He Let Me Drown, Another Man Taught Me Love
Nina had been by Julian's side for ten years, ostensibly as his personal doctor, but in reality, she was his lover.
Whenever he was injured in conflicts, she treated him; during his moments of loneliness, she was there to comfort him.
Nina believed that if she devoted enough, she would eventually win his heart.
That was until his idealized love returned to the country, rendering Nina worthless in his eyes, and he discarded her like yesterday's news.
Even his assistant couldn't bear to see it and advised Julian to appreciate her, but he scoffed at the suggestion. "Nina was never part of my life plan. I kept her around because she bore a slight resemblance to Aria."
In that instant, Nina's infatuation seemed like a joke.
When he wrapped his arm around his idealized love's waist, smiling as he asked her to help plan their wedding, Nina didn't cry or cause a scene; she just smiled through her tears and obediently agreed.
Then she turned around and dialed a number. "There are seven days left in the ten-year commitment. I am applying for termination, and from now on, I will have nothing to do with Julian."
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Chapter 3
Nina didn't want to attend the Blackwell Spring Banquet. If she went, it meant watching Julian and Aria being intimate with each other.
It would be like driving a knife straight into her heart.
But the invitation had been written personally by Edmund. "Nina, the ten years are nearly over. This will be the final family banquet. You must attend."
She understood. It was both a dignified farewell and a final warning. When she left, she was not to break the Blackwell family's rules.
The banquet was held in the century-old Rose Hall of Blackwell Manor. Influential figures from across the Eastridge Coast filled the room, dressed in tailored suits and glittering jewels. Beneath the polite smiles and laughter, however, every word carried an edge.
The moment Nina stepped into the hall, her gaze fixed on the head table. Julian stood there in a black custom-tailored suit, his eyes behind gold-rimmed glasses as calm and deep as the ocean.
Beside him, Aria leaned close, wearing a wine-red mermaid gown that made her dazzlingly beautiful. She was smiling as she adjusted his tie.
Suddenly, Julian raised his glass. His voice was low but carried clearly through the hall. "Today, I formally introduce Aria Monroe to all of you. She is my fiancée and the only woman I will ever love."
The only woman he would ever love.
Nina dug her nails into her palm so hard that the sharp pain was the only thing keeping her from losing control.
For a moment, the hall fell silent.
Then thunderous applause erupted.
But Nina noticed clearly that several patriarchs of the old families exchanged subtle glances. Their expressions were complicated.
They all knew.
They knew that ten years ago Julian had been nothing more than an illegitimate son suppressed by his uncle, and it was Nina who stayed beside him through three assassination attempts and two violent shootouts.
They knew that last year the mafia had tried to lure him with a honey trap, and that woman ended up with her limbs severed and dumped into the harbor that same night.
They also knew Julian had never allowed any woman within arm's reach of him except Nina.
Once, Nina had been Julian's only exception. Now, Aria was the one who could stand beside him openly and legitimately.
Nina lifted her champagne glass to hide the pain inside her, but the tremor in her fingers betrayed her.
So ten years of life and death beside him meant less than a single sentence—the only woman he would ever love.
Aria suddenly approached, her smile sweet. "Nina, you came too? I thought you wouldn't dare face this."
Nina didn't even look at her. She took a small sip of champagne. "Face what? The fortune you came back for after ten years away?"
Aria's expression stiffened. "What do you mean by that?"
"Exactly what it sounds like." Nina finally lifted her eyes, her gaze full of contempt. "Ten years ago, when Julian was being hunted across the city and hiding in a dockside warehouse eating stale bread, where were you? Trying on wedding dresses overseas with some other man?"
Her voice wasn't loud, but every word was clear. "Now that he sits firmly at the top of the Blackwell Group and holds half the Eastridge Coast in his hands, suddenly you're back. Miss Monroe, do you love Julian, or the heir to the Blackwell Group?"
Aria's face went ashen. "That's nonsense! My family forced me to leave!"
"Really?" Nina let out a cold laugh. "Then why did he search for you for three years without receiving a single reply? Yet the moment a financial magazine reported last month that the Blackwell Group's valuation had surpassed one hundred billion dollars, you suddenly became heartsick with longing and rushed back?"
Around them, the guests pretended to continue their conversations, but every ear was sharply tuned to the exchange.
This was no ordinary rivalry between two women. This was the public tearing away of Aria's mask.
Aria's eyes reddened as her voice trembled. "Julian! You see how she's slandering me!"
Julian approached with a frown, his voice carrying a warning. "Nina, that's enough."
Nina looked at him and suddenly laughed. "Julian, do you actually believe her? The woman who walked away when you were at your lowest?"
Julian's gaze darkened. "The past is best left in the past."
"Fine." Nina set down her glass and turned away. "I wish you both a lifetime together. May you never be separated."
She walked through the crowd and left the Rose Hall.
Nina took a deep breath. She had just turned into a side alley to call for a car when a sharp pain struck the back of her neck.
Someone grabbed her from behind and pressed a cloth soaked with anesthetic over her mouth and nose.
She struggled, but her limbs quickly weakened and her vision blurred.
The last thing she saw was a black van without license plates parked at the alley entrance. The door slid open, revealing a pair of polished leather shoes.
A man spoke quietly. "Mr. Blackwell said not to kill her. Take her to Warehouse No. 3 at the docks."
Nina's heart jolted. Were these Julian's men?
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7.4
I woke up to find that I had lost five years of my memory.
I was told that I had been married to Caspian, the ruthless Godfather of the New York Mafia, for five years.
I had harbored a crush on him for a long time, so marrying him should have been good news.
But the terrible truth was, he didn't seem to love me.
After losing my five years of memory, he felt like nothing more than a stranger to me.
"Break the blood oath, Caspian," I said. "We're getting a divorce."
Yet later, he would pace outside my door late at night, refusing to leave: "Darling, just look at me one more time, please?"
7.2
Every story in this collection is a direct line to your own wanting, each read leaves you drenched, and craving more thighs pressed together, breath caught in your throat.
From a stranger's fingers finding you in a crowded bar to the slow, devastating unraveling of a woman on her knees, these are the moments you'll return to, again and again, until you're trembling.
Warning: "Not for the faint of heart-only for the Dirty Slut-Seekers who crave the filth.
Open the book only when you're ready to be ruined, and consumed by your filthy fantasies.
9.8
Adeline's stepmother had secretly drugged her for years, turning a child genius into a drooling, mentally disabled laughingstock just so her stepsister could steal her life.
But when her greedy father sold her off to Griffin Herring—a violent, untouchable billionaire psychopath—to save his company, things took a deadly turn.
Before the wedding, Griffin attacked her in a dark alley, nearly snapping her neck before stealing her grandfather's silver necklace.
That necklace held a micro-drive with her family's deepest secrets, and without it, she had nothing.
Back at the estate, her situation only worsened. Her stepsister Damaris paraded around in the Herring family's diamond engagement gifts, trying to force-feed Adeline wet dog food on an Instagram live stream.
When Adeline's calculated "clumsiness" ruined the video, her furious father locked her in a damp, rusted basement.
"Give her to the psycho," her stepmother hissed through the door. "Let him lock her away forever."
Listening from the shadows, Adeline's fists clenched until her palms bled.
Her supposed mental fog wasn't a tragedy—it was a calculated assassination of her mind. They had destroyed her childhood and were now throwing her to a monster just to keep the billions.
The dull, empty look in Adeline's eyes vanished instantly, replaced by a razor-sharp, chilling clarity.
She pulled a thin surgical needle from her messy bun and picked the heavy iron padlock in ten seconds. It was time to break into the billionaire's penthouse, take back her necklace, and tear them all apart.
9.2
After his father passes away, Darnell becomes the new heir to King Hotels. But his grandfather-who owns shares of the hotels-wants Darnell to marry to earn his (Grandfather's) shares before his death.
After her father's death, Sasha and her family are left to deal with the burden he leaves behind-a huge debt owed to loan sharks.
Darnell approaches Sasha with a two-month marriage contract for five million dollars-enough to pay off her father's debt and be free from her traditional mother. She accepts.
Things are complicated when grandfather doesn't die after two months, and Sasha is being extorted by loan sharks. She and Darnell must stay married for their benefit, despite their lack of affection for each other. Eventually, they fall in love.
But drama unfolds when family secrets are exposed, old lovers resurface, and unknown families appear. Darnell and Sasha must decide if their love is worth it all.
9.5
One night, I was a girl seeking vengeance in a velvet mask. He was the stranger who took me against a cold stone wall, his touch a silent, lethal promise.
Now, he is Caspian Blackwood-the most feared architecture professor at Aethelgard. When my "perfect" boyfriend, Dominic Calloway, cheats on me and sabotages my degree, Caspian offers a lifeline with a razor-thin edge: Be his silent, nude model for thirty days.
The rules are absolute. I must wear a silk mask and a weighted collar. I must never speak. I must hold the poses he demands until my muscles scream for mercy. In the lecture hall, he ignores me with arctic indifference. In the studio, his gaze is a physical weight, stripping me faster than his hands ever could. But as the charcoal scratches against the paper, I realize the "deal" isn't just for art. It's for the soul I accidentally gave him in the dark. Will the deal destroy his career, or consume me first?
8.0
For ten years, Melanie and Gabriel looked like a fairy tale couple. People envied how he "cherished" her-no one saw the other woman on the side.
When the affair surfaced, Melanie slid divorce papers across the table. "Gabriel, you don't deserve my love anymore."
She walked away, unaware Rhett had watched her for eleven years.
He'd been best man at her wedding, grinning while jealousy chewed him raw.
After the split, Melanie buried herself in work and went global.
Gabriel found her in his best friend's arms, his gaze burning with fury. "Was it him? Is he the reason you left me?"
Rhett stepped in front of her. "You never deserved her. She was meant to be mine."