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 3
The scene was horrific beyond words. Police officers filled the area, lights flashing everywhere.
The police couldn't even tell what the vehicle had originally looked like from the wreckage.
Only a few personal belongings left inside allowed them to confirm that there had been a single fatality, the body completely carbonized by the flames.
Nothing remained intact.
Damien had imagined the ending between himself and Lydia countless times, but never like this.
Even rescue efforts had become meaningless.
He watched helplessly as the rescue workers carefully recovered what little they could that belonged to Lydia.
His body trembled uncontrollably as he belatedly pulled his phone from his coat pocket.
He mechanically returned the countless missed calls. There was no response.
An earlier number, however, went through.
It was the hospital. "Mr. Hayes? Your wife's surgical abortion went smoothly today, but she insisted on being discharged. We tried calling you many times, but you didn't answer…"
Damien gradually stopped hearing the voice on the other end. The hand gripping the phone only grew colder and colder.
He remembered how Lydia had carefully asked him the night before, and how he had readily promised to go to the hospital with her.
She had a severe fear of sharp objects. Even a simple injection would leave her ashen as if half her life had been drained away.
Damien didn't dare imagine how she must have faced those moments alone on the operating table.
He took a deep breath, straightened himself, and faced Ethan Reeves, an acquaintance who was walking toward him, the officer in charge of the accident.
"My condolences."
They shook hands. Ethan briefly explained what had happened, then, perhaps unsettled by Damien's expression, gave his shoulder an awkward pat before walking away.
Damien's other private phone kept vibrating.
Ava's number appeared on the screen again and again.
He didn't want to answer.
At that moment, all he wanted was a brief stretch of silence.
Memories rushed through his mind, carrying him back through the four brief years he had shared with Lydia. One year of dating, three years of marriage.
There had been sweetness once. Lydia's flawless face had been etched into his heart from the very first moment their eyes met.
Ava had only ever been a resemblance. A substitute.
When had she gradually stopped mattering so much? Even Damien couldn't say.
He had grown accustomed to her waiting. No matter what he did, she was always there.
After signing every accident report, he pulled his coat tighter and got back into the car, driving away at full speed.
The wind howled past. His mind was completely blank.
Inside the estate, Ava sat restlessly. The moment he pushed the door open and stepped inside, she stood up at once.
"Mrs. Hayes, what happened to her…?"
He saw anticipation in Ava's eyes, undisguised and unmistakable. A wave of nausea rose in his chest.
His expression remained indifferent as he replied flatly, "She's dead. The car burned out. Nothing was left."
"What about the Carter family…"
Damien pushed past her impatiently, speaking quickly as he headed toward the study.
"Call the Carter family. The funeral will be held in three days. Tomorrow, you'll handle the paperwork for her death certificate. And one more thing." He paused mid-step. "Have someone pack up all her belongings. Throw them away… no, put them in storage for now."
The obituary for his late wife was released in the middle of the night.
Miles's carefully chosen words vividly portrayed the grief and agony of a devoted couple torn apart by death.
All information about the extravagant birthday celebration for Ava had already been erased from the internet.
As if, from the very beginning, Damien had been a man deeply devoted to his wife, Lydia.
On the day of the funeral, the heaviest snowfall in a decade fell over Crownford.
It was as though the snow meant to bury all filth deep underground, just as the Hayes Estate looked cold and mournful from the outside.
Inside, fires burned warmly. Ava held Ronan close, smiling as she ate the nutritional food served by the servants.
Upstairs in the study, Damien removed his wedding ring and casually tossed it deep into the wardrobe.
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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.