Novel & Cerita H E I R E S S Unscramble

At my graduation ceremony, I finally gathered the courage to confess my feelings to my longtime crush. But before I could, I was hit by a car. When I opened my eyes again, he was standing right in front of me with a frigid glare. "You're awake? Perfect. Then let's discuss our divorce." I blinked at him, completely dazed. Divorce? Wait—what? I hadn't even confessed yet. How on earth had this turned into a divorce?

Adrian woke to warmth, too much warmth. His heart nearly stopped when he realized his head was resting against Kaelen’s chest, their legs tangled beneath the sheets. Panic surged. He shoved himself upright, only to freeze when he saw it, thin, glowing red threads coiling around his wrist, binding him to Kaelen. His blood ran cold. “What the hell…?” Adrian whispered, staring at the unmistakable bond mark. Kaelen stirred, blinking awake. For a moment, confusion flickered in his eyes, then shock. He tugged the sheet up to cover himself, gaze darting between Adrian and the red mark linking them. “What did you do? Adrian hissed, his voice breaking. You’re my sister’s fiancé! You’re supposed to be her mate, not...” He trembled as he scrambled for his clothes. Kaelen sat up, still staring at the line as though it mocked him. “I… I don’t know. But this—this isn’t a mistake. Adrian, you’re my mate.” “No!. Adrian’s hands shook as he pulled his shirt over his head. Whatever happened last night...forget it. This is wrong. You hear me? It never happened. Don’t you dare breathe a word of this to anyone.” Kaelen’s voice softened, almost pleading. “Adrian…” But Adrian couldn’t bear to listen. His chest ached as he turned away, slamming the door behind him, leaving Kaelen staring at the red bond that refused to fade. Two souls tied together by fate. One forbidden connection that could destroy them both.

On the fifth year after marrying Giovanni Santoro, the Don of the Santoro family, he decides to make a public appearance with his mistress, Valentina Conti. He no longer denies the truth behind the romantic scandals. Videos of them that have been taken in secret, as well as salacious gossip featuring the two, are spread like wildfire in New Albion. It's an act of declaring ownership over Giovanni that he himself has silently permitted. There are even busybodies who don't know their place and decide to prod me for answers with smiles on their faces. "Does this mean someone else is going to replace you as the Donna of the family?" That night, the underworld of New Albion secretly goes through a thorough purge. I file for a divorce with Giovanni immediately before marrying his biggest enemy, Franco Messina. After that, the Santoro family goes into bankruptcy. Their power and authority easily crumble into dust. Giovanni kneels before me. With tears running down his face, he begs me for forgiveness. I just smile while waving the divorce agreement in my hand. "Sorry, but we're already divorced."

I was the odd one out in the Chicago mob. Other men's women spent their time fighting for affection, clawing for power, watching out for the homewreckers. Not me. I spent mine cleaning up after my boyfriend, Don Vincent Maro. His political rivals — I squared away. His brother's messes — I handled overnight. The women he kept on the side — I dealt with personally. Last month it got worse. He asked me to go chase off a man who'd been hanging around Sofia, his new girl. Sofia pouted. "Elena really can do everything." Vincent said, "That's why I keep her around." Sofia asked, "Won't Elena be upset?" Vincent paused. "Her? She's used to it." Seven years. No title in the Maro family. No public acknowledgment. Just one function — fixing things. This time, I was tired. I slid the last stack of documents across to Vincent. He signed them one after another without looking up. When he was done, he asked: Anything else? I said: No. It's all handled. What he didn't know was that at the bottom of that stack was the document terminating every identity I held inside the Maro family. The moment his pen touched that page, I no longer belonged to the Maros. And I no longer belonged to him.

I was the top engineer at the National Deep-Sea Institute—and the only person in the world with real deep-sea rescue experience. When my younger brother's submarine went down and he called for help from 35,000 feet below, I hung up on him. Then, calm and unhurried, I went straight to the police station and turned myself in for leaking classified research data. A few minutes later, my father called, furious. "Your brother's life is hanging by a thread—where the hell are you?! I demand you to get to the site and save him right now, or you won't see a single penny of the family fortune!" I pulled the blanket over myself and said into the phone, perfectly composed, "Busy. Don't bother me—I'm trying to sleep."

In my past life, I was trafficked and gave birth to a son. When Noah Barrett turns six, I plan to take him and escape from the mountains. On my first attempt, I map out the route in advance and prepare to flee with him. But in the morning, my mother-in-law, Ruth Whitaker, blocks me at the door. She ties me up and locks me inside the shed. Then, she starves me for three days. On my second try, I secretly buy sleeping pills from an unlicensed village doctor and slip them into dinner. At the table, Ruth flips the table without hesitation and beats me until I am half dead. The third time, I take advantage of a village meeting and escape with Noah again. We hide in a concealed mountain cave. Neither of us makes a sound, yet Ruth finds us with ease. I am dragged back and locked away in the pigpen. Ruth takes a shovel and strikes me with it again and again. "You filthy bitch. You dare run off with my precious grandson!" Her eyes are bloodshot. With the final blow, she uses all her strength and smashes the shovel into my head. I collapse to the ground. My consciousness fades. My blood drains away, and I die. When I open my eyes again, I am back on the day I plan to escape the mountains with Noah. Suddenly, I can hear Noah's thoughts, his voice clear and dripping with viciousness. "Mom can't be allowed to run. Grandma says Mom is our family's slave. She's supposed to serve us for her whole life."

For three years, I was the unrecognized genius bleeding for Marcus’s empire. On the night he was crowned the city's youngest billionaire tycoon, I stood in the shadows, waiting for the proposal he promised. Instead, I watched him pull my treacherous step-sister onto the stage, sliding a six-carat diamond onto her finger while presenting my life’s work as their joint masterpiece. When I confronted him, his sneer was dripping with disgust: 'You belong hidden in a sterile lab, Elara. She belongs in the spotlight. Know your place.' ​Stripped of my legacy, my reputation, and my dignity, I was discarded in the freezing rain. That was where the bulletproof Maybach found me. ​Alexander Thorne. The ruthless tyrant of the business world. An apex predator who viewed human emotion as a disease—and the only man with the power to crush Marcus overnight. He rolled down the window, his gaze lethal. 'I need a brilliant doctor to keep my sister breathing, and a wife who knows how to submit in public. You need a weapon. Get in.' The contract was absolute: Two years of marriage, total obedience before the cameras, and absolute silence regarding his family. In exchange, he would grant me the unimaginable wealth and power to destroy the parasites who ruined me. ​Marcus thought he had buried a pathetic, obedient lab rat. Alexander thought he had bought a desperate, easily controlled doctor. As I signed the marriage certificate and became the untouchable Mrs. Thorne, they both failed to realize one fatal truth. I didn't just want my research back. I was going to burn their empire to the ground.

Felix Lindsey, the boyfriend of my childhood friend, Celine Fletcher, will be visiting her home for the very first time. I help Celine out by preparing a nice feast for the occasion. But Felix merely glances at the garlic butter shrimps before flying into a fit of rage. "You cooked food that I'm allergic to on purpose in hopes that I'll embarrass myself in front of Celine and her family! You'll definitely drag my name through the mud on purpose afterward so that you can replace me as her boyfriend, right? "Stop dreaming already! If Celine had feelings for you from the start, I wouldn't be in the picture right now!" With a perplexed look, I quickly explain to Felix that Celine's mom has hurt her leg, so she specifically called me here to help out with the cooking. Also, I already have a fiancee of my own, so I'm not interested in Celine in the slightest. But Felix just chuckles coldly at me. "Stop playing hard to get. I can tell who's a simp at first glance. You often cling to Celine under the guise of being her childhood friend. How utterly disgusting! "Why don't you take a look at yourself in the mirror? That way, you'll see how old and ugly you are! Who on earth will ever have her sights on you? Only a blind woman will ever fall for you!" Celine holds back her laughter the whole time. Just as I'm about to lash out at Felix with clenched fists, she has the audacity to hug him while looking very haughty. "My boyfriend has a really sharp tongue, doesn't he? Finally, there exists someone whose verbal firepower exceeds yours! I'd like to see if you have the guts to bully me ever again!" As I stare at Celine's nonchalant expression, I don't hesitate to deliver a heavy slap across her cheek. "Get the hell away from me! Both you and your boyfriend don't even have the right to speak to me!"

After the cruise ship strikes a hidden reef, panicked passengers shove me and Kristen Langford into the sea. My boyfriend, Elijah Jensen, is the ship's captain, so he plunges into the water. But instead of saving me, he grabs Kristen and boards the last lifeboat. I thrash and cry for help, but he slaps my hand away. "You can swim. Stop pretending for attention!" Elijah snaps. "Kristen's body temperature is dropping. I have to get her to a hospital!" The waters around me are pitch-black, and his words feel like a death sentence. When the tracking bracelet I always wear is discovered inside a shark, Elijah dives alone into shark-infested waters, searching for three days and nights. In the end, the brilliant captain who once ruled the oceans can never sail again.

On our first wedding anniversary, my husband came home with a woman who was six months pregnant. He introduced her as his cousin, someone who had fallen on hard times, and asked me to take care of her. I was just about to agree when fragments of imaginary commentary floated through my mind: [She's just my 'cousin'. Uh-uh, that's a cliche.] [Poor supporting female character! A maid by day, the husband's bedwarmer by night.] [But she totally deserved it! If she hadn't broken up the main couple, they'd have a whole soccer team of kids by now!] Wait—what? Supporting female character? Me? And what's this about breaking them up? So now these two get to cheat under my roof, and somehow I'm the villain? Before I could process it all, my husband was already dragging her luggage inside. "Alice doesn't like fried food," he said matter-of-factly. "And nothing too salty or spicy. Make sure you keep that in mind when you're cooking. "Oh, and pregnant women love sweets. Go out now and buy a cherry cake. The one from that bakery in the suburbs."