Novel & Cerita Eight Years

Sandra Whitmore once believed love could survive anything… until her father tore it apart and she was forced to marry another man while carrying the child of the one she lost. Nine years later, she has nothing left but her daughter, and a past she thought was buried forever. Then Zadok Blackwood returns. Now a billionaire. Now colder. Now convinced she betrayed him. But the truth about their separation was never simple, and someone made sure they never found their way back to each other. And the child between them is no longer a secret that can stay hidden

For three years, we held a wedding in name only—my husband, Kit Rutgers, a pilot, canceled our marriage registration eighteen times. The first time, his female trainee, Katy Ferguson, had a test flight. I waited outside the county clerk’s office the whole day. The second time, he got a call from her mid-drive, made a sharp U-turn, and left me standing on the side of the road. After that, every time we planned to make it official, some crisis with Katy mysteriously arose. Eventually, I chose to walk away. But the moment I boarded a plane to Solara, he lost his mind—and chased me there.

On my birthday, my eight-year-old stepson dumped the cake I spent twelve hours on straight into the trash. His face twisted. "Smells like cheap frosting." Then he turned and happily dug into the plain pasta my husband's secretary made. I was about to lose it when the familiar floating comments popped up again. [OMG Nico's doing this again. He literally LOVES Reyna's cake every year. Boy just too prideful to admit it LOL.] [Fr fr, he's just using his late mom to test Reyna. Kid's lowkey possessive and messy!] [Alex, HELLO? Your son's jealous af. You not gonna say anything? Oh wait... you jealous too huh? Watching Reyna dote on Nico got you pressed. lol.]

I married a guy thirty-two years older than I am. Reason? Money. We got divorced, I got all his money and became the city's richest person. Just when my luck was starting to turn, I was hit with devastating news. My ex died. Drowned, they said. The cops think I'm the killer.

The day I found out I wasn't really an Adelson, Sharon—their real daughter—stormed in and stabbed me—over and over. Just like that, my shot at being a mom? Gone. Chuck Benetton, my fiancé, lost it. My parents swore they'd disown her. To "comfort" me, Chuck proposed on the spot. My parents handed me the severance letter—Sharon officially disowned—and told me to just focus on healing. Later, they said Sharon had run off and gotten trafficked in Nyamara, some hotspot for scams and lost souls. They said it served her right. And yeah... I believed them. Six years into the lie, I saw her—very much alive, baby bump and all, curled up against my husband like she owned him. "If I hadn't snapped back then, Yasmine never would've married you, " she said. "Thank God you and Mom and Dad backed me. Otherwise, that imposter would've landed me in jail. "She probably never guessed I've been right here, carrying your baby. Once I give birth, just fake an adoption. She can nanny our kid forever. "Thanks for everything, Chuck." She smiled like he was her hero. And he blushed. "Don't thank me. Marrying her was the only way to protect you. I'd do it all again." So yeah. The guy I thought loved me? He was always lying. My "parents"? They only cared about Sharon. If that's love, I want nothing to do with it.

You think medical school is all anatomy labs and stethoscopes? Yeah, me too. That's what I signed up for. Instead, I got her. Or maybe, I got them. Orientation day. First hour. I was just trying to survive the college officer's speech about not doing drugs. Then the door opened. Three guys who looked like they bench-pressed fun. And a girl with the face of a doll and a voice that could make you forget your own name. Amaye. I had a boyfriend named Donald who was supposed to be in Europe, but he only called when I was about to make bad decisions. And I kept making them. Seven years of medical school. Seven years of tests, assignments, deadlines, and the hottest friend group on campus. I thought I was becoming a doctor. Turns out I was becoming something else entirely. This is my story. Or maybe it's a confession. I haven't decided yet. But I wrote it all down because someone needed to see med school through a different lens. I didn't see it through a lens. I lived it. #medical chaos #reverseharem #girlpower

I manage to drag Jared Sheppard from death's door. Since then, I've accompanied him from his poorest times all the way to the current moment, when he's now worth tens of millions of dollars. On the day his company goes public, he gets engaged to another woman. "Gabrielle, she's different from you. She's an actual princess of the elite. I need to give her an official title, so I can't fool around with you anymore." I never bothered defending myself. It's time for this farce to end, anyway. After all, there's still a man waiting for me at home, who's been calling me his princess since I was a little girl.

"Be my wife for eight months and I will save you from this hell. But if you fall in love with me? I will destroy you." She wasn't sold for a price. She was lost in a bet. A dark deal made in the shadows between a father who sold his own daughter without thinking twice and the man who runs the Blackwood empire. The CEO who doesn't just own money. He owns the city. He owns the law. He owns the men and their fates. She was just a normal designer until she became his wife on paper. A wife to a man who knows no mercy. A man who never loses a deal. A man who refuses to let the woman carrying his name be weak. Eight months. A marriage with no love. Strict rules. Forbidden feelings. But what happens when the deal turns into a deep hunger? What happens when the contract becomes a cage? What happens when she finds out that running away from her father put her in the trap of a man who is a thousand times more dangerous? Her father sold her in a bet. And her only escape was the man who owns the city.

In the seventh year of dating Lorenzo Townsend, he still didn't want to marry me. One day, I said to him, "Lorenzo, I'm getting married." He frowned slightly, not even sure if he heard me right. "The company is going public, and we're swamped. This is not the time to discuss such an insignificant topic," he said. I smiled calmly. Maybe to him, it seemed like I was pushing him to marry me. But the truth was, I was getting married, but not to him.

I kept our marriage a secret for three years, enduring every sneer as her VP while helping her build her empire. Tanya Cox rose from a scorned, illegitimate daughter to a revered CEO. She once nestled in my embrace and promised to be open about our relationship when the company went public. I waited year after year. Even when our child was born, she still hadn’t made good on her word. One day, I pressed for a timeline. However, Tanya simply put the baby in my arms. “Callum, things are complicated at the moment. The disclosure will only hurt the stock price. I gave you a child. Isn’t that enough?” Alas, when her childhood friend, Gavin Nolan, returned from abroad on New Year’s Day, he took the seat of honor during our newborn’s sip and see event. Gavin, cradling my baby girl, accepted well-wishes from friends and family with a smile. “Don’t take things the wrong way. The right etiquette probably slipped his mind since he’s been away for so long. He’s only sitting there to keep the baby entertained. That’s all. Don’t read too much into it. “We’ve always been close since childhood. He’s going to be the godfather of our child. Don’t tell me you’re jealous of him.” Beaming, I raised my glass as a toast to Gavin. Tanya was wrong. I wasn’t at all jealous. Heck, I was done with her.