Chapter: Chapter 82: Something More ImportantCaroline's smile softened with satisfaction.“I'm sure Devon will make it up to you. The doctor has been very particular about this review, and naturally, I would feel better with him beside me.”The dining-room doors opened again.Devon entered wearing dark trousers and a black crew-neck sweater instead of a business suit. He had not brought his phone to the table. His gaze moved first to Romy, then to Caroline and the maternity folder beside her plate.He stopped.“Why are you here?”Caroline set down her cup. “Our appointment is at nine-thirty. I thought it would be easier if we left together.”Devon crossed to the table but did not take the chair beside her.“You have an appointment at nine-thirty,” he said. “I never agreed to attend it.”The satisfaction disappeared from Caroline's face so quickly that Romy almost doubted she had seen it.Caroline's fingers closed around the handle of her cup. “You knew what I meant when I called.”“Yes. You told me I would be there and ended the
Last Updated: 2026-08-27
Chapter: Chapter 81: Doll Kept On The ShelfCaroline arrived at Kensington Manor before eight on Saturday morning.The dining room had been laid for two.She noticed that before she noticed anything else.Two cups stood near one end of the long table instead of being separated by the formal distance the Kensington family usually preferred. The flowers between them were the same low white arrangements used the night before. One candle had burned lower than the others, leaving a shallow pool of wax around its silver holder.Someone had eaten dinner here as a couple.The young footman who admitted Caroline had looked uncertain when she walked toward the dining room without waiting to be announced. She told him, truthfully, that Devon knew about her nine-thirty appointment. Mercy arrived a moment later and directed a third place to be set without offering the warmth Caroline normally received from Kensington staff.Caroline chose the chair to Devon's right.She placed the maternity clinic folder beside her plate and aligned it care
Last Updated: 2026-08-27
Chapter: Chapter 80: The Place Beside HimRomy hung the towel over the back of a chair and crossed to the bed.The mattress shifted when she climbed onto her usual side. She drew the duvet over her legs, aware of how little space remained between them compared with every other night.Devon did not reopen the magazine.He was looking at her carefully.Romy touched the side of her face. “Is something wrong?”“No.”His gaze moved over the damp ends of her hair, the color in her cheeks, and the bare skin above the collar of her nightdress.“You look different.”Her hand lowered. “Different how?”Devon considered the question with the seriousness he might have given a figure in a financial report.“Healthier,” he said at last. “Brighter.”Romy waited.“There is a shine to you that wasn't there before.” His thumb moved once along the edge of the closed magazine. “During the last three years, you sometimes looked like a plant kept too long in a room without sunlight. Since you started training again, it is as if someone opened the c
Last Updated: 2026-08-27
Chapter: Chapter 79: Where the Line Had BeenBy the time Devon and Romy returned to the master suite, steam had already clouded the lower half of the bathroom mirrors.The door stood open. Warm air drifted into the bedroom, carrying the scent of peony and red apple softened by something warmer underneath. A folded robe rested on the bench beside the bath. Fresh towels had been placed within reach, and a glass carafe of water waited on the stone ledge.Romy stopped just inside the room.The bath had been filled to the level she preferred, deep enough to cover her shoulders without spilling over the rim. Even the temperature in the suite had been raised slightly so the air outside the water would not feel cold against tired muscles.“Mercy prepared it five minutes ago,” Devon said behind her. “The water should still be right.”Romy looked back at him. “You asked her to do this?”“You trained all week and raced this afternoon.” His gaze moved briefly to the shoulder she had rolled twice while walking down the corridor. “I assumed y
Last Updated: 2026-08-27
Chapter: Chapter 78: Her Choice“Den,” Jordan called through the water. “Which one of us do you think she’ll choose?”The words might have been a joke. They might have been terror wearing the only voice Jordan knew how to give it.Romy answered with the direction of her body.She swam toward Devon.He had already begun to sink by the time she reached him. One of her arms locked beneath his shoulder and forced his face above the surface.“Relax,” she ordered. “Kick. Breathe. Hold my shoulder, not my neck.”Devon coughed and tried to turn.Beyond her, Jordan’s red-brown hair appeared and disappeared between the waves. A life ring floated several yards from him, but every movement of the sea carried it farther away.“My friend,” Devon gasped. “There’s another—Jordan—”Romy tightened her hold as he struggled.“I know.”“Go back.”“If I release you, you’ll sink.”“Jordan—”“I can keep one person alive until the rescue boat reaches us,” she said. “Only one.”There was no cruelty in her voice. Only the brutal calculation o
Last Updated: 2026-08-26
Chapter: Chapter 77: A Deeper TruthFor several minutes, Devon stared at Jordan’s photograph without moving.Then he opened the bottom drawer of his desk.The drawer appeared shallow, but his thumb found the concealed catch beneath its edge. A second compartment released with a quiet click.Inside were more photographs.Devon had locked them away after his father’s funeral. At the time, he had told himself that grief was easier to manage when it had a proper place. The photographs had remained there for three years, arranged with the same precision he applied to documents he could not destroy but had no wish to see.He lifted the first stack.Jordan appeared in almost every image.On the football field with mud across one cheek. At a school dinner with his bow tie crooked. Standing between Devon and Caroline on the steps of the Thorne home, one arm around his sister and the other raised behind Devon’s head.Jordan had been more than a childhood friend. He had been the brother Devon never had.The Kensington family had o
Last Updated: 2026-08-26
My Husband's Unwanted Wife
She married him because of a contract.
He married her because she was convenient.
To the world, Alice Neighley is the perfect wife—graceful, obedient, invisible. Married to a powerful heir, she lives in a luxurious cage built on indifference and silence. Her husband never touches her heart, never defends her position, and never hides the truth: she was never the woman he wanted.
When his first love returns, Alice becomes a placeholder—easy to replace, easier to discard. Even worse, the betrayal doesn’t come only from her husband, but from the people she once called family.
But Alice is done begging for love.
As the contract nears its end, secrets surface, loyalties shatter, and the woman everyone underestimated begins to wake up. She will walk away from the marriage they thought defined her—and from the man who believed she would never leave.
What they don’t know is this:
Alice is no longer the wife he never wanted.
She is the one he will never get back.
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Chapter: Chapter 107Emily’s POVThe house was quiet except for the soft sounds of a newborn breathing.Emily sat in the wide armchair near the window, sunlight pouring across the wooden floor and warming the pale blanket wrapped around the tiny bundle in her arms. The countryside outside their home stretched in gentle hills and trees just beginning to turn gold with autumn. It was peaceful in a way the city had never been.She looked down at the baby and smiled.Hope’s tiny hand curled around her finger with surprising strength.“Well,” Emily whispered softly, “you certainly made quite an entrance into the world.”Hope made a small sleepy sound but didn’t wake.Emily laughed quietly.“I promise your life will be calmer than the one I had before you arrived.”Footsteps sounded in the hallway and Sam appeared in the doorway, holding two mugs of tea. His hair was slightly messy and his shirt sleeves were rolled up, looking far more like a new father than the intimidating figure many people still associated
Last Updated: 2026-03-06
Chapter: Chapter 106Emily’s POVEmily had never expected happiness to feel this calm.For so long, love had meant tension. It meant wondering what mood David would be in when he walked through the door. It meant carefully choosing words so she wouldn’t provoke a cold silence or a cutting remark. It meant pretending not to notice the way his attention always drifted toward Lily.But with Arlington—Sam, though she still kept that name locked safely in her thoughts—everything felt different.It felt easy.That morning the apartment was quiet except for the sound of coffee brewing. Emily sat at the kitchen table with a notebook open in front of her, though she hadn’t written anything yet. She was staring at the window, lost in thought.“Planning the future?” Sam’s voice asked.She turned to see him leaning against the doorway, sleeves rolled up, tie loosened, hair still slightly damp from the shower.“Maybe,” she said with a small smile.He poured himself coffee and joined her at the table. “Should I be conc
Last Updated: 2026-03-06
Chapter: Chapter 105David’s POVThe Neighley mansion had always been impressive, but that evening it felt warm in a way David hadn’t noticed in years. The lights in the main hall glowed softly and the scent of something savory drifted from the dining room. When he stepped through the doorway after a long day at the office, he loosened his tie and exhaled slowly, already feeling the weight of the day begin to lift.“Lily?” he called out.“In here,” her voice replied.David followed the sound and stopped in the dining room doorway. The long formal table that normally seated twenty people had been abandoned in favor of a small table near the windows overlooking the garden. Candles flickered softly between two plates, and a bottle of wine rested in a silver bucket. Lily stood beside the table adjusting the flowers in a small vase, her hair falling in soft waves over a pale blue dress that made her look almost ethereal in the candlelight.He leaned against the doorframe and smiled. “What is all this?”She loo
Last Updated: 2026-03-06
Chapter: Chapter 104Emily’s POVEmily stood in front of the bedroom mirror longer than she wanted to admit.The soft lamp light cast warm shadows across the room, but her eyes kept drifting downward to the curve of her stomach. It was still small, still easy to hide under the right clothes, but it was no longer something she could pretend didn’t exist. The fabric of her dress hugged her a little differently now.She turned sideways, studying herself.“Okay,” she muttered quietly. “You’re still cute.”Her reflection looked back skeptically.She had chosen a deep green wrap dress that adjusted gently around her waist. It flowed rather than clung, flattering without trying too hard. The neckline framed her collarbone, and she’d left her hair down in soft waves that brushed her shoulders. Simple gold earrings completed the look.Emily ran her hands down the sides of the dress.“I want to look beautiful tonight,” she whispered to herself.Not perfect. Not flawless. Just beautiful.A knock came from the living
Last Updated: 2026-03-06
Chapter: Chapter 103Arlington’s POVThe apartment was quiet when Sam pushed the door open.He paused just inside the entryway, listening to the soft hum of the refrigerator and the faint city noise leaking through the windows. The place smelled like coffee and the citrus cleaner Adam liked to use on the counters. It felt strangely domestic for three people who had been thrown together by circumstance more than planning.Adam was at the hospital, working the late shift.That meant Emily was here alone.Sam loosened his tie as he walked further inside, shrugging off his jacket and hanging it by the door. The tension from the meeting with Lily still lingered in his shoulders like a storm he hadn’t fully shaken.He hated trusting her.But if she actually stepped back the way she promised, it might give Emily the breathing room she needed.And if she didn’t… well, that was a problem Sam knew how to solve.He heard movement in the kitchen.Emily stood by the counter, one hand resting on the small of her back,
Last Updated: 2026-03-06
Chapter: Chapter 102Arlington’s POVThe café smelled like burnt sugar and coffee grounds.Sam Black arrived twenty minutes early.He always did.The place looked like any other quiet neighborhood café, brick walls, soft music, mismatched tables that suggested charming authenticity. To anyone else it was forgettable. To Sam it was infrastructure.His family owned the building, the neighboring laundromat, and the storage warehouse across the alley. The café itself barely turned a profit. That wasn’t the point.It was safe.He took the corner table facing the door and watched the street through the reflection in the window.Lily McCutchen arrived precisely on time.She walked in like she belonged everywhere she stepped, sunglasses still on even though the café lighting was dim. Her gaze found him immediately. She slid into the seat across from him without greeting.“You look different when someone calls you Sam Black,” she said lightly.Sam didn’t smile.“You’re early,” he said instead.“Curious,” Lily repl
Last Updated: 2026-03-06
After Divorce, Billionaires Competed Over Me
After five years of marriage, Melody finally realized—she had never truly married anyone.
The marriage certificate was forged. Her husband, Adam, was legally wed to her best friend, Lily. And Melody? She had been the most innocent pawn in a meticulously crafted deception.
The betrayals didn’t stop there. Her supposed infertility was a lie, and the child she had poured her love into raising was, in fact, Adam and Lily’s biological son. Five years of devotion—through their eyes, she had served only three purposes: a free housekeeper, a cheap business partner, and a disposable pawn.
She had believed in love. That, above all, was her greatest folly.
Yet Melody didn’t break. She didn’t cry, and she didn’t beg. Instead, she turned her gaze to the man who struck fear into the entire business world—Kiel Summers. Rumor had it he was ruthless, even deadly, and that any woman who became his companion ended up either dead or insane.
Still, she walked into his office—and struck a deal.
She offered him dignity; he offered her protection. Each got what they needed, with no promises of love.
A cold, enigmatic man in a world full of danger. A clear-eyed, independent woman, scarred by betrayal yet still capable of kindness.
Two broken souls, sharing the same fortress, bound by a single contract.
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Chapter: Chapter 77: The ‘D’ WordKeal’s POVMy heart dropped. My blood froze. I stared at Melody in utter disbelief.Divorce?That’s why she was here? To tell me to start the divorce papers? To say I was stunned was an understatement.I slowly sunk into my chair. Melody’s eyes remained fixed on mine, her face stoic.I
Last Updated: 2026-05-28
Chapter: Chapter 76: An Unlikely ApologyMelody‘s POVKeal’s receptionist buzzed me in. My high heels clicked across the floor as I made my way to his office, his lunch bag in my hand.The maid said he hadn’t returned home the night before. I found that odd, since he’d left the bar with Celeste. I wondered where he had gone. But then I shook my head.Keal’s personal life was no longer any of my business.When I entered Keal’s office, I was surprised to see C
Last Updated: 2026-05-27
Chapter: Chapter 75: Tarnished ReputationsMelody’s POVI came to my senses. Snapping back to the present, I pushed Keal away from me. My hands flew up to my lips. I couldn’t believe what he’d just done. Why had he kissed me like that, in the middle of the bar.Glancing around, I saw people holding their phones, their cameras pointed at us. For a moment, I’d lost myself in his kiss. But the moment was short-lived.Keal Summers had no right to kiss me.Glaring at him, I wi
Last Updated: 2026-05-26
Chapter: Chapter 74: Leaving AdamAdam‘s POVMy eyes were glued to the television screen. Without even looking at the bottle, I poured myself another drink and swigged it back.Stunned, I watched Keal grab her in the middle of that crowded bar and kiss her. My stomach turned. The scene was all over social media and the news. I couldn’t escape the headlines.Every time I turned on my phone, there they were, lip-locked. Every channel kept playing different versions of the same story. Their kiss had become a media sensation. Everyone was fixated with the ‘Kea
Last Updated: 2026-05-25
Chapter: Chapter 73: Public ScandalMelody‘s POVI felt someone wrap their arms around my waist. It caught me off-guard. He pulled me in close. I recognized his voice immediately.Keal hissed a threat at the man I’d been dancing with. The man immediately backed off.“No harm, no foul,” the man said, holding up his hands defensively. “I didn’t know she was married.”“Leave. Now,” Keal said, his voice laced with anger. Stunne
Last Updated: 2026-05-24
Chapter: Chapter 72: Back Off, She’s MineKeal‘s POVMy friends had insisted I come out to some opening of some new bar. I really hadn’t felt up to it, but eventually I’d relented. Celeste’s surprise return had thrown me for a loop and it was weighing heavily on me.I still wasn’t sure what to do about it. I’d asked my butler to let the maids know that no one was supposed to agitate Celeste. She’d burned down an entire hospital. Who knew what she would do if we upset her. It was a delicate situation, and I had to approach it as such.I had no intentions of l
Last Updated: 2026-05-23
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