Divergent Fault

Clara Blake. That's me. The normal girl everyone barely noticed until my step dad Carl decided that I needed to be his personal punching bag. Everyone knew yet they never decided to do anything about it or help me out of my misery and get me away from this horrid man. Mum never knew or she pretended not to see anything. I mean she was in love with Carl and after dad I probably couldn't blame her. You see dad went away to serve his country and not long after we received a death letter ,as they call it, telling us that he had been lost to war. It wasn't long after the letter about dad had come before Carl had moved into mum's life and they got married. We were a normal happy family up until I had turned six. I remember it like it was yesterday. He came into my room after mum went to bed and he just started hitting me. Never where it would be too obvious seen. When we received the letter from dad that he was coming home after all I was ecstatic. He was going to come and save me from this hell hole that I was in. Unfortunately Carl also saw the letter and that night he had decided that he would end me as it would be my fault for everything as I sent the letter to make my mother sad and cry. My best friend telling me he loves me and dad coming back made my head spin. Joining the FBI as an agent was fun and all until being kidnapped and rescued by a very handsome prince charming. Follow along and join me on my story of my chaotic and drama filled life both in love and work.

James Wesley has hated me for a decade after his childhood sweetheart passed away. He requests to be transferred to the frontier the day after we get married. I write him countless letters in those ten years to win back his favor, but his response is always the same. "If you truly regret it, why don't you hurry up and die?" However, after I am abducted, James storms the bandit's hideout by himself and saves me. He suffers multiple bullet wounds, but before he succumbs to his injuries, he uses the last of his strength to slap my hands away. "The thing I regret the most… in this life… is marrying you. If we get a second chance at life… please… don't bother me anymore." His mother, Felicia Axford, sounds regretful during the funeral. "It's all my fault, James. I shouldn't have forced you to marry her…" His father, Jeremiah Wesley, stares at me, his eyes burning with contempt. "You forced Emily to take her own life, and now you also caused my son's death. You're nothing but trouble, so you should just die!" Even Xavier Bowen, our troop commander, who was responsible for facilitating our marriage in the first place, shakes his head and sighs. "I shouldn't have played matchmaker. I let you down, Mr. Wesley." Everyone feels sympathetic toward James, including me. On the night I am discharged from the troop, I swallow some pesticide and die in the middle of an abandoned field. When I open my eyes again, I realize I have returned to the day before my marriage. This time, I am determined to fulfill everyone's wishes.

When I received the news that my fiancé, Ellison Perez, had postponed our wedding for the 18th time, I happened to be walking out of the hospital, clutching my medical report. Once again, he had delayed our wedding for an entire month, all because of my adopted foster sister, Becky. I thought about what the doctor had told me. After hesitating for a long time, I finally dialed Ellison's number. "I can't wait until next month. If we can't get married tomorrow, there won't be another chance." However, Ellison only took my words as another fit of childish willfulness. "Don't be unreasonable, Lily. Have you forgotten how Becky took your place as the hostage? She was tortured for a whole month before being rescued." "It's because of you that she developed severe trauma. Now you can't even wait one more month for her to recover?" I could hear my parents' voices chiming in over the line. "Becky still suffers from extreme fear of men. Ellison is the only one who can calm her down. Isn't it your fault she ended up like this?" "You're being selfish, Lily. A wedding can wait, but Becky's condition can't!" I had known for a long time that ever since that incident, my entire family had chosen Becky's side. Even so, tears streamed down my face. "Fine," I said softly. "Postpone it." I clenched the medical report tightly in my hand. They did not know that just moments ago, the doctor had told me the truth— I was in the final stage of liver cancer. I only had one month to live.

[WARNING STRONG MATURED CONTENTS] Beside me, I sensed his movement as he turned towards me, his eyes searching for mine. I purposely avoided meeting his gaze, instead focusing on calming my racing breath. But try as I might, my breath still trembled, betraying my inner turmoil. Despite my rapid blinking, a single tear escaped, making its way down my cheek. I heard the covers rustle as he shifted closer to me. His finger gently brushed against my face, capturing the tear. "I'm sorry, Hailey," his voice resonated in the dimly lit room, both deep and gentle. His touch was followed by a soft stroke through my brunette hair and a tender kiss on the crook of my neck. "I know this isn't what you wanted," he murmured, regret evident in his voice. "It doesn't matter," I replied quietly, my gaze still fixed on the ceiling. His apology felt like a stab to the heart, but I couldn't hold him responsible. Our circumstances were far beyond our control.Swallowing hard, I tried to push down the ache in my chest. "It was unavoidable, it isn't your fault," I muttered, fighting back the tears that threatened to spill. He sighed heavily, running a hand through his dark, tousled hair. His arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me closer to him. I allowed my cheek to rest against his strong chest, finding some solace in his comforting presence. The steady rhythm of his heartbeat brought a sliver of comfort to my shattered emotions. "I wish I could have given you more time to get to know me before all of this," he confessed, a touch of bitterness seeping into his words. "But those old Elders insisted on sealing our union immediately."

"You think you know hate, Avery?" His voice a dangerous rumble that seemed to roll straight through me. "Hate is easy. It’s the love that complicates everything." "Love? Don't talk to me about love. You wouldn't recognize it if it clawed its way into your heart." Liam's expression darkened, "And whose fault is that, remind me? You destroyed every ounce of it." My eyes filled with tears instantly, my voice so thick, it hurt my throat as the words came out. "And you made me pay for it, in the most horrible way. A person who loved a girl with his whole heart would never be able to do what you've done, what you've allowed to happen. That's why I hate you, because you never loved me, or else you couldn't do all this to me." His eyes sparked with anger "You have no idea what you're talking about." "Maybe I do, maybe I don't," I shot back bitterly, "But it seems like the only thing you're good at is pretending. Pretending to care, pretending to love—" "That's enough!" his voice boomed. "You want to see how real my feelings are? I should teach you a lesson on underestimating them." I tilted my chin up in defiance "Go on then, teach me." The next moment was a blur of motion as he closed the distance between us. His hands gripped my face, not gentle but not cruel—a fervent, desperate hold. His lips met mine in an intense, raw kiss, fueled by anger and deep, relentless desire. The kiss was punishing, his mouth moving against mine with a fierce urgency that left no room for doubts or second thoughts. As he pulled back, his eyes bore into mine, challenging, questioning, daring me to deny what lay between us.

“Are you trying to punish me? I…I don't know how many times I can apologize even if it wasn't my fault that I almost—” “I never asked you to. You do whatever you want, Niya, and I really don't care. Neither should you bother with what I do.” “You're hurt. You're hurt, Alex, and you're acting out. Don't worry we could talk this through. This isn't you.” I try to reach him again but he shoots me a deadly glare that pierces through my skin like a dagger. “Sure it is. You've just never seen me like this. You don't know what I look like when I'm not in love with you,” his brows grow together. “Now we’ve had enough of your drama. You'll find the papers and enjoy the party or use the fucking door.” He pulls away and my eyes cloud again. My ears and heart find it hard to process what is actually going on. The looks on their faces tell me it is awfully too late—I have already lost everything. “Niya, careful now,” my grandmother slowly tugs at my arm as if that will somehow make everything better. “We have guests. Don’t cause a scene.” A scene? I have literally just seen a whole movie, ma. ************* My name is Niya Kendrick. I’m 25, an author who once believed she had the perfect life. But how quickly can everything I love be stripped away in the blink of an eye? Or worse, what if the life, the family I’ve cherished has always been a blatant lie, a mere fragment of the truth? Now, I’m awake, and reality is far harsher than any dream.

Regan It started the day in senior high, a game of revenge that I was unaware of at that time. He starts the battle of the unknown me, a girl with a lost memory against him, a handsome bully with his demons. I thought he would forgive me for what I did to the only person who was everything to him. It wasn't intentional, yet he didn't miss a chance to hurt me where it hurt the most. I knew that I was the only one to blame here. I believed it was all my fault. Then I left something that I wished I didn't have. . Lincoln The emotions and forceful resistance I had built around my heart before, now I see them breaking into several pieces. That's what I thought until it wasn't after that reality was drawn to my mind. But still, that hole in the heart one can't fix after losing the only family one ever had. I wanted to change it, to move on with my life. Those games I have played to push away people who cared for me now tire me shitless. I even felt awful about hurting that girl more when she was never at fault. I wasn't even in my right mind to see the effort she put into healing me until. . .it was too late. She left, disappeared like she never existed in my life. Her action turned me into something that no one had seen coming. Years later, I ran into her again, who saved me from becoming my worst enemy. What happened to my sister wasn't her fault, and I no longer want to punish us both for it. I am letting go of all those grudges. And I won't let anything stop me from getting what I want.

My sister-in-law, Maeve Cohen, floored my luxury car and blew past traffic at about 125 mph, killing a family of three. She pretended to be me and acted as if nothing could touch her. "Those idiots walked into my path! It's not my fault they got hit!" she snapped. "I'm the Lincoln Enterprise heiress. Even if I ran, who would dare catch me?" In my last life, Maeve said her husband wasn't home and she needed a car to visit her parents, so she borrowed mine. She ended up racing down the road, plowing into a family crossing the street, and driving back over them to make sure they were dead. The couple had just bought a house. The baby was only a month old. When the victims' family demanded an explanation, she hid behind my reputation and spat venom. "They're just three worthless people! I'm the Lincoln Enterprise heiress; why should I explain myself? Tell them to come to me for funeral expenses!" The grieving family couldn't take it and came to my in-laws' place. "Three worthless people, huh? Today, we'll end you so you can apologize to them in person!" My husband had died the year before. With no one to protect me, the victims' family turned on me, and I was stabbed to death. The valuable wedding gifts my family had given to me became Maeve's overnight. My family tried to appeal for me, but trolls who hated the rich maliciously reported tax problems about my father's company. My father was driven to exhaustion. One night, he fell asleep at the wheel, and the car plunged off a cliff, killing him. Only after I died did I discover it had all been Maeve's plan to ruin us out of spite. Then I opened my eyes. I was back on the day Maeve took my car and ran into those people.