But they let my father die anyway. Discarded and humiliated, I vanished in a plane crash, leaving only a wedding ring in a landfill. Years later, at a global summit, Alec watched his company crumble under the attacks of a ruthless new rival. He grabbed the woman in the emerald dress, his hands trembling as he recognized the eyes he thought were gone forever. "Cydney? You're alive?" I smiled, cold as ice. "Ms. Frazier is dead, Alec. I' m the one who' s going to bury you."

Action Billionaire Modern

A Father's Betrayal: The Marrow

Chapter 5

You may also like