Too late for regret: Ex-husband and his son wants me back
Seven years. A three-million-dollar contract. A heart broken into pieces.
Serena Powell was never more than a ghost in her own home. Hired by a billionaire to heal his broken son, she spent seven years playing the role of a devoted wife and mother, hiding the jagged scar on her palm,a reminder of the night she saved Victor's life. She thought her love had finally overwritten the contract. She was wrong.
When Victor's "true love," Eliza, returns with a child of her own, the fairy tale dissolves. Overnight, Serena is branded an outsider. Her husband treats her like a servant, and her son,the boy she raised as her own,tells her to "just die already" so Eliza can take her place.
Accused of a crime she didn't commit and slapped by the man she sacrificed everything for, Serena finally realizes the truth: In a world where feelings come with a price tag, she's already paid too much.
Now, the divorce papers are signed, the suitcase is packed, and a prestigious design firm in Glonia is calling her name. Serena is done being a substitute. But as she walks out the door, Victor is about to learn that some things,once broken,can never be repaired. Especially when he realizes he didn't just lose a contract... he lost the only woman who ever truly loved him.
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Chapter 5
A flash of malice and calculation passed through Eliza's eyes. The next second, she suddenly threw herself backward. Her face was filled with shock and fear as she tumbled down the stairs.
"Ellie." Victor rushed forward and cradled Eliza in his arms. "Ellie, are you okay?"
Eliza weakly reached out and grabbed his sleeve. "Vic, don't blame Mrs. Powell. It's my fault. I shouldn't have upset her."
Serena walked down the stairs and saw Eliza putting on a show. She said, "She broke my emerald bracelet and tried to run. I didn't push her. She fell on her own."
Leon started shouting at Serena like crazy, "You wretch. Why are you so mean?"
Victor's rage exploded. He stood up and slapped Serena across the face. The sound echoed through the villa. The burning pain spread quickly across her cheek, snapping her back to reality.
Serena's lips trembled slightly. Tears welled in her eyes but stubbornly refused to fall. "I said I didn't push Eliza."
Looking at her expression, Victor faltered for a moment. "Seri, what's happening between us has nothing to do with Ellie. Why would you take it out on her?"
"I told you I didn't. She's the one who broke my emerald bracelet first," Serena said.
"Victor." Eliza looked at him through teary eyes. "Vic, don't blame Mrs. Powell anymore. It's all my fault. I accidentally broke her emerald bracelet. That's why she got so upset. Victor, I'm hurting all over."
Only then did Victor snap out of it and remember Eliza had fallen down the stairs. He didn't have time to argue with Serena. He quickly carried Eliza out to take her to the hospital.
In just a few minutes, the huge villa was completely empty–Serena was the only one left.
Her cheek was swollen and red. Not a single person cared about her injury. They had all rushed Eliza to the hospital to take care of her. To Serena, the whole thing felt like a joke.
At the hospital, Eliza lay weakly on the bed. Victor held her hand with concern and said, "Good thing the injuries aren't too serious. I really didn't expect Serena to go that far–actually pushing you down the stairs."
Seeing that Victor had taken the bait, Eliza hid the satisfaction in her eyes and put on a gentle, understanding expression. "Victor, this whole thing is really my fault. It has nothing to do with Mrs. Powell."
Victor replied, "Ellie, I know you just don't want me to fight with her, but what she did was way out of line. I think she really meant to get you killed."
Eliza shook her head. "Mrs. Powell isn't like that. She was right–I broke her emerald bracelet, and that's why she got upset. But I only wanted to take it to get it fixed. Maybe Mrs. Powell misunderstood."
Victor thought, 'Serena pushed Ellie down the stairs over a bracelet?'
His anger flared. "Ellie, stop making excuses for Serena. I know exactly what kind of person she is. She's just mad because Leon's getting closer to you."
"Victor, don't say that about Mrs. Powell. She'd be heartbroken if she heard you," Eliza said softly.
Victor looked at Eliza who seemed so kind and understanding. He then thought of the way Serena had acted. He figured the contrast between the two couldn't have been more obvious.
Victor comforted her, "Don't worry. I'll make sure Serena apologizes to you. You're not going to suffer for nothing."
"I think I should move out," Eliza said. "As long as I stay with you guys, Mrs. Powell will keep picking fights with you. I don't want to be the reason you two keep arguing. I don't want to come between your marriage."
She turned her head slightly, letting Victor see the tears falling from her eyes, deliberately triggering his urge to protect her.
Victor explained, "Ellie, things between me and Serena aren't how you think. Just get some rest and don't overthink it. As long as I'm here, you'll always have a place in my house."
After settling Eliza in, Victor headed back to the villa and went straight up to the second floor, only to find that Serena wasn't there. He turned and made his way to the kitchen.
In the kitchen, Serena had just grabbed an ice pack to put on her face. When she turned around, she saw Victor storming in, full of anger. He walked straight up to her and slapped the ice pack out of her hand.
"What are you doing?" Serena asked.
Victor grabbed her hand and started dragging her out. "Ellie feels guilty because of you. She's hurt that badly and still thinking about you. Come with me to the hospital and apologize to her."
Serena let out a laugh out of sheer rage as she thought, 'He wants me to apologize to Eliza?'
She yanked her hand out of his grasp, the love in her eyes completely gone. "Victor, don't you see the swelling on my face?"
"You brought that on yourself. I don't care what your reason is. You hurt Ellie, so you're coming with me to the hospital to apologize," Victor snapped.
Serena felt like it was all a sick joke. She stepped back and finally saw Victor for who he really was. "In your eyes, no one matters more than Eliza. I've been married to you for years.
"I'm the one who took care of you. I was the one by your side during the hardest time of your life. And now Eliza shows up and suddenly I'm invisible?"
Victor flinched slightly at the look on her face. He thought back to how she had truly looked after him back then. It really had been her who stayed with him through the worst period of his life.
He thought, 'Why do I feel guilty right now?'
Just then, his phone buzzed in his pocket. Victor pulled it out and saw a message from Eliza.
Eliza: [Victor, maybe this isn't my place, but I can't let Mrs. Powell keep hiding this from you. Turns out, she only got close to you because your father paid her.]
Attached below were two photos–one of Victor's father, Albert, handing Serena a check, and another of Serena passing that check to a man Victor didn't recognize.
Everything suddenly clicked for Victor. All those memories now felt like a setup. He thought, 'And to think I actually believed I owed Serena something. Turns out I was just fooling myself.
He demanded, "Serena, tell me–why did you approach me in the first place?"
The question stunned Serena. She murmured, "What are you talking about?"
Victor waved his hand and stepped toward her, his eyes bloodshot. He grabbed her shoulders tightly, his voice turning sharp. "I'm asking you-did you take money from my dad? You got close to me because of the money.
"Everything you did to take care of me was fake. It was all for the money, wasn't it?"
Serena's body started to tremble uncontrollably. She couldn't deny that in the beginning, she had done it for the sake of the orphanage. But over time, her feelings had become real.
She muttered, "Victor, let me explain. I really do love you. If it was all fake, why would I give birth to Leon? I could've left once you recovered. Why can't you believe me?"
"Believe you?" Victor let out a bitter laugh. "I let you stay in the Powell family because I believed you. I married you because I believed you. And now you're telling me you were only with me for the money?"
Serena felt like something heavy had slammed straight into her chest.
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8.1
When the private elevator pinged. That was the moment Eleanor's two-and-a-half years as a billionaire's perfect fake girlfriend abruptly ended.
Julian was terminating her services early because his real first love was moving into the penthouse tomorrow.
His assistant stood by the marble counter, bracing for a screaming match. He handed over a brutal non-disclosure agreement.
He slid a five-million-dollar check across the table, fully expecting her to cry, beg, or throw the money back in his face.
"Miss Palmer... Giselle is moving in tomorrow," he warned.
Instead, Eleanor calmly borrowed his Montblanc pen, signed her name three times without hesitation, and slipped the money into her planner.
"Congratulations to Mr. Caldwell-Prentice on finally getting what he wants," she smiled flawlessly.
They all thought she was just a high-end, emotionless mercenary who felt absolutely nothing for the men she served.
They didn't know she was actually Cara Love, the last surviving heir of the ruined Love Foundation, living under a fake name to avenge her dead father.
For years, she swallowed her burning hatred, playing the perfect emotional substitute to buy dark web intel and hide her unnatural, rapid-healing body from a ruthless medical syndicate.
But now, a tech billionaire client had just uncovered her true identity, and her burner phone flashed with a terrifying emergency alert.
The syndicate had found her.
Eleanor grabbed her suitcase and ordered the private jet back to New York.
The facade was over; it was time to face the deadly storm.
8.3
I grew up feeling like an adopted child. They made me feel I was not part of them. They said I could not do as good as my sister. They said my younger sister was better in every aspect. It was understandable coming from my step mother. But my step father should have protected me. But he joined them.
That day my sister announced:
"My billionaire, Jordan, has asked me to marry him, and I said yes."
They were all happy and they told me again:
"Laura, learn from your sister. Do something productive with your life."
I took their advice, and married my sister's fiance.
9.1
June woke up transmigrated into the body of a ruthless billionaire's toxic, disposable wife.
Before she could even process the massive Beverly Hills mansion, a cold system voice announced she had exactly five minutes of lifespan remaining.
To survive, she was forced to bind with the system and strictly maintain the original owner's "brainless, abusive drama queen" persona to earn hours to live.
She was forced to violently slap hot coffee out of a terrified maid's hands and physically spank her manipulative five-year-old stepson.
When she tried to escape this nightmare by throwing divorce papers at her terrifying husband, Isaac Walton, he simply ripped them to shreds.
Every time she tried to be reasonable or show a hint of kindness, the system tortured her with agonizing cardiac pain, cementing her status as the most hated monster in the family.
The most absurd part happened when she threw a hysterical, system-mandated tantrum over a gossip magazine, and Isaac's icy demeanor suddenly melted.
He gently touched her hair, offering the one thing she desperately needed.
"Stop crying. I'll handle it."
Just as a spark of hope ignited in her chest, the system's critical death warning exploded in her skull: accepting his sympathy would instantly deduct thirty days of her life.
To stay alive, June had no choice but to violently slap away the only hand reaching out to save her, forcing herself to play the greedy villain while her husband's gaze turned dangerously dark.
7.1
I lay paralyzed on stiff white sheets, a prisoner in my own skin, listening to the rain lash against the window like nails on a coffin. My father, Elmore Franco, didn't even look at my face as he checked his clipboard. He just listened to the steady, monotonous beep of the heart monitor-the only thing proving I was still alive.
Without a hint of remorse, he pulled a pen from his pocket and signed the Do Not Resuscitate order. My stepmother, Ophelia, stepped out from behind him, wearing my favorite pearl necklace and smelling of cloying perfume. She leaned close to my ear to whisper the truth that turned my blood to ice.
"It was the tea, darling. Just like your mother. A slow, tasteless poison."
She chuckled as she revealed that my fiancé, Bryce, had a two-year-old son with my sister, Daniela. My inheritance had been funding their secret life for years, and now that the money was secure, I was an inconvenience they were finally scrubbing away. As my father yanked the power cord from the wall, the beeping died, and the darkness swallowed me whole.
I was being murdered by my own flesh and blood, used as a bank account until I was no longer needed. I died in that sterile room, drowning in the realization that every person I ever loved was a monster who had been waiting for me to take my last breath.
Then, I gasped. I woke up in a luxury hotel suite surrounded by silk sheets, five years in the past-the very morning of my wedding. Next to me lay Basile Delgado, the "Wolf of Wall Street" and my family's most dangerous enemy. In my first life, I ran from this room in a panic and lost everything. This time, I looked at the man who would eventually destroy my father's empire and decided to join him.
"I'm not leaving, Basile. Marry me. Right now. Today."
9.0
Irina Volkov has three rules: no emotions, no real names, and never meet in person. For two years she has survived on those rules alone - running romance scams on wealthy men, funneling every stolen dollar toward the crushing debt her abusive stepfather signed in her name before she escaped. She is not greedy. She is desperate. And she is very, very good.
Until she targets Nikolai Dragunov.
What Irina doesn't know is that Nikolai has known about her from the beginning. He created the perfect bait - a lonely businessman with money to burn - and waited for her to find him. Because in a world Nikolai controls down to the last detail, Irina Volkov is the only unpredictable thing left. He wanted to see how far she would go.
Now the game is over. The con is exposed. And Nikolai isn't asking for his money back. He's keeping her.
Trapped in his penthouse with nowhere to run and a Bratva boss who looks at her like she's both a puzzle and a prize, Irina has to survive the most dangerous mark she's ever made - and somehow stop herself from falling for him in the process.
She's a liar. He's a monster. And neither of them expected to fall.
"You took my money, malyshka. Now you belong to me."
8.5
He rejected her. He tried to kill her. And he called their unborn child an abomination. Now, Emily Reed is under the protection of the most dangerous Alpha she's ever met-a man who doesn't play by the rules.
One thing is certain: in Ethan Carter's world, fear is currency, and she just became priceless.