Bound By Contract, Tied By Faith
Ivy Hart didn't just lose love, she was destroyed by it.
Publicly betrayed by the man she thought she'd marry, her heartbreak becomes a spectacle she can't escape. Humiliated, angry, and done believing in forever, Ivy swears she'll never be that vulnerable again.
Then Damian Blackwood steps in.
Ruthless. Possessive. A man who doesn't ask, he takes.
His offer is simple, his tone is not:
Marry me.
A contract. Strict rules. No love. No questions.
But Ivy quickly learns one thing. Damian doesn't share.
Not his power.
Not his control.
And definitely not what he considers his.
What was supposed to be a cold, calculated arrangement turns suffocatingly intense. The way he watches her. The way he touches her. The way his voice drops when he says, "You're mine, Ivy."
It's not part of the contract.
And neither is the jealousy that burns in his eyes when her past comes crawling back, begging for a second chance.
Because Damian doesn't believe in love...
But he believes in possession.
And once he's claimed something, he never lets it go.
As secrets unravel and the truth behind their marriage begins to surface, Ivy realizes she didn't just sign a contract.
She signed herself over to a man who would destroy anyone who tries to take her away... even if that means destroying her too.
When the contract ends, one question remains:
Will Ivy walk away with her heart intact...
or will Damian make sure she never leaves at all?
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Chapter 3
It was my Freddie, my neighbors cat.
"F****k". I held my chest so tightly, I almost wet myself.
I bent down, reaching for the small shape brushing against my leg.
"Stop hovering around the elevator, Freddy," I murmured, gently petting him.
Then I stood, my heart still uneasy, and walked straight.
By the time I got to my room, everything felt... quiet.
Too quiet.
The kind of quiet that makes your thoughts louder than they should be.
Less than an hour ago, I was at a party.
Dressed up. Smiling.
Standing beside my boyfriend.
My boyfriend.
I let out a small laugh as I shut the door behind me.
Ex-boyfriend.
It still felt strange in my head. Like I was saying someone else's story.
I leaned against the door for a moment, my heels still on, my body tired, my mind even more tired.
Two years.
Two whole years... and it ended just like that.
No warning. No explanation.
Just...
A door.
A sound.
And the truth waiting behind it.
I pushed myself away from the door slowly and walked inside. My heels clicked softly against the floor, but even that sound felt distant, like it didn't belong to me.
Everything still looked the same.
My couch.
My table.
My bag tossed carelessly on the chair.
Nothing had changed.
But everything had.
I exhaled and walked straight to the bathroom.
I needed to wash the night off me.
The dress suddenly felt too tight. Too revealing. Too much.
I pulled it off slowly, letting it slide down my body and drop to the floor. For a second, I just stood there, staring at it.
That dress...
The same dress he insisted I wear.
The same dress I wasn't comfortable in.
A small, bitter smile crossed my lips.
"Never.... Never again will I let a man, make me wear what I don't want to wear," I muttered softly.
I stepped into the shower and turned the water on.
The cold hit my skin first, then slowly warmed up.
I closed my eyes as the water ran down my face, my shoulders, my back.
And then the thoughts came.
"Why would you do that, Lucas..." I whispered under my breath.
My voice echoed faintly in the bathroom.
"Why?"
I rested my hand against the wall, letting the water run over me.
"Two years... I stayed. I trusted you. I believed you."
My chest tightened slightly.
"You said you loved me..."
The words felt empty now.
"I did everything right... didn't I?"
I let out a small breath.
"I stayed loyal. I stayed patient. I stayed... real."
The water kept running.
"And you still chose her."
That part still didn't make sense.
Not just anyone.
Her.
Serena.
I shook my head slowly, wiping water from my face.
"I must have been blind," I whispered.
Or maybe I just didn't want to see.
After a while, I turned off the shower and stepped out, wrapping a towel around my body.
The air felt cool against my damp skin.
I walked to my room quietly, like I didn't want to disturb something that was already broken.
I sat in front of my mirror.
For a moment, I just stared at myself.
My hair was wet, falling messily around my shoulders. My eyes looked tired. Not from crying-just... tired.
I searched my own face, like I was trying to understand something.
"Where did I get it wrong?" I asked softly.
"Was I too much... or not enough?"
Still nothing.
I let out a small breath and leaned back slightly.
All the memories started playing in my head.
The late-night calls.
The promises.
The "I love yous."
The plans.
Everything.
And now...
Nothing.
Just like that.
I stood up slowly and walked to my wardrobe.
I didn't feel like dressing up. I didn't feel like being anything.
I just wanted to be... comfortable.
I reached for one of my oversized t-shirts-a soft, worn-out one that fell almost to my thighs.
I slipped it on, the fabric loose around my body, simple, easy.
I walked back to the bed and dropped onto it, staring at the ceiling.
A notification appeared on my phone.
Maybe it's him, It was from Maya.
"How's it going? Have you both hookup? But seriously hope you're good?
I signed gently.
"Go to sleep Maya, expect nothing!! Thanks thou I'm good."
I replied.
Silence filled the room again.
Then suddenly...
I laughed.
A soft, quiet laugh.
"I've been such a fool," I murmured.
The words didn't even hurt the way I expected them to.
"I really loved that idiot."
I shook my head slightly.
And that was when I noticed something strange.
I didn't feel like I was breaking.
I wasn't crying.
I wasn't screaming.
I wasn't falling apart.
Instead...
It felt like something had ended.
And something else... was just beginning.
A slow breath left my lips.
Maybe this wasn't the end of me.
Maybe this was the start of something new.
And somehow...
That thought didn't scare me.
My mind drifted again.
But this time...
It wasn't Lucas.
It was him.
The way he stepped out of the car.
The way his voice stayed calm.
The way everything shifted the moment he spoke.
And then...
That moment.
When he came down...
Just to open the door for me.
I turned my head slightly, staring at nothing.
"Who does that?" I whispered softly.
A small smile almost formed... then
disappeared.
Then reality hit me again.
Hard.
My eyes widened slightly.
"What if he recognizes me?"
I sat up a little.
My heart started beating faster again.
"That would be so embarrassing..." I muttered.
Out of all the ways to meet him...
That had to be it?
Not at work.
Not professionally.
But like that?
Hair messy. Dress all over the place. Almost getting attacked on the road.
I covered my face with my hands.
"Oh my God..."
What if he sees me tomorrow?
What if he remembers?
What if he looks at me and just... knows?
"What face am I even going to use?" I whispered.
I fell back on the bed again, staring at the ceiling.
I thought about work. The Nova FM studio. The endless calls. The interviews. The way I had spent two weeks running myself ragged. And now... all of it seemed small compared to what had happened tonight.
I remembered Maya's loud voice, the way she fought for me at the party. Protective. Loyal. So ridiculously outspoken. I couldn't help but laugh softly at her antics.
Sleep didn't come easily.
My thoughts kept moving from one thing to another.
Lucas.
Serena.
The party.
The car.
Him.
Maya.
Everything mixed together until I didn't even know when I finally drifted off.
The next morning came too fast.
I woke up feeling heavy, like my body didn't rest at all.
For a moment, I just lay there, staring at the ceiling again.
Then it all came back.
Everything.
I closed my eyes briefly, then forced myself to get up.
Life doesn't pause.
Work was still waiting.
I moved slowly, getting ready. Simple clothes. Nothing loud. Nothing that would draw attention.
I just wanted to pass through the day quietly.
But my mind wouldn't stay quiet.
What if he's there today?
What if I see him?
What if he recognizes me?
My stomach tightened at the thought.
By the time I got to the office building, my heart was already beating faster than normal.
I took a deep breath before stepping inside.
Everything felt normal.
People walking.
Phones ringing.
Voices moving around.
Like nothing had changed.
But for me... everything had.
I adjusted my bag on my shoulder and walked in.
One step.
Then another.
Trying to act normal.
Trying to look normal.
Then.
I saw him.
And my heart stopped.
My knees felt weak, my breath caught, and for a moment, I couldn't even think.
He was just standing there, flipping through papers, completely unaware of me. But my brain... my heart... every part of me knew.
That same calm voice. That same quiet strength.
The CEO. My boss's boss.
And the thought hit me hard.
What was I going to do now?
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7.2
Title- A Name Without A Past
Author- Abraham Tejiri Onojighofia
Genre: Psychological Suspense Romance / Crime Thriller
Tagline: Memory lies. Danger doesn't..
Larry awakens in an abandoned hospital with no name, no past, and no memories-except one. A woman's face. Her voice. Her presence. The single image floating in the hollow wreckage of his mind is so sharp, so undeniable, that he knows she matters. He doesn't know who he is, but he knows he must find her.
Moments after he escapes the hospital, someone tries to kill him.
Driven by instinct and the one memory he trusts, Larry follows the fragment of recognition until it leads him to Ella Morgan, a composed and fiercely intelligent homicide detective. But instead of relief, he's met with confusion. Ella has never seen him before. According to her, he is a stranger.
But danger arrives before either of them can walk away.
A sudden attack convinces Ella that Larry is not lying-someone wants him dead. And the attempt on his life mirrors the recent string of unsolved murders she is investigating. Against policy and against her better judgment, Ella takes him under temporary protection. Immediately, unsettling cracks begin to appear in her certainty.
Larry recognizes places connected to the case.
He reacts to threats with a trained instinct he can't explain.
And his fragmented flashbacks seem tied to secrets Ella wasn't supposed to uncover.
As they race to piece together his missing identity, a darker truth begins to emerge. Larry's amnesia is no accident. Evidence points to a covert operation, a covered-up crime, and powerful enemies determined to bury the truth permanently. His erased memory may hold the key to a conspiracy that reaches into the police force, the city's elite-and Ella's own past.
With each step closer to the truth, the connection between them deepens. Larry feels drawn to her with an unshakable certainty that defies logic, while Ella fights the pull of a man who may be the missing link to her most dangerous case yet.
But as Larry's memories begin to return, so does a chilling realization:
Ella wasn't just a face in his mind. She was the last person he tried to protect before everything went dark.
Now, the enemies hunting Larry have turned their sights on her.
In a deadly race against a faceless adversary, Larry and Ella must unravel the past he's forgotten before it destroys them both. Because the silence Larry woke up with isn't empty-it's hiding a witness, a secret, and a truth someone is willing to kill to keep buried.
And the closer the truth gets, the more dangerous remembering becomes.
7.3
Five years ago, he had abandoned her, betrayed her, destroyed her company when she had trusted him and needed him the most.
Five years later, Evelyn was back for revenge. She would return everything he had done to her tenfold, and to do that, she needed to live in the same house with him again.
"Ex-husband, let's sign a marriage contract again!" Evelyn demanded after barging into her ex-husband's party.
"Okay."
****
She had sworn to frustrate and destroy his life as they live under the same roof but who can tell Evelyn why everything was different from what she had expected?
Who was this man cajoling her every request? Why is her ex-husband who's supposed to be an enemy looking at her dotingly?
Ex-husband, this was supposed to be a fierce revenge battle, not a love battle!
8.8
Scarlet's world shattered the night she discovered her husband in her bed with her own sister.
The betrayal was brutal. The humiliation, unforgivable. And what hurt the most? Neither of them felt a single ounce of remorse.
Within months, her husband divorced her and married the very woman who helped destroy her life, her sister.
They thought she would break. They thought she would disappear quietly.
They were wrong.
Ryan Marchetti-cold, calculating, and dangerously powerful, has spent years waiting for the perfect chance to destroy his business rival. Marrying that rival's ex-wife is the ultimate move. Strategic.
For Scarlet, marrying Ryan isn't about love. It's about revenge.
A calculated alliance. A public statement. A promise that she will rise from the ashes they left her in. Together, they become the scandal that shakes empires.
But revenge is never simple.
Because behind Ryan's icy control lies a secret, one tied to her past, to her ex-husband, to the very marriage that ruined her life. A truth so explosive it could unravel everything she thought she knew.
Was she just a pawn in Ryan's war from the very beginning?
Or is the man she's slowly falling for capable of betraying her too?
In a game fueled by vengeance, power, and buried truths, Scarlet must decide:
Will she let betrayal destroy her again...
Or will she risk her heart for the one man who might truly love her?
7.2
SYNOPSIS:
"I spent ten years scrubbing your floors, Greene. Tonight, you'll scrub mine."
Elara Vance has always been the pride the Republic until she ran away from home, fell in love with Greene Jones, a man who treated her like dirt and discarded her like she was never the girl the entire Republic feared because of her strong dominating pheromones.
Now she's back after twelve years to serve revenge to Greene Jones like a hot dish in a way that he will pay for every act meted out on her for twelve years. But things wasn't going to go as planned as she meets Silas, the handsome bulky head of her father's security but a recessive omega of her past that she has totally forgotten but now wears a new stance as her bodyguard, recognized by the entire republic as an Alpha, and her perfect chosen mate, Calvin; ruining the comeback and revenge she planned out for herself and now she has to think about saving and claiming her mate, Silas while navigating and protecting the seat meant for her.
The real question becomes; will Calvin ever allow her take all it took him twelve years to build?
THEME: The true definition of power. Is it found in the biological dominance of an Alpha, or in the resilience of an Omega who survived in the lion's den?
9.6
My world revolved around Jax Harding, my older brother's captivating rockstar friend.
From sixteen, I adored him; at eighteen, I clung to his casual promise: "When you're 22, maybe I'll settle down."
That offhand comment became my life's beacon, guiding every choice, meticulously planning my twenty-second birthday as our destiny.
But on that pivotal day in a Lower East Side bar, clutching my gift, my dream exploded.
I overheard Jax' s cold voice: "Can't believe Savvy's showing up. She' s still hung up on that stupid thing I said."
Then the crushing plot: "We' re gonna tell Savvy I' m engaged to Chloe, maybe even hint she' s pregnant. That should scare her off."
My gift, my future, slipped from my numb fingers.
I fled into the cold New York rain, devastated by betrayal.
Later, Jax introduced Chloe as his "fiancée" while his bandmates mocked my "adorable crush"-he did nothing.
As an art installation fell, he saved Chloe, abandoning me to severe injury.
In the hospital, he came for "damage control," then shockingly shoved me into a fountain, leaving me to bleed, calling me a "jealous psycho."
How could the man I loved, who once saved me, become this cruel and publicly humiliate me?
Why was my devotion seen as an annoyance to be brutally extinguished with lies and assault?
Was I just a problem, my loyalty met with hatred?
I would not be his victim.
Injured and betrayed, I made an unshakeable vow: I was done.
I blocked his number and everyone connected to him, severing ties.
This was not an escape; this was my rebirth.
Florence awaited, a new life on my terms, unburdened by broken promises.
8.0
For six years, I played the perfect, submissive wife to Wall Street titan Francis Castro. I suffocated my own ambitions to fit into his conservative world.
But while I waited alone at a Michelin restaurant, a news alert popped up. My husband had just dropped millions on an aquamarine diamond necklace for his "muse," Chanelle.
The real nightmare began when I rushed home to find our five-year-old son in severe anaphylactic shock. I frantically called Francis from the ambulance, but he manually rejected my calls. He couldn't leave the bidding war for Chanelle's PR launch.
When he finally arrived at the ER, Chanelle was right beside him, wearing that blinding multi-million-dollar necklace. He didn't ask about our dying son.
"Why weren't you watching him?" he demanded, his voice hard and accusing.
And when my son woke up, hazy from the drugs, he rejected my touch and reached for Chanelle instead. Francis just stood there, praising Chanelle for knowing exactly how to calm him down.
I stared at the three of them looking like a perfect, happy family. Six years of swallowing my pride, only to realize my husband would let our son choke to death just to buy another woman's smile.
The last thread of my heart snapped. I handed him the divorce papers, demanding zero alimony. Then, I drove to a hidden Brooklyn loft, cut off my hair, and unlocked my safe.
It was time to resurrect my true identity—the legendary fashion designer, Ember.J. I am going to burn her empire to the ground.