Sally Face Unmasked

When Elara Whitmore discovered her husband in bed with the one woman she was never supposed to compete with—his adopted sister—her world shattered in a single night. But betrayal wasn’t the worst part. They wanted her gone. Pregnant and alone, Elara overhears the sister’s plan to eliminate both her and the unborn child standing in the way of their twisted future. Instead of fighting back, she does something far more dangerous. She pretends to lose. With forged medical records claiming her baby is dead and divorce papers served without a word of protest, Elara disappears from their lives forever. Or so they believe. A chance encounter with a dying billionaire changes everything. Months later, Elara rises from the ashes as the sole heiress to a global empire worth billions. While her ex-husband’s world collapses under the manipulations of the very woman he chose over her, a silent observer begins pulling strings from the shadows. A brilliant young boy. A boy with her eyes. A boy with his blood. Years later, when the truth finally surfaces, the man who once discarded his wife will face the cruelest revelation of all— The child who destroyed his empire… is the son he tried to erase. And this time, there will be no forgiveness

When a kidnapper forces my husband, Liam Waltz, to choose between saving me and our son, he sacrifices me without a second thought. I'm pushed off the cliff, but somehow, I survive. Still, I have lost all my memories. Liam looks absolutely devastated in front of the media. He holds a public funeral for me, only to marry a woman who looks exactly like me a year later—Clara Brown. Four years pass before my memories return. I return to Ardenix, hoping to see my son, Lucas, only to find that he now sees Clara as his mother. And Liam? After four years of thinking I was dead, he only cares about protecting her. "You were gone for four years. I thought you were dead. You didn't think I'd be widowed forever, did you? I'm now the CEO of a publicly traded company. "I can allow you to stay home, but you can't ever show your face in public. After all, Clara is now my legal wife." Instead of heartbreak, all I feel is relief. During those four years of amnesia, I married the one and only heir of Hurrix Corporation.

A Rage Curse swept through the werewolf world. Only an Alpha strong enough to fight it could keep his throne. I was Alpha Liam’s personal alchemist. For nine years, I brewed "Serenity," the only potion that held back his curse. I dragged his pack, Silverclaw, from a back-alley crew to a pharma empire. I turned him from a rabid dog into a king. Liam promised me the Chief Alchemist title. He promised me millions in profit sharing the day the potion went public. But on his coronation day, he gave it all to Chloe, a she-wolf who’d just joined the pack. All because she was high-born. The perfect face for the pack's new image. And me? I was just a lowly Omega. I confronted him. He crushed me with his Alpha aura. "You're an Omega. Be grateful I even let you stay. Without me, rogues would've torn you to shreds by now!" I walked out before he could throw me out. We’ll see who gets torn to shreds first. But I know one thing. Without my potion, that power he's so proud of... will turn him back into the rabid animal he truly is.

Mom and I board a flight to Fangoria to visit Alicia Carter, my wife. She's a special forces soldier who's here on a peacekeeping mission in this foreign country. But the moment we walk out of the airport, we're ambushed by a group of kidnappers. One of them holds a gun to Mom's head and says, "If you don't give us the ransom in three days, we'll blow her head off!" In a panic, I make a video call to Alicia, my hands shaking as I beg her to help me. "Calm down, honey. I'll put in a request to lead a rescue mission. We'll save her within 24 hours!" But the next day, I keep failing to get in touch with Alicia. After I blow up her phone with multiple calls, one finally connects. Amid her rushed panting, she tells me, "Sorry, honey. I just got assigned to an urgent escort mission. You guys just hang in there. I've arranged for the local authorities to—" Her voice is abruptly cut off by a familiar male voice. "Alicia! Thank goodness you came over just to pick me up. I didn't have to spend 100 dollars on a cab after all! That cab driver didn't even have a license, and I can't believe he tried to ask for more money…" The three-day deadline passes, and the kidnappers keep their word, letting me hear the gunshot myself. As I clutch Mom's cold, dead body, Alicia calls me out of nowhere. "Hey, honey. I just completed the escort mission. How are things on your end? Have the kidnappers released her?" I look down at Mom. Her eyes will never open again. I gently wipe the blood off her face as I reply to Alicia in an eerily calm voice, "Yeah. They have."

The blindfold came off. I blinked. A chandelier. A fireplace. A mansion i had never seen. And a man i had known my whole life — standing with his back to me, a half-empty bottle on the table beside him. Caleb. "Please." My voice cracked. "I don't know what's happening. I think there's been a mistake—" He turned slowly. The grief on his face curdled into something else entirely. "You put her in that chair," he said. Low. Shaking. "You did that." "I didn't—" He crossed the room in four strides. His hand closed in my hair and drove me to my knees before i could breathe. "You're not going home," Caleb Wren said quietly. "Your sister's wedding is in four days. You look exactly like her." His eyes moved over me, cold and final. "You're going to take her place. Consider it what you owe."

On the flight to Arlencia, a post popped up: [What's it like to have sex in a wedding dress?] The pic showed a girl yanking some guy's purple tie while he hiked up her gown. His face was blurred, but hers? Straight-up blissed out. Everyone in the comments was swooning over how in love they looked. I didn't swoon. I froze. Because that purple tie? I gave it to Zeke Santoro, my fiancé, a few days ago. And that wedding dress? The exact custom one he had made for me. There was only one. I kept zooming in, heart racing, until I spotted a family photo in the background. My hands were shaking when I called him. "I wanna see the dress," I said. He hesitated. "It's at the studio getting final touches. Not with me right now. I'll show it to you later." I just smiled and hung up. That was all I needed. Zeke cheated—and the girl? His stepsister, Jella. Total circus. I reopened the post and shot her a DM: [Your wedding dress is stunning. I have the same one.]

“You have been promised to the grandson of a business partner. There’s no need for college. You’ve already wasted enough time fooling around at school” My brother's face pulled into a twisted grin. “You are part of the business deal. You wouldn’t want all of the employees who depend on us for their jobs to suffer would you?” That was it, the day my life changed. I couldn’t be selfish, I had to take care of these people, my family, in every way possible. My brother has seen fit to run our late parents' company into the ground, living a lifestyle he didn’t earn. Now I have to marry a complete stranger as part of some twisted business contract. I’m only 18. I just graduated high school. I’ve only had one semi-serious relationship that went up in flames. How was I supposed to be the wife of a very publicized, womanizing billionaire?

BLURB Laurie-Ann Kane thought she had it all,. a loving husband, a quiet home, and the kind of marriage people envied. But one night shattered the illusion. Walking in on her husband Ethan wrapped in the arms of his ex, Laurie’s world fell apart. Humiliated and heartbroken, she walked away,. from him, from their life, and from the woman she used to be. With the help of her godmother, Hollywood icon Vivian Kane, Laurie rebuilds herself. One year later, she’s no longer the wife who lived in someone else’s shadow,. she’s the rising star of the film industry. Independent. Fierce. Untouchable. But fate has a cruel sense of humor. When Laurie lands her biggest role yet, she discovers her co-star is none other than Ethan, her ex-husband the man who betrayed her, and shatters her trust. Now, under the blinding lights of Hollywood, the cameras capture more than just a performance. Old wounds reopen, sparks reignite, and secrets buried in their past threaten to destroy the peace she’s fought so hard to find. Love made her weak. Betrayal made her famous. But working together might just break them both. Will passion ignite or will revenge and hate prevail?

While waiting for my husband to pick me up at the parking lot, I came across a trending topic in my city. "How do I deal with an overly-clingy wife?" Amidst a flurry of boastful, lovey-dovey comments, one female username caught my attention. "Just pretend to be incompetent! My childhood friend was forced to marry someone he didn’t love. I gave him the idea to pretend to be directionally-challenged, which he has done for five years now. "When his wife got pregnant, he secretly mixed lubricant into the shower gel, causing her to slip. Then, on the way to the hospital, he pretended to get lost. He deliberately circled the suburbs several times, which led to her miscarriage and now she can't have children anymore." "Coincidentally, today is supposed to be the selection day for her promotion to professor. He offered to drive her to work, but he actually plans to pretend to get lost to make her late so that I can get promoted instead. "When she fails the selection, he’ll use that as a chance to convince her to quit her job, turn her into a useless housewife, and then kick her out!" Reading this suspiciously familiar experience sent a chill down my spine. Before I could ponder further, I heard my husband’s apologetic voice. "Sorry, honey, I got lost. I hope this won't affect your selection."

My neighbor abandoned her cat, so I took it in. It never warmed up to me, but never stopped meowing at my husband. I grew suspicious. One night, my husband claimed to be working late. I knocked on the neighbor’s door. She stroked her slightly rounded belly. “Ms. Hill, what brings you here so late?” Her eyes gleamed with defiance and smugness. Something clicked. I understood everything. When my husband crept home at dawn, he found both sets of parents waiting. A divorce agreement lay on the coffee table.