Cry Out Loud
14 Published Stories
Cry Out Loud's Books and Stories
Marrying My Ex's Dangerous Billionaire Brother
Romance Josie sat in City Hall in her white designer dress, waiting to sign the papers that would finally make her Mrs. Austin Montgomery.
But at 10:20 AM, the billionaire heir called to cancel their wedding. The reason? His fragile female friend, Ivey, had sprained her ankle in a minor accident.
Austin abandoned her at the altar without a trace of apology, leaving Josie as a laughingstock under the sympathetic glances of strangers.
While she stood alone in the blinding New York sunlight, Austin was at a VIP hospital suite, tenderly spoon-feeding Ivey.
He assured the weeping woman that a marriage certificate could wait, and she was his true priority.
He fully expected to appease Josie later with a generic bouquet of red roses, assuming she would quietly swallow the humiliation like she always did.
Two years of canceled dates and broken promises flashed through her mind.
She finally realized that in Austin's world, her love and dignity would always take a backseat to Ivey's pathetic whimpers.
"Josephine Bowen, do you want to marry me instead?"
When Austin's dangerous, rebellious younger brother Kit pulled up in a black Bentley with a mocking smirk, Josie didn't hesitate.
She took his hand, signed the marriage certificate, and began her three-month trial as his wife, ready to make Austin regret the day he left her behind. The Rejected Luna's Spectacular Genius Comeback
Werewolf I returned to a cold, empty mansion, my body still aching from the miscarriage I had just suffered alone.
But the silence was broken by a delicate lace wrap on our couch. It belonged to Seraphina, my Alpha mate's childhood sweetheart.
While I was in a hospital bed losing our pup, Archibald was bringing his true love into our home.
A news alert flashed on my phone, showing him smiling tenderly at her at a luxury restaurant.
When I handed him the official Rejection papers to sever our mate-bond, he didn't hesitate to sign.
"I told you from the beginning, Bird. You were just a substitute," he sneered.
Later, I overheard him telling his second-in-command that the child we just lost was nothing but an "unexpected nuisance."
For three years, I had given up my Stanford research and my dignity, believing my total submission could earn his love.
Hearing him dismiss our dead child so callously shattered the last illusion I had.
My heart turned into a graveyard. To someone who doesn't love you, even your tragedy is just an inconvenience.
I packed my worn clothes, took the fifty million dollar severance, and walked out of his life.
I didn't cry or beg at his office doors like he arrogantly predicted.
Instead, I took industrial shears to my priceless diamond wedding ring, snapped it in two, and walked into a rival tech firm to reclaim my genius. Shattered Vows: The Betrayed Wife Takes Revenge
Romance Catalina woke up in the hospital with broken ribs after a horrific car crash, her only thought being her husband, Broderick, who had been paralyzed in a wheelchair for two years.
Dragging her battered body to the adjacent VIP suite to check on him, she peeked through the door and saw her paralyzed husband standing perfectly straight, passionately kissing his ex-girlfriend.
Broderick chuckled, bragging about faking his paralysis for two years just to secure his trust fund, mocking Catalina as a clueless, free nurse who fetched his water like a trained monkey.
When Catalina refused to give up her own hospital bed for his mistress's fake migraine, Broderick flew into a violent rage, publicly humiliated her, and ruthlessly cut off all her credit cards to stop her medical treatments.
"Since you are so independent, you can figure out how to pay for this room yourself. Let her rot here."
Watching the mistress flaunt the Cartier diamond bracelet Catalina had bought with her own money, Catalina's heart didn't break, it turned into solid ice. She could not understand how she had sacrificed two years of her life serving a monster who treated her like disposable garbage.
Discharging herself against medical advice, Catalina grabbed her crutch and headed straight for the lavish party Broderick was throwing at their estate, ready to expose his miraculous recovery to the world and burn his entire empire to the ground. The Unwanted Wife's Secret Billionaire Identity
Billionaires For three years, I played the perfect, uneducated housewife to my billionaire husband, Bradley.
Then I received a photo of him sleeping in our custom bed, a woman's hand resting intimately on his bare chest. It was my half-sister.
When I confronted him, he didn't apologize. He defended her, saying she was just scared of thunderstorms.
"You are her sister. Why is your mind so dirty?"
I handed him signed divorce papers, leaving with absolutely nothing.
He sneered, pointing at the door.
"A woman who didn't even finish high school? You will be begging on the streets in a week!"
Later, he violently dragged me away from a friend's house, only to kick me out of his car on a freezing, pitch-black mountain road just because my half-sister called crying about a power outage.
Standing alone in the dark with bleeding heels, the last ounce of warmth in my heart turned to solid ice.
He truly thought I was a helpless nobody who would eventually crawl back to him in tears.
He had no idea who he had really married.
The next morning, I put on a tailored power suit, walked into the towering headquarters of MY Corporation, and took the Chairman's seat.
It was time for him to meet Anna, the mysterious business tycoon he was about to go to war with. The Alpha's Forbidden Secret Fated Mate
Werewolf I am an orphan taken in by the pack, and the powerful Alpha, Ryker, is my guardian. He is also my secret fated mate.
But next week, he is marrying another woman for a political alliance. While I was forced to help his fiancé pick out her wedding gown, Ryker cornered me in a fitting room and aggressively marked my neck, claiming me as his own.
When his fiancé almost caught us, his eyes turned cold. He shoved an unlimited black credit card into my hand, telling her it was just "charity" for his dead Beta's daughter.
Then, they drove away together, leaving me to take a grimy public bus back alone.
Back at the dorm, my roommate saw the unmistakable, possessive bite marks of an Alpha on my collarbone. Knowing my reputation was about to be ruined, I fled to a remote campus building to hide from them all.
But my adoptive mother's maid suddenly appeared at my door. She didn't come to comfort me. Instead, she delivered a chilling warning.
"Do not repeat the terrible mistakes of your family and the Blackwoods regarding the wrong kind of attachments."
I froze, my blood running cold as I realized I was under constant surveillance.
I thought Ryker's toxic obsession was my biggest nightmare. But what exactly happened between our families in the past, and why did everyone want me trapped in this beautifully decorated prison? The Robot Wife He Never Knew
Modern Before I died, I used my life's work in robotics to build a bionic replica of myself for my husband.
She had my exact face and body, but none of my temper. She never threw tantrums, never picked fights, and never raised her voice.
Yet my husband, Ethan, had no idea she was actually a machine.
He despised "my" newly submissive and obedient attitude. To provoke me, he constantly brought women home, desperately trying to drive me mad with jealousy. But he never succeeded.
Until one day, his first love—the one who had once walked out on him—threw a cup of scalding coffee right in "my" face.
To Ethan's astonishment, not only did I not scream in pain, but my skin didn't even turn red.
He finally realized that I was already dead. The Omega He Rejected Is The White Wolf Queen
Werewolf My father, the Alpha Supreme, sealed my powers and sent me to the Turner Pack as a test. He wanted to see if my Fated Mate, Ignatz, would love the girl, not the Royal title.
Ignatz failed. For five years, I was his slave, the "No-Wolf" he kept around to clean up after his mistress.
When I discovered I was pregnant with his child, I thought he might finally show mercy. Instead, he looked at me with pure disgust.
"I will not have a weak, wolfless bastard tainting my bloodline," he roared.
"Get rid of it."
I begged. I screamed. But his mother and mistress watched with glee as the doctor scraped my womb clean, killing the only thing I had left.
Hours later, bleeding and hollowed out, I was dragged onto the floor of the pack's banquet hall. Ignatz stood on the stage, holding his mistress's hand.
"I, Ignatz Turner, reject you, Genevieve, as my mate," he announced, treating me like garbage to be discarded.
He thought he was breaking a weak human. He didn't realize he was unlocking a monster.
The pain of the rejection didn't kill me; it shattered the seal on my powers. The scent of ozone and Royal Lilies exploded through the room, bringing every wolf to their knees.
My bones cracked, reshuffling into the massive form of the legendary White Wolf.
As my father’s Royal Guards blew the doors off their hinges, I looked down at Ignatz, who was now trembling in the dirt.
"I accept your rejection," I growled.
Now, the hunt begins. Deafened By His Hateful Words
Modern For eight years, I gave up my family fortune and my hearing to help my boyfriend, Emiliano Reed, become a rock star. I was his muse, his guardian angel, the silent partner in his success.
Then, a miracle happened: my hearing returned. Just in time to catch him with a college student, and hear him call me a "burden" and a "charity case."
The betrayal didn't end there. When his new girl wrecked the vintage car my late father gave me, I confronted her at the police station. Emiliano rushed in, not to defend me, but to protect her. He shoved me so hard I hit the floor, and the world went silent again. My hearing was gone, for a second time, because of him.
"Are you deaf?" he roared at me, furious that I wouldn't just forgive him. "I gave you everything! It was exhausting, suffocating!"
I looked at the man I had sacrificed everything for, the man who had just destroyed me all over again. He had no idea I'd heard every single, hateful word.
"No, Emiliano," I said, my voice clear and steady. "The question is, are you deaf? Or are you just a coward?" When A Business Marriage Implodes
Billionaires The picture on my phone was a punch to the gut.
It showed my husband, Julian Vance, the cold, untouchable tech CEO, smiling genuinely at a young woman I' d never seen before, his hand resting on her shoulder.
This wasn't his public, polished smile for the cameras. It was something real, something he hadn' t directed at me in years.
My seemingly stable world tilted on its axis, unraveling years of accepted emotional distance.
"Lily Chen. Struggling artist," the private investigator' s text read below the photo.
I knew our five-year marriage was a business arrangement, but I thought Julian was emotionally detached from everyone.
I thought wrong.
That night, at the annual Vance Technologies gala, I confronted him.
His eyes, usually unreadable, flickered with annoyance before settling into their practiced mask.
"Our marriage is a business arrangement, Scarlett. You knew that when you signed the papers."
He handed me a divorce settlement, already drafted.
"I want her. I will not have you in the way."
I crumpled the paper.
"And if I refuse?"
A chilling ruthlessness crossed his face, not meant for a business rival, but for me.
"Don' t make this difficult, Scarlett. You will lose."
The next week was a nightmare as he systematically dismantled my family' s company, Hayes AI.
Our top engineers were poached, contracts sabotaged, stock plummeting.
The final blow came when Julian called, his voice emotionless.
"I have your parents, Scarlett. They are safe, for now. Sign the papers. You have one hour."
He sent a live video feed: my parents, tied to chairs, terrified.
I drove frantically to his office, ready to sign.
But as my pen touched the paper, Julian spoke one word into his earpiece.
"Now."
On screen, two masked men entered, brutally ending my parents' lives.
The world went black.
Then, I gasped, eyes flying open.
I was in my bed. Sunlight streamed in. My phone buzzed.
It was a notification from my PI.
A photo had just arrived: Julian and Lily in her studio.
It was the same day. The day it all started.
I was back. A Husband's Betrayal, A Wife's Rebirth
Romance The two pink lines on the test stick perfectly embodied five years of quiet hopes and hushed prayers-a dream finally coming true.
But that dream shattered when I overheard my husband David, in his study, confessing that she could "never find out," followed by his best friend Liam's horrified reply: "Five years. You' ve been living a double life for five years."
Rebecca. The name of the struggling artist my family' s charity had sponsored, the woman David always dismissed with pity, was not only his wife but the mother of his son and heir, Thomas.
Not only had my entire marriage been a lie, a performance for his "sweet, trusting" mistress, but I was also carrying the child of a man who secretly plotted: "She can never, ever get pregnant."
He had been replacing my birth control pills with placebos for years, orchestrating my pain and feelings of failure, all to protect a life I never knew existed.
The final insult came on my birthday, when the Astor sapphire necklace David had "promised" me appeared on Rebecca' s neck, a cruel trophy.
And then, she introduced herself: "Thank you… brother-in-law."
Something inside me snapped. He thought I was easy. He wanted me to disappear.
Fine. I would disappear.
I called an old contact, my voice steady, saying: "I need your help. I need to fake my death." My Nobody Husband, The President's Brother
Romance I opened my eyes, and the familiar gilded ceiling of my childhood bedroom swam into view. I was twenty-two again, on the day of the "Future Leaders" charity gala. This was it.
But this wasn't a fresh start; it was a horrifying replay. Because in my first life, this very day marked the beginning of my agonizing descent into hell. All thanks to Ethan Hayes.
He hated me, blaming me for losing his "true love," Izzy Vance. He systematically destroyed my family, ruined my esteemed father's career, and wiped out everything I held dear. My family's assets were frozen, our reputation shattered. My father, broken by shame, suffered a stroke. I was condemned to a miserable, impoverished existence, ostracized, until I died alone.
I had been a naive girl, a pawn in a cruel political game I never understood. His vindictive revenge was suffocating, impossible to fight. Now, reborn, the terror of that past clawed at my chest, alongside an unyielding, burning resolve.
This time, I wouldn't be his victim. I would save my family at any cost. My desperate plan: fade into obscurity, avoid any powerful connections, and use an unassuming stranger as my strategic shield. What I didn't know was that my chosen "nobody" would shatter all expectations, revealing a destiny more shocking and powerful than revenge itself. No More Chains: The Wife's Escape
Romance My tenth wedding anniversary gala at our lavish Napa Valley estate should have been a dream, but for ten years I’d lived a gilded nightmare crafted by Julian Thorne.
Tonight, my tech mogul husband took his public humiliation ritual to new depths, introducing his barely-out-of-her-teens mistress on stage, then demanding I strip my designer gown and a priceless family heirloom necklace to give to her as a "welcome gift."
When I finally uttered "divorce," he scoffed, offering a multi-million-dollar "severance package" but coldly emphasized that my ailing father's costly medical care depended entirely on his whims, turning my raw pain into a grotesque public spectacle for the guests to bet on.
That very night, fueled by rage, Julian trapped me in the wine cellar, convinced I'd never truly walk away, as my mother lay dying from a car accident I couldn't reach her from, leaving me to beat bloody fists against the locked door.
Reaching the hospital too late, and later enduring a final, devastating blow as Julian’s mistress orchestrated my father’s quiet death with his chilling disregard, left me utterly shattered, yet terrifyingly, undeniably, free from his last cruel hold.
With every lifeline severed, and nothing left for Julian to control or threaten, the broken woman he thought he owned finally died, and a new, formidable force awoke, ready to unleash a vengeance he never saw coming, starting now. You might like
Jilted Wife Returns As A Billionaire Heiress
Paula Gardini Chloe had just given birth to twins, lying exhausted in a cramped, bustling hospital ward.
When she called her husband, Julian, he was busy partying with his actress mistress. He coldly hung up on her, having already drafted a brutal divorce agreement that would leave her with a pittance.
Strangers in the next bed loudly mocked her pitiful state, gossiping about how Julian was dumping her. For years, Chloe had erased her own identity to fit into his elite world, only to be thrown away like garbage. She was completely alone, clutching her helpless babies, bracing herself to sign the cruel papers just to survive.
She couldn't understand why her absolute devotion was met with such chilling indifference. Why did she have to suffer this ultimate humiliation while he celebrated with the woman who ruined her life?
But then, a senior doctor noticed a unique mole on her wrist and ran a secret DNA test. The results were staggering: Chloe was the long-lost daughter of the billionaire Beaumont family. With her fiercely protective parents and three powerful brothers suddenly forming an impenetrable fortress around her, Chloe picked up her phone and texted her arrogant husband.
"City Hall tomorrow at 10 AM. If you don't show up, my lawyer will handle everything. And trust me, you won't like their terms." The Runaway Wife: Hiding His Secret Triplets
Hen Bu Five years ago, I stood in the freezing rain at my mother's funeral, waiting for my husband.
Blake Knight, the billionaire NHL superstar, was two hours late. When he finally showed up, he brought his rumored girlfriend, the woman he had just rented a hotel rooftop for to celebrate her birthday.
Watching him defend her fake tears, my heart completely died. I took off my diamond wedding ring, placed it on my mother's headstone, and walked away from my marriage forever.
I fled to London, changed my name to Ava, and secretly raised the triplets he never knew existed. I thought I was finally safe from him.
But today, my kids vandalized a silver Aston Martin in our apartment's parking garage, and the owner caught my youngest daughter.
My phone rang. The voice on the other end was Blake's.
He had moved into my building, and he was holding my little girl in his penthouse, demanding her mother come get her immediately.
Panic suffocated me. If I walked through that door, my five years of hiding would be instantly destroyed. He would recognize me, realize I didn't get rid of our child like everyone thought, and he would use all his power to take my babies away.
I couldn't let him ruin my life again.
"I'm just her nanny," I lied through my teeth.
I frantically begged my best friend to go upstairs and rescue my daughter in my place. He bought the disguise, but now, the King of the Ice is dangerously obsessed with investigating my new identity. Tattooed By The Dangerous Biker King
Snootie My controlling mother forced me on another blind date with an arrogant lawyer, but an emergency call from my clinic saved me.
I rushed back to find the waiting room filled with massive, tattooed men in leather cuts. They were the Serpents of Retribution MC, and their ruthless President, Knight, locked his ice-blue eyes on me, ordering me to be the sole nurse for his injured man.
Trouble quickly followed. A fake doctor took me hostage at gunpoint, trying to get revenge on Knight. We tumbled down a concrete stairwell, and Knight used his own body as a human shield to save my life.
But the aftermath destroyed my world. My boss threatened to fire me. My mother screamed at me for walking out on the lawyer, caring more about my "stable future" than the fact I almost died.
I thought I had hit rock bottom, until Knight tracked me down. He didn't ask for my consent. He dragged me to his clubhouse, pinned me down, and had his club's serpent emblem permanently tattooed onto my shoulder blade.
"From now on, you're my Old Lady."
He marked me as his property, leaving me trapped between a suffocating family and a dangerous biker boss.
Staring at the black brand in the mirror, I realized I couldn't be a passive victim anymore. I drove to my parents' house, pulled down my collar to show them the serpent, and finally severed ties with my past. His Tamed Wife, The Wild Heiress
Whisper 119 She married him out of desperation, becoming the perfect docile wife while he treated her like dirt beneath his shoes. But everything shattered the night she overheard him mocking her with his friends-and discovered the necklace she'd cherished, her only link to the boy who once saved her life, didn't even belong to him.
It was all a lie.
No longer the doormat he married, she discards her fake identity and reclaims her birthright as the hidden heiress of Salvadore City. Now she's on a mission: find the necklace's true owner among his circle of friends, no matter how many hearts she has to break along the way.
But her husband isn't ready to let go. Convinced she's playing games to make him jealous, he's blindsided when divorce papers land in his hands. By the time he realizes the woman he dismissed was never who he thought she was, she's already moved on-living her truth, chasing her destiny, and leaving him choking on regret.
Some cages, once opened, can never be closed again. The Silent Heiress's Million Dollar Gambit
Maui My stepmother’s bodyguards were seconds away from dragging me back to a life that was essentially a prison cell wrapped in silk. I couldn't even scream for help because the words always died in my throat—a clinical condition called selective mutism that felt like drowning on dry land.
I had just discovered the sickening truth: my father was planning to sell me to a sleazy investor named Sterling to cover his company’s bankruptcy. They were going to drug me, ship me off to a private island, and strip away the only thing I had left—my late mother’s multimillion-dollar art trust.
When I arrived at the manor, my stepmother Lydia handed me a glass of wine laced with bitter sedatives, her smile sharp as a razor.
"Drink up, darling. It’ll make the transition to Mr. Sterling much easier."
My stepsister Harper stood in the corner, wearing a dress bought with my mother’s stolen money, mocking my inability to speak. My father didn't even look me in the eye as he calculated my price tag, treating his own daughter like a piece of damaged, mute inventory.
They thought because I didn't speak, I didn't hear them laughing about the "accident" that killed my mother or how they planned to burn her final restoration work. They assumed my silence was a sign of surrender, a white flag waved by a broken girl who would never fight back.
How could the people who were supposed to be my family treat me like a commodity to be traded? Did they really think my silence meant I was weak, or that I didn't know every dirty secret they were hiding in their ledgers?
I didn't drink the wine. Instead, I burst into the VIP suite of Carlisle Pierce, the most cold-blooded billionaire in New York, and slammed a crumpled napkin on his table with a desperate, last-second gambit.
"MARRY ME. NOW. $1 MILLION." Jilted Ex-Wife? The Secret Billionaire Heiress!
Hei Baidong I was in the hospital, enduring the agonizing pain of labor, while my husband, a famous hockey captain, refused to show up.
When I called him for the twelfth time, begging for him, he lost his patience.
"Giving birth is a woman's job, don't bother me with this stuff."
Then, I heard my stepsister's sweet voice offering him a drink, and he immediately softened before hanging up on me.
I gave birth to twins all by myself.
The nurses treated me with cold indifference, and the family in the next bed loudly mocked me as a pathetic "Puck Bunny" who was just an adopted orphan about to be dumped.
They were right. A month ago, my husband had thrown divorce papers at me, demanding I make way because my stepsister was pregnant with his child.
I thought my life was a joke. I was just a discarded prop he married to satisfy his grandfather, a fake daughter my adoptive parents only used to elevate my stepsister.
I was completely alone, ready to sign the papers just to protect my two babies.
But then, the head of the hospital rushed in, transferred me to the top-floor VIP suite, and handed me a DNA test.
It turned out I wasn't an unwanted orphan, but the long-lost daughter of the ultra-wealthy Sinclair family who had been searching for me for twenty years.
Looking at my billionaire parents and three powerful brothers who just flew in on their private jets to protect me, I picked up my phone to call my arrogant husband.
This time, I was going to make him leave with nothing. Shielded By The Ruthless Military Boss
Mo Yufei I was an intern nurse working exhausting shifts, yet my mother constantly forced me into blind dates with wealthy, arrogant men to secure our family's social standing.
During a terrifying hospital lockdown, an assassin disguised as a doctor held a scalpel to my throat. I was almost killed, but a high-ranking military colonel threw his own body down a flight of concrete stairs to shield me.
I survived with cuts and bruises, but when I went home, my mother didn't care about my near-death experience. She was only furious that I had rushed out on my blind date with Preston, a rich financial analyst.
She forced me to meet him to apologize. When Preston grabbed my arm, bruised me, and mocked my attack as a pathetic lie, my mother still took his side.
"Men get angry," she told me coldly. "It's your job not to provoke them. You will beg for his forgiveness, or you are no longer welcome in this house."
I had narrowly escaped an assassin, yet my own family was willing to feed me to a monster just for a fat paycheck and neighborhood gossip.
My heart went completely dead.
So, when the intimidating Colonel appeared, offering me maximum military protection through a sudden marriage, I didn't hesitate.
I walked back into my parents' house and calmly slapped a crisp marriage certificate onto the coffee table.
"I won't be apologizing to Preston. I got married today." Pampered By The Ruthless Biker Boss
Anywho After six years away, I returned to my hometown with a single suitcase and a picture of my fiancé tangled up with my stepsister.
I thought it was just a simple, disgusting betrayal, but when I planted a bug in their private suite to get a confession, I heard a truth that froze my blood.
My fiancé, Leo, laughed about how my own father had already signed over my mother's legacy—The Nightingale Ranch—as collateral to his powerful family.
"Once this is all done, Claire will have nothing. And the woman you marry will be me," my stepsister Jenna cheered.
Leo cooed back, calling me a stray dog he'd kick to the curb once he was bored, a worthless woman who couldn't even hold onto her family's land.
My family had sold me out, and the man I loved was planning to leave me with absolutely nothing.
I didn't cry. The pain burned away into a cold, hard hate. How could my own father conspire with them to destroy the only thing I had left of my mother?
I crashed their prestigious charity auction and played their filthy recording over the speakers for the entire town to hear.
But when Leo charged at me in a murderous rage, a wall of leather and muscle stepped in front of me.
Kade "Chaos" Peterson, the terrifying President of the rival motorcycle club, crushed Leo's wrist and announced to the stunned room, "She's with me now." The Ex's Regret: I Became The Billionaire Hockey King's Doctor
Bai Bian I stood alone under the spotlights at my own high-society engagement party, waiting for my fiancé.
Instead of showing up, he called to say he was staying at the hospital with Victoria, my family's fragile adopted daughter, who had suffered a perfectly timed minor accident.
When I publicly canceled the wedding, my mother and three brothers didn't care about my humiliation. They blamed me for ruining their precious business alliance.
Victoria even hired thugs to drag me into an unlicensed van outside the hotel.
But when I returned home bruised and exposed her crime, my family called me a malicious liar and fiercely defended her.
My mother froze all my bank accounts, stripped me of my identity, and kicked me out into the freezing storm.
For over twenty years, I had played the perfect daughter, yet they discarded me like garbage for a manipulative fake sister. I was left penniless and shivering on the street, my heart completely dead to the people I once called family.
But they didn't know I wasn't just a useless socialite; I was secretly a top-tier medical genius.
When a Bentley pulled up in the rain carrying the secretly injured king of the NHL, I stepped inside and looked at the powerful man.
"I can cure your ruined career, and in return, you will give me everything I need to crush them."