Nouvelles Multiple Identities Plot Twists & Romans

The doctor said my husband Ethan had dual personality. His primary personality was gentle and devoted. His alter — "Axel" — was reckless and wild. In five years of marriage, every time Axel surfaced, he'd fall for a different woman. Each time, I'd have to pull out our marriage certificate, walk him through our love story from the beginning, just to bring Ethan back. This time, Axel had set his sights on the new dance instructor. I dropped what I was doing at work, ready to go collect him from the psychiatrist's office — same as always. But outside the treatment room, I heard him on the phone with one of his buddies, laughing: "What can I say — I'm a hell of an actor. Five years and she still hasn't caught on." "Besides, why settle for the wife at home when there's so much more fun out there?" The panic I'd been feeling went very, very still. I pulled up my lawyer's number and texted him: Get the divorce papers ready.

I'm Victoria Corsini, the only daughter of the Corsini family's Don in Iberny. The marriage alliance partner whom Father has picked out for me is Cesar Romano, the new mafioso upstart in the underworld. Cesar is an ambitious man who intends to take over the casino industry in Navoles City. However, he's in the middle of getting oppressed by the alliance of powerful families due to his shaky foundation. In short, he might file for bankruptcy anytime soon. This means his only way out is to marry me and ask for the Corsini family's protection. In order to uncover his true colors, I put on a disguise and infiltrate Cesar's casino as a greenhorn dealer. On my first day at the job, I feel someone gripping my wrist tightly. "What makes you think you get to deal in the VIP hall? You really think a nobody like you has the right to touch the chips here?" I look up to see Liliana Conti, the casino's manager. She happens to be wearing an arrogant look at the moment. Everyone else begins muttering among themselves. "Liliana is Mr. Romano's beloved lover. He has stated more than once that he'll give this casino to her as a gift." Liliana flashes me a contemptuous smirk. Then, she slams a tray of casino chips that are made of gold in my face. "Drag her out of the casino and chop her hands off! Make her understand that I, Liliano Conti, am the one who determines the rules on Cesar's turf!" I just chuckle icily in response. To think that I, the future mistress of this casino, am being threatened to get kicked out of the casino by a worker right now… After shaking the bodyguards off me, I dial Cesar's number and set the call on speaker mode in front of everyone. "Cesar, your manager is threatening to chop my hands off. She even declares that you've given her the right to set the rules in place. "It seems that your casino doesn't really need the Corsini family's support, after all. I suppose we can call off our marriage, then?"

I was Orion Blake's pampered trophy girlfriend, treasured above everything else. Everyone in his organization thought I had nothing going for me but a pretty face and a killer body. Orion's right-hand woman, Diana Reyes, resented me most. She saw me as nothing more than a useless trophy girlfriend, and she never tried to hide it. No one knew that this supposedly useless trophy girlfriend had someone even more powerful protecting her: my father, Edmund Sorrentino, the mafia Don who ruled the East Coast. But I was sick of the scheming and backstabbing within my family. I wanted no part in another power struggle, so I chose to stay with Orion and remain his pampered trophy girlfriend. That arrangement worked until the gangs that had always operated independently suddenly joined forces against Orion and tried to strip him of control. "Orion, be smart. Swallow your pride, hand over your shipping routes, and give me your woman. Do that, and I'll let you live." The man speaking was Rhys Kessler, Orion's longtime enemy. He looked me up and down, making no effort to hide the naked lust in his eyes. It turned my stomach. Orion ordered his men to take me to safety, but just before I boarded the boat, I insisted on going back to him. Facing a wall of guns, I calmly activated my family's private line and called my father, the Don. "The West Coast keeps tearing itself apart. It's time you stepped in and took control of this mess. "Within 20 minutes, I want them to understand exactly who they've crossed."

Of the three daughters-in-law in one of New York's oldest and wealthiest families, I was considered the most useless. Vera Hawthorne, married to the eldest Hawthorne son, was a world champion hacker. Catherine Hawthorne, married to the second son, was one of Wall Street's fiercest M&A lawyers. They talked code and securities law. Me? I cared about the latest jewelry on Fifth Avenue and afternoon tea at the Plaza. I couldn't even watch a chef prepare a lobster without getting teary-eyed. Everyone saw me as Arthur Hawthorne's pretty, useless wife. He'd spent five years spoiling me rotten. I didn't mind. All I wanted was a quiet life as Mrs. Hawthorne. What they didn't know was that I wasn't born delicate. I'd just had enough of a life where I woke up reaching for a gun and slept with one eye open, watching for assassins. Five years ago, I faked my death, disbanded my inner circle, and married Arthur, who had no idea who I really was. That worked fine until a fund began aggressively shorting Hawthorne Tech, trying to force Arthur to hand over his quantum chip patents. Vera couldn't trace the offshore accounts. Catherine filed for an emergency restraining order, but someone pulled strings to have it denied. Then gunmen from New York's four crime families stormed into the boardroom. By the time I got there, Arthur had a gun to his head. He refused to sign. They pistol-whipped him until his face was covered in blood, but he never stopped shielding me with his body. "Don't be scared. Close your eyes." I stared at the blood on his face. A laugh escaped me, cold and humorless. They'd beaten my husband like this. How was I supposed to live a quiet life as Mrs. Hawthorne now? I set down the lunch bag, snapped the gunman's wrist, and slammed him onto the conference table. The room went dead silent. I pinned him down with one foot and dialed an encrypted number I hadn't used in five years. "Tell the four families. "The Night Owl is back."

Every time my assistant booked a private room for me, he brought his girlfriend along. I let it slide. The room was on his way home anyway. Then today I pushed the door open and found a sticky note slapped on the head chair: "Freeloaders not allowed." I peeled it off and turned to him. "What's this about?" His girlfriend was already sitting in the head seat, glaring at me. "Can't you read?" she snapped. "Mooching off my boyfriend every damn day. Have you no shame?" "If you can't afford Michelin, don't show up. I can't stand cheap old hags like you. Honestly, if I lived your life, I'd kill myself." I just stared at her, baffled. Justin rushed over and lowered his voice. "Boss, I'm so sorry. She thinks I'm paying for this dinner." "She's a bit of a princess. Doesn't like sitting with people who can't keep up. Tell you what. Let us eat first, and you can order after we leave." Then he took my black card and handed it to the server. I stood there for a second. Then I picked up my phone and called the restaurant manager. "Send security to the private room. Someone stole my card. Call the police."

For seven years of my marriage to Damian Moretti, my daughter and I were so poor that every night we collected empty bottles from the alley behind a bar. Every time Ella traded the bottles in for change, she would ask me, "Mommy, do we have enough saved to go to the aquarium with Daddy yet?" Damian always said we had no money. Then, on the day I finally saved enough for three tickets, I arrived at the aquarium only to find him at the entrance holding his ex-girlfriend's hand, with her son in his arms. A staff member stopped us. "Sorry, Mr. Moretti has reserved the entire aquarium for a private event tonight." A bodyguard in black stepped up beside Damian and bowed his head. "Don, the car is ready." The truth was that my supposedly penniless husband, the man who claimed he could not afford his own daughter's ticket, had reclaimed the Moretti Family long ago and become New York's new Don. It was not that he had no money. He simply refused to spend any of it on us. Later I took my daughter and left New York, and the Vitale Family found me. I inherited the family's ports, took control of the Atlantic Shipping Alliance, and became a Donna before whom countless mafia families bowed. Damian, eyes red, begged me to come home. I only pushed the divorce papers across to him. "Damian, I am already home. And you were never my family."

Before my grandfather, the Don of the Rinaldi family, dies, he leaves behind a will. The five Principessas of the Rinaldi family are forbidden from using our family name. We must live like ordinary people until one of us gives birth to the first heir. Whoever does so will inherit everything. For three years, I keep my identity hidden. My husband, Oliver Wright, and I live in a cramped apartment to the south of Windmere. Every morning, we squeeze onto the subway to get to work. When we're short on money, we stay up late making plans and racking our brains trying to keep his small company afloat. I never think life is hard because I love him. One day, the doctor hands me my medical test results—I am the first one to become pregnant. Upon learning this, my whole body trembles with excitement. The life that Oliver and I have struggled toward for years suddenly feels within reach. I drive home with a happy smile on my face as I imagine how he will react. But when I push the door open, I see a woman wearing my favorite nightgown. She is sitting with Oliver, sharing the apple I left in the refrigerator with him. He takes a bite from her hand and glances at me casually. "My first love, Maeve Young, is back. Let's get a divorce." My fingers tighten around the pregnancy test report. Then, I smile and say, "Sure." What he doesn't know is that his penniless, patient, obedient, and endlessly forgiving wife has a last name powerful enough to open every door in Windmere. I will keep this child, and the family fortune will still pass to me. As for my husband, Oliver? I'm ready to let him go.

The night before the company went public, my wife told me she had a surprise for me and reminded me to dress up for the occasion. I thought she was planning to reveal our secret relationship, and I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep all night. However, the next day, in front of everyone, she announced that I was a creepy obsessive admirer. On top of that, she revoked my promotion and gave my position to her first love who had just returned to the country. Everyone was waiting to see me humiliated. I froze for a moment but quickly composed myself, walking up to her first love with a faint smile. Then, I took off the badge on my chest and placed it on him. “As the new director, you should celebrate, shouldn't you? How about a wedding? I’ll officiate for you two.” Glaring at me coldly, my wife told me to get lost and stop embarrassing myself. What they didn’t know was that I was the key connection holding the entire company together. If I left, none of the investors would back them anymore.