Stop Begging! I'm Now A Star Beyond Your Reach
Three years of marriage were all Olivia needed to learn that love alone could not hold Theo.
She gave him everything, only to find another woman's photo in his phone after a night of passion.
When she confronted him, he coldly told her Jennifer was disabled and could never compete with her. That answer ended the marriage.
After the divorce, Olivia rose like a storm-becoming a dazzling musician, the world's leading accordionist, and a woman whose talents amazed everyone.
Too late, Theo saw her worth and begged with reddened eyes, "Babe, please come back to me, will you?"
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Chapter 6
It was obvious Vernon held no fondness for Jennifer. His expression stayed distant as he ignored her and took another sip of coffee.
A flicker of discomfort passed over Jennifer's face, and her hands tightened against the sides of her wheelchair.
Theo gave her a look, and she caught on right away. With a small nod, she guided herself toward the front.
Facing the crowd, she spoke in a soft tone. "It's Vernon's birthday today. I'd like to play something on the accordion to wish him a happy birthday."
Her voice stayed gentle. Under the lights, dressed in white, she sat straight in her wheelchair, every movement measured.
Her fingers pressed against the keys, and the music began. The tune came out steady, yet it lacked depth. A few notes slipped off pitch.
When she finished, the guests responded with polite applause.
Many of them were well-versed in music. They could tell right away it wasn't refined. Their smiles stayed in place, but their thoughts told a different story. It barely reached a beginner's level, yet she had the nerve to perform before them.
As soon as she left the stage, Theo spoke up without hesitation. "Jennifer is a talented accordionist. She'll be holding her own concert soon."
A quiet laugh escaped Olivia. Just to protect Jennifer, Theo didn't mind making himself look foolish.
Moments later, Theo turned to Vernon, and a rare softness appeared in his expression. "Jennifer's concert is coming up. It would mean a lot if you could attend and support her."
Each word cut into Olivia like a knife.
She had stood on stage countless times with the orchestra, yet Theo had never once been there. Now he was asking his grandfather to show up for Jennifer?
Her gaze dropped, and a shadow crossed her face.
A scoff left Vernon. "Absolutely not. I don't waste my time on things like that."
After a pause, his tone turned warmer. "If it were Olivia's concert, though, I'd be sitting right in the front."
The color drained from Jennifer's face.
She understood what that meant. Without Vernon's approval, becoming part of the Harvey family would never happen.
And in her mind, Olivia was the reason.
A thought took shape, and she moved back beside Theo. Turning toward Olivia, she put on a soft, teasing smile. "Olivia, you're known as the youngest accordionist in the country. With a day like Vernon's birthday, how could you not play something for him?"
Her gaze drifted to Olivia's wrapped hand, and a faint smile followed.
On any other day, she knew she wouldn't stand a chance.
But now, with that injury, Olivia couldn't possibly perform.
Jennifer had already decided. She would make sure Olivia embarrassed herself in front of everyone.
Making her perform now would only push the injury further. There was no outcome where Olivia could come out on top.
Olivia's eyes dropped to her aching hand, and discomfort showed on her face. "I can't—"
Theo didn't let her finish. He leaned in, and his voice lowered, his breath brushing her ear. "It's Grandpa's birthday. Think about what you're doing. Jennifer already played. Are you really going to turn this down?"
He had noticed her injury. Still, not once had he asked about it. Instead, he was urging her toward the stage.
Something tightened in Olivia's chest. The pain in her hand flared, yet she kept her expression steady as she looked at Vernon. "Since someone like Jennifer could perform, it wouldn't be right for me, as Theo's wife, to sit this out."
Rising to her feet, she gave Jennifer a small, polite nod before heading toward the stage.
She reached for the same accordion Jennifer had used. It wasn't the one she preferred, but its quality was undeniable.
After a brief adjustment, she began to play the very same piece Jennifer had played.
Just a few notes in, Jennifer's face went pale. "She's playing the exact same piece as me!"
As she turned toward Theo, hurt filled her eyes, but his attention stayed fixed on Olivia. He didn't even look her way. Jealousy rose within her.
Under the lights, Olivia's hands moved swiftly over the keys. Blood slowly soaked through the bandage.
She pushed through the pain and pressed harder on the keys as the image of Theo standing with Jennifer filled her mind, each note carrying the anger, hurt, and defiance she refused to voice.
The rhythm picked up without warning. What began steady soon burst into something fierce and uncontrollable.
A voice broke from the front. "Is that... blood?"
Red spread across the pale surface of the accordion. Olivia's injured hand gave way under the strain, smearing the keys as drops fell onto her gown and stained the floor beneath her.
Still, she didn't stop. Her hands kept moving. The sound climbed higher, sharp and unyielding, pulling everyone in.
"Bravo!" someone called out. Then more voices followed, until the room filled with applause. No one could look away.
Set against Jennifer's earlier performance, Olivia's felt overwhelming, like it belonged to a different world entirely.
Moisture gathered in Vernon's eyes. "My poor Olivia," he said quietly. "She's hurt... and she still did this for me."
Under the lights, Olivia sat there, pale and stained with blood, yet nothing in her expression wavered.
From the crowd, several young heirs watched closely, their admiration clear. Even a well-known playboy let out a low whistle. "Mrs. Harvey... you're something else."
Watching from where he sat, something twisted inside Theo. A possessive tension settled deep within him.
Jennifer caught it. Her expression tightened.
Why?!
Even like this, Olivia still outshone her.
Even like this, she still held his attention.
The thought burned, and a decision formed. She wouldn't let this continue much longer.
When the last note faded, Olivia slipped away to the restroom to tend to her hand. The moment she stepped back out, Theo grabbed her and pushed her against the wall.
He closed the distance between them without hesitation, his hold firm and unrelenting. She pushed against him, but his grip didn't loosen.
What he had seen on that stage stayed with him. The way others looked at her stirred something he couldn't ignore. All he wanted was to keep her away from them.
When she finally drew in a breath, he pulled back slightly, his hand still holding her in place. His voice dropped. "Olivia, you belong with me. Don't forget that."
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7.6
I was the fiancée of the Chicago Outfit’s heir, a bond sealed by blood and eighteen years of history.
But when his mistress pushed me into the freezing pool at our engagement gala, Jax didn’t swim toward me.
He swam past me.
He scooped up the girl who pushed me, cradling her like fragile glass, while I struggled against the weight of my gown in the murky water.
When I finally dragged myself out, shivering and humiliated before the entire underworld, Jax didn’t offer a hand. He offered a scowl.
"You’re making a scene, Eliana. Go home."
Later, when that same mistress shoved me down the stairs, shattering my knee and my dance career, Jax stepped over my broken body to comfort her.
I overheard him telling his friends, "I’m just breaking her spirit. She needs to learn she’s property, not a partner. Once she’s desperate enough, she’ll be the perfect obedient wife."
He thought I was a dog that would always return to its master. He thought he could starve me of affection until I begged for scraps.
He was wrong.
While he was busy playing protector to his mistress, I wasn't crying in my room.
I was packing his ring into a cardboard box.
I cancelled my transfer to UCLA and enrolled at NYU instead.
By the time Jax realized his "property" was missing, I was already in New York, standing next to a man who looked at me like a queen, not a possession.
7.2
Elena stood flawless in her bridal gown. Five years of molding herself for Dante Moretti and a powerful mafia treaty culminated now. This dress was her only solace.
Then her phone buzzed. A text from Dante: "Wedding canceled." Two cold words, no explanation. Her world shattered, heart a sledgehammer blow.
Dante answered her call from a hospital, commanding her to leave, no apology. Her father and 500 mafia guests outside whispered of "humiliation." Marco then cleared Dante's things, revealing he was moving his long-comatose 'white swan,' Sofia, into their intended home. Her father's ultimatum: win Dante back in thirty days, or be married to a sadistic Russian boss.
Discarded, betrayed, and trapped, Elena felt absolute humiliation. She despised five years wasted, facing a fate worse than death. But as tears blurred her vision, a dangerous thought ignited: Dante wasn't the only Moretti. She wouldn't cry or beg. Instead, she'd choose the most terrifying Moretti of all, and make Dante pay for his arrogance.
9.7
For three years, I was the dutiful wife of billionaire Ervin Valdez.
On our third wedding anniversary, he came home smelling of his mistress's perfume, pinned me down, and brutally mocked me.
His mistress, Sylvia, had even sent me a fake ultrasound report to force me out of the picture.
In Ervin's eyes, I was just a vicious, calculating liar who used a pregnancy to trap him into marriage.
He didn't care that I had actually lost that baby, nor did he know the trauma of my gambling father selling me to a dark club where I was assaulted by a stranger.
When I finally handed him the signed divorce papers, giving up all assets, and left the penthouse with nothing but an old suitcase, he just sneered.
"She is playing a game of hard to get. She won't last three days before she comes crying back."
He froze all my bank accounts, let his mistress humiliate me in public, and waited coldly for me to starve and beg.
He thought my entire existence relied on his wealth, completely confident that I would inevitably surrender to his control.
But he was wrong.
I calmly opened my old laptop, bypassed the complex encryptions, and looked at the dozens of unread emails from top-tier global brands begging for my return.
I resurrected my hidden identity as the legendary jewelry designer "R," and walked straight into the top design firm in Manhattan.
"It is time to find myself again."
9.7
Blurb: She signed the divorce papers. He never signed away his obsession.
Veronica Stanford was the perfect wife-devoted, patient, and hopelessly in love. But when her billionaire husband, Jason Harper, trades her in for her treacherous best friend, Rhea, Veronica's world shatters. Broken and betrayed, she drowns her sorrows in a bar, only to be saved by a dangerously alluring stranger with emerald-green eyes and a lethal reputation: Monte "Four" Zagcanni, the ruthless heir to a mafia empire.
Four is everything Jason isn't-dark, dangerous, and devastatingly protective. When Veronica discovers she's pregnant with Jason's child, she strikes a deal with Four: a fake marriage to shield her from scandal. But what starts as a cold arrangement ignites into a passion neither can resist.
Jason, realizing his mistake too late, wants Veronica back-along with the son he never knew existed. But Four isn't a man who surrenders what's his. And Veronica? She's done being the meek wife.
Betrayal runs deep. Revenge burns hotter.
As secrets unravel-her father's bloody past, Rhea's twisted obsession, and Jason's deadly lies-Veronica must decide: trust the man who destroyed her once, or surrender to the devil who might destroy her forever.
One wants her back. The other wants her forever.
8.6
The Maybach glided through rain, Dante's cold cedar cologne a familiar comfort. Seven years, my life revolved around him, my fingers on his suit cuff, a silent promise. But tonight, our normal shattered with a single phone call.
He answered, speaking rapid Italian – a language he thought I didn't understand. Every word: a death knell. Confirming his engagement to Sofia Moretti, dismissing me as a 'consolation prize.'
Seven years of loyalty vanished. His loving mask back, he left for his fiancée. I stumbled into freezing rain, recalling my foster past. My numb fingers dialed his mother, Isabella, demanding fifty million for my silence. Her insults didn't sting.
The true gut punch: Sofia's Instagram, a prenup on Dante's desk, proudly showing *my* watch, captioned: 'Fourteen days left.' This wasn't their celebration; it was my death sentence.
I wouldn't stay another day in this gilded cage. My old duffel bag, packed, waited. The Australia brochure, a childhood dream, in my pocket. This time, I would live for myself, and they would all pay.
9.5
For twenty years, Krista lived as the perfect daughter of the wealthy Cain family.
But a single DNA report shattered her entire world. Her adoptive parents coldly declared she was just a mistake and immediately replaced her with the true bloodline.
Desperate, she ran through the freezing rain to find her fiancé, only to hear him laughing with his friends.
"Marry a fake? I don't collect the Cain family's second-hand trash."
She slapped him, threw her diamond ring at his chest, and stumbled into a jazz lounge to drown her pain.
Drunk and heartbroken, she accidentally crashed into a stranger, clinging to him like a lifeline, which ended in a wild night in a luxury penthouse.
When she woke up, she realized the man she had ravaged was Jasper Stone, the most ruthless, cold-blooded billionaire on Wall Street.
At the same time, her phone lit up with notifications. Her bank accounts were frozen, and the Cain family had just released a brutal public statement permanently cutting her off.
She was completely abandoned, stripped of her home, her family, and her dignity in a single night. Why was twenty years of loyalty erased so easily?
But instead of kicking her out, Jasper tossed a prenuptial agreement onto the bed.
"Pay off your debt with marriage. Stay, and you are the untouchable Mrs. Stone."
Looking at the contract, Krista wiped her tears, put on bold red lipstick, and signed her name.