A New Beginning After Divorce

My sister came to visit, and my grandson clung to her youthful hand, pleading, "Aunt Julieta, when are you and Grandpa going to take me to the amusement park again?" My daughter-in-law quickly tried to silence him, while my son insisted I must have misheard. My husband looked apologetic, but it was directed toward my sister, who was dabbing her eyes with a tissue. Reflecting on my life, I have served my in-laws, raised children, and looked after my grandchildren. Fifty-five years of dedicated efforts seem to have been in vain. ============================== "Mom, are you sure you heard that right?" my son laughed nervously. At that moment, I was still holding the coffee I'd made for Julieta, and the porcelain mug slipped from my hands, shattering on the floor. I looked up at Derek, whose eyes, blurred behind his reading glasses, were focused elsewhere. Julieta covered her face, her voice carrying an almost childlike tone that someone our age shouldn’t have. "Sis, don’t take the kids too seriously. Really, it's my fault.

Chapters

Chapter 4

With trembling hands, I clicked on the profile picture, unveiling a life completely different from my own. In every single one of these memories, Derek Lee was there without exception. There were shots of him at book signings for his memoir, dining at trendy bistros, and even hiking with my son and daughter-in-law. The timeline stretched back five years.

What was I doing back then? I collapsed onto the floor, struggling to remember. Maybe I was changing diapers for my newborn grandson or taking care of my bedridden mother-in-law.

After watching the videos, Derek returned. He paused, staring at me silently for a long moment, then walked over and snatched the phone away. I wanted to yell at him—this shameless man, flitting from one thing to another even at his age. But the words caught in my throat, and instead, I managed to choke out a single question: "What kind of relationship do you have with my sister?"

Derek didn't explain, didn't argue. With an air of calm detachment, he simply stated, "Our feelings emerged naturally but were always within boundaries. We have common interests; she's a kindred spirit in my later years. Kindred spirits are hard to find. We only travel together and have never crossed any lines. I've never left my family, so what's making you so upset?"

He stood there with his hands behind his back, as if to suggest how could a simple woman like me possibly understand the virtues of a gentleman like him. I thought I had come to terms with everything by now. But for the past five years, was it really me who didn't want to share his interests?

I said I wanted to see this memoir as his crowning achievement. He insisted it was his professional domain and didn't want family interference. I had heard about that bistro from our daughter, but he claimed that home cooking was healthier and advised against eating out. When the family planned a hiking trip, who was left to take care of the baby at home?

The only one truly abandoned was me. The only one left in the dark by everyone was me. Clinging to the sofa, I struggled to my feet, refusing to let it go, and asked, "Five years, and you kept this from me for five whole years?"

His gaze flickered, casting a pitiful look before turning away. My memories crumbled, piecing together details and fragments, revealing a truth I had never dared to imagine. It hadn't just been five years.

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I woke from a five-year coma not to the faces of my family, but to my own death certificate. It was signed by my parents and my fiancé, Dante Moretti, the most ruthless Don in our world. He had sworn on his father's grave to wait for me. Instead, he replaced me with Sienna—the very woman who put me in that hospital bed. My own son, Luca, looked at me with cold, unfamiliar eyes. "You're not my mother," he sneered, hiding behind the woman who wore my face. My parents rushed to shield her, not me. "You must understand the bigger picture," my father said. "We did what was necessary for the Famiglia." But the final betrayal came after Sienna pushed me off a bridge and needed a blood transfusion. My own parents signed the consent form to use my blood, and my fiancé gave the order. "Save her," he snarled. The nurse told me they were ordered to "discard the blood bag after use." As if I were trash. I walked out of that hospital, a ghost in my own life. I took the new identity my old professor offered and vanished. This time, I wouldn't be Elara Bianchi, the tragic fiancée. I would build an empire of my own.

Mafia Modern Romance

8.8

His Wish, My Dying Heart

8.8

I was dying from a terminal illness, but my husband, Broderick, thought it was just another one of my games to get his attention. He hated me, convinced I had betrayed him years ago for money. As I collapsed in agony, begging him to take me to the hospital, he grabbed my chin and whispered the words that shattered my world. "I will never forgive you. I hope you just… die." He then left me on the cold floor and rushed to the hospital to be with his true love, Kacey-my best friend. She was the one he worried about, the one whose own heart was failing. He never knew that the "betrayal" he despised was actually my sacrifice to save his family from ruin. He never knew the depth of my love, a love so absolute that even his cruelty couldn't extinguish it. So, when the doctors told me I was a perfect match, I made my final choice. I would grant his wish and give my heart to the woman he loved.

Modern Romance

7.9

I Heard His Mind: The Don's Regret

7.9

I was naked in the bed of the most dangerous Capo in New York when I heard his mind whisper the name of the woman he actually wanted. It wasn't me. My husband, Dante, moved over me with cold precision, but his thoughts were screaming for Sofia, a soldier's widow he claimed to protect out of "honor." I possess a secret that makes me a freak: I can hear the thoughts of men. And Dante’s mind was a torture chamber of devotion to another woman. I found the deed to a luxury penthouse he bought for her. I watched her parade around in a dress he bought for me, hearing her mental triumph as she thought about rubbing her scent all over it. Refusing to be a placeholder in my own marriage, I left my wedding ring on his desk and fled to Las Vegas to build my own empire. I thought I had escaped. Until the divorce papers arrived in the mail, signed by him. I stood in my shop, heartbroken, believing he had finally discarded me to be with his true love. But then the phone rang. "Dante didn't sign those papers, Elena. He’s in the ICU." My blood ran cold. "He took two bullets to the chest. He started a war to distract the enemy from finding you." He hadn't chosen her. He was dying for me. I tore up the papers and booked a private jet. If the Grim Reaper wanted my husband, he would have to get through me first.

Mafia Modern Romance

9.5

Love's Late Revelation

9.5

I clutched the vintage fountain pen in my sweaty palm, running my thumb over its smooth surface for the hundredth time. The weight of it was reassuring—a perfect gift for Nathan's big moment. Ten years of friendship had taught me his preferences: nothing flashy, something with history, something meaningful. Just like us. The launch venue gleamed with that particular San Francisco tech-wealth sheen—all glass and steel and important people in understated expensive clothes. I adjusted my glasses, pushing them up the bridge of my nose as I scanned the crowd for a familiar face. My heart hammered against my ribs, a steady percussion accompanying the ambient electronic music and the tinkling of champagne flutes. "Tonight's the night," I whispered to myself, recalling Nathan's text from this morning: *Important news to share. Be there tonight. Wouldn't be the same without you.* I'd spent years decoding Nathan's messages, searching for hidden meanings, for some acknowledgment of what we both must know was inevitable.

Billionaire Modern Romance

9.5

MY BELOVED SUGAR MOMMY

9.5

Indra Aharon, a young executive who had just graduated from college, never expected that he, who had just been appointed by his father as the number one person in the company, would be involved in a marriage with a woman who was much older than him. In fact, he could rightly call that woman an "Auntie." It started from their meeting at a nightclub. Making their relationship even more chaotic when photos of them sleeping together in a hotel room were spread everywhere. So the parents, require them to get married. Yana Ilone initially strongly rejected the marriage. Because the man she was going to marry was very young. Will the marriage be able to unite the age differences, which are very far between them? Or will they have to separate and choose their own paths?

Modern Romance Young Adult

9.0

My Husband Faked Cancer to Steal My Father’s Company

9.0

The boardroom at Woods Corp—my father's Porter Holdings, though no one seemed to remember that anymore—smelled like expensive cologne and stale ambition. I'd left early, citing a headache that wasn't entirely fabricated. The veteran board members had spent two hours mansplaining quarterly projections to me, the heiress who'd grown up reading financial statements at the breakfast table. My heels clicked against the marble foyer of our Tribeca penthouse, the sound swallowed by thirty-foot ceilings and the kind of silence that costs millions to architect. I was reaching for my phone when I heard it—Adrian's voice, low and warm in a way it hadn't been with me in months. Laughter. Feminine, bright, achingly familiar. I froze halfway to the living room, my Hermès bag sliding down my shoulder. "She actually cried when I told her the oncologist said six months." Adrian's voice drifted from the study, muffled but unmistakable. "I thought she was going to faint right there in the hospital parking lot." Katie's giggle made my stomach turn.

Billionaire Modern Romance

A New Beginning After Divorce

Chapter 4

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