If I Can't Be Yours Novels & Stories

Nova Ellis has three problems. The first is Drey — her best friend, the boy who held her together when her dad died. She doesn't love him that way. She doesn't. But somehow they ended up in a school restroom doing things best friends should never do, promised each other never again, and have broken that promise five times. Five. They keep saying last time like either of them actually means it. The second is the letter. Three pages of everything she has ever felt for Leo Carter — the sweet parts, the embarrassing parts, the midnight fantasy parts that should never have left her diary. Handed to the wrong person by accident. Read out loud. Every word. The third is Rhys Caldwell. The boy who read that letter with a straight face. The boy she planned to avoid forever. The boy now living in her stepfather's house, down the hall, separated by one very thin wall. Same house. Same dinner table. Same dangerous, electric, completely impossible situation. Nova had one plan this year. One boy. One letter. She didn't plan for any of this. But the real question is — How long can you share a home with someone who already knows your deepest secret before you give them something even more dangerous? Your heart.

On the third year of our anniversary, the cruise ship Louise York—my fiancee—and I were on sank. I gave her the only life jacket we had before getting dragged under the currents and losing contact with the world. Three years later, after I healed from my injuries, I rushed back just in time to see her getting married to my adopted brother. Since she owed me her life, she was forced to marry me instead. That caused her to start hating me, because I had separated her from the man she loved. Even my parents accused me of being immature. They said that I was ruining my brother’s happiness. Their coldness and rejection caused me to become obsessive, and I fell into despair. Then, my family’s enemy came looking for revenge. To save my life, Louise ended up being stabbed right into her heart. Blood gushed out of her as she tried her best to drag me to a safe place. “Nathan, I’m returning the life I owe you. I just hope that you won’t bother me again. I just want… to be with Stanley…” I felt my chest twist in pain as I died full of hatred. When I opened my eyes again, I found myself back to the day I crashed their wedding.

The girl my family sponsored was a manipulative opportunist. She had my childhood friends wrapped around her finger. I helped her out of pity for her poor background, but she climbed her way up, slowly taking my place. She faked innocence in front of the brothers while sabotaging me behind my back. When they found out, they called me petty rather than blame her. I got fed up, married my college crush, and moved on. But they flew in overnight, begging for forgiveness.

I was the side character, the one destined to be neglected, forgotten, and never chosen. In the novel’s story, I was merely a background existence—the woman fated to marry the male lead, yet never once receive his love. The wife who shared his name but never his attention. Salvatore Mancini. The perfect male lead. Cold, powerful, and admired by everyone. Except me. Because in this story, his heart already belonged to someone else. When I first realized I had transmigrated into this novel, I thought I could change my fate. I tried to avoid the original scenes, tried to step away from the plot. But every time I tried to change something…I returned to the same place. The same moment, the same outcome. As if the unseen author of this story was reminding me again and again: You are only a puppet, and puppets don’t decide their roles. So I stopped resisting. If the story wanted me to be the neglected wife, then I would simply live quietly and let the plot run its course. That was my plan. Until one night, when I finally looked at the man and said casually— “Tell me something, Mr. Mancini. Aren’t you supposed to be my husband?” His cold eyes narrowed slightly, but I simply leaned back and smiled. “Then fulfill your role properly. Let’s see… what kind of man the great Salvatore Mancini is.” For the first time since our marriage he actually looked at me, not through me. At me. I didn’t know what changed after that, but from that night onward. Even when he looked at me with clear irritation. Salvatore Mancini began appearing around me more and more. Which left me with a very unsettling thought. The plot…It didn’t change, right?

One day, my partner, Natalie Moore, cried and begged me to let her have the baby she had conceived with her childhood sweetheart, Yarden Holt. I agreed, but only on two conditions. Firstly, Yarden had to take the child abroad and never come back. Secondly, if Natalie ever broke the first condition and allowed them to come back, half of the Moore family’s estate had to be transferred to me. Everyone called me a gold-digging opportunist. They accused me of using a woman to climb the social ladder and coveting the Moore family fortune. Nevertheless, Natalie was willing to go against the entire Moore Corp board just to keep that child. Five years after that, I went to a neighboring city for a project and found a little boy. I took him to the police station so they could contact his family. The officer dialed the number the boy gave, and the voice that came through was one I knew all too well. “Baby, don’t worry. I’m coming to get you right now.” Less than half an hour later, Natalie, who was supposed to be hundreds of miles away at a meeting, stormed into the police station. I sat on a bench and watched her indifferently. She froze, and her face turned pale. I smiled and stood up to greet her. “Natalie, I had no idea that you had secretly brought this little boy back. Did you stop caring about your inheritance?”

The day he first saw her, one thought consumed him, "I want to fuck her." Their first meeting, which seemed like an unexpected encounter, turned her life upside down. Rainee humiliated him in front of everyone just because Alex bullied her beloved brother. Alex Fraser swore to own her all for himself, to make her beg on her knees until he was satisfied. But their obsession led them to get deceived by their own desire.

Life was perfect for Alison Jade Jorgensen, an eighteen-year-old who had everything she could ever ask for - wealth, beauty, and attention. As the only child of a wealthy family, she was the apple of everyone's eye. Despite her privileged life, Alison remained an innocent girl, unaware of the harsh realities of the world. But everything changed when her beloved grandfather passed away a month before summer. Grief-stricken, Alison isolated herself behind the walls of her bedroom, unable to cope with the loss. Enter Jared Thompson, a twenty-five-year-old man who lived for nothing but pleasure. When Alison finally ventures out into the world, Jared becomes her distraction from the pain of her grandfather's passing. But what if Jared ends up causing more damage to Alison than she has already suffered? What if he becomes the source of her destruction?

Wayne is haunted by his dark past and has shut himself off from the world, hiding his secrets and becoming a loner in school. But everything changes when he rescues April, a blonde girl, from a group of dangerous female gangsters. As he tries to navigate his newfound friendship with April, he meets Jill, a bold and confident black-haired girl who has a sharp tongue and a softer heart. Despite her teasing demeanor, Jill is secretly in love with Wayne and is determined to break down his walls and help him find the love and peace he so desperately seeks. Join Wayne on a journey filled with danger, heartache, and ultimately, a chance at redemption and true love in this thrilling tale.

To help my "destitute" husband pay off his debts, I scavenged for scraps for five years. My son and I survived on expired canned food. That changed on my son's birthday. I saw him in a bespoke suit, spending millions to celebrate the birthday of the woman he truly loved. That was the moment I realized he was actually the most powerful billionaire on Wall Street. To please the love of his life, he let our child be injected with unknown drugs, leaving him on the brink of death. He even forced me to drain my own blood to save her son. Later, I became someone he could no longer reach. I linked arms with a man far more powerful than him and walked away. That once arrogant man ended up kneeling in the Arctic snow, clutching a photo I had burned, weeping like a stray dog.

On the day of my wedding to Elliot Wendell, a fake heiress committed suicide. In the second year of our marriage, we ended up enemies. He hated me, the true heiress, for returning and causing Celeste Dent’s death. I hated him for loving the woman who had taken my place as an heiress for twenty years. During the ten years of our marriage, we fought each other with vicious words and wished for the other to die. Then, there was an earthquake, and he shielded me beneath him. He protected me with his back. The building collapsed, and he ended up a mangled and bloody corpse. As he lay dying, he whispered into my ear, “If I had known that she would die, I would’ve never taken you home.” “If we ever meet again, it would be better if I were your only family.” In the end, I still died in the secondary quakes. When I opened my eyes again, I found that I had gone back in time. It was the day when he brought me to the Dent family to regain my rightful place among them. Elliot suddenly changed his mind and said, “Samantha, I was wrong. You’re not the daughter the Dent family lost twenty years ago.”