How Does Bernard'S Watch End?

On our wedding day, my bride insists on wearing an old, beat-up watch with the million-dollar wedding dress I buy her. I call off the wedding on the spot. She looks at me in shock. "You called off the wedding just because of a watch?" I take out the divorce agreement and tell her to sign. "Yes. Because of that watch." Everyone calls me crazy. They cannot believe I would end a ten-year relationship over something so worthless and file for divorce in front of everyone. Dad walks up and slaps me across the face. "Get on your knees, you disgrace." My mother-in-law shrieks that I have ruined her daughter's future by returning her like damaged goods. I look at the watch on her wrist, which is stopped at 3:07, and I smile. Then, I phone my assistant. "It's time. Release everything. I want a divorce."

Maya de Cruz thought the worst thing that could happen before her wedding was catching her fiancé cheating on her. She was wrong. One reckless night with Rhysand Bernadi, her fiancé’s dangerous older brother, changed the course of her entire life. By morning, Maya disappeared without a word, carrying a secret powerful enough to destroy two old-money families. Five years later, Maya has rebuilt herself in Los Angeles as the owner of De Cruz Atelier, a luxury event company trusted by celebrities, billionaires, and people rich enough to turn scandals into PR strategy. Her life is controlled, successful, and carefully protected around the one thing that matters most: her son, Aiden. Then Maya is hired for the biggest project of her career. Designing Rhysand Bernadi’s wedding. Rhysand is no longer the reckless heir she left behind in Hawaii. He’s colder now. More powerful. More dangerous. And the moment he sees Maya again, it becomes painfully clear that neither of them ever truly moved on. As old attraction resurfaces, family tensions explode, and anonymous threats begin appearing around Maya’s life, the past she buried starts clawing its way back to the surface. Because someone knows what happened five years ago. And someone has been watching Maya for much longer than she realizes. The problem is no longer just the wedding. It’s the little boy with Rhysand’s eyes.

Claire Hart loved her husband, Fabian Arrow, for seven years with unwavering devotion. She believed their quiet marriage—free of passion but rich in stability—was built on mutual trust and unspoken understanding. Even when affection faded into routine, Claire convinced herself that love did not need to be loud to be real. She was wrong. On the day everything finally fractures, Claire discovers that Fabian has been secretly reconnecting with his first love, Maxine Wells. What begins as emotional distance soon reveals itself as betrayal—but the deepest wound comes from an innocent voice. Claire overhears her young daughter, Susie, wishing that Maxine were her real mother, and Maxine calmly promising to make that wish come true. In that moment, Claire reaches her breaking point. Without confrontation or drama, she walks away from a marriage she fought alone to save. What she leaves behind is not just a husband, but a life built on silent endurance and misplaced hope. As Fabian slowly realizes that love is not something that can be replaced or postponed, regret comes too late. Claire, determined to reclaim herself, crosses paths once more with Aaron White—a man from her past who once loved her deeply and never truly let her go. With Aaron, Claire begins to understand what love looks like when it is patient, present, and chosen every day. Torn between a past that broke her and a future that promises healing, Claire must decide whether love deserves a second chance—or whether the bravest choice is to let go and move forward. After the Breaking Point is a poignant story of betrayal, self-worth, and rediscovering love after loss, proving that sometimes the end of one love story is the beginning of a far greater one.

On Valentine's Day, my wife gave her late sister's widower a fifty-two-thousand-dollar Rolex. "Marcus, my sister may be gone, but that does not mean you should go without the things other men have." Marcus took the watch with barely hidden excitement. "From now on, my son and I will depend on you." My wife thumped her chest and promised she would be his and his son's support from now on. I watched the two of them cling to each other and said calmly, "Ines Sutherland, I want a divorce." She frowned at me. "It is just a watch. What are you jealous about this time?" I smiled faintly and handed over the divorce agreement. "Sign it. Then you can take care of Marcus with a clear conscience."

Once upon a time, Leonard truly loved me. In order to establish a Mate Bond with me, he confessed 99 times. On the 99th time, I was finally moved. On the day of our Marking Ceremony, I gave him 99 forgiveness coupons. I promised him that I would forgive him 99 times. As long as he still had coupons left over, I would forgive him and stay with him no matter what he did. We were bonded for six years. In the first five years of our Mate Bond, I rarely ever used the forgiveness coupons. Since his childhood friend Judy returned, however, I started burning through the coupons. When I tore up the 98th coupon, Leonard noticed that I had changed. I no longer made a fuss or fought him over Judy. I simply asked him calmly, “If you go to Judy, can I use up one forgiveness coupon?” Leonard paused and then recovered his cool. “Sure. I only used up slightly over half, so use another if you want.” I stayed silent as he left the house. As it turned out, he had no idea he had just lost his 98th coupon. He only had one chance left. After that, I would leave him forever.

After five years in a marriage without intimacy, I finally called my wife, Suzanna Jones, the youngest commander in the military, and asked her to spend the night with me. Five hundred and twenty times. That was how many times we had been interrupted over the years. Every time we came close to being together, an urgent call from her widowed brother‑in‑law, Eric Gibson, pulled her away before anything could happen. Then, on our wedding anniversary, Suzanna promised she would finally give me the perfect wedding night we never had. I held her by the waist and was about to cross the final line between us when Eric’s ringtone shattered the moment. “Suzanna… I was injured in an explosion down there. What if I am crippled for life…?” Panic filled her face. She pushed me aside and rushed for the door. I grabbed her wrist and tried to stop her. “Send him to the military hospital first.” She turned on me with anger and slapped me across the face. “Shane! Eric is seriously hurt! How can you be this heartless?” She pulled on her dress and ran out. When I caught up with her, the sight in front of me stopped me cold. The woman who once promised to give me her first night was wrapped around Eric in a position far more intimate than anything she had ever shared with me. When I asked for an explanation, she looked calm and unbothered. “Eric is in critical condition. Was I supposed to stand there and do nothing? It is not that important. If it bothers you that much, I can fix it later.” Something inside me went numb. For five years, I had been the only one trying to hold our marriage together. At that moment, I realized I was exhausted from fighting for something that had ended long ago.