From Beloved To Battered: Her Reckoning

My husband, Chase, was having an affair. But when I confronted him, he didn't just admit it-he told me he was tired of my ambition and that his new lover, a diner waitress, was everything I wasn't: simple and undemanding. Then he pushed me down the stairs. The fall cost me our unborn child. As I lay broken in the hospital, his mistress, Joy, visited. Under the guise of care, she forced a foul soup down my throat, whispering it was the "blood and flesh" of my dead baby. When I fought back, Chase walked in, saw Joy on the floor, and ordered his bodyguards to beat me for hurting her. One hundred slaps. Each one chipping away at the nine years of love I had for him. He had promised to be my anchor, but he had become the storm that wrecked me. Why did the man who once cherished my brilliance now despise it? Why did he protect the monster who tormented me while destroying me and our child? Lying on the cold hospital floor, bruised and bleeding, I finally understood. The love was dead. And with it, the woman who had ever loved him. I picked up my phone and made a call. It was time to burn it all down.

Chapters

Chapter 4

Elisabeth Ward POV:

Chase stood in the doorway, his eyes dark with fury, his gaze fixed on Joy's reddening cheek. He hadn't seen the true monster, only the victim she pretended to be. His face contorted with rage as he strode into the room, shoving me aside with a force that sent me sprawling against the wall. A sharp gasp of pain escaped my lips.

Joy, ever the actress, dissolved into tears, clinging to Chase's arm. "She hit me, Chase! She said terrible things!" she wailed, her voice thick with feigned fear. "She's so cruel! She tried to hurt our baby, she's trying to hurt me now!"

Chase' s eyes blazed, his concern for Joy overriding any shred of decency. He glared at me, his face a mask of cold fury. "What the hell is wrong with you, Elisabeth? Have you lost your mind?"

He turned to his bodyguards, his voice a low, dangerous rumble. "Teach her a lesson. Make sure she understands the consequences of hurting Joy."

Joy, with a sickening display of false compassion, whimpered, "No, Chase, please. She's injured. Don't." But her eyes, as they flickered to me, held a malicious gleam.

He stroked her hair, his gaze never leaving mine. "She needs to learn, Joy. She needs to understand that you are under my protection."

The bodyguards advanced, their hulking forms casting long shadows over me. I stared at Chase, my mind reeling. This wasn't the man who had promised to protect me, who had sworn to be my shield. This was a stranger, a monster wrapped in a familiar skin.

"You promised!" I screamed, my voice raw and ragged. "You promised you'd protect me! You promised you'd always be my anchor!"

He flinched, a flicker of something unreadable in his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a stone-cold resolve. He pulled Joy closer, his voice strained. "I did love you, Elisabeth. Once. But that's over. Joy is my love now. And anyone who hurts her, hurts me. You will pay for this."

He turned, leading Joy out of the room, his back a solid wall of indifference. The door clicked shut, severing the last fragile thread of hope.

A hand seized my hair, yanking my head back. The ordeal that followed was a blur of methodical humiliation. I didn't resist. I didn't cry. There was nothing left inside me to break. I was a broken doll, a shattered vessel.

My love for him, a brittle thing, cracked with the first impact. With each stinging echo, another piece crumbled. My deep affection, my foolish fantasies, my very faith in our shared history—all turned to dust.

I collapsed to the floor, a guttural cough tearing through me, and a trickle of blood stained the white tiles. A choked, bitter laugh escaped my lips, a sound devoid of mirth.

"May every person who betrays a true heart suffer a thousand times worse," I whispered, the words a chilling curse that hung in the sterile air.

Continue to next part

For ten years, I disguised myself as my dead twin brother, fighting bloody mob wars to build the Falcone family's bootlegging empire. When the war ended, I thought I could finally take off the men's suits and be Anya again. Instead, my parents stole my victories to secure my father's power, demanding I disappear forever. When I tried to expose the truth, my family dragged me into a soundproof basement. My younger brother forced a metal funnel past my teeth and poured corrosive chemicals down my throat, dissolving my vocal cords into a blistered ruin. They chained me to a freezing pier, whipped me bloody, and let the men I used to lead spit on me as a jealous traitor. Then, under the guise of a family reconciliation dinner, my mother drugged my wine. While I lay paralyzed but fully conscious on my bed, my brother took heavy iron pliers and crushed all ten of my fingers, bone by bone. They wanted to ensure I could never hold a gun or write the truth again. I had slaughtered for them, bled for them, and craved only their love. In return, they pulverized my body and painted me as a hysterical madwoman just to keep the crown I had won for them. The foolish girl who wanted a family died in that agonizing pain, leaving behind only a ghost. Dragging my mangled, bandaged body into the rival Romano family's charity gala, I collapsed at the feet of their ruthless matriarch. "I invoke the sacred code," I rasped through my chemically burned throat. "I demand a Vendetta."

Action Mafia Modern

7.7

Burning Desire of My Husband's Uncle

7.7

In a game of deception, one forbidden desire could change everything. Forced into an arranged marriage with a wealthy heir she doesn't love, Lena is determined to escape. Her plan? Disguise herself as an unattractive woman to drive her husband away and earn a swift divorce. But things don't go as planned. Neil River-the enigmatic uncle of her husband-is a sharp, dangerous man who knows far more than he should. Not only does he see through Lena's disguise, but he also uncovers her double life as the mysterious owner of an elite karaoke club that men whisper about in secret. Instead of exposing her, Neil becomes intrigued. He tempts her, pushes her, until Lena finds herself caught in a dangerous game-one where the lines between revenge, lust, and love begin to blur. Can Lena escape the pull of a man she was never meant to love-her husband's uncle? "So? Did you manage to seduce your husband today?" "No, Uncle. I got all dolled up since dawn, but he... he looked at me like I was disgusting." "Then what if I'm the one... who's tempted?" "Uncle... you're joking, right?"

Action Modern Romance

8.4

Claimed by the Man I Shouldn't Love

8.4

Jessica Southern believed that love could conquer anything-even betrayal. So she staged a reckless kidnapping to test Alan Knight, the man who had adored her for fifteen years. But when he chose his fiancée over her, Jessica was left behind to die in a fiery explosion. Everyone thought she was gone forever. No body. No funeral. Only scandal and shame. Four years later, she walks back into his life-alive, beautiful, and carrying secrets that could shatter the perfect world he's built with her cousin, the woman he was supposed to marry. Now torn between guilt and obsession, Alan refuses to let Jessica go again. He wants answers, revenge, and most of all... her. But Jessica didn't come back for love. She came back to reveal the truth-and to make them all pay. When love turns to hate, and hate becomes obsession, can two broken hearts survive the fire they started?

Action Mystery Romance

9.1

I Married My Ex-Fiancé's Dangerous Uncle

9.1

I stood at the altar in a fifty-thousand-dollar custom lace gown, waiting to marry the boy I had loved since I was five. But Silas didn't say "I do." He answered a phone call, turned pale, and bolted toward the exit as if the gates of hell had opened, leaving me to face five hundred of New York's most dangerous criminals alone. He left me for a waitress named Lola. The humiliation was suffocating. The elite of the Five Families looked at me with pity, a Genovese princess rejected for trash. When Silas finally returned, he didn't apologize. He showed up with hickeys on his neck, clinging to Lola, and had the audacity to suggest I become his mistress. He even demanded I hand over my dowry—millions in weapons and cash—so he could fund their lifestyle and "redecorate" with her. He thought I was still the innocent girl who would beg for his scraps. He didn't realize that in the moment he ran, a shadow had stepped forward to fill the void. Dante Moretti. The Don. Silas's uncle. The most feared man in the city looked at me with dark, predatory eyes and offered me a choice: be a victim, or be a Queen. "Since you are to marry a Moretti," Dante said, extending his scarred hand, "why not marry the head of the table?" I looked at the door where Silas had disappeared, then at the Reaper standing before me. "I do," I whispered. Silas thought he had ruined my life, but he only cleared the way for me to marry the monster who would burn the world down for me.

Action Mafia Romance

7.8

Kidnapped By Mate

7.8

His eyes were black when he bit into her neck. Belle doesn't remember much from last night, but she remembers that. Before the pain and pleasure had pulsed through her, overpowering her, he had looked at her with eyes that weren't even human. The next thing she knows, she's waking up in his bed. His massive, muscular arms wrapped around her, his hot breath ghosting over the throbbing bite mark he left on her throat. Against all reason, she wants him to seal his lips over his mark again, to lick and suck and bite. She wants his hands to wander, his low voice to whisper filthy promises in her ear before he follows through. But that's insane. Sure, he's any woman's wet dream, but he's also a complete stranger. The only thing she knows about him is how he introduced himself. Alpha Grayson. But was Alpha a title or a name? And why did he keep calling her his mate?

Action Romance Werewolf

8.9

KISS ME KILL ME;HIS ENEMY HIS OBSESSION

8.9

In the shadow of a lethal rivalry, a ruthless mafia heir finds himself consumed by a dangerous obsession with the one person he is sworn to destroy. As their blood-soaked worlds collide, a volatile romance ignites between these two enemies, blurring the line between hatred and desire. Every kiss is a gamble and every touch carries a threat of betrayal. In a high-stakes game of power and revenge, will their lethal attraction lead to salvation or a final, fatal end?

Action Mafia Romance

From Beloved To Battered: Her Reckoning

Chapter 4

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