Romans & histoires Payoff Chapter 13 Early

Luciano moved closer, closing the gap between them. An expressionless glare hardened his features as his rough hand clamped around her jaw, forcing her face up to meet his dreadful gaze. "Your husband sold you to me. I gave you the freedom you always wanted, yet somehow you ended up in my arms again." "I'm not one of those useless women who crawl back to you," she spat, ignoring the way his grip tightened on her jaw. "I despise you with everything inside me." "I bought you for seventy billion dollars," he said coldly. "If you can afford to give me back the money, I'll have no reason to deny you the freedom you want so badly. "But if you can't, you'll continue to serve me—" His lips curved into a cruel smile. "As my personal toy and plaything." \* \* \* Abandoned as a child and raised in an orphanage, she learned early that love never lasted. Years later, the same parents returned — not for her, but for their debt. To settle it, they handed her over to Davin, the man who became her husband. Just when she thought she was finally happy, everything ended. An evening after her birthday, her husband was shot dead. The man who pulled the trigger was her boss — Frederick Hayden. Until she discovered that everything happening to her from the very beginning was tied to him.

Five years ago, my family died in a car crash. My parents. My adopted sister, Liz. Everyone but me. They left behind grief, an empty house, and a debt so large it swallowed my life. When the collectors came, I turned to the only person I had left—my husband, Adrian. He told me he had cut ties with his own family to marry me and had nothing left. I believed him. For five years, I worked every job I could find, paid every dollar I earned, and told myself love was worth the suffering. When the balance dropped to its final $18,000, I signed up for a paid drug trial at a private clinic. They handed me a waiver, warned me about possible delayed reactions, and promised fast money if I swallowed the experimental dose. I thought it would buy us a new beginning. Instead, I came home early and heard Adrian on the phone. “Let Liz use the card. Evelyn still doesn’t know. She took away Liz’s money five years ago, so she has to earn every dollar back herself.” Then he laughed softly. “One more year, and her punishment is over.” That was how I learned the dead were alive. The debt was fake. My husband had never been poor. And the life I had fought so hard to survive was only a sentence they had given me.

The year my dad went broke, I was sent to live with billionaire heir Jace Blackwell. We grew up together. When he had a fever, he clung to me, face buried in my arms. When he got yelled at, he sprawled across my lap and sulked. And when another boy wrote me a love letter, Jace pinned me down and kissed me—shaking, jealous, possessive. Everyone thought we were the perfect couple. Then, on the day we were filling out our early college applications, a sharply dressed man burst into the classroom and shoved me to the floor. He grabbed eighteen-year-old Jace, his eyes bloodshot. "Jace! Look at me! I'm you ten years from now! Don't go to the same college as Nadia. She's not the one you love. It's Faye!" Faye Whitmore. The broke new girl. Eighteen-year-old Jace stared at that identical face, stunned. Then his expression went dark. "What the hell are you talking about? The only person I love is Nadia! I don't care who you are. Touch her again, and I'll kill you!" He rushed over and pulled me into his arms. He was shaking. I gave a bitter smile. No one knew. I was from ten years in the future, too. And twenty-eight-year-old Jace wasn't lying. By then, I wasn't the girl he loved anymore.

They destroyed her father. Now she's racing straight into the heart of enemy territory. Mia Chen has one rule, never let them see your face. As the underground racing legend "Ghost Rider," she's untouchable until a rigged race tears off her mask and exposes her identity to the worst possible person. Dax Steele, VP of the Iron Wolves MC, the club that bankrupted her father and drove him to an early grave. Now she owes $50,000 to men who don't accept apologies, and Dax offers her a deal she can't refuse, race for the Iron Wolves in the inter-club championship, and he'll clear her debt. But working for her enemy means living in his world, sleeping under his roof, and discovering that everything she believed about her father's death might be a lie. Dax has secrets of his own, evidence that his father was framed, and the real culprit is still out there. He needs Mia's skills on the track and her mechanical genius in the garage. What he doesn't need is the fire she ignites in his blood every time she defies him. As they dig deeper into the past, attraction sparks into something dangerous. Because in the biker world, loyalty is everything and loving your enemy could get you both killed. She came for revenge. She stayed for the truth. She'll risk everything for him.

　　I pushed open the door to the Alpha Villa. Just back from the werewolf hospital; back from the miscarriage. 　　Then I heard it—a woman's moans, slicing through the silence of the bedroom. 　　Peering through the door crack, I saw our Omega maid, Irina, having sex with my husband. 　　Lucien gripped her waist and warned her, "We must keep this a secret. I don't want her to cause a scene, and I've never intended to replace my Luna." 　　Irina moaned in agreement, "Don't worry, Luc. I'm willing to be your secret lover forever." 　　Then, with low growls, they climaxed together. 　　What they didn't know was that I had discovered their affair early this morning—I had seen the flirtatious messages Irina sent to Lucien, which ultimately led to my miscarriage. 　　But I had no intention of confronting him. 　　Instead, I had already submitted a forced mate dissolution request to the Werewolf Alliance Council and sent a message to the ancient Grand Sorceress in the Blood Moon Forest, who had long wanted to take me as her apprentice. 　　In three days, the request would take effect, and the Grand Sorceress would come for me with a potion to alter my werewolf scent. 　　I would enter the Blood Moon Forest as nothing but a new identity and a sorceress’s heir. 　　I will erase myself from Lucien's world forever.

Evelyn Hart thought she had it all figured out. A dream job at a top marketing firm, a handsome fiancé, and a future that sparkled with promise. But dreams shatter in an instant. Walking into her apartment early from a business trip, she finds Anthony in bed with the last person she ever expected. Her own cousin, Sylvia. The betrayal cuts deeper than any knife, leaving her broken and gasping for air in a world that suddenly makes no sense. Desperate to forget, to feel anything other than the crushing pain, Evelyn finds herself at an exclusive lounge where LA's elite gather. One drink leads to another, and then she sees him. Richard Westwood. Powerful, magnetic, dangerous. He is everything she should avoid. At 42, he is nearly twice her age and her fiancé's mentor in the business world. But tonight, none of that matters. Tonight, she just wants to feel alive again. One night of passion changes everything. When morning comes, Evelyn discovers the mysterious stranger who made her forget her name is the one man she should never have touched. Richard Westwood does not do relationships. He does not get messy but something about Evelyn has awakened a hunger he thought long dead. Now, caught between revenge and desire, Evelyn must decide: walk away from the forbidden, or break every rule for a chance at real love?

During the holiday season, a flood hits. The company's warehouse is submerged up to the third floor. Due to the emergency, I have my assistant tell everyone to come back a day early to help. I promise that the company will provide stipends and extra time off to make up for this. But on that day, a Gen Z employee goes live across the internet to report me. "Oh, my God. It's 2025, yet there are still companies forcing employees to adjust their time off and work overtime! Is this heartless boss so broke that she needs to exploit us like this? Will she die if she doesn't squeeze us out of every drop of usefulness? Company notices override the law. Impressive stuff, this is!" Soon, the company ends up on the trending list due to criticism from the online community. Even the regulators come knocking to hold us accountable. In the end, the company is forced to cancel the notice. A lot of equipment isn't salvaged in time, resulting in significant losses. The employee even posts a victory lap. "Give the boss a tiny lesson—see if she dares to force overtime again!" I'm so angry that I laugh out loud. I tell my assistant to cancel the annual benefit we give all employees—an entire month of paid time off for Christmas and the New Year holidays. If we have to stick strictly to the law, then fine. Have it your way!

The doctor said I only had three days left to live. Acute liver failure. My only hope was an experimental clinical trial. It was extremely risky, but had the faintest sliver of a chance to survive. But my husband, David, gave the last available spot... to my adopted sister, Emma, also my daughter’s godmother. Her condition was still in its early stages. He said it was the "right decision," because she “deserved to live more.” I signed the papers to forgo treatment and took the high-dose painkillers prescribed by the doctor. The cost? My organs would shut down, and I would die. When I handed over the jewelry company I’d poured my heart into, along with all my designs, to Emma, my parents praised me, saying, “Now that’s what a good big sister should do.” When I agreed to divorce David so he could marry Emma, he said, “You’ve finally learned to be understanding.” When I told my daughter to call Emma ‘Mom,’ she clapped her hands and said, “Emma is such a gentle and kind mother!” When I gave all my assets to Emma, everyone in the family thought it was only natural. No one noticed anything was wrong with me. I’m just curious. Will they still be able to smile when they find out I'm dead?

Amelia Nightshade has spent her entire life surviving. Orphaned at a young age and raised by a cruel uncle who treated her like nothing more than a burden, she learned early that the world shows mercy to no one. Working quietly in a small bookstore with her only friend, Iris, Amelia believed she had already endured the worst life had to offer. Until the night she discovers the truth. Her uncle has sold her. As payment for a dangerous debt, Amelia is delivered to Lucien Cross—a cold, ruthless mafia boss and one of the most feared business tycoons in the country. A man whispered about in dark corners. A man whose enemies rarely live long enough to regret crossing him. But Amelia refuses to be another victim. Instead, she offers Lucien a bargain. A contract marriage. Eight months. A temporary wife in exchange for the complete repayment of the debt that binds her to him. Lucien agrees, intrigued by the quiet strength behind Amelia’s fearless eyes. What begins as a ruthless deal soon turns into something far more dangerous. Because Lucien is a man haunted by a tragedy from his past—the brutal night his parents were murdered and his little sister vanished without a trace. And Amelia is unknowingly tied to the very people responsible for that night. As secrets unravel and emotions grow stronger, Amelia and Lucien must face a truth neither of them is ready for. The woman he is beginning to love may be connected to the greatest tragedy of his life.

“To defeat scums, you must start early! Yes, I do admit, I was weak in the past, but now that I have been given a second chance to rewrite my story, I will make it worth it!” Paige Adams maintained a malicious grin on her face. Paige Adams, a weak and meek girl suddenly turns into an arrogant, bold, and confident woman when she is reborn to her past timeline life, after dying from a fire fiasco plotted by her wicked family. She is transported six years ago and plots her revenge still taking her meek self to hide her true identity. During her course of revenge, she bumps into the cold, brutal Young Master of the Grays on a blind date, and to save herself from the tragic date, she pulls the young master into a kiss and is locked in a marriage of convenience lasting for two years. What will happen when Paige Adams reveals that she is not from that timeline but from the future and is unable to return to the future? “I am not the weak girl you thought you knew! I am Paige Adams from the year 2022 and not from 2016, and this time, I will make you pay for what you've done to me years ago in TEN FOLDS!” She laughs maniacally while watching him as he bled to death. “This is just the beginning! Get ready to witness who I truly am!”