Plot Twists Short Stories & Bias Contract Marriage Novels

Everyone in Hemsouth City knew Joe Kingston as the ultimate trust fund kid. Tall, handsome, and wild, he lived exactly how he pleased. At the height of his partying days overseas, an urgent telegram from his father summoned him home. It contained only one cold, uncompromising line: "Come home immediately. You're marrying Fiona Spencer." Fiona was one of the youngest and most promising officers in the military. Cool, disciplined, and fiercely self-controlled, she couldn't have been more different from him. He lived for a good time. She preferred peace and quiet. He did whatever he wanted and had gotten himself into more trouble than he could count. She followed every rule to the letter and treated military discipline as absolute. He was wild and free, changing girlfriends as often as he changed clothes. She was famously uninterested in men and had supposedly never even held a male soldier's hand. Just the thought of marrying someone that uptight made him feel suffocated. So Joe pulled every trick he could think of to sabotage the marriage before it ever happened.

My life was a living hell after my mother died. My father was the Don of the Rossi family, but you wouldn't know it from the way I lived. My stepsister and stepmother treated me like a maid. When the family faced a crisis, they didn't hesitate to sell me off to Caspian, the heir to the Valerius family, for their own gain. The word on the street was that Caspian was a monster—a butcher with a face torn apart by scars. I refused, but my father threatened me with my mother's keepsakes, forcing me to sign a three-year marriage contract. On our wedding day, Caspian didn't even look at me. He slid the ring on my finger, his touch like ice. "Remember," he said, "you're my wife in name only. Don't expect anything more." I wasn't hurt. That was what I wanted, too. I thought we'd spend three years as strangers, and then I'd be free. But I never expected the day he'd look at me with those possessive eyes, kiss me hard, and declare, "You're mine. My wife. Forever." And damn it, my heart actually skipped a beat.

The paralyzed heir of Deshonte City's elite social circle demanded that my sister marry him as a bride to "ward off bad luck." But she was already pregnant—with my fiancé's baby. So the so-called "marriage arrangement" disaster ended up landing on me. My father was so furious he smashed his teacup right then and there. "Absolutely not! Even if Catherine is adopted, she does not deserve to be humiliated like this!" My fiancé, though, grabbed my hand. "Catherine, how could I ever fall for someone else? It's just that Veronica is carrying my child—I can't let her walk into her doom. You'll just take your sister's place for now. Once things settle down, I'll come get you." Watching him put on this whole show of devotion, it suddenly hit me that marrying a paralyzed heir might actually be more peaceful than staying here. I pressed my father's hand down and said calmly, "Dad, Mom… I'll go." On the day of the wedding, I wore a stunning white gown and sat beside my groom in his wheelchair. My ex-fiancé sent me a message: [I'm sorry you're going through this. Wait for me.] I handed the phone to the man next to me and smiled. "Honey, looks like my brother-in-law is awfully concerned about me."

My father died. He left me a contract. A marriage to the Donovans. The Chicago Outfit. He wanted the future Don to protect me. The whole family's power, wrapped around me for life. But on my wedding day to the eldest, Finn… he ran. Took my family housekeeper's daughter with him. His brother, Cillian Donovan, stepped up. He married me instead. Wedding night. I was in the music room. Alone. Playing the cello. A sad song for my father. Cillian kicked the door open. His eyes were bloodshot. Pure jealousy. A sneer on his face. “Does marrying me instead of Finn really hurt you this much?” For the next five years, he brought women home. Different ones. Kissing them in my rose garden. Fucking them in our bed. I swallowed it all. Played the part. The perfect Donna of the Donovan family. Until today. When he kept his latest toy around for four months. My heart hit the floor. She clung to Cillian's arm, her red lips at his ear. “Cillian, the way your wife looks at me… like she wants to eat me alive.” Cillian stroked her hair, not really caring. His eyes found mine. A cruel smile. “My wife? She doesn't want to be. She wants to be his woman. The traitor's.” That night, a rival family hit the estate. Fire everywhere. Cillian grabbed his girl. Ran for the armored car. No hesitation. I was on the ground. Smoke in my lungs. Couldn't move. I watched him drive away. Leaving me in the dust. Something inside me just… snapped. Five years of this bullshit marriage. I was going to end it. Myself. …

On the way to the Spring Garden Ball, I was seized by men with murder on their minds, and the undercover guard meant to protect me vanished without a trace. I clawed my way through three days that should have killed me and finally dragged myself back to the estate, only to find a whole line of men kneeling in front of my guard. "Your Highness, if you fancy Lady Melanie, you could simply ask for her hand. Why disguise yourself as a bodyguard and stay glued to her elder sister, Lady Elizabeth's side, going so far as to have men dump her out in the wilderness just so she wouldn't outshine your beloved?" Julius Fitzroy's expression didn't so much as flicker. He kept turning the sapphire ring on his finger. "Melanie is only a concubine's daughter. She's sensitive by nature, and I was afraid a hasty proposal would frighten her off. This was the only way." That was how I found out. The Prince Julius had been living at my side in disguise this whole time, and it had never been about me at all. It was always about getting close to my half-sister. My heart turned to ash. I shoved open my father's door. "I'll marry the Crown Prince, sickly or not."

On the day of my arranged marriage to Julian Simpson, my groom ran away. Because his side piece got kidnapped, and she was carrying his kid. Julian came up with a ridiculous plan: he had Cassian Russo, a man with a similar build, wear a mask and take his place at the altar while he went to save his girl. What was even more absurd was that the ruthless, cold-blooded Don, Cassian, actually agreed to the bullshit. He stood in front of me, pressing an intimate kiss to the back of my hand. "Beautiful lady, care to consider a better candidate for a husband?" Three days later, a photo of Cassian and me kissing sent the internet into a screaming frenzy. And Julian, who finally realized what had happened, went completely insane.

My sister and I were promised in marriage by our father, Eses, the God of Skies. She was to wed Dexaldir, the Keeper of Fate, the one who recorded the destinies of gods and mortals. I was to wed Guerrian, the God of War. But on the day of our wedding, their beloved woman, Seraphine, leapt from the Starfall Spire, the ancient tower where even immortals would die if they fell. After that, the four of us lived together in harmony. We were praised as the most devoted divine couples in the Celestial Skies. A hundred years later, during the war between the Celestial Skies and the Phlegethon Legion, Guerrian and Dexaldir betrayed us. They lured us into a trap and handed us over to the Phlegethon Demons. My husband, Guerrian, smirked at me. "Seraphine, it must have hurt when you fell from the Starfall Spire. I have finally avenged you today!" Next to him, Dexaldir held up an emerald pendant that was given to him by Seraphine. He murmured affectionately, "Seraphine, this day has finally come. They will pay the price! Wait for me. I'll soon find you a way to regain your body." Only then did my sister and I understand. They believed that we forced Seraphine to jump. The Phlegethon Demons kept us alive for 16 days. 16 days of torture. They tore the divine core from my sister's chest, destroying both her body and soul. As for me, due to my innate beauty, I was humiliated to death by the demon leader. When I opened my eyes once more, we were back to the day when our father promised us our marriages. I turned my head and saw my sister looking back at me. I knew she had been reborn too. We both smiled. Before our father could finish speaking, I stepped forward and interrupted him, "Father, I have a different idea."

After the war between humans and beastmen ended, both sides agreed that half-beast nobles would govern the world together. Under the marriage pact, every hundred years, each couple must bring their children before the altar. The High Priest cuts each child's palm and lets their blood drip into a chalice. The child with the purest blood becomes the next King. I married Todd, heir to the fox clan, and gave birth to a half-beast fox with the purest blood of them all. My sister, drawn to the wealth and status of the hawk nobility, chose their proud and distant heir. But he had no interest in women, and their marriage drove her mad. Consumed by jealousy, she demanded another test of my son's blood. She used a potion from the hawk clan to corrupt his blood, and my son and I were flayed alive after being accused of falsifying his claim to the throne. I woke again on the day we were supposed to choose our husbands. This time, my sister had already chosen Todd. Then I knew. She had been reborn too. What she didn't know was that the foxes lived for pleasure. Todd was always surrounded by women and made a terrible husband. I didn't want the hawks or the bears. I chose Leon of the white dog clan instead—the only man who had tried to save me in my previous life. But the white dog I chose was no dog at all. He was the last of the ancient celestial lions.

My marriage to Tommaso Volpe, Don of the Volpe family, is part of a five-year contract. We each have someone we love, and we stay out of each other's way. He loves his adopted sister, Gelsomina Volpe, who needs his protection. My heart belongs only to my deceased fiancé, Marco Damiano. For five years, I play the perfect Signora Volpe, enduring Gelsomina's provocations and cruelty again and again. She forces caustic substances down my throat that nearly destroy my esophagus. He tells me to let it go for his sake. She stages her own kidnapping and forces Tommaso to choose between saving her and me. He doesn't hesitate, choosing to save her while I sink to the bottom of that freezing lake. On the last day of our contract, I calmly pack my things and leave the signed divorce papers behind. I need to find a young man who looks just like Marco. He's all I have left to hold onto. But after I leave, Tommaso loses his mind searching for me, saying he's fallen in love with me. He threatens me with the entire city's underworld just to stay by my side. He watches me grow close to my new "replacement" and goes mad with jealousy. He thinks he still has a chance, but he has already lost this game from the very beginning.

Everyone thinks I agreed to marry Wendy Quinton out of gratitude and to fulfill her grandfather's dying wish. Little did they know, the real reason I gave in was that her features resembled my first love, Zara Langston. Despite knowing that Wendy is hopelessly in love with Zachary Shaw, the man who killed her father, I still chose to have faith in her. But my foolish hope vanishes when I catch them tangled up in bed again in our marital home. With half of her clothes undone, Wendy leans against Zachary's chest, smiling shamelessly. "You should know your place. I've already done you a huge favor by not taking things all the way with him." This isn't the first time. Zachary has already claimed every inch of her body over and over again. Gripping her waist, Zachary chuckles. "Once the two of you are married, we'll finally be able to take things all the way. I can't wait." They think I'm a fool who will put up with anything. But unbeknownst to them, I have already uncovered the truth. Wendy's grandfather, Edward Quinton, didn't suddenly fall gravely ill. Zachary was the one who left him in a vegetative state. Then, a week ago, he pulled the plug on Edward's ventilator and killed him. I don't make a scene. Instead, I simply slip my wedding ring onto Zachary's ring finger. "In that case, I wish you two a lifetime of happiness together." I'm done lying to myself and playing along with their little charade.

The Gambino family's highest decree: every Don must be married before taking office. So the moment I came back from studying abroad, my father sent me to intern at the family company run by my fiancé, Ethan Clark—to prepare me for taking over family operations, pave the way for me to become the next Don of the Gambinos, and, you know, build some chemistry between us while we were at it. The first day I walked in, I saw a woman holding court, surrounded by everyone, with everyone deferring to her, calling her "Mrs. Clark" with practiced reverence. She tore up a two-hundred-million-dollar contract, and they all applauded. She spotted the ring on my finger, and they all reached out to take it off for her. I didn't flinch. Didn't panic. "Do you know who can wear this ring?" She scoffed. "An intern. What's the big deal? Take it off." I smiled. This ring is the heirloom of the Gambino heir. Anyone who touches it without permission doesn't live to tell the story. I pulled out my phone and dialed Ethan right in front of her. "Your 'Mrs. Clark' is trying to take my family ring. Care to explain?"

“Joseph, I’m begging you for the last time. On account of how young Rachel is, can we please extend the agreement?” Mrs. Gibson pleaded. Joseph said firmly, “Mrs. Gibson, we previously agreed that I’d divorce Chloe once the six years is up.” “Alright then,” Mrs. Gibson sighed regretfully. “I respect your decision. It’s been tough on you these few years…” “Thank you. Please keep my plans to go abroad a secret for now.”