Chasing a Statue: Eight Years Lost

From Trophy Wife to Scientific Queen

My husband Julian celebrated our five-year anniversary by sleeping with his mistress. He thought I was a clueless trophy wife, too dim to notice the vanilla and tuberose scent on his expensive suits. He was wrong. For years, I played Mrs. Vance, hiding my brilliance while Julian claimed my patents. An anonymous email confirmed his ultimate betrayal: photos of him and Scarlett Kensington in ecstasy. My heart didn't break; it solidified into ice at five years wasted. I activated "The Protocol" for a new identity and escape countdown. Playing the doting wife, I plotted his downfall, catching him with his mistress selling my work, and publicly snapping his credit card. His betrayals and stolen work ignited a cold, calculated fury. He had no idea the monster he'd created. I was dismantling his empire. I shredded his patent papers, stripping him of his ill-gotten gains. With a final tap, I initiated "Identity Erasure." Mrs. Vance was dead. Dr. Evelyn Thorne had just begun her counterattack.

Haunting The Husband Who Ignored My Pleas

The bomb strapped to my chest had less than a minute on the timer. I called my husband, begging him to save me. "Kevin, please. This is real. I'm going to die." But Kevin just sighed, his voice dripping with annoyance. "Stop the drama, Michelle. Violet is having a panic attack because her cat is stuck in a tree. I don't have time for your jealousy games." He hung up. Moments later, the warehouse exploded, and I was gone. But I didn't cross over. My spirit was tethered to Kevin, an invisible spectator to his life. I watched him roll his eyes at my mother’s frantic calls. I watched him perform the autopsy on my charred body, convinced I was actually hiding in a hotel to punish him. It wasn't until he returned to the blast site and found my wedding ring in the ash that he finally broke. He fell to his knees, screaming my name. I thought his remorse would free me. But then he discovered the truth: Violet had orchestrated my murder. He cornered her, his grief mutating into a violent, obsidian hatred. I tried to drift away, but the invisible chain binding me to him suddenly tightened, crushing my soul. I realized with absolute horror that the truth hadn't set me free. His hatred was an anchor, heavier than his love ever was. I wasn't just a ghost anymore. I was his haunting, and I was never leaving.

Just A Substitute: The Don's Lost Love

I returned to the manor after four years, handing Marcus Thorne an invitation to my wedding. He looked at me with cold eyes, his arm around his fiancée, Chloe—the woman I was molded to look like. But the real blow came at lunch. A waiter tripped, sending three mugs of scalding coffee flying toward us. Marcus didn't move to protect me. He lunged to grab his phone from the table because Chloe’s face was on the screen. The boiling liquid splashed across my chest, burning my skin instantly. While I screamed in agony, Marcus simply checked his notifications. "I have to go," he said, stepping over me as my fiancé, David, desperately poured ice water on my burns. "Chloe broke a nail. She's hysterical." He walked out of the restaurant without looking back, leaving me writhing in pain. At the hospital, the doctor dropped another bombshell: I was pregnant. Marcus didn't know. He didn't know I was carrying another man's child. Just like he didn't know about the baby of his I had lost three years ago—the one I miscarried while he ignored my calls to close a business deal. I wiped my tears and looked at David. "Get the plane ready," I whispered. "We leave tonight." When Marcus finally came looking for me, all he found was a medical report of the child he killed with his neglect, and a note saying I was gone forever.

From Rejected Rogue to Alpha Queen: The Sterling Legacy

I was trapped in a cage made of pure silver, my skin sizzling against the bars, while my Fated Mate stood outside checking his watch. "Not yet, Elena," Damien said coldly. "Victoria's son must be born first to secure the prophecy." I was in active labor, but he pressed a button on a remote. A magical collar clamped around my neck, seizing my muscles and forcing my unborn baby to stay inside, suspending the birth in agonizing tension. I screamed through our Mind-Link, begging him to save our son, but he severed the connection. He called our child a mongrel and walked away to be with his brother's wife. While I lay dying in a pool of black and gold blood, poisoned by his sister, Damien was next door celebrating the birth of another man's child. When the doctor told him I was flatlining, he told them to save the power for Victoria. He didn't know I wasn't a rogue. I was the daughter of the Alpha Prime, the King of all wolves. He killed his true son and his True Mate for a lie. My father saved my body, but my heart died in that cage. One year later, I returned as the CEO of the company holding all of Damien's debt. He knelt before me, weeping, begging for his Luna back. I stepped on his hand with my stiletto heel and smiled. "Your Luna died in the basement, Alpha. I am just here to collect what you owe."

Helena's Revenge: A Marriage Unraveled

For forty years, I stood by Carroll Baxter's side, building his legacy from a junior state representative to a man whose name echoed with respect. I was Helena Cook, the elegant, intelligent wife, the perfect partner. Then, one afternoon, I saw him in a cheap cafe downtown, sharing a luridly green smoothie with a young woman, Kandy Mays. His face was lit with a joy I hadn't seen in twenty years. It wasn't just a fling; it was an emotional desertion. He was a man in his seventies, obsessed with an heir, and I knew he was looking for a new life in her. I didn't make a scene. I walked away, my heels clicking a steady rhythm that betrayed none of the chaos inside me. He thought I was a fragile art history professor he could discard with a small settlement. He was wrong. That evening, I made his favorite meal. When he came home late, the food was cold. He wanted to talk, to deliver the final blow. I pulled a folder from my desk and looked him straight in the eye. "I have cancer, Carroll. Pancreatic. Six months, maybe less." His face drained of color. It wasn't love or concern; it was the sudden destruction of his plan. A dying wife couldn't be divorced. He was trapped. The weight of his public image, of his carefully constructed reputation, was a cage he had built for himself. He retreated to his study, the click of the lock echoing in the silent room. The next morning, my nephew Jared called. "He kicked her out, Aunt Helena. She was crying her eyes out on the sidewalk."

Mind-Link's Lie: Love's Cruel Deception

For seven years, my husband Kerr Chapman' s every cruel word and cold shoulder was translated by a mysterious "Mind-Link Notification" as a twisted expression of love. It told me his dismissals were "tests of obedience," his neglect a sign of "profound commitment." I believed it, sacrificing my dignity and self for a love I thought was just hidden. Then, after he kicked me out late one night, I crashed my car. Lying injured in the hospital, I expected him to finally break. Instead, he arrived with my university rival, Gina Parker, who openly mocked me and claimed Kerr had been with her. Kerr stood by, defending Gina, even as she deliberately broke a cherished drawing of my deceased mother and then fabricated a story that I attacked her. He carried her out, leaving me alone, his words echoing: "It's a thing, Chloe. You hurt a person over a thing." The Mind-Link notification flashed, trying to justify his betrayal as "a test of my unconditional love." But for the first time, its words felt like a monstrous lie, a sick justification for his cruelty. I stared at the blue box, the words blurring through my tears. The love it described wasn't love. It was a cage. And I finally, finally saw the bars. I had to get out.

The Queen Returns: Pampered By Her Three Powerhouse Brothers

After five years of playing the perfect daughter, Rylie was exposed as a stand-in. Her fiancé bolted, friends scattered, and her adoptive brothers shoved her out, telling her to grovel back to her real family. Done with humiliation, she swore to claw back what was hers. Shock followed: her birth family ruled the town's wealth. Overnight, she became their precious girl. The boardroom brother canceled meetings, the genius brother ditched his lab, the musician brother postponed a tour. As those who spurned her begged forgiveness, Admiral Brad Morgan calmly declared, "She's already taken."

Irresistible Seduction: Married For Deception, Loved For Real

Five years into marriage, Hannah caught Vincent slipping into a hotel with his first love-the woman he never forgot. The sight told her everything-he'd married her only for her resemblance to his true love. Hurt, she conned him into signing the divorce papers and, a month later, said, "Vincent, I'm done. May you two stay chained together." Red-eyed, he hugged her. "You came after me first." Her firm soon rocketed toward an IPO. At the launch, Vincent watched her clasp another man's hand. In the fitting room, he cornered her, tears burning in his eyes. "Is he really that perfect? Hannah, I'm sorry... marry me again."

Contract With The Devil: Love In Shackles

I watched my husband sign the papers that would end our marriage while he was busy texting the woman he actually loved. He didn't even glance at the header. He just scribbled the sharp, jagged signature that had signed death warrants for half of New York, tossed the file onto the passenger seat, and tapped his screen again. "Done," he said, his voice devoid of emotion. That was Dante Moretti. The Underboss. A man who could smell a lie from a mile away but couldn't see that his wife had just handed him an annulment decree disguised beneath a stack of mundane logistics reports. For three years, I scrubbed his blood out of his shirts. I saved his family's alliance when his ex, Sofia, ran off with a civilian. In return, he treated me like furniture. He left me in the rain to save Sofia from a broken nail. He left me alone on my birthday to drink champagne on a yacht with her. He even handed me a glass of whiskey—her favorite drink—forgetting that I despised the taste. I was merely a placeholder. A ghost in my own home. So, I stopped waiting. I burned our wedding portrait in the fireplace, left my platinum ring in the ashes, and boarded a one-way flight to San Francisco. I thought I was finally free. I thought I had escaped the cage. But I underestimated Dante. When he finally opened that file weeks later and realized he had signed away his wife without looking, the Reaper didn't accept defeat. He burned down the world to find me, obsessed with reclaiming the woman he had already thrown away.

The Mafia Heiress's Comeback: She's More Than You Think

Sawyer, the world's top arms dealer, stunned everyone by falling for Maren—the worthless girl no one respected. People scoffed. Why chase a useless pretty face? But when powerful elites began gathering around her, jaws dropped. "She's not even married to him yet—already cashing in on his power?" they assumed. Curious eyes dug into Maren's past... only to find she was a scientific genius, a world-renowned medical expert, and heiress to a mafia empire. Later, Sawyer posted online. "My wife treats me like the enemy. Any advice?"

I Slapped My Fiancé-Then Married His Billionaire Nemesis

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.

He Chose First Love, I Chose the Alpha King

I gave him three years of silent devotion behind a mask I never wanted to wear. I made a wager for our bond-he paid me off like a mistress. "Chloe's back," Zane said coldly. "It's over." I laughed, poured wine on his face, and walked away from the only love I'd ever known. "What now?" my best friend asked. I smiled. "The real me returns." But fate wasn't finished yet. That same night, Caesar Conrad-the Alpha every wolf feared-opened his car door and whispered, "Get in." Our gazes collided. The bond awakened. No games. No pretending. Just raw, unstoppable power. "Don't regret this," he warned, lips brushing mine. But I didn't. Because the mate I'd been chasing never saw me. And the one who did? He's ready to burn the world for me.