The Stolen Name, My Fiery Comeback
The day my husband' s stepsister announced her pregnancy wasn' t the first time my world shattered. It had already been destroyed when his reckless driving killed our daughter, Lily. I was forced to play the perfect, grieving wife, trapped in a deal with his powerful grandfather: one year of silence for my freedom.
But then they stole my daughter's name for their newborn son.
They named him Lily.
It was a sacred name, meant for the child I lost, and they twisted it into a monument of their betrayal. The final insult came when his mistress wore my late mother's blazer to their son's celebration, parading my last precious memory like a prize.
They expected me to remain the silent, dignified victim they had created. They thought I was too broken to fight.
They were wrong. I walked into that banquet ready to burn their world to the ground, and I started with the clothes on their backs.
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Chapter 3
Althea POV:
My voice, when it finally came out, was a flat, emotionless drone. "Fine," I said, the word a rasp in my throat. "Name him Lily. But on one condition."
Hudson's smile faltered, replaced by a cautious curiosity. Ashli, still in the background, nursing the baby, looked up, her eyes narrowed, sensing a shift.
"What condition?" Hudson asked, his voice wary.
"Our Lily," I said, my gaze fixed on him, my voice piercingly cold. "My daughter. My first child. She will have a proper burial. A gravestone. With her name, Lily, and mine. And her father's." I let the words hang in the air, a silent accusation. "If this new child bears her name, then my Lily deserves to be acknowledged. Properly. No more delays."
A flicker of something-a brief, almost imperceptible shadow of guilt-crossed Hudson's face. It vanished as quickly as it appeared, replaced by his usual self-serving logic. "Althea, I... I understand. I truly do. But it's been a difficult time. We can discuss this later, when things are calmer." He tried to reach for my hand, but I recoiled before he could touch me.
Before he could continue his pathetic excuses, a violent crash erupted from the hallway outside. It sounded like a body hitting the polished marble floor. My head snapped towards the door.
The doors burst open. Ashli, her face contorted with rage, stumbled into the room, two nurses futilely trying to restrain her. Her arm was bleeding, a nasty scrape from the fall. "Let me see my baby!" she shrieked, her voice raw and desperate. "You can't keep him from me!"
Barrett Gregory, a thunderous expression on his face, followed close behind. His hand was raised, his fingers red and bruised, clearly having just struck Ashli. He pointed a trembling finger at her. "Get out!" he roared, his voice booming through the sterile hall, echoing in the room. "You are a disgrace! A loose woman tainting my family name!"
Hudson, startled by the sudden chaos, jumped up, his face pale with alarm. He fumbled with the baby in his arms, almost dropping the tiny bundle before thrusting it carelessly back into the bassinet. His eyes, wide with a familiar, selfish fear, darted between his furious grandfather and the screaming Ashli. He didn't even glance at the newborn, his supposed son. He just ran. Without a thought for me, or for the child in the bassinet, he rushed to Ashli's side, throwing his arm around her protectively.
"Grandfather, no!" he cried, shielding her from Barrett's wrath. "She's just had a baby! She's hurt!"
I watched, a bitter, hollow laugh bubbling up in my chest. He was ridiculous. Pathetic. He loved her. He always had. All his grand pronouncements of love for me, his promises of loyalty, they were nothing but empty words, designed to string me along, to keep me compliant.
Ashli, still gasping, clutched at Hudson, her eyes now gleaming with a fresh, cunning light. "It was my idea," she choked out, her voice raspy, yet strangely defiant. "The naming. To honor Lily. To bring the family closer." She sobbed, leaning heavily on Hudson. "I only wanted to help. To heal the wounds."
It was a performance. A truly disgusting one.
Barrett, his eyes still blazing, finally noticed me. His gaze softened, a flicker of genuine concern replacing the anger in his stern features. He saw the clipboard still clutched in my hand, the untouched birth certificate. He saw the faint bruise blooming on my cheek from where Hudson had accidentally elbowed me in his scramble to save Ashli. His jaw clenched.
"Hudson Marks!" Barrett's voice was low, dangerous now. "Look at what you've done! Are you truly so useless, so utterly devoid of sense?"
Hudson flinched, a flash of fear and remorse in his eyes. But before he could respond, Ashli let out a piercing shriek and collapsed in Hudson's arms, her eyes rolling back in her head.
Hudson cried out, his fear for Ashli overriding everything else. He scooped her up, ignoring his grandfather's furious glare. "Ashli! Ashli, what's wrong?" He turned to leave, Ashli limp in his arms, the baby in the bassinet completely forgotten.
"Hudson! Where do you think you're going?" Barrett roared, stepping forward to block his path. "Are you abandoning your family? Your wife? Your child?"
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8.5
She lost everything in one night-the screams of her coven, the blood of her brother, the betrayal of someone they trusted. Ten years later, Seraphina Nightborne lives hidden among common vampires, pretending to be weak while silently preparing for revenge. But at a royal gathering, fate plays the cruelest trick of all. Her fated blood-bond mate walks in, Damien Valcourt. Future Vampire King. The man tied to the night her family died. The one who believes she's long dead. Her heart screams to reject him. Her vampire spirit refuses to bow, but Damien has waited years for his destined queen-and he will burn kingdoms before letting her disappear again. Forced into his world, torn between rage and the irresistible pull of destiny, Seraphina is determined to uncover the truth... even if it destroys her. What happens when the girl he mourned becomes the queen who hates him? What happens when Seraphina learns the true traitor is someone she still trusts? And when darkness returns... will she choose revenge? Or the vampire fate chained her heart to?
9.5
"My father sold me to a sixty-year-old monster to clear his gambling debts. So, I made a desperate gamble of my own."
Seventeen-year-old Isabella Rossi has two choices: become the broken plaything of a sadistic mafia Capo, or do the unthinkable. She chooses the latter. Sneaking into a high-end speakeasy, she slips an aphrodisiac into the whiskey of the deadliest man in New York—Damien Falcone, the ruthless Underboss of the Falcone family.
Her plan was simple: steal his seed, secure his protection, and run.
But you don’t drug a predator and expect to walk away.
When Damien wakes up, he doesn’t kill her. Instead, he claims her.
"You intercepted a delivery meant for my enemy. Turns out, it was you. Now, you are my Collateral."
7.4
Faith Neal had vanished, burying her powerful past under layers of anonymity as an ER doctor. She was secretly dismantling the empire of the man she'd left behind, brick by costly brick, from the shadows. Until he walked into her trauma room, bleeding from a bullet wound, shattering her carefully built world with a single, dangerous glance.
Her heart hammered: Earl Hampton, the ruthless CEO she abandoned, was on the gurney, demanding only "Faith."
His presence shattered her new life. He accused her of running, his touch a possessive reminder. Soon after, old rivals Chad Miller and Tiffany Vance ambushed her, humiliating her, sparking a fight.
Panic and anger flared as Chad mocked her, calling her a "bitch." Shame burned, but a deeper fear gripped her – the architect of her revenge was bleeding in her ER, and he knew.
Before Chad could inflict more harm, Earl reappeared, violently intervening.
"I'm the man who's going to reclaim his assets," he rumbled. "I found you. I'm not losing you again."
9.6
One hundred years ago, the witches cursed every she-wolf to be barren.
It was vengeance for their slain matriarch. It was meant to end the war. Instead, it nearly ended the werewolf race.
Werewolves were forced to interbreed with humans to survive, and the once-proud kingdoms fractured. Only one bloodline remained untouched by the curse, the ancient Lycans of Lupenreich, protected by powerful shamanic magic. Coveted by werewolves, hunted by witches, despised by vampires, the Lycans became both salvation and threat.
And now, only one true heir remains...
Sybil von Rosen was never meant to grow up among humans. Born a Lycan princess through a human surrogate, she was stolen from the castle as an infant by the very woman meant to nurse her, a woman who turned out to be a witch.
Hidden beneath a powerful spell that caged her wolf and erased her scent from the supernatural world, Sybil was raised knowing exactly who she was... and exactly what she had been bred for.
A womb. A crown. Her bloodline's legacy.
But Sybil was never meant to be a broodmare queen.
She grew up human with the strength and senses of a shewolf and the magic of the witches, which got transferred to her while she was still in the womb of her surrogate.
She's strong, intelligent, disciplined, and lethal. An MMA champion. A combat instructor for a private military contractor. A woman who learned to fight before she ever learned to howl.
When the magic of her witch mother begins to fade, and the werewolf King finally tracks them down, Sybil is summoned back to a kingdom that remembers her only as its missing heir.
Betrayed by her hybrid fiancé, who abandoned her to marry the princess of their kingdom, Sybil made a decision that will shake three kingdoms.
She returned. Not for love. Not for duty. For revenge...
But the throne comes with chains.
Instead of marrying one Alpha, she is bound to four-the Alpha Guardians of Lupenreich. Ruthless. Powerful. Pureblood. Feared across kingdoms. And fate claims they are her mates.
There's only one problem.
Sybil cannot feel her wolf, for it was caged deep within her soul. She cannot smell her mates. She is a Lycan princess trapped in a wolfless body.
While her four Alphas believe they are claiming their future Luna and Queen, Sybil is already planning something far more dangerous.
She will not stand beside a king.
She will not be used to breed to secure bloodlines.
And she certainly will not be ruled.
If the kingdom wants a queen... They're about to kneel to a rebel queen.
Because Sybil von Rosen is not an ordinary Luna.
She is the last Lycan heir. The forbidden daughter of witches. The mate of four Alpha Guardians.
And she intends to take the throne for herself and will bow to no one.
8.8
Serena, six months pregnant, continued to save lives on the battlefield, despite her severe illness.
Her husband, Logan, who had once chosen her over his family, gave her life-saving medicine and prenatal care items to his lover, Amy.
When the artillery struck, he let go of Serena's hand without hesitation to protect another woman, leaving Serena to collapse on the battlefield.
Later, Serena earned the respect of everyone in the midst of conflict with her medical skills.
Her ex-husband, eyes filled with remorse, knelt before her, saying, "I married her out of gratitude, I won't divorce..."
Before Serena could respond, a gun was already aimed at Logan's forehead by the undisputed leader of the safe area. "Sign the divorce papers. She's with me now."
8.7
For three years, I played the perfect, invisible contract wife to Angel Wilcox.
But last night, after being drugged at a club, he lost control and brutally took my innocence in a freezing bathtub.
The next morning, instead of an apology, he threw a million-dollar settlement at me and slapped the divorce papers on the table.
His first love, Hillary, had returned from Paris, and he needed to clear the way for her.
He called what he did to me a mere inconvenience.
When I refused to sign the papers—because my brother would be killed by loan sharks without the Wilcox name to protect him—Angel lost his temper.
In the lobby, right in front of a mocking Hillary, he violently shoved me.
My head slammed against a massive marble pillar with a sickening thud.
"Don't play games with me! Sign the damn papers!"
He roared, trying to force the pen into my hand while I lay crumpled on the cold floor.
My body was burning with a severe infection from his assault, my wrists were bruised, and my heart was shattered.
How could the man I secretly loved for three years treat me like disposable garbage the second she came back?
I looked at his furious eyes, then slowly raised my trembling hands to cover my right ear.
The same ear that was severely injured in a car crash he caused three years ago.
"My ear is ringing. I can't hear you."
If he wanted to be ruthless, I would use his deepest guilt to trap him in this marriage forever.