What Once Was Hers Novels & Stories

Not the woman I’d known before, not the woman who’d vanished from my life. After hundreds of dollars spent, endless reports that lead nowhere and she has been here all along. Not gone but transformed into a woman who built an empire from the ashes. Under my breath, I could barely hear myself. “Avery.”

her voice cracked. Thomas' gaze dropped. He’d said it wrong, but Thomas Whiteson doesn't apologize. Not to a woman or anyone. “I know you don't love me,” her breath went shallow. “I know I’m nothing compared to the kind of woman you want. You don't care about me, but about yourself. You only wanted me because your mother wants you to get married.” She pulled out the black card and set it on the table. “Thank you for everything. I need to go to fight for my inheritance. And get back my freedom.”

she whispered. But the memory did not stop. She remembered how confused she felt. How everything happened too fast. How she did not understand what was going on at first. She remembered her heart beating loudly. She remembered her weak voice saying, “Please…” She remembered strong arms. Warm breath. The heavy silence after. Tears rolled down her face faster. “It happened only once,” she whispered. Only once. She did not plan it. She did not want it. She did not even understand it fully.

Hera. The name was a bruise on my soul. I’d cheated on her once. One night of weakness that became a poison in our relationship. She found out, and the world burned. I could still feel the sting of her palm across my face, the way her eyes looked right before she ran out the door. The last time I saw her alive, she was screaming that she hated the man I’d become. Then the phone call. The crash. The silence that had lasted two years.

"But I couldn't imagine you wanting anything grander than this, and honestly, I couldn't imagine wanting to give you anything else either." "It's perfect," Wren said, meaning it fully, looking around at the small, gathered circle of women who had come, each in her own way, to matter enormously over the past year — her sister, finally and completely reconciled; the historian who had helped restore her family's name to the record; the great-aunt she'd never expected to find, sitting comfortably on one of the studio's paint-stained stools as though she'd always belonged there.

Had it not for Yara and Perry, Hera and Sheels would have driven their way to the mansion of Hera’s bitch of a mother. It pained her to unravel what had become of the person who sell her after all these years; at the same time, she pitied her mother’s fate. She once was a beautiful rose, well taken care of, and was given more than what she needed to survive. When she fell in love, she welted in place, reduced into clinging desperately to the only relative who had his eyes at her even though the consequences following it was to become the dirty mistress of her own cousin.

“Yeah, I doubt that’s going to work in this case. Can we get it off, please?” “Most certainly,” Esmeralda quickly replied, though Lola could hear a twinge of disappointment in her thin voice. She couldn’t blame the lady, though. She would’ve been frustrated as well. So far, they’d gone through nine different expensive dresses, with Lola casually dropping complaints about each of them. As Esmeralda opened the box containing the last dress, Lola silently prayed that tenth time should be the charm. “This is the last from our collection,” Esmeralda said as she held it up. “Hopefully it meets your expectations.”

He said fondly, "When have I ever refused you anything that you liked?" I watched as the gift my mother had left me was handed over to Nicole, and my chest heaved. My eyes turned red with anger. That was a family heirloom that my mother had given me before she died. Once, when Jasper's company had run into financial troubles, I had had no choice but to sell the emerald pendant to help him get through it. He had once sworn to me that once the company got back on track, he would get the emerald pendant back for me.

Hera’s POV The moment my feet landed on the creek's building, I felt a shiver of satisfaction and fulfillness ran down my spine. I had unfortunately returned from the dead, and this time, I would surely make them all suffer dearly for forgetting me. The grand hall was just exactly as I had left it. Extravagant, polished, luxurious a place of absolute power. But it no longer belonged to me. It had already become Artemis Vincent’s playground or should I call it toy house. That crazy woman had replaced me, stolen what has been rightfully mine, and even had the guts to make Aiden my fiance, fall for her.