Betrayal by So-Called Friend

Late into the night, the doorbell rang, jolting me out of sleep. On the video screen was April, her face bruised and her voice raw from crying. "Winona, please help me. Kyro hit me again." I was about to open the door when a series of messages appeared before me. [Don't let her in, or you'll be caught up in their mess!] Suddenly, a chill swept over me, chasing away any lingering drowsiness. [Her husband resents you for taking her in each time and plans to marry you off to his vile brother. April agreed to this to appease him!] [If you open the door, they'll force their way in, attack you, and drag you to a remote village!] [You'll end up like those women in old folktales, trapped and isolated, with no hope for rescue, forced to bear children!] Warnings flashed before my eyes, making me pull my hand back from the doorknob. April and Kyro had been together for three years, and within our group, Kyro was seen as the ideal boyfriend. But just a week into their marriage, April showed up, tearful, confessing that Kyro had hit her. Only then did I learn that Kyro's kind and attentive behavior during their relationship was just a façade; underneath, he was volatile.

Chapters

Chapter 1

Late into the night, the doorbell rang, jolting me out of sleep. On the video screen was April, her face bruised and her voice raw from crying.

"Winona, please help me. Kyro hit me again."

I was about to open the door when a series of messages appeared before me.

[Don't let her in, or you'll be caught up in their mess!]

Suddenly, a chill swept over me, chasing away any lingering drowsiness.

[Her husband resents you for taking her in each time and plans to marry you off to his vile brother. April agreed to this to appease him!]

[If you open the door, they'll force their way in, attack you, and drag you to a remote village!]

[You'll end up like those women in old folktales, trapped and isolated, with no hope for rescue, forced to bear children!]

Warnings flashed before my eyes, making me pull my hand back from the doorknob.

April and Kyro had been together for three years, and within our group, Kyro was seen as the ideal boyfriend. But just a week into their marriage, April showed up, tearful, confessing that Kyro had hit her.

Only then did I learn that Kyro's kind and attentive behavior during their relationship was just a façade; underneath, he was volatile. Any disagreement from April led to a beating. Every time, she would escape to my place in tears, and within three days, Kyro would come, apologizing and take her back.

I begged April to leave him, warning her that the abuse would only continue. But she clung to their three-year history, and Kyro's repeated apologies always softened her resolve.

Could it be that my advice sparked Kyro's resentment against me? Yet, looking at April's sorrowful face on the screen, I hesitated.

Should I really abandon my friend of ten years because of these uncanny messages?

As I deliberated, my phone rang. I quickly silenced it and stepped into the back room to answer.

"Winona, you must have been deep asleep; why didn’t you answer when I knocked?"

"I’ve been hit again, and I have nowhere to go. Please let me in; it’s so cold outside."

[Don’t open the door—she’s deceiving you!]

Better safe than sorry...

I decided to feign a trip out of town to test April's response.

"I'm not home right now; I'm in San Francisco for work."

"Why don't you find a hotel for the night? I can wire you some money if you need it."

April clearly wasn't buying it. "A trip? You always tell me when you're traveling and ask if I want something brought back. Why didn't you this time?"

"It was a last-minute thing; my boss called me at five this evening. I had no time."

"Is there anything you want me to bring back?"

"Never mind, it’s okay."

April hung up, obviously displeased.

I quickly checked the surveillance footage from the new camera outside my door; April wasn't aware of it. If those messages were true, I should see her husband and brother-in-law.

Sure enough, after hanging up, April moved toward the emergency stairs and called out:

"Come out, she’s not home."

Kyro and his brother Everett appeared, cursing.

"What are the odds? Just as we're set, she takes off?"

Kyro eyed April suspiciously and slapped her head: "Did you tip her off? Pretend to agree with my plan while secretly helping her?"

April's face showed a mix of dread and compliance: "No, I didn't tell her."

Everett spat angrily: "I swear I heard something inside when sis-in-law was on the phone."

Kyro contemplated briefly: "Maybe she's onto us and trying to trick us."

I watched as April's expression shifted, and she offered eagerly: "I can track her location!"

Continue to next part

For two years, I lived as a ghost in the Horn manor, a world built on blood money where my every breath was monitored. Fulton Horn, my stepfather’s nephew and the executor of my life, held the golden leash around my neck, forcing me to play the role of his secret mistress while he paraded a socialite as his fiancée. Everything shattered at a high-society gala when the scent of raw seafood made me vomit at the feet of Fulton’s future bride. The ballroom erupted in whispers of a secret pregnancy, but Fulton’s reaction wasn't concern—it was cold, predatory calculation. He immediately forced me into a clinical "inspection" to ensure his "merchandise" was sound, then destroyed my only chance at escape by framing my friend in a scandal and blacklisting my credit. He dragged me to his penthouse, ripped my clothes, and told me I was nothing but a "placeholder" for his dead first love, Arlena. I was drowning in his obsession, forced to model his fiancée’s engagement gown while he claimed he was the only one who could "protect" me. "You are what I say you are," he whispered, "and you belong where I say you belong." I didn't understand how he could be so cruel, or why he was so determined to keep me in a cage of secrets. But when I looked closer at the photo of the "original" girl he loved, my blood turned to ice. It wasn't a girl named Arlena. It was a picture of me from six years ago, smiling and unbroken. I realized then that Fulton hadn't just found a replacement—he had spent years carefully destroying the girl I used to be so he could keep the broken pieces for himself. Reaching for the hidden keycard, I finally made a choice: I would find a way to kill the ghost he loved before he finished killing the woman I had become.

Billionaire Horror Romance

9.4

Claimed by the Disguised Alpha King

9.4

My brother and his wife slapped the contract on the table, forcing me to marry Alpha Stone. He was a cruel monster known for breaking his mates' bones, and I was just the price for a new trade route. Right before I surrendered, the legendary Blackwood Pack arrived. But they didn't offer a glorious rescue. They claimed I was the fated mate of Kaelan, a disgraced, wolfless Omega. My family laughed in my face, eagerly taking the dowry and throwing me out like garbage. They mocked my miserable future, sending me off to a crumbling shack in the woods. When they later summoned us back to publicly demand a humiliating "tribute" to bleed us dry, they waited for me to break. "Couldn't handle life in a shack with an Omega? Come crawling back already?" my sister-in-law sneered. But I refused to let them shame him. I didn't understand why the Moon Goddess gave me an Omega, but Kaelan was kind, giving me the only bed while he slept on the cold floor. Why did my family value a cruel Alpha over a gentle soul? I declared to their faces that his loyal spirit was worth more than any title. Then, a vicious rogue wolf threatened us at the local market. My "wolfless" husband stepped in front of me and grabbed the rogue's wrist. Suddenly, a suffocating, terrifying Alpha King's aura exploded from Kaelan, bringing the rogue to his knees in pure terror. I stared at my quiet, supposedly weak mate in absolute shock. Who exactly did I marry?

Horror Romance Werewolf

8.6

Husband's Lies, Mistress's Son

8.6

My world crumbled when I saw my husband, Arthur, across the street with his mistress, Karin, and a son who was his spitting image. For years, he' d told me he wasn' t ready for a family. It was all a lie. But the true horror began at my own awards ceremony. Karin' s son, coached to hate me, rushed the stage and attacked me. The assault caused me to miscarry the baby Arthur swore he never wanted. As I lay bleeding on the stage, my husband didn't help. He shoved me aside, his eyes blazing with fury. "You monster!" he roared, scooping up his son and leaving me shattered in front of everyone. Later, Karin cornered me, her voice a triumphant whisper. "I made sure you'd lose the baby." Then, she pushed me off a cliff into the churning ocean below. But I didn't die. A fisherman pulled me from the water, broken but alive. As the world mourned the "accidental drowning" of Elenora Dawson, I made a call to the Vienna Conservatory. "I accept."

Horror Modern Romance

9.0

Married to a Stranger, Loved by a Ghost

9.0

Elena Hart survived the crash. Her memories didn't. When she wakes in a pristine suburban home with a diamond on her finger and a man gripping her hand like she might disappear, she's told a simple truth: He's her husband. They've been married for two years. They're deeply in love. Caleb knows everything about her-how she takes her coffee, the scar on her thigh, the way she hums when she's anxious. The photos lining the walls prove their life together. The neighbours confirm it. Her doctor insists memory loss after trauma is common. So why does her body recoil when he kisses her? And why, every night, does another man visit her in dreams-bleeding, desperate, whispering: You promised you'd run. The dreams aren't romantic. They're frantic. Urgent. As if time is running out. Then Elena finds something she was never meant to see. A locked drawer in Caleb's office. A second wedding ring. A newspaper clipping about her accident-dated three weeks before the crash she remembers. The more she questions, the more Caleb tightens his grip. His patience becomes surveillance. His affection becomes control. Doors begin locking. Her phone disappears. The neighbours stop meeting her eyes. And the dreams start happening while she's awake. A reflection in a window that isn't hers. Footsteps behind her when no one is there. A voice that says, He changed it. He changed everything. What if she wasn't supposed to survive that crash? What if the accident wasn't an accident? As fractured memories return in violent flashes-running through rain, screaming in a dark parking lot, a different man's blood on her hands-Elena is forced to confront a horrifying possibility: She wasn't stolen. She was rewritten. And the man who calls himself her husband didn't just save her life. He erased it. Now she must decide who the real ghost is- The man haunting her dreams... Or the one sleeping beside her. Because this time, if she remembers the truth... One of them won't let her live to tell it.

Horror Modern Romance

9.6

My Death, His Ultimate Downfall

9.6

For a decade, I was the perfect wife to tech mogul Carson Jarvis. I cleaned up every scandal and endured every affair, trapped by my father's "poison pill" inheritance clause that would leave me with nothing if I divorced him. His latest mistress was pregnant, but that wasn't what finally broke me. It was when he shut down our mansion's power grid for their tryst-and turned off my grandmother's life support. He murdered her. At a charity auction days later, he paraded his new love while she announced her pregnancy. When I confronted her for stealing my money, Carson watched as his guards broke my arm, leaving me bleeding on the floor while he comforted her. He thought I was his unbreakable wife, a possession with nowhere else to go. He expected me to clean up this mess, just like all the others. He was wrong. As I watched him shield her during the chaos of an explosion I secretly arranged, I knew my old life was over. Tonight, the world would learn of my death. And with it, Carson Jarvis would lose everything.

Horror Modern Romance

7.6

The Price Of Their Name

7.6

Leo Vance's quiet life as a struggling artist is about to be irrevocably altered. When his mother, Eleanor, announces her engagement to a formidable multi-billionaire, Leo is thrust into the glittering, ruthless world of New York's elite. Arthur Volkov is a man whose old money Russian empire is vast and feared, and his two identical twin sons, Dmitri and Ivan, are known to be just as dangerous. Weeks before this life-altering news, Leo had a single, unforgettable night with a mysterious stranger. The passion was undeniable, a raw, masculine intensity that left him shaken and ashamed, but he fled, convinced it was a one-time, sinful fantasy. Imagine his horror when he discovers his one-night stand isn't just a celebrity, he's Dmitri Volkov, the cold, calculating heir to Arthur's legacy. The forbidden attraction, further complicated by his own denial of his sexuality and the step-sibling proximity, is instantaneous and potent. But it's not just Dmitri who sees him; his identical twin, Ivan, charming, seductive, and equally possessive, also begins to stake his claim. Leo is terrified of the consequences, knowing that if his mother discovers their affair, it will ruin everything. He desperately wants to reject the life, the lust, and the two men who are dismantling his self-denial. He longs for an escape, but the Volkov twins are unwilling to let him go. They want him all to themselves, a shared obsession that traps him in a gilded cage.

Billionaire Horror LGBT+Modern

Betrayal by So-Called Friend

Chapter 1

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