Their Bet, Her Empire

The Thirty-Eighth Divorce's End

Today is my fifth wedding anniversary. It's also the day my husband, Ethan, asked me for a divorce for the 38th time. He does this for Ilene, his childhood friend. The woman who crashed her car on our wedding day, leaving her unable to have children. Ever since, he's been repaying a debt of guilt, and I've been the price. For five years, I endured the cycle of divorce and remarriage. But this time was different. Ilene pushed me down a flight of stairs. Ethan found me bleeding and promised me justice. He swore he would make her pay. But days later, the police called. The security footage of the incident had been mysteriously erased. There was no evidence, no case. That night, Ilene had me kidnapped. As her men tore at my clothes in the back of a van, I managed to call Ethan. He rejected my call. I jumped from the moving van. And as I ran for my life, bleeding on the cold asphalt, I made a vow. This time, there would be no 39th remarriage. This time, I would disappear.

Reborn: The Alpha's Regret and the Serpent's Queen

It was the Mating Ceremony, the most important day for our pack, but for me, it felt like walking to the gallows. I stood on the velvet carpet, waiting for Jacob, the Alpha heir, to claim me. Suddenly, my younger sister Bella threw herself at the Elder's feet, screaming that she and Jacob were in love. Jacob didn't deny it. He looked at me with cold calculation, announced he chose her, and publicly broke our engagement. In my previous life, this betrayal broke me. I had fought to marry him, only to become a "defective incubator" locked in a room. I remembered the bruises that never healed and the fire that eventually killed me. While I burned to death, Jacob only cared about saving Bella. Now, standing in the same spot, the crowd mocked me as "damaged goods." My father sneered, pointing to the back of the room where the "lesser" clans stood, telling me to pick a rat or a snake if I wanted to stay in the Pack House. They thought they were ruining me. They didn't realize they were handing me the key to my freedom. I turned away from the smirking wolves and walked toward the darkest corner of the room. There sat Draco, the Serpent King, a man everyone feared and despised. He was the only one who had tried to smash through the burning beams to save me in my past life. I stopped in front of him, ignored the gasps of the crowd, and extended my hand. "I choose you."

Lies, Betrayal, And The Baby I Hid Away

I stepped into our penthouse for my baby shower, caressing my eight-month bump, expecting balloons and laughter. But instead of joy, I found my husband, Michael, cradling a newborn that wasn't ours. Beside him sat his assistant, Serena, looking far too comfortable. Michael looked me dead in the eye, his expression cold and flat, and introduced the infant as his firstborn son. They didn't apologize. Instead, Serena mocked my high-risk pregnancy, calling me a mere "incubator" for the spare heir. When I demanded they leave, Serena shoved me. I hit the floor hard, screaming in agony as pain ripped through my belly. But Michael didn't help me. He stepped over my convulsing body to comfort her, accusing me of being dramatic. He walked out with his new family, leaving me bleeding alone on the nursery floor. Lying in the hospital later, I overheard Michael on the phone. He wasn't worried. He laughed, revealing his plan to use my family's connections for his IPO before divorcing me and taking full custody of my child. He didn't love me. He only wanted the heir. That was the moment the old Olivia died. I knew I had to deny him the only thing he truly wanted. I wiped my tears, touched my stomach where my son was still kicking, and made a decision that would sever us forever. I told my lawyer to deliver a simple message to Michael. "Tell him the baby didn't make it."

Justice Served By My True Love

For seven years, I was the secret wife of tech billionaire Ethan Richardson, the ghostwriter of his success. I sacrificed everything for him, only to be discarded for my own protégée after he forced me through five abortions. I rebuilt my life from the ashes, finally finding peace. But at our ten-year reunion, Ethan reappeared. He saw my five-year-old daughter, Mia, and a terrifying obsession ignited in his eyes, convinced she was the child I had hidden from him. His madness escalated until he kidnapped her, luring me to an abandoned warehouse with a chilling threat. "Come alone if you want to see our daughter again." How could this man, who left me to miscarry our last child alone in a hospital, now dare to call himself a father? He offered me a twisted deal: our 'family' back together, in exchange for my daughter's life. But he made one fatal mistake. He never bothered to find out who my new husband was.

The Vengeful Groom's Deception

I married Veronica Hayes, the woman whose family destroyed mine. She thought she was setting a trap for a fool. She didn' t know she was walking into a decade of meticulous planning. Ten years ago, in college, I poured my soul into a painting, a raw, dark piece, a silent scream about my father' s story. She stopped in front of it with her entourage, a campus celebrity with her sharp wit and even sharper tongue. "A starving artist," she announced, loud enough for everyone to hear. "How cliché. I bet he thinks this mess is profound." Laughter rippled around me. My face burned with humiliation, and I stood there, speechless, as she turned and walked away without a second glance. Then, three months ago, she reappeared in my dusty studio, a vision in a power suit that probably cost more than everything I owned. Her charisma filled the small space, and her smile was bright, almost blinding. "Alex Miller," she said. "I' ve been following your work. You' re incredibly talented." My paintbrush dripped onto the floor as I stared at her, saying nothing. She didn' t seem to mind. She walked through my studio, examining my art with intense interest. Finally, she turned back to me. "I have a proposal for you, Alex." I waited. "Marry me." The words hung in the air, absurd and thick. The woman who had publicly branded me a failure wanted to marry me. "And in return," she continued, "I' ll make you the CEO of one of my startups. A tech company. InnovateAI. You' ll have a salary, stock options, a place in the world. No more starving." She gestured around my studio, a faint pity in her eyes, a perfect performance. My friends all warned me. "It' s a trick, Alex." "She' s a shark. Remember college?" "No one just hands you a company for getting married. It' s insane." They were right, of course. It was insane. And it was a trick. I knew Veronica' s reputation: ruthless, manipulative, her father' s daughter. But they didn' t know my secret. They didn' t know I' d been waiting for an opportunity like this for a decade. I looked at Veronica, her eyes shining with false sincerity. I let a look of stunned, hopeful disbelief cross my face. My voice trembled just a little. "You' re serious?" "Completely," she said, her smile widening. "We need to do it quickly, though. A whirlwind romance. The board loves a good story. It' ll be a PR masterpiece for the company launch." I pretended to be overwhelmed, running a hand through my hair, letting out a shaky breath. "Yes," I said, my voice filled with manufactured excitement. "Yes, I' ll marry you." Her eyes lit up with victory. She thought she had me, the poor, struggling artist dazzled by wealth and power, ready to be her pawn. She had no idea that I was the one holding the board, and she had just handed me all the pieces I needed to win the game.

Eight Years of Gilded Cage

It was our eighth wedding anniversary, and my husband, Mark Johnson, wasn't home. He was celebrating another woman's birthday, as usual. I sat in the silence of our gilded cage, the emotional wounds from years of neglect and indifference finally festering. He never hit me, not until tonight, but Chloe's Instagram post-Mark, her, a cake-ignited a rage I couldn't contain. When he finally stumbled in, past midnight, reeking of her perfume, I confronted him. "It's our anniversary, Mark." He sneered, "At least she's fun to be around. She doesn't just sit in the dark waiting to ambush me." The words tasted like poison. "I want a divorce, Mark." His face went white. "And," I added, "I'm pregnant. And the baby isn't yours." His shock turned to pure fury. "You lying, cheating bitch." He lunged, shoved me hard, and I fell backward, hitting the coffee table. A searing pain ripped through me. I looked down to see blood spreading on my dress. "Mark," I gasped, "The hospital... please..." He just scoffed, "You think a baby that isn't mine is your ticket out? You're pathetic, Ava." He pocketed the watch I'd bought him for our anniversary and walked out, leaving me bleeding on the floor. Eight years. He left me to die. Lying there, clutching my bleeding stomach, I knew I had to do something. For my baby. My fingers, slick with blood, fumbled for my phone, calling the one person who had ever shown me true kindness. Someone I' d promised I' d never call. That night, Liam Thorne answered.

The Surgeon's Vow: Healing My Billionaire Husband

I sat in the gray, airless room of the New York State Department of Corrections, my knuckles white as the Warden delivered the news. "Parole denied." My father, Howard Sterling, had forged new evidence of financial crimes to keep me behind bars. He walked into the room, smelling of expensive cologne, and tossed a black folder onto the steel table. It was a marriage contract for Lucas Kensington, a billionaire currently lying in a vegetative state in the ICU. "Sign it. You walk out today." I laughed at the idea of being sold to a "corpse" until Howard slid a grainy photo toward me. It showed a toddler with a crescent-moon birthmark—the son Howard told me had died in an incubator five years ago. He smiled and told me the boy's safety depended entirely on my cooperation. I was thrust into the Kensington estate, where the family treated me like a "drowned rat." They dressed me in mothball-scented rags and mocked my status, unaware that I was monitoring their every move. I watched the cousin, Julian, openly waiting for Lucas to die to inherit the empire, while the doctors prepared to sign the death certificate. I didn't understand why my father would lie about my son’s death for years, or what kind of monsters would use a child as a bargaining chip. The injustice of it burned in my chest as I realized I was just a pawn in a game of old money and blood. As the monitors began to flatline and the family started to celebrate their inheritance, I locked the door and reached into the hem of my dress. I pulled out the sharpened silver wires I’d fashioned in the prison workshop. They thought they bought a submissive convict, but they actually invited "The Saint"—the world’s most dangerous underground surgeon—into their home. "Wake up, Lucas. You owe me a life." I wasn't there to be a bride; I was there to wake the dead and burn their empire to the ground.

Phoenix Rising: The Scarred Heiress's Revenge

I lived as the "scarred ghost" of the Stephens penthouse, a wife kept in the shadows because my facial burns offended my billionaire husband’s aesthetic. For years, I endured Kason’s coldness and my family's abuse, a submissive puppet who believed she had nowhere else to go. The end came with a blue folder tossed onto my silk sheets. Kason’s mistress was back, and he wanted me out by sunset, offering a five-million-dollar "silence fee" to go hide my face in the countryside. The betrayal cut deep when I discovered my father had already traded my divorce for a corporate bailout. My step-sister mocked my "trashy" appearance at a high-end boutique, while the sales staff treated me like a common thief. At home, my father threatened to cut off my mother's life-saving medicine unless I crawled back to Kason to beg for a better deal. I was the girl who took the blame for a fire she didn't start, the wife who worshipped a man who never looked her in the eye, and the daughter used as a human bargaining chip. I was supposed to be broken, penniless, and desperate. But the woman who stood up wasn't the weak Elease Finch anymore; she was Phoenix, a tactical predator with a $500 million secret. I signed the divorce papers without a single tear, walked past my stunned husband, and wiped the Finch family's bank accounts clean with a few taps on my phone. "Your money is dirty," I told Kason with a cold smile. "I prefer clean hands." The cage is open, the hunt has begun, and I’m starting with the people who thought a scar made me weak.

Between Ruin And Resolve: My Ex-Husband's Regret

After two years of marriage, Sadie was finally pregnant. Filled with hope and joy, she was blindsided when Noah asked for a divorce. During a failed attempt on her life, Sadie found herself lying in a pool of blood, desperately calling Noah to ask him to save her and the baby. But her calls went unanswered. Shattered by his betrayal, she left the country. Time passed, and Sadie was about to be wed for a second time. Noah appeared in a frenzy and fell to his knees. "How dare you marry someone else after bearing my child?"

After Divorce: My Arrogant Ex Regrets Calling Me Trash

Aurora woke up to the sterile chill of her king-sized bed in Sterling Thorne's penthouse. Today was the day her husband would finally throw her out like garbage. Sterling walked in, tossed divorce papers at her, and demanded her signature, eager to announce his "eligible bachelor" status to the world. In her past life, the sight of those papers had broken her, leaving her begging for a second chance. Sterling's sneering voice, calling her a "trailer park girl" undeserving of his name, had once cut deeper than any blade. He had always used her humble beginnings to keep her small, to make her grateful for the crumbs of his attention. She had lived a gilded cage, believing she was nothing without him, until her life flatlined in a hospital bed, watching him give a press conference about his "grief." But this time, she felt no sting, no tears. Only a cold, clear understanding of the mediocre man who stood on a pedestal she had painstakingly built with her own genius. Aurora signed the papers, her name a declaration of independence. She grabbed her old, phoenix-stickered laptop, ready to walk out. Sterling Thorne was about to find out exactly how expensive "free" could be.

Rising From Wreckage: Starfall's Epic Comeback

Rain hammered against the asphalt as my sedan spun violently into the guardrail on the I-95. Blood trickled down my temple, stinging my eyes, while the rhythmic slap of the windshield wipers mocked my panic. Trembling, I dialed my husband, Clive. His executive assistant answered instead, his voice professional and utterly cold. "Mr. Wilson says to stop the theatrics. He said, and I quote, 'Hang up. Tell her I don’t have time for her emotional blackmail tonight.'" The line went dead while I was still trapped in the wreckage. At the hospital, I watched the news footage of Clive wrapping his jacket around his "fragile" ex-girlfriend, Angelena, shielding her from the storm I was currently bleeding in. When I returned to our penthouse, I found a prenatal ultrasound in his suit pocket, dated the day he claimed to be on a business trip. Instead of an apology, Clive met me with a sneer. He told me I was nothing but an "expensive decoration" his father bought to make him look stable. He froze my bank accounts and cut off my cards, waiting for the hunger to drive me back to his feet. I stared at the man I had loved for four years, realizing he didn't just want a wife; he wanted a prop he could switch off. He thought he could starve me into submission while he played father to another woman's child. But Clive forgot one thing. Before I was his trophy wife, I was Starfall—the legendary voice actress who vanished at the height of her fame. "I'm not jealous, Clive. I'm done." I grabbed my old microphone and walked out. I’m not just leaving him; I’m taking the lead role in the biggest saga in Hollywood—the one Angelena is desperate for. This time, the "decoration" is going to burn his world down.

Rising From Ashes: The Heiress They Tried To Erase

Maia grew up a pampered heiress-until the real daughter returned and framed her, sending Maia to prison with help from her fiancé and family. Four years later, free and married to Chris, a notorious outcast, everyone assumed Maia was finished. They soon discovered she was secretly a famed jeweler, elite hacker, celebrity chef, and top game designer. As her former family begged for help, Chris smiled calmly. "Honey, let's go home." Only then did Maia realize her "useless" husband was a legendary tycoon who'd adored her from the start.