Are There Books Like 'The No Show' With Similar Themes?

I married a man who loved my step-sister. Our marriage was a contract—cold, clinical, temporary. No love. No expectations. And above all, no pregnancy. I told myself I could endure it. That loving him quietly, faithfully, invisibly, would one day be enough. I was wrong. For four years, I lived as a ghost in my own marriage—watching the man I loved choose her, again and again. I sacrificed my pride, my dreams, and my voice, waiting for him to see me. Then I discovered I was pregnant. I had broken the contract. But more than that, I had broken myself. So I left. Years later, I am no longer the woman who begged for scraps of affection. I am powerful, independent, whole. I rebuilt my life, reclaimed my stolen legacy, and became the woman I was always meant to be. Now, the man who once overlooked me stands at my door, desperate for answers—about the son he never knew existed, about the woman he destroyed, about the love he threw away. But some love is realized too late. When the woman you ignored becomes the one you can’t have, and the child you never wanted becomes your only chance at redemption—can a heart that never chose you suddenly deserve a second chance?

After Pierce Emery and I got back together, I started "renting him out." Every time his old flame, Daphne Roach, called him away, I stopped crying and causing scenes like before. I charged by the hour instead. Ten grand an hour during the day. Twenty at night. Triple on holidays. Three months later, my account was up almost two million dollars. Pierce had promised to help me pick a dress for a banquet, but Daphne called him crying, saying she'd sliced her hand while cooking. I didn't even look up. I just held out my phone with the payment screen open. One night, I came down with a brutal fever. While Pierce was driving me to the hospital, his phone rang again. Daphne. He stared at the screen for a long second before answering. Her voice came through shaky and tearful. "Pierce, the thunder's so loud. I can't sleep. Can you come stay with me?" I quietly pulled out an umbrella and told him to let me out at the next intersection. He looked at me like he wanted to explain something, but I just smiled. "Don't forget to transfer the money." The same thing happened again on the day our daughter went in for her routine checkup. Except this time, she was the one asking him for money.

Three days before my wedding, I find out that my fiance, Carlo Romano, has changed the wedding venue from my mother's estate to a villa located in St. Morizia, which happens to be his childhood sweetheart, Adriana Montanari's favorite place in the whole wide world. When I'm about to confront Carlo, I overhear him complaining to his friend. "Thank goodness Adriana has a good eye for beauty! Otherwise, I'll definitely get humiliated and mocked by everyone for hosting my wedding at such a rundown place!" His friend asks, "Didn't you agree to host the wedding ceremony at her late mother's home? Aren't you worried that she might not marry you out of fury once she finds out that you changed the venue without her permission?" Carlo merely sneered in return. "Giada's family is insanely weak. Marrying me is her only path out of poverty. She can't risk losing me at all. "Besides, I've already told the wedding planner to call her and inform her about my decision. She must be booking another flight and rushing toward the new destination as we speak." Rage and humiliation swirl around in my chest. I gnash my teeth together, but I opt to turn around and walk away in the end. Three days later, Carlo's wedding goes on as usual at the snow mountain. But I never bought myself another ticket, nor did I appear at the new wedding venue. Instead, I've exchanged wedding rings with another man in Mom's manor located in Tuscanica. Carlo fails to realize that I chose to marry him not because I view him as a ticket to wealth. It's purely because I've loved him for 12 long years. I, Giada Castellani, am bold enough to show my feelings. Since I can enter a relationship, I can always exit it freely. That's why Carlo is never my one and only choice in marriage.

Klaus Oakluster has nothing left to sell except the one thing his body was made to offer. At twenty-three, he is malnourished, hunted by loan sharks, and entirely out of options. Renting his womb was never the dream. It was the only door still open. Norman Cross has five companies, a mansion, and a life most people would envy. What he does not have is a family. When he walks into Hope Clinic and opens a folder of surrogacy applicants, he stops at the very first page and never turns it. Something about a pink-haired Omega with chubby cheeks and desperate eyes tells his wolf that the search is already over. The contract was supposed to be simple. Clinical. Temporary. But forced proximity, shared mornings, and a scent that feels like home have a way of rewriting agreements that were never built to hold real feelings. When a fabricated betrayal tears them apart and a dangerous enemy threatens everything Klaus has left, Norman must decide whether protecting his pride is worth losing the person who turned his empty house into something worth coming home to.

It was the day of our marriage. We were supposed to meet up at the City Hall, but my fiancee stood me up. I waited for her the whole day, and the only answer I got was a picture from her assistant. My girlfriend sat astride on his lap, and her arms were wrapped around his neck while they were locked in a deep kiss. "Sorry, Mr. Terraton. Sophie insisted on comforting me. You don't mind, do you?" I demanded answers from my girlfriend, but that only made her impatient. "He donated his blood to me. Yeah, I was with him, but so what? Man up, will you?" That killed any love I had for her, and I called my soon-to-be ex-girlfriend's sister. "Hey, Sylvie. Yeah, about your proposal. So will you marry me?"

I was waiting outside the county clerk's office again, all the way until noon. A clerk walked past on her lunch break and gave me a look that bordered on pity. "Girlfriend caught up again?" My face went hot, but I forced out a smile anyway. "Traffic," I said. She shook her head and muttered to her coworker, not quite quietly enough. "That's him again. Seven times this month, and his girlfriend has never once shown up. "Poor guy. Why can't he see it? She just doesn't want to marry him." I pulled out my phone. The screen threw my reflection back at me, flushed red. I couldn't tell if it was the sun or the humiliation. I opened my girlfriend's childhood friend's social media page and saw exactly what I expected. [My stomach's acting up again. Thank god Theresa came by to make me soup and rub my belly. Spoiled rotten all morning!] The photo showed a familiar hand resting on Hector Parsons's stomach, the picture of domestic bliss. Something bitter lodged in my chest until I could hardly breathe. At 12:05, Theresa Reitz finally strolled over, unhurried as ever. "Zachary, I'm so sorry. Work ran long. Come on, let's go in?" I closed my eyes and let out a slow breath. When I opened them again, all I felt was calm. "Forget it," I said. "I'm done." I'd played this one-man show long enough.