Novel & Cerita Shattered Bonds: A Second Chance Mate

broke my heart eight years ago. Now she's my boss. Emma Parker has spent years building walls around her heart, brick by painful brick. At 26, she's a rising star at one of San Francisco's most prestigious law firms, and she's worked damn hard to get here, partially to prove she's more than the naive college freshman who fell for her mentor and got destroyed. Then she walks back into Emma's life. Alexandra Richardson. Successful, gorgeous, and apparently Emma's new senior partner. The woman who taught Emma about law, about passion, and about heartbreak—in that order. Eight years ago, Alex chose her career over their secret relationship and disappeared without looking back. Now she claims she never stopped thinking about Emma. Now she says leaving was the biggest mistake of her life. Emma wants to hate her. She really does. But when they're forced to work together on a career-defining case, those old feelings resurface with a vengeance. Late nights in the office. Stolen glances. Accidental touches that linger too long. The chemistry that once consumed them is still there, burning hotter than ever.

I had just won the Hawthorne Scientific Laureate on the international stage when my father called me back home. "Bring the betrothal gifts to the Hayes family. That childhood engagement should finally be fulfilled." Afraid of getting stuck in traffic, I took my modified motorcycle, carried the national heritage porcelain obtained through generations of the Keane family's military merits, and headed toward their house. Just as I arrived at the community gate, a Porsche suddenly cut across the lane, nearly knocking me over. A heavily made-up woman, Zoey Mercer, stepped out of the car, raised one sharp high heel, and kicked the top box off my motorcycle. "You rode this junk motorcycle yet dared block my way? If you dent my car, your whole family won't be able to afford the compensation!" My heart sank. I quickly opened the case, only to see the entire box of celadon porcelain shattered. "So you’re just some delivery guy. Think this pile of trash is worth even one of my shoes? "You even know whose neighborhood this is? It belongs to Kingshore's Hayes family! My best friend’s family developed this place! Believe it or not, I can have you thrown out right now!" Right then, my fiancee, Lauren Hayes, called me. "Where are you? My friend just messaged me saying there’s a delivery guy causing trouble at the entrance."

Serena Calloway was the perfect wife—devoted, patient, and hopelessly in love with her husband. She gave Killian Blackwood everything: her heart, her loyalty, and a son who carried his name. But her love, however, was something her husand took for granted. On the night of their anniversary, Serena walks into what should have been a celebration of their love—only to realize the candles, the diamond necklace, the handwritten note… were for someone else. Samantha James. The woman who had supposedly saved Killian, the woman who had snuck her way into their lives with seduction, the woman their own son now called Mommy. And when Serena finally confronts her husband, the man she had built her life with, he looks her in the eyes and asks: “What have you ever done for me?” She's left betrayed, humiliated, and rejected. Killian doesn’t stop at taking her dignity—he takes her company, her son, and the life she worked so hard to build. Left with nothing but shattered dignity and a divorce paper shoved in her trembling hands, Serena makes a silent vow: They were going to r egret this. Six months later, the woman Killian tossed aside walks back into his world—but not as the broken wife he left behind. Serena Calloway is a name whispered in boardrooms, a presence more powerful than he ever imagined. And standing beside her is Damien Knight—his business rival, the man who picked up the pieces Killian so carelessly tossed aside… the man who now owns Serena’s heart. But Killian is not ready to let go. Not when he realizes the truth behind the woman he lost. Not when regret burns deeper than love ever did. Not when Serena’s new happiness feels like his greatest downfall.

The day my husband, Eric Johnson, brought his foster sister home from overseas, he gave her our master bedroom. "Yvonne just lost her husband. She's heartbroken, so I want her to feel comfortable," he said. I nodded obediently. "Okay." The next day was my birthday. Yvonne said she was feeling down and wanted her brother, Eric, to go stargazing with her. Eric turned to me and said, "She really needs me right now. I'll celebrate your birthday with you later." Still, I smiled and nodded. "Okay." Ten years of marriage and I was ready to walk away from it all… Because I have lived this life once already. In my previous life, I made the mistake of asking Eric to stay with me on my birthday. I did not let him go stargazing with Yvonne. She ended up falling into the water in her sorrow and was rushed to the hospital. After that, Eric shoved my head into a bathtub and held me there until I drowned. In this second life, when Eric handed me the divorce papers and said, "I’m only marrying Yvonne to help her revoke her foreign citizenship and restore her citizenship here. Once it's done, we'll remarry." I did not hesitate. I signed my name without a second thought. By the time he came looking for me again, I was already sitting on his archenemy's lap, smiling like a flower in full bloom.

On my fifth year anniversary, the first two things I receive are two bills for water and electricity. My wife, Whitney Chapman, comes home at a late hour. She's carrying a food container that's filled with food that has gone cold. "Sorry, I was dealing with an extremely difficult client. I can only make it up to you with supper." She puts down the container before walking into the bathroom. While she doesn't reek of alcohol, there's dust coating the hem of her windbreaker. I call Whitney's secretary, only to find out that she has not been to the company today. A second before I end the call, the secretary adds, "By the way, Mr. Spencer, the new warehouse manager, Maxwell Clarke, was also absent from work today." Maxwell Clarke? The illegitimate child who brings nothing but shame to the Spencer family? What a big coincidence… or was it? I quickly contact the property manager of the villa based on the bills I've received. "A father-and-son duo have just moved into the villa last month." The manager then sends the list of inhabitants to me. The name listed is also Maxwell Clarke. This villa happens to be a property my father left for me back when Whitney and I first got married. Since it's too far from the city, I've left it vacant all this time because I wanted to reserve it as a villa meant for vacation purposes. Now, the people I hate are the ones living in that villa.

Lumina has tried her best to make her forced marriage to Xen work for the sake of their child. But with Riley and Sophia- Xen's ex-girlfriend and her son in the picture. She fights a losing battle. Ollie, Xen's son is neglected by his father for a very long time and he is also suffering from a mysterious sickness that's draining his life force. When his last wish to have his dad come to his 5th birthday party is dashed by his failure to show up, Ollie dies in an accident after seeing his father celebrate Riley's birthday with Sophia and it's displayed on the big advertising boards that fill the city. Ollie dies and Lumina follows after, unable to bear the grief, dying in her mate's hands cursing him and begging for a second chance to save her son. Luna gets the opportunity and is woken up in the past, exactly one year to the day Sophia and Riley show up. But this time around, Lumina is willing to get rid of everyone and anyone even her mate if he steps in her way to save her son.

The last thing Valentina Serra sees before she dies is the crack in the ceiling above her bed. She is 45 years old. She is not unhappy. That, she realizes in the last seconds of her first life, is the most devastating thing she could say about it. She opens her eyes in a university lecture hall in Barcelona. She is 20 years old. Her notebook is open, her pen is in her hand, and she can feel — with the precision of someone who has lived an entire life — exactly how much she is about to waste if she does nothing. She does something. Armed with 25 years of memory, Valentina sets out to close every loop she left open: the military commission she dismissed, the marketing career she let others architect for her, the relationship she stayed in long past its expiry date, and the mother she visited but never truly knew. One by one, she reaches for the life she talked herself out of the first time around. But the two people closest to her — the friends who have always been there, always supportive, always first to suggest the safer, smaller option — are watching. And when Valentina begins exceeding the quiet ceiling that they built for her, Isabel and David begin to coordinate. Then there is Ethan Cole. Washington D.C. Investment sector. Five years younger, which bothered her the first time. He will walk into her life again in Barcelona, and this time Valentina already knows what the long dinner and the careful conversation and the late-night walk along the Passeig de Gràcia will mean — if she doesn't talk herself out of it. She is not going to talk herself out of it.

After giving birth, I lost my beauty when I started adding weight in all the wrong places. Stretch marks. A soft stomach. Tired eyes. The same body that carried our child became the body my husband couldn’t stand to look at. “I can’t take you anywhere like this.” That was what Marcus Hawthorne my powerful, untouchable CEO husband said the night he stopped bringing me to events. The whispers followed after that. She let herself go. He deserves better. How embarrassing for a man like him. I heard them all. And Marcus? He never defended me. Instead, he grew colder, crueler and distant everyday. The same man I sacrificed my everything for made me feel like I was no longer worth loving. And when tragedy struck and I lost the only thing keeping me togheter —our child. I realized the bitter truth not only was I meant to grieve a failed marriage alone but a dead child too because Marcus didn't hesitate to replace us with his new family. And that was my breaking point. Determined to start all over I fled the country for my sanity. Worked on the body that once made me hate my reflection. Rebuilt the career I had abandoned for love. Became the successful woman I was always meant to be. Now, seven years later, I’m back. And guess who can’t take his eyes off me? Marcus. Only, he isn't the man I left behind. Haunted by a serious problem that only I can help him with he’s willing to do anything to get me back. But here’s the problem. The woman who would have forgiven him no longer exists. And the woman standing here now? Isn’t sure she wants anything to do with him ever again.

"I just want to love my husband every day, even though it seems impossible for him to love me back. We're married, but the painful truth is, Audric doesn't feel the same way about me. How could he ever love me? Especially now, with Ivony, the woman he truly loves, back in his life. She should rightfully be his wife. They'll be a happy family together. And me? I have to step back and distance myself, even though I'm carrying Audric's child from a night he claimed me. I need to move away even though it feels like my soul is being torn apart from the pain."

Isabella: Five years ago, I thought marrying Damien Reeds would be my fairy tale ending. I was wrong. He never loved me—I was just a pawn in his family's business deals. When the merger fell through, he threw me away like I meant nothing. He divorced me publicly, in front of over 500 people, then kissed another woman while cameras flashed and I fell apart. What he didn't know was that I was pregnant. I disappeared, gave birth alone, and spent years building a life for our daughter—a daughter he knows nothing about. I became stronger, fiercer, and learned to survive without him. I thought I'd never see him again. Then I walked into a job interview... and there he was. Now he's discovered my secret, and the ruthless CEO who destroyed me wants to claim the child I've protected all this time. Damien: I thought divorcing Isabella was the right choice. My mother convinced me she was unworthy, that Sophia was my true match. For years, I buried whatever I felt under business deals and cold ambition. I told myself I didn't care. I told myself I'd moved on. Then she walked back into my life—confident, successful, and completely out of my reach. The shy girl I once knew is gone, replaced by a woman who looks at me like I'm nothing. And then I saw her daughter. My daughter. The child she kept hidden from me for five years. She says I don't deserve to know her. But I'm not the same man anymore, and I'll do whatever it takes to prove it—I never stopped loving her. Now, with a child caught between them and a past full of betrayal, can two broken people find their way back to each other—or will the truth destroy them both?