My Son's Death, His Cruel Betrayal
For seven years, I gave up my life as a genius engineer to be the perfect wife for my husband, Jonathan, a U.S. Senator. But when our five-year-old son drowned, he didn't comfort me. He comforted his adopted sister, Hailey, and blamed me for our son's death.
At the wake, he stood by as his family beat me, calling me a murderer. He watched them shove my head into a freezing pond, forcing me to feel the same terror our son felt in his last moments.
His protection was always for Hailey, never for me.
Then I learned the horrifying truth. Jonathan was there when our son fell in the water. He saw him struggling, but he chose to comfort a panicking Hailey first.
He let our son die.
So I filed for divorce in secret and vanished into a classified research project. But when he tracked me down, begging for a second chance in front of his new colleagues, I played a recording for everyone to hear. It was Hailey's voice, gleefully admitting that Jonathan had chosen her over his own dying child.
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Chapter 1
For seven years, I gave up my life as a genius engineer to be the perfect wife for my husband, Jonathan, a U.S. Senator. But when our five-year-old son drowned, he didn't comfort me. He comforted his adopted sister, Hailey, and blamed me for our son's death.
At the wake, he stood by as his family beat me, calling me a murderer. He watched them shove my head into a freezing pond, forcing me to feel the same terror our son felt in his last moments.
His protection was always for Hailey, never for me.
Then I learned the horrifying truth. Jonathan was there when our son fell in the water. He saw him struggling, but he chose to comfort a panicking Hailey first.
He let our son die.
So I filed for divorce in secret and vanished into a classified research project. But when he tracked me down, begging for a second chance in front of his new colleagues, I played a recording for everyone to hear. It was Hailey's voice, gleefully admitting that Jonathan had chosen her over his own dying child.
Chapter 1
Krystal POV:
The sterile white walls of the emergency room felt colder than usual. I gripped my arm, trying to stop the trembling, trying to ignore the fresh stitches burning on my elbow. It was just a minor accident. Nothing to bother anyone about. Especially not him.
"You should really call your husband, Mrs. Hurst," the nurse insisted, her voice soft with worry. "He's a U.S. Senator. He deserves to know."
I just shook my head, my gaze fixed on a distant, blurry spot on the floor. "There's no need," I whispered, the words feeling foreign on my tongue. "He's busy."
"Busy or not, he should be here," she pressed, her eyebrows furrowed. "That cut looks nasty. And you're still pale."
I managed a weak smile, a practiced gesture I' d perfected over the years. "I'll be fine. Just a little shock."
Just then, the double doors burst open. Jonathan. Of course. His tailored suit was impeccable, his face a mask of concern that didn' t quite reach his eyes. He scanned the room, his gaze locking onto me like a heat-seeking missile.
"Krystal! What happened?" he demanded, his voice carrying just enough authority to make the few other patients look up. He strode towards me, his long legs covering the distance in an instant.
"It's nothing," I said, pulling my injured arm closer to my body. "Just a small cut."
He frowned, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Nothing? You're in the emergency room. You didn't even call me."
His voice was sharper than I remembered, or maybe it was just that my ears were working differently now. I could hear the undercurrents – annoyance, accusation. Not worry. Not real worry.
"I didn't want to disturb you," I replied, my voice flat. "You have important work."
He sighed, running a hand through his perfectly styled hair. "Krystal, what's wrong with you? You used to call me for everything. A scraped knee, a bad day at the office... you'd call."
I didn' t answer. There was nothing to say. Those days were gone. They' d been gone for a long time.
Suddenly, a hushed whisper rippled through the waiting area. "Is that Senator Hurst?" someone murmured. "And his sister, Hailey? Oh, she looks so fragile."
My gaze flickered to the doorway again. Hailey. Of course. She was clinging to a young aide, her face tear-streaked and pale, looking like a wilting flower. Her ankle was wrapped in a pristine white bandage, looking far too neat for any real injury. Jonathan' s eyes, which had just moments ago held a flicker of impatience for me, softened immediately.
His jaw tightened. He shot a glare at the whispering crowd. Then his eyes darted to me, a flicker of something I couldn't quite name – guilt? – before quickly dismissing it.
"It's just Hailey's sprained ankle," he said, his voice low, as if it were a secret. "She's always so clumsy."
I just stared at him, my expression blank. My heart didn't even skip a beat. It just sat there, a heavy, dead weight in my chest.
"I believe you," I said, the lie tasting like ash. My words were a flat line, devoid of any warmth.
He flinched. His eyes searched mine, looking for the old Krystal, the one who would have yelled, cried, demanded an explanation. But she wasn't there anymore. She' d been buried a long time ago.
"You know," I continued, my voice unnervingly calm, "you once told me that if I ever stopped caring enough to fight for us, that would be the real end."
He recoiled, his face hardening as if someone had just slapped him. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. He looked… confused.
"Senator, Ms. Young is calling for you," the young aide stammered, poking his head through the door. "She's very upset."
Jonathan let out a frustrated growl. He looked at me, then back at the door. "I'll be right back, Krystal," he promised, his voice strained. "Stay here."
He reached for my hand, but I pulled it away so smoothly, so silently, he barely noticed. He just hesitated for a second, then turned and rushed towards the door.
As he reached it, a small, dramatic gasp echoed. Hailey, clutching her ankle, stumbled, almost falling. Jonathan was there in an instant, his arms around her, holding her upright.
"Oh, Jonathan," Hailey sobbed, her voice perfectly pitched to carry across the room. "I'm so sorry. I know this is all my fault. If only I hadn't been so careless… Leo…"
My breath caught in my throat. My vision blurred, but no tears came. I just watched him, holding her, comforting her, his back to me.
"It's okay, Hailey," he murmured, gently stroking her hair. "It's not your fault. I'll take care of you. I promise."
He led her out, whispering reassurances. He never looked back. He didn't come back. Not that night.
The next morning, my phone buzzed. It was the call I'd been waiting for.
"Dr. Mercado," the voice on the other end was brisk, professional. "Your application for the classified research project has been approved. You'll need to report to the facility within two weeks."
A wave of calm washed over me. "Excellent," I replied, my voice steady. "I'll be there."
"Are you sure about this, Dr. Mercado?" the voice asked, a hint of surprise. "It's a multi-year commitment, in a very remote location. No outside contact. No family visits."
"I'm sure," I said, looking out at the rising sun. "I'm an orphan. And I've already filed for divorce."
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8.5
"You don't get to hurt me and then make me responsible for how guilty you feel about it."
"Friends don't stand next to you, learn everything about you, and then use it to get close to the one person they know matters."
Aria thought she knew two things for certain: she was going to graduate with her best friend, Iris, by her side, and she was in love with her boyfriend, Liam.
One kiss changed everything. But as the secrets of their "before" come to light, Aria realizes the betrayal didn't start at a party or in a moment of weakness. It started weeks ago, in the conversations she wasn't part of and the moments she wasn't invited to.
Now, Aria has to decide if she can find herself again in the wreckage of the people she trusted most-or if some bridges are meant to be burned
8.4
"You don't belong in my world," he growled, his hand tightening around my waist.
"Then why do you keep pulling me deeper into it?" I whispered.
Ten years ago, I lost everything, my parents, my innocence, my trust in fate.
I only remember his shaking hands... and the birthmark on his arm.
Now, the most feared man in the city wants me.
A billionaire who commands blood and silence.
A mafia king who kneels only in the dark, only for me.
But what happens when I discover that the man I love...
...is the same man who destroyed my life?
8.4
My love. My ruin.
Ashton Hampton saved me from my mother's scandal. I gave him my whole heart.
Then he told me he was marrying another woman for business. My role? His hidden mistress.
At our engagement party, his new fiancée accused me of ruining her brooch. Ashton didn't question it. He demanded I apologize.
The crowd attacked. He watched.
I climbed onto a helicopter and disappeared.
Eighteen years later, I saw him on a park bench—broken, hollow, begging for one more word.
I gave him two: “No comment.”
7.4
Standing on the edge of a limestone quarry in the pouring rain, I thought we were just having another family argument.
Then my mother, Ardell, screamed that I’d let the life insurance lapse, and my brother, Hakeem, stepped out of the shadows with a cold, calculating look in his eyes.
I told them I knew the truth—that Hakeem had cut the brake lines on my father’s car—but they didn't flinch. Instead, Hakeem shoved me hard, sending me tumbling into the abyss.
I hit a jagged ledge thirty feet down, the sound of my spine snapping like a dry branch echoing through the rain. As I lay paralyzed and broken, my mother watched from above, asking if I was dead yet, before Hakeem whistled for the starving wild dogs that lived in the quarry floor.
"Nature will clean up the mess,"
Hakeem said, walking away while the first set of teeth sank into my throat.
The agony was a tidal wave, but the rage was hotter, a nuclear hatred for the family that stole my future and the daughter I’d never see grow up. I died in that dirt, consumed by fire and teeth, wondering how a mother could choose a car payment over her own child's life.
But then, I gasped for air, sitting bolt upright in my old trailer bedroom. I looked at the calendar: May 12, 2014.
I was seventeen again, but I wasn't the same girl. Inside this malnourished body was the mind of a world-class trauma surgeon and the elite hacker known as 'Phantom.'
This time, I wasn't going to the quarry; I was going for their throats.
8.2
April Scott only wanted to help her family until she crossed paths with Dr. Adrian Smith, the ruthless billionaire and her childhood crush, who is aware of her dark past and turns her life upside down in twenty-four hours. Her sister is hospitalized, her home is suddenly sold. April becomes the target of a deadly plot she doesn't understand.
Every time she tries to escape, Adrian is there... saving her, controlling her, or destroying her, she can't tell which. She could only sense he wanted something from her and she also finds herself drawn to him. But when a confrontation ends with Adrian presumed dead, April becomes a fugitive overnight. And the only person willing to protect her is a stranger with secrets of his own.
8.4
She was the daughter they lost. Now she's the daughter they're willing to sell.
Emma spent eighteen years as a forgotten girl in a forgotten village, until the day her wealthy biological family came to claim her. But her homecoming is no fairytale. Her place has already been taken by Fiona, the perfect adopted sister who sees Emma as nothing but a threat. And her parents? They didn't bring her back out of love. They brought her back to sign a contract.
Alex Hawthorne is the billionaire heir to the most powerful empire in the city, a genius reduced to a wheelchair after a mysterious accident. The world sees him as broken. His family sees him as a bargaining chip. When the Hawthornes demand a bride from the Williams family, Emma is offered up as the sacrifice.
The contract is simple: one year of marriage, and she walks away with enough money to disappear forever.
But no one knows who they're really dealing with.
They see a quiet country girl who doesn't belong. They don't know she's the secret protégé of a world-famous jewelry designer. They don't know she's the anonymous street racer who conquered every mountain road before she ever saw a city street. They don't know she entered an elite academy with the lowest score and rose to the top in a single semester because Emma never forgets anything.
And Alex? He knows none of this.
To him, she's just the contract bride. The quiet stand-in who agreed to a business transaction. He makes her a deal: play the part, and he'll sign the divorce papers when the year is up.
Until their wedding night, when he leans close with a teasing smirk and says, "If you want to give me a child in ten months, you will have to be on top."
She looks him straight in the eye, her lips curving into the faintest smile.
"Fine. But keep still, or I might accidentally tell everyone your legs work just fine."
He says nothing.
Three months later, the billionaire who once pitied his quiet bride cannot go a single day without her. Because every time he thinks he has figured her out, she surprises him all over again.
But in a world of gilded cages and hidden daggers, their marriage is built on a contract and the biggest clause hasn't been revealed yet.
He thinks he bought a pawn.
She's about to show him she's the queen.
And when the contract ends, one of them will break.