Bolanle

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

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LYRIC

"You used me!" I sobbed, crying to my mate who just rejected me. "Mating with me was your ladder to power, Roderick! Your Pack climbed the ranks because of me! Now that you've achieved your ambition, you don't need the ugly girl anymore, is that it? But you were willing to mate with me a year ago!"

"Oh, spare me!" Roderick rolled his eyes. "Don't act like you didn't know I'd have left you at some point. Hold on, did you really think I'd have made you the Luna of my Pack? I can barely stand the sight of you, Lyric. How do you expect me to take you to Alpha meetings and present you to others? You are disgusting!"

"But I did not give this scar to myself!" I cried bitterly. "And you promised you'd take me to the best doctors. You didn't do any of that, Roderick! It'd have helped!"

"What? Even your own family doesn't care enough to take you to doctors, and you think I would? Quit, dreaming, Lyric and get out of my Pack!"

Tears blurred my vision. It wasn't the first time I was being called ugly, but it hurt more each time it came from Roderick.

I knew Roderick had no love for me when my family paired me with him a year ago. For a year, we lived like strangers despite being mated. I was still a virgin as he could not even bring himself to touch me.

It wasn't my fault I was ugly. I was burnt with a silver-base branding iron when I was a kid, leaving a huge scar by the side of my face. I still didn't know who was responsible for it, but I've had to grow up with this sting of rejection. Even my own family hated me and were embarrassed by my appearance.

But I thought Roderick would be different. I thought he'd love me. Apparently, in a world where ranks mattered the most to Pack Leaders, deceit was bound to happen.

I glared at him. I'd truly loved this man and wished he'd love me back. But now, I wish he'd suffer for what he did to me.

"You are a monster," I gritted the words. "And I hope you pay for this someday."

He threw back his head and laughed, a hollow sound. "Cursed Lyric, how exactly is that going to happen? I am currently the third most powerful Alpha now. My Pack is up the ranks while your family is beneath me! There is nothing you can do to me anymore. You have always been and will always be worthless!

"Listen, I have rejected you already, and you have accepted. Although, there is one final formality left, but as far as I'm concerned, you're not longer anything to me. So, get your disgusting face out of my pack! This instant, before I have the guards throw you out!" His glare was icy, and before I could respond, he walked out.

.........

After I managed to pull myself together, I left Roderick's Pack and decided to head home-to my father's Pack. I hadn't been home since I moved into Roderick's Pack, and I hoped they'd be willing to take me in.

My family had never really liked me. Everything started falling apart after my mother left-abandoning me when I was four. My father chose a new mate and suddenly didn't have enough time for me. Then, I got my scar and he became even more distant.

The guards let me through the gate, but when I rang the bell of the lounge, my stepsister and her mother opened up. To my surprise, they wouldn't let me in.

"Go back to Roderick and beg him some more, Lyric. There is no room for you here," Nora said after I explained everything to them.

Despite my attempt to get them to pity me, letting them understand I had nowhere else to go, they ordered the guards to see me out.

They've always taken me to be a disgrace to the family and were happy when I left for Roderick's Pack. Now, they didn't want me back.

.........

By evening, I was seated in a bar, my favorite bar-Faceless Drunk. Over here, they mixed portions strong enough to get a wolf drunk, and you didn't have to worry about being recognized and judged as every customer made use of masks.

It had been my favorite bar for years. If people had to see my face, they'd think I was getting drunk because I was ugly.

"You're too ugly." I'd heard those words too many times, I could recite them in my sleep without missing a beat.

But above all, it was Roderick's betrayal that cut deep. It was even more painful that I could not do anything for him. His Pack was very powerful now, and I was an ugly, rejected girl who didn't even have a family to return to. Nobody could ever want me. What was the point of living?

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