Novel & Cerita Eight Years

I'd been married to my lawyer husband for eight years. In all that time, he never once acknowledged me as his wife in public. He wouldn't even let our daughter call him "Dad." Again and again, he missed out on her childhood because of his childhood sweetheart. Even when she hurt our daughter, he still forgave her. I was worn out and empty. So I decided to leave. I took our daughter and vanished from his world. But he refused the divorce. He started searching for us like a madman, turning the whole world upside down. Only this time, neither my daughter nor I will be looking back.

They say that the deepest cuts come from the ones you hold closest to your heart. But I never expected my husband to be the one holding the knife while another woman twisted it in deeper.... My name is Ariana Carter. I am deeply in love with my husband Misha, and we have the perfect marriage. Scratch that, HAD the perfect marriage, or so I thought until he changed. His lies and betrayal broke me. Until I woke up. Now it's time for me to retake everything I lost--my life, my career, my family, and my dignity. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

On the day of my wedding anniversary, I was cleaning my house when I found a picture album. As it turned out, my husband had been religiously taking pictures with the girl of his dreams every year on this precise date. He had been doing it since he was forty years old and he was now sixty years old. His hair had progressed from a jet black to a faded white and yet, he kept up the tradition. There was a written message in his handwriting at the back of the picture that read, “Eternal Love.” Since he doesn't love me, I will no longer bother washing his clothes and cooking for him. I will no longer care for his children and grandchildren. I may have foolishly wasted half of my life, but it was not too late to make a change.

“I vow to never love you, Daisy , Not in sickness, and never in health.” Those were Sebastian’s words at our wedding, and I had foolishly believed I could make him fall in love with me. The day I told him I was pregnant, his cold eyes met mine, and he muttered, “Abort it.” But the moment his ex-lover returned, he followed her blindly. I watched, tears clouding my vision, as he twirled her in the middle of a lavish party he threw for her—on my birthday all the while proclaiming his love for her to the entire world while I stood there like a fool. My parents’ faces twisted in disgust as they looked at me. “How can you be so ungrateful, Daisy? We’ve given you everything for twenty-three years! Now we’ve found our biological daughter. She is the real heir, so let her take over the company. Don’t be selfish!” And just like that, they handed her the inheritance I had worked for all my life. Three years. Three years I devoted to Sebastian. I gave him my heart, my body, even a kidney when he was on the brink of death. And still, he abandoned me like trash. I fled that night, leaving behind our signed divorce papers and a fake abortion report. But five years later, I returned. But not as the woman they discarded, but as the most successful actress in the nation, with my twin children by my side. And now… they came back begging. “Daisy… we were blind. Please forgive us,” my parents whispered. “I was a fool,” Sebastian fell to his knees. “I made a mistake. Come back to me. I still love you.” I rolled my eyes, my voice icy. “You are five years too late, ex-husband.”

After Jacob Locke brings up breaking up with me once again, I don't wait for him to say anything else. I pack up my things and move out on my own, then quietly cut ties with our past. On the first day, I cancel the wedding planner I booked three years ago but kept delaying. On the second day, I turn off the automatic payments for his mother's treatment. I also politely refuse his sister when she reaches out for money. On the third day, I accept my superior's transfer proposal and get ready to settle down in a southern city. The moment I board the plane, I suddenly get curious. Without me, the free housekeeper who hasn't taken a break in the past decade and the always-on ATM, how will Jacob fare? How will he care for his paralyzed mother, deal with his vain sister, and face his precious junior who's the apple of his eye?

The night I sleep with Graham Rowland, he has just broken up with his girlfriend, Leanna Sandoval. Out of responsibility, he marries me. Our marriage is calm and steady. I once believe this is forever. But then, Leanna dies of illness. When he goes to mourn her, he learns that Leanna discovered what happened between us that night. That is why she loses hope and leaves him. At the same time, he discovers my secret diary of unrequited love. He becomes convinced that I deliberately destroyed their relationship and comes to hate me deeply. He divorces me, leaves me with nothing, and makes my life difficult at every turn. At the brink of death, I hear him say in an icy voice, "Your love disgusts me." When I open my eyes again, I return to two hours before the fateful event that night—when he is about to get drunk after the breakup. I grab my coat, rush out of the room, and knock on Leanna's door.

I followed an account of a couple that was not very popular but was very sweet. The account recorded every detail of the account owner and her boyfriend. They would argue over a plate of pasta and then look at each other and smile, playfully calling the other person a child at heart. They would hug tightly under the starry sky on a mountain top and say that they wished time could stop at this moment. Although the account owner never showed her face, I was still touched by her captions. The account was updated again the day before I was getting married. [Ten years of love ends here. From now on, he's just her husband, and I'm just her best friend. This account will no longer be updated. I wish my best friend and her beloved man a happy ever after.] The photo showed my fiancé, Josh Clark, and me, taken from behind.

Gavin became Alpha right after our mating ceremony. His older brother, Damien—the former Alpha—was dead. Killed by a rival pack from the North. Gavin took his brother's mate, Sarah, and headed north. He claimed he was avenging his brother. He swore he'd expand our territory. He told me the expansion was too dangerous. He didn't want me to get hurt. So I was left behind. Left to rule a dying pack in the south, with only my healing gift to keep us from collapsing. I bled myself for healing serums, all to ensure his northern campaign didn't falter. Every time I sent word asking when our packs would merge, he'd give me an excuse. His position in the North was unstable. They'd just finished a war. It wasn't the right time. Seven years later, the pack couldn't hold on any longer. I sent Leon, my last remaining beta, to find Gavin. Leon’s message back told a different story. Gavin's new pack was already one of the three great powers in the North. And he had a pup with Sarah. A public one. Pain, sharp and swift, lanced through my chest. I marched to the pack elders and demanded they sever our mate bond. Then, I sent a message to the Healers' Guild that had been recruiting me for years: "I'm severing my bond. I'll be packless in three days. Tell the Guild I'm in."

After seven years of marriage, my husband grew tired of our quiet life and took a college student as his mistress. That fragile, pitiable girl held Alain Roth so completely he didn't come home for an entire month, no matter how I begged. On our son's third birthday, I came to their villa, holding the feverish child and pleading for him to return. Inside, he stayed lost in passion with her. Jeff Roth drew his last breath in my arms while their pleasure echoed through the night. At the funeral, Alain held me and wept, swearing he would return to the family and love only me. I agreed, driven solely by Jeff's dying wish. Four years later, a video from his old kindergarten surfaced, showing Alain with a radiant Mabel Flores and a three-year-old boy. The boy smiled brightly at the camera, lifting a trophy high. "Mom, Dad, we're the happiest family in the world!"

Everyone in Ieplad knows Leopoldo Vece, the Don of the Vece family, loves guns but not women—until me. Ten years into our marriage, my adoptive father, Raffaello Conti, lies dying of kidney failure. Leopoldo launches a global hunt for a donor, sparing no expense to save him. He finds her—a young, fragile woman—and spends millions solving her every problem to ensure she is ready for the transplant. On the day of the surgery, she vanishes. I rush to her home in a panic, only to find my husband holding her gently in his arms, soothing her in a soft voice. "If you're afraid of the pain, don't donate then. I'll find another donor." "Is there time?" she asks quietly. "I heard Lucia's adoptive father is at death's door." Leopoldo brushes his hand over her hair, his voice indulgent. "I'll search the world again if I have to. You're still young; this burden isn't yours to carry." As my heart shatters, my phone rings. I answer numbly. The person on the other end of the line says, "Signora Conti, we regret to inform you that Raffaello Conti just passed away. We waited as long as we could for the donor, but his body gave out five minutes ago." I return to the hospital and handle the funeral arrangements alone. After that, I call Marianna D'Andrea, the Don's mother, and say, "I agree to divorce Leopoldo. Please help me disappear."