Jun Shangye

I went to The Ivy to return a box of scripts and hoodies, hoping to finally bury my past with movie star Harrison Knox. I just wanted to be a good wife to Julian Sterling and keep my family’s business merger intact. But Harrison had other plans. He staged a paparazzi ambush, pulling me into a fake embrace just as the cameras flashed. By the time I got home to our Bel Air estate, the headline "Harrison Knox Heartbroken? Tearful Reunion with Serena Vance" was already trending worldwide. The fallout was brutal. My father called, roaring that the stock was in freefall and threatening to stop my mother’s medical payments if I didn't keep Julian happy. My movie funding was pulled, leaving me to pawn my Birkin bags just to pay my staff. Even worse, Julian’s cold indifference turned into a sharp, quiet rage. He heard me tell a friend that our marriage felt like a transaction, and his response was to toss a black Centurion card at my feet like I was something he’d bought at an auction. I was trapped between a narcissist who wanted to use my trauma for his next script and a father who saw me as nothing but a bargaining chip. Even Julian, the man who secretly bought my movie rights through a shell company to protect me, believed I was still screaming my ex's name in my sleep. When my family finally demanded I lie and accuse Julian of domestic abuse to secure a settlement, I realized I had nothing left to lose. I walked away from the Vance name, deleted every memory of Harrison, and stood at the edge of the Pacific Ocean ready to let the tide take me. But Julian didn't come for a divorce. He found me in the dark, his coat heavy on my shoulders and his eyes burning with a possessive fire. "There is no divorce in the Sterling family," he whispered against my ear. "There is only widowhood. You are mine, Serena, until one of us is in the ground."

In New York, everyone knew Grady Allen lived for me, Emely Harrison. He was my shadow, my protector, my world, and our future seemed inevitable. But as I lay dying from ALS, I overheard him whisper, "Emely, my duty to you is done. If there is a next life, I pray I can be with Kandy." My world shattered. His lifelong devotion wasn't love, but guilt for Kandy Paul, a woman who had taken her own life after he' d left her. Reborn, I found Grady with amnesia, deeply in love with Kandy. To give him the happiness he truly desired, I concealed my own early-onset ALS diagnosis and broke off our engagement, telling his parents, "I won't chain him to a dying woman out of a sense of duty he doesn't even remember." Despite my efforts, Kandy' s insecurity led her to frame me, accusing me of throwing her engagement ring and setting fire to the mansion. Grady, believing her, threw me into a muddy pit and later choked me, snarling, "You're not even as good as a dog. At least a dog is loyal." During a kidnapping, I saved Kandy, nearly dying myself, only to wake in a hospital to learn Grady had spared no expense for her, while I lay abandoned. Why did he choose her, even when his body instinctively reached for me? Why did he believe her lies? I had given him everything, even my life, to set him free. Now, I would truly be free. I married my brother, Jeremiah, who had always loved me, and left Grady behind, whispering, "Be happy, Grady. We're even now. I'll never see you again."

For fifteen years, Ava Reed and Ethan Miller were Ghost and Shadow, an elite security duo woven from shared scars and unbreakable loyalty. Their world shattered the moment Chloe Davis, a client they were hired to protect, walked into their lives, and Ethan' s professional focus vanished, replaced by open infatuation. Ava watched, heartbroken, as Ethan ignored her tactical advice, prioritized Chloe' s every whim, and dismissed their shared history. The final blow came in a hotel hallway, not in a hail of gunfire, but with Ethan' s cruel dismiss al of Ava as "intense" to Chloe, followed by his public, condescending declaration that she was "nothing" without him after years of her literally taking bullets for him. Reeling, but refusing to be broken, Ava silently walked away from the wreckage of her past life, dialing a number she hadn't called in a decade to invoke an old family arrangement – a marriage to Liam Hayes, a recluse from a rival tech empire – a desperate, undeniable move to cleanse herself of Ethan' s betrayal. Yet, her escape was far from clean. Chloe, savoring her triumph, tracked Ava down and flaunted the ultimate insult: the cheap silver locket Ava and Ethan had shared, now around Chloe' s neck, a symbol of Ethan' s ultimate betrayal, as he callously dismissed its meaning. Just as Ava thought she had burned all bridges, Ethan reappeared at her wedding, a desperate, unhinged man, revealing a shocking truth about Liam. Now, Ava must unravel the true intentions of her new husband while grappling with the explosive fallout of her past.

Chloe Davis and I built a life together, starting from broke college kids to a married couple with a future, celebrating our tenth anniversary. But that morning, a chilling phone call shattered everything: Chloe, distracted and distant, hung up on me before I could utter another word, leaving me with a familiar cold dread. Later, a colleague' s photo brought the crushing truth: Chloe, hand resting comfortably on the arm of Liam Hayes, the ruthless CEO of OmniCorp, a velvet box and expensive cufflinks on the table-gifts I could never afford. The silent, wrapped gift on her nightstand - a first-edition book carelessly torn, unopened - confirmed her indifference, leaving me with a gut-wrenching question: how could the woman I loved betray me to this extent? The next morning, the betrayal escalated as my lead designer revealed OmniCorp had stolen our flagship game, 'Aetheria,' confirming a horrifying, undeniable picture: the person sleeping next to me every night was holding the knife, and I knew how to fight back.

My husband, Mark, walked in with her draped on his arm, a wide-eyed girl clutching a teddy bear, and casually announced she' d be staying with us. I watched, numb, as she ate chicken from his fork, her lips brushing the metal, her eyes locked on his-a brazen declaration made right at my dining table. The silence that followed, thick and heavy, was broken only by the wet thud of the entire roasted chicken I scraped into the garbage, his furious outburst echoing in the sudden chill of the room. He stood before me, defending her, blaming me, his eyes filled with a disappointment that screamed I was the problem, leaving me bewildered and furious at his immediate, instinctual betrayal. When I stormed out, leaving him alone with her, I thought I was simply escaping, but now I know that was the moment I stopped being his wife and started planning his downfall.

My life was perfect, or so I thought. Married for five blissful years to Ethan, the powerful CEO who publicly adored me, making me feel like his most cherished person, his greatest weakness. I believed him; I loved him with a fierce passion, a love I sincerely thought he returned. Then, one evening, I overheard his voice-low, serious-uttering words that shattered my entire world: "If I don't make Sarah the obvious target, how can Olivia continue her work in those conflict zones without becoming a pawn?" Olivia. His childhood sweetheart. Suddenly, all the "accidents"-the car bombings, the kidnappings, the trauma-fell into place; I was merely a decoy, a pawn in his twisted game to shield her. But the true horror unfurled when I painstakingly bypassed his "impenetrable" security and hacked into his private digital journal. Page after page, it boasted of his profound, yearning love for Olivia, followed by chilling entries about me: "Found the perfect candidate today. Sarah Jenkins. Intelligent, beautiful, but with a vulnerability I can exploit. She'll be a convincing decoy." He' d orchestrated my terror; he' d cultivated my dependence. The ultimate betrayal? "Sarah miscarried," he wrote. "A pity, in a way. But perhaps for the best. A child would complicate things with Olivia." His chilling indifference to our lost child, to my deepest grief, tore me apart. My love for him curdled into a cold, hard resolve, realizing I wasn't just a pawn, but a recipient of painful hand-me-downs, my deepest sufferings cruelly manipulated for his cruel agenda. How could the man I loved be such a monster? Yet, the shock quickly gave way to a steely determination. Ethan thought I was his unsuspecting wife, his perfect decoy. He didn't know the cybersecurity analyst I' d been, the skills I still possessed. I would play the loving wife, enduring his touch, while meticulously plotting my escape and, ultimately, his downfall.

My step-sister Brittany’s graduation party quickly devolved into a public mockery of me. My step-family and ex-boyfriend Jason relentlessly called me “slow” and “worthless.” The scar on my cheek, a constant reminder of Jason’s past negligence, tightened with each cruel word. My stepfather, Richard, then initiated a colossal public bet, wagering $100,000 I wouldn’t get into *any* state college. My stepbrother Kyle bet his Mustang GT on my SAT score being below a thousand, and Jason openly wagered valuable retail spots for Brittany’s assured triumph. They eagerly anticipated my utter public embarrassment over college acceptances and test scores. When I calmly wrote “0” on my estimated SAT sheet, the garden erupted in a deafening, cruel laughter. Jason, feigning disgust, publicly dumped me and added a family heirloom to the mounting betting pile. My step-family gleefully contributed their vacation condo and company shares, convinced of my impending ruin. Then, the official College Board site displayed "SAT Score: 0," unleashing a final, vicious torrent of triumph and online ridicule. My heart felt like cold stone, yet my face remained impassive as I watched their unveiled greed and contempt. They believed my humiliation was complete, oblivious to the technicality behind that "zero" score and the true story of my scar. This public spectacle, designed to destroy me, only hardened my resolve. However, just as my stepfather’s rage peaked, three black sedans arrived, and my formidable grandmother, Eleanor Miller, stepped out. Flanked by admissions deans from Harvard, Stanford, and MIT, she calmly announced my actual, flawless SAT score: a perfect 2400. They further revealed me as a National Merit Scholar and the sole heir to the multi-billion dollar Miller Industries. With their signed betting agreement, the Hayes family’s world was about to spectacularly unravel.

For ten agonizing years, the brand on my hip was a constant, burning reminder of my forced marriage to Ethan Harrison, a symbol of the shame he inflicted on me, the "charity case" his powerful family took in. But the dreaded decade was almost over. Freedom, a word I barely dared whisper, was finally within reach. Until tonight. At his family’s annual charity gala, surrounded by the city's elite, Ethan dragged me onto the stage, a predatory smile on his face. “We auction a unique experience,” he announced, tightening his grip on my arm. “An experience with my… wife, Sarah.” My private photos flashed across the giant screen, then a chilling close-up of the ugly mark on my hip, exposed for all to see. The crowd gasped as the bidding began. “The highest bidder will get… quality time with Sarah. Live-streamed, of course.” This wasn't just humiliation; it was a public sale, a human auction. His conniving "true love" smirked, as Ethan whispered chilling threats about my innocent brother. He owned me, he truly believed it. I stood there, an animal on display, utterly broken, the velvet ropes he bound me with biting into my skin. How could a man repay a life debt from my war hero grandfather by selling his wife? My family sacrificed everything, and this was my twisted reward? But just as despair threatened to consume me, a formidable figure emerged from the stunned crowd: Marcus Thorne, Harrison’s ruthless business rival. He brought with him an unexpected ally, and as Ethan raged, a shocking truth was finally revealed: my ten-year contract was up, my marriage over. My freedom, fiercely fought for in silence, was about to begin – and Ethan Harrison was about to learn that some debts are paid with more than just money.

Diana got a part-time job to teach art in college just because she was bored. However, never in her wildest dreams had she expected that she would offend Ryan, the genius but domineering CEO, who took over his family’s company at sixteen and extended its branches both at home and abroad. He played different tricks on her to vent his anger, but he gradually lost his heart to her before he came to the realization. Yet, she could not make a response to his love.

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."

"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."

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!"

After five years of playing the perfect daughter, Rylie was exposed as a stand-in. Her fiancé bolted, friends scattered, and her adoptive brothers shoved her out, telling her to grovel back to her real family. Done with humiliation, she swore to claw back what was hers. Shock followed: her birth family ruled the town's wealth. Overnight, she became their precious girl. The boardroom brother canceled meetings, the genius brother ditched his lab, the musician brother postponed a tour. As those who spurned her begged forgiveness, Admiral Brad Morgan calmly declared, "She's already taken."

Sunlit hours found their affection glimmering, while moonlit nights ignited reckless desire. But when Brandon learned his beloved might last only half a year, he coolly handed Millie divorce papers, murmuring, "This is all for appearances; we'll get married again once she's calmed down." Millie, spine straight and cheeks dry, felt her pulse go hollow. The sham split grew permanent; she quietly ended their unborn child and stepped into a new beginning. Brandon unraveled, his car tearing down the street, unwilling to let go of the woman he'd discarded, pleading for her to look back just once.

In their previous lives, Gracie married Theo. Outwardly, they were the perfect academic couple, but privately, she became nothing more than a stepping stone for his ambition, and met a tragic end. Her younger sister Ellie wed Brayden, only to be abandoned for his true love, left alone and disgraced. This time, both sisters were reborn. Ellie rushed to marry Theo, chasing the success Gracie once had-unaware she was repeating the same heartbreak. Gracie instead entered a contract marriage with Brayden. But when danger struck, he defended her fiercely. Could fate finally rewrite their tragic endings?

Linsey was stood up by her groom to run off with another woman. Furious, she grabbed a random stranger and declared, "Let's get married!" She had acted on impulse, realizing too late that her new husband was the notorious rascal, Collin. The public laughed at her, and even her runaway ex offered to reconcile. But Linsey scoffed at him. "My husband and I are very much in love!" Everyone thought she was delusional. Then Collin was revealed to be the richest man in the world. In front of everyone, he got down on one knee and held up a stunning diamond ring. "I look forward to our forever, honey."

Maia grew up a pampered heiress-until the real daughter returned and framed her, sending Maia to prison with help from her fiancé and family. Four years later, free and married to Chris, a notorious outcast, everyone assumed Maia was finished. They soon discovered she was secretly a famed jeweler, elite hacker, celebrity chef, and top game designer. As her former family begged for help, Chris smiled calmly. "Honey, let's go home." Only then did Maia realize her "useless" husband was a legendary tycoon who'd adored her from the start.

The whispers said that out of bitter jealousy, Hadley shoved Eric's beloved down the stairs, robbing the unborn child of life. To avenge, Eric forced Hadley abroad and completely cut her off. Years later, she reemerged, and they felt like strangers. When they met again, she was the nightclub's star, with men ready to pay fortunes just to glimpse her elusive performance. Unable to contain himself, Eric blocked her path, asking, "Is this truly how you earn a living now? Why not come back to me?" Hadley's lips curved faintly. "If you’re eager to see me, you’d better join the queue, darling."

Blinded in a crash, Cary was rejected by every socialite—except Evelina, who married him without hesitation. Three years later, he regained his sight and ended their marriage. "We’ve already lost so many years. I won’t let her waste another one on me." Evelina signed the divorce papers without a word. Everyone mocked her fall—until they discovered that the miracle doctor, jewelry mogul, stock genius, top hacker, and the President's true daughter… were all her. When Cary came crawling back, a ruthless tycoon had him kicked out. "She's my wife now. Get lost."