He Chose Power, She Found Love

Five years after my ex, Clay, traded me for power, we met again at an exclusive summit. He and his new fiancée, Destany, publicly humiliated me, calling me a trespasser and a thief for looking for my son's lost locket. Then, my three-year-old son, Justus, ran to me, crying "Mama!" In a horrifying move, Destany snatched him from my arms. She shrieked to the powerful crowd that I was a low-born commoner who had kidnapped a child of noble blood. The room erupted, calling for my arrest. Clay, the man I once loved, watched with cold satisfaction as guards pinned my arms back. He ordered them to take my son away and deal with me. I screamed that Justus was mine, but my pleas were drowned out by their accusations. How could this be happening? The man who once promised me everything was now helping to rip my child away from me, branding me a criminal. But just as they were about to drag me away, an immense power slammed into the room, forcing everyone to their knees. A tall, imposing figure appeared, his golden eyes blazing with fury. My husband, Damien, had arrived.

Chapters

Chapter 3

Elenora's POV:

The venomous whispers of the crowd swelled, a tide of judgment and ridicule threatening to drown me.

"She probably just made him up."

"A partner? Please. Who would that be? Some poor, unsuspecting fool she' s conned?"

Clay' s eyes bored into mine, a predatory glint replacing the earlier shock. "Tell me, Elenora," he challenged, his voice dripping with condescension. "Who is this phantom man? Your latest victim? Or are you just trying to save face? Because, frankly, there's no saving this."

He gestured wildly at me, then at the gawking crowd, his power surging again, a suffocating force meant to crush me. "What kind of man would truly value you, Elenora? What could you possibly offer besides… desperation?" His gaze moved to the locket, then back to my face, a dark suspicion blooming in his eyes. "Unless your 'partner' is just another one of your exotic fantasies."

I remained silent, my fingers unconsciously tracing the outline of the locket beneath my dress. My priority wasn't to argue with these people, or with Clay. It was to leave, to get back to my son, who was waiting in the car, patiently, but for how long?

Destany, her smile now a triumphant sneer, stepped forward. "Oh, I have an idea! Since you're so… talented at making things up, perhaps you could entertain our guests? We could use a server for the hors d'oeuvres. It's honest work, Elenora. And it would be a step up from... whatever this is." She waved a dismissive hand at my simple attire. "It's not charity, darling. It's an opportunity. You know, to earn your keep, instead of trying to leech off others."

Laughter erupted from the crowd.

"A server! Perfect for her."

"She probably has experience, given her background."

"Does she even know how to hold a tray without dropping it?"

"Stick to what you know, Elenora! Don't reach for what's not yours."

My patience, stretched thin for my son' s sake, snapped. "I am not your entertainment! I am leaving!" My voice, sharp and cold, sliced through the laughter.

Destany' s face flushed with anger, her eyes narrowing to slits. "How dare you! After all the kindness Clay has shown you, you repay him with this insolence? Ungrateful wretch!"

Clay, his irritation palpable, cut in. "What exactly do you want, Elenora? You clearly don't want a job. You clearly don't want me." His voice was laced with a chilling disdain. "Let me make this abundantly clear. You and I are over. Our past is dead. And my future is right here." He pulled Destany closer, a possessive hand on her waist. "She is my fiancée. My partner. The woman I will marry."

Just then, a line of uniformed security officers, crisp and imposing, marched into the ballroom. They moved with a practiced efficiency, their gazes sweeping the room.

Henderson, the head of security, practically saluted the lead officer. "Captain! Thank heavens! We have a situation. This woman, she's a trespasser, causing a disturbance, trying to steal from the premises!" He pointed a fat finger at me.

The security captain, a man with a stern face and an even sterner gaze, assessed the scene. His eyes, sharp and intelligent, flickered between me and the agitated crowd. "A disturbance during the pre-summit gala? This is highly irregular. We have high-profile delegates arriving any moment, including Mr. Gordon himself." He looked at me, his voice hardening. "You're making a spectacle. This behavior will not be tolerated. Someone like you has no business here."

"Secure her," he commanded, his voice echoing through the suddenly silent room. Two burly guards moved towards me, their hands already reaching.

"Wait!" Clay barked, his voice overriding the captain's. He stepped forward, his eyes fixed on the locket in my hand, as if seeing it for the first time.

His hand trembled slightly as he pointed. "That... that locket," he whispered, his voice raspy, barely audible. "What is that? Where did you get it?"

He was shaking. His composure had entirely vanished, replaced by a raw, naked fear. He looked at the locket, then at me, then back at the locket, as if it held some terrible secret he' d long suppressed.

"This trinket," he scoffed, trying to regain his composure, his voice still shaking. "It used to be a symbol of my… foolishness. I should have thrown it away years ago. Why would you still have it, Elenora?" He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, a flicker of pain crossing his face, then he hardened, his features setting into a mask of cold disregard. "It represents a weakness I overcame. A past I put behind me. Just like I put you behind me." He spat the words, bitterness coating his tongue. "It's meaningless. Just like you."

The old memories, suppressed and hidden deep within me, stirred. They clawed their way to the surface, sharp and vivid, a painful echo from a lifetime ago.

Continue to next part

My entire family was slaughtered three years ago by Alistair Kirkland, the usurper who stole the underworld throne. I was the only survivor. Smuggled out of New York as a child, I was trained in the shadows to become a flawless weapon. Now, at sixteen, I returned to the city that was supposed to be my graveyard. But the New York I returned to was a suffocating cage. Kirkland didn't just wipe out the Valenzuela bloodline; he branded my few surviving loyalists as traitors. He paraded my men down the streets in heavy iron chains, letting the very people we once protected hurl rocks at them. He bought the doctors, ensuring my wounded soldiers would bleed out in the dark. Even worse, the mother of my only ally—Julian Morgan—secretly sold us out to a Chicago warlord just to keep her archaic grip on power. I stood in the shadows, watching an eleven-year-old boy get his head smashed with a jagged stone just for defending his father's honor. How could the city my grandfather built cheer for our extermination? Why did the old guard prefer to cower and die in the dark rather than fight the monster who stole our home? "Ghosts don't knock on my door, Athena. What do you want?" Julian asked me. I tossed a blood-stained ledger of Kirkland's deepest secrets onto his desk. "I'm here to help you take back what's yours, and burn Alistair Kirkland's empire to the ground."

Action Mafia Modern

8.2

Claimed By My Ex Boyfriend's Dad

8.2

🔞 95% of the book has explicit contents, discretion advised. I loved Liam Stonovich for three years. He was my first, my last, my everything. When I heard he was going to propose, my heart soared. I went to his place, brimming with hope-only to have it all ripped apart. Liam was in the shower. With his ex. And the ring I thought was meant for me? It was on her finger. I wasn't his forever. I was his rebound. Shattered, I headed to the most elite sex club in L.A., just to have fun and forget about my heartbreak. That's where I met him-Shark, a.k.a. Michael Stone. A man whose presence alone screamed danger and sèx on legs. I gave him a lap dance, thinking it would be nothing more than a one-night fling. But I became his obsession, and he, my wet dreams. Then I learned the truth. Shark is Liam's father. I thought it was all going to end there, but the enemies attacked, and secrets unfurled, revealing who I truly am. Now caught in the web of the most dangerous men in the underworld, who's going to save me?

Action Modern Romance

7.8

Claimed By My Ex-Fiancé's Ruthless Uncle

7.8

I was the "perfect" fiancée for Harrison Vincent—regal, silent, and low-maintenance. For two years, I suppressed my career as a forensic accountant to be the "safe" choice that polled well with his family’s shareholders. But at a high-society gala, I found him in a VIP lounge with a socialite wrapped around him. He told her I was just a "boring art piece display stand" he had to drag around until his trust fund was unlocked. I didn't scream or make a scene. I mentally filed a "bad debt" report, tossed my emerald engagement ring into a glass of stale champagne, and walked out of his life. That same night, I found myself in a dark jazz club bathroom, using a strip of my velvet dress to stop the bleeding of a mysterious man with a gunshot wound and eyes like grey flint. The fallout was immediate. Harrison blocked my credit cards, assuming I’d crawl back once I couldn't afford rent. His mother called me a "nobody" while simultaneously begging me to handle the family's medical emergencies because they were too panicked to function. They treated me like a tool they could discard and pick up at will, never realizing I had already moved my things into a cramped Brooklyn apartment. I couldn't understand why they thought I was still their puppet, or why a black Maybach began following me through the city streets. I had saved a stranger's life and ended a toxic engagement, yet the air around me felt heavier and more dangerous than ever. The truth came out at the hospital when the most feared man in the city stepped out of the shadows. It was the man from the bathroom—Collis Vincent, the ruthless head of the family. He didn't just humiliate Harrison; he took my hand in front of everyone and made a chilling declaration. "Harrison is a fool to have let you go, Helena. Your arrangement with him is terminated. From now on, you'll be working with me."

Action Modern Romance

9.6

FROZEN BONDS: THE HALF-BLOOD'S MATE

9.6

She was sold as a broodmare. He was a warrior with no memory. Together, they'll burn down the world. Lyra has been called many things: half-blood, mongrel, dirty blood. Rejected by every pack she's approached, she's given one final chance-as a bride to Ronan, the cruel Alpha of Red River Pack. But when her wedding night becomes a nightmare, she stabs her new husband and flees into the frozen wilderness. Stellan remembers nothing. Not his name, not his past, not the ancient tattoos covering his body. He only knows that when he sees a terrified woman falling from a cliff into an icy river, he must save her-even if it kills him. On the run from a vengeful Alpha and his army of hunters, Lyra and Stellan discover an impossible bond growing between them. The moon has chosen them as mates. But Stellan's memories are returning, and with them, a devastating truth: he's not just any wolf. He's the Alpha of the North Star Pack. And a half-blood can never be his Luna. Now Ronan's brother has sworn revenge, an ancient prophecy awakens, and three packs prepare for war. Lyra must prove that bloodlines mean nothing-and that the most powerful bond of all is forged in ice and fire. He lost his memory. She lost her freedom. Together, they'll find everything.

Action Romance Werewolf

7.2

Just A Vessel: The Surrogate's Escape

7.2

I went to the bank to set up a trust fund for my twins, only to have the manager look at me with pity. "Mrs. Dunlap, the trust requires the *biological* mother's signature." I froze. I *was* their mother. Or so I thought. That day, I learned my husband, the most powerful Mafia Don on the coast, had used his ex-lover’s frozen eggs. For six years, I wasn't his wife. I was just the incubator. When his "true love," Iliana, returned from exile, my life disintegrated. My children, poisoned by her lies, pushed me down the stairs and called me "just the nanny." Gavyn didn't help me up. He stepped over my bleeding body to take his "real family" out for ice cream. But the ultimate betrayal happened on a windswept cliff. Staged by Iliana, we were both tied up, allegedly rigged to explode. Forced to choose who to save, Gavyn didn't hesitate. He cut Iliana loose. "You did this to yourself, Alex," he said, driving away with the children, leaving me to die. He thought he was leaving behind a corpse. He didn't know I had skimmed ten million dollars from the household accounts. "Cut me loose," I told the hitman, transferring the money. "And tell him the ocean took me." Two years later, the Don is on his knees in my garden, begging for a second chance. Too bad he has to get through my new fiancé first—the head of the rival cartel.

Action Mafia Romance

9.4

My Husband's Secret Mafia Bride

9.4

Elara’s world shatters when she discovers her husband, Julian, is the ruthless heir to a powerful crime syndicate. Caught between her love for the man she married and the terrifying reality of his violent underworld, she must navigate a web of betrayal and danger. As Julian’s enemies close in, Elara uncovers her own hidden ties to the mafia. Now, she must decide if she will flee the darkness or embrace her role as the secret bride of a kingpin.

Action Mafia Romance

He Chose Power, She Found Love

Chapter 3

You may also like