The Camera

After being condemned across the internet for plagiarism, I stood before everyone and announced my retirement from writing. My boyfriend, Carter Xavier, who had been furiously accusing me just moments ago, froze in shock. “What are you doing? Don’t you still have debts to pay?” Ruby Quinn—his precious and the so-called victim of this scandal—immediately panicked. “Vera, you don’t have to punish yourself like this. I’m willing to give you a chance to start over.” I remained firm, my expression cold and unmoving as camera flashes exploded around me. In my past life, these two had humiliated me, plotting together behind my back to steal my work. My painstaking efforts had built Ruby’s reputation as a so-called genius author. But not this time. Without hesitation, I deleted the pen name I had used for the past six years. I had spent enough time struggling in a cramped rental apartment. It was time to return home and claim my family inheritance. As for Ruby Quinn— Let’s see how you finish the rest of that stolen manuscript without me.

On the night of our eighth anniversary, I cooked everything Ethan loved. He didn't come home. I sat alone at the table until the food went cold. Then I did what I always did. I opened Selene's profile on the pack network. New post. One hour ago. A photo of Ethan, shirtless, building a fire in her den. Her hand on his shoulder. Her face turned toward the camera with a smile that showed too many teeth. The caption read: Grateful for old friends who drop everything when you need them. Even their marking anniversaries. I stared at it until my eyes burned. Then I liked it. Filed the bond-dissolution request. And started packing the trunk I'd kept ready for months. Ethan didn't believe it when he found out. "She's throwing a fit," I heard he told his packmates. "Give her three days." "I'll crook my finger and she'll come running back." "She always does." What he didn't understand was why I always came back. It was because I loved him. That was gone now.

It is the third year of my marriage when the video of my bodyguard, Julian Sutherland, holding an umbrella over me in a downpour goes viral. Overnight, the internet becomes obsessed with the "Icy Protector and his Forbidden Heiress." Netizens are relentless; they dig through the archives until they unearth a ten-year-old clip. In the video, a girl was holding a pair of high-heeled shoes while sprinting through the Folander airport. My friend teased, "No way, Ms. Serina Brown. Are you really flying back home to confess to that poor man? What could you possibly see in him?" The camera shakes, capturing my youthful face. I was just a reckless 20-year-old. "I love Julian. I love everything about him." That night, after seeing the video, Julian loses his composure and bursts into my room. "I didn't know you loved me back then. I thought… I thought… God, it was never supposed to end like this." I pull my coat around me and stand rooted on the spot, remaining silent. Suddenly, a mocking laugh echoes from behind me. Someone places their hand firmly on my waist and says, "Are you trying to reminisce about your love with my wife right in front of me? Do I look dead to you?"

Serafina Vale didn’t want love anymore, she wanted war and a husband to help her start it. Her ex-fiancé slept with her stepsister and proposed to her on camera, in front of everyone. So yeah—she needed to hit back, fast and publicly. With help from her best friend, Rhea, she was supposed to meet a broke model at a diner. Sweet guy, easy to handle. Just enough to stir drama and ruin the happy couple’s fairytale. But she sat at the wrong table and accidentally proposed to the wrong man. Dorian Everhart was the opposite of harmless. He was cold, unreadable and terrifyingly rich. He absolutely had no business saying yes. But…he did. He married her the same day with no questions asked or rules attached either. She thought she was the one using him. But he didn’t seem to bulge, and now, she’s starting to wonder, who really set this up? Why does her stepsister flinch every time Dorian’s name comes up? and why does he know so much about her family? What the hell does he want from her? And worse….why does a part of her want him to take it?

"What are you trying to do? Get the hell out of my office!" He yelled at me but I ignored all his rant and approached him on his office seat, having unzipped my skimpy top a little, so that he gets a pleasurable view of my huge , bulging out of it. "If you resist me, I will make sure to leak all your secret doings to the public, so that all can see who you really are. Your name will be on the papers by Monday, and you will lose the respect of your employees. I'm sure you wouldn't want that to happen? Why not just relax and me here and now? These are craving your lustful touch". "Get behind me Satan! You slow poison! You wouldn't dare blackmail me." "Oh really? Remember I still have the tape with me. You just wait and see. Dare to resist me now and I will go straight to the press and media." As he was still pondering on whether to succumb to my demands or not, I got closer to him and forcefully crashed my lips against his, as my huge soft collapsed on his hard chest. Just then, the door was opened and my colleague was standing with a camera, recording our romantic scene.

After I was falsely accused of being a third wheel by a fake heiress, she hired a group of people to corner me in the delivery room under the pretense of giving me an intervention. "How dare you, a shameless mistress, hope to secure a place with your child!" "Today, I'm going to make sure that b*stard in your belly is gone for good. Let's see if you dare get into my man's bed again." The group blocked the delivery room door, their faces twisted with malice as they refused to let the doctors deliver my baby. I begged them to let me go, but they only laughed cruelly and forced me down in front of a camera while I struggled through labor. They forcefully pulled the baby out of my belly and killed him right in front of me. I clung to my child's lifeless body, sobbing hysterically, while they posted my miserable state online with the caption, 'This is what happens to mistresses.' Later, I exposed her fake heiress status and revealed the dirty secrets of her and those people who were allegedly giving me an intervention online. Relentlessly attacked by netizens until she had nowhere left to turn, she ended up begging me for forgiveness. I pointed to the edge of the rooftop and said, "Jump, and I'll forgive you."

Sylvia's sister Vivian was once drunk driving and killed Liam's two-month pregnant girlfriend. Vivian was saved by her family by sending her to Italy to hide. Liam suspected that his girlfriend's death had many twists, so he gave it to someone to investigate. Because he couldn't find Vivian, he kidnapped Sylvia while she was on her way to the university. Sylvia endured his abuses because of her sister's sins, life was worse than death and was raped by Liam many times. Sylvia tried to escape but was caught, tortured even more. Liam found the camera recording the accident that year, sent Sylvia to prison but did not know she was pregnant. When the baby was one year old, Sylvia took the opportunity to catch the fire and ran away with her child. Leo is Sylvia's uncle but only the adopted son of the Cavill family, the two have feelings for each other, so Leo tried everything to investigate Liam but could not find any evidence. Just know that before becoming the adopted son of a billionaire, Liam was an orphan. Sylvia was also an orphan who was adopted by the Cavill family along with Leo. The three used to know each other, but Liam lost his memory after a car accident.

BREAKING NEWS: Joaquin Alfonso Agravante—the most respected and the wealthiest businessman in the country, and the heir to the Agravante Holdings Inc., who has been promised to marry the daughter of the owner of Chua Holdings, was caught on camera while having the hottest night of his life… with a prostitute. Now known as the epitome of darkness; the most handsome beast of his generation was never expected to do such a thing just to pleasure himself. What a very scandalous affair, indeed. Such an event only proves that once lust takes over, not even a saint can escape the chains of temptation. *** Minerva Ezra Clemente, a prostitute, lived her life bedding elite men in order to survive the catastrophic challenges that befell her life when her parents died and when her relatives took over their company and threw her out of their own house. But she has had enough. After that hot and intense night with her last client, Minerva decided to end her worthless life. But someone was able to stop her from doing so, and even asked her to marry him in exchange for a grand life and a house she can call home and that man was none other than her last client—Joaquin Alfonso Agravante, the wealthiest businessman in the country and the heir to the Agravante Inc., her parents’ biggest rival company in the business industry.

When I find out about that woman's existence, it turns out that they've been dating for a very long time. Simon Jensen protects her very well. Even though he's already attended banquets with her and has introduced her to all of his friends, I still have yet to see any of her photos. Heck, I don't even know her name. If it weren't for the fact that Simon was unable to resist that woman's coquettish pleading and brought her to the fashion show press conference as a brand investor, I'd probably remain in the dark forever. At this moment, I stare at Simon from far away, who's currently gazing at his lover standing on the runway. There's a hint of a gentle smile in his eyes. The camera flashes keep clicking. One of the reporters can't resist asking, "Mr. Jensen, are you a fan of Angela Stewart as well?" Simon never averts his gaze from Angela. He replies, "No. She's the love of my life." So, it turns out the cold and aloof Simon is capable of doting on a young woman to this degree. I spin the dull wedding ring around my ring finger subconsciously. That's when I realize how meaningless this marriage actually is.

“Fine,” I heard myself say, the word tasting like rust. “You want an open marriage? We’ll do open.” A slow smile curved his mouth—victory, not warmth. “Good girl. Then I suppose you won’t mind if I reintroduce Kisha.” The camera panned. There she was, curled on what I now realized was our hotel suite couch, her legs tucked under a cashmere throw that used to be mine. She waved, manicured nails glinting, belly softly rounded under a silk camisole. My world tilted. I forced a smile that felt like glass. “So she’s your girlfriend?” Daniel’s hand settled possessively on that gentle swell. “Not just my girlfriend,” he said, eyes locked on mine. “The mother of my unborn child.” Jayla Carmichael smiles for the cameras as the perfect senator's wife while her world burns. But queens don't kneel. They conquer. Fueled by whiskey and wrath, Jayla ensnares Warren Christopher, a brooding billionaire CEO, after saving his empire in a bar-side twist of fate. Love was the first lie. Revenge is the foreplay, and the truth? it's coming for them all...naked, ruthless and dripping in karma. Will Jayla's vengeance destroy her soul or will warrens fire forge something eternal?. This book isn't just romance, it's war with benefits.