Happily Ever Afterwards

“She was loyal to the wrong man… until he made her his.” Elena trusted Matteo with her heart—and her body. He promised love, marriage, and a future together. But the night she sacrificed herself for his career, she discovered the cruel truth: Matteo was engaged… to her sister. Humiliated, heartbroken, and alone, she never expected the man she met that same night to claim her as his wife. Adrian Laurent, billionaire, enigmatic, and dangerously alluring, didn’t just save her from betrayal—he made her his in a way no one could challenge. But as secrets unfold, loyalties are tested, and enemies close in, Elena must navigate a world of power, lies, and desire. Because in the game of love and revenge… nothing is what it seems, and no one is untouchable.

One week before our wedding, my fiancé, my father’s own consigliere, sold him out.He set him up for a FBI raid. My father died in a pool of blood, his eyes wide open, and the once-great Moretti family collapsed overnight. In my darkest hour, Dominic, the Don of the New York Luciani family, showed up with a crew of mercenaries. He didn't just take care of the rat; he gave me total protection. He obsessed over me for three years, even tattooing my name over his heart. I fell for it. I believed he loved me. I let my guard down and stayed by his side, serving as the lead perfumer for the coldest man in the city. Until today. Outside the wine cellar, I overheard him talking to his rival. "Old man Moretti died never knowing who had leaked his location," Dominic said. "But imagine if that stupid woman, Elena, found out," the rival mocked. "If she knew the man who killed her father was the same husband kissing her forehead every night... would she lose her mind?" My hand froze on the cellar door. The rival’s laughter came through the cracks: "You’re cold-blooded, Dominic! Elena thinks you’re her savior. She even wants to give you an heir. She’d never dream the raid that destroyed her life was actually your offering to Sienna."

After my family went bankrupt, my fiancé, Thaddeus Blackwood, firmly broke off our engagement and chose Vivienne Winters instead. It was Sterling Knight who helped me clear my debts and arranged my father's funeral, rescuing me from financial ruin. For the next three years, he remained steadfastly by my side. Just when I believed I had found my salvation, I overheard a conversation between Sterling and his friend the day before our wedding. "Do you really plan to marry Arabella Frost? Aren't you afraid she'll eventually discover that you orchestrated her father's death and her family's bankruptcy?" "Vivienne has already married Thaddeus," Sterling replied. "I might as well marry her. And if she finds out, so what? I paid off her debts and gave her father a proper burial. I've done right by her." Only then did I realize that Sterling had deceived me too. From beginning to end, I was the only one truly invested in this relationship.

One night. No name. Just a gold bracelet. Four years later, my son is dying. Only his father can save him. But I never knew who he was... Until I find him again... Sebastian Blackwell. Cold. Rich. Dangerous. He says I'm a lair. Now he wants a deal. One year of marriage. One rule: Stay silent. But he doesn't know... I was never supposed to be in that room. And someone I loved planned it all.

Aurora only came over to spend time with her best friend— not to collide with Layla’s infamous older brother, the Ravenwood University heartbreaker every girl whispers about and every parent warns their daughters to avoid. Jaxon Grayson is everything Aurora hates: Cold. Careless. Legendary for his hookups and notorious for never caring after. So why does her pulse spike every time he’s near? From the moment she meets him—with girls trailing behind him like shadows—Aurora’s disgust is instant. She snaps at him without fear, without shame… and without realizing she just caught the attention of the one boy who never looks twice. But everything changes one chaotic night— too many games, too much adrenaline, and one reckless moment that spirals into a kiss that neither of them can forget. A forbidden pull. A dangerous heat. A night that shouldn’t have happened… but did. Now Aurora can’t escape the truth: she wants the one boy she was never meant to want. And Jaxon—cold, untouchable Jaxon—finds himself wanting the one girl he was never supposed to touch. But with Layla fiercely against their closeness… with jealous girls watching… with history, pride, fear, and reputation in the way… Aurora wonders: Is this a mistake that will ruin everything? Or the one forbidden taste that might change them both forever?

My family was the wealthiest in River City, with assets worth trillions. On my eighteenth birthday, my brother, Calvin Chester, gifted me an entire jewelry production line while my parents built a private museum and named it after me. The greatest hardship I’d ever faced? Learning how to spend my inheritance. Then I met Dario Darwin. For him, I cut ties with my family and helped him build his empire from scratch. But when I was three months pregnant, he demanded I drink on behalf of his assistant, Fran Fallon, a woman “slumming it” as an intern while secretly being the heiress to another fortune. “Stop pretending,” he sneered. “You’re not like Fran, raised in pampered luxury. You’re older, so act like it and take care of your juniors!” Then, to the clients leering around the table, “My wife’s just being dramatic. She can hold her liquor. Don’t hold back—pour her another!” Amid their jeers, he left with Fran, abandoning me to a room of drunken men. Years of sacrifice, only to be humiliated. I scheduled an abortion and called him. “We’re done.” Through the phone, Fran’s simpering voice chimed in, “It’s my fault that Clea is upset… I should quit and go home to my family’s billions.” “Ignore her. She’s faking it,” Dario cooed back. On the day Dario signed the divorce papers, my parents and Calvin came to take me home. Our marriage came to an end, but his tragedy was about to begin.

Katerina Lillybeth Bautista is an aspiring Artist full of dreams and admiration. She spends her life searching for her purpose in life, and when she finally found it along with the love that she always wish for, a horrifying tragic experience happens to her ending his own life. She wakes up one day knowing that she became a spirit and no one can see her. On the day she wants to go to another side she didn't make it because she realized that she needs an answer first to her sudden death, she needs to give justice and find the person behind her tragic experience. Until she met a blind man who will receive a new eye that eventually can see Katerina Lillybeth spirit that gives hope to Katerina to find the answer to all her question but she didn't know that she will eventually fall to a Man that she can't even hold or touch. Will love really conquer everything even in the midst of life and death?

My boyfriend was crippled when he saved me, while his adoptive sister suffered from heart failure after protecting us from misfortune. She had to depend on the expensive imported medicines to sustain life. To pay for their treatment, I sold myself as a lifecasting model on the black market. Not only were my hands and feet coated in the heated silicon, but I also needed to endure strangers touching me without flinching. I needed to pay if the replica was damaged. I begged through my tears, only to receive a few slaps to my face in return. They scolded, "You signed up for this. Don't act innocent now." Humiliated, exhausted, and aching, I still took the money straight to the hospital to buy medicine for his sister. When I passed by the VIP lounge, I heard a familiar laughter. "Chris, this is the 998th test, isn't it? Are you really marrying her once she passes the 999th test?" With a slight frown, Christopher answered, "Yeah. Although testing her is a family tradition, and they're having you to supervise, don't overdo it. I won't have another bride." I froze. Every sacrifice. Every humiliation. Every bit of pain I had endured—it had all been a test. A game to see whether I was worthy of marrying him. Staring at my bruised reflection in the fire-resistant glass, I let out a sudden chuckle. Then, with trembling hands, I turned on the old phone I hadn't touched in two years. I felt tears roll down my cheeks when I told the other person on the line, "Declan, take me home. I regret everything."

My wife, Sarah, died unexpectedly. My in-laws made an absurd request. "Why not have Stella play both roles? After all, Luke can't be without a mother." My brother-in-law, Greg, yelled at me, calling me shameless, and stormed out in anger. I looked at my sister-in-law, Stella, who looked exactly like my late wife. I could hardly conceal my grief. I was about to urge them to abandon their ridiculous idea, when I accidentally overheard a conversation between her and her parents. "It was Stella who died, so why did you lie and claim it was you?" Sarah sighed. "I love Greg. I staged my death so I could be with him legitimately. As for asking me to play both roles, don't even bring it up again. As for Michael, I have already given him a child and a respectable marriage. I owe him nothing." Turning around, I saw Luke with reddened eyes, asking me softly, "Daddy, does that mean that Mommy no longer wants us?" I bent down and pulled him into my arms, forcing myself to soothe him. "Your Aunt Stella wants to protect the person that she loves. We shouldn't bother her. It's time for us to prepare a new life."

My father called me to his study to deliver an order. I, Victoria Castellano, was to take my illegitimate half-sister Isabella’s place, to marry the comatose heir of the rival Moretti family and secure a truce. I didn’t cry. I laid my kid gloves on his polished desk and made my three demands. Sever all ties. My mother’s entire legacy. And give my bodyguard, Nicholas, to Isabella. Everyone knew my obsession with him. I loved him until I overheard the truth. He was the hidden Rossi heir, undercover only to protect his precious Isabella. Every time he’d saved my life, he was just guarding his link to her. So I let him go. I won’t tell him I’m marrying someone else. And I’ll never tell him that three years ago, in Lake Tahoe’s freezing depths, the lips that breathed life back into a drowning man—the memory that haunts him—weren’t Isabella’s. They were mine.