Scars of Betrayal: The Heiress They Tried To Erase

Scars of Betrayal: The Heiress They Tried To Erase

Deeply Engaged

5.0
Comment(s)
1.8K
View
150
Chapters

Kelsie's biggest regret in life was getting involved with Judge, the icy Captain. She pursued him for three years, married him for two, thinking she'd warmed a stone, only to be met with nothing. Her mother-in-law disliked her, her husband was indifferent, and a fragile "white moonlight" would occasionally try to get her attention. Until she witnessed Judge and Angelique meeting secretly at a hotel, her heart shattered, and then she discovered she was pregnant. Kelsie sneered, threw down the divorce papers, and decisively ran away, disappearing without a trace. When they met again, she was a successful single mother, surrounded by suitors. In the pouring rain, the once aloof man humbly stopped her car, pleading in a hoarse voice, "Kelsie, come home with me." The car window rolled down, and a little boy, nine-tenths like him, coldly warned in a cute but fierce tone, "Want to date my mommy? Ask me first!"

Chapter 1 1

The ceiling of the guest room in Kia's apartment was unfamiliar. It had a water stain in the corner shaped like a bruised lung. Kelsie stared at it, counting the cracks in the plaster, trying to ignore the jackhammer pounding against the inside of her skull.

Three days.

She had been gone for three days.

Seventy-two hours of silence. Seventy-two hours of staring at a phone that didn't ring, then did ring, then didn't ring again. The screen was dark now, face down on the nightstand.

The door creaked open. Kia walked in, holding two steaming mugs of coffee. She looked like she hadn't slept much either. She set the mug down on the coaster with a soft clink.

"You look like hell, Kelsie," she said, sitting on the edge of the mattress. "Did you sign the separation papers in your dreams?"

Kelsie sat up, the room spinning slightly. She reached for the coffee, needing the heat to seep into her cold fingers. "I didn't dream. I just... waited."

"For him?" Kia asked, her voice sharp.

Kelsie didn't answer. She picked up her phone. The message thread with Judge was open. The last message was from her, sent three days ago: I can't do this anymore. I'm leaving.

Below it, there was nothing. No blue bubble. No 'Read' receipt. Just empty white space.

"He hasn't even noticed I'm gone," Kelsie whispered, her chest tightening. It felt like a physical weight, a heavy stone pressing down on her sternum.

Kia sighed, a long, frustrated sound. "He noticed. He's just playing his games. The Silent Treatment is his favorite sport, remember?" She stood up and pulled the curtains open. The Boston skyline was gray and dreary. "Come on. We need food. Greasy, unhealthy diner food. And fresh air."

Half an hour later, they were in Kia's red sedan, driving through the damp streets. The city lights blurred in the rearview mirror. Kelsie leaned her head against the cool glass of the window, watching the world pass by.

"You know," Kia said, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel. "You could just block his number. Make it real."

"It is real," Kelsie said, though her voice lacked conviction.

Ahead of them, traffic began to slow. Brake lights painted the wet asphalt in streaks of red.

"Great," Kia groaned. "What now?"

Kelsie squinted through the windshield. It wasn't construction.

Blue lights.

Flashes of red and blue bounced off the buildings, rhythmic and jarring. A line of cars was being funneled into a single lane.

"DUI checkpoint," Kia said, checking the time on the dashboard. "It's barely nine p.m. on a Tuesday? Seriously?"

Kelsie's stomach dropped. A cold prickle of sweat broke out on the back of her neck. It was an irrational reaction. She wasn't driving. She hadn't been drinking. But the sight of those lights, the uniform, the authority... it triggered a reflex she had developed over five years of marriage.

The line moved slowly. She sank lower in the passenger seat, pulling her coat tighter around her.

"Relax," Kia said, glancing at her. "We're fine. Unless you're hiding a warrant I don't know about."

Kelsie forced a laugh, but it came out as a dry cough.

They inched forward. A young officer with a flashlight was waving cars through or stopping them. He looked barely out of the academy, his face fresh and eager.

Kia rolled down her window as he approached. "Evening, Officer."

"Good evening, ma'am," the rookie said. He shone his flashlight into the back seat, then swept the beam over Kia, and finally, over Kelsie.

The light hit Kelsie's eyes, blinding her for a second. The beam lingered on her face.

The rookie paused. He lowered the light slightly, his other hand moving to the radio on his shoulder. He muttered something low into the receiver. Kelsie couldn't make out the words, but the tone made the hair on her arms stand up.

"Is there a problem?" Kia asked, her voice losing its friendly lilt.

The rookie didn't answer. He took a step back, his eyes still on Kelsie.

From the darkness behind the patrol car, a shadow detached itself.

Heavy boots crunched on the gravel and asphalt. The sound was distinct. Deliberate. Authoritative.

Her heart hammered against her ribs, a frantic bird trapped in a cage. She knew that walk. She knew the breadth of those shoulders.

The figure stepped into the halo of the streetlamp.

Judge Gamble.

He was wearing his dark uniform, the silver Captain's bars on his collar glinting in the harsh light. His face was a mask of stone, hard angles and unyielding lines. He wasn't looking at the rookie. He wasn't looking at Kia.

His eyes were locked on Kelsie.

"Captain," the rookie said, snapping to attention.

Judge didn't even acknowledge him. He just waved a hand, a dismissive gesture that sent the younger man retreating to the other side of the road.

Judge walked to the passenger side of Kia's car. He stood there for a moment, looming over them, blocking out the city lights. The air in the car seemed to vanish, sucked out by his sheer presence.

He tapped his knuckle against Kelsie's window. Tap. Tap.

The sound echoed in her bones.

"Open it," he mouthed.

Kelsie's hands were shaking. She hid them in her lap. She looked at Kia. Kia looked furious, but also a little scared. One didn't say no to a man like Judge, especially not when he was wearing the badge.

Kelsie pressed the button. The glass slid down with a mechanical whir.

The cold night air rushed in, carrying the scent of rain, exhaust, and him. Peppermint and stale tobacco.

Judge placed his hands on the doorframe, leaning down until his face was level with Kelsie's. His eyes were dark, pupils blown wide, swallowing the iris.

"Running away to your friend's house," he said, his voice a low, gravelly rumble that vibrated in Kelsie's chest. "Three days, Kelsie. That was your plan?"

"I didn't run away," Kelsie managed to say, her voice trembling. "I left."

"Semantics," he said.

"Hey, back off," Kia said, leaning across the console. "She doesn't want to talk to you."

Judge's eyes flicked to Kia, sharp and cutting as a razor blade. "Stay out of this, Ms. Chen. Unless you want me to start checking your tires for tread depth."

Kia shut her mouth, her jaw clenching.

Judge turned his attention back to Kelsie. He held out his hand, palm up. A demand.

"ID, Kelsie."

"Why?" Kelsie asked. "I'm a passenger."

"Because I asked for it," he said. "ID."

Kelsie fumbled with her purse, her fingers numb. She pulled out her wallet and extracted her driver's license. She handed it to him.

Judge took it. He looked at the photo, then at the name. Kelsie Gamble. He ran his thumb over the name, a possessive, claiming gesture.

Then, his fingers closed around the plastic card. He didn't hand it back.

Behind them, a car honked. Judge didn't flinch. He didn't even blink.

He keyed his radio. "Unit 4, hold this vehicle. We're conducting a routine check."

"Yes, Captain," the radio crackled back.

Kelsie's breath hitched. He wasn't just stopping them. He was detaining them. For her.

"Judge, give me my license," Kelsie said, panic rising in her throat.

He slid the card into his breast pocket, right behind his badge. A hostage. "Step out of the car, Kelsie."

Continue Reading

Other books by Deeply Engaged

More
His Erased Song, Her Reborn Voice

His Erased Song, Her Reborn Voice

Romance

5.0

The roar of the crowd was a physical force, pressing in on me from all sides, a wave of sound that vibrated up into my bones. I moved my mouth, swayed my body, mimicked the gestures – but it wasn' t my voice pouring from the speakers. It was Scarlett' s, a perfect, studio-polished product of technology and longing. My fiancé, the celebrated producer Liam Stone, had turned me into his ex-pop star. This wasn' t a dazzling comeback, though. Not for me. It was a lie on a colossal scale, a holographic projection of Scarlett overlaid on my body, my voice digitally reshaped into hers. For six months, he' d been systematically erasing me, Ava Green, the indie musician known for raw lyrics and a voice that sometimes broke with emotion. "Keep going," his voice crackled through my in-ear monitor, icy and sharp. "Don't break character. The modulation is perfect." My own pain and defiance surged, a desperate desire to reclaim my sound. When I pushed past the modulation, letting a raw note escape, the hologram flickered violently, and Scarlett' s synthesized voice cracked into static. The crowd gasped. Liam' s face twisted into a snarl. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Ava? Stick to the plan." His anger, cold and calculated, filled me with a sudden, overwhelming nausea – a feeling I' d been ignoring for weeks. The realization hit me with the force of a physical blow: I was pregnant. Trapped, silenced, and carrying the child of the man actively erasing my identity, I knew one thing: I would not be erased.

The Price of Her Indifference

The Price of Her Indifference

Modern

5.0

"Mommy." That single word, uttered by my five-year-old daughter, Lily, should have been a moment of pure joy. Instead, it detonated the fragile peace I' d clung to for five years, ever since Lily' s mother, Sophia, abandoned us to chase after her ex. Sophia froze, her plastered-on smile for her new boyfriend, Mark, faltering. I watched in horror as Mark, red-faced and enraged by Lily's innocent affection, lashed out, knocking over a glass and then contorting in feigned agony over a minor scrape on his knee. Sophia, utterly consumed by placating him, rushed to his side, showering him with a tenderness she had never once shown our child. Then, with chilling indifference, she turned to her security guards and commanded them to lock a sobbing, asthmatic Lily in an upstairs closet. Three days, she declared, Lily needed to "learn a lesson." My pleas about Lily' s severe asthma were met with her cynical scoff: "You always make things up to get attention." The metallic click of the lock echoed a horrifying finality. I banged on the door, screaming Lily' s name, but to no avail. The guards, under Sophia' s orders, ensured no one went near. Sometime after midnight, the crying stopped. I found my little girl crumpled on the floor, blue, lifeless, and not breathing. While I was attempting to revive our daughter in one hospital room, Sophia was miles away in a luxury car showroom, buying Mark two brand-new cars – a "compensation prize" for his scraped knee, celebrating their twisted reunion at Lily' s expense. How could a mother be so utterly devoid of humanity? How could the woman I once loved, the woman I foolishly hoped would one day return to us, betray our child so completely? I had to know. I had to understand what monstrous depths she was capable of, and how I could possibly escape her toxic grasp.

The Bride Who Vanished

The Bride Who Vanished

Romance

5.0

My entire world revolved around Liam Vanderbilt, the dazzling heir to a New York dynasty, and the boy I'd loved since childhood. Despite being his family's housekeeper's daughter, I clung to the hope that our deep connection meant something more than just service. Then fate delivered a cruel blow: a devastating brain tumor diagnosis, leaving me with less than a year to live. As my life spiraled, the man I adored saw me only as an inconvenience, a "charity case" to be tolerated while he doted on his socialite fiancée, Chloe. He shrugged off my pain, letting Chloe steal the very screenplay I'd poured my soul into, turning it into her superficial "passion project." In front of New York's elite, he cruelly bestowed my deceased mother's precious heirloom locket upon Chloe, a final, public humiliation. His subsequent "romantic" proposal aboard a yacht, complete with a beautiful antique ring, seemed like a dream. But it swiftly descended into a nightmare when he presented organ donation papers, coldly suggesting I "be a hero" and give my lungs to Chloe. The man I loved and dedicated my life to was attempting to harvest my body, not out of care, but monstrous calculation. My heart shattered, reeling from the ultimate betrayal: how could anyone, let alone him, consider such a vile act? Then, a blinding flash of truth: an urgent email confirmed a catastrophic medical mix-up. There was no tumor; I was perfectly healthy. The heartbroken, dying girl vanished, replaced by a woman consumed by a vengeful clarity. They thought they had broken me, but they had just awakened the storm within.

You'll also like

The Billionaire's Secret Twins: Her Revenge

The Billionaire's Secret Twins: Her Revenge

Shearwater
4.4

I was four months pregnant, weighing over two hundred pounds, and my heart was failing from experimental treatments forced on me as a child. My doctor looked at me with clinical detachment and told me I was in a death sentence: if I kept the baby, I would die, and if I tried to remove it, I would die. Desperate for a lifeline, I called my father, Francis Acosta, to tell him I was sick and pregnant. I expected a father's love, but all I got was a cold, sharp blade of a voice. "Then do it quietly," he said. "Don't embarrass Candi. Her debutante ball is coming up." He didn't just reject me; he erased me. My trust fund was frozen, and I was told I was no longer an Acosta. My fiancé, Auston, had already discarded me, calling me a "bloated whale" while he looked for a thinner, wealthier replacement. I left New York on a Greyhound bus, weeping into a bag of chips, a broken woman the world considered a mistake. I couldn't understand how my own father could tell me to die "quietly" just to save face for a party. I didn't know why I had been a lab rat for my family’s pharmaceutical ambitions, or how they could sleep at night while I was left to rot in the gray drizzle of the city. Five years later, the doors of JFK International Airport slid open. I stepped onto the marble floor in red-soled stilettos, my body lean, lethal, and carved from years of blood and sweat. I wasn't the "whale" anymore; I was a ghost coming back to haunt them. With my daughter by my side and a medical reputation that terrified the global elite, I was ready to dismantle the Acosta empire piece by piece. "Tell Francis to wash his neck," I whispered to the skyline. "I'm home."

One Night With My Billionaire Boss

One Night With My Billionaire Boss

Nathaniel Stone
4.5

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.

The Ghost Wife's Billion Dollar Tech Comeback

The Ghost Wife's Billion Dollar Tech Comeback

Huo Wuer
5.0

Today is October 14th, my birthday. I returned to New York after months away, dragging my suitcase through the biting wind, but the VIP pickup zone where my husband’s Maybach usually idled was empty. When I finally let myself into our Upper East Side penthouse, I didn’t find a cake or a "welcome home" banner. Instead, I found my husband, Caden, kneeling on the floor, helping our five-year-old daughter wrap a massive gift for my half-sister, Adalynn. Caden didn’t even look up when I walked in; he was too busy laughing with the girl who had already stolen my father’s legacy and was now moving in on my family. "Auntie Addie is a million times better than Mommy," my daughter Elara chirped, clutching a plush toy Caden had once forbidden me from buying for her. "Mommy is mean," she whispered loudly, while Caden just smirked, calling me a "drill sergeant" before whisking her off to Adalynn’s party without a second glance. Later that night, I saw a video Adalynn posted online where my husband and child laughed while mocking my "sensitive" nature, treating me like an inconvenient ghost in my own home. I had spent five years researching nutrition for Elara’s health and managing every detail of Caden’s empire, only to be discarded the moment I wasn't in the room. How could the man who set his safe combination to my birthday completely forget I even existed? The realization didn't break me; it turned me into ice. I didn't scream or beg for an explanation. I simply walked into the study, pulled out the divorce papers I’d drafted months ago, and took a black marker to the terms. I crossed out the alimony, the mansion, and even the custody clause—if they wanted a life without me, I would give them exactly what they asked for. I left my four-carat diamond ring on the console table and walked out into the rain with nothing but a heavily encrypted hard drive. The submissive Mrs. Holloway was gone, and "Ghost," the most lethal architect in the tech world, was finally back online to take back everything they thought I’d forgotten.

I Slapped My Fiancé-Then Married His Billionaire Nemesis

I Slapped My Fiancé-Then Married His Billionaire Nemesis

Jessica C. Dolan
4.9

Being second best is practically in my DNA. My sister got the love, the attention, the spotlight. And now, even her damn fiancé. Technically, Rhys Granger was my fiancé now-billionaire, devastatingly hot, and a walking Wall Street wet dream. My parents shoved me into the engagement after Catherine disappeared, and honestly? I didn't mind. I'd crushed on Rhys for years. This was my chance, right? My turn to be the chosen one? Wrong. One night, he slapped me. Over a mug. A stupid, chipped, ugly mug my sister gave him years ago. That's when it hit me-he didn't love me. He didn't even see me. I was just a warm-bodied placeholder for the woman he actually wanted. And apparently, I wasn't even worth as much as a glorified coffee cup. So I slapped him right back, dumped his ass, and prepared for disaster-my parents losing their minds, Rhys throwing a billionaire tantrum, his terrifying family plotting my untimely demise. Obviously, I needed alcohol. A lot of alcohol. Enter him. Tall, dangerous, unfairly hot. The kind of man who makes you want to sin just by existing. I'd met him only once before, and that night, he just happened to be at the same bar as my drunk, self-pitying self. So I did the only logical thing: I dragged him into a hotel room and ripped off his clothes. It was reckless. It was stupid. It was completely ill-advised. But it was also: Best. Sex. Of. My. Life. And, as it turned out, the best decision I'd ever made. Because my one-night stand isn't just some random guy. He's richer than Rhys, more powerful than my entire family, and definitely more dangerous than I should be playing with. And now, he's not letting me go.

Chapters
Read Now
Download Book