Thirty-five

The doctor said my husband Ethan had dual personality. His primary personality was gentle and devoted. His alter — "Axel" — was reckless and wild. In five years of marriage, every time Axel surfaced, he'd fall for a different woman. Each time, I'd have to pull out our marriage certificate, walk him through our love story from the beginning, just to bring Ethan back. This time, Axel had set his sights on the new dance instructor. I dropped what I was doing at work, ready to go collect him from the psychiatrist's office — same as always. But outside the treatment room, I heard him on the phone with one of his buddies, laughing: "What can I say — I'm a hell of an actor. Five years and she still hasn't caught on." "Besides, why settle for the wife at home when there's so much more fun out there?" The panic I'd been feeling went very, very still. I pulled up my lawyer's number and texted him: Get the divorce papers ready.

I caught my husband cheating on Valentine's Day. Hours later, a stranger knocked on my door and changed everything. Five years of marriage. Gone in one night. I found Bryan with another woman in our anniversary suite. The red dress I wore for him suddenly felt like a joke. The apology I rehearsed felt stupid. I ran to a different room, broken and alone. Then Julien appeared. One night with him made me forget five years of pain. His touch was gentle. His eyes saw me. Really saw me. For the first time in my life, I felt alive. But someone was watching us. Now I have a message on my phone. Someone has photos. Someone wants something from me. My husband wants me back. A stranger wants to destroy me. And Julien might be the only person I can trust. But can I trust anyone after what happened? One Valentine's night. Two men. And a secret that could ruin everything. What happens when the person who breaks you isn't the one who saves you?

Military Contract Marriage - A Twist Of Fate. Caught in a ruthless conspiracy, Diana lost her fidelity to her husband and was mocked and divorced. "You think I'd let you destroy my son's life? You barren chick!" Her mother-in-law who hated her so much because she couldn't give birth to a child mocked. Stabbed in the back by people she called family, Diana was ravished by a gigolo one fateful night and was divorced and got kicked out of the place she called home. Fast forward seven years later, now a four-star general and a senior military medical officer, Diana gets the surprise of her life when she gets entangled with the five star general through a military contract marriage. On the other hand, her ex-husband is desperate to do anything to remarry Diana since he was convinced he fathered the kids! Diana has the looks, power, money and three adorable children. So, what else could she ever ask for? Definitely not a man to mess up things for her! But, how will she explain to the five star general that it's a mere coincidence her kids are carbon copy of him?

For five years, I was Alpha Damon’s secret. On the surface, I was his personal Beta. His most trusted second-in-command. In private, I was his fated mate. The one he was obsessed with. He wanted to be inside me every night, to lose himself in my body forever. Then, I got pregnant. I was so excited to tell him we were starting a family. But when I went to find him, he had another she-wolf pinned to his desk. His bite marks littered her skin. "I waited ten years for my fated mate, but she never came," he growled. "Chloe. You will be my chosen mate. My only one." Her answering moan shattered my soul. My wolf howled in agony. The pain of his betrayal was so intense, I felt a horrible cramp. Then, blood. I lost our baby. When I woke up in the hospital, I made a call I hadn't made in five years. "Brother," I choked out. "That arranged mating with Alpha Ethan? I'll do it."

In the fifth year of our bland marriage, I receive a message that my husband has booked a hotel room with a woman. Within the next second, seductive pictures of me show up in the work group chat. In the pictures, I seduced my husband but failed. My colleagues in the group chat mock me by saying, "She gave Mr. Reed an ultimatum and forced him to marry her. He was forced to break up with the woman he loves." "Mr. Reed put up with her for five years. It only makes sense that he could no longer resist and decide to reunite with his lover." My sick father dies out of shock, yet my husband does not show up to his funeral. That night, I inform Belinda that I wish to divorce her son. "Back then, you told me that I'm Caleb's blessing in life. You said that he'd have endless success if we were to marry. "As long as I married Caleb for five years, you promised to pay for my father's medical fees. Now that the time is up, you should let me go too."

I listened to my mate fuck my maid for five years. Right here beside my hospital bed. “When you stand by her bed,” Frost gasped beneath my mate’s thrusts, “are you thinking of your Luna… or how you fucked me here?” “Don’t.” Caleb answered, his voice low, his rhythm never slowing. “She’s always my Luna. I need her.” Frost laughed, breathless and soft.“Sure, Alpha. But when the lights go out, only I know whose name you really moan.” No. I knew it. I heard clearly for five years. My fated mate, the father of my twins, the man I fought for and nearly died for, betrayed me while I lay unconscious after childbirth. But what I never expected was that my puppies would choose her too. I was done listening to betrayal from the shadows. It was time to take back what was mine. The thought of their faces when they realized I was awake made me smile. I reached for the phone by my bed when they left and pressed the button. “I’m awake.”

During the five years I was in a vegetative state, all ten family soldiers assigned to guard me were murdered. One of them merely smoked a cigarette outside my hospital room. The next day, he was found upside down, drowned in a toilet. Another simply adjusted my pillow. The next day, he took a dive from a skyscraper rooftop. The Corleone family was in chaos, but they couldn't find a single trace of the killer. With no other choice, the ten executions, all textbook Mafia hits, became cold cases. Strangely, the very second the tenth guard's heart stopped, I opened my eyes. The first thing I did upon waking was call the FBI and turn myself in. The agents were stunned. "Miss Corleone, are you saying that while in a coma for five years, you planned and executed the murders of ten fully armed Mafia soldiers?" My fingers tapped lightly on the table, a faint smile playing on my lips. "That's right." "Being in a vegetative state only means I couldn't move." "Who ever told you that killing, something so crude, required me to get my hands dirty?"

Cali is a werewolf/witch Hybrid whose parents were killed when she was five but she was rescued by witches who raised her amid a growing war with a nearby Pack who are responsible for her parents death. When one night she sees the witches antagonise the pack she realised things may not be as they seem and everything she was told is a lie. What will happen when she goes looking for the truth.

After five years in a secret relationship with my boss, Eric handed my hard work to his childhood sweetheart, Shelly. Suddenly, they were the perfect power couple. And me? Just the girl he kept hidden. He never even looked my way. So why was I still holding on? One phone call later, I was done. Time to leave—and see what else was out there.

Five years ago, I left my husband a note. Three sentences. A returned bracelet. A door closing softly at 4am. He told me to get rid of our baby. I got rid of him instead. Now he’s sitting across my boardroom table in the city I built for myself, looking for the woman he married. She’s gone. What’s left is stronger.