Novel & Cerita The Night Before I Knew Him

Two pink lines on a pregnancy test. I was going to surprise my husband, Vince, the Moretti family heir. Instead, the surprise was on me. A pair of black lace panties—not mine—left in his car. The air reeked of cheap perfume and betrayal. I stormed his casino, demanding answers. But I found her in his private suite. Sophia. She smirked, looking me up and down. “You must be the wife. I’ve seen your picture on the nightstand. Vince says you’re a boring little nun. Says he can’t even get hard looking at you.” I snapped. My hand shaking, I hurled a glass of red wine in her face. She shrieked, stumbled back, and crashed into a glass cabinet. Blood bloomed across the carpet. Vince burst in and slapped me so hard I hit the floor. "Are you insane?! She's carrying my heir!" My heart shattered. As I fell, a darker pool of blood spread beneath me. Our baby. I was miscarrying. And when forced to choose between his wife and his whore, Vince chose her. He forgot who put him on his throne. I’m not some trophy wife he can discard. I am a DeLuca. A princess of the underworld. So for revenge, I married his worst enemy, Dante Costello. And when we burned his empire to the ground, Vince finally broke. He got on his knees and begged me to come back.

In a story that depicts power, misunderstandings, and devious plots, Brielle Arwen's life takes an unexpectedly dark turn when her father's debtor attacks the family, literally taking away everything she ever cherished and became collateral to pay back her father's debt. After enduring abuse for 2 agonizing years, her heartless young master lets her go without the knowledge that she carried his seed. But Brielle leaves anyway, crossing paths with an Samaritan in the form of one Miss Camila Jeffrey who takes her in and caters to her until she gives birth to her unborn child. They eventually become the best of friends. Getting back on her feet, Brielle works relentlessly to earn a living for her daughter and herself. Years pass, and Brielle works as a detective in a high-end security corporation. But fate comes again to test her resilience and Brielle finds herself as the lead investigator to a company owned by a certain Marcello Hayes, the same man who had put her life to an abrupt stop when she was helpless. Could she execute the job effectively without the distraction of her past trauma? Would she in a fit of redemption implicate him faster so she could have him done and over with? Would she tell him about the pregnancy she hid from him? Or was she going to find more than she actually bargained for?

Alpha Jakob gave me the grandest bonding ceremony five years ago. I became the world's most envied woman. Five years later, I received a provocative voice message from Jakob's first love, Molly. "I just got back to the pack, and all I needed to do was to play coy with Jakob, and he came right over. Tonight, he originally prepared blue fireworks for me. I don't like blue, but I decided to give it to you since I never liked to waste. You can use it during your anniversary." The day during our fifth mate bond anniversary, I looked at the blue fireworks blooming in the night sky, quietly waiting in my seat as I faced the empty seat opposite me. Molly's provocation came again. A photo of her having a candlelight dinner with Jakob. I didn't cry, and simply submit the application to terminate my mate bond with Jakob to the pack's Elder Council. At this time, my personal assistant told me she saw someone had applied for a grand bonding ceremony. "Luna Cynthia, the bonding ceremony is prepared by Molly for herself and Alpha Jakob. It will take place seven days later. Do you wish to stop it?" "There's no need to. If this is what Jakob wants, I'll make their wish come true." Jakob was still promoting how deep his love for me was, saying that I was the woman he loved the most in his life. But he didn't know that seven days later, I would leave the pack and never return again. That night, he collapsed.

On our third wedding anniversary, I brought a gift to my husband’s office. Walking past the secretary's suite, I stopped dead. A king-size bed had been set up inside. A young woman in a designer dress was sprawled across it, a handheld game console in her hands, surrounded by imported snacks of every variety. "Kevin, the lunch you ordered yesterday was pre-packaged meals. Marcus and I both felt sick after eating it. Today, make sure it's from The Palace Hotel." Kevin -- my husband's personal assistant -- bowed and scraped before her, his face a mask of obsequious flattery. "Mrs. Thorne, please don't worry. Mr. Thorne made it very clear -- everything should be tailored to your preferences and the baby's. He knows you love the chef at The Palace Hotel, so he set up a standing VIP account for you. Anything you want, anytime." She was Mrs. Thorne? Then what exactly was I? My brow furrowed. I glanced down at the wedding ring I'd worn for years. The girl beamed, radiant. "For the baby's arrival, my husband is throwing a lavish yacht party. Every important person in New York is getting an invitation. I want the whole world to know that I'm the love of his life, and that our son will be blessed by the most powerful people before he's even born. The champagne and flowers must be the finest available -- no budget limit. Our child is going to have the best of everything from day one." I stared at the gentle swell of her belly and called my father. "Dad, that divorce agreement you drew up three years ago -- you can have the lawyers send it over now."

Three days before the wedding, the church called to inform me that my fiancé had changed the date. When I went to ask him why, I walked in on him throwing a bachelor party with his friends. "Samuel, this was the day Claire personally chose. Why would you suddenly change it?" someone asked. Samuel Gordon stubbed out his cigarette, looking utterly nonchalant. "Because that day happens to be Janet's birthday," he said. "I need to celebrate it with her." The room fell silent in shock. "Aren't you afraid Claire will find out and kill you? Have you forgotten what she did before?" At the mention of my name, Samuel gave an icy snort. "That was all in the past. Claire loves me to death now. She even took three bullets for me once, so how could she ever bring herself to hurt me?" I stood at the doorway, watching the snow fall behind me, and let out a long sigh. Five days later, he stood in an empty church, frantically calling my phone. "Did you forget? It's our wedding day!" "I didn't forget," I said. In another church, wearing a wedding gown, I was saying "I do" to another man.

In my previous life, I practically dragged my useless childhood sweetheart to Harvard with me. My academic record was top-notch, and I spent three years tutoring him. I asked my father to donate a library to Harvard University, ensuring that they would extend an additional offer of admission to Felix. Finally—when he rejected the offer in favor of taking a gap year to go work in Australia with the girl he was infatuated with—I raised such a massive scene that I ultimately forced him to go to Harvard with me. After graduation, we got married. The natural ending. He built a tech empire and made me the wife of the richest man in the country. One regret. He died too young. Didn't leave me a single word at the end. Just went. And I — I inherited his billions, and lived comfortably all the way to eighty-eight. But when I died, I saw his soul. His eyes were blood-red. "You forced me onto this path. You took me from the only woman I ever loved. I died with regret. Pray we never meet again in the next life." ...What the fuck? He'd been in that much pain? And I was the only one — happily riding it out? Captions drifted across my vision. [Lmao — how thick is this side character's skin?] [Male lead dies young in agony, she breezes through to 88 as the richest widow in the country.] [The girl he actually loved was the one who flunked her SATs and ran off backpacking, hello???] [They both died young, missed each other, and the side character had the time of her life.] Even I felt bad. When I opened my eyes, I was back — standing in that basement he'd sworn would be his life of freedom, on the day he was supposed to reject his Harvard offer. This time, I am not stopping him from going to Australia.

He is my protector, my guardian, my best friend, but what Nathan does not know is that he is also my crush, the love of my life. I have lived in the shadow of my older best friend for so long, the handsome, and ruthless playboy, king of the streets. I have watched him break several women's hearts, using them and dumping them like they don't matter. He calls me his sweet Angel, the only pure thing in his dark world. He does not believe he is capable of loving me the way I deserve to be loved, but I would show Nathan that deep down, he still has a beating heart. Would I find the courage to show him my heart already beats for him? I am VERA.

She signed the divorce papers. He never signed away his obsession. Betrayed by her billionaire husband and replaced by her best friend, Veronica Stanford makes a desperate deal with mafia heir Monte "Four" Zagcanni: a fake marriage to hide her pregnancy. But their arrangement ignites into dangerous passion—just as her ex-husband returns, demanding his wife and the son he never knew existed. Now caught between the man who destroyed her and the devil who owns her, Veronica must choose: forgiveness or revenge.

Camila Damien has spent years avoiding Eric Sylvester—the ruthless CEO whose cold reputation precedes him. But when a career-making promotion forces them together on a billion-dollar pharmaceutical project, avoidance becomes impossible. Eric can't shake the feeling that he's seen her before. The mysterious woman in his wallpaper. The missing pieces of a night he can't remember. And now, the brilliant scientist who challenges him at every turn. But Camila is hiding something darker than career ambitions. Three weeks of her life is gone. Stolen by a drugging incident she can't remember and a saboteur she can't identify. As corporate espionage, toxic family ties, and a dangerous conspiracy close in around them, Camila and Eric must decide: trust each other with their carefully guarded hearts, or lose everything, including their lives. In the high-stakes world of pharmaceutical giants, where betrayal comes from those closest to you and the truth is buried in forgotten memories, love might be the most dangerous risk of all.

For five years, I quietly supported my boyfriend, helping him rise from a lawyer's assistant to a partner at a top-tier law firm. At the annual awards ceremony, I was thrilled, ready to celebrate publicly and surprise him. But then, he walked on stage with a female coworker, their behavior cozy and intimate. "Cade owes his success to my brilliant strategies behind the scenes," Caitlyn boasted. Cade smiled, echoing her words, "Absolutely, without Caitlyn, I wouldn't be where I am today." The audience erupted in applause, congratulating them. I stood at the back of the crowd, frozen. Leaving the venue, I called my assistant. "Cut off all networking support for Cade Gilliam. End all cooperation. That shady case he took on? Stop smoothing things over. Let him face the consequences."