Seven Years A Fool, One Day A Queen
Everyone knew Kristine loved Colton. Still, his heart clung to a woman overseas-someone he spent most days with, now pregnant with his baby-and Kristine still asked him to marry her.
On their registration day, however, he never came; his "true love" had flown back.
Seven years of loyalty later, Kristine walked away, blocked him, and left his city.
Colton didn't blink-until he saw her at the courthouse, arm-in-arm with another man, and the proud CEO went pale. He went after her, desperation overtaking him.
"I'm sorry. Please give me another chance."
She snapped, "Could you stop? I'm already married."
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Chapter 2
More than a dozen trucks were needed to clear every antique out of Kristine's house.
Standing inside the nearly vacant space, Kristine felt a strange sense of relief settle over her.
Reaching for her phone, she checked the calendar and only then noticed something she had completely overlooked. The day before her departure happened to be her birthday.
Over time, every day of celebration had turned painful for her, because each one inevitably came with a call from Elyse to Colton, and that was how she ended up forgetting her own birthday altogether.
Still, once Colton was out of her life, she could finally return to something resembling normalcy.
That night, she went to sleep holding onto that fragile hope. When morning came, she headed to a house. She and Colton had planned to live there after they got married.
Originally, Colton had purchased the house in full, yet she had insisted on paying half.
In her mind, a place could only be called home if both of them contributed to it equally.
Back then, she had little cash available, but she still chose to sell her most treasured pair of ceramic figurines. They had been truly irreplaceable.
After she entered the passcode, the lock flashed an error.
A frown immediately crossed her face.
She herself had chosen the passcode. It was made by combining both of their birthdays.
There was no logical reason for it to fail.
Suddenly, a middle-aged woman's voice came from inside the house. "Who is it?"
Seconds later, the door opened slightly, and a confused face appeared.
Caution crept into her tone as Kristine asked, "Who are you?"
Without hesitation, the woman replied, "And who might you be?"
Brushing past her, Kristine stepped inside and caught sight of Elyse emerging from the bedroom in a nightgown.
It became painfully clear that Elyse was already living there.
Annoyance surged through Kristine as she asked, "Who allowed you to move into this house?"
Seeing Kristine did not surprise Elyse in the least.
She had chosen to move in on purpose, fully aware of what this place meant to Kristine.
With a calm smile, Elyse replied, "Colton told me to live here. Don't you understand yet? I'm the only one who matters to him."
Elyse waited, expecting Kristine to lose her temper, but instead, Kristine calmly pulled out her phone and dialed property management. "Hello, this is the homeowner. There is an unauthorized occupant in my house. How exactly are you handling your responsibilities?"
Nearly an hour passed before someone finally arrived.
Instead of property management, the person who walked in was Colton.
A cold presence clung to him as he stepped inside, his sharp features hardened by impatience. The moment he noticed Kristine, irritation flashed openly in his eyes. "What are you causing trouble over this time?"
A sudden ache struck Kristine's chest, and the pressure made it hard to breathe.
She had honestly believed she would feel nothing.
With restrained anger, she snapped back, "This is our house. What gives you the right to decide on your own and let her move in?"
The air between them grew heavy with tension.
Watching from the side, Elyse appeared more than pleased with how things were unfolding.
She put on a fragile expression and spoke gently, stirring things further. "Colton, I'm sorry. This is all my fault. I didn't realize this was the place you shared with her. I'll move out immediately."
Suddenly, she pressed a hand to her chest and began coughing hard, as though she might faint at any second.
Without hesitation, Colton rushed to her side and held her up. "Kristine, can you try to be reasonable for once?"
The sight of his hand supporting Elyse sent another sharp pain through Kristine. When Kristine spoke again, her voice sounded unexpectedly calm. "She doesn't have to leave. I paid for half of this house. Just return that half to me in cash, and we'll be done."
She had been worried about how to deal with the house.
Now, the problem had resolved itself.
Kristine's sudden rationality was exactly what Colton wanted, yet for some reason, it left him feeling uneasy.
"No problem. I'll have Bobby transfer the money to you once I get back," he said.
"Okay." After that, Kristine turned and left without looking back.
As Colton watched her retreating figure, a flicker of panic rose in his chest, but he quickly pushed it down.
Kristine loved him deeply. Even if she was upset, it was nothing serious. She would work through it on her own.
Later that afternoon, a transfer from Colton appeared in Kristine's account.
The figure totaled ten million, an amount that doubled what she had originally paid for the house.
Despite his many shortcomings, Colton had never been the type to hold back when it came to money.
Not long after the transfer, a message from him came through. "I will pick you up tomorrow."
There was no room for discussion in his words. It was a declaration.
This was how he had always behaved.
The message contained only a few words, offering no hint about their destination or who else might be present.
To him, adding details clearly felt unnecessary.
Without giving it much thought, Kristine dismissed the message. She slipped her phone away and returned to preparing everything she needed for her departure.
At exactly ten the following morning, Colton's car arrived downstairs on schedule.
Genuine surprise crossed his face when he realized Kristine was staying in her own house. "Aren't you living in Crestwood?"
Colton's villa was located in a neighborhood called Crestwood.
Kristine had only been permitted to move in during the third year of their relationship.
In contrast, rumors said that on the very first night Colton met Elyse, he had already brought her there.
That alone showed the gap between being cherished and merely tolerated.
With little emotion, Kristine answered, "I stayed there long enough. I got tired of it."
No further comment came from Colton, and the car filled with silence.
About thirty minutes later, the vehicle finally stopped in front of a high-end car dealership.
A brief emotion flashed through Kristine's gaze.
Just a month ago, an automotive company revealed a brand-new sports car to the public.
She had fallen in love with it instantly and had brought it up to Colton more times than she could count.
Since the model had not yet gone into mass production, only three units existed in the entire world.
Not long ago, this dealership had secured one of them, and the news had quickly spread everywhere.
Excitement surged in Kristine's chest as she stepped out of the car and followed Colton inside.
The instant she entered and noticed Elyse encircled by staff like the focal point of the room, her mood collapsed completely.
Just as Kristine was about to leave, Elyse spoke up in a gentle, deliberately sweet tone. "Colton, Kristine, you're here!"
Gesturing toward the very sports car Kristine adored, Elyse continued, "I've already chosen one, Colton. I want this one. Is that alright?"
Affection colored Colton's voice as he answered, "Sure."
When his gaze shifted to Kristine, the softness disappeared entirely. "You can choose one as well."
Kristine shifted her gaze toward Elyse, whose expression openly carried pride and provocation. Lifting her hand, she responded calmly, "I want this one as well."
A frown appeared on Colton's face. "Pick something else."
Without backing down, Kristine answered with resolve, "This is the one I want."
As she watched Kristine slip back into what she considered her former stubbornness, a faint curve appeared at Elyse's lips.
A glance was enough for Elyse, since she knew Colton would not approve.
As expected, Colton's expression tightened. "Don't be unreasonable, Kristine. There are so many cars here. Why can't you just choose a different one?"
Gently, Kristine echoed his words. "Right. Why can't I just choose another one?"
After that, she raised her head, and a bright smile slowly formed. "Don't be so tense. I was only joking. Of course, I wouldn't compete with your precious sweetheart. I want this one instead."
Following the direction of Kristine's gesture, Elyse turned to look, and her expression immediately darkened.
What Kristine had chosen was another sports car, one with a price tag of one hundred million.
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9.1
I was the orphaned "parasite" of the Tyler family, taken in only to be abused for fifteen years after my parents died in a tragic car crash.
To finally escape their control, I sold my first time to my ruthless billionaire boss, Ellsworth Mosley, for one million dollars.
I thought it was a clean transaction.
But the next morning, covered in severe bruises he left on me, I was handed a brutal contract with a fifty-million-dollar penalty.
He didn't just buy my silence; he bought me.
My nightmare only worsened when my adoptive family found out about my connection to the billionaire.
Instead of disgust, they invited me to a hypocritical family dinner.
"Talk to Mosley, convince him to invest in our failing business," my adoptive father demanded shamelessly.
His son, who had tormented me for years, even grabbed my hand.
"Do this, and we can be officially engaged. You'll finally be a real Tyler."
They wanted me to whore myself out to save the family that had treated me like a stray dog.
I shattered my wine glass, cursed them to go bankrupt, and walked out into the rain.
As I reached the door, my phone vibrated with a terrifying summons from Ellsworth.
But it was the panicked whisper behind me that froze my blood.
"She knows about the brakes on her parents' car. If anyone finds out what we did, we'll go to prison."
They murdered my parents.
I gripped my phone, accepting the devil's call.
Since I was already bound to a monster, I would use his power to drag them all to hell.
7.0
Eight years ago, Alaina forced herself to say the most vicious, heartless things to break up with her fiercely loyal college boyfriend, protecting him from his billionaire family's wrath.
Now, she is a top maxillofacial surgeon, and Jarred Mcknight has returned as the ruthless CEO of Wall Street's most powerful corporation.
Their worlds collide in the ER, but Jarred isn't alone. He is accompanying his rumored heiress fiancée.
His eyes are pure ice. He treats Alaina with a suffocating, clinical detachment, fiercely protecting the heiress from Alaina's medical examination. The professional slap in the face shatters Alaina's heart all over again.
Later, at an exclusive restaurant, Jarred catches Alaina on a miserable, forced blind date. Still believing she left him for money and status, he publicly mocks her for working herself to the bone just to climb the ladder.
Her sleazy date, humiliated by the billionaire's sheer dominance, turns his bruised ego on Alaina. On the dark street outside, the lawyer aggressively grabs her arm, trying to force himself on her.
Alaina thought Jarred despised her. She thought he had completely moved on, leaving her to drown in the memories of the future they never had.
But why did Jarred suddenly explode from the shadows like a lethal predator, brutally snapping the lawyer's wrist just for touching her?
Pinning her trapped against the cold brick wall, Jarred's dark eyes burn with a terrifying, unhinged possessiveness.
"Is this the kind of garbage you date now?"
The eight years of separation mean nothing. The billionaire hasn't let her go, and this time, there is no escape.
7.2
Azura Briggs was just a broke college student working freezing valet shifts to pay her adoptive mother's crushing medical debt.
Her desperate life shattered the night a bulletproof Maybach violently cornered her in an alley, and a ruthless billionaire kidnapped her by mistake.
After a harrowing escape, Azura was forced to take a humiliating "plus-one" gig at a high-end gala just to survive. But her date turned out to be the billionaire's arrogant nephew, who promptly abandoned her to the wolves. Cornered by a sleazy executive and his psychotic wife, Azura was publicly slapped, her dress torn, and left bleeding on the floor while hundreds of elites watched in disgust.
Just as she prepared to fight to the death, the crowd violently parted. Hunter Mcintosh, the terrifying man who had kidnapped her days ago, dropped to his knees in the broken glass and wrapped his bespoke jacket around her trembling shoulders.
Azura was completely paralyzed. Why was the monster who threatened her life now destroying billionaires just to protect her?
But the illusion of safety didn't last. Trapped in his Maybach hours later, Hunter threw a draconian employment contract at her feet.
"Sign it, and her care is covered. Forever."
He knew exactly how to break her. He was offering to pay off her mother's debt, but only if she signed her life away to become his personal assistant. With no other way out, Azura picked up the heavy pen.
8.3
For three years, I was the perfect, invisible wife to Bart Brown. On our third anniversary, I stood in the kitchen for four hours, preparing his favorite meal with imported truffles, only to receive a cold text command.
"Crysta fainted again. Get to the hospital. Now."
My rare Rh-negative blood was the only thing the Brown family valued. Bart didn't want a wife; he wanted a walking blood bank for his "sick" best friend, Crysta. While I was fainting from chronic anemia, Crysta was smirking in her hospital bed, clutching Bart's hand and mocking my "peasant" lifestyle.
Even his mother treated me like a servant, demanding I vacuum the floors after I'd already offered my veins for the hundredth time. When I finally reached my breaking point and signed the divorce papers, they didn't let me go quietly. They filed a false police report, accusing me of stealing a multi-million dollar diamond necklace just to watch me crawl.
I didn't understand how a family could be so heartless. I had cooked their meals, cleaned their house, and literally bled for them, yet they were determined to ruin my life the moment I stopped being useful. Did they really think I was a nobody with nowhere to go?
Standing outside the hospital with a bruised wrist and nothing to my name, I didn't cry. I simply took off my cheap wedding ring and dialed a secure line I hadn't touched since the day I married him.
"It's me, Dad," I whispered as a fleet of black Maybachs rounded the corner. "The extraction is a go. I'm coming home."
8.3
Zarelle Feymere-heiress to the most powerful werewolf dynasty in the world-made one mistake: she fell for an Alpha who saw her as nothing more than a rare blood bag.
For three years, she endured the humiliation of a loveless mating, her veins tapped like a commodity to sustain the woman Calden Ashmoor truly loved, Thessaly. His fated mate, who rejected him to marry his brother.
When a web of lies and betrayal is uncovered, Zarelle does the unthinkable: she walks away.
Now, stripped of her disguise as a docile omega, the true daughter of the Missatian Pack returns to claim her birthright-and her revenge.
Calden always thought he'd married a nobody.
He never expected his discarded mate to come back as a queen.
8.3
"I don't want your money, Elara. I want the five years you took from me."
Elara's world shatters when her father gambles away her freedom to the most dangerous man in the city. Silas Vane isn't just a ruthless billionaire; he's the Alpha of the Blackwood Pack, and he's been hunting Elara for years.
To Elara, he's a stranger holding a debt she can never pay. To Silas, she is the mate who vanished, leaving him with a scarred heart and a thirst for vengeance. Trapped in his obsidian estate, Elara must navigate a world of shifting shadows and primal instincts. As the line between captor and protector blurs, a dark secret begins to surface: Elara isn't as human as she thinks, and her "debt" was written in blood long before she was born.
Can she escape the Alpha's golden-eyed gaze, or will she finally remember why she ran in the first place?