Tragic Love Short Stories & Scumbag Regret Novels

Three days before I got married, Evan Jones' claustrophobic ex-girlfriend cornered my car at the cliff of a winding road and rammed into me 12 times. When Evan arrived with the police, I was being rescued by the firefighters from my driver's seat, which had been smashed out of shape. However, Evan went to the limited-edition sports car, which had only lost some paint, and carried the trembling Nikki Shore in his arms. "Evan, Madison is bleeding on her forehead; she needs to get it stitched up at the hospital." However, Evan stopped my stretcher from getting into the car and glanced at my bleeding forehead and bruised arms. "These are just minor injuries, but Nikki has claustrophobia. Her condition will only get worse, and she has to go to the hospital first." As I was about to be left behind, I used the last of my strength to grab Evan by his pant leg. He frowned and pried off my fingers. "Nikki didn't crash into you on purpose. It's just her condition acting up. You're a lawyer, and you should know how some things are beyond our control, so stop making a fuss right now." With that, his assistant handed him a settlement agreement, and Evan grabbed my limp wrist to print my fingerprint on the papers. "Just bear with this. The ambulance will be coming soon."

It's been seven years since our graduation. One day, I drop a message in our five-member group chat. "I got laid off." Not a single reply comes in. It's as if no one in the group has even noticed my message. Ten minutes later, my best friend, Emily Piper, texts the group. "I got promoted! Let's celebrate at our usual spot tonight!" My boyfriend, Julian Dickson, and my two childhood friends, Francis Loomis and Henry Parsons, immediately pop up in the chat. "Congrats, Emmie!" "I'll book the restaurant." "Don't forget to get her favorite strawberry shortcake." I stare at the screen and can't help sending another message. "I just got laid off. Can you guys comfort me a little?" Still, nobody replies. Then, somebody asks, "There are no private rooms available at our usual spot. How about that place by the river?" Julian replies almost immediately, "Sounds good. I'll go get a gift ready." Emily sends a shy emoji. "It's just a small promotion. You guys really don't need to go all out like this." But the three of them are quick to reassure her. "How could we not make a big deal out of something like this?" "You've been working so hard all this time, so of course the five of us have to have a proper celebration!" I stare at that message, my tears blurring the screen. I find myself wondering just when I stopped being part of the group of five. Over the years, whenever Emily works late, they take turns bringing her food. When Emily gets her heart broken, they rush over that same night to drink with her. When Emily's birthday comes around, the three of them remember it better than their own. But when I get promoted, all they say is, "We'll treat you to a meal some other time." Before I leave the group chat, my ex-roommate from college, Rose Wilson, sends me a message. "My new company is looking for a project lead. Would you be interested in joining us?" I glance at the celebratory messages still flooding the group chat before replying, "I'd love to." It's time for the people who've been part of my life for over ten years to make their exit.

I was born with a strange condition. I couldn't recognize faces and could only identify people by their clothes. Vincent Lancaster, my boyfriend, never minded. He said it didn't change the way he loved me. That was, until our wedding day. He answered a phone call. His childhood friend, Grace Langley, was in labor, life hanging by a thread, and she demanded he come immediately. My voice shook with despair. "Vincent! If you drive away now, we'll never be husband and wife!" But he left anyway, not looking back. Grace had always loved seeing him in white, so he threw aside the black suit I had sewn for him with my own hands and changed into white. A year later, Vincent returned. By then, my belly was swollen with life, and I was holding onto another man while hosting a baby shower. And the man wore the black suit Vincent had thrown away. Vincent went mad, claiming he was my husband, but no one believed him.

I was the odd one out in the Chicago mob. Other men's women spent their time fighting for affection, clawing for power, watching out for the homewreckers. Not me. I spent mine cleaning up after my boyfriend, Don Vincent Maro. His political rivals — I squared away. His brother's messes — I handled overnight. The women he kept on the side — I dealt with personally. Last month it got worse. He asked me to go chase off a man who'd been hanging around Sofia, his new girl. Sofia pouted. "Elena really can do everything." Vincent said, "That's why I keep her around." Sofia asked, "Won't Elena be upset?" Vincent paused. "Her? She's used to it." Seven years. No title in the Maro family. No public acknowledgment. Just one function — fixing things. This time, I was tired. I slid the last stack of documents across to Vincent. He signed them one after another without looking up. When he was done, he asked: Anything else? I said: No. It's all handled. What he didn't know was that at the bottom of that stack was the document terminating every identity I held inside the Maro family. The moment his pen touched that page, I no longer belonged to the Maros. And I no longer belonged to him.

I was packing up to leave work when the shooting started in the neighborhood. The company sent out a mandatory evacuation notice: everyone had to be out of the building by six, no exceptions. Before leaving, one of my coworkers asked, "Chiara, want me to drive you home?" I waved it off. "Leo says he's five minutes out." At five that afternoon, I could hear scattered shots in the distance. I called my boyfriend, Leo Bianchi. The call didn't go through. The last message in our thread was from half an hour earlier. He'd said he was five minutes away. I figured the shooting and lockdown would slow traffic a little. At half past five, the perimeter outside the building was breached and the power was cut. I was the only one left in the office. I called Leo again. This time the call went through, but Lena Pisani, his coworker, answered. "Chiara? Is that you?" I hesitated, caught off guard. "Where's Leo?" "He's driving. He can't really pick up. We're on our way to my place. Leo said it wasn't safe for me to go back by myself. "Oh, and he said he messaged you half an hour ago, telling you to find somewhere safe. You made it home, right?" The gunfire outside was deafening, and I slowly went cold inside. For three years, every bit of Leo's attention had gone to his new coworker. And whatever feelings I still had for him finally burned out. "Yeah. I'm home." A home he would never be part of again.

The night before our third wedding anniversary, my husband, Clive York, cancels our flight tickets to Crystalin at the last minute. He looks incredibly apologetic as he looks at me and says, "Our core data was leaked. The company's in utter chaos. I have to stay to watch over it for the next three days." To make Clive's words more believable, his business partner, Kieran Hudson, intentionally uploads a photo of the company's employees working overtime in the group chat. "I'm going to have to borrow Clive for the next few days, Elise. I'll get him to buy a huge diamond ring for you once the crisis is over!" Clive's mother, Freya Ashlocke, also calls me. She sounds completely indifferent as she says, "A man has to put his career first. Stop behaving like a child, throwing a tantrum just because you didn't get to go on your trip." Clive transfers 10,000 dollars into my bank account. He leans down and presses a kiss to my forehead. "Pick a few bags that you like from the luxury goods department. I'll take you on a trip around the globe once work settles down." I obediently nod as I look at the transfer notification from the bank. "Okay." After Clive leaves, I transfer the 10,000 dollars back to his bank account. I also send a detailed record of our living expenses for the past three years that is split evenly in half. They don't know that their so-called proof of them working overtime has a timestamp that shows that the photo was taken a month ago. Meanwhile, I receive a notification regarding a purchase that is made using Clive's supplementary card that is connected to my phone number. The purchase isn't done at the company. Instead, it is done at a hotel. The bill shows that he has just paid for an underwater suite and a candlelight dinner for two.

I'm running a fever and having period cramps, so I curl up in bed and ask my boyfriend, Aiden Foley, if he can take me to the hospital. However, he just glances at me and refuses, citing medical ethics that he can't treat the people closest to him. I end up taking a cab to the hospital alone. Yet, in my weak and frail state, I lose my footing and tumble down the stairs, injuring my foot. Aiden, who claimed to be busy, then pushes past me with his intern, Tracy Olsen, in his arms, using the priority lane for an expedited checkup. A young nurse nearby hurriedly tries to explain on his behalf. "Dr. Foley just really looks after the newcomers. But don't worry. He'll be out to see you in a bit." I give her a wry, bitter smile. She has already helped me register for hospital appointments 33 times, and yet my own boyfriend hasn't even touched my medical records before. "Forget about it," I say, gazing up at the glaring fluorescent lights above my head. My train ticket back to my hometown is booked for two days from now, and my resignation has already been approved. This is the end of the road for us, Aiden.

"Every time we make love, I make Sera turn around. From behind, she looks the most like Luna ." My hand froze on the door handle. Through the small glass window, I stared at the face of the man I had loved for three years. He had only ever seen me as a substitute for someone else. In that moment, I felt something inside me shatter. I didn't scream. I didn't cry. I didn't burst through the door and demand an explanation. I just turned around and walked back downstairs. My legs felt strange, as if they belonged to someone else. I called Professor Lumiere and accepted her invitation to go abroad. My voice was steady. She couldn't tell that I was dying inside. Later, when Felix chased me all the way to Europe and stood in front of me with red-rimmed eyes, telling me he truly loved me— I gently pushed his hand away. "I'm sorry," I said. "I don't love you anymore."

She'd loved him for four years. But just before their wedding, she was forced to pretend she'd betrayed him, leaving him no choice but to let her go. When he found out she'd cheated on him, he flew into a rage and made her life a living hell. “Summer Blake, you should be grateful I haven't killed you.” It wasn't until much later that he realized just how empty his world had become without her.

After my family went bankrupt, my husband, Felix Skye, paid the price. The debt collectors drowned him in the river. To pay off the debt, I took a job at an underground casino as a human punching bag. Every punch I took earned me five dollars. Then one night, I was sent to deliver drinks to a private room. Through the crack in the door, I saw Felix, my husband who was supposed to be dead, sitting at the head of the table and slowly savoring a glass of fine red wine. "It's been more than three years since I last saw Avery. I wonder how she's doing." My supposedly bankrupt mother, Ivy Schotz, sat there dripping in gold and jewels. She sighed. "She'll just hide away and grieve for a few years. Once she's over it, she can remarry. "No matter what," Mom went on, "as long as she believes you're dead, you and Riley can finally live in peace." Riley Mackenzie was the daughter my mother had with her first love. Every face in that room was familiar, including my best friend and the very "enemies" who had supposedly killed Felix. It had all been an act from start to finish. The only thing real was the three years of hell I'd lived through. Holding twenty bottles of beer, I smiled and shook my head. Once I scraped together enough money for my coffin, they would all be free.

Three days before our wedding, I tell Gabriel Miller that I want to terminate our marriage once and for all. He just smiles helplessly at me. "Is it because I hooked Katherine's bra for her?" I nod in response. "Yup." The helplessness in his smile grows. "Kat is so clumsy. The last clasp came loose and she couldn't fix it herself. There were so many guests at the banquet last night, so I had to lend her a helping hand." Upon noting my lack of response, Gabriel pushes a Victoria's Secret giftbox in my direction. But I refuse to accept it. We've been together since our years in our hometown all the way till our time in Marise. Over the years, we've grown older and more mature. It's been 18 long years. Now is time for me to let go of this relationship once and for all.

The day before the Imperial Academy trial, my online boyfriend told me his friend had drawn me as his partner. Before I could even process what he meant, he dragged me into a group chat. "Congratulations, Liam! You drew yourself a 200-pound partner!" Right after that, someone posted a photo of me from three years ago for everyone to see. In it, I wore an XL ceremonial robe, my face so chubby my ears practically disappeared. The chat instantly exploded with laughter. "God, that's not a werewolf. That's a porcupine on two legs." "A bet's a bet, Liam. You drew her yourself!" "Who says his partner is useless? She could sit on the prey and crush it to death! Hahaha!" Before long, someone started a betting pool. They were betting on whether I'd dare show up for the trial the next day. My online boyfriend bet 10,000 gold coins that I wouldn't. "Don't blame me, guys. You drew her yourself!" Liam, the werewolf who had drawn me, didn't say a word. Then Claire, the girl everyone in the chat had crowned the prettiest girl at the academy, suddenly tagged me. "Sweetie, don't listen to them. You'll still come tomorrow, won't you?" I watched the insults fly across the screen and laughed. None of them knew I'd lost 100 pounds for this trial, dropping from 200 pounds to 100. For the past two months, I couldn't leave the house without some werewolf hitting on me. Without saying a word, I placed my own bet. 30,000 gold coins that I'd show up on time.

After Lilith died, my fated mate Darian hated me. "If it weren't for you, Lilith would still be alive. Why couldn't it have been you instead?" So he played the loving husband in public. And tortured me in secret. Until I finally died. I was reborn — back to before Lilith's death. This time, I wouldn't cling to Darian. I'd let him have Lilith. When he dropped my hand at my birthday ball and walked toward Lilith, I didn't beg. When he said my scent in the house made him sick, I moved out immediately. When he told me to stop standing between him and his true love, I severed the mate bond without a word and turned to another man. Later, I was walking down the street hand in hand with my new mate. Darian blocked our path like a man possessed, eyes rimmed red: "Grace, come back with me. I can forgive your little joke."

I have been bound to Ryan Hardin for nine years. He is pureblood, the Alpha of Silverfang Pack. And I… I was chosen as nothing more than a “temporary Luna,” a political pawn to steady the pack’s power. In those nine years, he betrayed me countless times. The first time, on my birthday, he announced that the celebration belonged to another she-wolf he had just met. The second time, I brewed medicine for his injuries, only to be accused by the Elders of bewitching the Alpha. He didn’t defend me—instead, he ordered me to be whipped in front of the entire pack. The third time, I was three months pregnant. He stood there, watching as his childhood sweetheart pushed me down the stone steps. I lost our pup that day. Nine years. Three thousand two hundred nights. I endured his indifference, his humiliation, his contempt. Last night, at the Silverfang Pack’s full-moon feast, he openly entwined his hand with a young Omega’s while I sat abandoned at the far end of the Alpha’s table. Every gaze cut into me—wolves whispering, mocking, savoring the spectacle. It was his 200th betrayal. When the feast ended, Ryan didn’t even look at me. His words were sharper than fangs: “Don’t forget, your Luna title is only temporary.” At dawn, he descended the Alpha’s staircase, his voice cold and commanding as if I were a servant: “Prepare the council’s tea. Now.” I met his gaze without flinching, my voice steady, stripped of all submission. “I’m sorry, Alpha. That is no longer my duty.” He seems to forget—we were never bound by a mark. Ours was an agreement, nothing more. And today marks the third-to-last day before that agreement ends. I gathered the Luna emblem, the wedding ring, and our only wedding photo—and burned them all. In three days, I’ll leave this pack. I will return to the secluded Herbal Academy, reclaim my research. And this time, when I walk away, I will never return.

I had been in love with Anton Stark for fifteen years, and it was always sweet until another woman appeared. He began to act distant and used every trick to force me into a divorce. I clung to him desperately, even though I was battered and bruised, hoping he would change his mind. But eventually, I woke up. Some relationships should come to an end.

Today was the day Quentin York had promised we'd finally go public. After five years of dating in secret, our relationship was finally going to see the light of day. I stayed up all night putting together a five-minute video from every photo we'd ever taken together. Then I posted it the moment the clock struck midnight on his birthday. But the second I hit send, I was suddenly kicked out of the account. By the time I logged back in, the video was gone. At the same time, a message from Quentin came through. "Your best friend just got dumped. Seeing your video will only make her feel worse. Be good, okay? Let's wait a little longer." Then a message from Lena Xavier popped up. "Can you please do something about him? I just got to the bar, and he suddenly showed up and forced me into his car. Seriously, he's unbelievable!" The two messages arrived one after the other. Just like every trip we'd ever taken together. They were always up front, while I trailed behind. This announcement was the last chance I was giving Quentin. Since he didn't want it, then forget it.

Three years after my husband, Lucien Vance, put me on a household spending card linked to his account, he hired Camilla Bennett to manage his money. From then on, every dollar I spent needed her approval. "Nine dollars for a cab? The bus costs one dollar." Denied. "An air conditioner for your mom? She's gone without one for decades. What's changed?" Denied. Lucien watched me fume and said, "Camilla knows what she's doing. She's helping us save money. You know I can't stand gold diggers." Then Lucien's mother, Nora Vance, landed in the ICU with severe pneumonia. She needed a ventilator, antibiotics, and continuous hemofiltration. The bill came to $30,000. Camilla denied it again. My hands shook as I called Lucien 43 times before he finally answered. "Send the money now! Nora has pneumonia. She's going to die without treatment!" He sounded annoyed. "Camilla said it isn't serious. A little cough syrup will clear it up. You're making this up for money? What would your mother say?" Then I heard Camilla's voice in the background. "Lucien, this necklace only cost $25,000. I couldn't pass it up. Let's call it my birthday present!" I opened my mouth, but he hung up before I could speak. As I watched Nora suffer, it hit me. Lucien had gotten one thing very wrong. It wasn't my mother in that hospital bed. It was his.

After my secret crush was discovered, my adoptive uncle Kieran, who always loved me, completely became a different person. He no longer smiled at me, and he began to stay far away from me. I tried everything, even stripped naked and stood before him begging him to mark me. All I got in return was his words of rejection: disgusting. Three months later, he even brought my best friend Scarlett home and claimed her as his fiancée. Looking at the deep wariness in his eyes toward me, I suddenly smiled with relief. I agreed to my Alpha grandfather's tentative proposal for an arranged mating. But when I finally gave up him and mated to another Alpha, why did he beg me to come back?

My best friend, Mia Collinson, was complaining to me yet again about how rough and relentless her fiancé was in bed. I half-listened, absentmindedly wiping down the custom Browning pistol my husband, Darien Allerton, had recently given me. A few years back, as the ruthless head of the Allerton family, Darien had been ambushed by a rival crew during a shootout. They'd injected him with a hallucinogenic aphrodisiac, leaving him with psychological trauma that made him incapable of being intimate with women. Still, for the past five years, he had treated me like a queen. He gave me Sicilian estates, garages packed with bulletproof supercars, and rare pink diamonds paid for in blood. Even when an ocean separated us, he would fight through the jet lag and the brutality of his daily life to show up at my safe house in the middle of the night, holding me tight while he slept. I thought it was proof of his unwavering devotion in our chaotic world. Up until the day of Mia's massive mafia wedding. I'd brought her a ten-carat blue diamond as a gift, hoping to surprise her. But the second I pushed open the door to the church dressing room, my smile vanished. The man inside wasn't the groom. It was Darien.

When I was nine, I was caught in the blast while trying to save Joel Yorks, and the loud wave took away my hearing. Since then, I have had to wear hearing aids. Joel felt guilty. He insisted on having my hand in marriage. With his eyes welling up in tears, he swore, “Helen, I’ll take care of you for the rest of your life.” However, when I turned eighteen… Everything changed because he wanted to please the prettiest girl in the school. He ripped off my hearing aid in front of her and our classmates and said in disdain, “I’ve had enough of you being a burden. I really wish you hadn’t survived that day when you were nine. It would have been better if you were dead.” I clutched my audiology report and stayed silent. When I got home, I quietly revised my college applications and formally broke the engagement along with my parents. Joel and I would go our separate ways after that. We would not need to meet again.