As My Daughter Burned, He Lit Fireworks for Her
Elinor's frail daughter, Cece, died in a sterile hospital room while waiting for her father to take her to Disney World.
But her billionaire husband, Derick, never showed up. At the exact moment Cece's heart monitor flatlined, the hospital TV broadcasted Derick affectionately holding the hand of his mistress and he has booked a clearance of the entire Disneyland to celebrate mistress's daughter's birthday!.
When Elinor confronted Derick with their daughter's ashes, he sneered and accused her of hiding the child just to get his attention. Elinor's heart was torn to shreds. How could a father be so blind and ruthless? Did Kamryn use his power to steal the very kidney that belonged to Cece? Why did her innocent baby have to die for their sick affair?
The suffocating grief inside Elinor finally crystallized into a sharp blade. She wiped the blood from her lips, canceled the simple divorce, and began her ruthless revenge.
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Chapter 4
"Let go of me," Elinor said, her voice trembling with a mix of pain and fury.
She twisted her arm, wrenching it out of Derick's grip. She stumbled back a step, cradling her wrist. A vivid red bracelet of fingerprints was already blooming on her skin.
Derick stepped forward, his jaw clenched. "Apologize. Right now. Or I swear I'll have you removed."
Kamryn was still leaning against the sofa, her hand covering her mouth as fake sobs shook her shoulders. Kiana, frightened by the shouting, started to cry, big tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Bad lady!" Kiana wailed, pointing at Elinor. "Don't yell at my mommy!"
Elinor looked at the little girl. At her healthy pink cheeks, her strong lungs, her intact, functioning body. A body that was alive while Cece's was ash in a locket.
The grief and the rage twisted together inside Elinor, snapping something loose. She started to laugh.
The sound was harsh, grating, completely devoid of humor. It echoed through the lobby, causing the onlookers to step back in alarm. Kamryn stopped crying, her eyes widening as she watched Elinor.
Derick hesitated, thrown off by the sound. "Elinor?"
Kamryn leaned forward, her face partially hidden by her hair. A smirk played on her lips, her eyes glittering with triumph.
Elinor saw that smirk. She saw the red mark on Kamryn's cheek from the hospital slap days ago, fading but still visible. The woman thought she was untouchable.
Elinor stepped forward, closing the distance between them in a flash. She drew back her hand and swung.
The slap rang out like a gunshot.
Kamryn shrieked, the sound piercing the quiet lobby. She fell backward onto the sofa, her hand flying to her face, her body crumpling like a ragdoll.
Derick stood frozen, his eyes wide, his brain struggling to process what had just happened.
Kiana screamed, scrambling to the far end of the sofa, hiding her face in the cushions.
Elinor didn't stop. She pivoted, turning her body to face Derick.
He saw the look in her eyes and instinctively took a half-step back, but his pride caught him. He straightened up, squaring his shoulders.
Crack.
Elinor's palm connected with Derick's cheek with every ounce of strength she possessed. The force of the blow snapped his head to the side. A coppery scent hit the air as his teeth cut the inside of his cheek.
The lobby went dead silent. Even the background music seemed to stop.
Derick slowly turned his head back to face her. A thin line of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. His eyes were dark, lethal.
He reached out and grabbed a fistful of Elinor's blouse at the collar, hauling her up onto her toes. "Are you out of your mind?" he hissed, his face inches from hers.
Elinor didn't flinch. She stared into his furious eyes, her own gaze steady and full of disgust. "Derick Grant," she said, her voice low and clear. "We are done."
Derick's fingers trembled against her collar. The certainty in her voice seemed to unbalance him more than the slap.
Elinor reached up and pried his fingers off her shirt, one by one. She smoothed out the wrinkled fabric, her movements deliberate and calm. She looked over at Kamryn, who was still clutching her cheek, mascara running down her face.
"Enjoy him," Elinor said coldly. "Your days are numbered."
Kamryn flinched, the fear in her eyes genuine this time.
Elinor turned back to Derick. "My lawyer will be in touch."
She reached into her purse. Her fingers closed around the cold band of metal inside. She pulled out her wedding ring-a large, flawless diamond set in platinum. She had taken it off the night Cece died.
She held it up for Derick to see, then let it drop.
The ring hit the polished marble floor with a sharp tink. It spun in a circle, the diamond catching the light, before rolling away under a nearby chair.
Elinor turned on her heel and walked toward the exit. She didn't look back. She kept her spine straight, her shoulders back, even though her wrist throbbed and her heart was shattering all over again.
Derick stood rooted to the spot. He stared at the spot where the ring had landed, the sound of it hitting the stone echoing in his ears like a closing door.
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7.7
Eva Brooks, a 25-year-old woman, was set up by her best friend. Her fiancé broke up with her and demanded compensation for allegedly cheating on him.
Eva had a one-night stand with the richest CEO in Dominic City, Ethan Owen. He was arrogant and offered her a job as his secretary.
As his secretary, Ethan couldn't shake his fondness for Eva. He became obsessed with her, worrying that she was cheating on him.
He broke up with his fiancée to become engaged to Eva, but will his fiancée let him go? Will Eva accept a relationship with her boss?
8.1
Terminally ill.
Betrayed by her husband.
Abandoned by the only family she had.
Ariel died with nothing... and no one.
But fate gives her a second chance.
Reborn three years before her death, she walks away from the man who ruined her life-and takes back everything they stole.
Her love.
Her identity.
Her power.
Now, the cold billionaire who once ignored her can't take his eyes off her.
The brother who abandoned her starts to regret.
Too late.
Because this time, Ariel isn't the woman who begs.
She's the one who makes them kneel.
8.1
Desperate for a way out of rejection and poverty, Pearl Augustine accepts a nanny job with an outrageous salary-working for billionaire Ace Warren. What she doesn't expect is his daughter.
Mia Warren is spoiled, sharp-tongued, and feared by everyone in the mansion. Behind her cruelty is a lonely child longing for a mother. As Pearl becomes the only one who can reach her, walls begin to fall-especially those around Ace, a grieving man hiding behind wealth and control.
What started as "just a job" quickly turns into something dangerous: attachment.
Sometimes, healing begins where you least expect it.
7.9
Justice was dragged back from the slums by her biological father, only to be sold off to the billionaire Aguirre family. Her purpose was simple: marry their comatose heir to secure a three-hundred-million-dollar lifeline for his company.
Her stepmother and stepsister sneered at her cheap canvas shoes, treating her like a contagious disease.
"A high school dropout from the slums marrying a billionaire? It's a miracle your trashy bloodline is getting anywhere near the estate," her stepsister Emery mocked.
At the sprawling estate, the "comatose" heir, Auguste, was secretly conscious. Disgusted by his new bride, he orchestrated her enrollment at an elite prep school, hoping the ruthless rich kids would break her. On her very first day, Emery ambushed her, loudly broadcasting Justice's "dropout" status to the entire classroom and turning her into an instant social pariah. The teachers tried to humiliate her with impossible calculus, and the students treated her like garbage.
They all thought she was just a pathetic, uneducated pawn they could easily crush and discard. They had no idea that her "dropout" file was a manufactured ghost, or that the Aguirre family's top intelligence network had just hit a military-grade firewall trying to look into her past.
Justice didn't panic. She flawlessly solved the university-level equation on the board, then walked into the cafeteria and looked right at Emery.
"She has no Barnes blood. She is a squatter living in my father's house."
With three casual sentences, Justice completely incinerated her stepsister's elite life. The billionaire heir wanted to play games? She was about to show them all what a real monster looked like.
8.6
To save my father's failing workshop from ruthless loan sharks, I sold one year of my life.
I signed a fake marriage contract with Cameron Fox, an icy billionaire who needed a wife to pacify his sick grandmother. The rules were strict: it was purely a commercial transaction, with absolutely no physical contact and no emotional attachments.
Soon after, that cold hearted man seemed different to me. Wait, is he pursuing me?
8.4
After raising Dakota for years, the wealthy Walton family mercilessly kicked her out of their mansion.
Her adopted father threw a crisp check for five hundred dollars onto a stripped mattress.
"That is more than enough for a bus ticket back to whatever slum your real parents live in. Do not ever contact us again."
Her adopted sister Cindy tried to violently snatch her faded canvas backpack, smugly bragging that she was already engaged to Dakota's former fiancé. The entire family stood on their grand balcony, sneering in disgust as Dakota left in a broken-down, smoking rental car.
"You are going to die in the gutter!"
They treated her like a contagious disease, truly believing she was nothing more than an ungrateful, bottom-feeding street rat destined to rot in poverty and beg for their charity.
But what the arrogant Waltons didn't know was that on her way "home," Dakota would casually save the dying matriarch of the country's most powerful family using a mythical medical technique. She traded her smoking junk car for a million-dollar reward and a flawless Rolls-Royce Cullinan. And the filthy "slum" she was returning to? It was the palatial estate of the ultra-billionaire Su empire. As her true parents wept with joy and ordered their staff to buy out every luxury brand in the world just to welcome her back, Dakota prepared to show the people who threw her away what real power looked like.