Rejected by the Alpha, Claimed by the King

Pain greeted me before consciousness fully returned. A dull, throbbing agony that radiated from my abdomen and spread through my entire body. I tried to move, but my limbs felt weighted down by invisible chains. My eyes fluttered open to harsh fluorescent lights that stabbed into my skull. White walls. Metal bars. The antiseptic smell of disinfectant mixed with something metallic—blood. My blood. I tried to sit up, but a sharp pain lanced through my lower body, forcing a gasp from my cracked lips. My hands instinctively moved to my stomach, searching for the gentle swell that had been there just...

Late into the night, the doorbell rang, jolting me out of sleep. On the video screen was April, her face bruised and her voice raw from crying. "Winona, please help me. Kyro hit me again." I was about to open the door when a series of messages appeared before me. [Don't let her in, or you'll be caught up in their mess!] Suddenly, a chill swept over me, chasing away any lingering drowsiness. [Her husband resents you for taking her in each time and plans to marry you off to his vile brother. April agreed to this to appease him!] [If you open the door, they'll force their way in, attack you, and drag you to a remote village!] [You'll end up like those women in old folktales, trapped and isolated, with no hope for rescue, forced to bear children!] Warnings flashed before my eyes, making me pull my hand back from the doorknob. April and Kyro had been together for three years, and within our group, Kyro was seen as the ideal boyfriend. But just a week into their marriage, April showed up, tearful, confessing that Kyro had hit her. Only then did I learn that Kyro's kind and attentive behavior during their relationship was just a façade; underneath, he was volatile.

When Hayley Henderson handed her hard-earned million-dollar project to Vivien Cheney, she didn't expect her billionaire husband Eric Sutton to reward the assistant with a luxury honeymoon ticket. Eric thought three months of cold silence would break her into submission. Instead, Hayley froze the platinum card, sold the house, and handed him signed divorce papers. As Eric realizes his perfect life was built entirely on his wife's unseen sacrifices, his arrogant demands turn into desperate pleas. But Hayley has already accepted a lucrative position at a rival empire, leaving her toxic marriage in the ashes. He thought she was playing a petty game, but she was busy rewriting her entire destiny.

When Natalie Crawford dies betrayed by the two people she loved most—her husband and her sister—fate gives her a terrifying gift: a second chance. Reborn five years before her wedding, Natalie remembers every cruel secret, every stolen asset, every lie. But instead of running, she plays the role of the perfect bride—sweet, devoted, harmless—while setting the stage for her revenge. Her husband will fall in love with her all over again. Her sister will trust her completely. And when the time is right, they’ll lose everything—just like she did. But as Natalie’s vengeance unfolds, she begins to wonder… If you could rewrite your own tragedy, how far would you go to make them pay?

The bass from the speakers throbbed through my bones as I watched Logan laugh with his friends across our living room. His thirty-second birthday party was in full swing, with champagne flowing and the city lights glittering through our apartment windows. I smoothed down my dress, feeling a flutter of pride at how perfectly everything had come together. "Truth or dare time!" Marcus Chen, Logan's best friend since college, clinked his glass against the coffee table. "Who's first?" I settled onto the couch beside Logan, his hand resting casually on my thigh. The warmth of his touch still made my heart skip after three years of marriage. Everything was perfect. We were perfect. "I nominate Kamila," someone called out, and my eyes found her across the room. Kamila Rivera.

After five years of IVF and seven months of pregnancy, Lucy went into premature labor. She was hemorrhaging, her life hanging by a thread. The husband who had always professed to love her to the bone was nowhere to be found. Neither was the college girl he had kept on standby as her emergency blood donor. She wanted to scream his name, to demand an answer, but another contraction seized her—a tearing agony that threatened to split her body apart. "Ryan... Where's Ryan?" Watching her sister's face blanch with pain, Amy wept as she dialled her brother-in-law’s number thirty-two times. Each call was met only by the desperate, endless tone of a busy signal. "The mother has a rare blood type! We're running out!" "Her blood pressure's still dropping!" "Didn't Mr. Ryan arrange a backup donor? Where is she?!" Faced with the doctor's furious shouts, Amy trembled, tears streaming down her face. "My brother-in-law's phone... it's switched off." Before she could say more, another violent contraction twisted Lucy's abdomen. Before her consciousness faded, Lucy cast one last glance toward the operating room door. Ryan still hadn't come. She didn't know how much time had passed when she finally woke in the hospital bed. Her hand moved to her flat, empty stomach, and a wave of crushing dread and grief washed over her. "The baby..." Struggling to sit up, she searched for her child, but saw only her red-eyed sister. "Lucy... I thought you'd never wake up..." "The baby... where's my baby?!" Her voice was a frail thread as she clutched Amy's sleeve, tears brimming. "The doctors said they couldn't save her... It was too dangerous. If they hadn't performed the C-section, you wouldn't have made it..." "Where's Ryan?" Amy's expression darkened. "I've been here for three days and nights. He hasn't come." Her sister's words made Lucy's world spin. The heartache hit like a physical blow, threatening to drag her back into the darkness. Her precious baby, nurtured for seven months and filled with so many hopes and dreams, had never even opened her eyes to see this world. This was the child Ryan had longed for day and night. Yet now, as the father, he hadn't bothered to see them even once. Gasping for air, Lucy dialled Ryan's number again. This time, his assistant answered. "Where is Ryan?" Faced with her demand, the assistant hesitated. "Mr. Ryan... is busy." The man's evasive tone sent a chill straight through Lucy's heart. "Tell Ryan to come to the hospital. Now." Wiping her tears, she hung up with a sharp click. With Amy's support, Lucy finally went to the morgue to see that tiny, cold form. Her baby, the one she couldn't protect. A little girl. Lucy bent, breathing warm air onto the child's icy little hand. "Sweetheart, Mommy's taking you home." Cradling her daughter, Lucy walked with purpose to a specific address—the apartment where Ryan kept the college girl, Ruth. She wanted Ryan to see their child one last time. But as she reached the door, she saw him through the gap, soothing a sobbing girl in his arms, his voice gentle as water. "Shh, it's alright. Don't cry." "If you're scared, we won't go. Okay?" Tears streaked Ruth's face, her eyes red-rimmed. "I wanted to go... I was just too afraid..." "Be good, Ruth. Don't be scared. We just won't go." Lucy stood outside the door. It felt like a thousand blades were being driven into her heart, the pain so sharp she could barely breathe. While she had been balanced between life and death, the man she loved was here, comforting another, younger girl. The Ryan who had once risked his life for her had finally changed. He had, after all, risked his life for her three times. At eighteen, he had shielded her in earthquake rubble for three days and nights, giving her the chance to be rescued first while he nearly died. At twenty-one, he had charged alone into a kidnapper's den for her, taking three bullets. The last one had missed his heart by a single millimetre; he'd fought for his life in the hospital for seven days and nights. At twenty-five, when everyone opposed their marriage, Ryan had willingly endured his family's punishment—five broken ribs—just to force them all to accept Lucy. After their wedding, Lucy had basked in that hard-won happiness. So when Ryan said he wanted a child, despite her extreme difficulty conceiving, she pushed her body to its limits. Countless rounds of IVF later, she finally became pregnant. Once she was pregnant, he became even more devoted. Not only that, Ryan had found a college girl with Lucy's rare blood type and installed her in an apartment, a ready supply of emergency blood for when Lucy gave birth. Lucy had questioned it once, but his smile had dispelled her doubts. "Even with a baby on the way, you're still my little jealous one?" "Don't overthink it. She's just insurance, for your safety. I want you and our baby to come through this safely." Lucy had believed him. And so her child had died. Lucy