Tessa Young After Novels & Stories

My parents were renowned educators, celebrated as top-tier teachers who mentored countless high achievers. Yet, I was the black sheep of the family, consistently bringing home failing grades. After yet another gentle reminder from my homeroom teacher, my mom erupted in frustration. "How could I have given birth to such a foolish child? You only exist to torture me!" She disappeared for three days. When she returned, she brought a girl with her. "From today on, Cora is my real daughter. You are forbidden to call us Mom or Dad ever again. Get out. Only when you can pass your exams will you be worthy of being my daughter!" Our next encounter was at the hospital, during the school staff's annual physical check. The dean spotted me, speaking. "Renee, isn't this your daughter? Sherry works here now! That means Cora's illness can be treated. Ask her to introduce you to the new director!" My mother's gaze landed on my white coat and shifted from shock to irritation. "She changed jobs and didn't even bother to tell me?" I discreetly covered the badge pinned to my chest, trying to conceal my status. I was now Evie Coffey, the director of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Cami Roux Balmaceda has been attracted to Auden Silverio, the son of a family acquaintance. It was never simple for her to express her feelings for him. Cami Roux Balmaceda is twenty-three years old and a fourth-year psychology student. Cami has a heart problem, but her personality is far from it. She is courageous and living her life to the fullest. The doctor told her that she has a fixed amount of time. As she turned twenty-four, her parents set an arranged marriage to the person she had a deep affection for – Auden. They are well aware of Cami's feelings for Auden. They wanted what's best for their daughter, and they went to great lengths to make it happen. Auden didn't have a choice but to go along with the plan. "It'll only be a few years before she's gone," he reasoned. Over time, he realizes that he is falling in love with her.

Natalie Brooks, the young lady of the Brooks family, hid her identity to marry Samuel Morgan for love. The three-year cold marriage ended with a divorce when his first love, Lily, returned. Natalie left proudly, returning to her home, the most powerful Brooks family in New York, with her four talented brothers. Natalie gradually transformed into a strong businesswoman. Samuel was surprised because Natalie was completely different from the image of the weak wife she had been before. He began to waver, remembering the years of living together, but was still surrounded by Lily's weak pretense. Although Natalie was divorced, she still had lingering feelings, but she chose to strongly confront him, determined to prove her worth. From here, she continuously confronted Samuel and Lily, both to regain what she had lost and to force them to regret ever looking down on her. Meanwhile, Lily always played the role of the "weak girl", taking advantage of Samuel's pity, but she increasingly revealed her jealousy and hypocrisy. Natalie's brothers – especially Nathaniel Brooks and Henry Brooks – were fiercely protective of their sister and wanted Samuel to repent for what he had done to Natalie.

Five years ago, Anastasia Hansom was framed by her family and barely escaped with her life. Now, after five years, she returns with a pair of sons, determined to find her daughter. However— "Mommy, Daddy said it's a buy-one-get-one deal. If you want me back, you have to marry him," Qin Anchun stated with great seriousness. Anastasia Hansom looked at the man kneeling before her. He was strikingly handsome, noble and elegant, and incredibly wealthy.

The seventh time Claire Fisher bailed on our marriage license appointment, I finally cut her out of my life—for good. From then on, if she was at a party, I wasn't. When she was scheduled to perform at our college's anniversary celebration, I made sure to leave early. The moment my company announced a collaboration with hers, I resigned without a second thought. Even on Christmas Eve, when she showed up at my parents' house with gifts, I slipped out with a half-hearted excuse about "visiting a friend." I blocked her number. Deleted her from my contacts. Burned every bridge and salted the earth behind me. No calls. No texts. No social media. I didn't reach out. She couldn't reach me. Simple as that. For the better part of my life, I was hopelessly in love with her—waiting on her, caring for her, putting her first in every way that mattered. I gave her all of me without ever holding back. But after the seventh time she left me sitting alone at the City Hall, something inside me broke. I was done. If that meant spending the rest of my life alone, so be it. Better that than sitting in an empty apartment, listening to the silence, holding on to hope for someone who never planned to show up.

On our wedding night, instead of consummating our marriage, he gave me papers to sign instead. It stated that our marriage would last only for five years and after that, we go our separate ways. His words broke me but regardless I signed the papers. I thought I had enough time to make him fall in love with me but who was I kidding, his heart still belongs to my step sister, Rachael. She was his first love, but he was mine. I endured his mother's oppression, his coldness, for years I thought he was naturally uncaring and only had eyes for his business but I was brutally wrong.The same day I found out that I was pregnant was also the same day I saw his soft side. A side that's well reserved for someone else, there and then he asked for a divorce. It broke me but I didn't beg, I had wasted almost five years yearning for a love I couldn't have. So I decided to walk away and begin a new life with my child. But who could have taught that a year later, the cold and ruthless CEO would be on his knees begging for a second chance.

Ruby married her fate mate, Lucas, only to endure his repeated betrayals with his first love. In the end, she lost everything—her child, her parents, and her hope. But when she’s reborn on the night of her wedding, she vows to rewrite her fate. Determined to protect those she loves, Ruby finds her former enemy, Caleb, Lucas’s brother—the man who will one day kill Lucas and become the Lycan King. Caleb had never shown up at her wedding before, but this time, Ruby looks into his eyes and says, "I want you to be my husband." Can Ruby take control of her future, or will the past haunt her forever?

“I never realized that my husband, Alex, had been cheating on me with my own best friend, Laura. While they were busy destroying my marriage behind my back, my world slowly fell apart without me even noticing. I loved Alex with all my heart, but to him, I was nothing more than a woman he could easily betray. Then Rex entered my life. Powerful, dangerously charming, and impossibly wealthy, he became the one man capable of turning my pain into revenge. But what I never expected was the truth behind his cold gaze. Rex was not a stranger at all. He was the man who had loved me long before anyone else did. And this time, the billionaire who once lost me had no intention of letting me go again.”

My husband, Zachary Larson, and I are holding a welcome dinner for my sister, Julia Scott. When someone asks what Julia's greatest regret is, she raises her glass and looks at Zachary dreamily. "It's probably the time I wasn't brave enough to keep his child." Everyone starts to whisper amongst themselves. I tighten my grip on the pregnancy check-up report I'm about to reveal to them. My stomach twists with the emotions swirling in my head. Julia suddenly returns to her senses and chuckles. "I was just kidding. We were only friends with benefits, so don't take it to heart, Queenie. He married you, so you're the one he loves."

"NO… Don't hurt my baby, PLEASE!" That day, Aria knelt on the freezing cold floor of the operating room, her desperate cries echoing off the sterile walls. But Kane’s cruelty cut deeper than any scalpel. "She is unworthy of being the mother of my child." Those words shattered her. In a final act of heartbreak and defiance, Aria threw herself out of his world—and out of his reach. Years later, she returns. Not alone. By her side is the daughter Kane never knew existed—the living proof of the love he once so cruelly denied. Now the man who cast her aside is the one left shattered—haunted by regret, consumed by obsession, willing to tear the world apart to claim what he lost. Her. Their daughter. Their second chance.