A Love That Never Was

I was a brilliant scientist, but in my family, I was always the shadow to my perfect, manipulative sister, Jetta. On the day I was set to receive the prestigious Harrison Award, my family was only focused on her graduation party, dismissing my life's work as a mere hobby. That same day, I was brutally attacked in my own lab. The men who did it used Jetta's keycard and sneered that she sent them to "teach me a lesson" and put me in my place. Bleeding out on the cold floor, I made one last desperate call to my fiancé, Hayden. "Stop being so dramatic," he snapped before hanging up. "This is Jetta's big day. Don't you dare ruin it for attention." My mother came downstairs, saw nothing but a mess, and left a voicemail scolding me for being selfish. My soul ripped free from my body, forced to watch them celebrate. I saw the love in Hayden's eyes-not for me, but for Jetta. To them, my death was just another one of my "attention-seeking stunts." Now, as a ghost trapped in my own home, I watch them find my body and slowly piece together their neglect from my journal. But they've overlooked the one thing that will expose it all: the memory pendant around my neck, which recorded every horrifying second of the truth.

Chapters

Chapter 2

The soft glow of my laptop screen illuminated the delicate lines of my research data, a symphony of numbers and graphs that represented four years of my life, my heart, my soul. Tonight was the night. The Harrison Award ceremony. I had chosen a simple, elegant dark blue dress, a stark contrast to the lab coat I usually lived in. A small tremor of excitement, a foreign sensation, ran through me. Maybe, just maybe, tonight would be different. Tonight, they would see.

A sudden, jarring crash from the back of the lab made me jump. My heart hammered against my ribs. What was that? I wasn't expecting anyone. My lab was secure, or so I thought. Dread, cold and sharp, began to creep up my spine.

"Hello?" I called out, my voice trembling slightly. No answer. Only the scuffling of feet.

Then, the door to the storage room burst open, revealing two figures, hulking shadows against the dim emergency lights. They wore dark clothes and masks. My breath caught in my throat. Robbers? Here? Now?

Before I could react, I was overwhelmed, a sense of powerlessness washing over me as they moved with a swift, brutal efficiency. I cried out, struggling, but they were too strong. My eyes darted around, searching for an escape, anything.

"How… how did you get in?" I gasped, my voice hoarse with terror. My lab was locked, secured with a top-of-the-line system.

One of them, the taller one, chuckled, a chilling sound from behind his mask. He held up a familiar silver keycard. My stomach dropped. I recognized it instantly. The implication was a cold stone sinking into my gut. Jetta? No, it couldn't be.

"What do you want?" I pleaded, my voice cracking. "I don't have anything valuable here, just my research. Take whatever you want, just… please don't hurt me."

"Oh, we're not here for valuables, Dr. Crane," the other one sneered, his voice raspy. "We're here for you. And your precious research." He gestured toward my laptop, then back to me. "Someone wants you to learn your place."

Jetta. The name echoed in my mind, a cold, hard certainty. My sister. She had sent them. The thought was more horrifying than the masked men in front of me.

"Please," I begged again, tears streaming down my face. "Don't. I'll do anything. Just let me go."

They ignored me. My pleas were met with another sneer. The taller one grabbed my arm, twisting it painfully behind my back. I cried out as he shoved me towards a heavy metal table, the kind used for dissection. My head grazed the cold steel.

"Get her on the table," the raspy voice commanded.

Panic surged through me. This was more than a "lesson." This was an attack. I fought with a ferocity I didn't know I possessed, kicking, scratching, biting. I bit the taller one's hand. He roared in pain, his grip loosening for a fraction of a second.

His rage was a palpable force. He raised his free hand and struck me with a sudden, blinding force. My head snapped back, hitting the edge of a heavy lab equipment. A flash of white light exploded behind my eyes, and then the world dissolved into darkness.

I felt a strange detachment, as if I were floating above my own body. The men, their faces now contorted with a different kind of fear, stumbled back.

"She's bleeding!" one of them gasped, his voice high-pitched. "Too much. Boss said only a lesson!"

"Damn it, she hit her head! Let's get out of here!"

I heard their frantic whispers, their hurried footsteps, then the slam of the lab door. They were gone. They had left me. Alone.

My vision blurred, the lab lights swimming before my eyes. My hand instinctively reached for my phone, which had fallen from my pocket during the struggle. It was cracked, but still on. One last desperate act. I felt a surge of adrenaline, a primal will to survive. My head was pounding, the world spinning. I couldn't see the screen, but I knew the familiar pattern. My thumb fumbled, pressing the emergency contacts. I had set up a quick dial for Hayden, my fiancé. He was the only one who might answer.

The phone rang, a distant, tinny sound. I heard a click.

"H-Hayden," I rasped, my voice barely a whisper. "Help… I'm… I'm hurt. In the lab… please…"

A moment of silence on the other end. Then Hayden's voice, laced with frustration, not concern. "Cheslie? What is it now? I told you, I'm already on my way to Jetta's party. This is not the time for your dramatics."

My heart, already shattered, splintered further. "No… not dramatics… I'm bleeding… bad…"

"Bleeding?" he scoffed. "Seriously? What, did you cut yourself on a test tube? Look, I'm busy. Jetta needs me. Stop trying to ruin her night for attention. I don't know what kind of stunt this is, but it's not working. Just clean yourself up and come to the party. Or don't. I don't care. Just don't call me with this nonsense again."

He hung up. The line went dead.

My vision faded to black. A bitter, ironic thought was my last companion. They wouldn't come. They never would. Jetta's wish. She had always wanted me gone. Now, she had her wish. And I was finally free. The cold embrace of unconsciousness, or something more, welcomed me.

Continue to next part

I died alone in the medical wing giving birth to our son. "Tell her to calm down and stop the theatrics." Those were the last words my mate, the Alpha, said about me while I bled out. Instead of passing on, my soul was tethered to the packhouse. I was forced to watch my best friend Seraphina seamlessly step into my life, taking my baby and my husband before my body was even cold. To secure her place, she planted my blood-soaked birthing blanket in the woods to frame me for faking my own kidnapping. Ryker swallowed her lies completely. He refused to send a search party, telling the entire pack my disappearance was just a pathetic plea for attention and money. As a helpless ghost, I watched Seraphina brainwash my one-year-old son into calling her his mother and teach him to joyfully trample my beloved garden. "Bad mommy ran away. Don't love Kaelen." Hearing my own child parrot those venomous words was a dagger to my soul. Whenever anyone questioned my absence, Ryker fiercely defended her, dismissing the desperate warnings of my loyal friends and his own elders. The man I loved and died for treated my memory like a malicious joke, grateful for an excuse to replace me while living with my murderer. But when Seraphina's mask finally slipped, and the horrifying truth of my death crashed down on him, it was far too late. Seeing him crumble in agonizing regret brought me no comfort. I no longer wanted his love or his desperate apologies. Now, I only wanted his absolute ruin.

Horror Romance Werewolf

8.1

Project Chimera

8.1

The monsters they created have come home. George Alvarez, a Miami police officer, thought it would be just another patrol. Instead, he's forced into chaos, fighting to protect civilians in a mall overrun by predators not born of nature, while struggling to keep his life long secret. Survival is the only priority. Former Dr. Bridget Carter never intended to unleash hell. Once a rising star in genetic science, she walked away from the illegal experiments that twisted DNA into something unnatural, something alive. Now a quiet mother trying to forget, she finds herself trapped in Miami's crowded Bayside Mall... just as the creatures she once helped design break loose. As bodies fall and exits vanish, Bridget, George, and a small group of strangers, including a fading boxer, a disciplined fighter, and a scientist with dangerous knowledge, must navigate a maze of terror, uncover what went wrong, and stop the creatures before they reach the city beyond. But these aren't mindless beasts. They evolve. They hunt with intent. And they remember the people who made them. "The past never dies, it mutates."

Action Horror Modern Mystery Sci-Fi

7.2

Six Years A Ghost, Now Real

7.2

My world shattered when I found the text on my husband's phone, revealing his year-long affair. But the deepest cut came from my eight-year-old son. He defended the other woman, Kallie, telling me, "Kallie says you're being selfish and you don't understand Dad." When I confronted them, my husband called me a liar about the baby I was secretly carrying. He had me beaten and publicly shamed at a party while our son watched, screaming that I was ugly and that Kallie should be his new mom. They took everything from me-my home, my dignity, and the love of my child. I was nothing to them but an obstacle. So, with the secret help of my mother-in-law, I faked my death. For six years, I was a ghost. I built a new life, a new family, and found a peace I never thought possible. Until the day my ex-husband and the son who betrayed me walked into my bakery, determined to reclaim a family they had already destroyed.

Horror Modern Romance

9.6

Sweet Revenge Of The Stolen Heiress

9.6

I was only three and a half years old, living in a damp basement and beaten daily by Enoch Pruitt with a heavy leather whip. "Get up, you useless waste of space!" He always told me I was a stray he had picked out of the garbage. But during one brutal beating that nearly stopped my heart, time froze, and a glowing figure called The Chronicler appeared. "You are not an abandoned orphan, Clare. You carry the blood of the highest gods." He revealed that I was the stolen daughter of the ultra-wealthy Barrett family. Then, he showed me the horrific ending of my previous life. I had died right here on this bloody dirt floor. My real parents and three brothers went completely insane with grief, turning into ruthless monsters who destroyed themselves and the entire world to avenge me. Meanwhile, the Pruitt family kept torturing me, locking me in a woodshed and feeding me moldy bread. The memory of my bones breaking and my real mother's agonizing screams crushed my chest. Why did I have to suffer like an animal while my true family tore the world apart looking for me? This time, I refused to die in the mud. I accepted my divine blood, my eyes glowing gold as I summoned a bolt of purple lightning to strike my abuser. I just needed to survive the night. Because my real father's heavily armed convoy was already tearing up the mountain, ready to burn this hell to the ground.

Action Billionaire Horror LitRPG Modern

8.8

The Curse Of Black Hollow Pack

8.8

In the mist-shrouded town of Black Hollow, the line between man and beast has long been cursed. When a series of brutal murders shakes the town, Detective Aiden Cross-a fearless but haunted police officer is sent to uncover the truth. But what he finds is more than a killer; it's a pack of ruthless werewolves bound by blood, betrayal, and a dark magic that refuses to die. Rejected by his peers, burdened by his past mistakes, and standing on the edge of madness, Aiden must face the terrifying truth: the curse runs in his veins. As the full moon rises, he must choose between regret and rebirth-between being the hunter or becoming the monster the Black Hollow Pack has been waiting for. A story of redemption, vengeance, and the beast within, The Curse of Black Hollow Pack will pull you into a world where every howl hides a secret and every heartbeat could be your last.

Fantasy Horror Werewolf

9.4

The Fallen Heiress's Debt to the Billionaire

9.4

I was once the princess of the Upper East Side, but now I’m just "debt wrapped in pretty skin." To keep my father alive in a federal penitentiary, I signed a contract I didn't fully understand. I thought it was about restoring my family's name, but producer Barnett Orr treated it like a bill of sale for my soul. Inside his limousine, the air smelled like gasoline and fear. Barnett didn't want a star; he wanted a victim. He bruised my jaw and ripped my vintage silk gown to shreds, laughing because he knew I couldn't fight back without signing my father's death warrant. "Don't forget who owns you, Felicity," he whispered. When he dragged me into Dewitt Knight’s penthouse party, I was a walking disaster. I huddled in Barnett’s oversized jacket, my lip bleeding and my spirit shattered. The elite crowd didn't see a victim; they saw a fallen girl selling herself for a role. A former rival poured red wine over me, and the room erupted in cruel laughter while Barnett told everyone he was just "testing my commitment." I looked up at the balcony, locking eyes with Dewitt Knight. He was a god in a bespoke suit, looking down at me with cold, lethal disgust. He didn't see the bruises or the desperation. He only saw a transaction he found beneath him. "So the rumors are true," he said, his voice cutting through the music. "The Aguilars really will do anything for money now. Even this." I was trapped between a monster who wanted to break me and a man who thought I was trash. No one cared that my father's life depended on my silence. When Barnett cornered me in a guest room later that night, his belt jingling like a death knell, I realized no one was coming to save a girl like me. I fought back with a crystal vase, shattering it against his shoulder, but I was drowning in my own terror. Just as Barnett lunged for my throat, the door was kicked off its hinges. Dewitt stood there, finally seeing the blood on the carpet and the map of purple bruises on my bare back. He chased the monster away, but I didn't feel safe. I locked the guest room door, wedged a chair under the handle, and slept with a silver letter opener pressed against my skin. When I crept into the kitchen at midnight and found him waiting in the shadows, I aimed the blade at his heart. "In this house, no one hurts you," he promised, his voice a low velvet rumble. But in a world where I had already been sold once, I knew that even protection came with a price I couldn't afford to pay.

Billionaire Horror Modern

A Love That Never Was

Chapter 2

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