The Cursed Bond

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.

Modern Revenge Divorce Revenge Female-centered Divorce

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🐺✨ The Night of the Red Moon

Approx. 600–900 words (I can make it longer if you prefer more detail.)

The moon should not have been red.

Lyra Hale stood at the edge of the forest, her breath frozen in her throat as the sky pulsed with a strange crimson glow. The air smelled of metal and smoke, as if the night itself had bled.

Her village had gone silent-too silent.

Then the first howl shattered everything.

It wasn't the normal cry of the forest wolves she grew up hearing.

This one was deeper. Older. Hungry.

Lyra's heart slammed against her ribs. She clutched her small satchel of herbs and took a step back, but a blur of silver-grey fur burst from the trees, knocking her off her feet. Claws dug into the ground beside her face.

A rogue wolf. Taller than a man. Its eyes glowing like dying embers.

It snarled, inches from her throat.

Lyra shut her eyes-

But the attack never came.

A violent gust of wind tore across the clearing. Something massive slammed into the rogue, throwing it away from her. Branches snapped. The ground shook.

Lyra scrambled backward, her hands trembling, as a shadow larger than the wolf stepped into the red moonlight.

Not a wolf.

Not a man.

Something in between.

His fur was black with streaks of glowing silver running across his limbs like molten metal. His eyes-silver, cold, and burning-locked on hers for a split second before he lunged at the rogue with a deafening snarl.

The fight was brutal and fast.

When it ended, the rogue lay dead at his feet.

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