Penny Brooks の小説・ストーリー

Elena Brooks gave five years of her life to Damien Volkov — the golden king of professional hockey, the man the world worshipped, and the husband who never truly loved her back. But the night she catches Damien in bed with the woman he claimed was his cousin, something inside Elena finally breaks. Heartbroken and secretly pregnant with his child, she walks away from her marriage with one vow: no more hockey players. No more love. No more chances to be destroyed by a man who only knows how to hurt her. Then Alexander St. James crashes into her life. Cold. Ruthless. Intimidatingly powerful. As the captain of the New York Blades — and Damien’s biggest rival on the ice — Alexander is everything Elena should avoid. But when he saves her from a dangerous attack, he offers her a deal that feels impossible to refuse: Pretend to be his fiancée, and in return, he’ll help her make Damien regret betraying her. It was supposed to be simple. Fake smiles. Public kisses. A calculated revenge plan. Until Alexander starts looking at her like she’s something precious. Until his touch begins to feel dangerously real. Until Elena discovers the heartbreaking reason he needed a fake fiancée in the first place. And just when she begins falling for the one man she promised herself she’d never want… Damien discovers she’s carrying his baby. Now the husband who neglected her for years is ready to burn the world down to get her back. Caught between a possessive ex-husband and the man slowly stealing her heart, Elena must decide if love is worth risking everything for again — or if some hockey players are destined to break her forever.

I've been engaged to my boyfriend, Evan Shaw, for five years. He's a military commander, which is probably why he has delayed our wedding 56 times so far. The first delay has occurred because one of his female soldiers, Chloe Brooks, has gotten injured. Evan needs to rush back to the military camp due to the incident, which causes the wedding to be delayed. The second delay has occurred because Chloe has received a promotion. After sending me to the church's entrance, Evan quickly leaves with the celebratory gifts. … The 56th delay has occurred halfway throughout the ceremony. Apparently, Chloe has called Evans on the phone and crying about her break-up. Of course, Evan gets ready to ditch me at the altar without hesitation. I've begged him to not leave me, only for him to remove my hand coldly. "We can always delay the wedding. The thing is, Chloe wants to jump off a building right now because she's gotten her heart broken. How could you ever compare the importance of your wedding to the life of a nation's pride?" Evan has told me before that if I want to become a military wife, I need to have a higher endurance limit than others. I need to get used to the fact that he prioritizes others before me. But I've never even had a proper wedding of my own. How can I be considered a military wife just yet? So, I submit an application that makes me a covert operative that needs to be transferred back into the government's ranks. But after I've left, Evan breaks down in tears. With the wedding ring in hand, he tries to make it up to me by promising to complete the unfinished wedding ceremony with me.

Ever since I was born, Mom had loved making promises she never intended to keep. When my elementary school teacher said I had potential for advanced math competitions, she beamed with pride. "Caroline Fisher, you're amazing! Whatever tutoring you need, just say the word. I work hard so you can spend however you like!" However, she could not even cough up the 50-dollar class fee. Instead, she turned around and enrolled my two-year-old sister, Hailey Fisher, in premium preschool enrichment classes. I ended up eating plain meals every day, scraping together the class fee from my lunch money. When I got accepted to Vanford College, the best school in the country, Mom grabbed my hands excitedly and promised, "I knew you'd make it big! Tomorrow, we're throwing a big party to celebrate!" But the next day, she locked me in the house. Meanwhile, she rented the city's most luxurious banquet hall for Hailey, who had dropped out of middle school. She stole my acceptance letter and bragged to everyone at the party, "Hailey is so gifted, she got into Vanford College's gifted program at 13!" After her endless bragging, everyone believed that I was slow and useless, while Hailey was a prodigy. I gritted my teeth and pushed through until graduation, finally landing a job I actually wanted. Yet, after my pre-employment medical exam, Mom suddenly grabbed my hand tightly, her gaze determined. "Caroline, don't be scared! Cervical cancer has a really high survival rate! Even if it costs every penny I have, I'll be right here fighting this cancer with you!" Then, she turned the corner into the stairwell and burst out laughing with Hailey. "Finally, we can dump Caroline, that burden! She actually thinks I'd help her with treatment? I wish she'd hurry up and die!" When the doctor approached to discuss surgery details, I waved him off with a cold smile. "Cancel the surgery. Hailey's the one who's sick, and I have no obligation to worry about her!"

"Fuck me." He groaned. I hadn't taken a good look of the man I was in bed with. I opened my eyes a bit, and looked at him. I couldn't see his face, but he had black hair. "My name is Asher, and I'll make you scream it in different positions." His hand left my breast, into my vagina. "Asher…" I rubbed his head, holding him closer to me. I moaned loudly. I was enjoying every second of this. Amelia Brooks spent three years loving Damian. He spent those three years lying. At her own engagement party, he got down on one knee — and proposed to her younger sister instead. That night, humiliated and half-drunk, she stumbled into the wrong hotel room and into the arms of a stranger. Rough. Unforgettable. She left before sunrise, no regrets. She walked into a boardroom at the company her grandmother left her — and found him sitting. Asher Sinclair. Major shareholder. And Damian's uncle. The man who wrecked her body in the dark now holds her future in his hands. Desperate to fulfill her grandmother's secret marriage clause or lose everything, Amelia signs a contract that makes her his wife. No feelings allowed. But Damian isn't done with her. He wants her back. He shows up at her office with roses and lies, at every turn whispering that she was always his. And Asher? He watches. He waits. And one night, he reminds her exactly who she belongs to — not with words, but with his hands, his mouth, the way he says her name like a prayer and a warning all at once. Now Amelia is trapped between the ex who shattered her and husband who owns her.

"I bought you, Aurora… and now, you’re mine. Be my private dancer… dance only for me." For Aurora Brooks, love is a fake currency that doesn’t buy bread. Love didn’t save her Momy from her Daddy’s violent grip, and it didn’t pay off the gambling debts chasing them. The only way to survive is money—and money is found in one place: on the stage of Roth’s Night Club, where she sells her dance to the rich to buy her family’s safety. But one night in Alexander Roth’s private suite changed everything. Alexander isn’t just a billionaire; he’s the port’s emperor, a cold widower with power that makes men tremble and women kneel. He offered her a deal she couldn’t refuse: "I will be your protection… in exchange for becoming my private possession." Aurora thought she had escaped her Daddy’s hell, only to find herself in a golden prison ruled by a man who refuses to touch her but watches her every breath with deadly jealousy. A man who worships the memory of his late wife yet hunts Aurora with looks that burn her skin. But the real shock wasn’t in his darkness… it was in his identity. When Aurora discovers that the “beast” sleeping in the next room—the man she signed her ownership contract to—is the same man who is her sister’s fiancé’s Daddy. He is the fever who will stand at her sister’s wedding to bless the family… while secretly forcing her to be his private dancer behind closed doors. Now, Aurora is trapped in a forbidden game. If she runs, she destroys her sister’s future. If she stays, she loses her soul to a forbidden man.

“Why are you like this, Axel?” she asked in a low voice, her tone slightly breaking. “Why won't you just leave me alone?” For a moment, something inside me stirred. I reached out slowly and placed my fingers under her chin, lifting her face. She tried to look away, but I wouldn’t let her. Tears pooled in her eyes, but she bit her lower lip stubbornly, trying to keep them from falling. But that tiny act of defiance… God, it did something to me. I wanted to pull her closer, to claim her, to make her mine and never let anyone else touch her. “One year,” I said finally. She frowned. “What?” “I want you,” I said clearly. “For one year, you’ll be my woman. In exchange, I’ll take care of you, your needs, your family’s protection, your brother’s freedom. Everything.” *** After catching her scumbag boyfriend in bed with her coworker, Olivia Brooks did what any heartbroken woman might… she drowned her sorrows at a club. One too many drinks later, she ended up in the arms of a dangerously handsome stranger. What she didn’t know was that the man she mistook for a gigolo was Axel Reynolds, a ruthless billionaire with a taste for control. Olivia tried to move on and bury the memory of that reckless night… until fate delivered a cruel twist. Axel Reynolds wasn’t just anyone—he was her step sister’s soon-to-be husband. Now, trapped between guilt and desire, Olivia wants to hide the truth. But Axel has already found her, and the devil never lets go of what he claims.

“Relax. It was meaningless. It didn’t mean a thing.” Three years. That’s how long Lena Carter loved Evan Brooks—three years of loyalty, late nights, and believing she was building a future with him. Until she finds him in a hotel suite bathroom, hands braced against marble, whispering excuses while her cousin—and closest friend—fixes her lipstick in the mirror. All this happens during Lena’s promotion celebration. Lena should be home, crying into cheap wine and shattered dreams. Instead, she’s stranded on a quiet Los Angeles street at midnight, phone dead, heels in hand, with a group of drunk men circling closer than comfort allows. Then a black luxury sedan pulls up. The man who steps out wears a tailored suit, calm eyes, and an authority that makes the street go silent. Mason Hart. Billionaire. Tech CEO. And—unknown to him—the elusive owner of the company where Lena works as an executive assistant two floors below the C-suite. He offers her a ride. She hesitates. She takes it. That single decision rewrites her life. Mason doesn’t mix business with emotions. He doesn’t date employees. And he definitely doesn’t rescue strangers with haunted eyes. But Lena’s quiet strength, the way she refuses pity, the way pain sharpens her instead of breaking her—it gets under his skin. Lena just wants to forget the man who betrayed her. Mason offers distraction. Protection. Desire without promises. But Evan refuses to let go, spreading lies and suddenly desperate to “fix things.” Her cousin is determined to destroy what little Lena has left. And the closer Lena grows to the powerful CEO who signs her company’s paychecks, the more dangerous her heart becomes. Because falling for a billionaire who doesn’t believe in love might hurt worse than betrayal.

What's the first thing you'd do if you were reborn? Me? I'd start by divorcing my husband, Finn Gallagher. Yeah, Finn Gallagher, the same man who runs half the underworld from behind closed doors. The Don. The richest man alive. The man women dream about; his face plastered on magazines, named "Sexiest Man Alive" five years in a row. In my last life, I tried everything to make him look at me like I mattered. I married him. I gave birth to his son. I swallowed every ounce of pride, trying to be the perfect wife. However, it didn't work. To him, I was no different than a waitress he might casually tip—forgettable, replaceable, invisible. So this time, I'm not begging. I'm not pretending. I'm handing Madeline Brooks the key to my place in his life, and walking away. She's Finn's first love, and also the shadow that haunted every day of my last life. Now Madeline was sitting opposite to me, blinked at me like she didn't hear me right. "You tried so hard to push me out," she said slowly, eyes narrowed. "Now you want me to be with Finn?" "Yes. That's all I'm asking. Just talk to Finn. Tell him to sign the divorce papers." I looked at her confused face and kept going. "Everyone knows I'm the last person who'd ever let Finn go. So if I say I want a divorce, he won't believe me for a second. But you? You're the one who can make that happen... aren't you?" She laughed, because she was finally getting her chance. I laughed too, because I was finally free.

The new intern in our department, Astrid Stokes, had a soft, harmless look people viewed as innocent. She also claimed she could see a countdown over people's heads, ticking down to their deaths. Most of us just laughed it off and told her she had been reading way too many web novels. When an elderly man was rushed into the ER, she told the department head, Melanie Brooks, not to bother. She said the man wouldn't make it through the day. Melanie ignored her and pushed ahead with everything we had. The old man still died. The attending doctor even got slashed by the patient's family during the fallout. After that, people started to waver. During a team outing, Astrid suddenly screamed and told us not to get on a specific bus. She said if we did, we would all die. With no other choice, we switched vehicles. By the time we reached our destination, news came in. The bus we were supposed to take had lost its brakes and gone off a bridge. After that, almost everyone believed her. Everyone except me. The next day, she pointed straight at me. "Ruth shouldn't be a doctor anymore. If she stays, she'll get caught up in a medical dispute, and the whole department will end up dead or injured." Just like that, Melanie reassigned me. I went from doctor to janitor, handling medical waste. One day, I got scratched by a contaminated needle. Yet, no one would treat me. "Astrid already said it. This is her destiny. Anyone who gets involved will die, too." My body rotted from infection, sores breaking open across my skin. I died alone on the street, full of fury. When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the day Astrid first claimed she could see those death countdowns.