Scumbag Short Stories & Novels

The young woman Royce Drayton has his eye on is fierce. He throws 200 million dollars at her, but she still refuses to leave her broke boyfriend. In a rage, Royce locks her away in his Crescent Shores villa for seven full days and nights. The staff whisper that Royce has his ways, that he can turn even the most defiant woman soft and willing. Afterward, he comes to me with the same easy apology he always gives. I can't even count how many times he cheats on me. Just like right now, I'm still giving him the cold shoulder over the secretary who crawls into his bed the month before, but he's already over her and on to someone new. It makes my jealousy feel pointless and a little pathetic. At some point, he stops even bothering with excuses and just tells me, "You're my only real wife. Isn't that enough?" I even start convincing myself that no man can resist temptation, especially not one who owns the entire city of Grayport. He's just playing around, and his heart is still mine. That's all that matters. But when I find out this young woman gets Royce to add her name to the Drayton family registry in just ten days, something I spent ten years trying and failing to earn, I know he's truly fallen for her. Later, I bring the terms of an old wager to Royce's mother myself. "I lost. I'll leave Grayport." "Sweetheart, love isn't something you win or lose." There's pity in her eyes, but she doesn't ask me to stay. She only asks, "Will you come back?" I beg the Draytons for their blessing to marry Royce. I cut ties with my own parents, give up everything, and swear never to leave this city. Now, standing at the waterfront one last time with the harbor wind on my face, I know I'm never coming back.

My husband, Dominic Moore, insists on having his first love, Irene Cobb, at our wedding ceremony. Just when it's time for the bride to enter the hall, he suddenly asks for the ceremony to be paused for three minutes. Then, he gets off stage and pulls Irene, dressed in a white gown, out of the crowd. Right in front of all the guests, he takes her by the hand and walks her down the aisle, saying, "I promised Irene I'd walk her down the aisle someday." The tearful Irene throws herself into Dominic's arms before saying to my in-laws, "Mom, Dad. Although I won't get to be your daughter-in-law, I still want to address you as Mom and Dad just once." She turns back to Dominic and kisses him passionately. The guests exclaim in shock and whisper among themselves, eager to revel in my humiliation. However, I simply open the doors with a smile. I take off my veil and place it on Irene's head. "Why do you say you won't get to be their daughter-in-law? Since you like this cheating scumbag so much, I'll give him to you."

I married Kael Throne—the infamous king of New York’s mafia—not for his power, not for his fortune, but because I loved him. He was unlike any man I’d ever known. A man who could have a thousand women at his feet, yet dismissed them all with a single glance. I believed his faithful love until the day I learned the existence of a college girl. He’d “respected” me enough to keep her hidden… until I forced the truth into the light. Kael didn’t rage. He didn’t deny it. He only looked at me with that calm, dangerous gaze and said, “Then we divorce.” I refused. He offered me his money, his casino, his everything. Still I said no. Because I loved him. That’s when his love turned black. He had me kidnapped. My mother, too. All to force my signature on those papers. “You found out,” he said, almost bored. “And there’s no more fun in hiding. Leave now, Vivienne. Give me—and Nyssa—our happy ending.” I watched as the man he’d sent slit my mother’s throat. My answer came too late. Kael Throne was a monster. I collapsed, my head cracking against the floor. And when I opened my eyes… I was back on the day I first learned Nyssa existed. This time, I didn’t confront him. I played the perfect wife, smiling sweetly while I waited for the perfect moment to vanish from his life forever. I just never imagined that when I finally disappeared… Kael would lose his mind.

My chosen mate, Alpha Wyatt, promised that we would finally have our bonding ceremony on the night of the full moon. But every year, he would delay it over some ridiculous bet. Every single time, he was so certain that I loved him enough to forgive him endlessly. This year, he lost my Luna necklace to a female wolf named Harper for an entire year. He wore the exact same playfully apologetic look on his face as the last few times. "I'm so sorry, babe. It was just a bet, but I'm an Alpha. I can't go back on my word." "Don't worry. Next year on the full moon, I promise I'll give you an unforgettable bonding ceremony." But this time, I calmly took off the mate-to-be ring he gave me and dropped it on the floor. "Don't bother. We're done." He didn't know that I wasn't just some ordinary, orphaned Omega. I am Valerie Sterling, the only daughter of the Alpha King. To escape my father's arrangements and the fated mate the Moon Goddess chose for me, I hid my name and my bloodline, stubbornly searching for a chosen mate of my own. For three years, I thought Wyatt was the one. Today, I realized how wrong I was. I gazed down at the text message from Leon, my father's Beta: "Lady Valerie, the Alpha King has reserved the last three days for the Heir Declaration. The private jet is on standby. He is waiting for you to come home." I didn't hesitate anymore. "I'll be there in three days."

I accidentally saw a notification pop up on my husband’s phone saying that an automatic transfer had been completed when I was using it for navigation. Immediately after that, his ex-girlfriend, Wanda Blake, sent him a message on WhatsApp: [I’ve received this month’s 10,000 dollars for child support. Thank you, Koah. I don't know what I would have done without you.] I froze. “Child support? “Koah, you told me that the money you send every month was for medical expenses for your mother’s treatment!” Koah Quinn’s expression stiffened as he explained, “Honey, don’t misunderstand. I just felt that life has become really hard for her because she’s a woman raising a child on her own. Her ex-husband refuses to pay child support, so I wanted to help her out…” I touched the old watch on my wrist. The one I had not replaced in years to save money, and felt extremely disappointed. “Your monthly salary is only 6,000 dollars. Where did you get so much money to send her?” He was silent for some time before finally admitting. “I used the money we had set aside for the new house’s downpayment.” I was stunned. He had taken the money my parents had scrimped and saved for decades for me as downpayment for a home and then transferred it to his ex-girlfriend as child support.

My Alpha mate slept with his childhood sweetheart to suppress her wolfsbane poisoning using his Alpha power. At dawn he knelt in front of me, holding a woman whose clothes were half off and whose body was covered in bruises. "Lilia was poisoned saving me. As the Alpha of this pack, I couldn't stand there and watch her die in agony!" Certain it would move me, he cut himself seven times with a silver dagger to atone. But the wolfsbane was still in Lilia's blood, and every time it flared, my Alpha husband went to save her. Afterward, he would cut himself once more. Six months later, he came to me bearing ninety-nine scars. A man who had never bowed to anyone lowered himself to beg me. "Dora, I've repented with my own flesh and blood. Lilia can't bear to give up the baby. I'm begging you to spare that small life. "You have trouble conceiving. Once the pup is born I'll send Lilia to the border and let the child call you mother. You will always be the mate the Moon Goddess chose for me." My heart felt as if it were being torn apart. I held back my tears and answered calmly, "All right." I crushed the pregnancy report I had been hiding into a ball and threw it into the hearth fire.

I had planned a family vacation to Caspian Isola for the upcoming break, including a trip aboard a private luxury yacht. Apparently moved by how busy I was, my husband, Matteo Grieco, offered to purchase the necessary tickets on my behalf. It wasn't until the day before our scheduled departure that I realized everyone, from his parents and cousins to even the maid, had a ticket. Everyone except me. Then, his childhood friend, Sophia Bamonte, posted a family photo on social media and tagged me. Sophia: [Madam Camilla has graciously offered to let us go in her place!] I demanded an explanation from Matteo, but he told me Sophia was like a little sister to him, and he wanted to bring her along. Since there were limited seats on the plane, he had given her mine. "Besides, you still have a lot of things to take care of, don't you? I know you'd rather enjoy some peace and quiet at home by yourself!" Matteo claimed. Well, well, well. He had actually come up with such a ridiculous excuse to justify himself, almost as if he'd forgotten who the real breadwinner of this family was! Without another word, I took my daughter and returned to my mother's house. I switched off my phone and didn't turn it back on until the following afternoon. The first thing that greeted me was a notification of 137 missed calls. My dear mother-in-law had also sent me a dozen voice messages, each about a minute long. The last message was from my own husband. "Camilla, please answer! We can't pay our bills!"

When Damian was eighteen, he could barely afford a decent dinner. Still, he spent half his first commission on the cheapest silver ring in the store for me. He slid it onto my finger, his expression stern. "Wear this for now. When I have a real name, I'll get you a better one." I laughed at how cheap it was, then hid my hand behind my back and refused to give it back. Later, he did get a name. He was the Moretti family's long-lost heir, the man destined to lead its vast empire. But I never got that better ring. Five years ago, on the night a gang war broke out, I dragged a badly wounded Damian out of the fire. I never made it out myself. When he woke, huge pieces of his memory of me were gone. Cecilia Russo sat beside his hospital bed and told him I had despised him for being poor, betrayed him, and even sold the location of our old safe house to the enemy. She also told him she was the one who had saved him. Five years later, my ghost appeared in the final family trial he had to face. By then, another wedding ring sat on his hand. Cecilia was his wife. When his memories returned, he lost his mind.

On my wedding day, my fiancé's former girlfriend used an old "reconciliation voucher" to take the ceremony for herself. This time, I didn't argue or cry. I simply removed the ring from my finger. My hand stopped halfway as I gave it back. "Derek, if you replace the bride today, then we're completely over." He accepted the ring and gave me a helpless smile. "Elise, don't say things you don't mean. I promised Vanessa that if she ever used that voucher, I'd give her one wedding. I can't break my word. "But relax. This ceremony is only symbolic. You're the only woman I'm going to marry. Tomorrow we'll finish the civil marriage." He patted my head as if comforting a child, then hurried onto the stage and slid the ring onto his former girlfriend's hand. I watched his gentle expression and smiled. What Derek didn't know was that I had a reconciliation voucher of my own. And moments earlier, I had used it.

Graduation season arrived, and my boyfriend's childhood friend, an influencer, posted a video titled "The Four of Us Through the Years." It went viral overnight. Viewers envied the friendship the four of them had maintained for ten years, and many began shipping her with my boyfriend as childhood sweethearts. What no one knew was that I had filmed every piece of footage and written every word. The video was twenty minutes long, yet my name never appeared, and neither did my face. When I asked my boyfriend why, he replied flatly, "You didn't come along until college. You weren't part of those years." Later, I found a folder on his childhood friend's computer. Every clip that included me had been cut out and placed inside. The folder was labeled: [Outsider in Frame.] My boyfriend had even reminded them in their private group chat: [Make sure you get every last bit. Don't spoil the whole 'four of us' thing.] I didn't argue. I simply revoked their permission to use any of my footage. If there was no room for me in their memories, then they could stop using my footage to relive them.

The Ashford family opposed my relationship with Everett Ashford. To separate us, they drugged him, and his fiancée ended up pregnant with twins. Everett threatened suicide if I left him. He begged me to stay, swearing he would never see them again. He even told me the pregnancy had been terminated. Three years later, I spotted him at a parent-teacher conference. Enraged, I kept the twins after school and, on their way home, they were kidnapped. Everett blamed me for everything. To force me to reveal where the twins were, he strapped my mother onto a high tower ride. However, my mother had a heart condition. I sobbed that I did not know anything. Everett screamed at me. "I've been good enough to you! Why the hell would you go after those kids? Tell me where they are right now or I swear I'll push your mother off this thing!" He shoved her toward the platform's edge. The safety harness hung loose on her frail body. I had no idea where the twins were. Everett shoved my mother off anyway. Just then, someone found the twins. Everett walked away without looking back, leaving my mother dying of a heart attack. While he rushed to pick up his children, I stood in a hospital room pulling a white sheet over my mother's face. That was the moment I finally stopped loving him.

On the eve of our wedding, Trevin Hoffman's childhood sweetheart, a mercenary who had vanished for five years, was struck by a deadly love spell during a mission. When her teammates dragged her back to him, she was covered in blood, barely clinging to life. Trevin, usually calm and composed, lost control. Ignoring my protests, he locked himself in with her for the entire night. I sat outside that door, sleepless until dawn. The next morning, when I demanded an explanation in hysteria, he shielded her with his body and snapped, his mask completely gone. "I couldn't just watch Wren die. One wild night before marriage, what's so wrong with that?" At that moment, I was disillusioned. My love for him vanished in an instant.

Moments before my Mating Ceremony, the guards shoved me from the altar. I watched, paralyzed, as another she-wolf in a pristine white gown took my place. My mate, Beta Seth, didn't even flinch. He took her hand—the hand of his childhood sweetheart, Brielle. And in that silence, his voice echoed in my head through the mind link. "Brielle is pregnant with a rogue's pup. She's mateless. I have to claim her, give her a home in the pack. It's to protect the child. I won't actually mark her. When this is all over, you'll still be my only one." I almost believed his bullshit. Until I saw Seth's hand stroking Brielle's waist after the ceremony. And Brielle, pulling him in for a kiss. In that moment, my eyes burned, and I was rooted to the spot. Seth thought I'd wait. Everyone who watched me pine for him thought I'd come crawling back, begging him to complete our bond. After all, we were fated mates. I'd been waiting for this ceremony for five years. But they had no idea. I turned my back on the pack and left. The moment that failed ceremony ended, I bonded with Lucian. The most powerful Vampire Prince. Three years later, I came back. Lucian called for a truce with the werewolves—all for me. As his mate, I returned to my former pack lands to witness the treaty. But the first thing my arrogant ex-fated mate did was rip the huge moonstone pendant off my neck. "That's the Vampire Prince's moonstone. He bought it for his blood-bonded mate years ago. Where did you get that cheap knock-off? A street stall?" "Enough with the tantrum. Come back. Brielle's kid is three. You can have a cot in the utility closet and clean up after him. Now take that cheap thing off your neck. Don't screw up the peace treaty." I just stood there, rubbing the sore spot on my neck where the chain had scraped, and let out a quiet sigh. He didn’t know that the moment anyone tried to rip this pendant from my throat, Lucian would feel it. And the only thing that would greet them… was his world-ending fury.

Leah, Logan’s adopted sister, threw a tantrum at our first engagement party, an episode of her pup dependency anxiety. But after that night, I gave him an ultimatum: if he couldn’t bond me before I turned thirty, he’d have to choose—me or Leah. Logan believed I’d never walk away. After all, I was bonded by my dying mother’s last wish: to be bonded with the werewolf warrior who’d loved me for ten years. Ten years together. Twelve promises that he’d keep Leah in line. And then came my twenty-ninth birthday—our thirteenth engagement party. Leah locked me in a restroom, stole my gown, and stood beside Logan in my place. She was smiling, glowing, claiming everything that was mine. When I finally stepped out, my gown was tattered. I confronted Logan, but he only said, “Alison, forgive her. I promise, this is the last time.” I looked at the torn gown my mother had sewn through sickness and pain… and I laughed. Logan sighed in relief, thinking I’d let it slide again. But I didn’t. I turned and walked away without a word. After a decade together, he thought I belonged to him. Well, he was wrong. He didn’t know that there was someone else who could give me happiness and fulfill my mother’s wish.

When I remarried Thomas Quinn, Stacie Browning, the fake heiress, showed up in funeral clothes to make a scene. Instead of getting angry, Thomas turned to me, still in my wedding gown, and said offhandedly, "Rose, Stacie has been delicate ever since she was little. She can't wear scratchy burlap like this. "You're thick-skinned anyway. Swap clothes with her." Stacie stared at my slightly rounded belly with jealous eyes, then pouted and whined at Thomas, "The wedding dress has to be disinfected first, or it'll be all stinky, and I won't wear it!" I was trading my wedding gown for funeral clothes, and she still turned her nose up at it. Snickers rippled through the crowd. But I didn't scream or throw a fit the way I used to. Instead, with stiff fingers, I peeled off the ill-fitting wedding gown layer by layer. It felt like flaying away more than ten years of love between Thomas and me, skin and flesh together. Just as I was about to strip completely bare, Thomas suddenly yanked off his suit jacket and hurled it at me. "Rose, do you have any shame left at all?!" The jacket still held the warmth of his body, even warmer than the day we first met. Yet draped over me now, it felt bone-chillingly cold. The truth was, the wedding gown didn't matter. Neither did my pride. What mattered was that I could save my daughter, Poppy. And soon, I would be flying far away from here, taking the little life growing inside me with me.

My boyfriend, James Hendrick, had an obsessive need for personal space. It took me five years of pleading before he finally agreed to let me move in with him. As I dragged my luggage and waited downstairs at his apartment building for five hours, his phone remained switched off the entire time. Just as I was shivering from the cold, I looked up and noticed the lights in his apartment were on. Thinking he had gotten home early, I asked the security guard to let me in. After the doorbell rang three times, the door finally opened. However, the person standing there was not James. It was Serene Alison, wearing one of his oversized shirts. "Maria? What brings you here?" Serene asked innocently as she wiped her half-dry hair. Then she explained, "James said there would be a hurricane in the next few days. He was worried my apartment might leak, so he left me his keys and told me to stay here for half a month." Through the crack in the door, I saw the entryway shoe cabinet stuffed with her high heels. I froze where I stood. Just then, James' WhatsApp message popped up on my phone. "The company suddenly sent me on a business trip. Let's postpone moving in until next month." At the same time, I saw Serene's post from ten minutes earlier. "Having a caring big brother is the best. He even changed the bedsheets to my favorite pink by himself." The attached photo showed James making the bed for her. Only then did I finally understand that his so-called obsession with personal space had only ever applied to me.

In the seventh year of standing by Ethan Cole as we built our company from nothing, we finally took it public. And on the very same day, he couldn’t wait to block me and make his relationship with his first love official. The social feed exploded. “Back then, Nina left a six-figure job to help you start this company. Now that you’ve gone public, you’re just going to kick her to the curb?” Ethan replied, clearly annoyed: “People settle when they’re broke. Back then, I didn’t have options. “And after seven years with her, I’m more sure than ever that if I ever get married, it’ll be to someone I actually love.” His friends kept trying to talk sense into him. “Nina’s handling most of the company on her own now. What if she quits because of this? What are you going to do then?” Ethan hesitated for a second, then doubled down. “She’s just a secretary. You could pull anyone off the street and train them to do her job. The company doesn’t need her.” What he didn’t know was that on the other side of the screen, I was watching his still-logged-in account as those words appeared one by one. I drained my iced Americano in one go. Then I booked a flight home for three days later.

On the day of my wedding, I accidentally oversleep by six hours. By the time I rush to the venue, my fiance, Jared Marshall, has already gone through the entire ceremony with his first love. He looks at my sweat-drenched face and just smiles and comes clean. "I'm the one who drugged you. Amber wanted a wedding, and it's no big deal, so I gave her one." As if worried I might cause a scene, he adds casually, "Be good, and I'll take you to get our marriage license next week. Besides, making a fuss now won't change anything. "Look, the wedding dress isn't even your size." My gaze settles calmly on the bride, who is wearing the gown I've spent nearly half a year choosing. Everyone holds their breath, expecting me to lose it. But I actually feel nothing but relief. He should've just said so sooner. I've been regretting this engagement for a while now. My ex has proposed with a 10-carat diamond ring, and now I don't have to return it.

I've been married to my Mafia Boss husband for 15 years. When we first got married, he couldn't even afford a ring, but I didn't care; I loved him. I hid my identity. I secretly used my family's influence to help him build his empire from scratch, and I even bore him two children. His adopted sister always mocked me, calling me an old-fashioned housewife and saying I wasn't good enough for him. To avoid embarrassing him, I always endured it. Until our 15th anniversary, because both me and his adopted sister wore red dresses, he told me to stay in the kitchen: "Sofia's right. That red doesn't suit you. Don't come out until the banquet actually ends. Stay in the kitchen. I don't need the Dons from New York seeing you and getting the wrong impression." I was completely heartbroken and didn't argue anymore. I dialed a number I hadn't made in 15 years: "Principessa?" "It's me," I said, my voice steady. "Tell those old fossils on the Council... Isabella Corleone is coming home."

After my boyfriend risked his life to save me in a fire, I proposed to him. But he refused, saying he was burdened with massive debt and wasn’t worthy of me. From then on, I worked five jobs a day, just to pay off what he owed as soon as possible. But fate had other plans. I was diagnosed with brain cancer. When I finally saved enough and went to say goodbye, I overheard his conversation with his friends. “The heir of the Law family, pretending to be broke in front of some poor girl. Seriously?” “She’s worked herself to the point of coughing up blood. You really don’t feel anything?” Landon Law curved his lips into a faint smile. “This is just a test for her. Once we’re married, I’ll treat her well.” “And what about Clara Shaw? She’s coming back soon. That rich girl has been talking about marrying you for years.” After a long silence, he finally spoke. “They’ve both been through hard times with me. I can’t let either of them down.” “But Clara’s fragile. She can’t handle any shock. She wouldn’t survive without me. I have to protect her. “Stella is understanding. As long as I give her the position of Mrs. Law, she’ll accept it.” The moment I heard that, everything went black, and I collapsed. When I woke up again, Landon was gripping my hand tightly. “Stella, don’t be afraid! Even if I lose everything, I’ll make sure you get treated!” A mechanical voice suddenly echoed in my mind. [Congratulations. You have been granted the ability to detect lies.] [Accumulate more than five detected lies from the male lead to exchange for a full recovery from brain cancer.]