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 6
A sudden tension settled over the group, and Kailey's eyes drifted to Olivia, who stood close by Ryan's side.
Though Olivia remained silent, there was no mistaking the satisfaction in her gaze—she seemed to relish every bit of the uncomfortable moment.
Kailey pouted and answered softly, "It's nothing important. Julia just asked if I'd found an internship, and I told her I had."
Julia immediately picked up on the shift and hurried to smooth things over. "That's right. Kailey's about to finish school, and I thought she might join our company for a while."
Ryan's eyes lingered on Kailey for a while before responding, "She'll be starting her internship with one of Owen Group's subsidiaries. There's no need for anyone else to worry."
Olivia finally broke her silence, wearing a gentle smile. "I heard Kailey's been doing very well at university. She's bound to do great wherever she lands. Ryan, you really ought to respect her choices too."
Ryan, still in the habit of managing Kailey's affairs, replied without thinking, "She hasn't spent much time in the real world yet. How could she know what's best for herself?"
Kailey almost laughed. He always made choices for her.
She lowered her eyes and, with quiet resolve, replied, "I'm almost twenty-one. I can figure out what's good for me."
For a split second, something like surprise flashed in Ryan's eyes before they turned cold once more.
He assumed she was challenging him just for the sake of it, convinced her attitude was only getting worse.
He wanted to confront her on the spot, but remembered the celebration around them.
His tone was cold as he said, "You'd better figure it out. While you're here, don't wander off. You'll come back with me when this is over."
Once those words left his mouth, he walked away with Olivia, not giving Kailey so much as a backward glance.
Kailey had grown used to his cold shoulder over the past few days. If he wanted to ignore her, she'd let him. After all, her time here was nearly up. There was a strange comfort in the silence he left behind.
Julia, having seen the entire exchange, slipped an arm around Kailey's shoulders, her voice full of sympathy. "Honestly, I didn't expect Ryan to act this way. There's really nothing charming about someone so set in his ways. Let's just forget about him."
Kailey nodded, her agreement wholehearted. "He's not going to get under my skin anymore."
Thinking Kailey needed a distraction, Julia decided not to introduce her to the other guests. Instead, they wandered through the villa's grounds together.
Tucked between rolling hills and winding streams, the manor offered a kind of quiet beauty that eased Kailey's mind.
A flicker of guilt passed through her. "Julia, I hope I'm not keeping you from your other guests."
"Don't be silly. This place is meant for relaxing," Julia replied, her eyes sparkling with mischief. "If Ryan ever yells at you again, just chalk it up to a midlife crisis—men get cranky as they get older."
Kailey held back a laugh but kept her future plans to herself. It wouldn't matter much longer—there would be no next time.
The celebration stretched late into the evening, with guests doting over Julia's baby boy. As people began to say their goodbyes, a few tipsy voices broke out in teasing.
"Ryan, when's the big day for you and Olivia? You're not getting any younger. Don't keep us waiting! And when you finally have your own little one, we'll bring the best gifts to your celebration!"
The space fell into a sudden hush.
A few guests cast quick, sympathetic glances at Kailey, their expressions tinged with pity.
Olivia's smile never faltered. She acted as though she hadn't picked up on any of it and responded sweetly, "Of course, we'd love to have everyone there."
The tension slowly melted away, and after a few more rounds of banter, people drifted off into the night.
Left with little choice, Kailey climbed into Ryan's car.
Olivia claimed the front seat, happily adjusting the air and queuing up her favorite playlist. She turned around and offered a stick of gum to Kailey. "Ryan brought these back from his last trip. They're impossible to find here—give one a try."
Kailey met Olivia's cheerful gaze with a blank stare. "No, thank you."
A quick glance in the rearview mirror caught Ryan's irritated expression.
Ignoring him, Kailey kept her eyes glued to her phone, feigning indifference.
After a beat, Olivia withdrew her hand and smiled awkwardly before turning to Ryan instead. "Kailey's not interested. You should have it."
For the rest of the ride, Kailey tuned out their conversation. Olivia chattered away about upcoming weddings, high-end bridal gowns, and every detail she'd dreamed up for her own big day.
Ryan replied to each comment, his tone a little too pointed, as if he wanted to make sure Kailey heard every word.
But Kailey wasn't listening. Her attention was fixed on her phone as she sent Kyson a message. "Julia's baby is adorable—huge cheeks you just want to pinch."
Kyson asked, "Only a month old?"
"Yep, today's his one-month party."
A moment later, her phone buzzed with an audio message.
Kailey, suspecting mischief, converted it to text.
It read, "You like babies that much? Let's have one together."
She knew he was teasing, but the idea made her laugh out loud.
Her smile faded when she noticed Ryan's eyes on her in the rearview mirror, his brow furrowed as he tried to read her expression.
From where she sat, Kailey caught a glimpse of Olivia's sour expression in the mirror.
She couldn't understand what she'd done wrong. Hadn't she kept to herself the whole drive?
Thinking back, she realized Olivia had been venting about the apartment's lousy maintenance—complaining that the management never fixed anything on time. Apparently, a burst pipe at home had left Olivia soaked and upset.
It dawned on Kailey that maybe they thought she was laughing at Olivia's story. That couldn't be further from the truth, but there was no point explaining.
No one spoke after that. The silence stretched until they pulled up to Olivia's place, bringing the tense drive to an end.
Ryan stepped out and circled the car to open the door for Olivia, his voice gentle. "Next time, don't try to deal with these things yourself. Just call me, alright?"
Olivia sniffled. "I know. I just don't want to trouble you."
"It's never a bother. If you need anything, you call me."
Kailey turned her gaze out the window, unwilling to witness their tender moment.
Soon after, Ryan slid back into the driver's seat, his eyes briefly meeting Kailey's with a look that promised a lecture was coming.
When they reached home, Kailey got out with measured calm.
No sooner had they stepped inside than Ryan rounded on her, his tone sharp. "Kailey, how many times have I told you—if you have a problem, say it to my face. What was that attitude in the car just now?"
"What attitude?" Kailey met his gaze, steady and unblinking. "I wasn't laughing at her."
"Then what was so funny?"
"I..." She hesitated. There was no way she could admit she'd been smiling at Kyson's playful message about having a baby. If Ryan heard that, he'd never let it go.
Her silence only made his expression colder. "Since you won't say it, let me be clear—I am your uncle, Kailey, and that's all I will ever be to you. Understand?"
She'd heard these words before, but each time still left a dull ache. This time, though, it barely stung—just left her numb.
Looking him straight in the eye, she answered with a cool detachment, "Don't worry. I know exactly where I stand, and I'll never step out of line again."
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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.