A Stranger on Her Stage
Award-winning actress Jennifer Shaw was convinced I had deliberately tipped off the paparazzi about our relationship, hoping to use the exposure to pressure her into marriage.
She grabbed my chin and splashed scalding water across my face.
"You're no different from all those men clawing their way to the top.
"You want fame? Fine. I'll make you famous. Famous enough that you won't dare show your face again."
Within days, I was blacklisted online. With a burned face and a crippled right hand, I was thrown out of her villa on a night of pouring rain.
That same evening, she walked the red carpet arm in arm with a rising young star, soaking in the thunderous applause.
I dragged my suitcase down the deserted road and disappeared into the rain.
Four years later, we crossed paths again on a parenting reality show.
She watched as I stepped onto the stage as an ordinary guest, a little girl beside me who openly rolled her eyes at her.
Her eyes reddened as she moved to block my way.
"Where did you get that child?" she demanded. "What are you trying to do?"
Completed
The Ex-Wife's Perfect Lie
Six years ago, a corporate acquisition deal I handled went up in flames, and 50 billion dollars vanished into thin air.
Bankrupt investors spray red paint all over my front door for a year straight. Dad died from a stroke, and Mom lost her mind and disappeared.
I ended up doing six years in prison for embezzlement. After I got out, I changed my name and started delivering food in downtown, running myself ragged for a few bucks per delivery.
But then my ex-wife, Shirley Pearce, showed up, and the entire delivery station ground to a halt.
She had become a financial powerhouse, a regular on the covers of business magazines.
Reporters blocked my delivery scooter, shoving microphones in my face. "Mr. Marcus Quinn, Ms. Pearce has been single for six years, paid off all your debts, and she's been waiting for you to come home!"
I stared at that perfectly made-up woman with her adoring eyes and felt nothing but disgust.
That so-called "devoted" ex-wife of mine? Six years ago, she had forged company seals to help her boy toy short the stock market. Then, when everything fell apart, she threw me under the bus to save herself.
Completed
I Was Hired To Break Up My Own Relationship
I had a unique profession. I was a breakup specialist.
I did not need to go to court or write any contracts for that. That was a lawyer’s job.
Everyone kept saying that love was priceless, but a couple who professed their love to each other for an entire night could be paying me tons to break their relationship up the following day.
I was shaking my head upon those matters when I received a message from my husband, Matthew Grant, asking me to pick our wedding anniversary’s destination.
A few seconds after that, a beautiful woman walked into my office.
She appeared timid and had to take a lot of time to summon the courage to speak. “I’d like to hire your services for my boyfriend. He has decided to divorce his wife.”
I made no comment as I picked up the documents she had handed me, only to see Matthew’s name on the paper.
I froze, while the woman sitting in front of me ducked her head and continued, “My boyfriend says that his wife is a good person and that he doesn’t want to hurt her.”
I smiled as I stared at the picture; it clearly was Matthew, but I had the strange feeling of seeing a foreign person too.
My heart throbbed, and I could only lament. This was my third year as a breakup specialist, and I was actually hired to break up my own relationship.
Completed
Sunset Over an Empty World
At our wedding, Toby Webb, the impoverished student my fiancee, Elvira Britton, has been sponsoring, barges into the venue while wailing at the top of his lungs.
"Elvira, a wasp has stung me down there! Does this mean I won't be able to…"
Elvira doesn't hesitate to ditch all the guests and me in favor of whisking Toby away.
I quickly grab her wrist and suggest to her that we should finish the ceremony first before finding a doctor to save Toby. But she reacts by shoving me to the floor instead with an enraged look on her face.
"Wallace Cochran, if you truly loved me, you wouldn't stop me at this time!"
After that, she quickly takes Toby to the lounge in the wedding venue.
By the time I arrive at the lounge, I witness Elvira straddling Toby. The very same woman, who had once promised me that she'd preserve her virginity for our wedding night, can be seen glaring at me angrily.
"Toby's condition is very severe, you know! How am I supposed to sit by and watch him suffer? It's just virginity, isn't it? Since you want it that badly, I can just get myself repaired and let you try again, can't I?"
Completed
My Fiancee Stole My Billion-Dollar Project
After Celine Anderson let her newly-promoted assistant take credit for my billion-dollar project for the ninth time, I handed in my resignation letter.
I also refused to show up in the same place as her.
Whenever she was interviewed by talk shows as a public figure, I would switch off all the screens in the building.
I also got the security guard to stop her from entering even if she brought me a cup of coffee in the middle of a tornado.
To see me, she purposely rescheduled three virtual meetings with foreign companies. So, I immediately bought air tickets to leave the country.
I blocked her everywhere and formatted the hard disk that contained all of our memories from the past decade.
When I was twenty, I studied with her in the university library. When I was twenty-five, I ate the cheapest bread with her when she first started her company. When I was thirty, I finally knew how to let go of things that no longer serve me.
On the ninth time I was accused of sleeping my way up, I came across a photo of her and her assistant kissing. Meanwhile, I was sitting at our dining table with food that had turned cold.
It turned out that our decade-long relationship had been a joke.
However, it was fine. It was not too late to come to my senses.
Completed
I Only Needed Your Face
After the doctor confirmed her pregnancy, the first thing Eliza Lockett did was ask her lawyer to draft a divorce agreement.
"Ms. Lockett, once both parties sign, the marriage will automatically dissolve after the 30-day cooling-off period."
Eliza's expression did not change. "Can I sign his name for him?"
The lawyer hesitated, then quickly shook his head. "No. He must appear in person."
"He agrees to the divorce," she said evenly. "He's just busy with work and can't come. If you don't believe me, I'll call him now and let you hear it yourself."
She took out her phone and dialed Alban Sidham.
"Alban, there's something I need to talk to you about—"
He cut her off before she could finish. His voice was cold and edged with impatience. "Didn't I tell you to handle your own affairs? I don't have time for your trivial matters."
Completed
She Chose His Scooter Over My Sportscar
On Valentine's Day, I paid in full for a sports car and gave it to my wife as a gift.
But when my wife arrived at the private dining restaurant, she brought her parents—and her childhood sweetheart—along with her.
The moment my mother-in-law saw it, she slammed her hand on the table, furious.
"Tyler, do you have so much money that it's burning a hole in your pocket? Is all this really necessary just for a meal?
"Megan pinches every penny at home, and here you are throwing money around outside—just to show off?"
Embarrassed, I tried to explain that this was simply a token of my love for Megan.
My father-in-law, however, kept a stern face.
"No matter how expensive the car is, it's still going to get stuck in traffic during rush hour! It's not even as useful as the electric scooter Brandon gave her. If you ask me, you didn't put any real thought into this.
"Oh, right. I heard the salesperson who sold you the car was introduced by Brandon. How exactly are you planning to repay that favor? No matter how busy you are with work, you can't just push everything onto Brandon to handle for you."
I could hear the hidden meaning behind his words.
So that was what this was really about.
They were still holding a grudge because a week ago, when my father-in-law had twisted his back, I hadn't gone to the hospital to visit him.
But at the time, I had been busy cleaning up the mess Brandon Hayes had caused for the company.
I'd even kept him out of prison.
Yet, instead of gratitude, they were turning the blame on me.
After a long silence, my wife finally looked at me.
"Tyler, transfer ten percent of the company's shares to Brandon as repayment."
"And if I don't?"
My father-in-law barked angrily, "Then I'll have Megan divorce you!"
I laughed.
Then I calmly pulled a divorce agreement from my pocket and placed it on the table.
"Go ahead," I said. "Sign it."
Completed
Billionaire Begged Abandoned Ex-Wife Back
One of Ethan Sterling's closest friends got drunk and humiliated me. Called me a nobody orphan who married above her station, said I'd never be accepted by the Sterlings, that I wasn't fit to sit at their table. Ethan smashed a bottle over the man's head.
He announced in front of everyone that if anyone ever disrespected me again, he'd make them pay.
When I was pregnant and the morning sickness was so brutal I couldn't keep anything down, he went and scheduled a vasectomy. He didn't want me to suffer through another pregnancy.
This was a man who loved me like I was his whole world.
And yet — when I was lying on the operating table about to give birth, he was standing right in front of me with his arms around Iris, putting on a show for anyone watching.
Iris was the daughter of another old-money family and she'd donated bone marrow to save Ethan's mother's life.
The night before her own engagement, her fiance betrayed her, and the trauma wiped her memory clean. Now the only thing she knew for certain was that Ethan Sterling was her husband.
In her world, I was the homewrecker — the scheming woman using the bastard in her belly to force her husband into a divorce.
Ethan promised me it was all an act. Just repaying the debt for his mother's life. Once Iris recovered, he'd walk away from her immediately.
But when I picked up the surgical consent form for him to sign, and his first instinct was to pull Iris behind him — to shield her — I knew.
His heart had already drifted off course.
The fairy tale of a Cinderella marrying into high society was over. Time to wake up.
Completed
A Billionaire’s Final Warning
During the school holidays, I took my daughter to a park. I had barely entered the park entrance with my daughter when a supercar crossed the solid line and rear-ended us.
The man who jumped out came storming toward me, furious.
"Do you even know how to drive? Do you know how much this car costs? You can't afford it even if you went bankrupt!"
I was about to argue back since he was clearly the one breaking traffic rules.
But I froze.
That car looked painfully familiar.
Wasn't that the supercar my mother gave me the first year I took over the Milton Group?
Even the license plate was identical.
My wife, Hazel Bishop, had told me the engine was broken and that she'd sent it to the dealership for repairs.
I met the man's arrogant stare. "Is this car really yours?"
He paused, then grinned smugly.
"My wife bought it for me. It's limited-edition. Someone like you wouldn't understand. Go call your family and sell your house. You owe me 200 thousand dollars."
Sneering, he added, "Don't try anything clever. My wife's the GM of Milton Group. She has serious connections. She'll be here any minute."
I let out a cold laugh.
So Hazel canceled on our daughter today, not because of a business meeting, but because she was out spending the holiday with her lover and his kid instead.
Completed
Where the Wind Lost Its Shore
Everyone said Colton Jones loved Whitney Thompson more than life itself. He had spent ten years pursuing her and cherishing her. If she furrowed her brow, he would worry over it for hours.
Yet this same Colton betrayed her three times.
The first time, he was drugged by a business rival at a corporate gala and spent the night with a female college student.
The day Whitney asked for a divorce, he arranged for the young woman to be sent overseas overnight. Then he stood outside Whitney's apartment building in the pouring rain for three days and three nights.
"I was wrong, Whitney," he said. "Please, forgive me just this once."
Whitney looked at his pale face, and her heart softened.
Completed