Cinnamon Girl

I went through many trials and tribulations and finally found my husband's long-lost younger sister. But by the time I found her, she was on the brink of death. In my haste to get her to the hospital, I accidentally crashed into a red sports car. The female driver demanded that I apologize, as well as pay a million for repair costs. I argued, "It was clearly your reckless lane changing that caused the accident. Why should all the blame fall on me? Besides, in a life-or-death situation, can't you let me take the injured to the hospital first?" The woman ruthlessly pushed me to the ground. "Shut up, you low-life! My husband just bought this car for me today, and running into people like you is such bad luck! My husband is the heir of the Blakely family, the wealthiest family in the city. We wouldn't care if it cost a dozen lives!" I was stunned for a few seconds. The heir of the Blakely family? So, this arrogant woman in front of me was my husband Nixon's mistress? Should I just walk away from his sister? But her grandfather had been desperately searching for her

I woke up on my 21st birthday, the sunlight warm on my face. But this wasn't just another day; it was a chilling memory, a life I'd already lived and lost. I remembered the gala, the Starlight gown, and how my childhood friend Brooke Ashley wore it, smirking. Then came the betrayal: my fiancé Ethan, calling me a spoiled brat, and my brother Harrison, raging at me, while my sick father watched, helpless. They orchestrated my public disgrace, stripped me of my inheritance, and exiled me to a desolate vineyard. There, isolated and slandered, I withered away, dying a slow, agonizing death. Just before the end, a nurse sneered, "This is payback. For embarrassing Miss Ashley." I perished, utterly alone. The sheer, burning injustice still seared, a visceral wound in my soul. How could they, my closest circle, plot such a cruel, elaborate ruin? Why did no one believe me, no one listen? The helplessness, the agony of that past life, was unbearable. But now, I'm back. It's the morning of my 21st birthday again, the Starlight gown already missing. Predictable. But this time, I won't cry. I have the memories, my father' s hidden surprise, and a cold, strategic resolve. The game has just begun, and this time, I' m playing to win.

I was the brilliant mind behind the Thorne Pack's defenses, yet as an Omega, I was treated worse than a servant. My "Chosen Mate," Alpha Marcus, used my blueprints to build his reputation while I scrubbed his floors. Everything changed the day the elevator cable snapped. It wasn't an accident; it was a silver-coated trap set by Isabelle, the woman Marcus was parading around as his new favorite. As I lay in the hospital, silver poison scorching my veins, the doctor begged Marcus for the antidote authorization. Without it, my wolf would die. But Marcus didn't even look up from his phone. "Not now," he dismissed, stroking Isabelle’s hand. "Isabelle scraped her knee when the building shook. She's terrified. Eleanor is tough; she'll survive." He walked away, leaving me to endure surgery without anesthesia. I screamed until my throat bled, feeling every cut, every stitch. In that agony, the foolish girl who loved him finally died. When he returned days later, expecting me to beg for his attention, I didn't bow. I stood up, my eyes glowing with a power he had never seen. "I, Eleanor Vance, reject you." The bond snapped with a thunderous crack. As Marcus fell to his knees in shock, the door opened. Julian Croft, the Alpha King, stepped in. He looked past my ex-mate writhing on the floor, locked his golden eyes on mine, and smiled. "I believe," he rumbled, "the lady is finished with you."

Eight years ago, my husband, Greyson, framed me for a car accident that cost me my legs, my parents, and my unborn child. He did it all to protect another woman, his political prodigy friend, Isla. He threw me in prison for three years, using my mother's fragile life as leverage to keep me silent and compliant. I was his puppet, a broken ballerina whose only escape was the phantom ache of a dance I could no longer perform. After I was released, broken and alone, he knelt before me on my comeback stage, confessing everything to a live audience. He admitted he faked the explicit photos that ruined my name and that Isla was the one who hit me with her car. He said he did it all for love, a twisted, possessive love that destroyed everything it touched. But his confession had a price. He had already killed Isla. And as he was sentenced to death, he had one last request: to see me.

Our engagement party was everything I had dreamed of, bathed in the warm glow of chandeliers, my heart full as I squeezed Ethan' s hand. Five years, finally official. We were the perfect couple. But then, a piercing wail shattered the perfect facade. Ethan' s ten-year-old niece, Lily, pointed a trembling finger at me, accusing me of "indecent" behavior-a simple kiss. His sister-in-law, Chloe, twisted the narrative, claiming Lily was traumatized, and shockingly, Ethan walked right past me to comfort her, leaving me humiliated and frozen. The man I was about to marry, the man who was supposed to be my partner, was prioritizing a carefully staged tantrum over my feelings, over us. When the sacred symbol of our commitment, my engagement ring, was purposely dislodged and he allowed Lily to "retrieve" it as a family ritual, I began to see the cold, hard truth: I was an outsider in his life, and he was choosing them. Then, walking into the suite that was supposed to be ours, I found it filled with Chloe and Lily' s belongings, our master bedroom claimed, and a lacy nightgown that wasn't mine. The realization hit me: this wasn't just about weakness or family loyalty; it was a deliberate, intimate invasion, a calculated act of displacement before our life even began. My entire world began to crumble as I was accused of embezzlement, my career ripped away, and Ethan called, asking me to confess to a crime I didn' t commit "for the family." Why was I the target? Why was he so willing to sacrifice me? How could the man I loved be orchestrating my downfall? The pieces clicked into place with a screenshot: Ethan had set up the shell corporation. My betrayal was a meticulously planned conspiracy to steal my inheritance. I held my head high as the police arrived to arrest me, knowing I had a fight on my hands, but I was ready.

The flickering cursor on my screen was the only constant; my life, a developer' s dream turned broke reality, spiraled with every line of code that built debt instead of worlds. My wife, Chloe, a sharp, cold woman, shared my last name but not my life, her presence in our sterile home a constant reminder of everything we' d lost. Then, a black box popped up on my monitor, a simple command prompt with a blinking green line: "Cosmic Stream Initialized. Observing Universe C-782." It showed a live feed, grainy and unstable, of a college dorm room, and in it was Chloe, ten years younger, radiating an idealism I hadn' t seen since our own college days. My fingers trembled. Was this a hack? A cruel prank? I typed a desperate message, witnessing her jump, then her young voice calling out from my speakers, "Who's there? Is this a prank?" Overwhelmed, I learned I could see and talk to her, across a decade of time. I couldn' t tell her who I was: her future husband, about to be ground to dust. No, I had to be something she could trust. "I am a System," I typed, the words feeling foreign and powerful, "A guidance protocol designed to help you achieve your optimal future." She challenged me, "Prove it." I dredged up a memory, a story about her childhood dog, Rusty, about her hidden copy of "The Last Unicorn." Her face paled, then tears welled. She believed me. This young, trusting Chloe, the one the world hadn' t broken yet, believed in me. A terrifying, exhilarating sense of power washed over me. I had a chance, a chance to undo everything. I had to start with the man who would poison her soul and my life. My first directive to Past Chloe: "A man named Mark will approach you within the week... Do not, under any circumstances, trust him."

The dust and the agony were my first sensations-my right leg a grinding hell, Lily clutched tight against my chest as growls surrounded us. Then, the thumping. A helicopter, David' s face. He knelt, his suit dirty, grief etched on his face as he saw our daughter, limp in my arms. I woke to the sterile hospital, a dull throb where my leg had been. And then, I heard voices from the hall-David and his mother. "The leg is gone," David said, his voice cold, stripped of sorrow. "It' s cleaner this way. She' ll live." "It solves the problem," his mother, Eleanor, agreed, devoid of sorrow. "The inheritance is secure." My blood ran cold as I heard David whisper the chilling truth: "I needed a legitimate reason to get rid of Sarah. Her injury allows me to bring Monica into the picture, making everything look legitimate." Monica, his new assistant? His fiancée? "And the girl?" Eleanor' s voice was even colder. "Lily was just collateral damage. Honestly, it' s for the best. Now, it' s just Monica' s child to think about." My heart monitor screamed. The man who had sobbed over our daughter, who had held my hand, had orchestrated this. He had fed us to those dogs. Lily was my world, sacrificed for money. The love, the trust, the family-all shattered. He hadn' t rescued me; he had inspected his work. The matriarch confirmed it: "No one will question it." This was their plan. My daughter' s death, a business solution. I was utterly alone, surrounded by monsters. Eleanor brought Monica, who beamed with practiced pity. Then David announced the final blow: "She' s pregnant." An heir. My Lily, extinguished to make way for this celebration. A raw sound tore from my throat. David rushed to me, feigning concern, reaching out. I flinched from his fire-like touch. "I want to see her," I rasped, my voice a dry whisper. "Lily," I choked out. "I want to see my baby." He hesitated, then gave in, still playing the doting husband. My agreement wasn' t a victory; it was another move in his sick game. But I needed to see my girl. The next morning, he brought a small wooden box. "This is her," he said. I clutched it, raw sobs tearing through me. He feigned sorrow, but I knew. Eleanor had chosen the park, a remote spot. A trap. I remembered the glint of binoculars on the ridge-He had watched. He hadn' t been in a board meeting. He was my enemy. And I had to survive him. Monica returned, carrying soup, her voice dripping with false care. She watched David fuss over her, then poured the soup down the sink. "You don' t really think he wants you to recover, do you?" she purred, stripping away her mask. "Your little 'injury' ... he made sure saving it wasn' t a priority." "What are you talking about?" I whispered. She ripped back the blanket. Where my leg should have been, there was only empty space, bandaged tightly. He hadn' t just let me get injured; he' d had it removed. He had dismembered me. "It' s just some dog' s ashes," Monica scoffed, gesturing to the box. "There is no body. The dogs he trained… they were very hungry." My Lily, torn apart. Buddy, our loving dog, used as live bait. My body trembled with pure, white-hot hatred. David walked in. Monica cried, "She tried to attack me!" "Why didn' t you just die in that park?" he snarled. "It would have made everything so much easier." The truth. No pretense. No grief. Just his selfish wish for my death. Eleanor entered, fussing over Monica, ignoring me. "You could have harmed my grandchild." I was surrounded: the perpetrator, the accomplice, the mastermind. All judging me. The last flicker of the woman I was died. "She won' t bother you again," David growled, leading Monica away. "The whole attack was to clear the way for you. For us. It' s tragic, it' s romantic. It' s perfect." He laid out the conspiracy like a corporate takeover. Lily' s death, a necessary plot point. My dismemberment, a convenient excuse. We were liquidated assets. A strange calm washed over me. The love was gone. The hurt transformed into something hard and sharp. He was my enemy. And I had to survive him. Monica, radiant in a new dress, taunted me. "A simple girl like me could give him the one thing you never could." I stared, my resolve firm. At Lily' s memorial, I sat numb in a wheelchair, a prop in David' s performance. In the town car home, the plan was in motion. The park ranger, already suspicious of David, had given me a burner phone. The car swerved, plunged into the ravine. Blackness. "Missing?" David roared at the scene, refusing to believe my body was gone. Days he searched, his voice raw. "She' s gone," Monica snapped, "We need to move on." "Get away from me!" he spat. Her cold cruelty finally disgusted him. The first crack. His paranoia spread. Monica, impatient, had bribed a guard to orchestrate the crash and invent an affair. "It was Monica!" the guard finally confessed. "The pregnancy… it' s fake!" David stood frozen. He had murdered his family for a lie. Eleanor slapped Monica. "You made us kill my granddaughter for nothing!" David, emotionless, ordered them taken to the hunting cabin. A death sentence. "Sarah knew!" Monica shrieked, dragged away. "She heard everything! She played you!" His show of grief, a mockery. The shame, a poison. He fell to his knees, utterly broken. He offered millions, haunted. "Please, just one more day," he' d beg, clutching Lily' s photo. But I was alive. Pulled from the wreck by a kind RV couple, three years passed in quiet peace, my past a blank. They called me Jane. Then, in Arizona, he walked in. Three years had ravaged him. Our eyes met. A lightning strike. The dogs, Lily' s face, the ashes, Monica' s taunts-all flooded back. I nearly collapsed. "Sarah?" he breathed, disbelief, hope, horror on his face. "You' re alive." I recoiled. "Don' t you touch me." "I' m so sorry," he stammered, tears in his eyes. "I was a monster." "You murdered our daughter," I said, cold. "You had my leg cut off. You are just evil." Jack, my new father, stepped in. "You need to leave." David fell to his knees. "Please, forgive me!" He held a letter opener to his leg. "A leg for a leg!" "You want to make it up to me? You can' t," I said. "Your punishment, David, is to live, every single day, with the knowledge of what you did. You will never be forgiven." I turned, walked away with Jack, and never saw him again. Months later, David Miller, disgraced CEO, drove off the same ravine. No escape. His company collapsed. Karma. I continued my life on the road. Sometimes, in the desert sunset, I feel Lily' s warm presence. She' s free. And so am I. The world is vast, and I am ready.

My solo exhibition. Ten years of blood, sweat, and paint, culminating in this night. But it was torn from me. Liam, my mentor, my lover, the man who rebuilt my gallery after a fire, seized my most personal masterpiece, "Echoes of the Fall," and gifted it to Scarlett, a new ingenue, right before my eyes. When I confronted him, asking him to leave, he slapped me, then threatened to ruin my parents' small business if I didn't beg Scarlett for forgiveness. I knelt. I apologized. The humiliation burned hotter than any fire. Later, he "lent" me to a business associate, a grotesque arrangement I couldn't comprehend. He then accused me of faking an injury on Scarlett and forced me to crawl on the freezing city streets, searching for a phantom earring, while strangers mocked and filmed me. My old friend, Ben, tried to intervene, but Liam dragged me away, accusing me of betrayal. His escalating paranoia led him to force me onto a balcony ledge, demanding I prove my love by letting go. I slipped, shattering my ankle. At the hospital, the doctor' s grave words echoed: "You' ve lost the baby." Liam' s cruel "test" had killed our child. In that sterile room, a cold, hard resolve solidified in my soul. I would disappear. I would die to him. He would finally know what he had lost.

For ten years, Sterling Manor was my world, every brushstroke a prayer to a father who vanished, leaving behind whispers of a hidden masterpiece. I poured my life into its decayed bones, chasing approval he never gave, believing I was restoring our family's legacy. Then, Sterling, the manor' s owner-the vulture who picked at other people's legacies-announced his fiancée, Lily. He gave her my decade of sacrifice, my meticulous work, as a party favor, publicly humiliating me as "just a restorer" to launch her career. He stripped me of everything: my credit, my dignity, even my small apartment within those walls. Lily, with a calculated innocence, cemented the lie, painting me as an "intense" threat, a "fired" employee. My name-my only mark on a decade of work-was painted over, erased. "Just a restorer." The words echoed, burning with the injustice of his betrayal. Was my life wasted chasing a ghost? A legacy that wasn't mine to claim? The truth felt like a bitter pill. But a cold, clear resolve settled within me. I walked out of that house, but not without my father's hidden sketchbook. It was time for Sterling' s meticulously crafted world to crumble, and for me to reclaim what was truly mine.

My husband, Ethan, had 99 affairs in our ten years of marriage, and I knew about every single one. His promise to have a child only with me was the silent agreement, the sole thread holding our lavish life together. But when the 100th mistress, a barista named Molly Chavez, turned up pregnant, everything changed. On our tenth anniversary, instead of a celebration, I found Ethan pleading with Molly in a parking lot, a blank check in his hand, as her baby bump was subtly visible. Molly, with a smirk for me, tore the check, declaring, "I don't want your money, Ethan. I want you to leave me alone. The baby is my responsibility, and you are free." He looked at her as if she'd hung the moon, completely captivated, while I, his wife, stood forgotten. Then, Ethan came home, promising to finally start the family we' d always discussed, urging IVF immediately. Hope, a stupid, stubborn thing, made me agree despite every red flag. But as I drifted under anesthesia for egg retrieval, I heard his voice, cold and smug: "Once Elyse is pregnant, Molly will have no choice but to move in. This secures everything." That stupid, stubborn hope died right there, a silent death. What had I truly married, and what twisted game was he playing with my body, my future, and my heart? I knew then: my time of tolerance was over.

The first thing I felt was the cold marble against my cheek. Then, the sharp, metallic smell of my own blood. My husband, Ryan Scott, stood over me, his face twisted with hateful satisfaction as I drew my last breath on the execution platform. He blamed me for something I didn't do, for the deaths of a woman and her son he was obsessed with. My powerful family, once my shield, was destroyed; my father, executed. I woke with a gasp in my New York penthouse, the sun streaming through the windows – it was today, the day it all began again. My chief of staff called, panicked, about Ryan' s public protest demanding the release of an immigrant woman and her son, accused spies. In my first life, I begged Ryan to stop, used my family' s influence to deport them, and they were executed by their home country, sealing my fate. Ryan' s love turned to a decade of simmering hatred that ended with my own brutal execution. But this time, as he stormed into our bedroom, accusing me, I knew he remembered it all too, yet learned nothing. He tried to humiliate me, then bombed our penthouse to erase me from his twisted new timeline. I barely escaped, only to see him planning a full-blown coup, foreign mercenaries at his side, ready to burn Washington to the ground. Why was he doing this? Why was he still so blind, so obsessed with a foreign national, willing to betray everything for her? And why was I the only one who remembered the true depths of his depravity? Not this time. I called his uncle, activated a secret family pact, and set in motion a battle for the fate of our nation, determined to ensure the history I knew would never repeat itself.

My life as a park ranger was dedicated to protecting the Fakahatchee Strand and its crown jewel, the priceless Ghost Orchid, a quiet passion my wife, Chloe, never seemed to grasp. Then, my day off was shattered by a call: the Super Ghost had been cruelly stolen. What I saw on the security footage twisted my stomach: it was Chloe, my wife, laughing and posing for selfies with her crypto-bro lover, Kyle, as they brutally sawed off the very orchid I swore to protect, all while she was supposedly on a "girls' trip" I had paid for. When I confronted her at the ranger station, she played the frantic victim, but her parents only launched into a furious tirade, blaming me for everything. The hospital confirmed my deepest fears when the ER doctor calmly announced Chloe's injury was from "strenuous physical activity" with Kyle, publicly shaming my wife and her accusatory parents. Yet, even from her hospital bed, Chloe and Kyle shamelessly posed for "recovery" selfies, attempting to monetize their disgrace, even trying to use a fake pregnancy to ensnare me. How could the woman I had once loved be so utterly devoid of empathy and so pathologically manipulative, trying to offload her lover's child onto me after everything? The audacity was a deep, sickening insult to every shred of decency I possessed. I was finally done being her victim. In a final, explosive confrontation, her unchecked rage boiled over, causing her to lash out and accidentally scald an innocent bystander-who devastatingly turned out to be her own brother's fiancée. That shocking incident was my undeniable cue to walk away, pursue the divorce, leave the toxic swamp of our past behind, and reclaim my peace, finally finding a life truly worth living far from her chaos.

Our baby boy was gone, a tiny knitted cap all that remained. Seven months, and we nearly made it. But before I could even properly grieve, my wife, Izzy, obsessed over her ex, Julian. She' d already made the ultimate sacrifice for him: our son, a victim of a desperate, experimental "cure." Julian arrived like a conquering hero, smirking, ready to exploit our ancient, sacred land, Whisperwind Hollow, for his "wellness retreat." My mother, the Keeper of the Hollow, tried to warn them, and for that, she collapsed to Julian's taunts. Izzy, blinded by devotion, dismissed my pleas, then knocked me unconscious when I dared to defend myself. I woke up to hear they'd faked my death. I, the grieving father and son, was now a "dead man," manipulated, then "murdered" again, thrown into the raging river. But the true horror was yet to come: Izzy planned to use our baby' s ashes in a twisted ritual to "cleanse" Julian. The depths of her betrayal, the calculated cruelty, left me numb, then burning with a cold, clear rage. Pulled from the river by those loyal to the Hollow, I finally understood. This land, my heritage, it amplifies what's within. Julian' s darkness would be his undoing, and Izzy's choices, her folly-they brought us here. Now, alive and hidden, I would become what I was always meant to be: the true Keeper, ready to reflect their malice back at them.

Ava Monroe. For five years, my marriage to Ethan Hayes was a bitter war, not a union. I publicly loathed him, clinging to my childhood sweetheart Liam, convinced Ethan was the villain in my life. Then, the unimaginable happened: Ethan died, stabbed by a masked intruder. His desperate, dying call? I dismissed it, hanging up my phone, thinking it just another attempt at control. But death didn't stop him; for five agonizing days, he was back, a visible, tangible spirit. Liam' s insidious whispers fueled my contempt, convincing me Ethan' s ghostly return was merely another manipulative game. I accused him of staging attacks, forced him to kneel publicly, and even held his head underwater in our pool, demanding confessions for lies. At a grand gala, after I slapped him for a supposed poisoning concocted by Liam, Ethan finally broke, slapping me back with a raw, desperate love in his eyes that I was too numb to see. He then vanished, leaving only a final, haunting note. I thought I was finally free, but the ensuing silence grew louder than any conflict. Until I found his horrifically decomposed body and that letter, detailing a fantastical "Gatekeeper," a five-day reprieve, and how my own icy "I will never love you" had sealed his fate. My world didn't just shatter; it exploded, revealing that I had inadvertently killed the man who had secretly loved me. With chilling clarity, the pieces clicked into place: Liam' s "sympathy," his manufactured chaos, his constant poisoning of my mind. He was the architect of Ethan's murder, the true monster, the puppet master of my destruction. My grief transmuted into a glacial rage, as Liam thought my husband's death cleared his path to me, yet he was about to learn just how wrong he was.

I lay dying, fifty years of my life a bitter regret. My wife, Chloe, whispered her final wish: "Scatter my ashes… with Ethan's." Ethan. My half-brother. Even in her last breath, he was her focus. My own heart gave out, not from illness, but from the crushing weight of a life wasted, a fifty-year mistake born of obligation. All I felt was a cold, absolute despair, so much regret. Then, blinding light. I gasped, sitting bolt upright, in my own bed. My hands were young, strong. My reflection showed a sharp, twenty-five-year-old face. The expensive watch on the nightstand screamed the date: my wedding day. The very day that started my gilded cage of a life. But this time, a surge of something fierce ignited within me. Not this time. Never again. I wouldn't repeat the same mistake. I knew exactly what I wanted, who I truly wanted. At the altar, as the whispers started about Chloe' s inexplicable lateness, I turned from the stunned crowd. I walked past my furious father, past the gawking socialites, straight to her. Ava Chen, the wild, vibrant tech heiress, my silent protector in another life, the one who died saving me. "Chloe seems to have other priorities," I announced, my voice clear and steady. "Ava Chen, would you do me the honor of marrying me instead?" Her eyes widened, then a slow, defiant smile spread across her face. "Liam Miller," she said, her voice a balm, "I thought you'd never ask." This was my second chance. This time, I was choosing my own destiny.

Everyone knew Kristine loved Colton. Still, his heart clung to a woman overseas-someone he spent most days with, now pregnant with his baby-and Kristine still asked him to marry her. On their registration day, however, he never came; his "true love" had flown back. Seven years of loyalty later, Kristine walked away, blocked him, and left his city. Colton didn't blink-until he saw her at the courthouse, arm-in-arm with another man, and the proud CEO went pale. He went after her, desperation overtaking him. "I'm sorry. Please give me another chance." She snapped, "Could you stop? I'm already married."

I stood at my mother’s open grave in the freezing rain, my heels sinking into the mud. The space beside me was empty. My husband, Hilliard Holloway, had promised to cherish me in bad times, but apparently, burying my mother didn't fit into his busy schedule. While the priest’s voice droned on, a news alert lit up my phone. It was a livestream of the Metropolitan Charity Gala. There was Hilliard, looking impeccable in a custom tuxedo, with his ex-girlfriend Charla English draped over his arm. The headline read: "Holloway & English: A Power Couple Reunited?" When he finally returned to our penthouse at 2 AM, he didn't come alone—he brought Charla with him. He claimed she’d had a "medical emergency" at the gala and couldn't be left alone. I found a Tiffany diamond necklace on our coffee table meant for her birthday, and a smudge of her signature red lipstick on his collar. When I confronted him, he simply told me to stop being "hysterical" and "acting like a child." He had no idea I was seven months pregnant with his child. He thought so little of my grief that he didn't even bother to craft a convincing lie, laughing with his mistress in our home while I sat in the dark with a shattered heart and a secret life growing inside me. "He doesn't deserve us," I whispered to the darkness. I didn't scream or beg. I simply left a folder on his desk containing signed divorce papers and a forged medical report for a terminated pregnancy. I disappeared into the night, letting him believe he had successfully killed his own legacy through his neglect. Five years later, Hilliard walked into "The Vault," the city's most exclusive underground auction, looking for a broker to manage his estate. He didn't recognize me behind my Venetian mask, but he couldn't ignore the neon pink graffiti on his armored Maybach that read "DEADBEAT." He had no clue that the three brilliant triplets currently hacking his security system were the very children he thought had been erased years ago. This time, I wasn't just a wife in the way; I was the one holding all the cards.

The heavy iron gates of the Wilderness Correction Camp groaned as they released me after three years of state-sponsored hell. I stood on the dirt road, clutching a plastic bag that held my entire life, waiting for the family that claimed they sent me there for "rehab." My brother, Brady, picked me up in a luxury SUV only to throw me out onto a deserted highway in the middle of a brewing storm. He told me I was a "public relations nightmare" and that the rain might finally wash the "stink" of the camp off me. He drove away, leaving me to limp miles through the mud on a snapped ankle. When I finally dragged myself to our family estate, my mother didn't offer a hug; she gasped in horror because my muddy clothes were ruining her Italian marble. They didn't give me my old room back. Instead, they banished me to a moldy gardener’s shack and hired a "babysitter" to make sure I didn't embarrass them further. My sister, Kaleigh, stood there in white cashmere, pretending to cry while clinging to her fiancé, Ambrose—the man who had once been mine. They all treated me like a volatile junkie, refusing to acknowledge that Kaleigh was the one who planted the drugs in my bag three years ago. They wanted to believe I was broken so they wouldn't have to feel guilty about the "wellness retreat" that was actually a torture chamber. I sat in the dark of that shed, feeling the cooling gel on the cigarette burns that covered my arms, and realized they had made a fatal mistake. They thought they had erased me, but I had returned with a roadmap of scars and a hidden satellite phone. At dinner, I didn't beg for their love. I simply rolled up my sleeves and showed them the price of their silence. As the wine spilled and the lies crumbled, I sent a single text to the only person I trusted: "I'm in. Let them simmer." The hunt was finally on.

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.

"Stella once savored Marc's devotion, yet his covert cruelty cut deep. She torched their wedding portrait at his feet while he sent flirty messages to his mistress. With her chest tight and eyes blazing, Stella delivered a sharp slap. Then she deleted her identity, signed onto a classified research mission, vanished without a trace, and left him a hidden bombshell. On launch day she vanished; that same dawn Marc's empire crumbled. All he unearthed was her death certificate, and he shattered. When they met again, a gala spotlighted Stella beside a tycoon. Marc begged. With a smirk, she said, ""Out of your league, darling."

For three quiet, patient years, Christina kept house, only to be coldly discarded by the man she once trusted. Instead, he paraded a new lover, making her the punchline of every town joke. Liberated, she honed her long-ignored gifts, astonishing the town with triumph after gleaming triumph. Upon discovering she'd been a treasure all along, her ex-husband's regret drove him to pursue her. "Honey, let's get back together!" With a cold smirk, Christina spat, "Fuck off." A silken-suited mogul slipped an arm around her waist. "She's married to me now. Guards, get him the hell out of here!"

Elliana, the unfavored "ugly duckling" of her family, was humiliated by her stepsister, Paige, who everyone admired. Paige, engaged to the CEO Cole, was the perfect woman-until Cole married Elliana on the day of the wedding. Shocked, everyone wondered why he chose the "ugly" woman. As they waited for her to be cast aside, Elliana stunned everyone by revealing her true identity: a miracle healer, financial mogul, appraisal prodigy, and AI genius. When her mistreatment became known, Cole revealed Elliana's stunning, makeup-free photo, sending shockwaves through the media. "My wife doesn't need anyone's approval."

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.

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.

Linsey was stood up by her groom to run off with another woman. Furious, she grabbed a random stranger and declared, "Let's get married!" She had acted on impulse, realizing too late that her new husband was the notorious rascal, Collin. The public laughed at her, and even her runaway ex offered to reconcile. But Linsey scoffed at him. "My husband and I are very much in love!" Everyone thought she was delusional. Then Collin was revealed to be the richest man in the world. In front of everyone, he got down on one knee and held up a stunning diamond ring. "I look forward to our forever, honey."