After four years of marriage, when her husband's first love returned, she realize all these years he had loved another women. He gave her a modest allowance each month, yet spent millions on his first love’s research. The line between love and indifference had never been clearer. He claimed he couldn’t let his beloved fall into the mundane chains of marriage, so he expected her to quit her modest job and fade into a quiet housewife—dim and invisible. But he didn’t realize she was far from ordinary… For four years, she led top-secret national research projects, commanding a level so high that even his precious first love was merely her assistant. And he certainly didn’t know that the papers he had hastily signed were their divorce documents. One month later, she revealed her identity as a leading scientific powerhouse—and delivered the divorce certificate into his hands. The once-gentle, polite man tore it up, eyes red with shock and anger. “Who else would want a divorced woman like her?” But stubborn as ever, he was the same man who knelt, begging for her back. She stood radiant and composed beside a top-tier tycoon, unmoved. Her new husband arched an eyebrow, flashing the marriage certificate with her: “Show some respect. She’s now… my wife.”

For five long years, she loved him devotedly—donating her bone marrow, even suffering a broken leg for his sake. All she got in return was a cold divorce paper. She was forced to give blood, pushed down the stairs by her own relatives. Her life’s research achievement was casually given away, while she was framed for plagiarism and ruined completely. The moment she signed the divorce papers and joined a top research institute, the man who once treated her like dirt fell apart. He knelt in the rain begging for forgiveness, only to meet her icy indifference. Her cruel family finally realized the abandoned daughter they discarded had risen to heights they could never reach. She said calmly: *I’m not back. I’m here to make you all regret it.*

Trigger warning: this book contains dark themes. ***** "Scared..." He snarled at me. "Why will the hunter fear the prey?" He asked, his gaze tracing every curve, like a predator savouring prey. He smirked, "You know there is no turning back once you cross this line." His words were a fair warning. "That was never the plan." I grinned leaving him puzzled. His gaze flickered at the girl he knew would never do this. "Then prove it, seal the deal." I did something the old Bertha could never do. Our lips met. It was a kiss fueled with defiance, one that told him no matter what, he wasn't the one in control. ********* No one understood why Bertha Rivers agreed to be a substitute bride for the devil himself. Ivan Orlov, her first love’s best friend. A man who haunted her dreams and carried danger like a second skin. The devil with a perfect smile. In love, there are always winners and losers. Bertha had already lost, chasing a light that was never hers to claim. So how much worse could marrying the devil really be? She thought she was just a substitute and a prey, but in Ivan’s world, there are no substitutes. Only possession. And Ivan? He wasn't just her bully he was her ruin.

He raised her, gave her everything she ever wanted, and made her believe it was love. After two years of marriage, she finally saw the truth: she was nothing more than a beloved pet to him, while he had been her entire world. When his long-lost first love returned, she asked for a divorce. He only sneered, “Can a cat raised by its master ever truly leave?” She left anyway, and never looked back. Living brilliantly on her own, she was proposed to every day. But he lost his mind. Cornering her, his dark eyes burning with raw longing, he begged, “Come back to me.” She smiled faintly. “We walk different paths. Don’t block my happiness.” He clamped his arms around her waist, eyes red with desperation. “I’ll ask you every single day. Marry me again.”

After five years of marriage, she fell victim to a cruel plot. Her husband and son, blinded by another woman, framed her and sent her to prison.Upon her release, rejected by both, she filed for divorce and devoted herself entirely to her career. Her ex-husband mocked her, and her son turned his back on her, both cruelly dismissing her worth.Yet she rose again, returning to the height of her career and dazzling the world. The head of the most powerful family knelt before her in public, confessing his unwavering devotion.When the father and son finally saw the truth and begged desperately to reconcile, she simply smiled, arm in arm with her new love and child, and asked coldly:“Who are you?”

Everyone in the capital knew she loved him deeply, willing to do anything and humble herself to the dust for him. Yet he never loved her back — he humiliated her and used every means to divorce her. On the day they parted, everyone thought he was finally free, and he believed so too. Until he saw her laughing brightly in another man’s arms. His eyes turned bloodshot in an instant. For the first time, he tasted bitter regret. Later, witnesses saw the once-arrogant tycoon kneel before her, clutching her hand with red, desperate eyes, begging her just to look at him again.

They made me sleep in the dirt. Eat scraps. Bleed for their entertainment. For ten years, I was the pack's favorite punching bag, the wolfless murderer who killed her own mother. I endured every humiliation, every beating, every degradation, because Jaxon was supposed to save me. My fated mate. My childhood friend. My last hope. Then he rejected me at his coronation. Called me filth. Chose another woman. Let them chain me in silver until my skin burned black. They threw my broken body past the border to rot. Big. Fucking. Mistake. I didn't die. I evolved. Now the Alpha King says I'm his destined queen and the ancient power exploding from my veins could obliterate everyone who hurt me. Jaxon's crawling back, desperate and pathetic. But I'm not that scared little girl anymore. They called me broken? I'll show them unbreakable.

On the cruise ship where he was supposed to propose to me, he put a 200-million-yuan diamond ring on his adopted sister’s hand. Only then did I know—the man who lied about having a terminal illness, making me work desperately to save money for his medicine—was actually a powerful financial tycoon. He pretended to be poor, toying with my sincere heart. He threw the expensive medicine I bought with my blood on the ground, letting me be mocked by their upper-class circle. They said a poor person’s sincerity was ridiculous and cheap. Minutes before I died, I begged him for help, but he told me to die. I screamed in despair: “You lied to me, so why do you trample on me like a judge?” He sneered: “I’ll tell you when you’re dead.” I died as he wished. But when he found my horribly mutilated body, he roared in agony. When I woke up, I was reborn in another’s body. And there he was, kneeling at my grave, repenting: “I’ll pay you back soon…”

For three years, Elena endured a husband who barely acknowledged her, a mother-in-law who treated her like hired help, and a sister-in-law who sneered that she was nothing but a golddigger. All the while, her husband, Damien, pined after his “perfect” ex, like his own wife didn’t exist. Until the day Elena had enough. She signed the divorce papers, packed a single bag, and vanished. Damien was certain she’d come crawling back within a week. But the woman they all dismissed? Turns out Elena is a billionaire heiress, the CEO of the very empire Damien has been desperate to partner with and the one now signing his paychecks. Oops. Now Damien is spiraling, realizing too late what he lost. But Elena has choices she never had before. Like her childhood best friend, an NFL star who’s been in love with her all along. So who will it be? The ex-husband who finally woke up? The best friend who never left? Or has Elena finally decided she’s done with men who don’t deserve her?

“Your husband’s a beast in bed.” The day before I was due to give birth, the mistress sent me a sex video like a gauntlet thrown. Onscreen, my dutiful, sainted husband—Maverick, the model spouse—was sprawled across a hotel king, all dirty talk and acrobatics with her. Positions changed; the patter didn’t. They were breathless, inventive, proud of the show. My water broke. Labor stalled. The baby strangled on the cord and never drew a breath. Maverick collapsed at my bedside, tears and snot and vows, begging me to forgive him. He had no idea I’d already mapped out his little plot—how he’d moved the money, the fat insurance policy, and the real reason a fetus dies while its mother is still alive. So I folded into him, both of us howling like a pair of tragic spouses, the wronged housewife gutted by betrayal. What I was actually thinking was, Maverick, if you won’t divorce me, I’ll just have to be a widow. It was in that pitch-black, ragged stretch of my life that I met Sean. People in Jetstream City said Sean was some fallen immortal, all rarefied grace and cold moonlight—untouchable, ascetic. And then, of all people, he set his sights on me, a twice-married woman past her first bloom. No one knows how hard I’ve been done by. It wasn’t me chasing him—Sean hounded me, wore me down, and sweet-talked me step by careful step into the trap.