Hardin After Novels & Stories

She loved him in silence. He denied her without remorse. Alvara gave her heart to a man far above her world, believing his promises meant something. But when consequences followed, Adrian Vale chose power over love—and erased her without hesitation. Forced into a marriage built on cold rules and public lies, Alvara quickly learns that being a wife does not mean being wanted. Every kindness has conditions. Every smile hides control. And every mistake is hers to bear alone. When the marriage ends, Alvara walks away with nothing but scars and a vow never to be weak again. Years later, she returns...changed, guarded, and no longer willing to beg for what she deserves. But the man who once denied her isn’t ready to let go. In a world ruled by power, pride, and regret, can love survive after divorce… or is denial the one thing that never truly ends?

Before the flight takes off, my fiance, the pilot, boards the plane with a suitcase. He says it's a gift from his childhood sweetheart and warns me not to touch it. I can't shake the uneasy feeling creeping into my heart, so I sneak inside. To my shock, I find high-risk contraband hidden in the luggage. I report it immediately and use my commendation to cover for Edward's mistake and save his career. However, his precious childhood sweetheart is arrested, detained, and sentenced. He doesn't say a word after the incident. However, during another flight, he cuts the cord to my parachute. "Jade, I know you're jealous of Cindy! You sabotaged her during her flight attendant training and framed her afterward! Do you think this will make me love you? Dream on! I would never marry a petty woman like you!" I plunge from ten thousand meters above the ground, leaving nothing but blood and broken bones behind. When I open my eyes again, I see Cindy sending Edward off, and he's carrying the same suitcase. I quietly step back and decide I won't save him this time.

“Tell me something, Adriana…” Alessandro’s cold voice sliced through the darkness as he pinned my trembling body against the wall. “When you betrayed me five years ago… did you enjoy destroying me, or was I just another game to you?” I swallowed the lump in my throat, my fingers tightening around the hospital report hidden beneath my coat. Because the ruthless mafia Don standing before me could never know the truth. At least not yet. ************************************************** Five years ago, Adriana Rossi shattered Alessandro Orsini’s heart when she abandoned him and married another man from a rival mafia family. To Alessandro, it was the ultimate betrayal. To Adriana, it was the only way to keep him alive. Now fate has dragged her back into the dangerous world she barely escaped; with nothing left but debts, secrets, and a dying child whose life hangs by a thread. But Alessandro is no longer the man she once loved. He is colder, crueler, and deadlier. A feared mafia Don who still burns with hatred for the woman who ruined him. When he finds Adriana working in a strip club, humiliation and fury collide. Determined to punish her for the past, Alessandro offers her a choice she cannot afford to refuse: become his exclusive mistress… or lose everything. Trapped once again in the arms of the man she never stopped loving, Adriana must survive his vengeance while hiding the truth that could destroy them both forever. Because in the mafia world, secrets are dangerous. But loving Alessandro Orsini again might be the deadliest mistake of all.

Five years after I mated to Alpha Derek Blackwood, his childhood sweetheart broke her mate bond with another Alpha and returned to our pack. Even worse, I had depleted my life force saving Derek when he was mortally wounded, and now I was dying. In the less than six months I had left to live, I continued to play the role of Derek's good mate. Until I passed away. And Derek, after reading the journal I left behind, completely fell apart.

Harrison believed Estelle had betrayed him wih his best friend. He asked for a divorce straight away. She tried to explain, but he refused to believe her and insisted on ending the marriage. Desperate, she begged him for one last hope.“What if I’m pregnant? Would that change anything?”Harrison did not even pause.“I’m sick of your boring games.” So Estelle hid the pregnancy. She delivered their daughter alone. Without a farewell, she vanished from his life and rebuilt herself somewhere far away. Seven years later, Estelle returns and meets Harrison again. Estelle believes he has a son now, a child he shares with his first love. Estelle tells herself this is how it should be, that they have both moved on. But Harrison keeps begging to win her back. He says he can’t live without her. And what Estelle doesn’t know is this: the boy she believes is Harrison’s son with his first love is actually her son.

Seven years married to Adrian Locke. For me, he tore the unbreakable scale from his own body and left the deep sea for dry land. For him, I left everything and moved to the beastkin world. To everyone else we were the most loving couple. Even I believed it. Then he started coming home carrying a fox scent that wouldn't wash off, and every illusion I had about him shattered. The late nights came more often. The nights he didn't come home at all came more often. I knew it was time for us to end. And then that woman sent me the results of her pregnancy test. I filed to dissolve our marriage with the Beastkin Authority and bought a one-way ticket back to the human world. Adrian, if you can't promise me your love is mine alone, then I won't take any of it. From now on, we never see each other again.

In the third year after my death, the one who remained faithfully by my wife's side was still the bionic robot I had painstakingly designed. It looked exactly like me and carried within it every detail of my mannerisms, speech, and habits. The only difference was that it never lost its temper with her. Because of that, my wife never sensed anything amiss. Yet each night, she brought home a different man, deliberately testing "me," desperate to see the wild jealousy and rage I once wore so vividly. Then, one day, her childhood sweetheart and first love, shoved "me" off the balcony. It was only then, in her horror, that my wife realized… "I" didn't bleed.

My mother is in the late stages of cancer. Yet, she sits in a wheelchair with an oxygen tube and endures a long train ride just to attend my wedding with Isaac Pudley. But when it's time for him to walk down the aisle, I don't see him anywhere despite screaming his name. It turns out his childhood sweetheart, Megan Ericsson, is having another depressive episode and is threatening suicide again. "Isaac, I can't live without you," she screeches. Isaac is always so stern and composed, but he now holds Megan in his arms and begs me to call off the wedding so they can leave. Relatives and guests watch the spectacle with thinly veiled amusement. To make matters worse, my mother is so angry that she faints. However, Isaac believes that my mother is feigning illness. He only wants to take Megan with him and leave. He even takes away my mother's wheelchair. But he seems to have forgotten that he has hurt me 97 times by now. After he hurts me 99 times, I’ll definitely leave him.

After dating in secret for seven years, Mitchell Zahn decides to propose to me on the day his birthday album is officially released. But during the birthday party, he publicly invites Isabella Claxton, a composer and my sister, to work with him. I follow Mitchell to ask him for an explanation. That's when I hear him and his friends chatting and joking inside the lounge. "You're so loyal to your first love, Mitchie. You couldn't wait to ask her to work with you upon her return. What are you going to do about Gabriella, though? Will she accept how your relationship ends when she's written so many songs for you?" After a moment, another person laughs and says, "To Mitchie, Gabriella has always been a replacement for Isabella. Now that Isabella is back, her replacement has to go. Don't you agree, Mitchie?" I wait for a long time before hearing a soft sound of agreement.

My husband was not fully conscious from anaesthesia after waking up from surgery, and he started spouting nonsense. I laughed while recording his comical reaction, but while helping him into a chair, I paused when I heard him calling for his son. "Be a good boy, all right? Daddy is busy." My smile froze, and I was stunned. We had been DINKs for 10 years. When did he get a son? My hands trembled as I turned on his phone. It was the first time I was looking through his phone in our years of marriage. When I browsed the phone’s data, I found a private album filled with intimate photos of him with another woman and a child. It was a boy who looked very similar to him, and the timestamp on the photos indicated that the boy was three. All three of them were smiling happily, but their smiles hurt me. He had once told me with conviction that he hated kids and did not want to be tied down by family, which was why he convinced me to be a DINK. However, I now knew that he was not really sincere about being a DINK; he just did not want to have kids with me.