Wrong From The Start
⚠️WARNING:
This book contains explicit sexual content, possessive and toxic male leads, manipulation, emotional abuse, and disturbing themes that may be triggering to some readers. This is nothing like healthy love.
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I loved Tyler Beaumont for twelve years. Years of hoping and waiting, believing that one day, he would finally choose me.
So when my parents told me I was being arranged to marry into his family... I thought it was fate. I thought I had won.
But I was wrong, because the man waiting for me at the altar isn't Tyler.
It's his brother, Grayson Beaumont.
The one I never heard of-the one with cold eyes, a cruel mouth, and a hatred for me sharp enough to bleed.
I don't know what I did to deserve it. I don't even remember.
But he does. He remembers everything. He didn't marry me for love. He married me for revenge.
And from the moment I became his wife, he made one thing clear-I would pay for a past I don't even remember.
"I tried to forget you," he tilted my chin, staring directly into my soul. "But watching you love him? That was the first time I understood what hatred really feels like."
And Tyler?
The man I spent twelve years loving? He won't let me go.
"I don't need you to choose me," he whispered. "I just need you to understand... no matter whose name you take, you will always be mine."
Two brothers.
One filled with hatred.
The other with obsession.
And me?
Caught between a past I can't remember...and a truth that could destroy us all. Because somewhere between lies, desire, and betrayal, I realize the most dangerous thing of all:
I was never meant to love the right brother.
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Chapter 6
" I do."
Tessa didn't recognize her own voice. It sounded distant, mechanical, like it belonged to someone else standing at the altar in her white dress.
The church was filled. Cameras flashed. Guests smiled. Applause echoed softly. But she felt nothing but ache in her chest, a pain that refused to die.
Her hands were cold in his.
Grayson Beaumont. Her husband.
Even the word felt foreign and heavy. Her eyes still burns but she has not cried since she agreed, nor screamed, or fight. She just trembled slightly as if internally wanting to disappear, wanting everything to end.
The priest waited for the applause to die down before reciting the husband's vows, but Grayson's eyes were fixed on her.
None of her sniffles escaped him. Not her slight tremble. Not her brimming eyes.
She didn't want this wedding, he could tell, but then he remembered something.
********(Flashback)*****
" You talk like you actually care about me," Grayson smirked as he glared at his parents in disbelief.
" We do, Grayson, and this is us doing you a favor." Ciara flared.
Favor. That's what his mother called it.
" A wife will stabilize your image. You need a family man's reputation. We're thinking of you."
He almost laughed. " Or you just need something to help you feel less guilty."
" Grayson," Blake called.
" Does anyone even know I'm your son?"
" Everyone knows. Everyone in the company knows that .."
" They know only recently after I helped with the stocks. I bet they were all shocked to the bones to see that the Beaumonts have two sons. Not one. And now, you're giving me a marriage proposal.. as compensation?"
He smiled bitterly, coldly at his whole life. He had built the cooperation from the inside, while they paraded Tyler as the charming heir.
Tyler, who never attended meetings. Tyler, who partied.
And him?
He was used. When the company began slipping, falling into a critical situation, that's when they made him the CEO.
They called it his responsibility, and the compensation was marriage.
"You never choose me," he told them coldly. "You assign me."
His father's response?
"You don't have anyone else anyway."
That one had landed. Because it was true.
No one. No woman. No fiancée. No emotional attachment. Just work. So they packaged the proposal like a charity.
"We're securing your future. Call it compensation but we're not making up for anything, nor do we feel guilty. We're just doing what's best for you, so you'll be marrying Tessa Monroe."
That name. A name he would never forget.
Tessa Monroe.
He never forgets about her, not for a day. But her? She didn't remember him.
Just like everyone else, she had forgotten about him as if he never existed. Even though everything about her was unforgettable for him, but her? She'd rather choose someone else.
That one act of hers had burned deeper than it should have.
" Sure. I'll marry her."
His parents were shocked to the bone when he accepted. Just like that.
***** ( End of flashback)****
It was his turn. " I do." He said, his voice steady, with no hesitation, but she stood still before him, silent, detached, clearly shattered, not because she was forced to marry him, but because she wasn't marrying his brother.
Something unpleasant stirred inside him.
Resentment.
His jaw ticked.
The priest smiled warmly. "By the power vested in me.."
Grayson didn't wait. He stepped forward, one hand sliding firmly to her waist, pulling her closer before the priest could finish.
A quiet gasp spread through the church as his mouth claimed hers. Not soft, not tender, not cruel either.
It was deep. Claiming. A statement that caused an uproar.
Tessa's eyes widened for a split second before she froze. She didn't respond, resist, or kiss back. She just stood there, cheeks flushed, pulse racing beyond control.
When he pulled away, his gaze held hers. Dark. Unreadable. Possessive.
Shivers ran down her spine, her breath trembled as her lashes fluttered.
Grayson could feel his brother's gaze from the front row, burning, possessive, as if Grayson had stolen something that belonged to him.
But no, he hadn't stolen anything. He had handed it, and this one? He's never giving it back.
His lips curved into a smirk, then he leaned slightly closer towards her.
" You should smile," he murmured for only her to hear. " People are watching."
Her fingers clenched so hard as if she fought the urge to wipe her lips, the lingering feeling of his mouth on hers.
Her jaw tightened, but she forced a small, empty smile.
" Good." He mumbled and leaned back.
Everyone applauded and cheered but the moment she thought no one was watching, she slipped away through the back door.
Away from the noise, away from the moment that snatched everything brutally from her.
That kiss, she was supposed to be sharing it with the man she loved, with Tyler. Not with his brother, not with her boss she despised.
Her breath quivered, panting as her heels clicked hastily across the marble, heading for the restroom.
" Tessy."
She heard Tyler's voice call after her, only then did she stop, breathing heavily. Her ankle hurts from running with heels, but the pain was nothing compared to the pain in her chest.
The moment he got to her side, he grabbed her arms and pulled her to himself, hugging her so tight like she was a treasure he's scared would slip away.
His warmth. His presence. His scent only made her burst into tears.
" It's okay. It's okay, Tessy." He pulled away, held her cheeks in his palms. " I'm here, you still have me. You'll always have me."
She cried brokenly. " No." Her lips quivered. " This.. this is wrong. I don't want to.."
" I know, but Tessy, this would never change how I feel about you. You may be married to my brother but you'd always be mine."
She sniffled. " That kiss.. I thought it would be with you." She said, feeling her heart ripping apart in her throat.
Tyler smiled, tilted her face closer to his, and locked eyes with her.
" We can still have it." He said. " Our kiss."
And his gaze dropped to her lips.
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8.6
In my past life, the Cerberus strain leaked, turning the world into a blood-soaked hell of rotting flesh and mutated monsters.
I thought my boyfriend Declan and my best friend Hailee would have my back as we fled the quarantine zone.
Instead, when the surging crowd of the infected cornered us, they didn't hesitate.
They shoved me backward into the horde just to buy themselves three seconds to run.
As I fell into the mud, I saw them fleeing without a single backward glance.
"She's dead weight anyway!" Hailee screamed.
"Just keep running, she'll distract them!" Declan yelled back.
I was torn apart, feeling the agonizing tear of rotting teeth sinking into my neck and the hot spray of my own blood.
Before the apocalypse, my greedy uncle had locked away my ten-million-dollar trust fund, leaving me with nothing but a fake boyfriend who only wanted me for my money.
Until my last breath, I couldn't understand how the people I loved most could trade my life for a head start.
Why did I blindly trust them? Why didn't I see through their perfectly choreographed lies?
Opening my eyes again, the stench of decaying flesh vanished, replaced by the sterile smell of my college dorm room.
Hailee and Declan were standing over my bed, faking tears of concern over my meningitis fever.
I was back exactly seven days before the world ended, and my spatial vault ability had come back with me.
This time, I'm extorting my uncle for every cent, hoarding the city's supplies, and leaving them all to rot.
9.1
Waking up with a cold, scaly hand wrapped around my throat wasn't the worst part.
The worst part was realizing I'd transmigrated into the body of Terra Mason—the most despised woman in the entire Enclave. She drugged high-level beast-men and forced them into life-binding bio-contracts. She locked an aquatic warrior in a dry basement until his organs failed. She treated the most lethal males in the city like broken toys.
Zev, the Level 6 serpent who's currently choking me, would rather blow up his own heart than spend another day as my slave. His affection metric? Negative ninety. His trust? Zero.
Then my system activates: the Kore AI. It gives me exactly 500 credits, a medical nano-gel, and a recipe for neutralizing the radioactive poison in mutant meat. Real food. In this world, that's worth more than gold.
I save Rhys, the dying aquatic male everyone left for dead. I season a slab of purple mutant steak until Sam, a battle-scarred grizzly shifter, groans at the taste—and his trust points finally tick above zero. When my backstabbing ex-best friend tries to steal my males and destroy me, I don't scream or throw a tantrum like the old Terra. I dismantle her with the truth.
But earning their trust means more than grilling meat. A scorpion swarm ambushes us at midnight. Sam throws himself between me and a stinger the size of my arm. As he stands over the corpse, fur receding from his claws, he stares at me and whispers, "You were testing me."
Yes. I was. Because in this world, the weak don't survive. And I refuse to be weak again.
Four beast-men. Four contracts. One system. And a whole lot of steak. Let this dystopian wasteland know—I'm not the monster they remember. I'm worse. I'm the one who's going to feed them until they'd kill for me.
9.3
She sells flowers. He spills blood. And he will stop at nothing to make her his. Elena Rossi has always lived quietly among roses and lilies, dreaming of love as gentle as the petals she arranges. She thought she found it in Daniel, the man she planned to marry. Until her wedding day when a dangerous stranger walked into the church and shattered everything. Adrian Volkov is a king in the underworld, a man feared for his ruthlessness and power. But to him, Elena is not just a prize. She is an obsession. A storm he cannot live without. And he will burn the world and anyone in it, to claim her. Torn from the life she knew, Elena resists him, manipulates him, and even runs from him. But Adrian is relentless. His love is dark, his touch both punishing and tender, and his obsession inescapable. When betrayal and bloodshed close in, Elena must face the truth: She doesn't just fear him. She doesn't just hate him. She loves him. Petals and Blood is a haunting, passionate tale of obsession, betrayal, and the dangerous kind of love that blooms in shadows.
8.6
I was the untouchable Mafia Queen, but my reign ended in the blood-soaked depths of a damp dungeon.
My half-sister, Kelsey, drove a rusted, sharpened spoon into my chest, screaming about the unfairness of fate.
In my past life, my father sold me to the ruthless Don Dante Blackwell as collateral to pay off his debts.
To survive, I took a black-market fertility drug, birthed his heir, and clawed my way to the throne through sheer ruthlessness.
But in the mafia world, a pregnant woman isn't a queen; she's a walking target.
I survived countless bombings and poisonings, only to be betrayed and slaughtered by my own family.
Until my last breath, I couldn't understand. I had sacrificed everything to secure our survival in the empire. Why did my blood and tears only earn me a rusted spoon to the heart?
Opening my eyes again, I am seventeen, sitting in my father's drawing room.
Two black velvet boxes sit on the mahogany table.
Kelsey greedily snatches the box containing the fertility drug, her eyes gleaming with feverish triumph.
"I'll take this one, Papa."
She thinks she is stealing my golden ticket to the crown, completely unaware that she just chose a death sentence.
I lower my gaze, letting my eyelashes mask the cold, lethal amusement pooling in my eyes as I take the remaining box.
Inside is the detailed psychological profile of the Don's dead fiancée.
This time, I won't be a breeding mare fighting off assassins. I will dissect the devil himself.
8.3
My husband watched as my skin melted, scalded by boiling soup, yet his hands were busy comforting my attacker. Five years of marriage, built on a foundation of my family's power, crumbled with a single, brutal act of betrayal. He bought me off with a penthouse and a trust fund, but I tore out my IV and threw his charity back in his face.
It was our fifth anniversary, but my husband, Ethan, remained distant, avoiding any talk of Chicago or the mafia protection my family once offered him. He then pushed a black velvet box across the table.
Inside was a Separation and Property Division Agreement, not a diamond. He told me to sign for Ilene's security, offering millions. When I refused, Ilene hurled boiling soup. Ethan shielded her, not me, as the scalding liquid melted my dress.
With second-degree burns, he blamed me, ordering me from our home for Ilene’s comfort. My family saved him, yet he sacrificed my body and marriage for another woman.
The love I felt turned to ash. What kind of debt demanded my flesh and marriage?
I ripped the IV from my arm, hurling his "charity" keys back. My diamond ring placed on the agreement, I walked away. From today on, Ethan, you and I are dead to each other.
7.5
I was the adopted daughter of the wealthy Ruiz family, but the moment their true heir appeared, I was thrown away like trash.
Not long after being kicked out, my adoptive father and uncle hired a hitman to stage a fatal car crash on Mulholland Drive.
Pinned under an overturned Porsche with a shattered leg, I watched the hitman point a suppressed pistol between my eyes.
"The Ruiz family sends their regards."
Before this, my reputation had already been completely destroyed by a director, a pop idol, and a reality TV star, leaving me blacklisted and universally hated.
My adoptive family didn't just want me ruined; they wanted me permanently silenced to tie up loose ends.
The hitman pulled the trigger, and the original Alicia died in despair, tasting only rain and blood.
Until her last breath, she didn't understand.
Why did the family she loved treat her like a disposable object? Why did those three men maliciously frame her and turn the world against her?
Opening my eyes again, the fear was gone, replaced by an ancient, cosmic indifference.
I, the Arbiter, had taken over this deceased vessel.
Moving faster than the human eye, I crushed the hitman's steel gun with my bare hand and turned his soul into dust.
Looking at the memories of those who wronged this girl, I signed a contract for the very reality show they were starring in.
Since I borrowed this body, taking out the trash is a required courtesy.