Nouvelles Scumbag Romance & Romans

I've been secretly dating Liam Burnett, my brother Julian Elling's childhood friend, for five years. On my 23rd birthday, Julian suddenly tells me, "Liam rented out an entire restaurant. He's proposing to the woman he's been seeing for five years. Bring your boyfriend along. We're going to help him pull off the perfect proposal!" Liam promised me that once I turned 23, we'd finally stop hiding our relationship and he'd propose to me. So I get dressed up and head to the restaurant, convinced this is finally the night I've been waiting for. But when I arrive, Liam is already down on one knee in front of another woman, sliding a ring onto her finger. Everyone erupts in cheers and starts urging them to kiss. They're just about to when Liam spots me. Panic flashes across his face, and he quickly looks away. "What are you doing here?"

Once again, Theodore Shaw was glued to his phone. Without thinking, he popped a whole grape into our six-month-old son's mouth. The next second, our baby's face turned bright red as he choked, his tiny arms and legs flailing frantically. Theodore did not even look up from his phone. His apology was careless and dismissive. "Sorry. I wasn't paying attention." Ever since his first love had added him back as a contact, those words had become his favorite refrain. Panicking, I patted our son's back over and over, tears streaming down my face. At last, he managed to cough up the grape. Theodore glanced at the resentment on my face, then returned his attention to the screen. "I have to get Vivi tickets to the concert she's been waiting months for. They'll sell out if I'm even a second slower." It was not an explanation. He was simply warning me not to make a scene and cost him the tickets. I held our sobbing, trembling baby in my arms, my back drenched in cold sweat. At that moment, I no longer wanted any part of the happy family everyone else believed we had.

After his female assistant crashed her car into my sister, my CEO fiancé, the man who once adored me beyond reason, swore he would make her pay. However, instead of punishing her, he promoted her to my position at work. He claimed that the higher she climbed, the harder she would fall. He spent millions at an auction to buy her a bracelet and even bought her dog a luxury mansion as a kennel. Every time, he told me the same thing: it was all part of his revenge plan and that I needed to endure it a little longer. My sister suffered a brain hemorrhage caused by complications from the accident and urgently needed surgery. Desperate, I begged my fiancé to return the salary he had managed for me over the years. He agreed and told me to get his assistant's approval for the withdrawal. When I submitted the request, she rejected it for incomplete documentation. After I finally gathered everything she asked for, she smiled, said office hours were over, and told me to come back tomorrow. My sister died before tomorrow could come. Only then did my fiancé call to comfort me. “Tell Dolly to wait a few more days for her surgery. Everything I’m doing is to get revenge on Sylvia and avenge Dolly. During her celebration banquet the day after tomorrow, I’ll take back everything I gave her and ruin her completely. After that, we’ll get married. You and Dolly will finally be happy.” By then, I finally understood. His so-called revenge was nothing more than an excuse for the way he indulged and favored his assistant. When my sister died, whatever remained between us died with her.

For their fifth wedding anniversary, Xavier Parker gave Riley Quinn a gift: he forced 999 bottles of hard liquor down her throat. "Xavier, I really can't drink anymore..." Riley begged, her voice hoarse. He let out a cold laugh and leaned over her. "Your parents loved drinking so much they drove drunk and killed my entire family. You're their daughter. You must love drinking just as much." "I'm sorry." Riley's eyes reddened with despair. She had apologized countless times, so often that the words had become second nature. "But my parents already died to atone for that accident. Isn't that... enough?"

My husband Jim Sully and I kept our finances separate. We lived our own lives and stayed out of each other's way. Today, he suddenly decided to compare our savings. "In three years, I saved 300,000 dollars. That's pretty impressive, right? If I had handed my paycheck over to you back then, you'd have blown it all!" I smiled without saying a word and tossed my bank card onto the table. It held a seven-figure balance. "Right back at you." Suddenly, he exploded in anger. "Are you taking advantage of me? Half of that 1 million dollars is mine!" When I didn't answer, he snapped, "You take 30 minutes to shower, while I take five minutes. That's not fair!" He said we had to split the cost of everything from the past three years all over again. "You use more water, so you have to pay more!" My expression darkened as I pointed at the cherries. "One, two, three…" I added, "I bought 40 cherries for 10 dollars. You ate 18, so you owe me 4.50 dollars." "We're married! You're seriously keeping track of how much fruit I eat?" Jim snapped. His expression darkened. "Fine, then. Let's split the cost of all the emotional support you've gotten from me over the past three years too!"

[Free pass for letting Bianca hurt Jenna: 1 remaining.] That was the pinned memo in the phone of Dylan Nelson, my fiance. We had been together for five years. Bianca Shelly was his mentor’s daughter. He had quantified every slight Jenna suffered into a spendable allowance. Three days into our silent standoff, he took my engagement ring from the nightstand. I tried to stop him. “That ring was registered in my name for life.” He checked the note on his phone. His voice turned cold. “Bianca got rejected by the guy she was set up with. She’s been crying all day. She’s just borrowing it for a photo. Stop making this difficult.” An hour later, I received an alteration alert from the jeweler’s app. [Original recipient: Jenna Vogel. Recipient changed to: Bianca Shelly. Ownership status: Finalized and irreversible.] I finally recalled the small print at the bottom of his note. [If Jenna ends the relationship first, all free passes will automatically reset.] From the beginning, he had planned to sacrifice me over and over again. It was not that he did not understand what the ring meant. He was simply certain that I would never muster up the courage to leave him. That evening, Dylan texted to ask whether I was done being angry. I did not reply. I simply changed his contact name from “Babe” back to “Dylan Nelson”. I thought. “Dylan, that was your last free pass. This time, there will be no reset.”

Jensen Shaw said, "My only wish is for you to disappear from my life forever." After five loveless years of marriage, Lauren Sullivan became the person her husband hated most. Then she really did disappear. Everyone said Lauren brought it on herself. When she died, no one even came to claim her body. But as one buried truth after another came to light, Jensen discovered... At the best time of her life, she once loved him with a pure, open heart. And when aftershocks shook the ruins around them, she risked her life to save him.

Ever since the couples' account Sean Deaver and I run together has gone viral, my biggest dread has been filming our daily videos. On camera, Sean and my best friend, Jodie Steele, act like the perfect couple. They're always over each other, while I'm not even allowed to show so much as a hand. In the first year, Sean wipes the cream from the corner of Jodie's mouth, then pops his finger straight into his mouth. When I confront him, he simply pinches my cheek and flashes me an indulgent smile. "Aw, someone's jealous," he coos. "It's all for the cameras, babe. Don't make a big deal out of nothing." The following year, Sean takes on a challenge to sneak ten kisses on his girlfriend while they eat without getting caught. When I question him about it, he answers so smoothly that it's as though he's rehearsed his excuse in advance. "Babe, this challenge is huge right now. It'll bring tons of traffic to our account." This year, they've promised to finally set the record straight. But just as we are about to put an end to the charade, they sign on for a dating reality show. When the host eggs them on to kiss, Sean leans down in front of everyone and plants a very real kiss on Jodie's lips. Afterward, they come to comfort me. "Sasha, it was all ed. Don't let it get to you." I've always believed that getting married would finally put an end to this suffocating life. But Sean hesitated. "The show's getting great numbers now," he says, holding up his phone. "The producers want us to ride the hype and stage a fake wedding over the next few days. It'll make our account even bigger." I look at the countdown I've been keeping track of. It was day 1,825. I nod in silence, and Sean reaches out to ruffle my hair. "I knew you'd understand. Once filming wraps, I'll marry you for real. I promise." "Forget it," I say, simply brushing his hand away. "Sean, I'm done with you."

The night before the Fourth of July holiday, my husband gathered the entire company for what I thought would finally be our long-awaited public announcement. Instead, his clueless assistant burst into the room wearing a wedding dress. "Cameron, I'm here to marry you." He didn't turn her down. If anything, his eyes softened with unmistakable affection as he promoted her to vice president on the spot. The entire company erupted in cheers for their love story. When my coworkers noticed me standing frozen off to the side, one of them couldn't resist reminding me. "Stephanie, you've been with Mr. Cox for nine years. You can't let a moment this special pass without saying something!" I smiled, walked onto the stage, slipped off my wedding ring, and tossed it to Poppy Campbell. "What kind of wedding doesn't come with a ring? Here, take it."

My fiance, Adrian Hale, and I had planned to go snorkeling on Valentine's Day. The day we landed in the south of France, I discovered that his first love, Vivian Clarke, had come with us. They insisted on heading into unpatrolled waters. "But those waters are dangerous, shrouded in strange rumors..." Adrian frowned at me. "Sophie, do you have to ruin the mood right now?" Vivian smiled and hooked her arm through his. "With you here, nothing is going to happen to us." Once we were in the water, Vivian recklessly swam toward the deeper channel. A swell shoved half her body into a narrow opening. I swam over to pull her free, but she thrashed and drove her heel hard into my knee. Her elbow knocked my mask crooked. Before I could straighten it, Vivian kicked me into the opening. Adrian came up behind us, grabbed Vivian, and held her hand tight. The voices over my underwater headset were muffled, but I still heard Adrian's cold warning clearly. "Vivi doesn't know these waters. You do, don't you? "You led her into deeper water on purpose. Who exactly were you trying to hurt? "Figure your own way out. Consider it the lesson you've earned!" Briny seawater flooded my throat. My aching legs kicked uselessly. My body was wedged fast in the opening. I closed my eyes in despair. My last thought was this: if I died, they deserved to pay with their lives.

My husband, Aston Powell, is late to show up at the sixth birthday celebration of our daughter, Hailey Powell. When he arrives, he clasps a necklace with a red emerald pendant hanging from it around her neck. "Wow, Aston! Isn't that from the pair of red emerald pendants you bought at City Auction today? They're worth seven figures, aren't they?" Aston's friends all laugh and tease him. Hailey holds up the pendant with a bright smile on her face. "Thanks, Daddy!" "Where's the other one? Are you planning to give it to Belinda?" his friend asks teasingly. As the others start cheering him on, he takes out a diamond necklace instead. Aston says, "Dear, I've got to be fair. Tamara is pregnant with my child. I promised I'd give the child she's carrying in her belly the other pendant." Tamara Davies is his widowed sister-in-law. My whole body jolts involuntarily, and I subconsciously grip that necklace tightly. "Honey, please don't joke about this." Aston smiles and speaks in an unexpectedly calm voice. "Don't worry, Belinda. My heart belongs to you and only you. You have to be sensible. My brother passed away so young. Tamara begged me to give her a child with our surname. I couldn't reject her." He puts the necklace around my neck and lightly clasps it, placing a soft kiss on my neck while he is at it. "Be good, okay? That was just an accident. Once the child is born, we'll have her sent back to Powell Manor," Aston says.

I'd been in a secret relationship with Nathan for six years. He said we couldn't go public because of his career. So we always split the bill, and anniversary gifts never cost more than fifteen dollars. The night before our anniversary, I asked him for the sixth time when he'd come home with me to meet my family. He turned me down again. "Ivy, I just think things are moving a little fast. Marriage is a lifetime commitment, after all." So I went home alone, carrying the expensive cheese and wine he'd bought for my mom. I pushed open the door and found the living room trashed. My stepsister Chloe stood there with a smug grin on her face. "Mrs. Mercer, you owe my family a million dollars. You've been stalling long enough. Time to settle up, don't you think?" Years ago, my father had an affair, and Chloe's mother orchestrated the whole thing. My mom ended up saddled with a mountain of debt, and my father took the easy way out with a divorce. When I said nothing, Chloe scoffed, "What's wrong? Don't want to own up to it? "That's fine. My husband happens to be the best lawyer in the city. He's never lost a case. "This is his first year coming home with me for the holidays. Perfect time to show you what 'pay what you owe' really means." I crouched down to shield my mother, the words of protest dying on my lips. The next second, a familiar figure stepped out from behind Chloe. It was Nathan.

Eight years after I left the country, I'm offered a fortune to come back. After a research symposium, I run into my ex-boyfriend, Ethan Grimsley. He proposes to me and asks me to give him another chance. My former colleagues from the research institute immediately start cheering, all of them waiting for me to burst into tears and say yes. After all, they remember how crazy I used to be about Ethan. Back then, there was nothing I wouldn't have done for him. Apparently, they've forgotten what happened eight years ago. At a project showcase, I proposed to Ethan in front of everyone, only for him to turn me down without a hint of emotion. And that wasn't all. To help Michelle Lindberg, someone he knew from grad school, win the bonus, he accused me of stealing her research in front of over 100 cameras. I did everything I could to clear my name, but the evidence he fabricated was so convincing that every attempt to defend myself only made me look guiltier. Then he stood by while Michelle paid to spread the scandal all over social media, turning the entire internet against me. All those years of hard work became the biggest stain on my career, and the man I'd loved for years turned our relationship into a joke. After that, I had no choice but to flee the country. Now I'm back, and Ethan is down on one knee in front of me, holding out a ring with an easy smile. "That's all in the past. I'm not angry anymore. Now that you're back, let's get married." What he doesn't know is that I already have a husband.

I'd known Ethan for twenty years. We'd been together for five. Everyone was certain that at the Rose Crown Gala, I would place the crown in his hands and publicly confirm our engagement, sealing the alliance between our families. But when I walked onto the stage, the person standing beside him was my adopted sister, Claire. She wore a custom white gown, my mother's missing rose diamond ring glinting on her finger. Behind them, the screen that should have displayed my name alongside Ethan's had been changed to theirs. The most laughable part? They'd been together behind my back for six months. My father ordered me in front of every guest, "Give Claire the crown. We'll discuss this at home!" They wanted to throw me out of my own family. My crown was tossed aside and landed in the arms of a mud-streaked stranger the guards had mistaken for a homeless man. I didn't hesitate. I pulled off my engagement gloves and walked up to him. "Will you marry me?" But after marrying that homeless stranger, I became the most powerful woman in the country.

When my family fell into bankruptcy, I sold myself off for 500 million to pay off our debts and became the wife of Zack Landton—a man twelve years older than me. Everyone knew Zack as a lifelong celibate. They called him a pervert who could not get it up. I had already resigned myself to a sexless marriage, but he showed me a world beyond my wildest imagination. He went at it nearly ten times every night, and I cried and begged for him to spare me because it was too much. He spoiled me rotten but had two terms of his own. He forbade me from calling myself his wife, and he prohibited me from going to the monastery he visited every month. He explained, "I want to keep this a secret to protect you. The monastery is a boring place for a girl like you." I believed him, until I secretly followed him to the monastery this year. I wanted to write down the scriptures with my own hands and give them to him on his birthday. Instead, I saw him kneeling in front of another woman. She looked eerily similar to me. In his hand was the Diamond Star, the very same ring I had been wearing for years. "It's been five years, Eve, and my addiction is cured. I swear I'll never hurt you. You promised you'd marry me. Let's go to the city hall now." Eve. That was the same thing he called me. Tears spilled. Then again, five years had passed. And whatever promise had once held this ridiculous marriage together had clearly expired along with them. It was time for this mockery of a relationship to take its final bow.

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.

After my husband, Trevor Penn, abuses me for the 98th time just to stand up for Callista Whitcombe, I've completely given up on him. That's when I accept his best friend, Maddox Harlow's confession. After spending the night with Maddox, he agrees to help me fake my death. That way, I'll be able to use a brand new identity to marry him overseas. I've taken the fake-death drug Maddox has given to me, only to wake up in a coffin earlier than expected. I can't move a single muscle in my body. But that's when I overhear Maddox's conversation with another person outside the coffin. "Mr. Harlow, you convinced Trevor to abuse Judith before pretending to save her from her abusive life. Now that you've obtained her full-fledged trust, why did you still arrange for her to be buried after faking her death?" "Only by doing this will the Whitcombes trust that Judith is truly dead. That way, Callie's position as the heiress will be unshakable. No one will ever bring up the fact that she's an illegitimate child ever again." The other person sounds hesitant. "Won't it be too long if we only dig the coffin out one week from now, after you've held the wedding with Callista?" "The fake-death drug's effects can last for five days. I've already had someone put enough water, food, and oxygen tanks in the coffin. There's no way Judith will die."

She gave him her youth, her loyalty, her love, and in return, he gave her betrayal. For eight years, Nora Song believed in her marriage to Chance Hart, until his first love, Jenny Young, returned from abroad. He brought Jenny home on their wedding anniversary, and handed Nora the divorce papers. He asked her to step aside, just so he could fulfill Jenny's dying wishes. He unreasonably wanted her to be understanding, so she calmly packed up to leave. However, walking away was not an option. Bound by the crushing debts of her parents, Nora was forced to remain in the Hart household as nothing more than a servant. She was a proud world-class pianist, but she had to endure the humiliation of being mocked and belittled in her own home. That was until she discovered something that could change everything, eighty percent of the Hart family's shares, was signed over to her by the man who once saved her life. She would not leave empty-handed. She thought to herself, 'If Chance thinks I'm still the same woman who loves him unconditionally, he's about to learn just how cold a broken heart can be.'

After my husband's first love, Sydney Edwards, used me as a walking blood bank, I died in the run-down rental apartment my billionaire husband, Casper Hawthorne, had tossed me into like it was a blessing for me. Today was the third day since I had died. My six-year-old son, Adam, finally realized something was wrong. He had cut his finger while playing with his toys, yet I did not comfort him. He tore open a packet of crackers and raised one to my mouth to feed me, but I did not stop him. He lay in my arms, clutching my clothes and whispering for me. Still, I did not answer. Lost and panicking, he found my phone and called his father, Casper. "Dad, why is Mom still sleeping?" The man sent back a photo of himself having New Year's Eve dinner with Sydney and said in a cold voice, "She's just sleeping, she's not dead. Today is New Year's Eve. I'm busy. Tell that clueless mom of yours that when she's ready to admit she was wrong, she can come and look for me." After the call ended, Adam stood there frozen for a long time. He picked up the last biscuit in the rental apartment from the trash can, broke it in half, and held one piece to my mouth. "Mom, let's eat too."

When Ethan was at his poorest, he came home drunk after negotiating a deal with a client. He could not even stand straight when he reached home, but he desperately pulled out two pieces of melting chocolate from his pocket. “Honey, for you! Your favorite!” During those endless days of arguments that followed, I always thought back to those two pieces of chocolate. They were the reason I compromised with him, fell pregnant for him, even miscarried for him. It all ended just now, when he forgot to log out of his WhatsApp on his computer. His friend messaged him. [Hey, your wife doesn’t know Anna joined your company yet, does she?] [Back when she was about to leave the country, you searched the whole city for her favorite chocolate, but you still couldn’t convince her to stay. After that, you got dead drunk and cried the entire way home.] [That was when I knew you would never get over her.]