Irene
8 Published Stories
Irene's Books and Stories
The Heiress's Vengeance: A Poisoned Life
Modern My doctor gave me weeks to live. But when I went to tell my family, they didn't care about my terminal cancer.
They were too busy comforting my adopted sister, Isabell, over her latest "flare-up."
They manipulated me into signing over my multi-million dollar company and my entire fortune to her.
Then, my husband announced he was renewing his wedding vows-with Isabell-to lift her spirits.
Even my eight-year-old son begged me to support them, for his "sick" Aunt Isabell.
Stripped of everything and left to die, I was a ghost in my own life, watching them celebrate my demise.
But as I collapsed in a hospital parking lot, I made one last call to the estranged best friend who had warned me about them all.
She rescued me, flew me to the world's best oncology center, and made a single promise.
"You're not dying. And when you're better, we will burn their world to the ground." Million Dollar Hush Money: I Want Divorce
Modern The silence in Sterling Manor wasn't empty; it was heavy, pressing against my eardrums like deep water. I sat on the edge of the oversized velvet sofa, waiting for my husband to return from a "merger closing" that I knew was actually a hotel room.
At 2:00 AM, a notification glowed on his forgotten work tablet: "You left your tie on my nightstand. I'll keep it safe for next time. - S."
When Ethan finally walked in, he didn't look at me. He just smelled like Serena's signature sandalwood perfume and expensive scotch. He didn't apologize for the infidelity; instead, he transferred a million dollars into my spousal account and told me to go buy some jewelry to keep my mouth shut.
I realized then that I wasn't a wife; I was an expensive placeholder. I left my ten-carat diamond ring on the foyer table and walked out into the freezing rain with nothing but a canvas duffel bag. But Ethan wasn't about to let his "ornament" escape so easily. He froze my credit cards, revoked my trust access, and used his billion-dollar influence to blacklist me from every architecture firm in New York City.
He even tracked me down to a restaurant where I was playing piano for tips, throwing a stack of hundreds at me in front of his mistress. When I still refused to crawl back to the manor, he played his final, cruelest card. He leaned in and whispered that if I didn't return to his bed, he would stop protecting my brother from a prison sentence he had manufactured himself.
I stood there shivering, realizing that every "favor" he'd ever done for my family was actually a shackle. He thought he could buy my soul, my talent, and my silence by holding the people I loved hostage. How could the man I once loved turn into a monster who viewed my life as nothing more than a line item on a balance sheet?
I looked him straight in the eye, my voice as cold as the winter air outside.
"Make the call, Ethan. Send him to jail. I'd rather visit my brother through plexiglass than spend another night sleeping next to you."
I'm done being a victim. I've just walked into the offices of Azure Architects, the only firm in the city Ethan can't bully. I'm not just going to finish my degree; I'm going to help his biggest rival burn his empire to the ground. Ninety-Nine Engagements, One Betrayal
Modern After ninety-nine failed engagements, I finally married Brooks Preston, a stoic tech mogul who seemed to be the only man on earth who found my motormouth personality "charming."
But his quiet acceptance was a lie. I was just a convenient prop, a wife he needed to hide his obsessive, incestuous love for his adopted sister, Everleigh.
When I discovered their secret and demanded a divorce, he locked me in a dark, windowless room, weaponizing my childhood claustrophobia to break me. He needed me to take the fall for Everleigh's crimes, to protect her at all costs.
He watched me scream and claw at the walls for three days, my terror a spectacle for his cold, calculating eyes. He wasn't just indifferent; he was a monster.
I didn't break. Instead, I waited. On the night of a live-streamed gala, I looked into the camera and smiled. "Everleigh, darling, congratulations. I've already divorced him. He's all yours." Chloe's Web, Liam's Freedom
Romance Today was supposed to be my fourth wedding to Chloe, my fiancée since we were sixteen.
I stood at the altar, surrounded by friends and family, the grand church filled with white roses.
But instead of Chloe, her maid of honor rushed down the aisle, clutching her phone, her face etched with panic.
Then, my phone vibrated.
A text from Chloe: "I' m so sorry, Liam. I can' t. Mark needs me. He' s at the hospital. He said he was in a car accident."
Not again. Another one of Mark' s car accident lies, the same one he used months ago.
Hundreds of eyes fixed on me, a mix of pity and morbid curiosity.
This wasn't postponement; it was a public execution.
Tears of profound humiliation stung my eyes.
My decade of devotion meant nothing; she chose her manipulative assistant over me, again.
Then, a new notification. A social media post from Mark.
A selfie. Mark, smug and triumphant. And Chloe, asleep on his shoulder, in a hotel room, not a hospital.
"Some things are worth fighting for. So happy you' re finally mine," the caption read.
Rage, hot and white-hot, surged through me.
This was a calculated, public humiliation. They weren't hiding; they were celebrating.
Then, a message request from Mark. A picture.
Chloe, asleep in the hotel bed. My wedding dress, draped over a chair in the background, a ghostly white sentinel.
He had planned this. He was taunting me.
Mark answered my call, his voice smooth and arrogant.
"We're at the Grand Star Hotel, room 1208. You know, the one right next to the general hospital. It' s so much more comfortable for Chloe to rest here while I recover from my, ah, 'terrible accident' ."
He laughed, a smug, ugly sound.
He sent another picture: Chloe' s hand, intertwined with his. My great-grandmother' s engagement ring gone, replaced by a simple gold band.
"It feels like nothing," I said, my voice devoid of emotion. "You can have her."
I hung up. I left it all behind, the house, the memories, the woman.
I was free, but I had to fight to stay that way. The Scorned Husband's Vengeance
Romance My perfect life, a meticulously crafted facade, shattered the moment I walked into my lawyer' s office, signing a new will to kill the man everyone thought I was.
That night, at my pre-wedding dinner, I saw it: my fiancée, Olivia, laughing with my half-brother, Liam, his hand possessively on her back, their betrayal so blatant it stole my breath.
The pain intensified as Olivia, with a perfectly fake smile, kissed my cheek, reeking of Liam' s cologne, then dismissed the custom-made key to our dream home as "just a key," leaving me standing alone with my rejected love.
As I saw them kiss the next morning, followed by a voice recording of Olivia' s cruel laughter describing me as "poor, sad Ethan" and her "ticket" to Liam and wealth, a terrifying clarity pierced through me.
They thought I was weak, a fool to be manipulated, but the man they knew died that day; I would rise from the ashes, a new man ready to enact a revenge they would never see coming. A Second Chance at Forever
Romance The rain outside mirrored the chill in my grand, empty house, a constant reminder of how Liam, my guardian and the man I loved, had grown distant. On the eve of my birthday, he returned home, dismissing my wishes and harshly criticizing my art, his words a familiar sting. Just as his cold judgment left me reeling, a call came from the hospital: late-stage pancreatic cancer.
In that hollow silence, a flicker of hope arrived in the form of an experimental cryogenic program-a chance, however small, for a future cure. But my desperate private choice was cruelly exposed when the brochures for my "coffin-like sleeping pod" scattered across the living room floor, revealing my grim secret to Liam and his stunning fiancée, Chloe Vance, who sneered at my "morbid projects." Liam, already distant, erupted in fury, convinced I was staging a dramatic plea for attention.
Chloe, the insidious socialite who had usurped my place, spun a web of lies to solidify the deception. She faked my medical records, planting doubt in Liam's mind and confirming his belief that I was a manipulative liar inventing a terminal illness for sympathy. His anger and disgust were a final, crushing blow. He banished me from my longtime room, his disdain a heavy cloak.
How could he not see the truth? How could the man who had once been my protector, my entire world, now believe I was a vile, twisted monster? The injustice burned, transforming my grief into a quiet, icy resolve.
With nothing left to fight for, and the world stripped bare of hope, I confirmed my place in the Neptune Project: deep-sea cryogenic preservation, set for December 12th-my birthday, and his wedding day. I would disappear, quietly and permanently, leaving him to his new life, unaware of the profound lie that had shattered mine. The Scapegoat Daughter
Young Adult My brother didn't die.
He just used a hurricane to run away, leaving me to pay for his escape.
For eight agonizing years, my parents blamed me, punishing me for a "sin" I didn't commit, calling my very existence a penance for their lost golden child.
On my nineteenth birthday, I tried to break free from their toxic grip.
But as a notorious killer stalked me, I begged my father-a detective hunting this very monster-for help.
He had already broken my only self-defense, a pepper spray he'd derided as a "useless toy," and then he dismissed my desperate texts as just another one of my dramatic cries for attention.
I died because of their callous neglect, because the weapon I relied on failed me.
As a ghost, I watched in horrifying silence as they grieved for a son who was never truly gone, while simultaneously dismissing my actual death.
My dismembered body on their evidence board was just another case; my own parents were too consumed by mourning a lie to see the devastating truth of my final moments.
How could they be so utterly blind?
How could they condemn me for a lie, only to be completely untouched by my real, horrific truth?
My entire life was an inconvenience, my death an unacknowledged whisper.
But then, Ethan returned, alive, shattering their carefully constructed grief and revealing his selfish deception.
And my killer, caught by my father, delivered the final, crushing blow: a confession detailing how my parents' neglect had sealed my fate, forcing my father to finally confront his own daughter's terrifying final pleas. You might like
Abandoned Ex-Wife: Now Untouchable
Tao Yaoyao My five-year-old daughter was dying in the ICU, her heartbeat replaced by the continuous, electronic scream of a flatline. I gripped her cold hand, my throat sealed shut by a terror so absolute I couldn't even cry out.
I dialed my husband Grayson's private number, the one reserved only for me and his assistants. He declined the call instantly. A second later, a text buzzed against my palm:
"In a meeting. Do not disturb. Stop calling."
Five miles away, Grayson was at a luxury gala, adjusting his silk tie and laughing with Belle Escobar. He told her I was just being "dramatic" and using our daughter's "fever" as an excuse to avoid the event. He had no idea Effie's heart had already stopped.
When I finally reached our penthouse, soaked from the rain and carrying Effie's small socks in a plastic bag, Grayson didn't even look at me. He snapped at me for ruining the hardwood floors and asked if I'd left Effie with the nanny just to "feel sorry for myself."
Three days later, while I buried our daughter in a small, lonely ceremony, Grayson was at the Hamptons. Belle posted a photo of him golfing with the caption: "A mental health day with the boys." He didn't even attend the funeral, but he returned home demanding I clear out Effie's room to make a study for Belle's son.
The injustice burned through me until there was nothing left. I swallowed a handful of sleeping pills, desperate to join my daughter. But instead of the darkness, I woke up to blinding lights and the scent of Grayson's expensive cologne.
I was standing in a ballroom, wearing a blue silk dress I had already burned. Above me, a banner read: "Happy 5th Birthday Kaiden & Effie."
I was back, exactly one year before the tragedy. This time, I wasn't going to be the grieving wife. I was going to be their worst nightmare. No Longer Mrs. Cooley: The Architect's Return
Xiao Xiaosu I went to the City Clerk’s office for a routine copy of my marriage license to finalize a trust fund audit. I expected a simple piece of paper, but the clerk’s pitying look told me my entire life was a lie.
"The license was never finalized, Ms. Oliver. In the eyes of the state, you are single."
The three-hundred-guest wedding at the Plaza and the Vogue features meant nothing. My husband, Gray Cooley, had intentionally filed the documents with a "procedural defect" so he could discard me without a legal divorce. Moments later, an iCloud invite titled "Our Little Secret" popped up on my screen. It was a photo of my best friend, Brylee, holding a positive pregnancy test at our Hamptons estate.
Gray’s text to her was the final blow:
"Happy anniversary, babe. This baby is the best gift. Once the trust unlocks today, we’re done with the charade."
I soon discovered they were even stealing my career, reassigning my architectural masterpiece to Brylee while preparing my eviction notice. Gray's mother called me a "barren mule" in a leaked recording, mocking the infertility I suffered after saving Gray’s life in a construction accident. I wasn't a wife; I was a three-year placeholder used to secure his inheritance.
How could the man I bled for treat me like a disposable prop? How could my best friend carry his child while pretending to comfort me through my darkest moments? The betrayal burned until it turned into a cold, hard stone of fury.
I didn't cry. Instead, I walked into the penthouse of the Barretts, the Cooleys' most powerful rivals. I signed a marriage contract with Kane Barrett, the man the tabloids called the "Beast of Wall Street."
"I want a wedding," I told his father, my voice steady and lethal. "Bigger than the one I had with Gray."
If they wanted me gone, they would have to watch me become the woman who owns their world. The Placeholder Bride's Secret Billionaire Revenge
Luo Ye For two years, I was the invisible force behind tech billionaire Kieran Douglas, convinced that our "private" romance was his way of protecting us from the tabloid spotlight. I managed his mergers, warmed his bed, and waited for a future that didn't exist.
The illusion shattered at 6:00 AM when a Page Six alert debuted Kieran's "real" romance with socialite Aspen Schneider. Before I could even process the betrayal, Kieran sent me a cold, professional text: "Order flowers for Aspen. Pink peonies. Her favorite."
When I tried to walk away, my own mother called me a disgrace and threatened to lock my inheritance forever unless I married a sixty-year-old businessman to save her failing estate. At a high-society gala that same night, Aspen intentionally crushed my burned hand in front of the cameras, while Kieran stood by and dismissed me as a "mediocre assistant" who had overstayed her welcome.
I stood in the cold New York rain, drenched in champagne and humiliation, realizing that every sacrifice I made for Kieran was a joke. I was a ghost in a penthouse that was never mine, discarded the moment his "soulmate" returned. To the world, I was just a placeholder whose time had run out.
But Kieran forgot one thing: my father's multi-million dollar trust fund unlocks the moment I legally marry. I didn't need love; I needed a signature and a shield. I walked into a discreet law firm and signed a marriage contract with a man I believed was the city's most notorious, scandal-ridden playboy.
I thought I was marrying a degenerate "beard" to buy my freedom and secure my revenge. I didn't realize the man who signed that paper wasn't a playboy at all, but Gaston Collins-the most powerful and dangerous man on Wall Street-and he had no intention of letting our fake marriage stay fake. Secret Triplets: The Billionaire's Second Chance
Roderic Penn I stood at my mother's open grave in the freezing rain, my heels sinking into the mud. The space beside me was empty. My husband, Hilliard Holloway, had promised to cherish me in bad times, but apparently, burying my mother didn't fit into his busy schedule.
While the priest's voice droned on, a news alert lit up my phone. It was a livestream of the Metropolitan Charity Gala. There was Hilliard, looking impeccable in a custom tuxedo, with his ex-girlfriend Charla English draped over his arm. The headline read: "Holloway & English: A Power Couple Reunited?"
When he finally returned to our penthouse at 2 AM, he didn't come alone-he brought Charla with him. He claimed she'd had a "medical emergency" at the gala and couldn't be left alone. I found a Tiffany diamond necklace on our coffee table meant for her birthday, and a smudge of her signature red lipstick on his collar. When I confronted him, he simply told me to stop being "hysterical" and "acting like a child."
He had no idea I was seven months pregnant with his child. He thought so little of my grief that he didn't even bother to craft a convincing lie, laughing with his mistress in our home while I sat in the dark with a shattered heart and a secret life growing inside me.
"He doesn't deserve us," I whispered to the darkness. I didn't scream or beg. I simply left a folder on his desk containing signed divorce papers and a forged medical report for a terminated pregnancy. I disappeared into the night, letting him believe he had successfully killed his own legacy through his neglect.
Five years later, Hilliard walked into "The Vault," the city's most exclusive underground auction, looking for a broker to manage his estate. He didn't recognize me behind my Venetian mask, but he couldn't ignore the neon pink graffiti on his armored Maybach that read "DEADBEAT." He had no clue that the three brilliant triplets currently hacking his security system were the very children he thought had been erased years ago. This time, I wasn't just a wife in the way; I was the one holding all the cards. His Trophy Wife, The Apex Predator
Eydie Pfefferle My husband of three years, Arthur Vanderbilt, came home smelling of his mistress's perfume and threw divorce papers on our marble kitchen island.
He demanded I sign away all rights to our assets for a five-million-dollar "severance," calling me a leech his family picked up from the suburbs to solve a temporary PR crisis.
When I refused and demanded my four percent equity in the Vanderbilt Group, he and his mistress, Serena, launched a vicious smear campaign. They planted false stories on Wall Street forums, accusing me of laundering money for an Eastern European crime syndicate.
They tried to force my hand with a check for five hundred million, which I tore up and threw in his face. To them, I was just a trophy wife they could easily discard.
They had no idea that the "leech" they so despised was the anonymous investor who had secretly bailed out their entire company three years ago, saving them from bankruptcy.
Their final move was to hire an actress to publicly accuse me of fraud in the lobby of the most powerful law firm in Manhattan. They didn't realize I was there to retain the firm's most ruthless lawyer. After security threw them out, I looked my replacement in the eye and made her a promise.
"Prepare for an FBI probe into perjury and corporate defamation." Seven Years A Fool, One Day A Queen
Stella Montgomery Everyone knew Kristine loved Colton. Still, his heart clung to a woman overseas-someone he spent most days with, now pregnant with his baby-and Kristine still asked him to marry her.
On their registration day, however, he never came; his "true love" had flown back.
Seven years of loyalty later, Kristine walked away, blocked him, and left his city.
Colton didn't blink-until he saw her at the courthouse, arm-in-arm with another man, and the proud CEO went pale. He went after her, desperation overtaking him.
"I'm sorry. Please give me another chance."
She snapped, "Could you stop? I'm already married." Untouchable After Goodbye: She Had A Secret Empire
Mira Westfield "Let's get a divorce. She's pregnant and deserves a place in my life."
He once promised to protect Claire forever, yet when his first love returned, he cast her aside. For three years, Claire dimmed her brilliance, living quietly as the obedient wife behind him.
When he handed her divorce papers to give his pregnant mistress a place, Claire no longer hid her talents.
The woman he had overlooked was a legendary healer, racing prodigy, and a genius designer. After the divorce, she reclaimed her glory.
When he pleaded, "Honey, let's remarry," another man pulled her close. "She's my wife now. As for you... Someone, take him out and give him what he deserves!" Cheated On Me? I Married a Tycoon
Rum Runner I spent three years building my husband, Axel Farrell, into Silicon Valley's ultimate "family man." As his lead PR strategist, I carefully managed his public image, making sure the world saw him as a perfect, devoted husband while I worked in the shadows of our estate.
The illusion shattered when he came home one night smelling of sandalwood and roses, with three deep fingernail scratches carved into his back. When I tried to check his phone, the passcode we had used for years-our wedding anniversary-had been changed.
The betrayal got worse the next morning when his mother called me a "defective product" and tried to force me into a fertility clinic. Axel didn't defend me; instead, he shoved me against a marble bar at a public gala to protect his mistress in front of the world's elite. By the time I tried to leave, Axel had frozen my bank accounts and filed a forged legal petition to have me declared mentally incompetent.
He planned to have me legally kidnapped and locked in a private psychiatric ward just to stop me from filing for divorce. He even blocked every major law firm in the city from taking my case, leaving me with no money, no identity, and no one to turn to.
I couldn't understand how the man who "saved" me from the mud years ago could be the same monster now trying to legally erase my existence. Was our entire marriage just a grooming process to exploit my genius for his billion-dollar empire?
As the deadline for my forced commitment approached, I stopped crying and opened my laptop. I leaked the video of his affair to every tech journalist in the country, watching his stock price crash in real-time.
"Axel thinks starving me out will make me crawl back to him," I whispered as I walked into the headquarters of his biggest rival.
"But he forgot that the most valuable part of his company is in my head."
I was no longer the abandoned wife; I was the one who was going to take his throne and burn it to the ground. Marrying Her Was Easy, Losing Her Was Hell
Michael Tretter "Stella once savored Marc's devotion, yet his covert cruelty cut deep. She torched their wedding portrait at his feet while he sent flirty messages to his mistress.
With her chest tight and eyes blazing, Stella delivered a sharp slap.
Then she deleted her identity, signed onto a classified research mission, vanished without a trace, and left him a hidden bombshell.
On launch day she vanished; that same dawn Marc's empire crumbled. All he unearthed was her death certificate, and he shattered.
When they met again, a gala spotlighted Stella beside a tycoon. Marc begged. With a smirk, she said, ""Out of your league, darling." First Lady Out, Your Majesty In
Asher Wolfe For three years, Allison played the perfect First Lady in a marriage that never gave her love back.
Nolan handed her divorce papers, sneering at her background while his mother mocked her as barren and his pregnant mistress claimed her place. So Allison walked away.
On the very day she left him, the royal family reclaimed her as their lost princess.
Crown, fortune, power, three terrifying brothers, and a handpicked royal consort now stood at her side.
Her eldest brother-the world's most feared arms dealer-pushed a black card across the table. "Go on. Spend whatever you like."
Her second brother-the genius doctor-twirled a scalpel between his fingers. "Tell me, sis. How many cuts do the ones who hurt you deserve?"
Her third brother-a global martial arts superstar-stormed into her ex-husband's lair. "Who made my sister cry? Time to face the music."
When her regretful ex begged for another chance, Allison only smiled.
It was too late. She was no longer his wife. She was his worst mistake.