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 7
Those were the exact words Ryan had been expecting. Still, something about the steady calm in Kailey's eyes made emotion rise sharply in his chest, catching him off guard.
Ryan turned his head away. "Go rest. And stop causing trouble all the time."
Kailey stared after him, a mix of disbelief and amusement twisting inside her.
She had only attended a friend's celebration without telling him, and she had laughed when Olivia was complaining, yet somehow that alone was enough for him to label her causing trouble.
In the past, no matter how bold and reckless she appeared to others, she was always compliant and agreeable before him. If he told her to do something, she did it. If he wanted her to avoid someone, she obeyed without question. She never argued.
But that version of her was gone. From now on, she would live as herself.
After that tense ending, Kailey did not see Ryan again for several days. She stayed busy instead. Graduation had everyone preparing for their new jobs, and she spent time having farewell dinners with classmates before finally starting to pack her belongings.
After living in this house for so long, she had accumulated too much. Moving everything would be impossible. She decided she would keep only what she truly needed and donate the rest.
Soon enough, Olivia would probably move in, and the couple would not want any traces of her left in the house.
Kailey gathered boxes first, then spread her clothes across the bed before folding them carefully into her suitcase.
Soft music played in the background, and to her surprise, she felt lighter than she had in weeks.
She was almost finished when a familiar voice broke through the doorway. "Why are you packing?"
Kailey's hands paused, her good mood faltering slightly. After a moment, she answered, "I'm about to start work, so I wanted to visit Dad, Mom and Grandma while I still can."
Even though Kailey grew up beside Ryan, his brother and sister-in-law—Sawyer Owen and Aleena Owen—were the ones who had legally adopted her. They had treated her with warmth and care like true family.
This trip to Aslesall might not be temporary. She did not even know if she would come back. If she was leaving, then she owed them a proper goodbye.
Ryan had panicked for a brief moment earlier, but once he heard her reason, the tension in him eased. "So when are you leaving? I can drive you there."
The Owen family's roots were not actually in Jucridge. Their beginnings traced back to the nearby city of Douxledo.
Kailey gave a small shake of her head. "That's not necessary. I can manage on my own."
Ryan did not respond right away.
She lifted her eyes and caught the faint confusion in his gaze.
Of course, she understood it well. He was never used to her refusing him, because she almost never did.
After a brief pause, she added, "You should keep Olivia company. I'm not a kid anymore. I can handle a trip by myself."
The moment Olivia's name came up, Ryan's expression shifted sharply. His voice turned cold. "Olivia just came back. Naturally, I need to be there while she gets settled. Fine, go alone then, but do not say anything unnecessary to your parents. Kailey, you know me. Do not try any pointless tricks."
Kailey watched him walk away, his indifference carved into every step. A faint smile tugged at her lips as she lowered her gaze. Did he truly think she was going back just to complain? Thankfully, she had moved on. If it were in the past, those words would have cut deeply.
Kailey inhaled, steadied herself, and finished packing what was left.
When she finally sat down, Kyson sent a message asking how things were going.
Kailey responded, "Still sorting out a few things. I'm planning to visit my parents and grandma."
Kyson replied soon after, "Alright. Tell me if you need help with anything."
Not long later, another message came through. He suggested she stop by Nora's place and have her waist checked again.
Before she could refuse, Kyson sent a voice message, his tone serious. "Nora told me about your injury. If you ignore it, it could cause problems for a long time. Are you really willing to risk that?"
Just imagining it made Kailey shiver. She had no desire to carry pain like that into the future.
After ending the call with Kyson, she grabbed her things and went outside to hail a taxi.
About thirty minutes later, she arrived at her destination.
The receptionist clearly knew who Kailey was and greeted her with a polite smile. "Nora's tied up at the moment. Would you mind waiting for a bit?"
Kailey gave a small nod and let herself be guided toward the waiting area.
After some time passed, the door to a nearby room opened, and Olivia stepped out.
She was dressed in something sleek and expensive, her long hair braided neatly over one shoulder, looking every bit like someone carefully put together.
Olivia noticed Kailey immediately. She hesitated for a second, then walked over with a practiced smile. "Kailey, I didn't expect to see you here."
Kailey had no interest in chatting, so she only nodded and took another slow sip of water.
A slight change crossed Olivia's face, and her lips tightened. "Kailey, I honestly don't think I've done anything to you, so why the hostility?"
"You are imagining things," Kailey replied simply. She felt nothing at all for Olivia.
That indifference irritated Olivia more than anger ever would, as though Kailey found her unworthy of attention.
Olivia forced another smile. "If there's no issue between us, then as Ryan's girlfriend, shouldn't I be someone you try to get along with? Maybe we should spend time together."
Kailey looked genuinely confused. "You are dating Ryan, not me. Why would I need to spend time with you?"
Olivia froze, then her voice turned wounded. "How can you say something like that?"
"Then what would you prefer I say?" Kailey set her glass down, her gaze steady and straightforward. "Olivia, whatever you and Ryan are doing is your choice. Just don't involve me in it."
Kailey was not foolish. Olivia's endless little questions were not about kindness. They were only meant to confirm one thing—that she and Ryan truly had nothing between them.
Kailey only found it laughable. Ryan had already made his rejection obvious, so what else was Olivia still trying to dig for?
At last, Olivia's smile slipped. "Can you really claim you do not feel anything for Ryan?"
"I once did," Kailey answered plainly, her eyes steady. "But not anymore. Not now, and not ever again. You do not like me, and I have no interest in you either. Let's stop pretending we need to be friendly. We should remain strangers."
Olivia had clearly come prepared to scold her, but Kailey's bluntness left her with nothing to throw back at first.
After a pause, Olivia sneered, "You sound so righteous, but you have no shame at all. You're a grown woman, yet you're still living under the same roof as a man who isn't even related to you by blood. Doesn't that embarrass you?"
When Kailey first left for college, she had wanted to move out. But Ryan had refused, insisting she could not manage alone. Now Olivia was using it like a weapon.
Kailey's hands curled into tight fists. "I am leaving soon."
Olivia did not let up. "Soon? When exactly?"
Kailey opened her mouth, but before she could answer, a calm voice cut in, "Does your boyfriend know you are cornering his niece like this?"
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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.