The Pivot Year Novels & Stories

Someone started a thread on a forum asking, [Do men become stingy with their wives after marriage?] The replies were full of women complaining about how cheap and calculating their husbands were. My husband, however, went in the opposite direction. After we got married, he handed me his payroll card to manage and kept only a few dozen dollars a month for his own expenses, as though he had truly given everything to me and to this family. I shook my head and was about to respond when my mother-in-law's call interrupted me. "Chloe, Josh's god sister is sick. She needs $4,500." My husband immediately slipped an arm around my shoulders and assured me, "Don't worry. We'll use my salary. You won't have to pay a cent." "Alright," I said. Seeing how certain he was, I transferred one dollar to him on the spot and added a note: Medical expenses transferred. When my mother-in-law saw the transfer, she flew into a rage, sharply accusing me of being jealous and petty, even withholding money meant to save a life. I remained unmoved. "That's all there is on the card." She completely lost her temper, threatening to come over and audit how many kickbacks I had supposedly pocketed over the years. I agreed to settle the accounts. That was when my husband suddenly lost his enthusiasm.

It was the holiday season, so I took my foster daughter, Megan Delgado, to our mansion for a vacation. However, I found out that the property had been occupied by someone else. The woman who opened the door looked at us with an impatient expression. “What do you want? You’re interrupting my daughter’s birthday party. Are you asking for trouble?” For a moment, I thought I might have the wrong house. That was until I noticed the clothing and jewelry the woman was wearing. Every piece was an exact match with what I kept in my wardrobe here. The timing could not be more telling. Just a week ago, my husband, Richie Delgado, said he was planning a surprise for me and Megan. He asked for the spare key to the mansion. I glanced past her at the crowd of party guests in the living room. “So, you’re saying you’re the lady of the house?” She sized me up and noted my simple outfit. “Who else if not me? You? You’ve ruined my daughter’s party. You’d better beg for her forgiveness now!” she said in a condescending tone. When I did not move, she warned, “My husband will be home any minute now. Do you know who he is? He’s the CEO of Beran Corp! A nobody like you can’t afford to cross him!” They were using my mansion to throw a birthday party for his illegitimate daughter. It was quite the surprise indeed!

My billionaire dad chooses a husband for me. People claim that Sebastian Lambert is a fine gentleman who's absolutely in awe of me. He seems easy enough to deal with, so I agree to the marriage. The wedding is held at the biggest hotel my family owns. On the big day, as I push open the doors in my wedding dress, a bucket of foul-smelling blood comes crashing down on me. The scene inside is even more horrifying. What was supposed to be a pure and romantic ceremony is now decorated with giant spiders and cockroaches. Grotesque clown faces grin at me from the walls. At the altar, there's a black coffin. Sebastian's adoptive sister, Ruth Lambert, strolls over with a group of people. She covers her mouth in fake surprise as she remarks, "Oh my, Claudia, you look like a pathetic mutt right now!" Laughter erupts around me. Holding my anger back, I coldly reply, "All of you, get out." She crosses her arms, arrogantly looking down at me as if she's on some pedestal. "Come on, Claudia. Seb personally asked me to surprise you. I put in a lot of effort to decorate your little wedding. You're telling me to get out? I don't even get a 'thank you'? Do you need me to teach you some manners?" She signals to the people next to her, and two of them step forward, trying to force me to my knees. Stunned for a few seconds, I pull out my phone and call Sebastian. "Is this the so-called surprise you had your sister prepare for me? Forcing me to kneel before her?"

My grandfather, Marvin Vega, arranges a blind date for me. The guy, Hugo Crawford, comes from a well-respected scholarly family. Wanting to make a good impression on Hugo, I put extra effort into dressing up. But I have barely taken my seat when Hugo's self-proclaimed "gold-digger detector" childhood friend, Marlene Welch, comes charging over. She crosses her arms and sweeps a disdainful look over my outfit. "You're covered in designer brands from head to toe. How much are you planning to squeeze out of Hugo?" Hugo helplessly pulls her back and explains apologetically to me in a low voice, "She just went through a breakup, so she can't stand women who wear designer brands. Please don't take it personally." I smile and say nothing, figuring it's best not to make a scene at a first meeting. But Marlene starts criticizing me again, "You put on this whole pampered heiress act with the designer clothes and jewelry just so men will willingly bankroll you. "All this designer stuff must be from some ex-boyfriend you bled dry, right? Since I was little, I've seen plenty of fake socialites like you who'll stop at nothing to marry into money and bleed a man dry." I let out an exasperated laugh at hearing such vicious, prejudiced remarks. I then glance at the Patek Philippe on my wrist. Even in ten years, she still won't be able to afford what I'm wearing right now.

At the annual company raffle, I had barely stepped onto the stage when my supervisor, Lily Smith, pressed a crumpled slip of paper into my palm. "A special reward for our top salesperson," she chirped. "Go ahead, open it. Let everyone see." Under the eager gaze of the crowd, I unfolded the note. Written in messy handwriting were the words: Clean the company toilets for three days. The room erupted in laughter. Lily folded her arms, cocked her head, and smirked at me. "Nice, right?" she said. "Everyone knows those sales of yours came from sleeping with old men. Dirty money. To keep things fair, the others get a break, and you pick up a little extra work. You don't have a problem with that, do you?" The laughter surged again, nearly lifting the roof. From the side of the room, my boyfriend, Seth Hoffman, the company's CEO, watched everything unfold. As usual, he said nothing in my defense. They all thought I would fall apart, cry, or make a scene. Instead, I simply gave a calm nod. The very next day, the company was hit with over three hundred property cancellations. Its cash flow collapsed overnight. That was when Lily and Seth rushed to me, demanding I go plead with the buyers. I smiled and said, "No thanks. I wouldn't want to help the company recover and end up with strong numbers again. That might make everyone even more uncomfortable."

In her third year of dating Jackson Hunter, the cool and proud Lumina Walker took out a secret loan of one million dollars to repay his debt. She even resorted to performing stripteases in a bar. Everything changed when she overheard a shocking conversation between him and his friends. "You're ruthless even to yourself! Just to get back at Lumina, you pretended to be a bartender for three years, tricked her into taking out a loan for you, and used her nude video as collateral. You even got her to strip at your bar! " "If she ever found out that you're the loan shark and own the bar she stripped at… She'd probably drop dead from anger right there and then!" another chimed in. Celia Price was Lumina's living nightmare, her tormentor for nine years since their middle school days—relentless bullying, harassment, and abuse. The painful twist? Celia was Jackson's secret love all along—for a decade, to be exact. Yet Lumina didn't cry, didn't fight back. So when her Uncle Howard called and ordered her to marry the mute oldest son of the powerful Morgan family from Crown City, she agreed without hesitation.

After two years of being neglected in her marriage, Alison Reese finds a spermicidal suppository under the bed in the master bedroom. In that moment, she finally understands that she isn't Erik Hale's wife. She's the third wheel between him and Monique Shore. When her uncle falls gravely ill, all she asks for is a single pill. Erik agrees to help, then tosses the matter to his assistant. The assistant hands Alison a fake. When life and death hang in the balance, an unexpected visitor appears in the hospital room. He's strikingly handsome and gives off an air of effortless privilege. He claims to be Theodore Statham, a friend of Alison's cousin, Noah Reese. But she knows every one of Noah's friends. Every single one—except him. Theodore goes with her on a search for the medicine, so she no longer has to grovel and beg for it. On a hurricane night, when her house is flooding, he carries her out of the water. The first thing he says is, "Don't be scared. I'm here." Every time Theodore talks about the future, he makes sure there's a place for Alison carved out there. She doesn't understand why a man like him, untouchable and divine, is willing to stay by her side like a shadow. One day, Alison asks Theodore, "What is it you want from me?" He raises an eyebrow. "I want you to walk my dog with me every day. No skipping." On the day her divorce is finalized, she walks out of the courthouse to see him standing at the entrance with the dog on a leash, waiting for her. In that instant, a memory surfaces. Every time she looks for Noah in the high school building, she sees an aloof-looking guy in a mask standing in the distance. She thinks he hates her. But now, she knows he just doesn't dare to look at her. He's afraid one look will give him away.

    "This marriage has been fixed and it must hold."  That was the rigid statement of Charlotte's father.      A wedding day was supposed to be a lady's happiest day, but in the case of Charlotte, it was her saddest day. Her parents were about to force her to marry Ethan, a person known to be ruthless. Charlotte's marriage was a pivot of financial benefits for her family, but her happiness and career was at stake.     Will she bend to her parents' wishes? She was at the point of breaking ties what her parents when her aunty said the following words,     "Do you really want to let your parents down? I will teach you how to display an irk attitude, after you get married to him, and in a very short time, Ethan will divorce you." Is this a trap? Will her aunty show her the easiest way out of this ruthless marriage? Her entire hope lies on herself to display an irk attitude to a man who has started loving her.

Look woman I never begged to be your husband, you gave me that opportunity” Min Jun yelled. Mei Xing a 22 year old and the only daughter of multi-billionaires is diagnosed with cancer but doesn’t want to go through chemotherapy, with only a year left to live, she wants to explore. Min Jun a jobless 23 year old, finds himself a jackpot and agrees to be her contracted husband for the money and all the benefits of being with a billionaire’s daughter. EXCERPT: “Will you marry me?” Mei Xing asked a stranger she met walking on the streets. “What did you just say?” he said and was about to walk away. “I will pay you, a hundred thousand dollars, if you be my husband for a year” she said. “A year?” he asked and she nodded. She scanned through her wardrobe and wore a flowery dress, it wasn’t summer but by summer she might be too sick to wear it. “You only live once, more like a year," Min Jun finally arrived in jeans and a polo, “A summery dress in fall” he said as he took his seat. “The deal is I get fifty thousand dollars before we start the arrangement, then after the wedding I get the other half” Min Jun asked and Mei Xing nodded in approval. “You just have to be with me for a year, I probably won’t be alive by the end of the year” she joked. “Do you have some kind of transferable deadly disease. Covid?” he asked her. “No just cancer” she assured. “So I’m going to be free in a year and you'll be dead” he narrated.

Aurelia is the laughingstock of her kingdom. The last two years she has dressed in black following two failed love spells. This year will be different this year she'll meet Zinjo the werelion