

"The new intern angrily called me out in front of the entire executive team at the quarterly meeting.“Please look at the hard evidence. For the past three months, Caroline has been absent from the office for over twenty hours a week.""""And here is a record of her squandering company funds.We need to let her go right now and save the company's cash flow."" She had no idea that my ""absences"" were spent leveraging my family's three-generation network to woo billionaire investors for this tiny company. Behind those outrageously expensive bills were partnership agreements worth tens of millions of dollars and the hospital bills from countless nights of drinking with clients until my stomach gave out. Claude,the CEO of this company, was my Ivy League classmate. He knew the truth. However, he just stared at me coldly.""Caroline, what's your explanation for the absences and expenses Lia has presented?"""

I am diagnosed with severe systemic lupus erythematosus, and I only have three days left to live. When my husband rejects my 188th plea for help, I take my test results and enter the hospice care center. "Hello, I'd like to schedule my own cremation process and apply for government aid." Ten minutes later, they arrive. Before I can speak, my lawyer husband, Jasper Horton, coldly slaps me across the face. "You're faking a terminal illness just to steal attention from Janice?" My doctor brother, Casey Carter, snatches the medical report from my hand and scoffs at it. "Lupus? If you're going to fake being sick, at least make it believable. Only one in a million people gets this." I endure the pain in my body, return to the counter, and hand in the application form and my medical records once more. The staff member sees the butterfly-shaped rash on my wrist and sympathizes with me. "I have no family left," I say. "I'm requesting cremation in three days, location doesn't matter. I just don't want my death to burden anyone."

Lena Clermont fell hard for her dad's friend, Andrew Rohan—twelve years older. The first time she saw him, he was all sharp suits and broad shoulders, effortlessly standing out. He smiled, patted her head, and handed her a princess dress. Fast forward to twenty. He got drugged at a banquet. She wore that same dress, offering herself as the cure.

In her past life, Amanda Parker cared for her in-laws for fifty years, only discovering before her death that her husband had deceived her—he gave her university spot to his widowed sister-in-law, who even impersonated Amanda’s military commander parents! Reborn with bitter resentment, Amanda refuses to be a doormat this time. She exposes her scumbag husband, his mistress, and her terrible in-laws. Eventually, Amanda not only gets her revenge but marries a high-ranking official and lives happily ever after.

Elly Ward knows money isn't everything—but without it, nothing works. Using her skills and smarts, she seizes every chance to get ahead, whether at school or in the business world. Life is steady—until a new sponsored student arrives, shaking everything up. She soon realizes the people around her are playing a strange new game… and she's their target.

Despised by his in-laws, Marshall leaves with his wife and daughter, only to reveal his true identity as Harrington Group’s new CEO. Facing betrayal and family rejection, he fights to reclaim his dignity and build a new life on his terms.

My girlfriend was a police officer. One day, I got kidnapped, and the explosives on my body were ten minutes away from detonating when the kidnappers ordered me to call her. Instead of worry, all I got was relentless scorn and a tongue-lashing. "Caleb, are you seriously doing this right now? How could you be so petty and jealous when a life is on the line?! Lucas' cat is in danger. It has been stuck on a tree for three days, and that cat is as important to him as his own life! "If I don't save them in time, you'll be the one at fault!" Over the line, I heard the voice of a young man that sounded, to my ears, anything but genuine. "Thank you Jamie, you're the best!" That man was my girlfriend's childhood friend, Lucas White. Before the bomb exploded, I sent her a final message. [I hope we never see each other again. Not in this life, and not in the next.

The night before high school graduation, Ethan Luciano pulled me into his bedroom. His hands were rough, his touch demanding, yet my heart overflowed with a decade's worth of unspoken longing. I'd loved Ethan for ten years, and finally, it seemed my silent wishes had come true. Afterwards, as we lay tangled in his sheets, he whispered that he'd marry me after graduation. Once he took over the Luciano family's empire from his father, he'd make me the most cherished woman in the family. I believed him. The next morning, I sat curled up against his bare chest as he casually told my foster brother, Lucas, about us. My cheeks were flushed, and my heart raced, still clinging to the sweetness of the night before. However, then their conversation shifted into Italian. Lucas smirked, leaning back against the doorframe. "Not bad, Young Boss. Your first time, and the school's 'it girl' just threw herself at you. So, how's my little sister taste?" Ethan gave a lazy chuckle. "Looks like an angel, but a freak in the sheets. Who would’ve thought?" The room erupted in low, conspiratorial laughter. Lucas raised a brow. "So, should I call her my little sister or my future sister-in-law?" Ethan’s tone darkened, his arm tightening around my waist for a moment. Then he let out a sigh. "She’s nothing. Just practice," he said, his voice dropping to a whisper. "I’m trying to hook up with the cheer captain, Sylvia Dawson, but I don’t want her thinking I’m clueless in bed. Cynthia Saville’s just a warm-up." He paused. "But don’t tell Sylvia. I don’t need her getting all emotional." They didn't know that I’d spent months secretly learning Italian, preparing for the life I thought I’d share with Ethan. I didn't say a word. Later that day, I quietly withdrew my early decision application to Caltech and applied to MIT instead.