Husband's Choice, Baby's Loss

The sirens had been wailing for three hours now, their urgent cry echoing off the flooded streets of New Orleans like a funeral dirge. I pressed my palm against the second-story window, watching the brown water swirl past what used to be our front garden. The azaleas Lawrence had planted for our first anniversary were completely submerged, their bright pink blooms floating like tiny life preservers in the chaos. Another contraction seized my belly, stronger than the last. I gripped the windowsill, breathing through the pain as my eight-month-old baby shifted restlessly inside me. The stress was getting to both of us. Through the glass, I could see the Hendersons from next door being helped into a rescue boat, their arms wrapped around each other as they were pulled to safety. "Please, please pick up," I whispered, dialing Lawrence's number for the fourth time. The phone rang twice before his familiar voice crackled through. "Amy?

Chapters

Chapter 2

The fluorescent lights above my hospital bed buzzed like angry wasps, their harsh glare making everything look sickly and unreal. I stared at the ceiling tiles, counting the water stains while Dr. Chen's words echoed in my mind like a death knell.

"I'm so sorry, Amy. We did everything we could, but the physical trauma from the cold water, the stress, the exhaustion... your body couldn't sustain the pregnancy."

My hand trembled as I clutched the ultrasound photo against my chest—the last image of my baby, taken just three days ago. In the grainy black and white picture, I could make out tiny fingers, a perfect profile. Twenty-two weeks along, Dr. Chen had said with a smile then. "A little girl. She's developing beautifully."

Now she was gone. My daughter was gone.

The photo crinkled as my grip tightened, and I felt something inside me crack open like an eggshell. The grief poured out in a silent scream that seemed to hollow out my chest, leaving nothing but an aching void where my future used to be.

"The nurse will be in shortly to discuss... the procedures," Dr. Chen had said gently, her eyes filled with professional sympathy. "Take all the time you need."

Time. As if time could bring back the tiny heartbeat that had been my constant companion for months. As if time could undo Lawrence's choice.

A burst of laughter from the hallway made me flinch. Through my partially open door, I could see a crowd gathering near the elevator bay. Camera flashes strobed like lightning, and I caught glimpses of microphones being thrust forward. The local news crews had arrived.

"Captain Ellis, can you tell us about the heroic rescue operation?"

"How does it feel to be named Hero Volunteer of the Year?"

"What went through your mind when you had to make those life-or-death decisions?"

My heart stopped. Lawrence's voice carried clearly down the hallway, warm and confident, the same tone he used when telling bedtime stories about our future family.

"Well, you know, in situations like these, you don't think—you just act on instinct. When I saw Colette trapped in that building, knowing the foundation was about to give way, there was only one choice to make."

I pressed my face into the pillow, but I couldn't block out the sound. Couldn't stop myself from listening as my husband described saving another woman while I lost our child.

"Colette and I have been friends since childhood," Lawrence continued, his voice growing warmer. "She's like family to me. I couldn't live with myself if something happened to her."

"And what about your wife? We understand she was also rescued?"

A pause. Then: "Amy is incredibly strong. She made it to the rescue point on her own—she's always been a fighter. I'm so proud of her."

Proud. He was proud of me for swimming through floodwater while eight months pregnant because he chose to save Colette instead.

More laughter echoed from the hallway. I forced myself to sit up, my body screaming in protest, and looked toward my door. Through the gap, I could see Colette standing beside Lawrence, her blonde hair perfectly styled despite yesterday's chaos. She wore a soft pink sweater that made her look fragile and innocent. Her hand rested on Lawrence's arm as cameras clicked around them.

"Colette, how does it feel to be rescued by your childhood friend?"

Her voice was sweet, almost musical. "Lawrence has always been my hero. Even as kids, he was the one who would chase away the monsters under my bed. Yesterday, he saved my life. I don't know how I'll ever repay him."

She gazed up at Lawrence with tear-bright eyes, and he smiled down at her with an expression I recognized—the same look he used to give me when we were first dating. Tender. Protective. Devoted.

"It sounds like a real-life fairy tale," the reporter gushed. "Childhood friends, reunited by destiny in a moment of crisis."

"We've always had a special bond," Colette said softly, her fingers tightening on Lawrence's arm. "Some connections are just... unbreakable."

I reached for the remote with shaking hands and turned on the television mounted on the wall. The local news was already running the story. There they were—Lawrence and Colette, looking radiant under the camera lights. The chyron read: "LOCAL HERO SAVES CHILDHOOD SWEETHEART IN DARING FLOOD RESCUE."

My phone buzzed with social media notifications. Against my better judgment, I opened the apps. The story was everywhere.

"This is what true love looks like! #ChildhoodSweethearts #FloodHeroes"

"Captain Ellis risking everything to save the woman he's loved since childhood. I'm crying! 😭❤️"

"Forget Hollywood—this real-life love story is better than any movie!"

Thousands of likes. Hundreds of shares. Comments pouring in faster than I could read them, all celebrating the beautiful romance between my husband and another woman while I lay here, empty and broken, clutching the ultrasound of our dead child.

The photo slipped from my fingers and fluttered to the floor like a fallen leaf.

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In a world ruled by dominance and desire, being an Omega is a curse, especially when you're mine. On his eighteenth birthday, Luca wakes to a nightmare, his wolf has chosen the lowest rank of all. An Omega. The scent of submission, the mark of shame and the kind of wolf others own, use, and discard. But Luca isn't broken, he's burning and the only one who's ever made him feel safe is Rafe, his best friend, his protector and his temptation. Then Rafe shifts and becomes an Alpha and their wolves recognize each other, the bond between them is instant, magnetic, and utterly forbidden. Because an Alpha claiming a Male Omega? That's forbidden, but this Omega? He's different Now their connection is more than a secret, It's a sin to their world, a deadly craving, slow, delicious and primal to fall into. And when one bite can seal a bond or spark a war, how long can they resist it? He's not supposed to want him. But gods, he does. And once an Alpha touches what's his... he never lets go.

Action Fantasy Werewolf

7.6

Blind Box Bride Escaped and He Lost It

7.6

The business world's reigning emperor, Ian Wade, was a lunatic. He locked a hundred women inside a villa and treated them like blind-box prizes. Pulling one at random, he would marry whoever he drew. Everyone thought getting picked was luck. Only I knew it was a curse. In my last life, I was the one whose name came up. After being reborn, I planned to destroy the magnetic strip on the blind box and dodge that twisted fate altogether. But by some cruel twist of chance, I still ended up being the "lucky" one. On the wedding day, history repeated itself. Ian took a phone call, panic flashing across his face as he tore off his boutonniere. "Jemma doesn't want to marry. She's threatening suicide. I have to go get her," he said. The man who was supposed to marry Jemma Lane-Leland Riley, the Crownport's golden heir, stormed in, radiating icy fury. He didn't chase after the runaway bride. Instead, he walked straight up to me and looked me over from head to toe. "Ian ran off with my wife," Leland said, grabbing my chin. "His debt becomes yours. You marry me. Fair enough, right?"

Action Fantasy Romance

9.4

Defrosting Her Cold Heart

9.4

Raised by wolves, trained by bandits, forged in violence, she was a cold-hearted warrior, but forced to conceal her true gender to survive in the city of Los Angeles. Confined in an orphanage, she became entangled with Lucas Blackwood. Casey Angeles eventually found herself selected to be trained at the world's largest military training base (M base), an opportunity that seemed unimaginable given the base's policy of only accepting males. Lucas Blackwood, the director of the M base and the mysterious eldest son of the Blackwood family, is a legendary figure in both the business and underground worlds. But despite being a paragon, he has a secret illness that hinders him from getting close to a woman, so he has the greatest shock of his life when he encounters and discovers Casey's gender, yet His illness doesn't break out. What will happen when they both get entangled with each other and Lucas finds himself getting attracted to the disguised Casey? Will Casey's secret be discovered? Will her Cold heart eventually be thawed? Will Lucas forgive her deceit after finding out the secret? How did she not trigger Lucas's illness despite being a female?

Action Modern Mystery

7.6

I Married The Villain To Destroy You

7.6

I stared at the two faint pink lines on the stick, the miracle I had bled for over three years. I was finally pregnant. Then, my phone buzzed with a video message from an unknown number. It was my husband, Marco. He wasn't at a business meeting. He was at a club, his hand up the skirt of a woman named Sienna. "She is barren. She is useless," Marco laughed on the screen, promising his mistress the world if she gave him a son. He was stealing millions from my company to fund her life, while I played the perfect, submissive wife. But the betrayal didn't stop at infidelity. At the family gala, his grandmother publicly humiliated me by pinning the family heirloom on Sienna's fake baby bump, crowning her the new matriarch. When I confronted them at the race track, Sienna pushed me down a flight of concrete stairs. As I lay on the asphalt, bleeding and losing the very child Marco had desperately prayed for, he didn't help me. He spat on me. "You crazy bitch," he snarled, checking on his mistress while his real son died inside me. He didn't know he had just killed his own heir. And he didn't know that the man stepping out of the shadows to pick me up wasn't a paramedic. It was Dante Moretti, the most dangerous Capo in New York and Marco's sworn enemy. I looked at Marco one last time. "Our marriage is dead." I took the enemy's hand. Marco wanted a war? I was about to burn his entire world to the ground.

Action Modern Romance

7.3

My Stepbrother's Deadly Game of Love

7.3

I started a dangerous game to break my perfect, cold stepbrother, Hunter. Our forbidden affair became a secret inferno, and I thought I was the one in control, the one teaching him how to feel. Then an anonymous video arrived on my phone. It showed Hunter with a young intern, repeating our most intimate lines, my words, my lessons, verbatim. "Does this need to be taught, too?" he asked her, his voice a chilling echo of our past. He confessed it was all a calculated revenge plot against my mother. He left me to collapse in the street, sick and alone, and the car crash that followed shattered my legs, ending my ballet career forever. My love was a weapon he used to burn my world to the ground. My body was broken, my dreams turned to ash. I had lost everything to a man I thought I had broken, but who had instead destroyed me. But from the ashes, a new dream was born. I became a choreographer, my pain fueling my art. Now, years later, as I stand on the world stage, he watches from the shadows, a ghost consumed by a regret he can never atone for.

Action Mystery Romance

8.7

Reborn To Save My Broken Lover

8.7

I was dying in a cold hospital bed, listening to the monitor count down my final seconds. As a ghost, I watched my own funeral. My popular friends and wealthy family soon moved on, but one person stayed. Cas Riley. The invisible outcast from the back of my history class. He brought a white rose to my grave every single day, withering away until he collapsed on the frozen ground, dying of a broken heart for a girl who barely knew his name. Opening my eyes again, the hospital smell was gone. I was reborn back in my high school classroom. I immediately tracked him down, only to witness the brutal hell he was trapped in. He was humiliated by a cruel foreman for pennies, violently slapped by his uncle over his sick mother's medical money, and forced into bloody street fights. He was starving, covered in bruises, and completely alone. When I tried to buy him medicine and step into his life to protect him, he violently pushed me away in the pouring rain. "Stay out of my life! To protect you, I have to fight, and when I fight, I lose everything!" He wasn't rejecting me out of hate. He was terrified that his dark, violent reality would drag me down with him. Standing soaked in the rain, my resolve hardened like steel. Gentle kindness wasn't going to save him from this hell. To protect the boy who died for me, I had to become ruthless enough to tear down his entire rotten world and build him a new one.

Action Modern Romance

Husband's Choice, Baby's Loss

Chapter 2

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