Melodramatic Romance Short Stories & Mistress Marriage Novels

Seven years ago, a fire breaks out, and Adeline Kerrick's father risks his life to drag Elias Penrose out of the flames. Knowing he won't survive, he entrusts Elias with the one person he can't bear to leave behind—his daughter. Elias promises to love Adeline with everything he has, and that even if she ever changes her mind, he'll give her nine chances. Seven years later, they're married, but Adeline still won't let Elias touch her. He puts it down to her being young, innocent, and naive, and he cherishes her all the more for it. When her cramps flare up, he holds her all night and keeps his palm on her stomach to warm it. When she craves cinnamon rolls from a specialty bakery, he drives three hours to another city without a second thought. Before the sun comes up, they're sitting on the dining table, still steaming. Even when she takes one bite and pushes them aside, he isn't upset. He spoils her like she's the most precious thing in his care, because he believes she deserves the best the world has to offer. As for anything physical, every time Elias looks at that sweet, sheltered face, he tells himself he can wait a little longer. Then he goes on a business trip and texts Adeline, telling her there's soup waiting in the fridge and that she shouldn't forget to eat it. Instead, he gets a voice message from a man he doesn't know. "Your wife is my contracted pet."

On the day my dad gets kidnapped, I call my wife, Eliza Wood, who has a net worth of 100 million dollars, for help while sobbing. After she hears me out, she lets out a chuckle. "I've transferred three million dollars to you. This time, be a good boy and don't bother Leon." I quickly agree to Eliza's condition. After that, I transfer the money into the kidnapper's bank account. But when Dad is about to get released, Eliza pulls off some tricks to retrieve the ransom money and freeze the kidnapper's bank account. Thinking that I've tricked him, the furious kidnapper decides to kill Dad. But first, he torments Dad for three long hours before finally ending his life. When I'm on the way to pick up Dad's ashes, I notice photos of Eliza and her newly-hired assistant, Leon Turner, taking over every billboard and monitor in the city. After dealing with Dad's ashes at home, I call Eliza on the phone. "Let's get a divorce." Eliza and Leon's laughter can be heard drifting over the speaker. "This again? Leon told me that you're spending too much money, so he convinced me to give you a light punishment. Don't tell me you got mad at me because of that."

The day before my period, I found a note on my fiancé's phone. [Her period starts tomorrow. I already packed pads and painkillers in her bag.] I smiled. It was such a small thing, but it felt thoughtful. The next day, a dull ache twisted in my lower stomach. Pale and uncomfortable, I dug through my crossbody bag. Nothing. Dark red blood stained my pants. Students pointed behind me and whispered with awkward laughs. I figured he'd just forgotten at the last minute. Then the new intern teacher posted on social media. [Just started working, and my supervising teacher is literally the sweetest! He even got me pads and painkillers. This period has been pain-free!] The photo showed a pack of pads, an ibuprofen tablet, and a mug of ginger tea. The painkillers were mine—the ones I'd kept stocked at home for years because of my cramps. The pads were the only brand my skin could tolerate. I turned off my phone and stared at the engagement ring on my finger for a long time. Then I stood up and headed to the principal's office to apply for the overseas teacher exchange program. Seven years. He still couldn't remember my cycle. And now, he never would have to.

I've spent eight years in a secret relationship with my best friend's brother. In public, Gerald Scott treats me like nothing more than his capable secretary. Behind closed doors, he holds me in his arms every night, whispering that he'll love me forever. One day, I accidentally discover that he's bought one of those 'one-per-lifetime' engagement rings. Certain he's about to propose to me, I follow him to the beautifully decorated venue, my heart bursting with excitement. Instead, I watch him drop to one knee before a woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to me. Tears fill his eyes as he slips the ring onto her finger. "You're the only woman I'll ever marry." After the woman says yes, Gerald's friends gather around to congratulate him. One of them laughs. "The real thing's finally back. So when are you getting rid of the stand-in you've been keeping at home?" Gerald takes a slow drag on his cigarette before exhaling a cloud of smoke. "That woman's completely devoted to me," he says quietly. "She'll never leave me. There's no rush." I clamp a hand over my mouth to stop myself from crying. Then I turn around and send my mother a message that reads, "Mom, I've made up my mind. I'll go through with the arranged marriage." As fate would have it, the day Gerald is getting married is the very day Alvin Hart and I are due to make our marriage official. And when Gerald sees the wedding announcement I post, the color drains from his face.

On our eighteenth attempt to get married, Miles Corbett stopped the ceremony again because I began my vow a fraction too late. He looked completely disappointed in me. "You know I'm a perfectionist. Why can't you follow the wedding schedule exactly? "If you miss the timing again, maybe you should let your best friend take your place." My best friend, Audrey Sloan, was famous for always being perfectly on time, so Miles used her as the standard I was expected to match. If I reached the curb one minute after Audrey at the end of the workday, he drove away with her and left me behind. If I entered the restaurant half a step later than she did on Valentine's Day, he gave her the candlelit dinner that was supposed to be mine. If I reached the airport twenty seconds after her before our annual vacation, he canceled my ticket and traveled with Audrey instead. Even at our wedding, he had stopped the ceremony seventeen times and used Audrey to rehearse my role seventeen times. To make the eighteenth attempt succeed, I filled the venue with more than a hundred synchronized countdown clocks and practiced every cue for over two hundred nights. But ten seconds before my vow was due, Audrey jumped the cue and said "I do" first. Miles ignored both me and the synchronized clocks and canceled the wedding for the eighteenth time. The problem had never been my timing; the problem was that the bride was not her. So I finally decided to give his perfectionism what it wanted. Miles took Audrey's hand again. "Watch carefully. We'll demonstrate it one more time." I smiled and slid the wedding rings onto their fingers. "No demonstration needed. I wish you both a lifetime of happiness."

Five years ago, my then girlfriend betrayed me for Ethan Reid. Together, they staged a car accident that killed both my parents. Then they hired someone to assault and murder my younger sister, who wasn't even sixteen, and framed me for it. I was thrown in prison where I suffered every day. It was Serena Cole who risked everything to become my defense attorney. She cleared my name and courted me with everything she had. She told me I was all she could see, that I was her whole world. When I finally gave her my whole heart, I looked down from upstairs and saw her kissing Ethan like she couldn't get enough of him, days before our wedding. Right there in our wedding car, they crossed every line. "Bold move, bride. Not worried the groom might see?" Ethan whispered. "His legs are crippled because of you. You know better than anyone whether he can even make it downstairs," Serena replied. "What's this, feeling guilty now? Every dirty thing I ever did to him, you were the one who planned it. You want me to tell him that?" "If you say a word, I swear I'll take you down with me," came her ragged response. Ethan bit her ear roughly, driving her over the edge. "Sure, sure. I know you love him so much. So doesn't this make it even more exciting? Say it. Who's your daddy?" She broke apart beneath him, saying his name over and over, breathless and undone. The tears hit me before I could stop them. She had known. All along, she had known everything that happened to me. And not only that, she had helped plan it.

One day, my partner, Natalie Moore, cried and begged me to let her have the baby she had conceived with her childhood sweetheart, Yarden Holt. I agreed, but only on two conditions. Firstly, Yarden had to take the child abroad and never come back. Secondly, if Natalie ever broke the first condition and allowed them to come back, half of the Moore family’s estate had to be transferred to me. Everyone called me a gold-digging opportunist. They accused me of using a woman to climb the social ladder and coveting the Moore family fortune. Nevertheless, Natalie was willing to go against the entire Moore Corp board just to keep that child. Five years after that, I went to a neighboring city for a project and found a little boy. I took him to the police station so they could contact his family. The officer dialed the number the boy gave, and the voice that came through was one I knew all too well. “Baby, don’t worry. I’m coming to get you right now.” Less than half an hour later, Natalie, who was supposed to be hundreds of miles away at a meeting, stormed into the police station. I sat on a bench and watched her indifferently. She froze, and her face turned pale. I smiled and stood up to greet her. “Natalie, I had no idea that you had secretly brought this little boy back. Did you stop caring about your inheritance?”

At eight months pregnant, Esther Rivera went to the mall to buy a duffle bag and stock up on supplies she would need when she went into labor. She was once again mistaken for a mistress and was assaulted by Summer Moreno. To protect the baby in her belly, she could not fight back at all. Summer grabbed her hair and slapped her several times, even nearly tearing off her clothes. At her wit’s end, Esther called the police. Both of them were taken to the police station. Each of them claimed to be Jasper Clarke’s wife The police officer, John Hayward, called Jasper to verify the truth. When Jasper learned about this, he went to the police station. Summer swiftly took out a mirror to touch up her makeup before looking at Esther smugly and saying, “Esther, do you think Jasper will say I’m his wife just to protect me? “I bet he will.”

I was two hours late to check out our future home. By the time I finally rushed in, my fiancé, Daniel, had already signed the paperwork. He and my best friend, Gina, were huddled over the floor plans with their heads together as they debated over the interior design. They went from discussing the layout of the gaming room to the nursery. They continuously bickered over whether the master en-suite needed a freestanding tub or not. A middle-aged couple standing nearby smiled warmly at Daniel. "Renovating your first home, huh?" the husband chimed in with a wink. "Take it from me, son, always let your wife have the final say." Daniel let out an awkward cough as his eyes drifted to Gina, whose cheeks had instantly flushed a soft pink. "Alright, fine," Daniel muttered, giving in with a grin. "We'll get the tub." I stood just a few feet away, watching them decide every single corner of my future home. The three of us had grown up together. When we were kids, they were the ones who picked the schools and told me where we were going. When Daniel and I started dating, every date night and vacation was planned by them. I just showed up. And now, even with my own future house, it felt like my only job was to wait for their final memo. For years, I had lived like a shadow to the two of them. Shadows didn't have voices. They just followed silently, a step behind. But even shadows would get tired. And sometimes, on a bleak, overcast day, a shadow would stop and refuse to take another step forward.

When she was finally certain that Luke Jefferson would never fall in love with her, Raine Stone asked for a divorce and left with Zach Jefferson, their son. After the divorce, the usually aloof Luke abruptly started trying to win her heart back. He was no longer as cold as before, and he started to beg for her forgiveness by blocking Raine’s path. During his breaks, he spent time with Zach and prepared all sorts of surprise gifts. He even protected them and shielded them when a robber tried to stab them, leading to him spending some time close to death’s door. As Zach begged for them to reunite, Raine finally felt her determination crumble and agreed to get remarried with Luke. But right after getting remarried, she and Zach were on their way back home when they got into an accident. They went through more than ten hours of treatment, and Raine came out of it with a kidney gone, while Zach lost his vision. On the second day of the accident, when Raine and her son were taken past the doctor’s office, she heard a shocking secret.

My Black Friday live stream has pulled in over 500 million dollars. But on payday, my wife, Amber Shepherd, transfers every cent of my commission to her personal trainer, Darwin Whitley. Then, she tosses a voucher for an adult toy store at my feet. "There's your bonus. Throw in a little of your own cash, and it should cover a blow-up doll." Darwin slides an arm around Amber's waist and says provocatively, "That brand makes great condoms. Amber and I tried them out last night. You should check out their other stuff." I lose it and shout, "Amber Shepherd! My mom is in end-stage liver failure! That money was supposed to pay for her transplant! What the hell am I going to do with a voucher?" Amber just snuggles closer to Darwin and sneers at me. "A transplant? What are the odds of success? Why throw good money down the drain? Anyway, I've already cashed out the commission. Take the voucher and go play with yourself." Suddenly, a strange calm washes over me. She thinks she just won everything. She has no idea I still hold the exclusive contracts for every single supplier. I open the supplier backend management portal and blast a message to every group chat. "All partnerships are terminated effectively immediately. Contract termination fees will be billed to the signing parties."

My wife, Regina Morgan, insists on being childfree. Yet, she gets pregnant with her first love, Lucas Jenson's, child and is now about to give birth. My mom can't tolerate her behavior, so she confronts Regina. Regina calls Mom a crude, unreasonable country bumpkin and locks her inside a coffin to teach her a lesson. The moment I learn about it, I rush over and beg Regina to let Mom out. After all, Mom is claustrophobic. Regina, however, is too busy rushing to the delivery room. She finds me annoying, so she orders her bodyguards to knock me out and lock me in a storage room. When I come to, Mom's already dead. The inside of the coffin is covered in claw marks from her desperate struggle. Meanwhile, Regina successfully welcomes her son into the world. Her family gathers around her, celebrating the newborn's arrival. When she doesn't see me around, she finally remembers to call and check on me. "Have you and your mother finally had enough? You should've calmed down by now. Give me six months to recover, and I'll bear you a child, too. Consider it my way of making it up to Winona." Little does she know, the second Mom dies, our marriage is over.

After three years of haunting forensics, the sadistic killer is finally caught. They question him about whether he's hidden any other bodies. Glenn Harris sits shackled hand and foot, but his eyes gleam with an excitement and madness he couldn't contain. "Of course!" He flashes a sly grin and says, "My sculpture instructor was my very first masterpiece. I encased her in plaster while she was still alive. "Her face had turned purple, yet she was still begging me to spare her children. I wouldn't have won that competition if it weren't for her expression. It looked so real." The detectives fight back their revulsion and demand to know why he did it. A knowing smile spreads across Glenn's face. "One of my juniors wanted her husband. She didn't want to be the bad guy, so I took care of it for her. "And once she'd become his partner, I was able to stay one step ahead of that brilliant detective for three years." In just three years, this detective has caught 20 fugitives who'd been on the run for 25 years or more. And yet, Glenn has slipped through his fingers 33 times. The detective in question is my ex-husband, Tobias Clark.

My CEO husband told me he had a last-minute job to handle. He said that because of it, he couldn't accompany me to retrieve the body. Then I went online and saw a photo my husband's secretary had posted as a birthday status update. [Thanks for the red velvet cake, Mr. Mitchell! Happy birthday to me!] I smiled and left a comment. [Happy birthday.] That single comment sparked a frenzy among my colleagues. They immediately began placing bets on how big of a scene I would make. Then he called. "Lucy is just celebrating her birthday, Brianna! Why do you have to ruin it by showing up in the comments?! Don't you know how sensitive she is? How is she supposed to feel comfortable at work now?! "She's only been here for two years. She doesn't even have any friends! What's wrong with me looking out for an employee and keeping her company on her birthday? A lucky girl who grew up in a wealthy family like you wouldn't understand! "If you want to talk about this, fine. Wait until I get back. But delete that comment right now! We can always wait another few days before retrieving his body. Where is your father going to go anyway? He's already dead!" I clenched my fist and replied, "That won't be necessary." By the time he returned, we would already be legally divorced.

I stumble across a shared document titled "Honeymoon" on my wife, Talia Smith's, computer. I assume she's finally making good on the promise she's put off for five years. Overjoyed, I click it open, only to find the itinerary is completely different from what we originally agreed on. The original schedule overlaps with my business trip, so I postpone the trip by two days. Since there's no aurora in Glacieland during this time of year, I change the destination to Kjeldsland. Then I remember we're trying to conceive, and our expenses are piling up, so I downgrade our tickets from first class to business class. Just then, another account suddenly appears and changes everything I've edited back to its original state. Immediately after, a line of text pops up in the document. "Mommy, we agreed to go to Glacieland, so we're going to Glacieland! If not, Daddy will be upset!" That catches me off guard, and I assume someone's playing a prank on me. Talia has appeared behind me at some point. "He's the son of my foster brother and me. Next time, I'll definitely go on our honeymoon with you," she explains calmly.

Late at night on a business trip, my phone chimes with an alert from our family health app. "New weight logged: 176.8 pounds." I stare at the digits, oblivious to the hot ash falling onto the back of my hand. My wife, Jayda Cohen, is notoriously strict with herself. Her weight is locked at a steady 132 pounds. None of her friends push past 150 pounds, either. So who on earth is standing on that scale right now?

Mabel Wright, an unrivaled superstar, draws the curtains of the presidential suite and kneels on the carpet, meticulously filing my nails. Basking in this rare moment of tenderness, I can't help but think that my 19 years of devotion have finally warmed her heart. That is, until she slides a surrogacy agreement across the table to me. The agreement states in black and white that she plans to use my 50 million dollars to buy her first love, Mateo Thorne's, sperm in Gilead. Not only does she intend to strip me of my legal status as the father, but she also expects me to pay a million dollars a month in child support. Mabel blows the powder off her fingertips and says matter-of-factly, "I'm a staunch believer in platonic love. Physical fidelity is nothing compared to spiritual compatibility. Don't even dream of buying my 3.5-microgram egg with your boatload of cash. Mat's dying. This is his one and only dying wish!" Her tone remains calm. "I'll bring the baby back and have him take your last name. He'll call you Dad." When I don't respond, her brows draw together, as if I'm the one being unreasonable. "I've already agreed to have the child registered under your name. What exactly are you still hung up on? You're already my husband. What more do you expect?" Mabel sighs and continues unapologetically, "If you insist on reducing love to something so vulgar, I don't know what else to tell you."

While shopping at the mall, a child suddenly slams into my five-month pregnant belly. Blood immediately pools on the floor. With trembling hands, I call my boyfriend, Garrett Holloway, and beg him to come get me as quickly as possible. But even after I am rushed into surgery and finally pulled back from the brink, he never shows up. But through the glass, I see him helping another woman into the hospital for a prenatal checkup. "She only stumbled a little, and her husband got so worried. He brought her to the hospital right away. Some people are just luckier than others. Not everyone gets a man who cares for them so attentively." Listening to the nurses whisper among themselves, I tighten my grip on the miscarriage report in my hand. Then, I send a message to my family. I write, "Mom, I'll go with your arrangement. I'm not marrying Garrett anymore."

My wife, Evelyn Shaw, is a germaphobe. She makes us sleep in separate rooms, and even our laundry has to be done separately. She also throws out any dishes or utensils I use, claiming they're filthy. On our wedding anniversary, I find a man's tie and a half-smoked cigarette in her spotless car. When I confront her, she casually smooths her hair without even looking at me. "It belongs to a coworker I gave a ride to. He accidentally left it behind." I don't say a word. One call to Claire Bennett, her company's biggest rival, tells me everything I need to know. She recently hired a young male assistant, Adrian Holt. Claire laughs. "Your ice queen is in the break room feeding the guy cake right now. Last I heard, she couldn't keep her hands off him." I hang up and throw my anniversary gift into the trash. Evelyn Shaw, we're done.

Four years of secretly living with Joshua Horton behind our parents' backs. Then a new sticky note showed up on our wish wall. [After living with Nellie all these years, I'm trapped. Marrying her is just a way to make our mess look legit. If I could do it over, I never would've moved in.] Signed: [Joshua] But the date was six years from now. Joshua had put up that wall himself the day we moved in. Over the years, I'd covered it with tiny wishes. He'd made every one come true. Only two notes were his. The first said: [When we graduate, I'm marrying you! Nellie, you have to stay with me!] He wrote that four years ago. The other came from six years in the future. Graduation was one week away. Out of those two promises, I could only help him keep one.