He Regrets After The Countdown To Our Divorce
They say when life throws you a lemon, you should turn it to a lemonade, even though some things weren't just intentional.
"For the next three years, you will work under my son, Anthony. You will obey him unconditionally and assist him in developing the first humanoid robots. It's all stated in the contract."
Melissa, a brilliant first-class robotics engineer, signs a binding contract to save her only sister who urgently needs surgery. Not only must she work for Anthony-the arrogant CEO of the Morgan Group-but she must also marry him.
Throughout the contract, Anthony treats her like a lowlife, belittling her at every opportunity and even stealing credit for her achievements, convinced she would never dare to leave. But as the three years draw to a close, her supposed knight in shining armor, Josh, shows up as he promised.
Will Melissa walk away from Anthony, reclaim her freedom, and rekindle the spark with Josh? Or will Anthony realize too late just how much he stands to lose when the countdown to their divorce begins?
And what if there was more to the accident that left Melissa's sister in need of surgery-and forced Melissa into this contract?
If you want to feel first hand what it means for a lady to possess her possession, then get over here!
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Chapter 6
Tony's POV
"Mum, I heard the urgency in your voice and I decided to come over. What could it be?" I said, already annoyed I'd been dragged from a meeting with Sophia for this.
"You know, it's just a day to the robot launching of the Morgan Group. But unfortunately, I won't be around as I have a business matter outside of town. I'll be leaving late this evening so that I can be there first thing tomorrow."
That was her way of putting pressure on me without sounding like it. She thinks absence makes her commands louder.
"It's fine," I answered, trying to keep my tone even. "After all, your attention isn't really needed for the launch tomorrow. I can handle everything."
She didn't let me off that easy. "That's the point, son. I have to call your attention to something I have never failed to tell you before..."
Her voice had that slow, measured cadence when she wanted to make sure I caught each word. I braced because somehow, I already knew where this was heading.
"Mum, I hope this isn't about Melissa again," I snapped, cutting her off. My mouth was sharper than I'd meant it to be. "I'm sick and tired of hearing how she's a goddess over a mere robot."
After I'd said it, it felt good for only half a second. And then the guilt came because the truth was never so convenient.
She let out a small, tired sound. "Tony, that is not a mere robot. Melissa developed the humanoid prototype that put the Morgan Group on the map as a tech leader."
Her words should have been a relief and they should have reminded me of the truth like, 'that the company was ours, that legacy mattered,' but all I could hear was her praise shoved at me like an accusation.
"I just feel you give her too much credit," I said, forcing the argument. "She got lucky, maybe."
"You give her too little credit," Mum replied, softer now. "You have never liked admitting that you needed help. But you and I both know the truth. If it weren't for Melissa, you would be fumbling press conferences, begging for funding. She kept this company afloat."
That stung. It actually did but I had to swallow it like pride.
She continued, the tone turning firm this time. "So I've decided to give Melissa five percent of the company and make her your official partner after the launch."
I stopped breathing for a beat. "Mum! Have you suddenly lost your mind?" I heard how loud I'd become and tried to rein it in. "Five whole percent? That's huge and I think that she doesn't deserve that."
"Maybe you think she doesn't," she said, not angry but steady. "But I did the inquiries myself, Tony. Your staff-they respect her and she keeps the team grounded, so I know that she's earned it."
"You're being ridiculous." I paced the room. "Five percent is too generous. We can use that capital elsewhere. She doesn't deserve shares besides she's... transient. She's temporary."
Her sigh came sharp down the line. "Temporary? Son, I put you where you are because you are my son. That doesn't change how the company grew. You don't have to like her, but you will respect what she's done. This partnership with her is a way to secure the company for the future and to keep her happy. I bet you, companies would be lining up to recruit Mellisa if she decides to leave ours' today and so you should know that she is crucial, so please always value her and treat well her well as much as it lies in your power."
I rubbed my forehead. All this sounded like a conga line of lectures that I had heard so many times from her and I was tired of it already.
"Right now mum I think that you don't only think highly of her, you also imagine the impossible. I mean, which companies are lining up, that is simply blowing something out of proportion so let's even go there because there are no such things.That's a big claim, you know. No one's going to just walk in and hand us more capital because she's pretty good with code. We have infrastructure to worry about and also people to placate. As much as I know, she is nothing less than a burden to any company that will hire her. The only thing she does best is to sleep around while at work like a bum."
"You lied about that. I have made my inquiries from the workers and they all said that Melissa is the best worker all around the company and she has funded extra deals for the company."
"I am sure that Melissa paid her team for their loyalty." I retorted quickly.
A thought swept through my mind at that moment, 'once I get back to the office, I would definitely cut their salaries in halves, for siding with her in this manner.'
"Nothing close to that, son. I did the inquiries without her notice. I am sure that most of them must have quitted due to your harsh behavior on your staff but I believe Mellisa good treats to them just have made them to stay." Now this was becoming so much of her but she continued regardless, "Son, if only you know the potential in Melissa, you wouldn't be spewing such trash against her. You know what, let's end this here as I have things to attend to knowing that you would hardly believe any truth about Melissa. Just do as I instruct you by tomorrow, is that clear? And when you do, send he soft copy of the new contract."
I could feel my jaw clench. She had a way of saying things that made them final. I could argue until noon and she'd keep her calm but then, her calm was a weapon. "Yes, Mum," I said finally. It tasted like defeat, but I needed my space more than she did because I was already tired of her giving me management tips and constantly praising Melissa over little things money can simply do. Besides, we pay her for the services. To think that she's the one person that my mum and I usually disagree a lot while discussing even though I am my mum's favorite and only next of kin. But then, it's one thing to say something and another to carry the instructions. And now, she has said what suits her more and so I will do what I know suits me better. And as much as I know, Mellisa doesn't deserve any company's 5% shares and therefore she isn't getting any.
I stood still for a while as if I could find logic in a blank stare. 'Five percent,' was not just money as it was a seat at the table. More like a vote and an anchor for Melissa. The idea made my chest tighten.
Inside, I was boiling. Not because she was right but because she always found reasons to be right about Melissa that irritated me and that I couldn't stand the idea of being upstaged by an engineer who didn't know her place.
I turned and approached the entrance door to exit her house and her voice called me back, "Tony! I have drafted the partnership agreement with the lawyer. And so I will email it to you this evening. By tomorrow, give it to her to sign it at the launch tomorrow."
That was wild imagination but then, I had to act accordingly so that she wouldn't suspect anything.
"Ok, mum. I will do just that."
Besides, this isn't the first time I take decisions against what she says about Melissa. I mean, I made Mellisa get a place for herself where she paid for her rent. I wouldn't stand her living with me in the same house, I only ordered her to come over whenever my mum informed me that she was coming to my house.
And also, I am even planning to bring Sophia to live in my house with me as she makes me feel like a complete man that I am but I knew that my mum wouldn't buy the idea and I need to let the idea lie low for now.
But for now, what mattered more is that, 'Tomorrow's launch is my day and I will make sure that Mellisa doesn't take some praise when she doesn't deserve any. I will make her stand aside and watch quietly.
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7.5
Lena Hart never imagined marriage would be reduced to a signature on paper.
To protect her family and save what little she has left, she signs a contract with Ethan Blackwood, a powerful CEO whose world is ruled by control, status, and ambition. For him, the marriage is nothing more than a strategic move to secure his position at the top.
There are rules. There are boundaries. And there is no room for love.
Thrown into a cold, high society marriage she never wanted, Lena endures humiliation, loneliness, and a husband who sees her as part of a deal, not a woman. But as cracks begin to form in Ethan's carefully built walls, the contract that bound them starts to feel dangerously fragile.
Because some marriages may be signed in power...
but love has a way of rewriting the terms.
8.9
Adela stood outside the private room, holding the obsidian necklace she had spent three months hand-crafting for her boyfriend.
But through the cracked door, she heard Juston laughing with his friends, calling her a stupid, obedient pawn and her art "garbage."
After she shattered the necklace and walked out into the freezing rain, Juston texted her a far more horrifying truth.
Her own family didn't just hate her-they had actively tried to kill her.
Two years ago, her brother Kayden intentionally slipped deadly shellfish into her food at a gala, sending her into anaphylactic shock.
Worse, her parents had covered up the attempted murder as a simple kitchen mistake, all to protect the family name and elevate her adopted sister, Kara.
Adela collapsed on the wet pavement, suffocating under the weight of the ultimate betrayal.
She had spent her entire life begging for their love, secretly working as the anonymous designer keeping their failing company afloat, only to realize she was nothing but a disposable tool.
She had absolutely no one, and nowhere to go.
Just as the storm threatened to swallow her whole, a sleek black Maybach pulled up to the curb.
Harmon Holland, the ruthless Wall Street billionaire she was originally arranged to marry, stepped out into the rain.
He didn't offer her pity. Instead, he handed her a legal document.
"Marry me, Adela. For one year."
She took the pen. This time, she wouldn't be an obedient pawn; she would be their executioner.
8.6
On the night of her third wedding anniversary, Isabella Hart discovered her husband in another woman's bed.
By morning, she was divorced.
Humiliated. Replaced. Erased.
After three years of loving a man who treated her like a shadow in her own marriage, Isabella walks away with nothing but her pride - and a secret she refuses to tell him.
But fate has a cruel sense of humor.
Hours after signing the divorce papers, she accidentally marries the most powerful and dangerously untouchable man in the city - billionaire CEO Alexander Laurent - in a legally binding contract mistake that cannot be undone.
Alexander needs a wife to secure his inheritance.
Isabella needs revenge.
What begins as a cold-blooded deal soon turns into something neither of them expected.
Because her ex-husband suddenly wants her back.
And this time... she's no longer the woman he threw away.
But when secrets unravel and the truth about that anniversary night comes to light, Isabella must decide-
Is this marriage her salvation... or her greatest mistake?
8.0
One night of reckless drinking to forget a cheating ex-boyfriend was supposed to be a fresh start. Instead, Elena wakes up with a bite mark on her neck she mistakes for a rough hickey and memories of a man who moved like a predator.
When she walks into her Advanced Law seminar, she's horrified to find her "beast" standing at the podium. Professor Alaric Blackwood is cold, professional, and lethal. But Alaric isn't alone. He's a triplet, and his brothers-the billionaire CEO and the outlaw biker president-can smell her on him. They are Lycan royalty, they are a unit, and they've decided she belongs to all of them.
Elena is thrust into a world of fangs and war, carrying a secret that will change the Lycan hierarchy forever
7.9
Fiona spent three years in a concrete cell, taking the fall for a hit-and-run accident caused by her billionaire husband's mistress.
When she finally got out and returned home, she found him throwing a lavish party, with the mistress on his arm wearing a gown Fiona had designed. Even worse, her own seven-year-old son pointed at her in disgust.
"Go away, bad woman!"
Her husband Cecil threw her out like a stray dog. To force her into submission, he trashed her belongings and cut off the life-saving medical funding for her mentor. Driven to desperation, Fiona snuck back into the mansion to retrieve her late mother's sapphire necklace. But the mistress caught her, ripped her own clothes, and screamed that Fiona was trying to kill her. Cecil didn't even hesitate. He violently shoved Fiona backward. Her head smashed against the sharp edge of a mahogany desk, and blood immediately poured into her eyes.
Lying in a pool of her own blood, Fiona watched the man she had sacrificed her freedom for wrap his arms protectively around the woman who ruined her life. He looked at her with pure, murderous disgust, as if she were the monster.
But Fiona didn't cry. Instead, a cold smile crept onto her face as her bloody thumb secretly pressed the emergency SOS button on her phone, snapping a clear photo of him standing over her shattered body.
"My husband just violently attacked me. I am bleeding from the head. I need help."
The police were already on their way. It was time to burn his empire to the ground.
9.1
I returned to the Reeves estate after five years in exile, not as the rightful heir, but as an outcast. My father had been dead for only a month, and my uncle Julian had already claimed his mahogany desk, his face tight with a greed he no longer bothered to hide.
Julian didn't even look up as he slid a check for a hundred thousand dollars across the wood. "A settlement," he sneered. "Sign the waiver, take your bastards, and disappear. We don't want you embarrassing the family name anymore."
One hundred thousand dollars for a legacy worth billions—it was an insult designed to draw blood. When my five-year-old twins, Leo and Mia, ran into the room, Julian looked at them with pure disgust, calling them vermin and ordering them out. He threatened that if I didn't sign, I’d be on the street in a week, stripped of the Reeves name and every penny of protection. Even the family lawyer looked away as he helped facilitate my ruin. I tore the check to shreds and walked out into a freezing deluge, shielding my children while the doors of my childhood home slammed shut behind us.
I spent years building a secret life as a high-level corporate fixer, yet when I crossed paths with Branson Reeves—the man who shared my son’s eyes—he treated me like a common gold-digger. He outbid me for the "Midnight Orchid" painting, the only piece of evidence that could bring Julian down, mocking my "thrift store" clothes while my children slept in a borrowed guest room. How could they all be so blind? How could a family be so ready to destroy its own blood for the sake of a ledger?
I was done hiding in the shadows. When Julian finally launched a hostile takeover to seize the entire empire, I walked into Branson’s penthouse, dropped my "poor niece" facade, and threw a decrypted file onto his desk.
"The game is over, Branson. Give me that painting, and I’ll show you exactly how to bury the man who thinks he's already won."