Connie Clarke

He divorced me on live television. In front of eleven million people, my husband of six years announced our marriage was over - then introduced the woman he'd chosen instead. I sat in Row D, seat twelve, exactly where he'd placed me. I walked out without a word. That night, I met Callum Voss. Cold. Ruthless. The one man my ex-husband feared more than any other. He'd watched the broadcast. He knew who I was. And he had a proposition: marry him - that same night - and help him dismantle everything Derek Cole had built. I should have said no. Then I found my late father's files. Evidence that my marriage had never been what I believed. That the man I loved had used my family's name, buried a woman's career to protect his own, and planned my public humiliation weeks in advance. So I signed the contract. Twelve months. Two signatures. A divorce met with revenge. Callum and I had rules - no feelings, no complications, nothing real. But somewhere between the strategy sessions and the silences, the rules stopped holding. Now the contract is expired. Derek's world has collapsed. And Callum is standing in front of me with nothing to offer except the one thing neither of us planned for. This is not the story of how I survived my divorce. It is the story of what I became because of it.

Sable has spent her entire life trying to stay invisible. But on her first day back at Vael Academy, a strange mark blooms beneath her skin, Professor Ashgrave's composure shatters, and four cursed princes crash through the classroom windows to claim her. They tell her the mark is a key to an ancient power sealed away for three hundred years. They tell her she must survive the night before the mark reaches her heart. What they don't tell her is why six immortal men have been waiting centuries for a girl they've never met. Hidden in the academy's forbidden East Wing, Sable discovers the diary of Iris-the last marked girl. Iris's final warning changes everything: the professors and princes aren't the true enemy. Something far older has been waiting for the mark to return, and someone betrayed Iris before she could stop it. As the mark grows stronger and long-buried secrets begin to surface, Sable must decide who to trust in a school built on lies. But every answer comes with a price, and the closer she gets to the truth, the more she realizes the greatest danger may not be the curse... It may be the girl carrying it.

THE CROWN MARKED ME FOR DEATH. THE PRINCE CLAIMED ME AS HIS OWN. AND NEITHER OF US REMEMBERS WHY HE HAS KILLED ME BEFORE. The night I touched the Forbidden Crown, it branded my throat with a royal mark. By dawn, Prince Lucien Draven, the kingdom's feared heir who was supposed to be dead, had returned from exile. In front of the entire royal court, he looked me in the eyes and declared five words that destroyed my life. "She belongs to the Crown." Suddenly, I was no longer the scholarship girl everyone could humiliate. I was the girl every prince wanted to possess, every noble wanted silenced, and every royal guard had orders to keep alive. Including Lucien. Especially Lucien. The cold-hearted prince insists I must stay close to him if I want to survive. He refuses to explain why my mark burns whenever he touches me, why he looks at me like a ghost he has spent centuries mourning, or why an ancient voice calls me Queen Elara in my dreams. Then I discover the truth about the girls who carried my mark before me. Not one survived. And the closer I get to Lucien, the more my memories begin to disappear. He says he will protect me. But what if he is the reason I keep dying? Five hundred years ago, a queen sacrificed herself to imprison a catastrophe inside a crown. History remembers her as a monster. The kingdom fears her return. And the crown? It has been waiting for me. Now I must uncover the truth about the prince who claims me, the queen whose face I wear, and the forbidden love that has ended in blood in every life before this one. Because the crown does not mark the women it loves. IT MARKS THE ONES IT MUST DESTROY.

They took my daughter seven hours after she was born. They forged my signature. They buried the paperwork. They handed my baby to one of the most powerful men in the country and told the world she was gone forever. But I never believed them. For five years, I searched. Then a photograph landed on my desk-a little girl with dark hair and the same stubborn tilt of the head I saw in my own mirror every morning. Her name was Lily Blackwood. She was six years old. And she was mine. Now I'm inside Blackwood Manor-not as her mother, but as her nanny. Close enough to hold her hand. Close enough to hear her laugh. Close enough to watch her look at me as though she's been waiting for me her whole life. Because she has. Lily knows a lullaby I created for my unborn child-a song no one else should have heard. She says things that make no sense. She remembers feelings she shouldn't remember. And every day, she pulls me closer to a truth someone has spent years trying to bury. Damian Blackwood is not the man I expected. Cold. Controlled. Always watching. He lets me into his home when he should have sent me away. He keeps fresh flowers outside a locked room no one is allowed to mention, and every secret inside this house seems to lead back to the night my daughter disappeared. Someone stole my child. Someone built a web of lies to hide the truth. And as I uncover the secrets of Blackwood Manor, I realize there are people who will do anything to make sure I never reclaim the daughter they stole from me.

To help her husband build his business empire, Veyra worked two jobs, skipped meals, and sacrificed everything she had. When her mother desperately needed life-saving treatment, she couldn't even scrape together the money. Then, on a New Year's Eve flight, fate seated her beside her husband's mistress. That's when she discovered the cruel truth. Her husband had secretly amassed millions long ago. The wedding ring that belonged to Veyra now glittered on another woman's finger. The $500,000 that could have saved her mother's life had been spent instead on luxury gifts and pocket money for his lover. She lost her baby. She lost her mother. And finally, she lost every illusion about the man she'd loved for years. After leaving the airport, Veyra walked into a bar, kissed the most dangerous-looking stranger she could find, and spent one reckless night in his arms. By sunrise, she disappeared without leaving so much as her name. She thought it was nothing more than a farewell to her broken past. She was wrong. The stranger was Dorian-the most powerful, mysterious billionaire in the business world. Meanwhile, her cheating husband finally realized what he had thrown away. He begged on his knees, signed a postnuptial agreement worth billions, and swore he would give up everything if she would come back. But just as Veyra began plotting to reclaim everything that had been stolen from her, a mysterious car accident brought Dorian back into her life. Only then did she learn the truth. He wasn't a stranger at all. He was her ex-husband's older stepbrother. Now two powerful men are fighting for the same woman-one consumed by regret, the other determined to make her his. Sorry, cheating ex... I choose your brother.

One lab error. Two betrayals. And a billionaire who doesn't believe in accidents. Emily Vance thought she was carrying a miracle. After her fiancé, Julian, ended up in a coma following a horrific car crash, she underwent IVF to keep his legacy alive. It was supposed to be her anchor. Instead, a clinical mix-up reveals that the child in her womb isn't Julian's at all. It belongs to Alistair Wolfe, a man whose name is synonymous with ruthless power and a heart made of ice. The nightmare doesn't stop at the doctor's office. When Julian finally wakes up, he doesn't call for Emily. He calls for her stepsister, Chloe, revealing a secret affair that turns Emily's years of loyalty into a joke. Backed into a corner by a family ready to sell her to a predatory debt collector to save their failing business, Emily is left with a devastating choice. Her doctors warn her that this is her last chance at motherhood. To keep her baby and escape her family's reach, she has to make a deal with the wolf at the door. Alistair Wolfe wants his heir. Emily wants protection. No love. No strings. Just a temporary union until the child is born. But as Emily moves into Alistair's world, she quickly learns that playing the wife of a man like Alistair is a high-stakes game where the heart is the first thing you lose.

To revenge herself on her unfaithful fiancé Kevin, Isidora hides her striking beauty behind a plain disguise, and targets his uncle - the most formidable man Kevin fears. After one reckless night, Isidora leaves cash as payment and says lightly, "You were good last night." She tries to leave quietly, but is pulled into his arms. "You think you can walk away after this?" he says, his tone low and possessive. Cedrick is a feared, untouchable titan on Wall Street - elegant, aloof, and completely uninterested in women. Not even the most beautiful socialites in the city can catch his eye. When gossip spreads that he was seen pressing a woman against a wall and kissing her fiercely, no one believes it. When the rumors name Isidora, the crowd scoffs. He rejects even the most beautiful women, so why would he notice a plain girl like her? All doubt disappears when they see the dignified Cedrick drop to one knee to help Isidora with her shoe, pleading softly for just one kiss. When Kevin finally sees Isidora's true beauty and begs for forgiveness. But Cedrick kicks him out at once, slams a marriage certificate on the table, and says sharply. "Call her Aunt."

They say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, mine didn't. I came back with a marriage certificate bearing a stranger's name, a ring worth more than my parents' love ever was, and a son whose father I've never seen, never known, never remembered. I went to Vegas for a racing competition. I won. I celebrated. And somewhere between the victory and the sunrise, my life changed forever. For six years, I've lived with the consequences of one reckless night. I built an empire. I raised my son. And I searched for the man who changed my life without even knowing it. Then fate laughed in my face. My sister married my ex-fiancé-the man I was promised to since childhood. The man I was supposed to become Mrs. Windsor for. The man who now wears my family name... and looks far too much like my child. Every time I'm near him, the past presses closer. Every glance feels like a question I'm terrified to ask. I shouldn't notice him. I shouldn't feel anything. He is my sister's husband. But some secrets refuse to stay buried. Because the truth about Vegas isn't just in the ring on my finger or the child in my arms. It's standing right in front of me. And when it finally comes out, it won't just destroy a marriage, it will burn an empire to the ground.

"You want a divorce? Fine. Complete an IVF cycle, give me an heir to unlock my trust fund, and I'll sign the papers." In the dim underground garage, my cheating husband gripped my wrist tightly, his face twisted in a mocking sneer. "Stop dreaming, Ellie. Your family is bankrupt! You think if you leave me, some Wall Street billionaire is going to be blind enough to be your knight in shining armor?" Looking at his arrogant face, I felt nothing but pure disgust. For three years of a dead marriage, he paraded his mistress into our marital bed, letting her wear my clothes and carry my bags. When I demanded a divorce, my own vain mother tried to force me back to be his incubator, all for a seven-million-dollar bribe. "I'd rather die than have your child." I looked at him coldly and slammed the "PETITION FOR DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE" right into his face. Infuriated, he tightened his grip on my arm, ready to explode. Just then, blinding LED headlights tore through the darkness of the garage. A custom black Bentley Mulsanne glided silently out of the shadows, stopping inches behind us. The tinted window rolled down, revealing a sharp, lethally handsome face. The most ruthless, untouchable billionaire on Wall Street-Cosmo James. He also happened to be my husband's former best friend. Cosmo's ice-blue eyes locked onto the hand gripping my arm. His deep voice cut through the freezing air like a blade: "Take your hands off her." Cosmo leaned slightly forward, radiating sheer, predatory authority. A cold, ruthless smirk touched his lips. "You asked which Wall Street billionaire is going to be her knight in shining armor." "It's me."

Amelia sat alone at the City Marriage Bureau, watching the clock tick down to closing time. Fifteen minutes before the doors shut, a phone call shattered her last flicker of hope. Her fiancé, Kayson, wasn't coming. He had abandoned their wedding registration because Kamila-her stepsister-had twisted her ankle. It was his ninth broken promise. When Amelia returned home, there was no comfort. Her biological mother sneered at her humiliation, shielding the stepsister while ordering Amelia to apologize to Kayson. "Who would she marry without Kayson?" her mother mocked. "Let's see how long she survives out there without his money." Meanwhile, Kayson arrogantly dismissed her absence. Finding out she had vanished, he just laughed it off with his assistant. "It's just a tantrum to force my hand," Kayson smirked. "She still can't live without me." After nine years of absolute devotion, she was nothing but a convenient placeholder to the man she loved, and a worthless joke to her own family. The suffocating weight of their betrayal finally snapped something inside her. She packed a single suitcase, threw away nine years of anniversary gifts, and permanently blocked Kayson's number. Standing in the freezing wind, she pulled out her phone and dialed the private number of Kayson's biggest, most ruthless rival. "Mr. Thornton, what you said seven months ago... does the offer to marry me still stand?" Ten minutes later, a sleek black Maybach pulled up to the curb.

SEVEN DAYS BEFORE MY WEDDING, I walked into our bedroom and found my neurosurgeon fiancé plowing my cousin on our bed. Six months later, Oliver and Vanessa are married, my humiliation is office coffee-break gossip, and I've done everything possible to disappear off the face of the earth. Then I find out my grandmother is dying. This birthday might be her last, and I refuse to let my ex take that from me too. Problem is, going means facing my own personal nightmare head-on: Oliver and Vanessa, happy and married, right in front of me, while the rest of my family looks at me like I'm a walking tragedy. That's when Simon Hart-my billionaire boss, arrogant as hell, and the only man who can irritate me, make me laugh, and dismantle every single one of my defenses in the same conversation-makes me an absolutely ridiculous proposal. "Just think about it." He spreads his hands. " You're tired of everyone pitying you. I'm rich as fuck, handsome as hell, and charming as fuck. Who's going to feel sorry for you when you show up with Simon Hart on your arm?" The problem is, he's right. I need a boyfriend to survive my grandmother's birthday weekend without turning back into the official family disaster. And Simon needs a serious girlfriend to prove to all of New York that the city's most eligible bachelor has finally settled down. It was supposed to be simple. Fake dating. Two events. Some convincing touching. Absolutely zero feelings. Until we added new terms to the agreement. No-strings sex. No jealousy. No expectations. Just sex. And it worked perfectly. Right up until everything went completely off the rails.

I carried a thermos of homemade chicken soup to the VIP lounge to surprise my husband after his ice time. But through the unlatched door, I caught him tangled naked on the sofa with Kyleigh—the "grieving sister" of a fallen teammate he claimed desperately needed our family's charity. I froze in the hallway, pressing my back against the cold concrete, only to hear something even more chilling. "What if she finds out the Nevada marriage certificate you gave her is completely fake?" Kyleigh purred. My husband scoffed, calling me a cold, arrogant idiot. He bragged that once he finished draining my family's century-old hockey trust funds into his agency's account, he would discard me. Even worse, I realized the four-year-old orphan he had begged me to sponsor was actually their biological child. Three years of my complete devotion and financial support, all built on a forged piece of paper and a calculated lie. He really thought I was just a sheltered heiress he could bleed dry and toss aside. I didn't kick the door open, and I didn't scream. Instead, I pulled out my phone, calmly recorded their naked betrayal, and dumped the three-hour soup into the trash bin. Since I was legally a single woman, I immediately called my Wall Street counsel to freeze all my offshore assets. He thought he was a mastermind, but he had no idea who he had just provoked.

I was an intern. John Carter was my billionaire boss who didn't even know I existed. On top of that, everyone knew his heart belonged to a woman from his past. I knew where I stood, so I kept my secret crush buried. Then came the company trip. One drunken night, one colossal mistake, and I woke up in his bed. Terrified and embarrassed, I packed my things and snuck out before dawn, hoping we could both just move on. Two weeks later, he called me into his office and tossed a marriage contract in front of me. He didn't marry me for love. He needed a quiet, manageable wife to satisfy his family, and I was available. Overnight, Hannah Baker became Mrs. Carter. His relatives loved me, the press couldn't get enough of us, but behind closed doors, I was invisible. He treated our marriage like an obligation and treated me like a stranger. For two years, I stayed silent and tried to win him over. I was wrong. Now I am done waiting for a man who will never see me. I took off my ring, signed the divorce papers, and packed my bags. But just as I reached for the front door handle, the husband who ignored me for years grabbed my wrist and refused to let me go.

I was Landon Mercer's secret girlfriend and loyal assistant for four years. I thought my absolute devotion would eventually win his heart. But he casually announced his engagement to a wealthy heiress, reminding me I was just a convenient nobody from an orphanage. When I got trapped in a horrific car crash and begged him to call an ambulance, he just hung up on me, annoyed that my bleeding was ruining his romantic getaway. He even blackmailed me with my orphanage's land lease, forcing me to attend his engagement party as a prop. At the party, his elite family and friends brutally humiliated me. They deliberately crushed my broken arm, poured red wine over my head, and kicked me into a freezing pond. When Landon finally pulled me out, he didn't care that I was suffocating and turning blue. "Are you out of your mind? You come out here and cause a scene during my engagement party?" He threw a stack of cash at my shivering body, furious that I had embarrassed him in front of his wealthy guests. Looking at the hundred-dollar bills floating in the muddy water, my four years of foolish love completely died. To him, I wasn't even human; I was just a cheap toy he could abuse and pass around. I didn't cry, and I didn't beg. I dragged my soaked, battered body into a car and headed straight to the penthouse of his biggest billionaire rival. It was time to burn Landon Mercer's world to the ground.