Too Late to Regret: The Dead Wife Who Owns His Empire Now
Damien Hayes was a workaholic, and as an illegitimate son who had clawed his way to the top, he seemed to care about nothing but Hayes Realty.
For three years of marriage, Lydia Carter had always been waiting for him.
She waited during dates, waited on anniversaries, waited for prenatal checkups, and even waited for the surgical abortion.
What she finally received was a livestream of Damien throwing an extravagant birthday celebration for another woman.
Devastated, she was caught in a chain car accident, convincing Damien that she had died with the wreck.
Yet Lydia survived against all odds and unexpectedly became the sole heir of the world's richest man.
The moment she set foot back on her homeland, she swore she would make Damien taste a pain sharp enough to pierce the heart.
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Chapter 2
Damien had a nagging sense that something was wrong.
Beneath the swirling snowfall, Ava's almond-shaped eyes widened slightly. She covered her mouth with both hands, too delighted to speak.
She had grown up in the south, petite in build. Her palm-sized face wasn't particularly striking, yet her features came together in a way that uncannily resembled a younger, still-innocent Lydia.
Like a little princess, she spun around in the snow, excitedly grabbing his hand before boldly slipping straight into his arms.
Damien instinctively wanted to push her away. He glanced around, but remembering that it was her birthday, he merely frowned and did nothing.
Those cameras didn't escape his notice, especially after his executive assistant, Miles Hart, had leaned in earlier and whispered, "Several accounts are already livestreaming."
Damien knew that Ava had grown increasingly spoiled and arrogant these past few months, but he was willing to indulge her.
Everything Ava was doing was meant for Lydia to see.
And even if she saw it, what could she possibly do?
Damien thought of the woman at home who always waited quietly for him, quickly forcing a smile the moment he looked her way, and his confidence hardened.
Even if Lydia saw it, she would cry and make a fuss at most. He could placate her with a few perfunctory words, and she would obediently continue being his quiet wife.
And if things had to be dragged into the open, he wasn't afraid either.
When he had been fighting his own brothers for control of Hayes Realty, the Carter family had simply gone along with the tide and married their daughter off to him.
Victor Carter had placed his bet on Damien, and over the past few years, he had made extensive use of Damien's resources to secure connections and projects for Carter Group.
Unfortunately, secrets never stay hidden forever.
On the day they returned from their honeymoon, Victor had drunk too much and, brimming with smug satisfaction, told Damien, "Lydia isn't my biological daughter at all. She was baggage my dead wife brought with her. I was generous enough to raise her, marry her off in style, and I didn't mistreat her in the slightest."
When Victor got drunk, his true colors spilled out. He muttered, "Who knows who her real father is? Probably some lowlife. After all, that dead wife of mine used to sell drinks for a living."
Damien never told Lydia.
Instead, he increasingly saw her as something pitiable. Once her background was exposed, there would be an unbridgeable gap of status between them.
Curled up in his arms, Ava's cheeks flushed red. She blinked innocently, her voice tinged with feigned grievance as she spoke.
"I really love the snow you made for me," she said softly. "But Damien, I wish I could bring Ronan to see it too. He'd be over the moon."
Damien's brow tightened unconsciously. His expression turned cold as he pulled her slightly away and lowered his voice in warning.
"Don't ever say things like that again."
Ava's eyes instantly reddened, but she didn't dare say another word.
She had no idea that what she had just said had struck one of Damien's untouchable nerves.
Ava had gotten pregnant at eighteen and delivered prematurely at seven and a half months. The child she shared with Damien was named Ronan Hayes.
Two years later, she became the housekeeper of the Hayes estate.
Damien had the child sent away to be raised in secret.
It wasn't that Ava didn't want to be with her child, but after weighing her options, she wanted even more to stay by Damien's side.
Watching Damien grow increasingly cold and indifferent toward Lydia, Ava became more convinced that she had made a brilliant move.
There had been no snow in Crownford this year.
When Damien asked her what she wanted as a gift, she casually said she wanted to see a snowfall.
She had imagined a sweet, intimate trip with him to the cold regions. What she got instead was an artificial snowstorm falling from the sky.
She nestled back into Damien's arms and coaxed him gently, "I really love this gift. Tonight… I've prepared a gift for you too."
The unique nightdress clung and concealed in all the right places. She was certain Damien would like it.
At that moment, Miles hurried over with a grave expression and whispered a few words into Damien's ear.
Damien's expression changed abruptly. "How is that possible? What was she doing on the ring expressway?"
Ava leaned in and saw the image on Miles's phone clearly.
A nine-vehicle pileup had occurred on the ring expressway. A truck from the opposite lane had smashed into the leading sports car, shattering it completely. The vehicle had already burned down to nothing but a charred frame.
Ava vaguely remembered that today was the day Lydia was supposed to undergo the abortion.
The hospital had called many times, and Damien had ordered every call to be turned away.
At the time, she had clung to him in tears, and he had softened his voice to comfort her. "I'm not going. The most important thing today is spending your birthday with you."
Now, Damien took several calls in quick succession, his expression growing more severe with each one.
He pushed past everyone, got into the car, and started the engine immediately.
Ava tried to chase after him, but Miles stopped her. His own expression looked grim as well.
"Mrs. Hayes… may be dead."
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9.2
In LA's Business world, Zane Calloway, thirty, turns cartel king after his father's gruesome murder, ruling The Atlas Group with a bloody fist. He learned how betrayal could ruin even the biggest empire and was hell bent on keeping Atlas Group. However when Sienna Carter, his new assistant got in the picture, he threw caution to the wind. To become the only one controlling the cartel, he would use Sienna who was a supposedly ghost from a dead cartel as bait for his enemies. Sienna Carter made his mission become even more complicated as she ignites a dangerous sparks in him. Twenty-five year old Sienna Carter just wanted to stay alive, running away from danger had been the only thing she was capable of since her family were murdered. All she had as a semblance of her old life was the locket her dying father had given her and when a new job pops up in Los Angeles, she gambled for it, hoping for her sake that it wouldn't lead her straight to the same hell she was running from.
However, she would soon realize that the Atlas Groups was going to be more than just a survival decision but the key to everything.
8.7
To escape my toxic ex-fiancé and the father who froze my assets, I entered a contract marriage with Barrett, a cold but protective corporate consultant.
I thought he was my safe harbor. I even confided my secret, ruthless strategy to take back control of my company from my ex.
But at the most critical board meeting, a mysterious new chairman dialed in.
The synthesized voice coming through the speakerphone systematically dismantled the board and took over the company, using the exact, word-for-word strategy I had only ever whispered to my husband in the dead of night.
My ex-fiancé turned pale with panic. The board members were stunned into silence.
And I sat there, my blood running completely cold.
The man who had held my hand in the hospital, who had slept in my bed, and who had promised to protect me, had just committed the ultimate corporate espionage.
Every tender touch, every late-night confession—was it all just a calculated move to steal my life's work? How could the only person who made me feel safe use my deepest vulnerabilities to orchestrate my ruin?
I packed up my files, walked straight out of that boardroom, and prepared to disappear from his life forever.
But when I fled to my best friend's apartment to hide, I looked out the window.
The ruthless mastermind who had just stolen my empire was standing completely still in the freezing downpour, waiting for me to come down.
8.6
Four years ago, I melted my skin into the asphalt to pull Julian Moretti from a burning wreckage. I spent years in the shadows, nursing him back to health, hiding my scars while he reclaimed his title as the Underboss of New York.
But on the way to our wedding, everything shattered.
Estelle Russo, the woman who caused the crash that ruined me, complained of a stomach ache in the limousine. Julian didn't hesitate.
He ordered the driver to stop on the shoulder of the highway.
"Get out," he barked at me, his eyes cold.
He forced me out of the car in my wedding gown, leaving me stranded in the dust and exhaust fumes just so Estelle could lie down on the seat.
"Take a cab to the church," he sneered before speeding away.
He didn't just leave me on the road; he abandoned me at the altar to hold the hand of the woman who had once tried to kill him. He called our relationship a "debt" he was tired of paying.
I stood there, the lace of my dress heavy with humiliation, realizing I was never his Queen—I was just his collateral damage.
I didn't call a taxi. Instead, I pulled a burner phone from my bodice and dialed the one number that would end his reign.
"The deal is live," I whispered. "He chose her."
I stripped off the wedding dress, climbed over the guardrail, and stepped into the black sedan waiting to take me to his greatest enemy.
7.6
I am the illegitimate, mute daughter of the wealthy Owen family, kept hidden in the attic like a shameful secret.
To save his failing company, my father decided to sell me off to a repulsive, predatory investor named Grossman.
At the family dinner, Grossman's sweaty hands roamed my bare legs while my half-sister Kaleigh intentionally spilled red wine on my dress, laughing as she watched me suffer.
When I grabbed a steak knife to defend myself, my father slammed his fist on the table.
"Sit down, or I will cut off the maintenance payments for your mother's grave."
My stepmother and sister sneered, treating me like a piece of meat meant to be sacrificed for their luxury. I was starved, locked away, and treated worse than a stray dog, all while my family paraded their high-society status to the world.
I couldn't understand why they hated me so deeply, or who really ordered the hit that killed my mother twenty years ago. The police reports were buried, and I was entirely powerless, trapped in a house of monsters.
But they didn't know that the night before, I had accidentally stumbled into the secret life of Burleigh Livingston—the ruthless, supposedly paralyzed billionaire who was faking his madness.
When Burleigh suddenly crashed our family dinner and threw a limitless Black Card on the table to outbid Grossman and buy me for the night, I didn't hesitate.
I grabbed the handles of his wheelchair, accepted his twisted deal, and prepared to use the devil himself to tear my family apart.
9.7
Elena Whitmore always knew falling for her brother's best friend was a mistake. But one stolen night with Grayson Hale changed everything, and cost her more than she ever imagined.
When he vanished without a word, she buried the past and built a life no one could touch. A life that included a daughter Grayson has never known.
Five years later, he's back. Wealthier. Colder. Determined to uncover why she disappeared, and why she's engaged to a man she doesn't love.
As old sparks ignite and buried truths begin to surface, Elena must decide if protecting her secrets is worth sacrificing the only man she ever loved.
7.2
Ade had sacrificed the life she loved, the things she liked doing to please James. But it was never enough for him. Somehow, the one woman he just couldn't get, was the price, she was the gem.
And so once the opportunity presented itself, Ade became a past chapter of his life. A reject.
Betrayed and scorned, Ade is on a quest to reclaim her life back and face off adversaries.
But now what is she to do with the two men in front of her. One of them her ex James who can't seem to forget her and keeps stepping in her way, and the other, a billionaire who wants her at all costs.