Never Yours Again: Too Late To Chase Me Back, Mr. CEO!
Ever since Ryan took her in, Kailey had tried to be sensible and pleasing, shaping herself around his moods.
He'd raised her, but she never saw him as family; she'd been sure they'd end up together.
On the day she turned twenty, ready to confess her feelings again, his beloved woman came back.
Kailey overheard, "Kailey is just a kid to me; I could never look at her that way. The only person I love is Olivia."
She walked away, and Ryan fell apart.
Later, at her wedding, Kailey smiled in white. Ryan pleaded, "I regret it, Kailey. Please don't marry him."
Calmly, she said, "Can you let go? My groom won't appreciate it."
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Chapter 2
Kailey's back went rigid, and after a lingering moment, she slowly turned around.
Ryan had just stepped out of the shower, water still dripping from his hair. Even in dark gray loungewear, he looked as sharp and handsome as ever. With his stern expression set aside, he could have easily passed for any woman's ideal man.
Kailey kept her lips tightly shut and turned her head, deciding not to say anything.
Olivia's gaze flickered between the two, then she gave Ryan a playful glare before looping her arm through his. "Why are you being so aggressive? Kailey just woke up. Who isn't grouchy in the morning? You're not exactly gentle yourself, you know."
Her words sounded like a gentle rebuke, but the teasing lilt in her voice softened the edge.
Kailey's face lost its color, and she couldn't shake the feeling that she didn't really belong.
Ryan's mood hadn't fully lifted, but the tension in the room eased a little. He patted Olivia's shoulder lightly, offering a bit of comfort, and then looked at Kailey with a serious gaze. "Come to the study with me."
Without a word, Kailey followed.
Olivia spoke after them with a worried frown. "You may be her uncle, but you don't have to be so hard on her. Try speaking to Kailey gently for once."
Kailey scoffed quietly to herself. They weren't even married yet, and Olivia was already playing the part of the wife.
Distracted by her thoughts, Kailey didn't realize Ryan had stopped until she bumped right into him, the impact making her nose tingle.
"What's got you so lost in your head?"
Ryan's deep voice rolled over her, and Kailey looked up to find his cold eyes locked on hers.
Almost without thinking, she replied, "Don't you know what's on my mind?"
Whether it was the last flicker of hope or just curiosity about his reaction, the words slipped out.
Ryan's brows knit tighter. He regarded her for a long, silent beat before finally speaking. "Kailey, I've already warned you not to entertain any misguided ideas. You're about to graduate, and I'll make sure you find a suitable boyfriend, but it will never be me. I'm your uncle, and soon Olivia will be my wife. You need to give her the same respect you give me. Do you understand?"
This was the first time Kailey had ever heard him speak so plainly.
Not only did he not share her feelings, but he was determined to arrange her future with someone else.
That lined up with what Kyson had said.
What had she been expecting?
Wasn't she the one who'd tried to put all this behind her already?
Kailey exhaled slowly, realizing it wasn't as hard to let go as she'd imagined.
She nodded. "I understand, Uncle Ryan."
Ryan's eyebrows rose, caught off guard by how quickly she accepted his words.
Usually, she only addressed him so formally when she wanted to be forgiven after stirring up trouble, and she always argued back.
Convinced that Kailey had finally learned her lesson, Ryan's face softened. "You know, Olivia goes out of her way to be kind to you. She even made breakfast this morning. Try not to be so cold toward her, alright?"
Kailey couldn't help thinking that even if Olivia hadn't cooked, Ryan would have. Besides, food was the last thing on her mind. Still, she kept her thoughts to herself and replied, "Alright. I'll get along with her."
The change in her attitude left Ryan unsettled. He watched her for a long moment, as if searching for something more to say, before finally asking, "Why didn't you show up last night?"
Yesterday had been his twenty-eighth birthday. Kailey had gone to the club but hadn't gotten into the private room.
As she mulled it over, Kailey answered quietly, "There was a seminar at school that ran late. I was exhausted, so I just went straight home. Happy birthday, Uncle Ryan."
All she wanted now was to tie up loose ends and quietly move on, so she saw no reason to linger or explain further.
Ryan nodded, hesitated a moment, then reached out and gently patted her head. "If you ever need to talk, you can come to me. Don't keep things bottled up. Go on, eat something."
Kailey hadn't expected to ever find herself here, sitting down for breakfast with the man she loved, eating food made by the woman he loved.
She briefly considered excusing herself, but realized if she was truly ready to let go, she could handle scenes like this.
Besides, she would leave the city soon.
Once breakfast was done, Ryan headed upstairs to change.
Kailey planned to go back to her room to pack her things. She had to meet her mentor at the university later to discuss her internship in Aslesall.
"Kailey."
The voice made Kailey stop in her tracks.
She turned to see Olivia at the kitchen door, rubber gloves on, leaning against the frame with effortless poise, the very image of a woman in charge.
Kailey felt a tightness in her throat but kept her face blank as she asked, "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing urgent, just wanted to have a quick chat." Olivia smiled softly, though her eyes betrayed no warmth. "I heard you've always excelled in your studies, even skipped grades, right? Now that graduation's around the corner, have you chosen where you'll do your internship?"
Her words sounded kind, but Kailey could tell she was digging for information.
With a polite, empty smile, she replied, "I don't think that's any of your business."
Originally, Ryan had arranged for her to intern at a company under Owen Group. The thought had thrilled her; she had imagined working side by side with him. But now, none of it seemed to matter.
Olivia's face tensed for a moment before she forced a smile. "I just wanted to check in on you. After all, Ryan is a man, and there are plenty of things he might not be comfortable discussing with you."
Kailey almost pointed out that she had always confided in Ryan about anything and everything. But then she remembered that Ryan's heart belonged to Olivia, not her. There was no point in arguing.
"I get it," Kailey replied, her tone neutral.
Olivia blinked, surprised by the lack of resistance. After a moment's hesitation, she offered, "You're grown now. Isn't it a little awkward, living with Ryan? Maybe you should come stay with me instead. It would be nice to have your company."
Kailey had heard plenty of stories about messy love lives and watched enough romantic dramas filled with lies and schemes. She used to think they were exaggerated, but now she realized they weren't so far from reality. Olivia wasn't inviting her out of kindness; she just wanted her out of Ryan's life.
That familiar lump rose in Kailey's throat, prickling like a splinter. Unable to contain herself, she stepped closer, locking eyes with Olivia. "Should I be grateful for your kindness?"
Something about Kailey's steady gaze seemed to rattle Olivia. She retreated a step, flustered. "No need for that."
Suddenly, her eyes darted over Kailey's shoulder. She softened her voice. "Kailey, you shouldn't worry that I'll take Ryan away. He'll always care for you. I..."
Olivia hadn't finished her sentence when she tripped over the threshold, falling backward with a thud.
Kailey instinctively moved to help her, but before she could react, someone yanked her aside, hard enough to make her collide with the table's edge.
Ryan glared at her, his expression cold and full of disappointment. "Kailey, the older you get, the more cruel you become!"
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7.6
When Christine Woods collapses into a hospital bed from unbearable pain, her husband's response is colder than the IV dripping into her veins: "Stop pretending to be sick."
That same night, a single social media post shatters her marriage--Neil Caffery, intimate with the first love he once claimed was dead.
Three years of marriage. Three years of neglect, indifference, and quiet self-deception.
In that moment, Christine finally understands the truth: she was never a wife--only a substitute.
Not wanting to live as a substitute any longer, she divorced her husband.
After divorce, Christine started her new life, achieving success both in career and love.
Seeing her so radiant and successful, her scumbag husband beg her to come back.
"Hazel, I know I was wrong. Please come back."
However, before Christine could respond, the country's richest man kicked him and held Christine's waist, "Who are you? Stop pestering my wife!"
His voice was cold, his presence imposing.
Christine looked at him and snorted, "When did I agree to marry you?"
"Baby, are you still angry about last night? I promise, I will be gentle next time." The man said, looking at her playfully.
Christine hit his chest playfully, her face turning red.
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?
7.0
At their first meeting, Vanessa dazzled as the heiress of an elite family, while Shawn survived as a broke, hardworking student.
He fell for her-then she shattered his illusion with a sneer. "Do you think you're even in my league?"
Years later, Shawn returned as a rising attorney and heir to a powerful family, backed by wealth and influence.
Disgraced and frantic, Vanessa fought to free her parents, framed and jailed.
She dropped to her knees and begged for his help.
He said coolly, "Be my lover-until I'm done with you."
To her, it was his revenge. But Shawn knew it was the love he'd wanted.
7.5
In a world ruled by power and illusion, the most dangerous role is playing yourself.
When scandal detonates inside the powerful Laurent empire, its fragile heiress, Georgia Laurent, vanishes from public view. Investors panic. Markets wobble. The media circles like vultures.
Then Georgia returns.
Perfectly styled. Perfectly composed. Perfectly convincing.
There's just one problem.
She isn't Georgia Laurent.
She's Sharon Beckley - a struggling actress drowning in debt and one missed audition away from losing everything. When the enigmatic fixer James Barnett offers her an obscene amount of money to impersonate the heiress "temporarily," Sharon accepts. It's a role with strict rules: smile for cameras, memorize the biography, sign where instructed, and never ask questions.
But behind the mirrored walls of the Laurent estate, Sharon discovers this isn't damage control.
It's containment.
Locked wings of the mansion. Security systems recently upgraded. Burned files in marble fireplaces. Offshore accounts bleeding billions from Laurent Global Holdings. And whispers of a former executive whose fatal accident may have been murder.
When Sharon pushes too far, the pressure shifts. Surveillance tightens. James grows colder. The board becomes ruthless.
Then the real Georgia disappears.
No flight records. No secure messages. No proof she's alive.
And suddenly Sharon understands the truth: she wasn't hired to stand in.
She was selected to replace.
Now trapped inside a stolen identity with powerful men determined to preserve the illusion, Sharon faces an impossible choice - become Georgia completely and inherit an empire built on blood...
Or expose the conspiracy and risk being erased permanently.
Because in the Laurent world, identities are assets.
And only one Georgia Laurent is allowed to exist.
7.2
My family arranged my marriage to Silas Thorne, a Wall Street titan. There was just one problem: everyone, including my powerful new husband, believed I was a crippled, helpless girl from the countryside.
On the day of my physical therapy, my father called, not to ask how I was, but to demand I give up the marriage for his illegitimate daughter, Chloe.
"You can barely walk without a limp," he sneered. "You are going to embarrass the Vance family."
My new husband treated me with cold duty, carrying me like a fragile doll but refusing to share a bed, citing my ‘soft tissue injury’ as a pathetic excuse. The rejection was humiliating. To make matters worse, Chloe tracked me down while I was shopping, eager to mock me in public.
"Silas doesn't value you," she said, flashing a cheap ring from my father. "You’re just a crippled placeholder."
They all saw a weak girl they could push around, completely blind to the fact that my limp was a carefully crafted lie.
So I took the unlimited black card Silas gave me and bought a fifty-seven-million-dollar pink diamond, crushing her in front of New York’s elite. When I returned to our penthouse, Silas was waiting for me, a dangerous smirk on his face.
"I heard," he said, his voice a low rumble, "that you bought a star with my money today?"
7.1
I was the top commander of a black-ops military program. After slaughtering my way through a hellish mission, I reached the extraction helicopter, trusting my second-in-command to watch my back.
But the moment our hands locked, he didn't pull me up. Instead, he plunged a syringe of lethal neurotoxin directly into my neck.
He aimed his gun at my chest, coldly stating that I was too dangerous to live. My lungs stopped, and I died in a pool of my own blood. But the endless blackness suddenly shattered. My consciousness violently forced its way into a new, broken shell. I woke up in a freezing alley, soaked in muddy rain.
This body belonged to seventeen-year-old Eliza Wyatt. A massive wave of foreign memories crashed into my brain. Her own younger sister had just stood at the top of the stairs with a mocking smile, watching street thugs beat Eliza to death.
"Take good care of the Wyatt family's eldest daughter. Tonight is the night she finally disappears."
The endless humiliation, the cold stares of her family, and the brutal betrayal by her own blood flashed before my eyes. Why was this fragile girl treated like garbage and pushed to her death by the very people who should have protected her?
I looked down at my pale, trembling hands. The top commander was dead, but in this bleeding shell, Eliza Wyatt was very much alive. I picked up a switchblade from the bloody puddle and stood up in the storm. It was time to hunt.