Jubilee Bracelet

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.

I was doted to the bone by the mafia heir, Leonardo — he took bullets for me, endured 99 lashes, and promised to take me to see the Southern Sea that never freezes! But he let Zoe get pregnant with his child. He accused me of causing Ella’s pollen allergy, and even gave the only keepsake left by my mother — a bracelet — to Zoe as an apology. He said, "It’s just a bracelet." During an argument, he shoved me down, causing my head to bleed, yet he rushed to the hospital with Zoe, not even bothering to look back at me. I lay in the hospital getting stitches, and his suit still carried Zoe’s perfume. He yelled at me, "You followed me to the hospital to cause trouble!" My heart shattered, yet he still lied to me, "I only love you. After this fake wedding, I’ll take you away!"

I was a mafia princess, sick of the life. After my father died, all I wanted was a normal life. I helped my husband, Marco, take his company public. I fought his battles. I took care of his mother. I paid for his sister’s tuition and her addiction to luxury. Then, at our tenth-anniversary party, he gave my mother's bracelet to his childhood flame, Isabella. He even fucked her in our bed. I hired a PI. Found out he knew who I was from the start. He used me. Planned to be a Wall Street hotshot, then toss me aside. He thought my family was wiped out. That no one had my back. That he could walk all over me. He didn’t break until his company was bleeding partners and staring down bankruptcy. He got on his knees, crying and begging me to forgive him.

“Spread those legs for me, Yulia.” Nikolai’s voice is a command, not a request. They say the devil doesn’t come with horns or fire, but mine came in the form of my husband. Nikolai Romano is ruthless, cold, and obsessed with a woman he met in a secret club… a woman he’s been searching for ever since. He never saw her face, only a bracelet she left behind. I was never meant to be his bride. I was the replacement. Offered up by the family who took me in when I was an orphan, all because their real daughter, Elena, didn’t want him. To Nikolai, I’m nothing more than a duty. A punishment. A body warming another woman’s place. But secrets have a way of bleeding through the cracks. What happens when Elena realizes the man she rejected is the very one she’s always wanted? And what will happen when Nikolai discovers that the real lady he’s met in the club… has been beside him all along?

I sat at the table, watching the food grow cold, much like my heart. Today was my birthday. It was also Leslie Buck's birthday—Katherine White's childhood sweetheart. I unlocked my phone and opened Leslie's social media page. As expected, a new post awaited me. "Grateful to have you by my side for every birthday. Let's keep our promise to celebrate every one of them together in the future!" The photo showed two hands forming a heart in front of a cake. One of them was Katherine's. I could tell from the bracelet she wore. It was the one I had given her. I gave the post a like, then set my phone aside. Without hesitation, I dumped the dishes Katherine liked into the trash and went out to a restaurant to order the food I liked, celebrating my birthday alone. From now on, I would make sure to enjoy every birthday of mine.

Just a few days before my wedding, I accidentally come across a post while scrolling online. The title reads, "To the guy getting married in this city, your fiancée's already cheated on you." Curious, I click in to see the gossip, only to realize I'm the one being talked about. A deep male voice plays in the video. "I heard you're getting married?" The woman in the frame, bare-backed and trembling, chokes back a sob. "After you left, I realized you're still the one I love most. I'm done with him. Take me away, please!" The moment I hear her voice, it feels like someone punches me straight in the chest. Then I notice something on her wrist—the luxury couple's bracelet I gave her just yesterday. And in that instant, I feel like the biggest joke of all. Turns out the fool was me.

At the dinner celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary, I held the pregnancy test report in my pocket, planning to surprise my CEO husband. However, the moment the doors opened, I froze. A stunning woman stood there with her arm intimately linked through my husband's. She clung to Charles Lawrence with the ease and confidence of someone who clearly belonged at his side, carrying herself like the lady of the house. Neither Charles nor the guests found it strange. If anything, they seemed entertained. Someone even joked, "Mr. Lawrence and Ms. Cooper aren't just ideal partners at work. Their chemistry is something to admire as well. I've personally reserved the presidential suite at Jubilee City's finest resort for Mr. Lawrence tonight. You can be sure no one will disturb you." Fiona blushed and slipped shyly into Charles's arms. He lowered his head and kissed her hard. They fit together so naturally, so intimately, that the sight was unbearably glaring. My thoughts flashed back to the night before, when Charles had pressed me into the bed. In that moment, I had caught sight of a strange message sent by someone named Fiona: [Everyone in the company thinks we've slept together.] Charles had explained that Fiona was only his assistant, a forty-year-old woman, and that the message was nothing more than a punishment from a lost game, a foolish dare. That explanation had dissolved my suspicion and anger. Then, I finally saw the truth. I was the one who had lost everything. Inside my pocket, the pregnancy report was crushed into a tight ball. I forced the tears back, stepped away, and opened the invitation from the National Aerospace Research Institute on my phone. Without hesitation, I tapped Accept. Three days later, I would vanish completely from Charles's world.

Seven years of marriage and Adrian Reeds never once bought his wife a gift. But he spent ten thousand dollars on a diamond bracelet for his secretary. Elise Vitale found it in his jacket pocket on a Tuesday. By Friday she had signed the divorce papers, boarded her private jet and left without a single tear. What Adrian never knew — what nobody in his world knew — was that the quiet, obedient wife he had neglected for seven years was the only daughter and heir of Don Victor Vitale, the most feared mafia boss in the country. She had hidden it to protect him. He had used her silence to humiliate her. Now the gloves were off. Adrian thought divorcing Elise would free him. Instead it started a war he had no weapons for — because the moment Elise walked back through her father's doors, she stopped being a wife and became what she was always born to be. A queen. And queens do not forgive. "You wanted a housewife. Congratulations — you had one. Now meet what I actually am."

I was dismembered and thrown into an abandoned warehouse. Before my consciousness faded away, I used the last bit of my strength to send a message via mind link to Timothy Russell, the Alpha heir that I had loved for six years. "Timothy, I'm in so much pain..." The next second, a cold mental barrier crashed down between us, cutting off all communication. That was his response to me. I knew I had been too presumptuous. I had disturbed him while he was at an auction helping his foster sister, Rochell Lucas. The moment my heart stopped beating, Timothy, who was helping Rochell put on a bracelet, felt his chest cave in. While everyone watched, the future Alpha knelt on the ground as countless bone-deep wounds appeared across his body out of nowhere. He convulsed in agony, screaming my name. Only then did everyone notice a glowing blood pact mark appearing on his tongue. I remembered. Once upon a time, he swore an oath to the moon. "If I ever betray Leah, every bit of suffering she has endured will return to me tenfold."

One reckless night in Vegas left Elena Reyes with a poker-chip bracelet... and a secret daughter. Five years later, she's pitching her struggling agency to the ruthless billionaire CEO Damian Holt, unaware he's the stranger who once claimed her body and soul. When he signs the exclusive contract, their worlds collide: forced proximity, late-night strategy sessions, and a slow-burning attraction neither can deny. But danger lurks. Damian's ambitious brother Theo schemes to steal the company. A rival agency spreads vicious rumors. Elena's estranged mother resurfaces with blackmail demands. And anonymous threats target the one thing Elena would die to protect, her four-year-old daughter, Mia. As Damian notices the familiar bracelet and feels an inexplicable pull toward the child who looks too much like him, buried memories threaten to surface. Secrets unravel, alliances fracture, and old debts come due. Will Damian discover the truth before it's too late? Or will corporate betrayal, family lies, and a hidden video from that fateful night destroy everything? A sizzling billionaire secret baby romance packed with suspense, betrayal, forced proximity, groveling hero, and explosive revelations.