Whatever After

Outside the presidential suite, Quintina Foster clutched her room key, taking a deep, nervous breath. At this moment, in the entire H City, only the person inside could help her. Quintina Foster raised her lowered eyelashes, slightly adjusted her dress, and swiped the key card to enter the room. Not long ago, she was the most prominent socialite in H City, but today, she had to sell her body for money...

All because he believed I pushed Elena down the stairs out of jealousy. Six months ago, a rival family drugged Alexander. Elena saved him and got pregnant. Her family disowned her for it. "Ivy, why can't you just let her be?" Alexander choked me, disappointment and rage in his eyes. "She saved my life! I promised to send her away. Why be so vicious to an unborn child? If anything happens to them, I'll bury you with them." I didn't argue. I just planned an explosion. But when I vanished, the high-and-mighty Don went mad.

I suffer from extreme mental illness. My sister, Ava Monroe, became a facial model to earn money for my expensive medical treatment. She was 5’3” tall but was noticed because of her beauty by a wealthy young man by the name of Dominic Pierce with a leg obsession. He imprisoned her. “This is the most beautiful face I’ve ever seen. If only your legs were a bit longer, I’d die with a smile.” Ava was forced to have leg-lengthening surgery. After the operation, her legs began to rot. Dominic found her disgusting and locked her in the basement. He tortured her until she died. I got kicked out of the mental health institute because I could not pay the medical fees. I found Dominic surrounded by beautiful women with long legs. “Those are the prettiest legs I’ve ever seen. If only your face were a little cuter, I’d die with a smile!” I pointed to the painting of Ava and scoffed, “What if I become her?”

I died five years ago. Now my husband, the Don of our Mafia family, wants me to take the fall for his sister again—this time for accidentally killing a British noble's heir during an arms deal. He's holding a fake confession letter with my forged signature, storming into my old apartment in the rust district, only to find it empty. Frustrated, he grabs the corner store owner downstairs, demanding to know where I am. The owner pauses, wiping his hands on his apron, calmly tells him: "Serafine? She died five years ago." "Heard it was retaliation from a rival family during the gang war. They ambushed her in an alley... shot her over a dozen times. She died immediately." My husband, Lucien, refuses to believe it. Convinced the owner is on my payroll, hiding me to help me escape his reach. He scoffs, his eyes filled with scorn: "Oh, so what? Because I called her out for messing up that last job, now she's throwing a tantrum?" "You tell her, if she doesn't come back and take the fall in three days, I'll revoke her grandmother's 'special family protection'! Let the old woman rot!" With that, he storms out, his rage still simmering. The owner watches him leave and sighs, shaking his head. "There's no grandmother left to protect... That woman passed away not long after Serafine did... couldn't survive the winter without our family's medical supplies and protection..."

When I'm paying the pension for my jobless wife, Lilith Ingram, I accidentally find out that she's had a job this whole time. She's paid a salary of two thousand dollars, which is wired into her personal bank account. Every month, the money will be transferred elsewhere, leaving her without a single cent. I've never seen the money before. Back when our daughter, Maisy Ingram, was severely ill, we were 200 dollars short to pay for her hospital bills. I was so poor that I had to sell my blood and beg everyone around me just to get them to lend me money. But during that time, Lilith never thought of sharing the burden with me. She merely comforted me with empty words before transferring two thousand dollars to her first love, Hayden Grant, the next day. Our marriage of 30 years is reduced to nothing but a laughingstock. I place the divorce agreement that I've printed out in front of Lilith. It's a silent confrontation between us. "Must you really resort to this method?" Lilith snaps impatiently. "It's just two thousand dollars! You have an annual salary of 200 thousand dollars! Why care so much about chum change?" Even Maisy takes her side by calling me a petty, stingy geezer. "Everyone has an unattainable first love when they're still young! You should be grateful that Hayden has been holding back his urges without crossing the line for so many years!" I feel as though I got struck by lightning at that moment. It's then that I belatedly realize I'm the only outsider in this family. "Getting a divorce is fine by me. Hayden's getting on with the years. I just want to take care of him and send him off when his time eventually arrives." Maisy adapts a righteous tone. "As compensation for me, I get the house, the car, and the savings. You're leaving this marriage without a single cent under your name."

Napilitang magpakasal ang tanyag na abogadong si Elias Macini sa isang anak ng maid na si Dasha Rivera, sa tatlong taon nilang pagsasama ay hindi niya pinakitaan ng kabutihan ang babae, ngunit sa kabila nito ay pagmamahal pa rin ang binabalik ni Dasha. Natapos ang kanilang pagsasama noong nalaman ng lalaki na nagdadalang tao si Dasha, kaagad na nakipag-divorce si Elias sa kaniya at sumama sa tunay nitong mahal. Umalis ng mansyon si Dasha at isang aksidente ang nangyari na naging dahilan upang muli niyang makita si Samuel Valdez, ang una niyang naging asawa. Sa gitna ng kaguluhan sa kaniyang buhay at sa pag-alalang walang tatayong maging ama ng kaniyang anak, muli niyang pinakasalan si Samuel na walang kaalaman na ito ang desisyon na pagsisihan niya buong buhay.

I thought the divorce would set me free. I thought walking away from my husband would finally give me peace. But I didn’t expect him—my cold, sinfully dangerous stepbrother—to be the one waiting on the other side of my freedom. Rage Roswell doesn’t ask. He takes. And the moment he found out I was no longer married, that I was vulnerable, alone, easy to steal… he stepped in like a storm I couldn’t escape. He pinned me with those cold eyes and said one thing: “You’re mine now.” I should’ve run. I should’ve fought the tension, the heat, the hunger he ignites with just a stare. But he knows every weakness I try to hide. Every tremble. Every breath. Every part of me I shouldn’t be giving him. After the divorce, I thought I was reclaiming my life. Instead, I walked straight into the hands of the man who’s willing to burn everything—everyone—just to claim me. And this time… He won’t let me go.

My boyfriend and his godsister were caught by the vice squad at a scandalous party. When I went to the police station to bail him out, he was disheveled, his exposed skin marked with dried candle wax and whiplash scars. His godsister, Sonia, clung to him, sobbing into his arms. “The light in Sonia’s house was broken. It was too dark, so I went to accompany her,” he said. I couldn’t help but wonder, Did he accompany her all the way to the police station too? In the past, I would’ve demanded an explanation, but I was too tired now—too drained to argue. Without a word, I signed the papers. The vice squad officer looked at me and asked, “Are you Anthony Leeman’s family?” I shook my head. “No, I’m not familiar with him. Just a colleague.” Lowering my gaze, I typed out a message to my father: [I agree to get married. Give me three days, and I’ll marry him.]

After four years of marriage, her Alpha mate betrayed their vows. He obsessively pursued his long-lost love, desperate to make up for what he missed in his youth. Aurora loved him deeply and tried desperately to save their marriage. Yet her mate cruelly dismissed her while embracing his newfound love: "Aurora, you don't have an ounce of femininity! Looking at your cold face, I can't feel any desire as a man." Aurora's heart finally shattered. She stopped clinging to false hope and left with dignity. When they met again, Alexander didn't recognize his ex-mate. Countless powerful men pursued her relentlessly. Even the most powerful Alpha only ever smiled for his "dear Aurora." Alexander was driven mad! Every night he waited outside his ex-wife's door, offering territory and jewelry, willing to give everything he had.

To save his childhood sweetheart suffering from a congenital heart condition, my mate Ethan—the storm pack’s Alpha—forced me to remove my heart to be given to his beloved. "Don't worry, you are the rarest white wolf with the strongest healing ability. I have prepared an artificial heart for you, and you will be fine." Ethan said. I tried to explain to my mate Ethan that my healing ability has become very poor in the past year, so that transplanting my heart would kill me. My mate snarled at me with disgust, "Selene is so gravely ill, and here you are, jealous and fighting for attention! She saved my life when I was suffering from silver poisoning a year ago! You won't die anyway, so why can't you help her?" Under the mandatory order of my mate, I was sent to the pack healer for the heart transplant. He didn’t know that I was the one who had exchanged my rare white wolf's healing ability with a witch to save him from silver poisoning. In the end, with my healing abilities gone, I died miserably in a forgotten corner of the empty healer's cabin.