Xing Jiayi

The world knew me as Dr. Brenna Mann, the neurosurgeon with hands insured for millions. My husband, Davis, was a powerful lawyer, and our life was perfect-until he shattered it. He protected his secret lover, Kiley, after she killed my mother in a hit-and-run. Then, to silence me, he had his family' s dogs maul my hand, ending my career forever. He didn't stop there. He fabricated a video that drove my innocent sister to suicide, then held her fate over my head to force me to save his lover's mother. He took everything-my mother, my hand, my career, and my sister. The man I had vowed to love was a monster wearing my husband's skin. He thought he had broken me, leaving me kneeling in public humiliation. He was wrong. He had only created a monster of his own, one with a brilliant mind and a billionaire's backing, ready to burn his world to the ground.

I was New York's "wild child" artist, sold by my father into a marriage with the powerful Camden Winters. It was a cold transaction-my freedom for a life-saving drug from my family's company. But the drug wasn't for him. It was for Brianne, his fragile childhood sweetheart, the "unforgettable love" he swore to me on our wedding day didn't exist. When we both ended up critically injured in the hospital, the doctors asked my husband who to save first. He didn't hesitate. "Save Brianne." He chose to let his own wife die. After all the lies and betrayals, I finally understood I was just a tool. My heart turned to stone. So I divorced him and vanished. But he hunted me down, destroyed the new life I had built, and dragged me back, discovering I was pregnant with his child. He thought he had me trapped forever. He was wrong. I made him a promise, and then I broke it, leaving him with nothing but the ashes of his obsession.

I flew to Las Vegas to surprise my boyfriend of seven years with a proposal, only to overhear him celebrating his new marriage to his intern, Cortney. He had won a poker game and gotten a free marriage certificate as a prize. "What about Amelia?" his friend asked. "Amelia's fine," he scoffed. "She's so devoted, she'd wait another seven years for me if I asked." His words shattered me. I resigned from the company we built together, AG Designs, and left. But Cortney wasn't done. She framed me for leaking company secrets, a lie Gabe instantly believed. He dragged me back to our home, his eyes filled with a rage I'd never seen. "You scheming bitch!" he roared, his hand closing around my throat. "You want to destroy everything I built?!" He beat me with a steel-tipped whip until I was barely conscious, leaving me bleeding and broken. He thought he had crushed me, that I would crawl back. But as I lay there, the pain forged my broken heart into something cold and hard. I escaped, not to run, but to prepare. Now, with the help of a powerful ally, I'm back. And I will make Gabe Carrillo pay for every scar, every tear, and every betrayal. He took my love and my life's work; I'm coming back to take his entire empire.

I thought I was living the dream as the wife of a billionaire, until my husband came home at 2 A.M. reeking of expensive Scotch and "Midnight Rose"—the signature perfume of his ex-lover, Lucinda. While I spent my nights alone in the nursery with our sick twins, William was out in the city, making it clear to everyone that our marriage was nothing more than a cold, calculated business merger. When I finally confronted him with the evidence of his infidelity, he didn’t offer an apology. He simply looked at me with disgust and told me I was a "liability" who should stay home and play the part of the perfect mother while he lived his real life with someone else. The humiliation reached its peak at the hospital when his grandfather suffered a massive heart attack. William showed up with Lucinda on his arm, comforting her in front of the entire Sterling clan while his mother publicly mocked me for being a useless gold-digger. Even after William tried to force himself on me in a drunken rage the night before, he had the audacity to treat his mistress like the grieving wife while I was pushed into the shadows. I felt something inside me finally snap. The man I loved had turned into a monster who saw me as an acquisition rather than a human being. I was ready to sign the divorce papers and disappear with nothing but my pride, just to escape the suffocating weight of his indifference. But then, the dying patriarch called me to his bedside and handed me a sword: five percent of the company’s voting shares and a three-month ultimatum. I’m not running away anymore. I’ve decided to stay for ninety days, but not to save a dead marriage. I’m staying to become the one thing William Sterling never saw coming—his most dangerous nightmare.

"Ava, I only see you as a friend." Ethan's quiet words in the noisy bar landed like a ton of bricks, shattering my decade-long crush into a million pieces. I had just poured out years of hidden feelings, only to be met with those five simple words. It was a clear, brutal end to a love story I had directed, starred in, and watched all by myself. He finally looked at me, his expression full of a pity I didn' t want. "You' re my best friend, Ava. I don' t want to lose that." That phrase, 'best friend' , felt like a curse, a box he put me in, safe from my affections. For years, I had held onto fleeting moments, replaying them like favorite movie scenes, only to realize they were just casual gestures from a friend. My entire devotion had unknowingly sabotaged any other chance at a relationship. I was his sun, but he saw me as just another planet in a predictable orbit. The realization was liberating and devastating all at once. Driven by a desperate need to numb the ache, I found myself in a dark bar, downing tequila shots. It was there, amidst the haze, that Liam Walker, my deceased best friend Lily' s younger brother, found me. He saw through my pain, calling Ethan an idiot for not seeing my brilliance, a compliment that pierced through my drunken despair. He saw me not just as a friend, but as someone brilliant. His fierce kindness was too much, leading to a messy, desperate kiss that I instantly regretted upon waking. The guilt, tied to Lily' s memory, was a heavy weight. I believed I had crossed an irreversible line with the boy I'd practically watched grow up. My panic reached a peak when Ethan called, only for Liam to answer and coldly declare, "She was a little busy crying her eyes out after you broke her heart. You' re a bit late with the concern." He hung up, leaving me with a terrifying but thrilling jolt of electricity. Before I could process it, I sent Liam away, convinced I was just like Ethan, careless with others' hearts. But watching Ethan with his new girlfriend, Sarah, and realizing he had let my unrequited love fester out of fear, shattered my remaining illusions. Why did he never love me, even for a second? Why did he let me waste all those years? The bitter truth solidified: he was a coward, too afraid of real loss to embrace something real. And in that moment, I resolved to reclaim my life, to shed the heavy coat of unrequited love, and for the first time, choose myself.

The new car gleamed in the executive parking spot, a silver dagger twisting in my gut. It was a gift from Chloe, my fiancée and CEO, to Liam, her new executive assistant. My project budget, for the core technology I built, was slashed again, a cold financial slap in the face. Then, in front of the entire company, Chloe announced my salary cut, while Liam smirked beside her, wearing a new designer watch that matched his car. The humiliation was a physical blow, public and intentional. I looked at Chloe, searching for the woman I loved, the partner I trusted, but found only a stranger. I resigned on the spot, the words a liberating exhale after ten years of pouring my life into Apex Innovations. The next day, Chloe kissed Liam right in front of me, but the part of me that would have shattered was already gone. I flinched from her touch when she tried to placate me, a physical rejection that finally broke her composure. She fumed, threatening to abandon me, but I felt nothing. Then, Liam, her new executive, chillingly outlined his plan to dismantle my life' s work for profit, and she agreed. My lawyer informed me about the power of attorney, a relic of our past trust, that I might use to sell our joint home. I heard him conspire to cannibalize my project, and witnessed her trust him blindly. Later, she signed the house away, giving me full control of our assets, all because of Liam's fabricated emergency. It was clear then: my loyalty hadn't been seen as strength, but as a weakness to exploit. After she tried to blacklist me from the entire industry, I stood across from Chloe and Liam, who offered me a menial job in the company I co-founded, as an act of charity. I realized this wasn't just a breakup; it was a war, and I was finally ready to fight back.

My peaceful night shattered when an alert flashed: my critical project's source code, leaked to a competitor, authorized with my credentials. Before I could process the impossibility, my doorbell rang, revealing my boyfriend Matthew and best friend Molly, Molly' s face streaked with tears. "Jennifer, how could you do this?" Matthew's voice, cold and accusatory, cut me deeper than any system alert as he scanned my apartment for "evidence." He accused me of corporate espionage, and Molly sobbed about my "betrayal," a perfect picture of heartbroken friends. Baffled and breathless, I could only state, "I didn't do it. Someone is setting me up." But Matthew scoffed, dismissing my desperate plea, fully aware of my credentials' security. The next day, he broke up with me in his office, cold and clinical, amidst the company crisis. Later, I watched from my window as he kissed Molly passionately in the parking lot, her earlier tears replaced by laughter. The crushing realization hit me: this was no accident; this was a coordinated attack, a complete betrayal by the two people I trusted most. My grief lasted mere seconds before hardening into a cold, sharp fury. They thought they' d broken me, but they were wrong. I opened a new, encrypted file: "Investigation."

I saw him on the magazine cover, Ethan Reed with Chloe Davis, the "perfect couple." Seven years I' d told myself running was for the best, for his success. But seeing the tech billionaire celebrated still felt like a punch. Our past began with debt: my family' s help for his sick brother, twisted into forcing him to "choose" me over childhood friend Chloe. Then the nightmare: my possessive love destroying his life, with a miserable child at its core. Two pink lines confirmed I was pregnant with that child, forcing a terrifying decision. The decision was brutal: I told him our relationship was a "game," then vanished. Alone in London, I raised our daughter Lily, convinced I' d saved him. Five years later, Lily' s severe nut allergy, identical to Ethan' s, innocently revealed all. His raw whisper, "She's mine, Sarah. Lily is my daughter," shattered my facade. Then, an anonymous text with my secret dream's details: Does he know why you ran away? My blood ran cold. How could anyone know? Was my sacrifice a sinister lie? The truth unveiled: Chloe wasn't just a rival. She was a puppet master, feeding us both orchestrated nightmares. She built a manipulative prison of fear. Now, as her schemes explode in public, the true battle for our fragmented family begins.

The rotors thrashed the air, a desperate sound in the collapsing city. "Evie, damn it, wake up!" Ethan' s voice, tight with fury, cut through the fog in my head, his hands rough on my shoulders, shaking me towards the last transport helicopter. He was urging me to wait for Krystal, his mistress, who was probably just fixing her makeup for her "survivor" selfie. Then, a cold wave washed over me. Not fog, but brutal clarity. I had lived this exact moment before. And died because of it. In that past life, Ethan had deliberately left me behind. He' d injected me, then convinced the extraction team I was delirious, a hysterical liability, a security risk. They believed him, my "loving, concerned husband." I was deserted in that war-torn hell, the infection taking hold in some bombed-out building, until there was nothing. Later, a strange, detached knowing confirmed the worst: Ethan had returned to the States a hero, spinning a tale of my "noble sacrifice" pushing Krystal onto the plane instead of myself. My already frail parents shattered, grief their final illness, gone within months. Ethan inherited everything-the Reed fortune, the foundation, the philanthropic empire-marrying Krystal a year later in a lavish affair splashed across society pages. The memory, sharp and brutal, burned away every last vestige of my past life's naivety. How could I have been so utterly duped? The raw injustice, the horrifying betrayal, the agonizing pain of my parents' fates-it all converged into a single, chilling resolve. I was back, inexplicably given a second chance. This time, there would be no sacrifice. Only justice. I pulled away from Ethan' s desperate grasp, my voice surprisingly steady and cold. "No, Ethan." I turned, walking straight towards the loading ramp. "I'm getting on that helicopter. Now."

The world tilted, and then went black for a second. I came to with Jess screaming my name after a cyclist hit me, and I pulled her to safety. At the hospital, with a mild concussion, I had a stupid idea: I' d pretend I had amnesia and ask Jess, "Who are you?" Her eyes widened, but then a strange, unreadable expression flickered across her face. With a voice suddenly too sweet, she leaned in and said, "Oh, Ethan, you don' t remember me? I' m Jessica, and Chloe is actually your fiancée. We were just out as friends." My mind went blank, not from the concussion, but from genuine shock. Chloe? Her best friend Chloe? Jess was selling it hard, claiming I'd been "confused" even before the accident and that Chloe was my true love. This wasn' t funny anymore; a cold feeling started in my stomach. She insisted Chloe take me home, citing that familiarity would aid my "recovery." As I lay in Chloe' s unfamiliar bed, the scent of vanilla filling the air, I realized Jess wasn't just playing along; she was hijacking my prank for her own twisted agenda. Then, I overheard her on the phone: she called me "boring" and "clingy," bragging about using Chloe as a "break" so she could see her old flame, Mark. The raw ache in my chest had nothing to do with the concussion; it was the sting of deliberate, cruel dismissal. My fiancée was throwing me away, deliberately and publicly, to pursue someone else. Why was Chloe, this quiet, uncomfortable stranger, going along with Jess' s insane scheme? My anger hardened, but so did a new resolve: if Jess wanted a break, she' d get one, but it would be entirely on my terms. I would expose her lies, one "amnesiac" step at a time.

The judge’s dull voice droned through the quiet courtroom, a familiar echo from a life I’d already painfully lived. My parents, Brenda and Rob, sat on opposite sides, their strained silence a prelude to the crucial decision before us. This was it, the pivotal moment my life would splinter once more. My younger brother, Kevin, piped up without hesitation, "I choose Mom!" A sickeningly smug grin spread across his face as he briefly met my eyes, a look that sent a chill down my spine. It was the exact same pronouncement, the same twist of fate, that had occurred in my previous, tragic existence. That first time, my own choice to cling to Mom had spiral-downed into years of agonizing hunger, her volatile, bitter moods, and eventually, my gruesome death at Kevin’s hand. His petty jealousy hadn't just festered; it had exploded after Mom’s ill-fated marriage to a rich man. He still carried this delusion of grandeur, convinced he held the blueprint to quick riches. He truly believed his warped memory of a future that never materialized for him, dreaming of hitting the jackpot with Mom. The irony was almost unbearable; he had no clue of the true misery his path would lead him to, nor the cold, cruel betrayal that ended my first life. The unfairness burned, that he was here, just as oblivious, just as dangerous. But unlike that former existence, I stood here now, armed with shattering foresight. When the judge’s gaze finally landed on me, "Sarah, and you?", I made a sharp, deliberate break from the past. I looked at my weak, easily-manipulated father, and with a quiet, unwavering voice, I sealed my new destiny: "I'll go with my father."

In the last two years they had gone from lovers to sworn enemies. When Yolanda needed him, Kevin broke up with her and abandoned her in the rain. Rage burned bright in her swollen eyes as she drowned in the piercing pain caused by him. The next time she met him, he had totally changed. His tenderness had been replaced by arrogance. Addicted as she was to his toxic love, she fell for him once again. She forgot the memory of the pain and ran back into his arms, but he took advantage of her love to gain revenge from her family. In the end, she realized that it was just a game of vengeance.

Lesley and Michael both fell out of love when they bumped into each for the first time. The next day, they got legally married. It seemed like Cupid was always up to mischief. Misunderstandings filled their marriage life. Lesley and her ex-boyfriend became in-laws, while the woman Michael had been missing came back home. Now that he had the one he truly loved around, Lesley decided to leave. However, the seeds of love already took root and sprouted in their hearts. When would they find it out? Where would their story go by then?

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.

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.

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."

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."