

On the day of my engagement party, my mother and I were sitting in the car waiting for the driver when my fiance's secretary suddenly sent me a video. In it, she had a middle-aged she-wolf by the hair, slapping her across the face again and again. "Selena, you gold-digging trash! Did you really think pretending to be some high-society socialite and getting engaged to Alpha Declan meant your mother could sneak into his house and steal?" Another slap landed. The woman's face was already grotesquely swollen. "Typical backwoods behavior. Always grabbing at things that don't belong to you. As Declan's secretary, I'm handling this filthy thief on his behalf." I slowly lowered my phone. Beside me, my mother was adjusting her necklace in her compact mirror. When she noticed me looking at her, she smiled and patted my hand. "Thorncrown Pack may be an absolute disaster when it comes to business, darling, but Declan is very handsome. Once the alliance is official, your father and I can help straighten things out." Frowning, I replayed the video. The sharp cheekbones. The immaculate chignon. And the mole on her ear. Oh my God. That was my future mother-in-law! I immediately called back. "Vanessa, do you have any idea what a complete idiot you are? That's Declan's mother!" She let out a vicious laugh. "Oh, please. Declan already told me all about you. Some nobody his father forced him to marry. " "He doesn't even care about you, so why would he give a damn about your relatives?"

After the war of the gods, Thrud takes on the heavy duty of ruling the Aesir. She resurrects Alviss — once turned to stone for offending Zeus — and elevates him into a god of her own clan. Grateful for everything Thrud has sacrificed, Alviss swears he will cherish her. When Thrud returns to the realm wounded, she finds Alviss being intimate with an envoy named Levia — and Levia is wearing her crown and her sacred marriage band. Alviss claims that Levia cared for him during the years he was stone, and that he has already elevated her to the rank of divine envoy. When Levia deliberately drops the band, Thrud finally reaches her breaking point and strikes her, stripping Levia of her title on the spot and banishing her from the realm of the Aesir.

Julia Miller dies betrayed by her boyfriend, her best friend, and the woman who stole her identity all had a hand in it. In her final moments she learns the truth, that she was switched at birth, her entire life taken before it even started. She comes back furious and binds to the Stealing System, which does exactly what it sounds like. First order of business—every coin in Vivian Lawson’s accounts, gone. Then the system unlocks deeper abilities—steal luck, steal skills, steal the room. From auction houses to hotel lobbies, Julia dismantles her enemies one stolen advantage at a time. The finale lands where it all began. The fake heiress’ mother was the wealthy family’s housekeeper all along, the one who switched two infant girls and walked away. Julia takes back her name, her inheritance, and her life. The people who took from her get exactly what they gave.