The Prenup: Her Revenge

For seven years, I traded my crown for a quiet life with the man I loved, Harrison. I gave up my kingdom, my family, and my name, believing our love was enough. But on our son Colt's fifth birthday, he publicly announced his engagement to a pregnant socialite, calling their unborn child his "true heir." His mother then stormed into our home, calling my son a "mistake" and a "stain" that needed to be cleansed before her son's new life could begin. My little boy, his heart shattered, looked up at me. "Mama," he whispered, "am I really a mistake?" That's when I remembered I wasn't just a discarded wife. I was a princess who had given up her throne. I picked up the phone and called my father, the king. "I'm coming home," I told him. "And I'm bringing your grandson."

For seven years, I used my inheritance to sponsor my college crush. I took Keegan Valdez, a brilliant but disgraced student working as a bartender, and turned him into a Silicon Valley billionaire. We lived together, and I was the fool who believed our transactional relationship was love. Then his childhood sweetheart, Cora, came back. The humiliation was public and swift. At a charity auction, he outbid me for a two-million-dollar necklace, fastening it around her neck for everyone to see. That same night, he rescued me after I was drugged and nearly assaulted, only to abandon me in a hotel room because Cora called with a fake emergency about a stuck shower door. But the final nail in the coffin came after a car hit me. As I lay bleeding in the ER, the nurse called him for consent for my emergency surgery. I heard his voice on the phone, cold and irritated. "I'm comforting my girlfriend," he said. "Whatever happens to her is not my concern." The line went dead. The man I had built from nothing had just left me to die. With a trembling hand, I signed the consent form myself. Then I made another call. "Edwin," I whispered to the man who had proposed to me a year ago. "About that wedding... are you still interested?"

My world used to be painted in bright, vibrant colors, filled with the easy comfort of a lifelong friendship blossoming into love with Liam. We were finally a couple, and the future felt golden, a masterpiece I was eager to create. Then, a casual scroll through a local gossip forum shattered everything. A blurry photo, a familiar gray hoodie, Liam' s arm around another girl – the headline, "Local Guy Juggling Two Girls?" screamed off the screen. The post detailed a canceled trip with me, replaced by a romantic getaway with her, along with cruel, precise details of our life together. My mind reeled as Liam' s voice, smooth and warm, denied everything, a faint girl' s voice in the background confirming his lies. It wasn't just a lie; it was a complete betrayal, twisting our shared history into something ugly and unrecognizable. Later, Eleanor, Liam' s mom, called, frantic because Liam was missing from a family dinner - a family dinner I was at, helping set up. My phone buzzed again, revealing an Instagram story from the 'other woman,' Brittany, showing Liam laughing, declining his mother' s call with a smug, "No interruptions on our weekend getaway! ;)" A cold, hard clarity washed over me: Liam wasn't just a cheat; he was a selfish, careless boy who would burn down his whole life for a little attention. Then, the unthinkable happened. Liam' s parents, searching for him in the pouring rain, were in a horrific car accident, his father, Mark, left fighting for his life, his mother hysterical. How could he be so reckless, so utterly blind to the consequences of his actions, while his family faced such a devastating cost? The time for protecting anyone's feelings was over.

The biting wind was a familiar friend, a stark contrast to the burning rage that had consumed me before I died. I remembered the lavish coming-out party for Chloe, the daughter I had poured eighteen years of love and wealth into. She stood on stage, under glittering chandeliers, and pointed to a famous actress, declaring her as her real mother. "My achievements are all thanks to my parents\' superior genes," Chloe' s voice, dripping with contempt, echoed in my memory. "You had nothing to do with it. You robbed me of eighteen years of mother-daughter bonding!" The crowd' s judgment turned into a torrent, fueled by my ex-boyfriend and Chloe' s biological father, Mark, who stood beside the actress, smirking. They had conspired to ruin me, take my company, and silence me forever. And they almost succeeded. They drove me to my death, celebrating as they moved into the home I had built. I died, consumed by betrayal and injustice, wondering why the world had allowed such a vile family to flourish at my expense. But then, I was back. Back to the very day it all began. The day Mark first brought a baby to my door, expecting me to clean up his mess. This time, things would be different.

Ava Chen stood beside Julian Vance, tech billionaire, her fiancé. Tonight was their engagement announcement at a dazzling Silicon Valley gala. Everything seemed picture-perfect. Then, the ballroom doors opened, and in walked Seraphina Reed, Julian' s ex, the "White Redwood." Julian froze, dropping Ava' s hand, and sprinted towards Seraphina, leaving Ava abandoned on the dais. The engagement was "indefinitely postponed," as Ava watched Julian devour Seraphina with his eyes. Ava realized she was merely a substitute, a colder version of the woman Julian truly wanted. Her loyal assistant, Maya, was killed in a hit-and-run, orchestrated by Julian and Seraphina. Her diplomat father and journalist brother were publicly disgraced, their reputations ruined by Julian' s fabricated scandal. Imprisoned in a gilded cage, she endured relentless torment. Her college sweetheart, Liam, her only hope, was shot dead during a rescue attempt by Julian. The world had stolen everything: love, family, freedom, hope, and even a child she never knew she had, lost due to Julian' s violence. How could one man inflict such brutal, calculated destruction? Her despair hardened into an icy, unyielding will. With Liam's final whispered password, Ava found a way to turn her pain into power. She would dismantle Julian' s empire, piece by agonizing piece. This wasn't just survival; this was war.

I was reborn, back in a sterile hospital room, clutching my swollen belly, desperately fighting the excruciating pain of labor. My aim: to delay the birth of my twins, believing that if Chloe' s child was born first, Ethan might spare mine. But my husband, Ethan Sterling, was a pawn in a cruel game. He was convinced by his manipulative mistress, Chloe Evans, that I was a monstrous villain from our past life, deserving of only destruction. He was already celebrating Chloe's son, declared his heir, while I lay in agony. My desperate sacrifice was in vain. I was forcibly dragged from the hospital mid-labor, compelled to ingest a miscarriage-inducing tonic, then brutally beaten and publicly shamed. Bleeding profusely, I heard the devastating news: my innocent father had been murdered by Ethan's command. One of my precious twins was already gone, a silent casualty of their monstrous deceit. Imprisoned in a frigid cellar, dying a slow, painful death, I couldn' t grasp how the man I once loved could be so utterly blind, so consumed by a delusion that he would destroy everything, even his own family. The injustice was an unbearable weight, yet the terrifying question remained: how could he not see Chloe's wicked lies? Yet, a twisted fate intervened. On the brink of death, my supposed demise shockingly exposed Chloe' s elaborate fraud to Ethan. Consumed by a horrifying, soul-crushing regret, he sought his own form of brutal justice: orchestrating a fiery explosion that consumed Chloe, her child, and himself. I miraculously survived, with one last, living son. Now, I am relentlessly building a new life, refusing all traces of the Sterling curse, choosing absolute freedom over a tainted fortune that once cost me everything.