Six Years A Ghost, Now Real

My world shattered when I found the text on my husband's phone, revealing his year-long affair. But the deepest cut came from my eight-year-old son. He defended the other woman, Kallie, telling me, "Kallie says you're being selfish and you don't understand Dad." When I confronted them, my husband called me a liar about the baby I was secretly carrying. He had me beaten and publicly shamed at a party while our son watched, screaming that I was ugly and that Kallie should be his new mom. They took everything from me-my home, my dignity, and the love of my child. I was nothing to them but an obstacle. So, with the secret help of my mother-in-law, I faked my death. For six years, I was a ghost. I built a new life, a new family, and found a peace I never thought possible. Until the day my ex-husband and the son who betrayed me walked into my bakery, determined to reclaim a family they had already destroyed.

Chapters

Chapter 5

JILLIAN BELL POV:

Kasen's words were a final, brutal blow, shattering whatever remained of my heart. The pain was so profound it transcended tears, leaving behind a cold, desolate calm. My son, the reason I had sacrificed everything, had chosen her. He had chosen them. My abandonment was complete.

I walked past them, my body moving on autopilot, and closed the bedroom door behind me. I just needed to lie down, to escape the suffocating reality of my life. My mind, however, refused to be silenced, replaying Kasen's cutting words, Cristian's cruel dismissal.

A knock. Then, the door creaked open. It was Kallie. She stood framed in the doorway, a smug smile playing on her lips, her eyes glittering with malicious triumph. "Sleeping already, Jillian? Some wife you are." Her voice was a low purr, meant to taunt.

"What do you want, Kallie?" I asked, my voice flat, devoid of emotion. I was beyond anger, beyond fear.

She glided into the room, her gaze sweeping over the space as if she already owned it. "Just checking on you. Cristian's worried, you know. He really cares about his reputation. He said you were trying to make him look bad." She laughed, a brittle, mocking sound. "But then again, you always did."

"Cristian's reputation?" I echoed, a bitter laugh escaping me. "Is that what you call it? Or is it his pathetic need to have two women orbiting him, one for show and one for pleasure?" I watched her, a strange sense of detachment washing over me. "You can have him, Kallie. You already do. And Kasen, too, it seems. You've successfully stolen my entire family."

Her face tightened, the smugness replaced by a flicker of irritation. "Don't you dare talk about Kasen like that. He loves me. He chose me. He sees me as his mother now." Her eyes narrowed. "And Cristian? He always wanted me. You were just... convenient." She took another step closer, her voice dropping to a venomous whisper. "They're mine now, Jillian. All of them. There's nothing left for you here."

I closed my eyes, a wave of exhaustion washing over me. "Then get out," I said, my voice barely audible. "Just leave me alone." I didn't want to fight anymore. I just wanted it all to be over.

"Oh, I'm not going anywhere," she purred. "But you are." She took a small, sharp object from her pocket. A small, ornate letter opener. And then, in a swift, sickening motion, she shrieked and threw herself backwards, landing hard on the floor.

"What the hell?" I stared, dumbfounded, at her crumpled form on the floor.

Before I could process what she was doing, she let out another piercing scream. "Jillian! What are you doing?!" Her voice was filled with theatrical terror.

Footsteps pounded down the hallway. "Kallie!" Cristian's panicked voice.

The door burst open. Cristian stood there, Kasen beside him, both their faces etched with alarm. Kallie lay on the floor, clutching her arm, her eyes fixed on me with a look of terrified accusation. "She... she attacked me! She tried to hurt me with this!" She pointed to the letter opener, which had skittered across the floor to land near my feet.

"Jillian!" Cristian roared, his face contorted with rage. He saw the letter opener, Kallie on the ground, and his mind immediately filled in the blanks. His eyes, usually so calculating, were clouded by a blind fury fueled by Kallie's performance.

His rage exploded. I felt a searing pain as the world went dark.

"How could you, Mom?" Kasen cried, his small voice filled with betrayal. He ran to Kallie, his arms wrapping around her protectively. "She's hurt, Dad! Mom did this!" His face was streaked with tears, tears for Kallie, not for me.

My head swam. The throbbing ache in my abdomen intensified, mirroring the ache in my heart. I looked up at Kasen, his face twisted with a resentment I didn't understand, and then at Cristian, his hand still raised, his eyes devoid of any humanity.

"She's crazy, Dad!" Kasen screamed, pointing at me. "She's always been angry! Just divorce her already! Kallie should be my mom!" His words, sharp and deliberate, were designed to inflict maximum pain. "You're not the same anymore! You're not fun! Kallie is nice and she always plays with me!"

Cristian nodded, his face grim. "He's right. You're a monster, Jillian." He looked at me with pure disgust. "Get out of my house. Now."

But in that moment, as their accusations rained down on me, something shifted. The pain, the humiliation, the exhaustion—it all coalesced into a profound, chilling clarity. They were right. I was done. Done with this farce, done with this family, done with this life. My heart, truly, had died. The numbness I had felt earlier solidified into an unshakeable resolve.

I pushed myself up, slowly, painfully. My face throbbed. "Fine," I rasped, my voice barely audible. "Divorce me. I'm done fighting."

Cristian scoffed. "You think it's that easy? You think I'll just let you walk away after this stunt? We'll talk about divorce when I'm good and ready. And when I am, you'll regret every single moment you spent under my roof." He grabbed Kallie's arm, pulling her up. "Come on, Kallie. Let's get you to a doctor." He led her out, his arm protectively around her, Kasen trailing behind them, his small hand clutching Kallie's skirt.

I watched them go, a family portrait of my undoing. My hand instinctively went to my lower abdomen, a phantom ache for the life that was, the life that could have been. It was all gone. Everything.

Continue to next part

For five years, I was Jameson Blair's fiancée. For five years, my brothers finally treated me like a sister they loved. Then my twin, Haleigh-the one who left him at the altar-returned with a fake cancer story. In five minutes, he married her. They believed her every lie. When she tried to poison me with a venomous spider, they called me dramatic. When she framed me for ruining her party, my brothers whipped me until I bled. They called me a worthless substitute, a placeholder with her face. The final straw came when they tied me to a rope and left me dangling over a cliff to die. But I didn't die. I climbed back up, faked my death, and disappeared. They wanted a ghost. I decided to give them one.

Horror Mystery Romance

7.8

Addicted To Her: The Alpha's Irresistible Contract Mate

7.8

In the shadows of the omega world, survival is a brutal game. But claiming an S-tier Alpha as your fated mate? That's a descent into hellfire. Three years ago, she fled into the night, her world crumbling under two devastating revelations: He was her destined bond, and her father was the killer behind the tragedy that orphaned him. As her father melted into oblivion, she vanished too, terrified of the vengeful beast she feared he'd unleash. Yet he was no ordinary predator. He was Elias Kingsley, the apex terror of Alphas- a ruthless billionaire empire-builder, a sovereign of shadows and savagery, wielding dominance with the ease of a predator's strike. Now, destiny's cruel hand drags them back into the inferno. Tucked away in a opulent hotel, she's dispatched to deliver drinks to an elite room, oblivious to the trap awaiting: a drugged Alpha in feral rut, the very nightmare she's buried for years. In his grasp, the night devours her-stripping away her virginity, her fragile illusions, her hidden truths. Come dawn, she's a ghost once more. But Elias clings to her intoxicating scent like a curse. This time, his runaway omega won't slip away. Not when lust entwines with retribution, forging an obsession that devours everything in its path-dark, unrelenting, and utterly inescapable.

Horror Romance Werewolf

8.9

Claimed By The Husband's Ruthless Uncle

8.9

Audrey Fletcher was forced to marry the notorious playboy Julian Sterling to save her family's sinking company after her sister ran away. On their wedding night, her new husband threw a $100,000 check at her face, told her they would be strangers in private, and abandoned her in the bridal suite. She thought being trapped in a loveless, transactional marriage was the worst fate possible. She was wrong. To protect herself, Audrey hung a pair of men's boxer shorts on her balcony to fake a lover's presence. Instead of deterring her husband, the ridiculous ruse brought Alistair Sterling—Julian's terrifying, powerful uncle and the true puppet master of the family. He stormed into her apartment with a legal team to catch her cheating, and later even offered her ten million dollars to divorce his nephew. When she refused out of fear of her own family's ruin, the situation escalated. Forced to attend a charity gala, Audrey was tricked by staff into wearing a scandalous, backless gown and sent to a dark penthouse suite to beg her husband for peace. But the man waiting in the shadows wasn't Julian. It was Alistair. "Does the thought of seducing your husband's uncle give you a special kind of thrill?" He didn't listen to her desperate explanations. Instead, he pinned her arms behind her back and crushed his mouth against hers in a brutal, punishing kiss. Trembling with terror and revulsion, Audrey bit his lip until she tasted blood, shoved the billionaire away, and ran for her life. She couldn't understand why this powerful man was so dangerously obsessed with destroying her sham marriage. But as she fled into the cold city night, she realized the terrifying truth: the real game was just beginning.

Horror Modern Romance

8.5

Gone With His Treacherous Love

8.5

On the fifth anniversary of my father' s death, I discovered my fiancé, Graham, was having an affair with my sister, Hollie. The betrayal was compounded by a second, more devastating secret: Hollie was pregnant with his child. All this, while I was secretly carrying his baby too. He swore his loyalty to me, calling betrayal the ultimate sin, all while planning a future with her. He dismissed her as a "childish infatuation" to my face, then rushed to her side for a "family emergency." I followed him and watched them embrace, heard him promise her fireworks and my life. I saw her hand him a gift, then he carried her inside. The door closed on their shared secret, and on my entire world. My sister then sent me a picture of her ultrasound, taunting me to leave quietly. She thought she had won. But she didn't know I had already made a call. Three days later, as Graham stood with a visibly pregnant Hollie at the chapel where we were supposed to get married, he saw my car speed past. His face twisted in horror as he realized I was gone. Not just leaving, but disappearing completely. Three years later, I returned, no longer his fiancée, but Dr. Cross, a powerful strategist he couldn't touch. And he was just a man desperate to get back what he had destroyed.

Horror Mystery Romance

8.1

His Unwanted Bride, Another Man's Queen

8.1

My fiancé, the ruthless Mafia Underboss, tore my dead mother's necklace from my throat and fastened it around another woman's neck. "Diana needs it," Arthur said, his eyes cold. "My blood remembers loving her. It calms her anxiety." He was referring to the bone marrow transplant that saved his life. Diana was connected to the donor, and Arthur believed his new blood made him belong to her. I became a ghost in my own home, forced to watch him crown a usurper. When Diana faked a fall at a gala, accusing me of pushing her, Arthur didn't hesitate. He decided to "discipline" me publicly to teach me respect. He raised the whip. "Arthur, please, I'm pregnant!" I screamed, shielding my stomach. "Don't lie to me," he spat, and the lash came down. I lost our baby on that cold marble floor in a pool of blood. He didn't believe me. He stepped over my body to take Diana to dinner. He didn't stop there. He let my grandmother die in the ER to tend to Diana's bruised nose. He even dug up my grandmother's grave because Diana wanted the view for a garden. I finally fled, vanishing into the night. It wasn't until months later, when he found the autopsy report of our unborn child and the toxicology results proving Diana had been drugging him, that the fog lifted. He tracked me down to a small town, where I was finally healing with a good man. The feared Underboss fell to his knees in the pouring rain, holding the whip he had used on me, shaking violently. "Beat me, Ella," he begged, tears mixing with the mud. "Hurt me. Make us even." I looked at the monster I used to love and dropped his ring into the dirt. "You can't bring back the dead, Arthur," I whispered. "And you are dead to me."

Horror Mafia Romance

8.5

HOT ROMANCE

8.5

I didn't realize I'd been disappearing until the day I caught my own reflection and felt a stranger looking back. Thirty-eight years old, living safely, quietly, forgettably-like a ghost haunting my own routine. But on that warm June afternoon, something in me finally snapped awake. A pulse. A spark. A refusal. So I reached for the keys to the old Winnebago Kevin once hoped would save me, gathered my stunned eighteen-year-olds, and stepped toward a summer that felt impossible-raw, wild, alive. It was the day I stopped surviving my life and started claiming it.

Horror Romance

Six Years A Ghost, Now Real

Chapter 5

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