Bias Romance Short Stories & Karma Novels

My twin sister Claire and I have been at war our whole lives. A box of M&Ms? We’d count each one. Making sure we each got the exact same number of each color. Choosing bedrooms meant a tape measure. No one could have an inch more. When we were eight, Claire locked me in the basement. She tore apart my favorite American Girl doll. When I finally got out, I could only cry and gather the pieces. But she just threw herself on the carpet. Screamed that I pushed her. Dad drove out in a blizzard to buy me a new doll. He got into a bad car accident. He never came back. Our whole world fell apart. Mom said we were broke. She couldn't afford to keep both of us. She agreed to let Aunt Susan take one. I killed Dad. It was my fault. I couldn't let Claire leave Mom, too. So Aunt Susan took me. And she never treated me like I was human. From then on, I woke up shivering in a freezing attic. No heat. Forced to shovel snow, scrub hardwood floors. Like a maid. When I got older, to pay off her Vegas gambling debts, my aunt took all my IDs. She sold me off. Gave me to the trailer park manager's son. A drunk. A gambling addict. At twenty-two, I got pregnant. No health insurance. He watched me writhe in pain, but he wouldn't spend the money to call an ambulance. I died on the way to the ER. I died, but I didn't move on. My ghost drifted back home. And I saw the impossible. Dad was alive. He, Mom, and Claire were in the lavish backyard. Celebrating Claire’s graduation from an Ivy League school. Mom paused while cutting the cake. “I wonder how Chloe is doing,” she said. “We tricked her into leaving. I just worry all the time.” Dad pulled up a photo from Aunt Susan on his phone. “Don't worry,” he said. “She and Claire fought too fiercely back then. Sending her away and separating them was for her own good. Look, Susan gets our thousand dollars a month. She's taking great care of her.” So that was it. My parents had teamed up to lie to me. And my aunt was lying to them with a fake photo.

My fiancé’s childhood sweetheart Vivian knew about my deadly asthma. She secretly mixed strong liquor into my drink. Fire poured down my throat. Then, my airway clamped shut. Panic hit me. My hands shook as I dug out my emergency inhaler. But the spray hitting my lungs wasn't medicine. It was strong mint spray. She had swapped it. The second I inhaled, my airways slammed shut. Lack of oxygen drained my strength. I collapsed onto the floor, pathetic and weak. "Aria, this is mint spray I specially prepared for you. It can give you an effective energy boost." Vivian said, rushing over with a look of innocent concern. She crossed her arms, her possessive eyes locked onto my fiancé—Silas Thorne, the CEO of Thorne Group. "Silas, is Aria practicing for a play? I've been a top private doctor for years. I've never seen anyone react to mint spray that strongly." I bit my inner cheek hard. The taste of blood filled my mouth. Cold sweat stung my eyes. I gripped Silas’s pant leg tight. "Please... Silas... ambulance... I can't breathe..." Real panic flashed in his deep eyes for a second. He leaned forward instinctively. But the mocking voices from the executives around us stopped him cold. "Come on, stop pretending! Nobody dies from a bit of beverage and mint spray." "Yeah, she's just throwing a tantrum. Vivian was appointed as the Chief Medical Officer of Thorne Group today, and Aria is clearly jealous." Silas’s jaw tightened. He forced down the worry in his eyes. He ruthlessly pulled his leg away from my twitching fingers, taking a cold step back. "Vivian is a doctor. With her here, you won't die." I stopped begging. I used my last breath to text my father，the President of the Federation.

Camden Price's true love, Lynn Gardner, died on my surgery table. Unexpectedly, the malicious Camden chose to protect me from backlash and even proposed to me. He treated me extraordinarily well after we got married. Camden would take me to taste the hottest chili. We would sign up for the most death-defying activities like bungee jumping. When it was late at night, he would take me to the rowdiest and most dangerous bars to drink our hearts away. All this led to me contracting stomach cancer. During my late-stage cancer, I found the diary he left at home. Everything he did with me was what Lynn wanted to do with him. On the last page of his diary, he wrote hatefully, "She deserves to die." I did die. I died after Lynn was found alive. She had faked her death. I died on the day Lynn was marrying another man. You should be happy now, Camden.