When I Stopped Reading, Did The Book Get Better?

Venice once rejected Lucien during their university days, believing he was someone far beneath the world she desired. Ambitious and drawn to wealthy and famous men, she never imagined that the quiet man she dismissed would one day become someone powerful. Years later, Lucien has everything—wealth, influence, and a marriage arranged under complicated circumstances. During a grand Bachelor’s Party he hosts, fate brings Venice back into his life. The moment he sees her again, Lucien hires her on the spot. Now Venice finds herself working for the very man she once ignored—Lucien, who is no longer the quiet student she remembered, but a cold and irresistible billionaire. Determined to keep her distance, Venice focuses on her job and reminds herself that Lucien is a married man. Yet the more time they spend together, the harder it becomes to ignore the tension growing between them. What Venice doesn't know is that Lucien didn't hire her by coincidence… he had been searching for her for years. Caught between resisting the man who now holds power over her and confronting the feelings she never expected to feel, Venice must decide: will she walk away before it's too late… or will she find herself trapped in a desire she can no longer escape?

"You're evil, Jake. I curse the day I met you, and the day I said yes to you. You're the biggest mistake of my existence," I muttered, my voice tight with pain and hatred. "I know. No explanation can atone for the pain I caused. I have nothing but words.... but please, Jessy. Let me speak. Let me tell you I'm sorry," He murmured, voice trembling with emotions. I refused to let him see my heart. I refused to give him any clue that he still had power over me. I exhaled sharply and masked my emotions behind a calm facade. Jessica Wilson thought marrying billionaire Jake Stone would save her dying mother but instead, it imprisoned her in a cold, controlled marriage she barely survived. Two years after escaping, Jessica returns to New York stronger, fearless, and determined to live for herself alone. But fate has other plans. The moment Jake discovers she's back, the one who once broke her becomes obsessed with getting her back, this time not out of obligation, but love. However, Jessica is no longer the naive 24years old girl he once controlled. Now, she's his greatest loss and his biggest challenge. And as enemies rise, secrets unfold, and past wounds reopen, and one question remains. Can a man who once destroyed her ever deserve her again?

At the company holiday party raffle, I'd barely stepped on stage when my superior, Victor Grant, shoved a crumpled slip into my hand. "Special prize for our top sales guy. Go on, open it. Let's show everyone." All eyes were on me as I unfolded it. Scrawled across the paper: [VIP janitor status unlocked—every toilet in the company, three days.] The room lost it—laughter everywhere. Victor crossed his arms, grinning. "Fair, right? Everyone knows you climbed the ranks hooking up with rich cougars. Gotta avoid hard feelings for the others, yeah? While the rest of us take a break, you can get busy. You're not gonna back out, are you?" The crowd cracked up. My girlfriend—and CEO—Rachel Sullivan stood off to the side, watching. Didn't say a word. Everyone waited for me to explode. Instead, I just nodded. Next day, over 300 refund requests hit. Cash flow flatlined. Victor and Rachel begged me to talk the buyers down. I shrugged. "Nah. Don't wanna save the company and make my performance too good. That'd just cause more ' hard feelings,' right?"

My husband Hades gave another woman my birthday celebration. Then he gave her my mother’s brooch. Then he let our son call her home. Nympha was the flower spirit who had grown up beside him. The healers said a curse was killing her, and she had only six months left before she disappeared forever. Hades said he only wanted her final days to be free of regret. So I was expected to be generous. Even when our five-year-old son, Eren, curled up beside her at the hearth and whispered that she felt more like home than I did, I still told myself he was only a child. Then one night, I heard him say to Hades, “Nympha is so gentle. So beautiful. I wish Mother could be more like her.” Hades only smiled. “Your mother is strict because she wants what is best for you,” he said. “But if you like Nympha so much, I can let her stand beside you at the family altar. She can bless you like a second mother.” That was when I finally understood. My husband had already given her my place. And my son had accepted her there. So the next morning, I placed a marriage dissolution agreement before Hades. He signed it without reading, because Nympha had collapsed again and he was desperate to reach her.By the time he realized what he had signed, I was already gone. If they wanted Nympha to be the lady of the Underworld, I would grant them their wish. But why, after I left, did Hades tear the Underworld apart looking for me? Why did my son cry himself sick, begging for the mother he once pushed away? And why did the dying woman they protected so carefully suddenly stop looking so fragile?

My father came from Italy to watch my first wedding. He watched Luca Romano let go of my hand ten minutes before the vows, because Celeste called and said she could not breathe. That day, Don Moretti did not scream. “Take the time you need. But when you finally understand he will not choose you at the altar, come home.” I thought he did not understand love. So I stayed in New York. I gave Luca seven weddings. Every time, he came back with flowers, apologies, and a new wedding date. “Elena,” he always said, “this is the last time.” Even his friends had stopped pretending not to laugh. “She won’t leave,” one of them said. “She just wants him to apologize harder.” I would have stayed for real love. I would not stay for a man who only remembered me after choosing someone else. That was when I finally understood. He had mistaken my love for a place he could always return to. On the morning of our eighth wedding, I put my engagement ring into a white velvet box. Just then, my father called. “The helicopter is ready,” he said. At the altar, Luca waited for me with the wedding ring in his hand. This time, I let him wait.

For the past three months, I've slept only three hours every day just so my team and I can create an app. Thanks to our hard work, the app goes absolutely viral to the point we've garnered over 100 million registered users on the first week of its launch. At the afterparty, my wife, Stacie Woodward, announces that her godbrother, Tory Frost, who's the PR manager, will be the one receiving the million-dollar bonus. She then tosses me a few 50% discount coupons that can be used in shopping malls as my bonus. "You're just a code monkey—why do you need that much money anyway? You can have these discount coupons. Use them on anything you want. At least buy some nice clothes for yourself. Don't go around wearing these rags. You'll just end up humiliating me more." I plead to her in a low tone, "Have you gone crazy, Stacie? My dad needs the money for the best medication in order to save his life! Can you please stop joking around?" But Stacie clings to Toby's arm, looking high and mighty. "Your dad's dying, isn't he? He might as well stop wasting the public resources! I can always choose him a better grave and hold a nice funeral for him when his time comes!" As I look at Stacie's smug face, I just smile at her instead of getting mad at her. She must have forgotten that the app's core algorithm and the user growth model are built using my private, undisclosed technology stack. That means the copyright is mine and has nothing to do with the company. I just smile while nodding at Stacie. That night, I activate the technology stack's self-destruct and migration protocols.