Jing Yue

For five years, I was the shadow behind billionaire Julian Sterling—his top executive assistant by day and his secret wife by night. I lived by a strict contract, staying invisible to protect his public image while raising his son, Leo, as my own. On New Year’s Eve, the silence of our penthouse was shattered. I watched on live television as Julian dropped to one knee at a high-society gala, proposing to Hollywood star Victoria Chase with a pink diamond that cost more than my life. When he came home, he didn't offer an apology; he offered an insult. He revealed that Victoria was actually Leo’s biological mother and I was merely a "temporary caretaker" whose time was up. My world spiraled as Victoria staged a fall to frame me for assault, and Julian’s family treated me like a common criminal. "You are a biological necessity, Serena. Do not make this emotional," he told me, his voice devoid of any warmth we had shared in private. The betrayal cut deeper than I thought possible. Every sacrifice I made for our family was a lie, a five-year waiting period for his "real" life to begin. He handed me divorce papers with a staggering settlement, but it came with a chilling condition: I had to waive all rights for any future children. He wanted to ensure I couldn't claim a "golden ticket" if I turned up pregnant. He didn't know I was already clutching a positive pregnancy test in my pocket. As I reached for the pen to sign the papers and disappear with Leo, a violent pain exploded in my stomach. I felt the warmth of blood soaking through my clothes, and the room began to spin. I looked at Julian’s cold, expectant face and realized I was no longer just a wife or an assistant. I was a liability he intended to erase. But as I collapsed into the darkness, I made one final vow: he would never lay a finger on my unborn child.

My husband, Alexander, gave me "fertility supplements" every morning for six years. I drank every drop, desperate for the child he promised we'd have. But my body remained stubbornly empty. Then, on my 40th birthday, I discovered the truth. The supplements were contraceptives. And his mistress was pregnant with the son he'd always wanted. She sent me a video of Alexander kissing her pregnant belly. "He's always loved me," the text read. "You were just the placeholder. Enjoy your barren life." The man I trusted had systematically poisoned me, stealing my dream of motherhood while building his real family with another woman. He had gaslighted me for years, making me believe I was the one who was broken, all while living a double life that began on our wedding day. That night, at the lavish birthday party he threw for me, he planned a "romantic surprise" on a giant screen for all our friends and family. He had no idea I had a surprise of my own.

Hazel Ware. That was my name. Not Hazel Harrell. It was the only thing I hadn't changed for Emmett, and now, watching him on stage, his hand brushing Keeley Osborn's as the applause thundered, I felt like a stranger to my own life. For five years, I was the perfect wife to my successful architect husband, Emmett. I happily put my own ambitions aside for his, believing our life was a shared dream. Then, one night, I discovered the truth. He was living a secret life, caught in a five-year emotional affair with his old flame, the filmmaker Keeley Osborn, a woman he depended on more than me. He abandoned me on our anniversary to celebrate her success and left my bed at 3 AM to soothe her 'creative block.' When I found out I was pregnant, I was utterly alone. During a desperate confrontation, I told him about the baby. His first instinct was to defend her. The shock sent me to the hospital, where I miscarried our child. The ultimate betrayal was learning he was in the same hospital that day, comforting Keeley while I was losing our baby down the hall. Lying in that cold hospital bed, I looked at the man I no longer recognized. "It's over, Emmett," I said. "I want a divorce."

My husband, Alexander, systematically destroyed my career as a prima ballerina. For years, I was the star of the New York City Ballet, but he ensured every major award went to his mistresses. The final insult was watching him hand my Starlight Award to his latest plaything, Cassie. Then I discovered a truth far more monstrous. He had helped Cassie' s brother escape justice after brutally assaulting my fragile sister, Grace. For two years, he used Grace' s expensive medical care as leverage, holding her hostage to ensure my obedience while he paraded his affairs in my face. At a public gala, Cassie tormented my sister with the truth of her assault until Grace, broken and terrified, jumped from the rooftop to her death. In a desperate attempt to save her, I leaped after her into the abyss. I had endured everything for Grace. His cruelty, the public humiliation, the death of my career. Now she was gone, murdered by his twisted games. But I survived the fall. And as I lay in that hospital bed, I made a new vow. I wouldn't just get a divorce. I would gather the evidence, expose his crimes, and burn his entire empire to the ground.

The sharp, twisting pain woke me from a dead sleep. Ethan wasn't home, and his phone was answered by Chloe, my husband' s childhood friend. She dismissed my agony, urging me not to be "so dramatic" before hanging up, leaving me alone to dial 911 through blinding pain. At the hospital, the doctor's words blurred: "Ectopic pregnancy. Ruptured. Internal bleeding. Immediate operation." The nurse couldn't reach Ethan, so I signed the consent form myself, a single tear tracing a path down my cheek. I was truly alone. I woke in a sterile room; the baby was gone. Ethan's voicemail mocked me, calling me "dramatic" and "jealous," accusing me of making "everything about myself." My despair was a vast, silent ocean, and I was drowning. Yet, a cold realization clicked: I was merely a bystander in my own marriage, overshadowed by Chloe and Mrs. Davis. The cold clinical words of my medical report, "Ruptured Ectopic Pregnancy. Emergency Salpingectomy," became my shield. I sent the picture to Ethan. His text, "Is this some kind of joke?" followed by "I'll compensate you for whatever you feel you' ve lost," twisted the knife. Compensate me? As if our baby was a business deal gone wrong. How could he be so blind, so cruel? I typed a single word: "Okay." Then, I turned off my phone, packing up eight years of my life, leaving only a ghost of what we once were.

I spent four years sacrificing everything for my fiancé, Mark, supporting him through college, only for him to return with Sarah, his childhood sweetheart, and announce their wedding. The day he came back, this new woman pushed her way into our home and into my bedroom, forcing me to give up my space. I asked Mark about our engagement, but he just ignored me. Then, he accused me of stealing from the factory I' d poured my life into, the one my parents built, and had me thrown in jail. My uncle, a frail old man, sold everything he owned, even his only two cows, to bail me out. I couldn' t understand why he would betray me so completely and utterly. Why would he humiliate me and destroy my future for a woman who was a near-stranger? What was I missing? With nothing left to lose, I left town, vowing never to look back. I had my bus ticket to New York, and a burning desire to start over.

The sterile hospital room smelled of disinfectant and my mother' s fading life, her hand a fragile anchor in mine. Then, a bombshell dropped: Mr. Sterling, the tech mogul plastered on magazine covers, was my biological father. My mother's dying breaths were a desperate plea to him: "Promise me you'll take care of her." He promised, just as the machine flatlined, leaving me an orphan. Thrown into his opulent world, I faced his glacial children, Olivia and Liam, who saw me as an unwelcome stain on their perfect lives, a "charity case," a "problem." Their disdain was a constant torment, especially when Tiffany and her clique at the elite boarding school used my illegitimate status to bully me relentlessly. No one helped. I was utterly alone, humiliated, my mother's death still raw, the world an unbearable weight. But when a fight in the hallway escalated, and I was blamed and abandoned, something inside me snapped. I was a castaway, drowning in their world, until Olivia and Liam returned, their cold indifference replaced by a terrifying, protective rage. They shattered Tiffany's bullying reign with brutal efficiency, and for the first time, I felt a strange, fierce belonging. In the aftermath, they revealed their own gilded cages, their dreams crushed by the same man who was now my father. Their pain became my purpose, their silent suffering a call to arms. They offered me a weapon, a chance to fight back for all of us: "Be our weapon, Chloe. Let us teach you." And in that moment, I knew I would learn their world, master their rules, and turn their father's own game against him.

The eviction notice, a cruel red rectangle, mocked me from my door. Just months ago, I was Chloe, the artist poised to revolutionize the world with Aura, my groundbreaking AI. Now, the world was closing in, air squeezed from my lungs. Then, at the sprawling Innovatech conference, the stage set for our triumph, my fiancé Mark unveiled Aura, which I poured my soul into, as his own. "I call her... Genesis," he boomed, "created solely by me." My best friend, Sarah, whose hand I held moments before, gazed at him with adoration, not outrage. The fallout was swift and brutal. Mark, the instant tech celebrity, branded me a disgruntled ex. Sarah, leveraging her gallery connections, systematically blacklisted me, painting me as unstable, a fraud. Calls unanswered, doors slammed shut-my life, my legacy, evaporated. I was a ghost in a rundown apartment, bearing an eviction notice, with nothing left. How could they? How could the two people I trusted most, the two people who were my family, betray me so completely, so publicly? The world had become a twisted, unrecognizable place where truth was irrelevant, and loyalty meant nothing. But in the ashes of utter despair, sifting through the remains of my life, my fingers brushed against my estranged father' s dusty hard drive-a digital arsenal of hacking tools and encrypted journals. The artist in me was dead, but something else, a chilling new resolve, began to stir. I would change my destiny, not by going back, but by going forward with skills they never saw coming.

My name is Ethan Lester. I' m a humble community college music teacher, engaged to Nicole Anderson, a brilliant Silicon Valley CEO. She worships an anonymous DJ, "Aethel," whose music, she says, saved her from deep depression. She doesn't know "Aethel" is me. After our engagement party, I saw a text on her phone, not meant for my eyes. It was from her assistant, Brian: "He' s boring. He' ll never understand you like I do. Like Aethel does." Her reply shattered my world: "I know, my Aethel. I' ll handle him. The festival is all that matters." I followed her to a penthouse where she funded Brian' s music studio and promised him a headline festival spot – my comeback. I registered for the Electric Odyssey festival under my real name, determined to expose the fraud. But backstage, just before my performance, two men grabbed me. Then, they broke my hands. Pain erupted as my bones snapped. My career, my identity, gone in an instant. As my vision blurred, Nicole emerged from the shadows. "Electric Odyssey is for ' Aethel' !" she snarled, her voice cruel. "I' ll destroy anyone who threatens his comeback, including you." She watched me bleed, letting me lie broken on the cold concrete. I woke up in my own bed, gasping, my hands miraculously whole. I grabbed my phone: The date was ten days before the festival. I was back, with the terrifying memory of my murder fresh in my mind, courtesy of my fiancée. This time, I wouldn' t be the one getting destroyed.

My family and I sacrificed everything, our entire lives and savings, for my fiancée Isabelle, who lay in a coma for a year after a seemingly minor car accident. We moved mountains, sold our home, and poured every penny into her recovery, believing in a love that demanded ultimate devotion. But the day she "woke up"-healthy, laughing, and throwing cash at my feet after her luxury SUV clipped my leg-she revealed it was all a cruel "loyalty test." Her "test" had already cost me everything: my mother, who skipped vital heart medication to save for Isabelle and died; my father, overworked to death at an unsafe Vance Corporation construction site; and my little sister, trafficked and murdered for trying to earn money for Isabelle' s fictional medical bills. While I stood numb, having just identified my sister's body hours before, she, surrounded by her aristocratic circle, merely laughed, celebrating her "recovery" and my "loyalty" as her casual cruelty sliced through what little I had left. The half-million dollars she and her manipulative ex-husband then offered me as "compensation" felt like blood money for my lost family. I took my mother, father, and sister with me-their ashes in a small suitcase-left everything else behind, and walked away from her gilded cage forever, seeking a quiet peace far from the monsters who devoured my world.

At the age of seven, Brad told her that they were meant for each other. Elsa blushed but didn't say anything. At the age of fourteen, he promised to marry her after he graduated from college. At the age of twenty-one, he fulfilled his promise. He married her. But she didn't expect that she would be welcomed by his furious roar instead of his warm embrace after their wedding. "Elsa, I've really underestimated you. I didn't know how many tricks you have played just for me to marry you." At the age of twenty-eight, she left him with her head held up high. This time, his arrogance immediately vanished, and he could finally lower his head in front of her. He was willing to do everything just to win her back.

Everyone knew Kristine loved Colton. Still, his heart clung to a woman overseas-someone he spent most days with, now pregnant with his baby-and Kristine still asked him to marry her. On their registration day, however, he never came; his "true love" had flown back. Seven years of loyalty later, Kristine walked away, blocked him, and left his city. Colton didn't blink-until he saw her at the courthouse, arm-in-arm with another man, and the proud CEO went pale. He went after her, desperation overtaking him. "I'm sorry. Please give me another chance." She snapped, "Could you stop? I'm already married."

The heavy iron gates of the Wilderness Correction Camp groaned as they released me after three years of state-sponsored hell. I stood on the dirt road, clutching a plastic bag that held my entire life, waiting for the family that claimed they sent me there for "rehab." My brother, Brady, picked me up in a luxury SUV only to throw me out onto a deserted highway in the middle of a brewing storm. He told me I was a "public relations nightmare" and that the rain might finally wash the "stink" of the camp off me. He drove away, leaving me to limp miles through the mud on a snapped ankle. When I finally dragged myself to our family estate, my mother didn't offer a hug; she gasped in horror because my muddy clothes were ruining her Italian marble. They didn't give me my old room back. Instead, they banished me to a moldy gardener’s shack and hired a "babysitter" to make sure I didn't embarrass them further. My sister, Kaleigh, stood there in white cashmere, pretending to cry while clinging to her fiancé, Ambrose—the man who had once been mine. They all treated me like a volatile junkie, refusing to acknowledge that Kaleigh was the one who planted the drugs in my bag three years ago. They wanted to believe I was broken so they wouldn't have to feel guilty about the "wellness retreat" that was actually a torture chamber. I sat in the dark of that shed, feeling the cooling gel on the cigarette burns that covered my arms, and realized they had made a fatal mistake. They thought they had erased me, but I had returned with a roadmap of scars and a hidden satellite phone. At dinner, I didn't beg for their love. I simply rolled up my sleeves and showed them the price of their silence. As the wine spilled and the lies crumbled, I sent a single text to the only person I trusted: "I'm in. Let them simmer." The hunt was finally on.

I stood at my mother’s open grave in the freezing rain, my heels sinking into the mud. The space beside me was empty. My husband, Hilliard Holloway, had promised to cherish me in bad times, but apparently, burying my mother didn't fit into his busy schedule. While the priest’s voice droned on, a news alert lit up my phone. It was a livestream of the Metropolitan Charity Gala. There was Hilliard, looking impeccable in a custom tuxedo, with his ex-girlfriend Charla English draped over his arm. The headline read: "Holloway & English: A Power Couple Reunited?" When he finally returned to our penthouse at 2 AM, he didn't come alone—he brought Charla with him. He claimed she’d had a "medical emergency" at the gala and couldn't be left alone. I found a Tiffany diamond necklace on our coffee table meant for her birthday, and a smudge of her signature red lipstick on his collar. When I confronted him, he simply told me to stop being "hysterical" and "acting like a child." He had no idea I was seven months pregnant with his child. He thought so little of my grief that he didn't even bother to craft a convincing lie, laughing with his mistress in our home while I sat in the dark with a shattered heart and a secret life growing inside me. "He doesn't deserve us," I whispered to the darkness. I didn't scream or beg. I simply left a folder on his desk containing signed divorce papers and a forged medical report for a terminated pregnancy. I disappeared into the night, letting him believe he had successfully killed his own legacy through his neglect. Five years later, Hilliard walked into "The Vault," the city's most exclusive underground auction, looking for a broker to manage his estate. He didn't recognize me behind my Venetian mask, but he couldn't ignore the neon pink graffiti on his armored Maybach that read "DEADBEAT." He had no clue that the three brilliant triplets currently hacking his security system were the very children he thought had been erased years ago. This time, I wasn't just a wife in the way; I was the one holding all the cards.

For three quiet, patient years, Christina kept house, only to be coldly discarded by the man she once trusted. Instead, he paraded a new lover, making her the punchline of every town joke. Liberated, she honed her long-ignored gifts, astonishing the town with triumph after gleaming triumph. Upon discovering she'd been a treasure all along, her ex-husband's regret drove him to pursue her. "Honey, let's get back together!" With a cold smirk, Christina spat, "Fuck off." A silken-suited mogul slipped an arm around her waist. "She's married to me now. Guards, get him the hell out of here!"

"Stella once savored Marc's devotion, yet his covert cruelty cut deep. She torched their wedding portrait at his feet while he sent flirty messages to his mistress. With her chest tight and eyes blazing, Stella delivered a sharp slap. Then she deleted her identity, signed onto a classified research mission, vanished without a trace, and left him a hidden bombshell. On launch day she vanished; that same dawn Marc's empire crumbled. All he unearthed was her death certificate, and he shattered. When they met again, a gala spotlighted Stella beside a tycoon. Marc begged. With a smirk, she said, ""Out of your league, darling."

Today is October 14th, my birthday. I returned to New York after months away, dragging my suitcase through the biting wind, but the VIP pickup zone where my husband’s Maybach usually idled was empty. When I finally let myself into our Upper East Side penthouse, I didn’t find a cake or a "welcome home" banner. Instead, I found my husband, Caden, kneeling on the floor, helping our five-year-old daughter wrap a massive gift for my half-sister, Adalynn. Caden didn’t even look up when I walked in; he was too busy laughing with the girl who had already stolen my father’s legacy and was now moving in on my family. "Auntie Addie is a million times better than Mommy," my daughter Elara chirped, clutching a plush toy Caden had once forbidden me from buying for her. "Mommy is mean," she whispered loudly, while Caden just smirked, calling me a "drill sergeant" before whisking her off to Adalynn’s party without a second glance. Later that night, I saw a video Adalynn posted online where my husband and child laughed while mocking my "sensitive" nature, treating me like an inconvenient ghost in my own home. I had spent five years researching nutrition for Elara’s health and managing every detail of Caden’s empire, only to be discarded the moment I wasn't in the room. How could the man who set his safe combination to my birthday completely forget I even existed? The realization didn't break me; it turned me into ice. I didn't scream or beg for an explanation. I simply walked into the study, pulled out the divorce papers I’d drafted months ago, and took a black marker to the terms. I crossed out the alimony, the mansion, and even the custody clause—if they wanted a life without me, I would give them exactly what they asked for. I left my four-carat diamond ring on the console table and walked out into the rain with nothing but a heavily encrypted hard drive. The submissive Mrs. Holloway was gone, and "Ghost," the most lethal architect in the tech world, was finally back online to take back everything they thought I’d forgotten.

Elliana, the unfavored "ugly duckling" of her family, was humiliated by her stepsister, Paige, who everyone admired. Paige, engaged to the CEO Cole, was the perfect woman-until Cole married Elliana on the day of the wedding. Shocked, everyone wondered why he chose the "ugly" woman. As they waited for her to be cast aside, Elliana stunned everyone by revealing her true identity: a miracle healer, financial mogul, appraisal prodigy, and AI genius. When her mistreatment became known, Cole revealed Elliana's stunning, makeup-free photo, sending shockwaves through the media. "My wife doesn't need anyone's approval."

Rain hammered against the asphalt as my sedan spun violently into the guardrail on the I-95. Blood trickled down my temple, stinging my eyes, while the rhythmic slap of the windshield wipers mocked my panic. Trembling, I dialed my husband, Clive. His executive assistant answered instead, his voice professional and utterly cold. "Mr. Wilson says to stop the theatrics. He said, and I quote, 'Hang up. Tell her I don’t have time for her emotional blackmail tonight.'" The line went dead while I was still trapped in the wreckage. At the hospital, I watched the news footage of Clive wrapping his jacket around his "fragile" ex-girlfriend, Angelena, shielding her from the storm I was currently bleeding in. When I returned to our penthouse, I found a prenatal ultrasound in his suit pocket, dated the day he claimed to be on a business trip. Instead of an apology, Clive met me with a sneer. He told me I was nothing but an "expensive decoration" his father bought to make him look stable. He froze my bank accounts and cut off my cards, waiting for the hunger to drive me back to his feet. I stared at the man I had loved for four years, realizing he didn't just want a wife; he wanted a prop he could switch off. He thought he could starve me into submission while he played father to another woman's child. But Clive forgot one thing. Before I was his trophy wife, I was Starfall—the legendary voice actress who vanished at the height of her fame. "I'm not jealous, Clive. I'm done." I grabbed my old microphone and walked out. I’m not just leaving him; I’m taking the lead role in the biggest saga in Hollywood—the one Angelena is desperate for. This time, the "decoration" is going to burn his world down.

I went to the City Clerk’s office for a routine copy of my marriage license to finalize a trust fund audit. I expected a simple piece of paper, but the clerk’s pitying look told me my entire life was a lie. "The license was never finalized, Ms. Oliver. In the eyes of the state, you are single." The three-hundred-guest wedding at the Plaza and the Vogue features meant nothing. My husband, Gray Cooley, had intentionally filed the documents with a "procedural defect" so he could discard me without a legal divorce. Moments later, an iCloud invite titled "Our Little Secret" popped up on my screen. It was a photo of my best friend, Brylee, holding a positive pregnancy test at our Hamptons estate. Gray’s text to her was the final blow: "Happy anniversary, babe. This baby is the best gift. Once the trust unlocks today, we’re done with the charade." I soon discovered they were even stealing my career, reassigning my architectural masterpiece to Brylee while preparing my eviction notice. Gray's mother called me a "barren mule" in a leaked recording, mocking the infertility I suffered after saving Gray’s life in a construction accident. I wasn't a wife; I was a three-year placeholder used to secure his inheritance. How could the man I bled for treat me like a disposable prop? How could my best friend carry his child while pretending to comfort me through my darkest moments? The betrayal burned until it turned into a cold, hard stone of fury. I didn't cry. Instead, I walked into the penthouse of the Barretts, the Cooleys' most powerful rivals. I signed a marriage contract with Kane Barrett, the man the tabloids called the "Beast of Wall Street." "I want a wedding," I told his father, my voice steady and lethal. "Bigger than the one I had with Gray." If they wanted me gone, they would have to watch me become the woman who owns their world.

The heavy thud of the release stamp was the only goodbye I got from the warden after five years in federal prison. I stepped out into the blinding sun, expecting the same flash of paparazzi bulbs that had seen me dragged away in handcuffs, but there was only a single black limousine idling on the shoulder of the road. Inside sat my mother and sister, clutching champagne and looking at my frayed coat with pure disgust. They didn't offer a welcome home; instead, they tossed a thick legal document onto the table and told me I was dead to the city. "Gavin and I are getting engaged," my sister Mia sneered, flicking a credit card at me like I was a stray dog. "He doesn't need a convict ex-fiancée hanging around." Even after I saved their lives from an armed kidnapping attempt by ramming the attackers off the road, they rewarded me by leaving me stranded in the dirt. When I finally ran into Gavin, the man who had framed me, he pinned me against a wall and threatened to send me back to a cell if I ever dared to show my face at their wedding. They had stolen my biotech research, ruined my name, and let me rot for half a decade while they lived off my brilliance. They thought they had broken me, leaving me with nothing but an expired chapstick and a few old photos in a plastic bag. What they didn't know was that I had spent those five years becoming "Dr. X," a shadow consultant with five hundred million dollars in crypto and a secret that would bring the city to its knees. I wasn't just a victim anymore; I was a weapon, and I was pregnant with the heir they thought they had erased. I walked into the Melton estate and made an offer to the most powerful man in New York. "I'll save your grandfather's life," I told Horatio Melton, staring him down. "But the price is your last name. I'm taking back what's mine, and I'm starting with the man who thinks he's marrying my sister."