No Second Chances: her sweet counterattack
"Listen, Hazel, i'm letting this slide, not because I tolerate you, but because I have someone waiting upstairs. If you know what's good for you, stay calm. And think about how to make Lisa comfortable. Do you hear me?"
***
For two years, Hazel had paused her life and career, building a home for Felix. A home he never cared about.
But this time, she chose herself.
Watching her walk away was easy–but what wasn't so easy, was watching everything he thought he built crumble before his eyes.
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Chapter 2
The sitting room was exactly how she remembered it. Her brother, Jason, was seated in a man-spread position, flipping through a magazine while taking sips from the cup of coffee before him.
She didn't make her presence known, not until he looked up from the magazine. His eyes went wide, and the cup slipped from his grip.
"Hazel?" he called, his tone laced with disbelief. He stood up and took slow steps towards her.
"Am I dreaming?" She didn't reply to his question; instead, she wrapped her arms around him.
"I missed you, big brother." He released a hearty laugh, then ruffled her hair like he always did.
"You came back."
"Where is Mom?" Jason looked towards the stairs, and that was enough for Hazel to understand.
She left Jason in the sitting room and went up the stairs to the master's bedroom. She took a moment to stare at her mom's sleeping figure before placing a kiss on her forehead.
Mrs. Smith stirred from her sleep, and a smile tugged at the corner of her lips when she saw Hazel.
"Changed your mind already?" she asked, her tone sarcastic. The Smiths had been against her marriage to Felix, but she had married him against their wishes.
"Hm," Mrs. Smith went back to sleep with a smile on her face, while Hazel retired to her bedroom. It was like she never left. The curtains were up, and the sweet scent of lavender still lingered in the air. After a warm bath, Hazel got into bed.
The next day,
The family is settled in the dining room, and Hazel's return was still a thing of surprise and shock.
"Did he raise his hands on you?" Jason asked, his grip already tightening around his fork. Hazel is the darling of the Smiths, and telling them what Felix has done to her would only worsen things. Whatever happens to Felix must come from her alone.
With a shake of her head, she took a sip from her glass of water and said, "Not really, but I want to divorce him."
"I'll arrange for the divorce papers and have them sent to him as well. You don't have to worry about that," Jason quickly said. He was afraid she'd change her mind any second.
"Since you've finally gotten back to your senses, what are your plans for the future?" Mrs. Smith spoke for the first time that morning.
"I plan to take over the family's business." Mrs. Smith released a sigh of relief. Two years ago, this crazy daughter of hers had left all her achievements to pursue the man she loved, leaving the company under the care of her power-hungry uncle.
Jason, on the other hand, focused on his breakfast. Running the family's business was never his dream. He was glad Hazel was there to keep up the legacy.
The rest of the day was spent catching up on what she had missed in two years.
When Felix got the divorce papers, he couldn't help but scoff. He must have been too easy on Hazel that she dared bring a lawyer to him. Without a second thought, he put down his signature and sent her a note as well. She wanted a divorce? Fine, he'd give her one.
"Don't come running to me when you realize what grave mistake you've made."
Hazel read the note over and over again.
"It seems Mr. Hart is so full of himself," Jason said from his place on the couch. Hazel didn't say a word. She just tore the paper into shreds.
"What do you think about the business event coming up next week?" Hazel took a moment to respond as a smile curled up on her lips.
"Great."
The rest of the week passed like a blur. Seated at her vanity table, Hazel did the finishing touches on her makeup. Her dress was simple yet elegant, a black belted maxi dress that graced her figure perfectly. She threw on a blazer before leaving.
By the time they arrived, the event was already in full swing. As she walked in with Jason, her hand gently wrapped around his, heads turned, and people began to whisper.
Who would have known that the lady from the Smith family would suddenly show her face at the event?
The young bachelors smoothed their suits, each trying to make a good impression.
Standing a short distance away, Felix's eyes narrowed at Hazel, who was suddenly surrounded by men.
His gaze lingered on Jason Smith, the man Hazel had her hand clasped around.
For a moment, when the lawyer brought the divorce papers, Felix had thought that he had never really known her. But it turns out she just got herself another man. He secretly took a picture and sent it to his mom.
"Ms. Smith is indeed a rare beauty," Felix spun around to see a couple of businessmen talking to themselves, their eyes locked on her.
He couldn't deny it either. She looked... different. But he balled his fist as the feeling of disgust washed over him.
Not wanting to dwell on them, he returned his gaze to Hazel, who was now the center of attention. Seeing men flung around her made something in him snap. He put down his glass and walked over.
The moment their gazes met, Felix's smile turned menacing. "It seems like you found a new man, Hazel."
"What are you trying to say, Mr. Hart?" The Hazel he knew would never talk back to him. She received everything without a word. If not for the striking resemblance, Felix would have thought this wasn't Hazel at all.
He let out a mocking laugh and pointed a finger at her.
"You think clinging onto another man gives you the right to speak to me in such a manner? You shameless little slut!
"I advise Mr. Smith to be careful of the woman beside him; she wants nothing but his money!" Felix didn't expect what came next: The slap hit like lightning; he could have sworn he saw stars.
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7.6
After an exhausting fourteen-hour flight, Katia returned to her Upper East Side penthouse, expecting the quiet comfort of the life she had built.
Instead, she found a pair of familiar red stilettos in the foyer and her fiancé, Caleb, tangled in their bedsheets with his twenty-two-year-old assistant.
She didn't scream or cry. She simply took off her three-carat engagement ring, threw it at his bare chest, and demanded he buy out her half of the penthouse by Friday.
Seeking to numb the sickening disgust, she got blackout drunk and crashed at a luxury hotel, accidentally stumbling into the wrong suite.
Thinking the imposing man inside was a high-end escort hired by her friend, she threw him over her shoulder and spent a wild night with him.
The next morning, she left five thousand dollars on his nightstand with a lipstick-stained note.
"Good Job."
For six years, she had funded Caleb's dreams and built his startup from the ground up, only to be treated like a lifeless ATM.
With ruthless precision, she spent the next two months systematically bankrupting his company, cutting off his venture capital, and erasing his life's work.
She felt no heartbreak, only a cold, calculating need to cleanse herself of his betrayal.
But when Katia finally returned to corporate headquarters to co-lead a massive merger, she literally crashed into the new Vice President.
Strong arms caught her waist, and the sharp scent of cedarwood and whiskey hit her like a freight train.
"You came back," Jackson whispered, his eyes burning as he stared at the woman who had treated him like a cheap gigolo.
7.2
Five years ago, I, Claire Parker, ran away for love with Daniel Carter, the broke boy everyone looked down on. But on the very day we were supposed to leave together, he abandoned me.
Overnight, I became the laughingstock of the entire city and was forced into a marriage alliance with a terminally ill man, Ryan Cooper.
Five years later, my husband died, the marriage arrangement fell apart, and the Cooper family threw me out without a shred of mercy.
Meanwhile, Daniel, the man everyone once sneered at, returned home in glory and became the hottest rising name in the business world.
And somehow, he ended up becoming my boss.
I wanted nothing to do with him, yet he kept closing in on me, cornering me with sarcasm sharp enough to draw blood.
Then one day, Daniel caught me on a date with another man.
His eyes reddened instantly as he pinned me against the wall. "Claire... are you abandoning me again?"
9.3
"W-wait! Someone's comi- ah!" Dylan's gasps were muffled with a kiss that made his legs go weak.
"Want me to stop?" The whisper made him shudder.
"...no, b-but there's-"
"Then be a good boy and focus on me. Spread your legs."
Dylan as an innocent college student knew what he wanted in a guy and coincidentally, the Waltson's, their new neighbor, had a son Theo who was a perfect fit. But sadly straight and also not single. Aiming to drink out his sorrows at the school party and move on was an act he did not see ending with him sleeping with someone, but having no idea who it was the next morning.
Soon, his hunt for the truth gets narrowed down to the Waltson's, and he gets faced with the late realization that Theo wasn't the only son of the Waltson's. With his elder brother, Lucas, and a mute twin, Kyle, his options of his drunk one night widens from one to three.
Lucas and Theo had been present at the party, and Dylan saw his only chance of knowing the truth was getting closer to them. But to do that, he needed the help of Kyle who was anything but nice to him. His constant glares, his mischievous smiles, and his hand signs that get interpreted into nothing but lies. Almost like he was trying his best to keep him away from his brothers. And just when he thought that, he takes up the initiative to search up a sign Kyle had shown to him.
^^You and him are never going to work out. I'll make sure of that.^^
In the game of finding out what Kyle meant by that, he stumbles across something even bigger. The Waltson's secret
8.3
I thought marrying into the Barrett dynasty would be my fairy tale, but my wedding day felt more like a business merger. My husband, Jarret, didn't even look at me as he checked his watch at the altar, treating our marriage like a political chore.
Two months later, the world shattered when Jarret's diplomatic convoy was bombed. The news reported him dead, with his twin brother Jayden as the sole survivor.
When "Jayden" returned to the estate limping on a cane, the house became a tomb. My mother-in-law and our cousin Cristine immediately moved to freeze my bank accounts and strip me of my rights, calling me a "greedy climber." I was a widow in a house of wolves, but the real nightmare started when I saw "Jayden" drop his cane and passionately kiss Jarret's mistress in the dark.
I crept to the study and heard the bone-chilling truth: Jarret wasn't the one who died. He had murdered his own brother in the blast to steal his identity and become a "surviving hero." Even worse, he was already planning my "accidental" overdose once I signed over the family trust.
My blood ran cold as I realized the gentle, calloused hands that touched me on my wedding night hadn't belonged to my husband at all. I had fallen in love with Jayden, the man Jarret had just vaporized for a promotion.
I tried to escape, but they caught me and forced a sedative into my arm. When I woke up, the family doctor was standing over me with a predatory smile.
"Congratulations, Elise. You're ten weeks pregnant."
Jarret leaned over my bed, his eyes cold and victorious. They aren't going to kill me anymore. They've turned me into an incubator for an heir, trapped in a golden cage with the monster who murdered the father of my child.
9.7
I'm Karima Heart, and I basically live a double life. In school, I'm the quiet, nerdy bookworm. At night, I'm the seductive, high-demand stripper every one screams for.
But everything's about to change. My perfect secret is on the verge of exposure because my brother's best friend just caught me. Now, to keep him quiet, I have to play his little obedient girl... and with him living under our roof, it's getting harder to resist the pull between us...
9.8
"I didn't marry you for love, Elara. I married you for the land."
Five years ago, Elara Sterling wore a gold mask and shared a night of forbidden passion with Silas Vane, the "Ice King" of Seattle. Then, she vanished.
Now, she's back-not as a socialite, but as a struggling mother desperate to save her son. But Silas isn't the man she remembers. He's cold, powerful, and he just bought her father's debt.
The terms of the "Sterling Clause" are simple: Marry him for one year, and her debts are erased. But there's a catch. Silas doesn't just want the Sterling Port; he wants the son he never knew he had.
As Elara steps into a world of vipers and corporate sabotage, she must decide: Is she a wife, a prisoner, or the only woman powerful enough to melt the Ice King's heart?
In the game of power, love is the ultimate hostile takeover.