Liu Jia
14 Published Stories
Liu Jia's Books and Stories
Bring Me Back to the Wedding
Romance The last thing I remembered was the crushing weight of hooves, the taste of dirt, and the finality of death.
Then, I opened my eyes to a room bathed in red, the scent of cheap incense thick in the air-my wedding chamber, thirty years in the past. This was Autumn Frost and Shen Huaiyu' s wedding night, a life I had already lived and barely survived.
Memories flooded back: a lifetime of unrequited love for my cold, disdainful husband, bullied and humiliated by his cousin Jasmine, culminating in my lonely death on the street.
I was young again, but the innocence was gone. This wasn't a second chance at love; it was a torturous replay. My "husband," drunk and arrogant, sneered accusations instead of gentle words. He spoke of Jasmine, his voice softening for her, while treating me with open contempt.
The next morning, his message through a servant - "Don' t cause any trouble" - was a fresh stab of rejection. My biggest regret from my first life was neglecting my mother while obsessing over him. I vowed that this time, she would be my priority. To secure our future, I planned to take the imperial examination, a dream sabotaged by Jasmine and my own blindness in the past.
But Shen Huaiyu, ever controlling, forced me to visit my mother with him, a public display of his dominion. Then, the fire. Just like in my first life. He ordered me to stay put, dismissively assuring me of my safety, while Jasmine watched with a triumphant smirk. I was trapped, my mother in danger.
Later, he appeared at my side, holding a perfectly forged exam pass. My foolish heart dared to hope, only for him to expose me to utter public humiliation at the examination hall. The pass was a fake.
The ensuing riot injured my mother, confirming my deepest fears: he cared nothing for me, and worse, he was a danger to her. All the pain, the betrayal, the humiliation of two lifetimes culminated in one cold, hard decision: "I want a divorce." He refused, thinking I was hysterical, but I had made up my mind. I would find a way out, even if it cost me everything. Flash Marriage To The Secret Tycoon
Modern Kathern was forced out of her sister's home by her abusive brother-in-law, who violently demanded she pay half the rent or get out.
To protect her sister from his rage, Kathern agreed to a six-month paper marriage with a stranger—an old woman's grandson, Bronson—in exchange for a simple apartment.
But her new husband treated her like a scheming gold digger from the very first second.
He showed up to City Hall in a cheap suit, shoved a brutal prenup in her face, and dumped her in a completely empty, dust-filled apartment.
"Just don't cause any trouble," he warned coldly, before leaving her alone.
When Kathern politely texted him to ask if he was coming home for dinner, he immediately blocked her number.
Kathern was furious and baffled. She didn't want a dime of his money, nor did she care about his boring middle-management job.
She had only agreed to this marriage for a place to sleep, yet this arrogant man treated her like absolute garbage.
Refusing to swallow the insult, Kathern immediately dialed his grandmother to expose his behavior.
She was going to build her own independent life, completely unaware that her "cheap corporate loser" of a husband was actually the ruthless billionaire CEO of the Vaughan empire. Betrayed By My Alpha: The Ghost Luna's Revenge
Werewolf I died alone in the medical wing giving birth to our son.
"Tell her to calm down and stop the theatrics."
Those were the last words my mate, the Alpha, said about me while I bled out.
Instead of passing on, my soul was tethered to the packhouse. I was forced to watch my best friend Seraphina seamlessly step into my life, taking my baby and my husband before my body was even cold.
To secure her place, she planted my blood-soaked birthing blanket in the woods to frame me for faking my own kidnapping.
Ryker swallowed her lies completely. He refused to send a search party, telling the entire pack my disappearance was just a pathetic plea for attention and money.
As a helpless ghost, I watched Seraphina brainwash my one-year-old son into calling her his mother and teach him to joyfully trample my beloved garden.
"Bad mommy ran away. Don't love Kaelen."
Hearing my own child parrot those venomous words was a dagger to my soul.
Whenever anyone questioned my absence, Ryker fiercely defended her, dismissing the desperate warnings of my loyal friends and his own elders.
The man I loved and died for treated my memory like a malicious joke, grateful for an excuse to replace me while living with my murderer.
But when Seraphina's mask finally slipped, and the horrifying truth of my death crashed down on him, it was far too late.
Seeing him crumble in agonizing regret brought me no comfort.
I no longer wanted his love or his desperate apologies.
Now, I only wanted his absolute ruin. Unwanted Vessel: The Secret of the White Wolf
Werewolf "You were just the incubator, Alex. Iliana is their real mother."
With those words, Alpha Gavyn erased six years of my life.
I had raised his twins, sat up with them through fevers, and loved them as my own while he waited for his "true mate" to return.
But the moment Iliana came back, I became nothing more than a nuisance.
The betrayal didn't stop there.
My children, the ones who used to cling to my leg, looked at me with pure disgust.
"Ew," my daughter sneered. "Daddy says you're just a hairless weakling. Don't touch me!"
She shoved me down the stairs.
Gavyn didn't help me up. He stepped over my bleeding body to comfort Iliana because the smell of my blood "bothered" her.
He forced me to dive into a poisoned lake to retrieve a necklace Iliana threw away, just to humiliate me.
And when kidnappers held us both at gunpoint on a cliff, asking him to save one, he didn't hesitate.
"I choose Iliana," he said, turning his back on me. "You were just a substitute."
As I fell into the abyss, waiting for death, I felt a snap inside my chest.
Gavyn thought he was killing a latent human.
He had no idea that the fall would shatter the seal on my soul.
Mid-air, my bones didn't break—they reshaped.
A blinding white light exploded from my skin.
The Alpha didn't just discard a nanny.
He just unleashed the legendary White Wolf. Hidden Scientist, Betrayed Wife's Revenge
Modern For three years, I hid my identity as a top scientist and heiress, pretending to be a simple graduate student. All to secretly develop a cure for my husband Graham's fatal genetic disease.
Then, in his sleep, he whispered another woman's name-Keeley.
I soon discovered she was his ex-girlfriend and, horrifyingly, my doppelgänger.
He brought her into our home, siding with her as she attacked me, causing a fall that made me lose our unborn child. He showed no remorse.
Instead, he publicly humiliated me, accused me of faking the pregnancy, and filed for an annulment to marry her.
The man I sacrificed my career, my fortune, and my identity for saw me as nothing more than a convenient substitute. He destroyed my life, all for a cheap copy of me.
He thought he had broken me. But he forgot who I really am. Now, as the true head of the Morton Institute, I'm ready to reclaim my name. At the global press conference for his cure, I will expose every last one of their lies. Together We Rise From Ashes
Modern My sister and I were stranded on a deserted road, eight months pregnant and with a flat tire, when a truck' s headlights pinned us in their glare.
It wasn't swerving to avoid us. It was aiming for us.
The crash was a symphony of destruction. As a monstrous pain ripped through my pregnant belly, I called my husband, Kade, my voice choked with blood and fear.
"Kade… accident… the baby… something' s wrong with the baby."
But I didn't hear panic. I heard his stepsister, Florence, whining in the background about a headache.
Then came Kade' s voice, cold as ice.
"Stop being so dramatic. You probably just bumped a curb. Florence needs me."
He hung up. He chose her over me, over his sister-in-law, over his own unborn child.
I woke up in the hospital to two truths. My sister, a world-renowned pianist, would never play again. And our son, the baby I had carried for eight months, was gone.
They thought we were just collateral damage in their perfect lives.
They were about to find out we were the reckoning. His Secret, My Shattered World
Romance For three years, I believed him. Ethan, the "bankrupt entrepreneur," the man I worked three jobs for, pouring every penny into his supposed debt. He promised me the world, a future.
Then, at a high-end charity auction, I saw him. Not in worn-out jeans, but a tailored suit, buying a million-dollar necklace for Sophia Thorne, a famous socialite he called his fiancée.
My world shattered. A news headline confirmed it: "Tech Heir Ethan Miller Celebrates Fiancée Sophia Thorne' s Birthday with Million-Dollar Gift." His three-year 'hiatus' was a lie. I was a placeholder, an "experiment" he kept to warm his bed while he waited for his "real love."
The humiliation was a physical ache, deepened by Sophia and his family' s cruel dismissal. He called me a "charity case," they laughed at my expense, all while he showed me a kindness he never truly felt.
He pretended concern for my injuries, offering cheap flowers, but for Sophia, he was a raging lion. The man who let a customer grab my arm told me to "just be nice, we need the tips," but for her, he was a hero.
What kind of man makes you believe in true love, only to reveal you were nothing but a convenient lie? How could I have been so blind?
The hate formed a cold, hard resolve in the wreckage of my heart. He didn't just break my heart; he stole three years of my life. He made a fool of me. And now, I would make him pay. From Neglect to True Love
Romance For seven years, I lived under the illusion of being loved, enduring the Hayes family' s casual neglect and Daniel' s cold indifference, believing my childhood crush would eventually return my devotion.
Then, one night, I saw the truth-Daniel, my fiancé, clutching a silk scarf and whispering his hidden desire for Olivia, his adoptive sister. My seven years of love turned to dust in that instant.
Olivia Hayes, the golden child for whom I was merely a placeholder, returned home and immediately orchestrated a public spectacle. She faked an injury, bleeding from a self-inflicted wound, and screamed that I had attacked her, turning the family' s welcome party into a chaotic scene. My adoptive mother, Martha, without a second' s hesitation, slapped me across the face, while Daniel' s eyes were filled with pure disgust.
Alone and terrified, I was pursued by aggressive dogs-a cruel, calculated act, as the Hayes family knew my pathological fear. I screamed for help, but Daniel, my adoptive parents, drove away into the darkness, leaving me to fall unconscious, only to wake up alone in a hospital with Olivia' s fake concern and my family' s dismissive voices echoing through the walls.
Back home, my last remaining sanctuary, my art studio, was gone, replaced by a dance studio for Olivia. My life' s work, a competition piece, was maliciously destroyed. When I tried to confront Olivia, Daniel violently shoved me, and my adoptive father' s hand connected with my face, leaving me bleeding and broken, my heart shattered into fragments.
I had given them everything-my pride, my art, my very being-only to be betrayed and dismissed. How could they be so blind, so cruel, so utterly devoid of love for their real daughter? Why did I have to fight for everything, while Olivia effortlessly received their adoration?
With nothing left to lose, I definitively chose to walk away and embrace a new life, a new beginning with Michael Blackwood, the man who had silently loved me all along. His Secret, Her Salvation
Romance The security guard at the Grand Orion Hotel stopped me cold, demanding an invitation I didn' t have.
My simple suit and comfortable shoes screamed that I didn' t belong, and his dismissive glance confirmed it.
Then came the grating voice I knew too well: Brendan Riley, my former supervisor, flanked by his snickering sycophant, Kevin Miller.
They oozed smug superiority, relishing the sight of me, the unemployed junior marketing assistant he' d unjustly fired a month ago, standing humiliated at the hotel entrance.
They mocked me, suggesting I was lost on the way to a soup kitchen, openly laughing at my pathetic attempts to get in.
As if that wasn' t enough, Chloe Davis, an old team member I once thought I connected with, surfaced, her pity and disgust palpable as she advised me to simply go home.
They had no idea.
They saw a jobless loser, a charity case.
What they couldn' t fathom was that I owned the very building they were so desperately trying to get into.
The air grew thick with their mocking, each jab a reminder of their shallow worldview.
But their confidence was built on a crumbling foundation, and I knew the truth was about to detonate their carefully constructed reality.
Because sometimes, the quietest person in the room is the one holding all the cards. His Twisted Lies, Her Cold Resolve
Modern The sweet scent of birthday cake filled my car, a promise of a happy surprise for my son, Finn, at his coding bootcamp.
My cheerful mood shattered the moment the lead instructor, Ms. Albright, coldly informed me I wasn' t on his authorized visitor list.
Then another mother, dressed in designer clothes, cruelly whispered that I was likely "some woman" trying to con families for their money.
Humiliation burned as security guards appeared, their presence turning a simple misunderstanding into a menacing accusation of attempted abduction.
Ms. Albright' s contempt chilled me to the bone when, after I showed her a photo of Finn and me, she flatly declared, "That is not the Finn who attends this bootcamp. That is a different boy."
Desperation clawed at me; I knew my Finn was here, yet they were trying to throw me out.
I broke free and ran, bursting into a classroom full of teenagers, my eyes scanning for my son.
Instead, a blond boy in the front row looked up, startled, and then said, "Mom?"-but he wasn't looking at me.
Then, facing me directly, he declared, "Who are you? I don't know her! My dad is Mark Peterson."
This wasn' t just a mistake; it was a twisted, deliberate lie.
A wave of nausea and fury crashed over me as Ashley Daniels, the "other mother," slapped me across the face and sneered, "Mark mentioned you might show up. The obsessed ex-wife."
My reality crumbled as Mark, my husband, joined in, confirming her story and labeling me a "psychotic break," threatening to keep Finn from me forever.
But the fear burned away, leaving a cold, sharp resolve.
I pulled out our marriage certificate, proving his bigamy, and then delivered the final blow: Mark Peterson was no tech CEO; he was a 'kept man,' living off my family's trust fund.
Just as his carefully constructed façade shattered, my real son, Finn, emerged from the hallway, his confused gaze the ultimate indictment of his father's deceit.
Amidst the chaos of Mark and Ashley' s public implosion, I held Finn close, whispered, "I am divorcing you," and vowed to reclaim everything.
This wasn' t an ending-it was my defiant beginning. The Scholarship Setup: A Rebirth Story
Young Adult Tonight was everything: my final interview for the American Achievement Scholarship, my gateway to an Ivy League. As I refined my presentation, my stepsister, Jessica Vance, entered, that sweet, insincere smile on her face. "Nervous, Sarah?" she asked, offering a steaming mug of "herbal tea." Naively, I drank it. The next thing I knew, I woke disoriented in a cheap motel, my laptop displaying a plagiarized presentation. Moments later, stern school security and committee members burst in, accusing me of fraud.
Publicly shamed, disqualified, my father disowned me, swayed by Jessica' s mother. My boyfriend, Mark Olsen, offered false comfort, trapping me with an unplanned pregnancy. While my peers thrived, I was stuck, my dreams shattered, my spirit ground into dust over five miserable years. One night, I overheard Mark and Jessica: the tea, the motel, the plagiarism-all a "perfect" setup for her to win. Their cold, calculated betrayal shattered me. The injustice was soul-crushing.
Broken, I stumbled out, only to die in a blinding crash. Then, a sharp gasp. My eyes flew open. I was in my bed. The door creaked open. Jessica walked in, holding a steaming mug. "Nervous, Sarah?" she asked, that fake-sweet smile identical. "I made you some herbal tea." But this time, I knew. This time, I wouldn't just survive; I would fight back. Too Late for Apologies
Fantasy For nearly a decade, I walked through life as Mrs. Hamilton, wife to the charming and successful Ethan.
Our perfect marriage was more than a facade; it was my very existence, bound by a secret Soul Pact that determined whether I lived or died.
Then, seven days before my designated survival deadline, Ethan casually dropped a bombshell: he needed a temporary divorce for his latest fling, a demanding young intern named Chloe.
He offered me designer bags and an unlimited credit card, oblivious that he was asking me to sign my own death warrant, effectively sealing my fate.
Chloe, triumphant and venomous, reveled in my humiliation from my very own penthouse, mocking me as "old news" while lounging in my favorite spots.
Ethan, valuing his mistress's fleeting whims over my life, eagerly discarded our shared history and sent me away.
The chilling countdown from the Soul Pact System inside me confirmed my imminent end-a meticulously "staged accident" awaited.
How could someone mistake my life for a casual game, oblivious that his "temporary break" was my permanent end?
My heart ached with the profound loneliness of carrying this fatal secret alone, a cruel irony after years of quiet endurance.
I died in a fiery crash, right on schedule.
But then, a cold, digital voice whispered, "System error. Collect 100 Regret Points from Ethan to be reborn."
Now, an unseen spectator, my very existence hinges on the depth of his sorrow. My Father Drowned Me, Then Left Me to the Pirates Again
Fantasy My own father, David, drowned me in the cold Caribbean, tying the anchor chain to my ankles himself, his voice devoid of emotion as he declared it was "for Chloe," my adopted sister, blaming me for her demise.
But instead of death, I gasped awake, not underwater, but on our luxury yacht, the *Serenity*, hours before the terrifying pirate attack I'd already endured, realizing I was trapped reliving my darkest nightmare.
My frantic warnings dismissed, my father abandoned us *again*, taking all able-bodied security and crew for a dolphin chase with Chloe, only to explicitly tell my terrified mother on the phone that I was "shark bait *again*," a chilling confirmation that he remembered my original death and was willing to let it happen once more.
The injustice was soul-crushing: while my brother, Mike, bravely sacrificed his arm fighting the invading pirates, even our closest ally, Uncle Ben, initially sided with David and Chloe, believing their manipulative lies about my supposed "jealous drama."
However, the grotesque discovery of Mike's severed limb in the open ocean finally shattered Uncle Ben's blind faith, transforming him into an unlikely ally and igniting within me an unyielding resolve to uncover the shocking truth: my "sweet" adopted sister, Chloe, was the actual orchestrator of every horrific betrayal, and I would make sure she paid for every single one of our recurring nightmares. You might like
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." The Neglected Wife's Vicious Comeback Game
Xiu Luo On our third anniversary, my husband canceled our dinner, claiming a sudden work emergency.
I tracked his phone to an exclusive French restaurant, only to find him tenderly fastening a blessed bracelet—one I had flown across the world to get for him—onto his college ex-girlfriend's wrist.
The sheer shock triggered a violent placental abruption. Bleeding out in my car just across the street, I frantically called his number. Through the window, I watched him glance at his screen, frown in annoyance, and press decline to focus on his lover. While I was wheeled into a freezing operating room for an emergency C-section utterly alone, he took his mistress back to our marital bed.
He didn't even bother to check if I was alive, completely oblivious that our premature daughter was fighting for her life in the NICU. I soon discovered our entire marriage was a sham. He had used my family's wealth to save his company, and now he was trading me to secure a massive business deal with his ex's father. The man I loved didn't exist; he only saw me as a disposable asset.
"I'm going to make him wish he had never been born."
After secretly securing my baby in a private retreat, I ordered a medical-grade silicone pregnancy belly to hide my flat stomach. I stepped back into our penthouse, ready to burn his precious empire to the ground. His Unwanted Wife Is A Tech Genius
Elroy Notman For three years, Cali Sullivan abandoned her brilliant tech career to be the quiet, accommodating wife of billionaire Halsey Donovan.
But on her thirtieth birthday, she returned to their London mansion only to find it empty. The housekeeper, looking at her with deep pity, revealed that Halsey had taken his female friend, Brittaney, out shopping to celebrate her birthday instead.
He had even taken their young daughter, Lily, with them. When Cali called him, Halsey coldly dismissed her, his attention entirely on Brittaney's bright laughter in the background. The crushing blow came the next morning when Cali stood outside Lily's bedroom and overheard her own daughter's innocent wish.
"I wish Auntie Brittaney could be my new mommy. I think Daddy would like that, too."
Later that afternoon, Cali saw them through the window of a private club. Halsey was wiping a smudge from Lily's face with a tender focus he never showed his wife, while Brittaney casually fed him cake. They looked like the perfect, happy family. All of Cali's desperate love and sacrifices felt like a cruel joke. She had been entirely erased from her own family.
In that moment, the agonizing pain just stopped, replaced by a cold, absolute clarity. Cali drafted a divorce agreement waiving every cent of his wealth, left her platinum wedding rings on the nightstand, and booked a one-way flight back to New York. She was no longer Mrs. Donovan; it was time to get her real name back. While I Was Bleeding Out, He Lit Lanterns For Her
Katie Oettgen As I lay on the floor of our manor, bleeding out from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, I used my last ounce of strength to call my husband, Cole.
I begged him for help, my vision blurring.
But the only thing I heard was the clinking of champagne glasses and his mistress's giggle in the background.
"Stop the drama, June," Cole snapped, his voice cold. "We're about to go on stage. Don't call again."
He hung up, leaving me to die alone on the Persian rug while he accepted an award with another woman on his arm.
I woke up in the hospital days later. My baby was gone. They had removed my fallopian tube.
Cole finally arrived, smelling of expensive scotch and his mistress's perfume. He didn't hug me. He didn't cry.
Instead, he leaned over my hospital bed, pressing his knee into the mattress until my fresh stitches tore open and bled.
"You embarrassed me by calling an ambulance," he hissed. "My mistress, Alycia, says you're faking it. Clean yourself up."
He left me bleeding again to go announce a $10 million donation to Alycia's "groundbreaking" medical research.
I stared at the TV screen, numb. The research Alycia was taking credit for? It was mine. I wrote that patent years ago under a pseudonym.
They thought I was just a poor, orphan housewife who needed Cole's money to survive.
They had no idea I was actually a billionaire scientist hiding my identity.
I pulled the IV needle out of my arm. A drop of blood fell onto the divorce papers I had been hiding.
I didn't wipe it off. I signed my name right over it.
Then I walked into the bank, reactivated my dormant account with $128 million, and bought the penthouse directly overlooking Cole's house.
The mourning widow is dead. The avenger is born. Flash Marriage To My Best Friend's Father
Madel Cerda I was once the heiress to the Solomon empire, but after it crumbled, I became the "charity case" ward of the wealthy Hyde family. For years, I lived in their shadows, clinging to the promise that Anson Hyde would always be my protector.
That promise shattered when Anson walked into the ballroom with Claudine Chapman on his arm. Claudine was the girl who had spent years making my life a living hell, and now Anson was announcing their engagement to the world.
The humiliation was instant. Guests sneered at my cheap dress, and a waiter intentionally sloshed champagne over me, knowing I was a nobody. Anson didn't even look my way; he was too busy whispering possessively to his new fiancée. I was a ghost in my own home, watching my protector celebrate with my tormentor.
The betrayal burned. I realized I wasn't a ward; I was a pawn Anson had kept on a shelf until he found a better trade. I had no money, no allies, and a legal trust fund that Anson controlled with a flick of his wrist.
Fleeing to the library, I stumbled into Dallas Koch-a titan of industry and my best friend's father. He was a wall of cold, absolute power that even the Hydes feared.
"Marry me," I blurted out, desperate to find a shield Anson couldn't climb.
Dallas didn't laugh. He pulled out a marriage agreement and a heavy fountain pen.
"Sign," he commanded, his voice a low rumble. "But if you walk out that door with me, you never go back."
I signed my name, trading my life for the only man dangerous enough to keep me safe. My Unwanted Wife Is A Top Assassin
Qin Wei She woke up in a stranger's bed, in a stranger's body, with two lifetimes screaming inside her head.
Eliza Solis-overweight, acne-scarred, trailer-park poor-remembers a brother who dragged her to a party for a "chance." But another voice, colder and sharper, remembers a different life: Nyx. Weapon. Asset. Ghost.
Now she's the bride of Julian Malone, a decorated soldier from one of America's most powerful dynasties-and she's the target of a family that wants to erase her. Her new mother-in-law freezes her accounts. Her husband despises her. Cousins spike her makeup with hallucinogens. And behind closed doors, the Malones plot to commit her to a psychiatric facility and make her disappear for good.
They think she's trash. They think she's broken. They have no idea that the woman they're trying to bury is a trained intelligence operative who can pick locks, break into safes, and reconstruct a crime scene from a single strand of hair.
Eliza doesn't just want to survive. She wants to watch their empire burn.
From a trailer park to a fortress of old money-she's the weapon they never saw coming. One Night With My Billionaire Boss
Nathaniel Stone I woke up on silk sheets that smelled of expensive cedar and cold sandalwood, a world away from my cramped apartment in Brooklyn.
Beside me lay Ezra Gardner-my boss, the billionaire CEO of Gardner Holdings, and the man who could end my career with a snap of his fingers.
He didn't offer an apology for the night before; instead, he looked at me with terrifying clarity and proposed a cold, calculated business arrangement.
"Marriage. It stabilizes the board and solves the PR crisis before it begins."
He dressed me in archival Chanel and sent me home in his Maybach, but my life was already falling apart. My boyfriend, Irving, claimed he had passed out early, yet his location data placed him at my best friend's apartment until three in the morning. When I tried to run, I realized Ezra was already ten steps ahead, tracking my movements and uncovering the secret I'd spent twenty years hiding: my connection to the powerful Senator Grimes.
I was trapped between a CEO who treated me like a line item on a quarterly report and a boyfriend who had been using me while sleeping with my closest friend. I felt like a pawn in a game I didn't understand, wondering why a man like Ezra would walk up forty flights of stairs on a broken leg just to make sure I was safe.
"Showtime, Mrs. Gardner."
Standing on the red carpet in a gown that cost more than my life, I watched my cheating ex-boyfriend's face turn pale as Ezra claimed me in front of the world. I wasn't just an assistant anymore; I was a weapon, and it was time to burn their world down. Bought The Billionaire For One Night
Cait A week before my wedding, I went to the airport parking garage to surprise my fiancé with a luxury watch.
Instead, I caught him having sex in his car with my best friend and maid of honor.
Devastated and desperate to forget, I went to an exclusive club and blew my $50,000 trust fund to buy a one-night stand with a gorgeous stranger.
But the nightmare was just beginning.
At work, my cheating best friend stole my hard-earned promotion, and my ex shamelessly defended her.
Worse, the escort I had paid for sex turned out to be the ruthless new CEO of my airline.
He tormented me on a flight to Paris. When I was robbed of my passport and wallet on the freezing streets, he forced me to be his gala date just to get my life back.
But the ultimate trap was waiting for me in New York.
A secretly taken photo of me leaving the CEO's penthouse leaked on the company forum.
"I knew she got that Paris trip for a reason."
My ex and my former best friend led the charge in the comments, framing me as a shameless gold digger who slept her way to the top.
I was stripped of my flying credentials, suspended from the job I loved, and publicly humiliated.
I didn't understand why the CEO was playing these cruel games, or who had orchestrated this perfect trap to ruin my life.
Standing outside the airport with my career in ashes, I realized crying wouldn't save me.
I wiped my tears, accepted my mother's invitation to a high-society mixer, and prepared to make everyone who set me up pay the price. Pampered By The Cold Mind Reading Tycoon
Hen Bu I woke up from a coma in the hospital, universally condemned as the vicious daughter who pushed the beloved fake heiress, Georgina, down the stairs.
My ruthless billionaire brother, Angelo, stood over my bed with cold eyes, ready to destroy me for hurting his precious sister.
But as I looked at him, a terrifying prophecy from my coma flooded my brain. Our entire family was doomed.
In the original timeline, Georgina would team up with corporate rivals to bankrupt the company, frame Angelo, and send him to federal prison, while our parents would abandon me to die miserably.
Lying there, I didn't dare speak. I just desperately cursed my idiot brother in my head.
"This stupid brother is still yelling at me for that fake heiress. He doesn't even know he's going to be framed and sent to prison next month!"
I just wanted to stay quiet, let them ruin themselves, and run away from this toxic family.
But strangely, Angelo didn't strangle me. Instead, his attitude took a shocking turn.
He abruptly fired the driver plotting to kill him, destroyed the abusive fiancé of a family ally, and publicly humiliated Georgina at a high-society gala.
He even shielded me from our abusive parents, declaring to the world that I was the only sister he would ever protect.
I was completely terrified and confused. Why was the tyrant brother suddenly acting like a protective beast?
It wasn't until he flawlessly crushed a massive corporate attack using the exact financial secrets I had just complained about in my mind that a horrifying realization hit me.
He could hear my inner thoughts! He Thought I Was A Doormat, Until I Ruined Him
SHANA GRAY The sterile white of the operating room blurred, then sharpened, as Skye Sterling felt the cold clawing its way up her body. The heart monitor flatlined, a steady, high-pitched whine announcing her end. Her uterus had been removed, a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding, but the blood wouldn't clot. It just kept flowing, warm and sticky, pooling beneath her.
Through heavy eyes, she saw a trembling nurse holding a phone on speaker. "Mr. Kensington," the nurse's voice cracked, "your wife... she's critical." A pause, then a sweet, poisonous giggle. Seraphina Miller. "Liam is in the shower," Seraphina's voice purred. "Stop calling, Skye. It's pathetic. Faking a medical emergency on our anniversary? Even for you, that's low." Then, Liam's bored voice: "If she dies, call the funeral home. I have a meeting in the morning." Click. The line went dead.
A second later, so did Skye. The darkness that followed was absolute, suffocating, a black ocean crushing her lungs. She screamed into the void, a silent, agonizing wail of regret for loving a man who saw her as a nuisance, for dying without ever truly living.
Until she died, she didn't understand. Why was her life so tragically wasted? Why did her husband, the man she loved, abandon her so cruelly? The injustice of it all burned hotter than the fever in her body.
Then, the air rushed back in. Skye gasped, her body convulsing violently on the mattress. Her eyes flew open, wide and terrified, staring blindly into the darkness. Her trembling hand reached for her phone. May 12th. Five years ago. She was back. 
/0/85189/coverorgin.jpg?v=afb1f5e14718d41658d5c1ecb410ca8c&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/1/115739/coverorgin.jpg?v=b7682809fa9366d0b08f1d2b8c26c664&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/1/114357/coverorgin.jpg?v=318fd1ac74075cacbce29dd10a540c12&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/1/106277/coverorgin.jpg?v=7d4b819e2950a8bd9742ead0a5903119&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/1/103121/coverorgin.jpg?v=c27b43e94a8f6c4c4c89713133b6fa2e&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/0/93913/coverorgin.jpg?v=a0f1724da2b0c279fb77cb3281e298b5&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/0/86963/coverorgin.jpg?v=be29adb7b004493181ea6326e9c70f0f&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/0/86616/coverorgin.jpg?v=f3ff40b0ad3dc29a995ca6eb66b3ed49&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/0/86610/coverorgin.jpg?v=52cdea7174bc603586d79226feeee8eb&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/0/85462/coverorgin.jpg?v=d77391814e4f6a25ed82479f733f3ac7&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/0/82919/coverorgin.jpg?v=682990f63f599180e6642e3ddd2f5471&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/0/82840/coverorgin.jpg?v=7a193ff22870116f698e031a9e153e04&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/0/80401/coverorgin.jpg?v=f8ae55a2c32bd10b42806c54933e2a5e&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/0/18707/coverorgin.jpg?v=6602dda3d94a7d86da859804cd3e2843&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/1/114527/coverorgin.jpg?v=58fe795a9395370e26f9acaf84058720&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/1/117475/coverorgin.jpg?v=3a87e19382614fc9075a8e19e0e24ac3&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/1/117498/coverorgin.jpg?v=bd05245a5aca43d125123d2c7b447472&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/1/110344/coverorgin.jpg?v=ee9edc19532d5cad4529d092169ad91d&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/1/106591/coverorgin.jpg?v=7112ffc44f6337f03a03bec3d6824a38&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/1/115029/coverorgin.jpg?v=fc74d570e1eb2acb6c281e30c6f1cf5b&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/1/105410/coverorgin.jpg?v=68bf1b78d60cae51b9e167ecf8a0a734&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/1/114452/coverorgin.jpg?v=e266296b4112a188f9c491f7d4f15bb5&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/1/114579/coverorgin.jpg?v=1e0c95dc14a6a3382a18fa53cd19e52d&imageMogr2/format/webp)
/1/102860/coverorgin.jpg?v=fb1450ebea277ac6119b3b112743e9b6&imageMogr2/format/webp)