The Pivot Year Novels & Stories

On the day of Claire Brooks, my wife's funeral, a grieving stranger arrived carrying white lilies. After placing them beside her portrait, he walked straight toward me. "I've envied you for thirty years," he said. Confused, I frowned as his eyes lingered on her photograph. "For thirty years, she gave me everything—her love, her time, her money. She never held anything back." He paused before looking at me with quiet resentment. "The only thing she forbade was letting you know I existed." My heart skipped a beat. "What are you talking about?" He let out a bitter chuckle. "It means that while you were married to her for thirty years, she was with me for thirty years too." Then he walked away, leaving me frozen beside her coffin. I stared after him, struggling for breath. Thirty years of betrayal and lies. The shock sent my blood pressure surging, and I collapsed in the middle of the funeral hall. When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the day Claire and I were supposed to be married. "Nathan Brooks, will you spend the rest of your life with me?" After a long silence, I took the ring from her hand and, without a moment's hesitation, threw it down the drain.

My boyfriend of nine years suddenly changed his WhatsApp name to "Peanut Love." When I asked why, he wouldn't say. Then his secretary, going by the name "Peanut," sent me their intimate photos. I understood everything. I calmly saved the photos and opened my mom's chat. I sent a single message: [Mom, I've decided to come home for the arranged marriage.] Mom immediately video-called me. "Sweetheart, we'll set the wedding for the end of this month." Fifteen days. That's all that's left between Jason and me.

I manage to drag Jared Sheppard from death's door. Since then, I've accompanied him from his poorest times all the way to the current moment, when he's now worth tens of millions of dollars. On the day his company goes public, he gets engaged to another woman. "Gabrielle, she's different from you. She's an actual princess of the elite. I need to give her an official title, so I can't fool around with you anymore." I never bothered defending myself. It's time for this farce to end, anyway. After all, there's still a man waiting for me at home, who's been calling me his princess since I was a little girl.

After the SAT, I come across a post online. Someone posts, "If you could make a choice all over again, which major would you choose this time?" The comments are filled with people wishing they had chosen a different major. They all have their own regrets. One response stands out from the rest. "I would choose literature. That way, he and I wouldn't have missed out on the four years we should have spent together because of that unwanted baggage." I chuckle and am about to scroll past when I suddenly notice the profile picture and username. They are identical to those of my childhood sweetheart, Winter Andersen. I click into the profile. Everything matches her current account exactly, except that the age is ten years older. My heart sinks to my stomach. This has to be her ten years in the future. No wonder I am the only one celebrating when we are admitted to the same major. No wonder she zones out for so long after seeing my best friend, Simon Brown, receive his acceptance letter from the literature department. It turns out I am the unwanted baggage responsible for so many of her regrets and disappointments. Since that is the case, I quietly press "Accept" on the admission offer written entirely in a foreign language. I shall end this mistake ten years ahead of schedule.

Pregnant with the employer's son and forced to abort the fetus in his content, Amelie Anderson, a girl working on a rich family decided to escape to the village where she was grandfather's grandimacy, on the father's advice. In her escape, amelie successfully conceives and gives birth to a very handsome, healthy baby boy, inheriting his father, Jonathan Hayes. The consequences of raising a baby alone are not easy. Would Amelie be able to raise a baby boy by herself?

I kept our marriage a secret for three years, enduring every sneer as her VP while helping her build her empire. Tanya Cox rose from a scorned, illegitimate daughter to a revered CEO. She once nestled in my embrace and promised to be open about our relationship when the company went public. I waited year after year. Even when our child was born, she still hadn’t made good on her word. One day, I pressed for a timeline. However, Tanya simply put the baby in my arms. “Callum, things are complicated at the moment. The disclosure will only hurt the stock price. I gave you a child. Isn’t that enough?” Alas, when her childhood friend, Gavin Nolan, returned from abroad on New Year’s Day, he took the seat of honor during our newborn’s sip and see event. Gavin, cradling my baby girl, accepted well-wishes from friends and family with a smile. “Don’t take things the wrong way. The right etiquette probably slipped his mind since he’s been away for so long. He’s only sitting there to keep the baby entertained. That’s all. Don’t read too much into it. “We’ve always been close since childhood. He’s going to be the godfather of our child. Don’t tell me you’re jealous of him.” Beaming, I raised my glass as a toast to Gavin. Tanya was wrong. I wasn’t at all jealous. Heck, I was done with her.

I had been in love with Anton Stark for fifteen years, and it was always sweet until another woman appeared. He began to act distant and used every trick to force me into a divorce. I clung to him desperately, even though I was battered and bruised, hoping he would change his mind. But eventually, I woke up. Some relationships should come to an end.

Gen Williams, a smart, usually confident, and beautiful girl, perfect in the eyes of college admissions personnel, parents, and teachers, gets her reputation tarnished because of one night. This night, seemingly harmless, filled with teenagers being teenagers, ended terribly once a rumor about Gen spread throughout her home of Clarenton county, New York. Her friends and acquaintances distance themselves because of the controversy, and she's left with one companion, whom she met on Tinder. Can she trust him, or will this end in betrayal, too?

When I woke up that morning and happened to glance at the mirror, a scream tore from my throat before I could stop it. Because on the face I had always taken such pride in, there was now a jagged, horrifying scar. As terror gripped me, a cool, detached female voice cut through the air beside me. "What are you shrieking about so early in the morning? Scared by your own ugly face?" I looked up in shock and realized the voice belonged to my girlfriend, Alicia. Only—she wasn't the same girl from yesterday. Gone was the youthful innocence I remembered. In its place, every movement, every glance radiated the allure of a mature woman. The words slipped out before I could hold them back. "Babe… you're gorgeous…" But Alicia's brows knit together, her gaze colder than ice. "Kurt, drop the act!" Act? I was at a loss. Why would she accuse me of pretending? "Don't call me the way you used to five years ago. It's disgusting." Five years ago? But… I'm still twenty-three… am I not?

Seven years. No mark. No title. No truth. I gave Damon Voss everything and he gave me a lie so carefully built I almost died inside it. Then one letter changed everything. I am not his patient wife. I am not his Luna in waiting. I am the long-missing Lycan Princess, heir to a throne, and mother to a son I was told did not survive. He took everything from me. My identity. My child. My seven years. Now I have fifteen days, one dangerous alliance, and a crown with my name on it. Damon should have made sure I never found out. He did not.