Too Late For Regret: The True Heiress

My name is Emaline Knight, and I have the worst luck in Manhattan. Twenty-four hours ago I had a fiancé, a future, and a family name worth something. Then my father went bankrupt in a federal scandal, my mother landed in the ICU, and my darling Alastair dumped me by text message—like I was a streaming subscription he forgot to cancel. Did I mention he replaced me with a walking malpractice suit named Tiffany? So yes, I had a few tequilas. And yes, I may have informed the most dangerous man in the city that if I couldn't be Alastair's wife, I'd settle for becoming his aunt. That's how I ended up in the bed of Abdiel Sharpe—the billionaire who owns half of Manhattan and terrifies the other half. He left at dawn without a goodbye. Fine. Whatever. I had bigger problems: my mother's hospital bill was due at five o'clock, and I couldn't afford to keep her alive. I begged at the Hayes mansion. They sneered at me. They called me trash. And then the man I'd slept with—the uncle of the man who broke my heart—walked in, made them grovel, and warned them all to stay out of his sight. He gave me a job at his club. He tried to hand me a million dollars; I handed it back. He keeps appearing like an expensive storm, ruining anyone who dares to lay a hand on me. I keep telling myself he's a one-night mistake with an excellent tailor. But he looks at me like he owns me. And the worst part? Some dark, traitorous part of me wants him to. They say don't bite the hand that feeds you. But I'm not the one biting. He is. Right on my neck.

I was dragged onto the cold execution platform, surrounded by the scornful faces of my pack. My stepmother Karyn and stepsister Britany stood in the crowd, smiling in triumph. "The bastard in your belly... I had someone take care of it." Britany mouthed the words silently, while Karyn whispered that they had arranged for me to be defiled so my fiancé would reject me. I had been framed for sleeping with a Rogue, lost my unborn child, and was now sentenced to death. When I lunged at them in a fit of absolute rage, the guards kicked me down, and the heavy silver axe fell on my neck. As a wandering soul, I watched my step-family celebrate my execution with champagne, while my weak father didn't even look at my coffin. But the only person who stayed by my grave all night was the fearsome, blind Alpha, Collier Mays. "Mine... You were supposed to be mine." He whispered in the dark, his grief heavier than my own death. I finally realized the man I had always feared was the only one who truly loved me, while the family I trusted had meticulously destroyed my life. Opening my eyes again, I was back in my bedroom, ten years in the past. This time, I will take back my inheritance, tear down their lies, and make Collier Mays my Alpha.

For eight years, I stood by Dante's side as the undisputed Queen of the Cosa Nostra, reigning over a network of blood as his deadliest soldier. But the ruthless Don who once forced me to execute my fiancé suddenly brought home a supposedly pure civilian girl. "He cannot stand the smell of blood on your hands anymore. He wants a clean life," she sneered. Dante immediately turned his back on me, allowing his fragile new trinket to mock my murdered parents and parade around my penthouse. He even bought my mother's stolen diamond bracelet and my father's signet ring at an underground auction, just to gift them to her as an apology. When I finally drew my blade, the man who once swore to protect me pinned me to the floor, aiming a loaded gun at my head to protect his pregnant new bride. He poured millions into building a grand Catholic cathedral to wash his hands clean, and sent me a gilded wedding invitation to flaunt his legitimate dynasty. I couldn't understand how the monster who claimed we were soulmates forged in darkness could suddenly crave redemption. I understood even less why he now despised the very ruthlessness he had spent eight years systematically cultivating in me. So, on the day of his grand wedding, I kicked open the cathedral doors in a blood-red dress, drew the silver dagger he had gifted me, and drove it straight into his chest.

My mother was raising her crystal glass to celebrate my long-deferred marriage to Marco when he slammed his hand on the table. He announced to our powerful Mafia families that he had already claimed another woman. That woman was Isabella, a fragile, low-level associate. For years, Marco had used me as a forced chaperone, a convenient shield to hide their illicit affair from the Syndicate elders. He had stolen my meticulous ledger work to cover her mistakes, leaving me to endure brutal reprimands from the Underboss. He had even abandoned me in hostile, rival-controlled territory in the dead of night just to escort her safely home. Now, he was publicly shattering our generation-long alliance. "What man of consequence would seek out a wife with a spirit as unbending and a heart as cold as yours?" he sneered in front of everyone. I stared at the man I had grown up alongside. When we were thirteen, I shattered the bones in my own hand pulling him to safety from rival soldiers. He swore a blood oath under Omertà that day to protect me for life. Yet here he was, treating me like a disposable pawn, discarding our shared history for a pathetic, manipulative girl. But I didn't cry, and I didn't beg him to stay. As he turned his back on me to answer a frantic call from his fragile lover, I simply pulled out my phone. I texted Don Alessandro Moretti, the most feared boss in the city, and allied myself with him instead.

Today marked the third anniversary of my mating to Alpha Kael. As an Omega, I spent years living on a tiny allowance, believing his lies that our pack was struggling and we had to save every penny. Then I found the luxury boutique receipt hidden in his winter coat. He had secretly drained our pack's emergency funds to buy a four-thousand-dollar designer bag for Selene, a high-ranking Beta, while giving me a five-dollar plastic music box. But the betrayal went much deeper than a cheap affair. I checked the financial ledgers and realized he had transferred millions to buy a massive luxury estate in his dead father's name, giving full control to his arrogant mother. When I confronted him at the new villa, he didn't even try to apologize. Instead, he stood arm-in-arm with Selene, while his mother mocked my low-class background and told me I should beg for the privilege of standing in his shadow. Kael even unleashed his crushing Alpha Command, trying to force me to my knees in front of his mistress. For nine years, I sacrificed my youth for this pack, letting my own parents work in freezing forests while his mother bought imported silks with my stolen future. He thought I was just a weak, pathetic pet who would swallow the humiliation because the fated mate bond was absolute law. He was wrong. "I, Elara, reject you, Kael, as my mate." I dropped the Rejection scroll at his feet, severed our telepathic bond, and walked away to awaken the legendary White Wolf bloodline hidden within my veins.

Eleanor signed the thick stack of divorce papers, quietly ending her three-year marriage to the ruthless billionaire Griffin Gill. Stepping into the lobby, she was hit by a brutal sight: Griffin was already embracing his new lover, Andrea, who loudly boasted about celebrating their victory. Before Eleanor could even process the humiliation, the hospital called. Her beloved grandmother had just flatlined. Collapsing in the ICU, Eleanor was handed another shocking test result. She was pregnant with Griffin's triplets. Knowing his wealth and power, she knew he would snatch the babies and leave her with nothing. She chose to hide. But during a grueling labor, her only daughter was born with severe congenital renal failure. Penniless and desperate, Eleanor made a heart-wrenching choice. She left the dying infant at the Gill estate's gates, forged her own death certificate, and fled to Europe with her two newborn boys. For four agonizing years, she buried her grief and transformed into Raina, a world-renowned architect. She built an unbreakable empire to protect her sons, believing she was finally safe from her ex-husband's shadow. But upon returning to New York, a little girl clutching a pink bunny bumped into her legs in a hotel hallway. "You look just like the lady in Daddy's picture," the child sobbed. It was her abandoned daughter. And Griffin, piecing together the impossible coincidences, began a frantic, city-wide hunt for his 'dead' ex-wife. Watching his black SUVs surround her safehouse from the window, Eleanor poured a glass of wine and smiled coldly. The war had just begun.