Liu Jia
14 Published Stories
Liu Jia's Books and Stories
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. 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. 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. 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. 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
Rejected by My Family, Claimed by the Galactic Commander
EVA PINK I woke up to the stench of rust and rotting flesh, no longer a master botanist who commanded life itself, but a D-class exile dumped on a wasteland planet.
Memories that weren't mine flooded in. I was framed by my stepsister, betrayed by my fiancé, and banished by my own family to the Ashfall Peninsula to die.
The original girl actually starved to death in despair. The moment I opened my eyes, a scavenger tried to smash my skull with a rusty pipe just to eat me. After I killed him to survive, I discovered a harsher truth: in this universe, plant seeds are classified as A-level strategic resources, completely monopolized by the Imperium.
But the universe had a sick sense of humor. A mandatory background scan suddenly triggered a galactic broadcast: I, the exiled trash, was a perfect genetic match for the Imperium's top war hero, General Alexander Orr.
The family that ruthlessly erased my existence instantly saw me as a golden ticket. My cheating ex-fiancé was dispatched to drag me back, furious that his "property" was matched with someone else. They all thought I was still that weak, naive girl they could manipulate.
But as I held the pure, glowing Life Source Crystals I had secretly extracted from the scrap heap, a cold smile crept onto my face.
"I didn't come here to die. I came here to build an empire."
I turned my back on the galactic broadcast and stepped into the deadly wilderness. The Healer Bride: Awakening the Ruined Dragon King
Zana Kheiron I was the eldest daughter of the Reynolds family, but in a world that worshipped dragon power, I was born completely "Dragonless."
After ten years of being engaged to Prince Krishna, the King suddenly decreed that my fiancé would marry my half-sister Deena instead.
As for me, my father ruthlessly discarded me.
I was ordered to marry Lord Boyce Carlisle, a crippled, dying warlord with a shattered Dragon Core and failing organs.
I was being sent to a desolate border fortress just to be a dying man's nursemaid, and then his widow.
Deena flaunted her triumphant smile, whispering maliciously in my ear.
"This is the fate a 'Dragonless' deserves. You're being sent there to be buried with him."
My father didn't even look at me, treating my death sentence as a highly profitable political trade.
The suffocating despair and humiliation drove me to tie a silk sash to the ceiling beam and kick the chair away.
Why should I be thrown away like trash?
Why did my mother and I have to die in obscurity while they celebrated their royal wedding?
But as the noose tightened, a violent torrent of memories flooded my mind.
I remembered my past life as a top surgeon on Earth who spent thirty years snatching lives back from the jaws of death.
I didn't die.
I cut myself down, wiped away my tears, and looked at my hands.
I would heal this dying warlord, and use him to drag every single one of them to hell. Severed Ties: Marrying The Cursed Dragon Lord
The Edge I woke up to the searing agony of shattered ribs and a ruptured heart. I had transmigrated into the body of Alys, the "Dragonless" disgrace of a noble dragon-kin family.
The original owner had just been beaten to death by her own brother. Her crime? Refusing to take her beloved sister's place in a marriage to a cursed, notoriously cruel Dragon Lord.
As I lay dying in a pool of my own blood, my brother raised his foot to kick me again.
"Will you marry him, or not? Don't make me do it again, you family disgrace!"
My beautiful sister Henrietta hid behind her fake tears, begging him to stop while her eyes glittered with cruel satisfaction. My parents didn't care about my fatal injuries. They only cared that I was breathing enough to be tossed into a carriage to save the family's honor. To them, my life was just a cheap bargaining chip to protect their precious youngest daughter.
They expected me to submit in fear, to quietly accept my fate as a sacrificial lamb for this hypocritical family. They thought I would die silently in that cursed lord's frozen keep without a fight.
But I am a top modern surgeon, not the weak girl they abused for twenty years. I looked at my so-called family with cold detachment and agreed to the substitute marriage. But first, I would extort a massive dowry, strip them of their most profitable assets, and force my father to sign a document severing all ties. I will marry the monster, but this time, I am playing by my own rules. Apocalypse: Rebirth With An Infinite Storage System
BLUE_WAVY_ In the final days before the world collapsed, Ivy Brooks died... betrayed by the very people she trusted most.
She had fought, struggled, and sacrificed everything just to survive the apocalypse only to be pushed into death along with her three daughters at the very end by her own husband.
With her last breath, Ivy made a vow.
If she could turn back time...she would never be weak again and of course protect her daughters.
This time, she would stand at the top.
When Ivy opened her eyes, she found herself back in time with her still rounded belly of her third baby....
Twenty days before the apocalypse.
Armed with memories of the future and a mysterious system in her mind, Ivy moved without hesitation. She hoarded supplies, secured weapons, and took control of every resource she could get her hands on.
While others laughed, doubted, and wasted time...
Ivy was building her empire along with her daughters.
In this life, she would not be prey but will be an hunter.
With danger closing in and only twenty days to prepare, Ivy must outplay enemies both old and new, uncover the truth behind the system, and carve out her own kingdom in a collapsing world.
Because this time...she wasn't just going to survive the apocalypse.
She was going to rule it along with a man, a love interest from the past before her marriage collapse. He provided everything Ivy needed. Money especially in change of a marriage with her and when the apocalypse started too....he ruled it with her as well as her daughters. Betrayed Bride: Proposing To The Dragon Lord
Alfred I was the adopted, "Dragonless" daughter of the Sterling family, bound by a prestigious marriage contract to my fiancé, Julian.
But during the annual charity ball, I followed a secret note to a guest suite, only to catch him tangled on the sofa with my cousin, Isabelle.
When I calmly called the Dragon Guard to expose their affair, my adoptive parents didn't comfort me. Instead, they furiously blamed me.
"It was an emergency! Our kind Isabelle used her scent to save him, and you just tried to destroy him!"
They praised her as a hero, officially handed my fiancé over to her, and decided to punish me for tarnishing the family name.
Their revenge was a new marriage contract. They were going to sell me off to Lord Valerius, a cruel, elderly man notorious for outliving three wives.
I stared at the death sentence in my hands, my blood running cold. I was the one betrayed, yet I was being discarded like useless trash to pave the way for my cousin's happiness.
Why should I let them destroy my life just to protect their twisted, perfect image?
I didn't cry, and I refused to be their sacrificial lamb.
I drafted a cold, calculated business proposal, packed my bags, and walked out of that toxic house forever.
I was going to propose to the most ruthless, powerful predator in the kingdom-Gideon Montgomery.
If I had to step into a dragon's lair, I would be the one to choose it. Betrayed Bride: I Married My Ex's Comatose Uncle, the Dragon Lord
Ben Nan On my wedding day, I caught my fiancé in my stepsister's arms.
She was pregnant with his child.
And instead of begging for forgiveness, Damian Harrison laughed in my face.
He admitted he had always planned to marry me, dump me in some forgotten country estate, and keep my stepsister as the woman he truly loved.
So I burned my wedding veil in front of the entire Harrison family and walked away.
That should have been the end of it.
Instead, Damian's mother sent armed men after me.
Why?
Because I was a Dragonless nobody from the borderlands, and in her eyes, humiliating a Harrison was a crime worse than her son's betrayal.
I had no dragon blood.
No powerful family willing to protect me.
Not even my own father would risk offending the Harrisons for my sake.
If I wanted to survive, I needed someone they feared more than they hated me.
So I returned to the Harrison estate and made an outrageous demand.
I would marry Damian's uncle.
Gideon Harrison-the legendary Dragon Lord, the kingdom's greatest war hero... and a man everyone believed was dead.
Perfect.
As his widow, I would outrank the man who betrayed me, become his aunt by marriage, and gain enough power to make every Harrison who humiliated me regret it.
I signed the marriage pact without hesitation.
Then a knight burst into the ancestral hall with impossible news.
Gideon Harrison was alive.
My dead husband wasn't dead.
He was being brought home. Apocalypse Rebirth: My Gold-Eating System
Quye Xiaofang She died in the apocalypse-betrayed, abandoned, and torn apart by the infected.
Then she woke up. Two months before the end of the world. Twenty-two years old again. And on her wrist, a wooden bracelet that her mother had left behind.
The bracelet came with a system. A system that eats gold.
With enough gold, she can unlock infinite storage for food, water, weapons-anything she needs to survive. The super-hurricane, the floods, the insect plagues, the volcanic winter, the scorching heat... she knows exactly what's coming.
While the world sleeps, Joanna shops. She drains her aunt's bank account, maxes out every loan she can find, and buys out half the city. The apocalypse is coming. She'll be ready.
But when the chaos begins, the wolves come crawling back-relatives who sold her, friends who betrayed her, a father who abandoned her. They want her food. Her water. Her mercy.
Joanna has a different plan.
"Why don't you decide who dies first?" Marked by the Monsters I Created
Lila Maya Cross woke up in a nightmare-trapped in the body of a sadistic villain who'd tortured five powerful beastmen into submission.
Good news? She finally had the power to break their bonds and set them free.
Bad news? They were stranded on a dying ship surrounded by Zerg swarms, with zero rescue coming.
The first was Caleb, a snake beastman whose red eyes burned with pure hatred. Every time he looked at her, she saw the memory of chains and venom extraction.
The second was Finn, an aquatic beastman whose scales she'd ripped off one by one. He could barely stand to be in the same room without his hands shaking with rage.
The third was Sage, a griffin beastman she'd tormented so badly he barely went a day without fresh wounds.
The fourth was Hunter, a lion beastman she'd mocked relentlessly, calling his beast form hideous and grotesque.
The fifth was Jasper, a fox beastman whose face she'd scarred so badly he'd lost his consortium inheritance.
"Protect me until I find my father," Maya told them, drawing her own blood, "and I'll give you what you need to break our bond."
Caleb laughed bitterly. "Since when do you make deals instead of demands?"
"Since we're all dead if we don't work together."
But when survival depends on trust, can a torturer become a savior-or will her victims choose revenge over rescue? 
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