The Shadow He Left Ao3

My fiancé betrayed me and left me at the altar. So I made a deal with the one man he hates most—his uncle, Tyson. Tyson Wilson is powerful, charming, and dangerously ambitious. He needed a contract bride. I needed a ladder to reach my mother’s dreams. A contract is all it was supposed to be… until the lines between paper and reality start blurring. Now my ex-fiancé, Alex, needs me back. But I have bigger problems—lies, corporate wars, hidden agendas, and secrets people are willing to kill for. And somehow, I’m at the center of it all. My contract husband keeps pushing my boundaries, testing every rule we set. But it’s just a contract. …Right?

I was chosen to be the fiancée of Lorenzo, the Mafia’s heir. But at a family gala, Lorenzo was openly pursued by Chiara, the daughter of an arms dealer. Chiara wasn’t like the other rule-abiding debutantes.She tore through the streets in a modified sports car, used a military-grade combat knife to cut her cigars, and drank the harshest whiskey neat.There was an untamed wildness about her, a fire Lorenzo couldn’t look away from. He complained to the family elders, “How can a woman like that possibly be our Madre and run this entire family?” His words dripped with disdain for her recklessness, yet his eyes were glued to her, tracking her every move as she raised her glass. Then, on Lorenzo’s birthday, he announced his intention to make Chiara his mistress. Chiara refused.”The women of my family are wives, never mistresses.And my husband’s heart must belong only to me.” Lorenzo came to me, his voice hesitant.”Alessia, it’s just a title.I need you to give it to Chiara.Please? She doesn’t understand our family’s traditions, and she’s making a scene about marrying me.We just need to pacify her for now.Even if she marries me, you will still be the one to manage the family’s affairs.” As I stood trying on my wedding gown, a sharp crystal bead on the bodice pierced my finger.A single drop of blood bloomed against the pure white satin. The dress was ruined, but the wedding would go on. Since he chose someone else to be his wife, I will become his Madre.

My Alpha mate, Dominic, rules the entire Stormfang Pack, but in our ten years together, he has never once given me a gift. Even our bonding tokens—a pair of rare healing crystals that cost me an entire year's savings—were taken by him without hesitation. He claimed that as Alpha he needed to appear frugal and understated, which is why he marked me in secret without hosting a proper mating ceremony. Because of this, most pack members don't even know I'm his mate. Yet when Sylvia, his childhood sweetheart, returned to Stormfang territory, he publicly announced their mating plans. He even dipped into the pack's long-term savings to throw her an extravagant celebration. When my mother was attacked by rogue wolves and left critically wounded, I begged Dominic to return my healing crystals—the only things that could save her life. Instead of helping, he denied knowing me in front of the entire pack and ordered his guards to drive me away with burning torches. Later, my mother died during the Blood Moon Festival. I lost my only family during what should have been our most sacred celebration. I renounced my Stormfang membership that same night and accepted the Northern Shadow Pack's Chief Healer position. While packing my belongings, Dominic returned from his honeymoon with Sylvia. He found me and assumed I was merely sulking. For the first time ever, he made a generous offer: "Come on, what could possibly happen to your mother? At worst, I'll give you that fancy mating ceremony you've always wanted. That should satisfy her desire to be an Alpha's mother-in-law." What he didn't realize was that from the moment my mother died, I had already sworn to the Moon Goddess that our mate bond would be broken forever.

Over the years, Julia had grown accustomed to being her husband Andrew’s substitute wife. Every time he looked at her face, she knew he was really seeing his late first love. But after so many years, her stepsister Charlotte returned to the country and shamelessly tried to take her place. Charlotte cozied up to her husband and won over her son. When her son said he’d rather live with Auntie Charlotte than with his own mother, Julia felt utterly heartbroken. She resolved to get a divorce and never be a substitute wife.

Three college girls Trish, Emma and Connie enjoy their friendship despite their different characters. Their life takes a twist one night when a handsome stranger Nick walks into their lives and steal the hearts of two of the girls. Nick wants Connie and this creates a war among friends. Schemes to destroy her life begins. Emma fakes her disappearance, seduces Connie's stepfather all this in an effort to destroy her. Trish create fake stories about Connie to destroy a relationship that she thought existed between her and Nick. Nick wants Connie but not for the reason her friends thinks, he wants her to pay for the colapse of Nick's brother Brian's business and his disappearance. Connie denies but Nick has evidence, photos of her and his brother. Connie's voice is ignored and she suffers blows from every direction driving her homeless. Brian resurfaces and every secret comes tumbling down like dominos. Connie has a twin and the mother she thought was hers is actually her aunt. Brian turns out to be her father and Nick apologies to Connie and they start their life on a new clean slate. Emma's affair comes out and her mother suffers a heart attack and Trish realizing that she might have judged her friend harshly leaves the country. Connie finally finds closure and peace.

On our sixth wedding anniversary, I felt a seam split open in my skull. Not from pain, but from truth. “Ethan, that new assistant… how does she taste?” Marcus’s thought, slick as oil. Ethan's reply slithered through my veins: "Young. Tender. Like summer berries." His lips shaped a lie. His hand shielded me from the crowd, even as his fingers pressed a blood-red cocktail into my palm. "Don't let Lena find out,"he thought, the words clear as speech. "I’d in a big trouble." Laughter swirled. Champagne clinked.their mind. Nobody knew I could hear every thought ,the ability to read minds awakened in me last night. . Nobody knew I had already known about his betrayal long ago. There were no tears, no screams I just replied “yes” to Professor Johnson’s encrypted call-the path I should have chosen six years ago. In three days, I would vanish. Not running from him. Running back to who I was at twenty—the rising star of virus research.

Julie had been secretly married to Jotham for four years, Even at work, no staff knows about their marriage. Despite the fact that her husband never made love to her, she didn't mind at all. As long as she's his wife, she will be happy. But one day, she heard on the radio that her billionaire husband, Jotham Joram went to welcome his girlfriend at the airport. How true? When her husband came home, she confronted him, "Jotham, is it true?" "Yes, Mirabel is back." He added. "and I want a divorce." Mirabel was his ex girlfriend. Tears rushed down her eyes. Her heart wrenches. "Jotham, I'm..." "I don't care. Sign and leave!" He had interrupted. Hearing that, her world collapsed. She had wanted to tell him about her newly discovered pregnancy. What's the point of staying with a man whose mind is made up, who had never and would never love her. She anguishly signed the divorce papers and left Five Years later, Jotham was severely sick so he booked the services of the best doctor in the continent at that time. When he met the doctor, it turned out to be Julie. This time, she was extremely gorgeous and was with a man but Jotham didn't care if she was with a man, he pursued her relentlessly, having insane obsession over her. "Julie, in this world, only I can be your man. And you...will be my woman!" He brutalizes any man he sees with her, stalk her every second and kills anyone who even dares to touch her, all these while, begging to win her heart. Will he ever gain her heart or is she too broken to accept love?

Adrian Valerio has everything you can possibly think of — wealth, power, and the promise of inheriting his family’s billion-dollar empire. But when his father forces him into an engagement with Cassandra Rossi, the beautiful yet ruthless daughter of a notorious mafia lord, Adrian’s world starts to close in. Because Adrian’s heart doesn’t belong to his fiancée. It belongs to Ethan Cross, his loyal personal assistant and the one man he’s loved in secret for years. When their forbidden romance is discovered, Cassandra vows revenge, and her father’s shadowy network delivers a brutal ultimatum: marry her or watch Ethan die.

Once, I was their princess. And then Kylee showed up. Having been in the foster system the majority of her childhood, my parents treated her like a charity case and gave her everything. At 13 years old, Kylee was adopted. Then the "accidents" started happening. Kylee would be walking past me and would suddenly fall over. "Oh, Mom! Sarah didn't mean it! Shes just having a hard time adjusting to her new sister!" Eventually, her little accusations turned into straight out bullying and, well, I'm sure you can figure out the rest. I did my best to ignore Kylee. I got a job as early as the law would allow. I saved my money. I got the best grades in school, becoming the class valedictorian. My parents didn't notice, though. They were too busy playing into Kylee's 5-year-long pity party. Don't worry, though. Soon I'll be gone to Harvard and you can have the happy family you wanted. I don't need you, anyways.

Every person is unique. We might not have control over the things that distinguish us, DNA and all, but we are also formed by personal experience and the environment that grooms us. Lina, a girl who is extraordinary, meets Ashton who is astounding and they have a connection. Although there are some puzzles that have to be solved and obstacles they need to clear, they get together to fight all those and still come out on top. They manage to restore some things that were changed in the past, took down a stumbling block that proved to be a big obstacle in their interaction. Facing all these troubles brought them closer and formed a formidable bond that proved hard to break through difficult situations. A love that managed to withstand the differences between them.