The Third Option Ao3 Novels & Stories

“If I could not escape in peace as the victim, then this time, I would be the executioner. This time… I would kill him first.” Forced into a marriage of convenience to secure the Sinclair family’s billion-dollar inheritance, Julia spends ten years trapped with a cold and unfaithful husband. On the very day she is finally supposed to be free, she is betrayed, humiliated… and murdered by her own husband and his lover. But she wakes up on her wedding day. Protected by an amulet passed down through the women of her family, she relives the same cycle for the third time. In her previous attempts, running away and submitting did not prevent her death. Now, Julia decides to change the rules: instead of trying to survive, she will seek revenge. Colder and more dangerous, Julia begins manipulating the Sinclair power games while growing closer to Caleb, her husband’s best friend, the only man who ever treated her as a choice rather than an obligation. Scarred by deep trauma, Julia struggles to trust again, while Caleb slowly wins her over with respect, consistency, and loyalty. Amid love triangles, betrayals, family secrets, and premeditated murder, Julia plans to destroy Michael, frame his lover, and bring down the empire that imprisoned her. But the greatest choice will not be revenge. It will be allowing herself to love again.

For six years, I waited to become Alpha Kael’s marked mate and official Luna. The first time, Lyra—his dead brother’s mate—called crying about a rogue attack. He left me at the altar and ran to save her, but it turned out that she had just gotten lost wandering in the woods. The second time, he never showed up because Lyra had threatened to commit suicide. Later I found out he had given her the Luna necklace because her wolf needed protection more than mine. The third time, I went searching for him and found him at her prenatal appointment, his hand on her belly. He didn’t know I was carrying his pup too. Heartbroken, I decided to leave. After I disappeared, he went crazy looking for me.

On my wedding day with Jack Miller, he ran off with his first love As if to taunt me, he would send a photo of himself with her from every new destination they visited. I was getting a manicure and enjoying imported French pastries with my afternoon tea when I received their ninety-ninth photo. But after three years of absence, Jack suddenly returned. He pointed at my wedding photo with someone else and shouted, “How dare you fool around with another man while I was gone!" I couldn't help but laugh. "What other man? I've been married to my husband for three years now." "Jack, you didn't actually think I was waiting for you all this time, did you?"

After reuniting with my birth family, my wealthy biological father tossed me a black card and laid down one rule: I could spend as much as I wanted, but I was never to call him Dad—that title belonged only to his adoptive daughter. Clutching the black card, I cautiously bought myself a two-dollar-fifty ice cream cone. Just as I was happily licking the sweet ice cream, the adoptive daughter dropped to her knees before me. "Alice, are you mocking me because I can't even afford something that costs two-fifty in the future?" My brother immediately slapped me twice. "You have money now, but you can't split love. Natalie is my one and only sister!" Then my father splashed boiling water onto my face. "No disgraceful wretch deserves to be a Gervais." To punish me, they sent me off to Rimala, forced to work as a child laborer in the mines. Ten years later, I walked into a grand banquet hall with an ice cream in hand and came face-to-face with my brother, Ansel Gervais, dressed in a hand-tailored suit. "All these years and you're still a disgrace," he sneered, but I couldn't be bothered to argue. "Let go. My dad's waiting for me—and if I'm any later, the ice cream's going to melt." He looked down at me with contempt. "Dad? Who gave you permission to call him that? Natalie will forever be the only Gervais girl—no one can take that away from her!" I rolled my eyes. Who said I was talking about that cheap excuse for a father? I was talking about my adoptive father—the oil tycoon with an incurable sweet tooth. I was in a hurry to let him taste some ice cream.

My cousin, Leroy Huff, is bringing his new girlfriend, Jodie Collins, home for the first time ever. At the dining table, everyone chats with each other animatedly. Suddenly, Jodie stares at my face intensely before pretending to be shocked. "Have I seen you before, Isabelle? You're a member of a high-class escort group, aren't you? I've seen your price list on the group chat's photo album before. I think… you were charging only 200 dollars per night, right?" After she's done speaking, she pretends to cover her mouth while looking all pure and innocent. All noise and chatter fade away instantly. My relatives turn to look at me in disdain. "She looks so prim and proper at first glance, but to think that she's actually involved in such business…" "You bring nothing but shame to the Huff family! Don't ever tell anyone else that you know us!" Enraged, my dad smashes his wine glass. Meanwhile, my mom just wipes her tears away quietly. But I dab my mouth with a napkin slowly before shooting Jodie a half-smile. "It's normal for you to think of me as familiar-looking. After all, I'm a member of the vice squad. Last month, I just arrested you after a stakeout."

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.

Most people often see marriage as a reincarnation for women. So, countless foolish women jump into one without a second thought. Many people see my husband as the perfect husband. He cared for me and loved me in every way. Yet, he still cheated on me right under my nose. Faced with the hypocrisy and ugliness behind his facade as a perfect husband, I've decided to serve him karma on a silver platter!

“Why do you defy me, little dove?” He demanded and Desire was torn. Torn between pleasing her Master and bending one of the rules holding their region together. His blue eyes bored into hers for a while before Desire finally looked away again, waiting for her judgement, her dead judgement for breaking a rule“The first option is to have you killed by hanging, the second one is to send you to the Harem while the third one is to make you my private maid and you’re the only person who has the privilege of this rare chance. So, my dear little Dove, what do you say?” “I’ll pick the first option, let me die at stake or by hanging. Whichever option suits you, My lord but please just let me die a quick death” Desire pleased with a determined look on her face.

There will be revenge, there will be innocent people, and otherwise, and top of it a love story with a path which none of them expected to pass through. Note: Not a sequel or anything but just a third series in the Don't leave me franchise with complete different characters from the previous two series.

Sloane Wentworth was looked down on by her Stepmom and siblings. But when she accidentally signed her marriage with Carlo Alistair, a third generation grandson and heir to a multi trillion dollar enterprise, everything is set to change. In a dramatic cycle of revenge and struggle for power, what will be the fate of a love story built on a lie?