Hot Topic Sonic The Hedgehog Novels & Stories

I was his disposable wife for four years… until I became his brother’s favorite sin. ************ I spent four years as a trophy wife with a secret: my life was a living hell. My husband used his billions to hide the bruises, and my family were too busy enjoying his money to care that I was breaking. But the night he left me for dead on the floor of our mansion, something snapped. I didn't cry or scream. I just grabbed my four-year-old daughter and ran.I thought I was free. When a gang snatched us off the street, I thought my husband would finally show a shred of humanity. Instead, he simply turned off his phone. I was seconds away from a bullet when Ethan Hilton stepped in. He’s cold, dangerous, and looks at me like he already owns me. He offered me a deal: a roof over our heads, and safety in exchange for working as his secretary. I thought I’d found a guardian angel, until I realized who he really is.Ethan isn't just a stranger. He’s the stepbrother my husband hates, the family secret they tried to erase.Now, I’m trapped in a house with a man who wants to use me to destroy the person I fear most. He doesn't just want my loyalty, he wants me breathless and broken on his desk, and even with my husband clawing to reclaim me, I’d rather burn in Ethan’s bed than spend another second in my husband's cage.

I was in the middle of hosting an important international meeting when my younger brother’s sudden call interrupted me. On the other end, his voice was low and trembling. "Matt, someone took my spot for the exchange student program." I rushed to his school right away, only to find him cornered in an office, his eyes slightly red. A cocky-looking boy was pointing at Tim’s nose, his face full of arrogance. "You want to compete with me? I’m the heir of the Smiths in Ardenford. My mom just donated an entire lab building to the school! Who do you think you are?" Even the teacher nearby spoke up in support of him. "Timothy, the Smiths are one of our school’s major benefactors. You’d better be sensible and not cause any trouble." I was about to step forward and confront them when those words—the Smiths in Ardenford—made me stop cold. The Smiths in Ardenford? Since when did my mom have a third son besides me and my brother, Timothy? I immediately dialed her number, a cold laugh slipping from my lips. "Mom, when did you have another son behind Dad’s back?"

I divorced Adrian Cross seven days before he died. I thought his silence meant he never loved me. I was wrong. At his funeral, his grandmother grabs my wrist. "You were the only thing he ever wanted." Then the letters. Dozens of them. Never sent. "I saw you long before you ever knew my name." Debts he paid off in secret. Enemies he destroyed without a word. A photo of me he carried for five years — before we ever met. I mourn a man I never actually knew. Then I find out he didn't die by accident. I go looking for the truth. The truth comes looking for me first. Dying, I only wish for one thing. One more chance to choose him. I open my eyes three years in the past. Same morning. Same contract on the table. Adrian, alive, asking if I'm ready to sign. I know what's coming this time — the danger, the silence, the divorce I'm never going to file again. I'm not walking away from him twice. I'm not losing him twice. This time, I choose Adrian Cross. Before it's too late to tell him so.

Everything I built my life on for four years was a lie. Nathan Cole told his grandmother he was infertile. She begged me on her knees to marry him, and because she was the only family I had left after my parents died, I said yes. I gave up my own engagement for her. I became the devoted wife of a man the whole family pitied. For four years, I believed I couldn't have children. I mourned it quietly, never once making him feel less of a man because of it. I raised the little boy he brought home and told me was an orphan, loving him like he was my own. When Nathan's business "collapsed," I worked myself to exhaustion to hold our household together, feeding his family, carrying a debt that was never really mine. None of it was real. Nathan was never infertile. He just never wanted a family with me — so he made sure I never got pregnant, quietly, through the tea he made me every single night. The son I raised wasn't an orphan either. He was Nathan's, from another woman he didn't want to keep. And the money he claimed was gone had been going somewhere else all along — to a whole other family, three children deep, with a woman he actually loved. The infertility, the bankruptcy, the adoption — none of it was about me. It was all just his way of keeping me close without ever giving me the truth. He always believed I had nowhere else to go. No family, no options, just him. He was wrong. By the time he realized what I'd become, I was already gone — and someone who never lied to me was waiting with a ring.

My husband’s friend’s widow uploaded a picture of her pregnancy report. [Thank you for letting me have my own baby.] I responded with a question mark when I saw Jake Green, my husband’s name, in the husband column. Jake immediately called me to yell at me. “She’s a widow and is living alone. All she wants is to have a baby to keep her company and give her life a little more cheer. How could you not show her even this bit of pity? “You know that Henry is my friend. It’s only right for me to take care of his wife after he died! This is called friendship, don’t you understand?!” Soon, Henry’s widow uploaded a photo of a loft apartment. [Thank goodness you’re by my side to let me experience the warmth of a family again.] When I saw Jake busying himself in the kitchen in the photo, I thought it was time to end the marriage.

The whole world knows that Rachel Saffron is Matt Quillon's and Sean Coal's true love. My best friend, Winnie Hamilton, and I are merely substitutes for Rachel. It seems like I'm the love of Matt's life, and Winnie is the only woman Sean has ever had eyes for. However, we both know this is nothing but an act.

The day my husband's first love, who was my sister, died, he sent me into the wilderness, all because I was not a match for the kidney transplant she needed. "Make sure Lisa can’t leave. For pretending to be Emma’s little sister, it’s time she learns her lesson," he ordered. I was abandoned in the dense forest, trapped, and left to fend for myself. Desperate, I sought shelter in a cave, trying to survive. However, wild animals soon picked up my scent and surrounded the cave. In the end, they tore me apart, and I died a brutal, painful death, with my body left exposed and torn in the wilderness. When Benjamin finally saw what was left of me, he lost his mind.

My girlfriend keeps saying that she comes from a poor family, but she gives her childhood sweetheart a yacht on our anniversary. I text her to ask about this, but all she does is berate me. "Who do you think you are? How dare you stick your nose into my business! I'll give anyone whatever I want. My money, my call. Get lost!" Unbeknownst to her, I'm covered in blood on the other end of the line.

On the eve of my wedding, I was run over by my fiance's childhood friend. My life was in danger. My best friend tried to call my fiance, but he hung up directly. He sent her a text message. "Ruth is sick. I don't have time." My best friend then called her boyfriend who happened to be a well-connected celebrity. However, he said, "Ruth is sick. She needs me by her side right now." After a night of resuscitation, we looked at each other in the ward and spoke at the same time. "I don't want to get married." To our surprise, both our fiances went crazy when they found out we called off our weddings.

My boyfriend is a forensic doctor. I've been abducted and tied to a bomb—there's only ten minutes to detonation. The abductors force me to call my boyfriend, but all I get is a scolding. "What the hell do you want, Michelle? What are you playing at, using your life as an excuse just because you're jealous? "Vi's cat has already been stuck in a tree for three days. She loves it like it's her life! If you delay me from saving it, you'll be a murderer!" I hear a coquettish voice ring out on the other end of the line. "Thank you for this, Kev. You're amazing!" I recognize that voice—it belongs to my boyfriend's childhood friend. I text my boyfriend when the bomb is about to explode. "Farewell forever. I pray we won't meet each other again in another life."