Shattered Ring: The Secret Surgeon Returns
I stared at the two red lines on the pregnancy test, hoping this tiny heartbeat would finally save my cold, three-year marriage to Kayson Logan.
But when he returned from his long business trip, he brought the sweet scent of another woman's perfume, a brutal assault, and a divorce agreement.
The financial settlement was entirely under the name of his first love, Alyce Murray.
He tossed a box of Plan B onto the table, staring at me with absolute disgust.
"Take it. If you try to get pregnant behind my back, you will walk away with nothing, and you will never see that child."
The next day, I saw him at the maternity clinic, carefully guarding a pregnant Alyce as if she were made of glass.
His family mocked me for being a barren, pathetic loser, cheering as I was kicked out of the house.
He didn't hate children. He just hated the idea of having one with me.
My three years of devotion were nothing but a joke. He even ordered his men to hunt down the legendary underground surgeon—my hidden alter ego—just to save Alyce's complicated pregnancy.
Why should I risk my life to save the woman who destroyed my marriage?
I spat out the pill he forced me to take and signed the divorce papers without a second thought.
I smashed the multi-million-dollar diamond ring he gave me right at his sister's feet.
"Keep the garbage bought by a man who sleeps with other women."
Then, I walked away, ready to embrace my true identity and protect my baby alone.
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Chapter 5
Charlie tossed the crumpled paper towel into the trash can with a flick of her wrist. She didn't spare Trina another glance as she walked out of the restroom.
She strode down the carpeted hallway of the marketing department, heading straight for her office to pack her personal belongings.
Trina scrambled out of the restroom after her. Panic flushed her face red. She couldn't afford a corporate espionage charge.
Her heels clicked frantically as she chased Charlie down.
Just as they neared the director's office, Trina sped up and intentionally slammed her shoulder into Charlie's.
Charlie stumbled slightly. The stack of pending contracts she was holding slipped from her grasp, scattering across the floor.
Trina stopped, crossing her arms over her chest. She looked down her nose at Charlie and sneered. "Oops. Can't even hold onto your files, Director? I guess the divorce really messed up your head."
Heads popped up from cubicles all down the hallway. The entire department was watching.
Charlie straightened her spine. She brushed an invisible speck of dust from her shoulder and locked eyes with Trina. "Pick them up."
Trina rolled her eyes, raising her voice so everyone could hear. "Why should I? You're about to be nobody here. Stop acting like you own the place!"
At that exact moment, the sound of multiple footsteps approached from the main corridor.
Kayson Logan turned the corner, flanked by a group of senior executives. Clinging tightly to his side was Alyce Murray, glowing in her designer clothes.
Trina's eyes darted to Kayson. Instantly, her sneer vanished, replaced by a look of sheer terror.
She deliberately stepped on one of the scattered contracts, threw her weight backward, and slammed into the wall.
"Director Charlie, please!" Trina cried out, her voice trembling with fake tears. "I know you're upset about leaving, but you can't take it out on me!"
Kayson stopped dead in his tracks. His dark brows crashed together as he took in the scene.
Alyce gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. She shrank behind Kayson's arm. "Oh my god, is Charlie hitting her employees? That's so scary."
Kayson immediately threw his arm out, shielding Alyce, keeping her at a safe distance as if Charlie were a rabid dog about to attack her stomach.
That single, protective gesture was a knife twisting in Charlie's gut.
Kayson's eyes snapped to Charlie. They were filled with raw, unfiltered disgust.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" he barked.
He didn't ask what happened. He didn't ask for her side. He just convicted her on the spot.
Charlie looked at the man she had loved for three years. Suddenly, the urge to explain, the urge to fight for his approval, completely evaporated.
She felt nothing but a profound, exhausting pity for herself.
She pulled her gaze away from Kayson and looked down at Trina, who was still cowering against the wall.
Charlie's voice rang out, clear, authoritative, and utterly devoid of emotion.
"Trina Dempsey. For suspected theft of corporate trade secrets and severe violation of workplace conduct, you are officially terminated."
The hallway went dead silent.
Trina froze, her fake tears drying instantly. "You can't fire me! You're the one getting kicked out!"
Charlie pulled her director's ID badge from her pocket and tapped it against the scanner on her office door. The light flashed green.
"I am still your direct superior," Charlie stated coldly. She turned to the security guards standing near the elevators. "Watch her pack her desk. I want her out of this building in ten minutes."
The guards hesitated, glancing at Kayson, but the absolute authority radiating from Charlie compelled them to move toward Trina.
Kayson's face turned a dangerous shade of purple. He saw this as a direct challenge to his authority, a desperate stunt to embarrass him in front of Alyce.
He turned his head slightly toward his executive assistant, Milo Vance.
"Bring her to my office on the top floor. Now," Kayson ordered, his voice dripping with venom.
Without another word, he wrapped his arm around Alyce and guided her toward the private executive elevator.
Charlie stood in the hallway, her face an unreadable mask, ready for the final war.
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9.1
He postponed putting my name on the deed 18 times.
Each time, his mentee Ciera had an “emergency.” Each time, he ran to her.
I watched him give her his prized Montblanc pen—the one he wouldn’t even let me borrow. I saw her post their late nights on Instagram. I ate anniversary dinners alone while he “mentored” her.
Then he bought me a necklace—identical to the one she just flaunted online.
That was when I stopped feeling anything.
I didn’t cry. I didn’t fight. I simply packed two suitcases, resigned from our firm, and booked a one-way ticket to London.
He thinks I’m coming back in a week.
He has no idea I’m gone for good.
Nineteen broken promises. One silent goodbye. And a new life waiting across the ocean.
9.6
For five years, I was Barron Santana's elite bodyguard and loyal shadow. I stood between him and bullets, giving him my youth and my entire heart.
But last night, the CEO announced his engagement to a flawless socialite on national television.
Heartbroken, I got blackout drunk and ended up crashing on the couch of Cassidy Gross, a billionaire tech CEO who saved me from a bar creep.
When I showed up late to work, Barron locked me in his freezing office. He pinned me against the glass, smelling Cassidy's cologne on my clothes.
"Are you already looking for your next meal ticket?"
He snarled the words, treating me like a cheap whore. When I defended myself, he pulled out a silk handkerchief and wiped his fingers, acting as if my very touch contaminated him.
Then, he coldly ordered his assistant to draft my termination papers.
Five years of risking my life for him, thrown away like garbage just because of his twisted ego.
Devastated, I ran out and collapsed in the hallway, sobbing uncontrollably until a kind coworker gently pulled me into his arms to comfort me.
I didn't know Barron had followed me out.
Seeing me clinging to another man, his legendary control completely shattered, replaced by a dark, violent possessiveness.
But it was too late. I was done playing his obedient dog, and it was time to take Cassidy up on his offer.
9.1
Elise thought her life was finally falling into place. She turned down her father's company to work as executive assistant to Marcus Grey-the boy she's loved since childhood, now the powerful CEO she's devoted her life to.
But when Marcus proposes to another woman, Elise's world crumbles. Enter Sebastian Deluca-Marcus's tattooed, ruthless, long-estranged brother. He's everything Marcus isn't: dangerous, magnetic, and determined to take back his place in New York.
But, there's something odd about him.
Something changed since he arrived.
Bound by family secrets and a mutual desire to expose Marcus's fiancée, Elise and Sebastian form an uneasy alliance. But as sparks ignite between them, Elise must choose: remain loyal to the boy she thought she loved, or risk everything for the man who sees her as more than a shadow.
Some loves are safe. Others are consuming. Which one will she survive?
7.4
Bailey, an invisible shadow to the powerful Douglas family, stood in the freezing rain, watching City Hall. For five long years, she’d been used to being forgotten. But today, her entire world shattered as her fiancé, Jameson, walked out with another woman, Haleigh, holding their fresh marriage certificates.
Jameson scooped Haleigh into his arms, treating her like fragile glass, convinced she’d saved him from a burning car five years ago. He never knew it was Bailey who pulled him from the flames, nor that Haleigh's "sickness" had left Bailey with an ugly scar from donating bone marrow, making her a mere family blood bank.
Watching them kiss, pure nausea rose from years of blame. Bailey later found a joyous celebration for Haleigh at the manor. Her wet arrival drew only cold annoyance; Jameson gave pitying instructions before all four men rushed to Haleigh’s side when she faked a cough.
Haleigh, with a sweet smile, presented Bailey a "gift"—a velvet box. Forced to open it, a venomous Brown Recluse spider dropped onto Bailey's hand, sinking its fangs deep. As white-hot agony exploded and her vision blurred, Haleigh theatrically screamed, deliberately scraping her forehead.
The men, blind with panic for Haleigh’s minor scratch, roared at Bailey, shoved her to the floor, and rushed Haleigh to the car. Left to die alone, struggling for breath as her body shut down, Bailey knew this was the end of playing their disgusting game. She had already activated her hidden trust fund, planning to buy a remote island and disappear forever.
8.5
Cecile jolted awake from months of prescription haze, only to realize she was trapped in a live reality show designed to destroy her.
Her billionaire husband had orchestrated the broadcast to publicly humiliate her and elevate his own PR image. He ordered her to follow a degrading script. What was worse, her five-year-old son, Damien, was genuinely terrified of her. When an empty wine bottle rolled across the floor, the tiny boy instantly threw his arms over his head, bracing for a hit.
The production crew shoved microphones into the trembling child's face, trying to trigger his trauma for ratings. The live chat cursed Cecile as a toxic abuser. The show's golden girl maliciously tried to poach Damien on camera to prove Cecile was an unfit mother. The crew even rigged the game, forcing Cecile and her son into a freezing, rotting mud shack with a collapsed roof. They were all just waiting for her to break down and beg.
"A toxic woman like you doesn't deserve to be a mother."
The crew read the hateful comments aloud, expecting a hysterical meltdown. The realization that she had been manipulated into destroying her own child hit Cecile like a physical blow. How could a father subject his own son to this public cruelty?
The weak, easily manipulated Cecile was dead. She threw the PR script away, rolled up her sleeves, and picked up a rusted hammer. This time, she would protect her son and tear down anyone who stood in her way.
9.4
My husband was in the shower, the sound of water a familiar rhythm to our mornings. I was just placing a cup of coffee on his desk, a small ritual in our five years of what I thought was a perfect marriage.
Then, an email notification flashed on his laptop: "You're invited to the Christening of Leo Thomas." Our last name. The sender: Hayden Cleveland, a social media influencer.
An icy dread settled in. It was an invitation for his son, a son I didn't know existed. I went to the church, hidden in the shadows, and saw him holding a baby, a little boy with his dark hair and eyes. Hayden Cleveland, the mother, leaned on his shoulder, a picture of domestic bliss.
They looked like a family. A perfect, happy family. My world crumbled. I remembered him refusing to have a baby with me, citing work pressure. All his business trips, the late nights-were they spent with them?
The lie was so easy for him. How could I have been so blind?
I called the Zurich Architectural Fellowship, a prestigious program I had deferred for him. "I' d like to accept the fellowship," I said, my voice eerily calm. "I can leave immediately."