The Inheritance Nora Roberts

I gave Kenny everything—my love, my future, my dreams. I dropped out of school, worked multiple jobs, and sacrificed my ambitions to send him abroad. Seven years of loyalty, only to find him slipping a ring onto another woman’s finger. Back then, Kenny had nothing. I was his rock, his provider, his everything. But everything changed when he discovered the truth about his origins. "You're useless, Ivana. An illiterate nobody. I could never marry someone like you." His fiancee smirked, resting a hand on her stomach—pregnant with his child. Kenny, once the man who swore forever to me, now looked at me like I was dirt beneath his feet. That’s when I learned the painful truth: A man's love isn't measured in his lowest state, but when he rises. And Kenny had risen—without me. Shattered, I ran. I didn't know where until I found myself at a railway entrance, tears blurring my vision. "Having a bad day?" A deep, smooth voice pulled me from my despair. Josh Williams. A billionaire with his own game. He offered me a deal—one that would change everything. "Marry me. No strings attached. You need a fresh start, and I need a wife." But what I didn’t know? Josh was Kenny’s brother. And his proposal wasn’t just about saving me—it was about buying time. Then the wedding flyers surfaced. Kenny lost it. He couldn’t stand the idea of me being with Josh, and their father was even worse. An illiterate like me had no place in their family. And just like that, the battle lines were drawn—love, power, and inheritance at stake. This time, I wasn’t just playing. I was winning.

I was nine months along and ready to give birth, but my husband, Sean Conner, had me locked in the basement storage room and told me to hold the baby in. He said it was because his late brother’s wife, Quinn Faber, was also due today. Years ago, Sean and his brother had agreed that the first child born to the Conners would be raised as the heir and inherit the family inheritance. “Quinn’s baby must come first,” Sean said as if it were nothing. “She lost her husband and has nothing. You already have my love. It’s only right that the inheritance goes to her child.” The pain from the contractions folded me over, and I cried, begging him to take me to the hospital. He wiped my tears with a dangerously calm voice. “Stop the act,” he snapped. “I always knew you didn’t love me. All you care about is money and status. You forced labor to happen early so you could steal my nephew’s place… How can you be so cruel?” White-faced and shaking, I managed to whisper, “I can’t control when a baby comes. It’s a coincidence. I swear I don’t care about the inheritance. I love you!” He let out a cold laugh. “If you loved me, you wouldn’t have pushed Quinn to sign that contract relinquishing her child’s inheritance. Fine. Once she has her baby, I’ll come back for you. After all, the child in your belly is my blood.” Sean stayed outside Quinn’s delivery room. Only after the newborn arrived did he remember me. He ordered his secretary to take me to the hospital, but the secretary’s voice trembled as he said. “Madam… and the baby… They’re both gone…” At that moment, Sean lost his mind.

Before anything else could happen, I stood up from squatting in front of him and walked toward my work table. My hands were shaking, but I tried not to show it. "Now you have time to listen to my proposal," I said firmly, trying to sound confident even though my heart was racing. I picked up the document I had placed there earlier—a simple sheet of paper, but one that could change everything. I held it up for him to see. Yes, kidnapping him had been desperate. But what I was about to offer? Even more so. "You just have to sign this marriage contract," I told him. "If we get married, I can claim my inheritance, solve my problem, and then we’ll let you go." He raised an eyebrow, amused. “And what’s in it for me? I don’t gain anything here. Why should I let you manipulate my life like that?” I clenched my fists. "You’re my hostage! Your freedom depends on me. You have no choice but to do what I say!" I snapped, voice rising with frustration. As soon as I said it, regret washed over me. I sounded like a child throwing a tantrum, and I saw it in his eyes—disappointment. Disgust. “I already have a fiancée, Kourtney. We’re getting married soon. I can’t marry you,” he said with finality. Of course I knew. I knew everything about him. I kept tabs on his life not because I wanted to, but because I had to. “I love her,” he continued. “And if I ever get married, it’s going to be with the woman I love. That’s Kim.” I bit my lower lip to stop the trembling. I was humiliated… but worse, I was heartbroken.

All her life, Ava Malcolm has given her all to her dead beat husband, Carson. She spent years trying. Smiling. Grinning at cameras just for him. Raised as the brilliant marketing prodigy of the Malcolm family and an heiress, everyone says he's after her wealth. Ava turns a deaf ear to their words. She loved him even if he cancels all anniversary plans, berate and neglect her. His family doesn't like her. On his 34th birthday, she decided to give him her inheritance hoping it'd light up the spark in their marriage and throws a big surprise party for him with high hopes that when he finally comes back from the 6 month business trip he went on, he'd see all the efforts she'd put into making his day special. He doesn't. Carson sweeps her aside like a pound of dust while grinning at cameras and heads up the stairs with a lady. She follows. Just as she gets to the room, she catches him with his first love, Giselle. Turned out he'd been cheating all the while. When she wakes up in an hospital, she realizes he's found the papers and had signed them. He pays the hospital to lie she was mentally unstable and leaves her there to build a life with his new lover. When Ava gets out, she's bent on getting just one thing: revenge. When she storms his party, he lies to the world that she cheated with an photoshopped image. No one believes her. Only he did. Jaxton Steel, heir to the steel conglomerates. He offers Ava a deal. A marriage with him in exchange for revenge against everyone that had ever wronged her. And Ava? She's no longer the damsel in distress. She's the storm he didn't see coming.

I am the sole heir to the Alpha King of Northaria, but I'm an Omega. All of Northaria awaits the day I come of age, hoping I'll awaken the kind of Alpha bloodline strong enough to claim the throne. But when the day finally comes, I'm still just a low-rank Omega. So, they say that the true heir must be one of the three "pledged Alphas" my father adopted from the major tribes. Whichever one of them marks me becomes the ruler of all Northaria packs. But none of them have ever truly looked at me. The one I like most is Quin Lawson. When I fainted on the snowy plains as a child, it was he who carried me back to the pack. I've tried countless times to get close to him, only to be met with nothing but cold, contemptuous stares. I used to think he was just emotionally distant—until the Moon Goddess Festival. That night, I saw him kneel before Silvia Anderson, the daughter of my father's second-in-command. His voice is soft, and his gaze is tender. "I'm marrying Evelyn only to repay the Alpha King's kindness. Once I get the inheritance, I'll make you my Luna. As long as she doesn't harm you, I'll even grant her a piece of land to live out her life in peace. You're my true mate." The night before the marking ceremony, my father asks me who I choose. I think of the way all three of the pledged Alphas look away whenever our eyes meet. I smile and say, "I'm the rightful heir of Northaria. My mate should be someone who brings the greatest strength to our pack. And so, I choose Alpha Heath of the Pyraxis pack." The air goes still. My father frowns. "Him? Are you sure? Every one of his mates has died under mysterious circumstances. His wolf is known to be vicious—no one dares get close to him. You truly want to be his mate?"

After my stepsister, Jennifer Nichols, died in a tragic accident, Julian Asher hated me for ten whole years. He was the youngest star attorney in Vaxton Bay. He was always calm and composed, yet he never once hid his disgust toward me. I gave up everything for him: my education, my family, my friends, even the inheritance I was meant to receive. I stayed by his side through the grueling bar exam and the brutal early days of his career. But all he ever said was, "Miley, if you really want to please me, go ahead and die." The only woman he ever loved in this lifetime was my stepsister. And I realized that far too late. It wasn't until a fire broke out unexpectedly in the courthouse archives and I was trapped upstairs that something changed. Julian ran in to save me. The blaze devoured everything in its path. In the end, he shoved me out of the rubble. The collapsing steel beams crashed down on him. Blood spilled everywhere. Outside the operating room, I fell to my knees, begging the heavens to let him live. Before he died, he left me one final message with the doctor. "Miley, I hope we never meet again in the next life." At his funeral, his mother slapped me hard across the face—again and again. "You're a cursed wretch. Killing Jennifer wasn't enough for you; now you've killed my son too. I never should've agreed to let Julian marry you." His father dragged me to my knees by my hair, forcing me to kneel. "This is all my fault. I was too soft-hearted. Julian saved you three times, and all you ever brought him was misery!" Everyone believed I was the reason Julian died. And deep down, I believed it too. In the end, I slit my wrists and took my own life—only to awaken back in university, at the very moment we was supposed to get engaged. This time, I made a choice. I would not chase after him again. I would step aside and let him be with the one he loved most—my stepsister, Jennifer.