And After The Fire A Novel

My boyfriend and his godsister were caught by the vice squad at a scandalous party. When I went to the police station to bail him out, he was disheveled, his exposed skin marked with dried candle wax and whiplash scars. His godsister, Sonia, clung to him, sobbing into his arms. “The light in Sonia’s house was broken. It was too dark, so I went to accompany her,” he said. I couldn’t help but wonder, Did he accompany her all the way to the police station too? In the past, I would’ve demanded an explanation, but I was too tired now—too drained to argue. Without a word, I signed the papers. The vice squad officer looked at me and asked, “Are you Anthony Leeman’s family?” I shook my head. “No, I’m not familiar with him. Just a colleague.” Lowering my gaze, I typed out a message to my father: [I agree to get married. Give me three days, and I’ll marry him.]

When I'm paying the pension for my jobless wife, Lilith Ingram, I accidentally find out that she's had a job this whole time. She's paid a salary of two thousand dollars, which is wired into her personal bank account. Every month, the money will be transferred elsewhere, leaving her without a single cent. I've never seen the money before. Back when our daughter, Maisy Ingram, was severely ill, we were 200 dollars short to pay for her hospital bills. I was so poor that I had to sell my blood and beg everyone around me just to get them to lend me money. But during that time, Lilith never thought of sharing the burden with me. She merely comforted me with empty words before transferring two thousand dollars to her first love, Hayden Grant, the next day. Our marriage of 30 years is reduced to nothing but a laughingstock. I place the divorce agreement that I've printed out in front of Lilith. It's a silent confrontation between us. "Must you really resort to this method?" Lilith snaps impatiently. "It's just two thousand dollars! You have an annual salary of 200 thousand dollars! Why care so much about chum change?" Even Maisy takes her side by calling me a petty, stingy geezer. "Everyone has an unattainable first love when they're still young! You should be grateful that Hayden has been holding back his urges without crossing the line for so many years!" I feel as though I got struck by lightning at that moment. It's then that I belatedly realize I'm the only outsider in this family. "Getting a divorce is fine by me. Hayden's getting on with the years. I just want to take care of him and send him off when his time eventually arrives." Maisy adapts a righteous tone. "As compensation for me, I get the house, the car, and the savings. You're leaving this marriage without a single cent under your name."

Warning: This story is strictly 18+ and contains multiple sex scenes. ___ Nyx had a crush on her best friend, Lynn since high school, and now in college, she hoped he would look her way once. However, he would always go back, running back to his toxic girlfriend. But after a weekend trip, it took a few buttons to make her scream out a new name, like she hadn't hoped for Lynn for years. Ron, a possessive sex god, lusted after Nyx, and his sole purpose was to take her away from his niece, shamelessly and boundlessly. He went right into her class, appearing as her professor to sway her. Nyx couldn't help the dangerous attraction she felt for him, thirsting every minute he stood teaching until she was spread right on his table.

The day she died, Julia Knight called her husband, Atlas Volkan 57 times while a masked man strangled her. As air finally drained from her lungs, his voice filtered through accompanied by hers. His first love whom his priorities lied with, the one he cherished - The one for whom, he would never be able to love her. In this life, she was constantly blamed for pushing his brother to death, snatching her sister's rights, and treated like a doormat in her own home. She was her mother's slave, her sister's puppet and her husband's clown. So, as Julia breathed her last breath, she begged for one chance- just one more chance to live life for herself. When she is reborn, she immediately asks for a divorce. To her surprise, her cold dominating husband refused and went insane trying to win her back.

Three years ago, Emily married Aaron out of gratitude. She truly believed he respected her, cared for her, maybe even loved her. It wasn’t until later that she realized—he had never really let go of his ex. And the craziest part? She looked just like her. Time and time again, he left her behind for that woman. And finally, Emily understood something. A thousand days and nights couldn’t warm a heart that was never hers to begin with. All along, he had only been looking through her… searching for someone else in her shadow. If he didn’t love her, then so be it. She was done trying. But after the divorce, he came back—saying she was the one he truly cared about all along. His eyes full of regret, chasing after what he lost— But Emily just laughed. She wasn’t that quiet, invisible wife from three years ago anymore.

You have been cheating on me?” I whispered as I stared at my husband who was shamelessly hugging my stepsister in my presence. He shrugged. “You don't call it cheating when I never saw you as my wife. Besides, you are barren.”  "I want a divorce." He blurted out coldly without looking at me. I gasped in shock, my heart breaking into a thousand pieces as tears fell down my cheeks. "You want a divorce after everything?" I choked out, "I gave you my love, my kidney, Liam. I risked my life for you. And you know...  you know I can’t conceive because of that surgery.” He didn’t flinch...  He didn’t even look guilty. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and said with cold finality, “And I gave you a luxury life you could never afford. I think that is enough compensation for whatever you think you have done for me.” His voice was ice, no emotion, no remorse. I pressed a hand to my chest as the pain tightened around my heart. God, He just reduced my sacrifices to a transaction… a trade for comfort. So after everything, that’s all I was to him? A debt he paid off with money? ***************************************************** Aliyah lost her womb after giving her kidney to save her husband’s life. Instead of gratitude, he mocked her, called her barren, cheated on her with her stepsister, and forced her to sign divorce papers in shame. But fate took a turn. Aliyah later married a powerful billionaire tycoon. Now, the very people who betrayed her are on their knees, begging for mercy. Will she forgive them or give them the taste of their own medicine?

The day I went to try on my wedding suit, a stranger stormed into the VIP fitting room and drove a knife into my gut. "Sleeping with my woman, and you dare wear a suit this expensive?" He ripped my shirt into ribbons with a wild grin and threw sulfuric acid straight at me. The knife was buried deep in my abdomen. Pain ripped through me as I collapsed. He yanked my hair, forcing my head up. "Susan Lefebvre is my wife. What the hell are you? Just some filthy side piece hiding in the shadows!" Blood dripped from my fingertips as the truth sank in. The fiancée I'd loved for seven years had been cheating on me all along. "What are you staring at?" He sneered. "Even if I kill you, no one can touch me. My wife runs this city!" Watching that arrogant face twist in triumph, I took out my phone with a trembling, blood-soaked hand and dialed my sister. "Allison," I said, my voice cold and calm. "Come pick me up at the bridal salon. And tell the Lefebvres that the engagement is off."

Zoe Oliver had been mistreated all her life ever since she got married to the billionaire family of the Meyers. She was used, abused, and miserable because they didn't see any good in her, and treated her worse than their maids because they felt that she was not deserving of her husband. She was crumbled and broken because she decided to love the only person she thought would give her a new life. Malcolm Meyer, her husband, couldn't care any better for his wife, and let his family do whatever they wanted to her because he didn't love her. One sudden night, he dropped a divorce paper before her eyes and told her to sign it so that she could get out of his life for good. "I do not want your alimony!" She spat at him with anger. Everyone thought she was crazy to have refused millions as alimony to compensate for her miserable life. Through the spotlight in the gathering of elites, a lady emerged and sauntered through the crowd in million of dollars worth dress, and heels. She held everyone in a collective gasp as she smiled charmingly and was introduced as the Multi-Billionaire heiress. Everyone could not believe their eyes. The Meyer family almost lost their minds. Now, she would make everyone in the Meyers pay in double and triple folds for every hell and torment they made her go through. Zoe Oliver was back to rule!

In Valeburn, Atlanta’s most dangerous block, power doesn’t pass hands—it’s taken with blood. And no one understands that more than Jayce Navarro, the razor-sharp kingpin who built his empire brick by brick, silence by silence. He rules with cold precision, a name whispered like a gun being cocked—until the ghost of his past returns with vengeance on his breath. Eli Mercer is no longer the soft-eyed teen Jayce once kissed beneath the chapel steps. Fresh from the feds and wrapped in scars, Eli returns to the block with one purpose: burn down the throne that forgot him. But when fate—and the city’s shifting underworld—forces them into an uneasy alliance, old feelings smolder beneath their armor. Lust tangles with rage. Loyalty with betrayal. And love? It’s the most dangerous weapon of all. As enemies circle from the inside and the state threatens to dismantle Jayce’s entire operation, he and Eli must decide what’s worth saving—their empires, their reputations… or each other. But in Valeburn, every crown is cursed. And every favor comes with fire.

　　Eight years into my time with the Moretti family, I was both their most capable core member and Don Dominic's wife of three years—but we'd never actually signed the marriage contract. 　　Every single time we were about to go to City Hall to register, he'd ditch me for his female subordinate. 　　The first time, he left me waiting on the side of the road all day because she was sick and weak. 　　The second time, he dumped me halfway there because of one phone call from her. 　　After that, I got stood up again and again. 　　After being stood up for the seventeenth time, I decided to give them what they wanted. 　　I accepted the invitation to a top-tier medical project in Paris, packed my bags, and boarded a plane. 　　But when I actually left, he lost his mind...