Melodramatic

Jason Reed had been my boyfriend for seven years. He suddenly disappeared, and the last place I was able to trace him was Melvaris. That night, I received a video call. In it, a man holding an electric baton yelled, “Bring 50 million dollars as ransom to the industrial zone. Otherwise, don’t expect him to return alive.” Jason was beside the man. He was covered in blood. He pleaded desperately, “Clara! Save me! They promise to let me go if we give them the money!” Without thinking twice, I did as I was told. However, when I arrived, I was drugged and knocked unconscious. In the end, I was tortured to death. What hurt the most was not that. Jason took one-third of the ransom I had prepared. Then, he returned to Caldovia and married Hannah Blake, the student who had received financial assistance from my family. But when I opened my eyes again, I found myself back on the day he went missing.

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

I'm in the hills for a project inspection when a sudden downpour hits. I lose my footing and tumble down a steep slope. Lying in a pool of blood, I fumble for my phone and call my husband, Joel Grant, who's supposed to be nearby. "Rachel has anxiety. I only brought her back to her hometown to help her unwind. Can you stop being so paranoid and jealous for once? You're due in two weeks. I'll be there, okay? Just behave." In the background, I hear Rachel giggle softly. "The models have to be in their birthday suit for sketching, right?" Joel hangs up without another word. My sister-in-law—and best friend—Chloe Murphy finds me. She's sobbing as she cradles me, desperately trying to call her husband, Michael Grant, for help. "Are all pregnant women insane these days?" Michael snaps. "Don't start with the same manipulative crap as Anna. Joel and I are busy modeling for Rachel. We don't have time for your petty dramas." Then he blocks her. My injuries are too severe. There's no way help will arrive in time. Despite being heavily pregnant herself, Chloe hoists me onto her back and carries me down the mountain to the nearest hospital. Somehow, I survive. My baby doesn't. Chloe, devastated and physically pushed past her limits, loses her child too. "I want a divorce," I whisper with my eyes swollen from crying. "Me too. I'm done with Michael." We filed for divorce together. That's when Joel and Michael finally lose their minds.

Even after five years of marriage, Benjamin Lane continues to maintain his image as a devoted husband. He's the scion of the Lane family, yet he strictly adheres to curfews and comes home on time. He drives me to work every day and goes all out to prepare gifts for me on various anniversaries and holidays. His social media is also all about his doting love for me. The online community calls him a hopeless romantic; countless people ship us together. However, he's logged in to his WhatsApp account on his tablet. I see a video another woman has sent to him.

After being missing for 18 years, Mom and Dad finally found me. Jillian Swain, the fake heiress, crumples to the floor and starts sobbing. "Goodbye, Mom and Dad. Thanks for taking care of me all these years. But now that Wanda is home, I'm sure you don't have any use for me anymore." Mom and Dad hug her, completely heartbroken. "Sweetheart, don't talk like that! You're our only real daughter, now and always!" Even Harvey Schumer, the guy I was promised to as a kid, declares his love for her. "Forget who you really are. You're the only one I love." They're all tripping over each other to fuss over Jillian. They even throw a birthday celebration for her dog while I'm barely hanging on after a car crash. So I pack up my things, accept the space agency's offer, and slip away into a five-year confidential satellite research project. But the whole family freaks out the second I'm gone, turning the country upside down, searching for me.

After my father passes away, my mother—now married into the wealthy Hawthorne family—brings me to live with them. Everyone laughs, saying I'm being groomed to become either of the Hawthorne brothers' bride. Even I start to believe it. But later, when I try to marry one of them, both reject me. The older brother says, "I'll need to marry for business one day. Why would I marry her?" The younger one scoffs. "She's older than me. Who'd want an old woman?" But the very next day, the two of them propose—together—to my assistant. I instantly become a joke. After that, I call my mother. "Mom, I'm willing to marry into the Grant family."

The day before our mating ceremony, my Alpha mate suddenly demanded I give him five hundred thousand dollars. "You're just an Omega. Even if you're pregnant, you have no right to become the pack's Luna. But our pack is facing a financial crisis right now. We don't have enough weapons or healing supplies. If you can provide funding, the pack might accept a generous Luna who contributes to our survival." To help me, Dad emptied his entire life savings: "I'm old now. Seeing you happy is enough for me. I understand Damon's position as the pack's Alpha. This money—I'll pay it for you." But shortly after the mating ceremony, Dad was sent by my mate to the frontline battlefield to fight rogue wolves. He was severely injured in combat. I couldn't afford the expensive healing herbs he needed. I had no choice Damon Blackwood to help me save my father's life. I never expected his account balance to show only a few dollars! I demanded answers. He accused me of scheming against him and dragged me straight to the pack healer to force an abortion. "You just became Luna and you're already plotting against me? Think having my pup gives you power over me? Let me tell you the truth—I don't lack women willing to bear my children!" I worked every job I could find and borrowed money from everyone I knew. But I still couldn't afford those expensive herbs. The day Dad died, I couldn't even buy him a decent burial plot in the pack cemetery. On my way home from the funeral, I saw Damon with another woman in a luxury jewelry store, selecting expensive pieces. "Turns out all Omegas are the same—always scheming. I thought Sage was different from other women. Didn't realize she was just another gold-digger trying to climb the social ladder by becoming Luna. I guess I lost this bet. Pick any gemstone you want, baby. I'm buying." But when I finally gave up and turned to leave for good, he broke down crying and begged me not to go.

My mother is an extreme misogynist, even toward me, her own daughter. She's wanted to kill me since the day I was born. She hits me if I wear lip gloss, wear a dress, or even get close to my father. Before sitting for my SATs, she spreads rumors about me trying to seduce my father. Ultimately, she pushes me so hard that I jump from the 15th floor. This pleases her to no end.

As Zayla Scott, my husband's first love, pushes me down the stairs, he's in the kitchen, thoughtfully making her a warm drink. When she sees I survived, she hires someone to assault me and has me thrown into the bear enclosure at the zoo. It's only after the bears tore me apart that my husband finally remembers I exist. "All I did was refuse to take time off to pay my respects to your mother with you. How could you be so cruel, Joey? You're a zookeeper—it's your job! Why would you force Zayla, who's pregnant, to care for savage creatures? "Get over here and give Zayla a blood transfusion right now, or I'll dig up your mother's grave myself!" He doesn't know that all that's left of me is my broken body.

While I was bleeding heavily from my miscarriage, the hospital needed a family member to sign some documents urgently. The nurse frantically called my husband on my phone. After more than ten rejected calls, he finally answered, his voice a frustrated yell, "I'm busy! Don't bother me with these little things!" When we tried calling again, I realized he had blocked my number. Despite the pain, I forced myself to sit up and sign the papers. Tragically, our baby couldn't be saved. Later, I saw a viral video of my husband kissing his childhood sweetheart under fireworks. "It was just a silly joke," she said, "but he surprised me by lighting up the whole city with fireworks as a present!" Seeing their matching wedding rings, I wordlessly slipped off the simple ring I'd worn for five years and threw it in the bin. After coming so close to death, he was now insignificant to me.