My parents died when I was seventeen, leaving me heartbroken and orphaned. Mr. Julian Vance, my father's charismatic former mentee and a Silicon Valley titan, unexpectedly stepped in as my guardian. He moved me into his lavish Atherton mansion, offering a bewildering new life of privilege. Confused by teenage feelings, I tragically developed a crush on him, confessing my yearning in a clumsy letter. Julian found it, and his kind facade shattered into a mask of pure fury. He denounced me as an "ungrateful, perverse child" and promptly sent me away to ClearPath Academy, a mysterious institution that promised to "fix" me. ClearPath was a nightmare. I endured forced medication, sleep deprivation, and brutal re-education, emerging months later a broken shell of my former self. Upon my return, Julian introduced his icy fiancée, Eleanor, who immediately launched a campaign of insidious manipulation and abuse against me. Julian, inexplicably blind to Eleanor's malice, repeatedly believed her lies over my pleas, dismissing my visible ClearPath scars as theatrics and ultimately abandoning me to violent thugs. Why was the man who once seemed to care so willing to believe such falsehoods and inflict such profound pain? How could he be so utterly deceived? The crushing weight of betrayal and abandonment pushed me to one final, desperate act beneath the Golden Gate Bridge. My shattered death finally tore away Julian's blinders. Consumed by agonizing guilt, he now confronts the horrifying truth about ClearPath and Eleanor's monstrous deception. He vows bloody retribution and embarks on a chilling penance, willing to endure my every torment in a desperate, last-ditch effort to redeem his tormented soul and reclaim my spirit.
My parents died when I was seventeen, leaving me heartbroken and orphaned.
Mr. Julian Vance, my father's charismatic former mentee and a Silicon Valley titan, unexpectedly stepped in as my guardian.
He moved me into his lavish Atherton mansion, offering a bewildering new life of privilege.
Confused by teenage feelings, I tragically developed a crush on him, confessing my yearning in a clumsy letter.
Julian found it, and his kind facade shattered into a mask of pure fury.
He denounced me as an "ungrateful, perverse child" and promptly sent me away to ClearPath Academy, a mysterious institution that promised to "fix" me.
ClearPath was a nightmare.
I endured forced medication, sleep deprivation, and brutal re-education, emerging months later a broken shell of my former self.
Upon my return, Julian introduced his icy fiancée, Eleanor, who immediately launched a campaign of insidious manipulation and abuse against me.
Julian, inexplicably blind to Eleanor's malice, repeatedly believed her lies over my pleas, dismissing my visible ClearPath scars as theatrics and ultimately abandoning me to violent thugs.
Why was the man who once seemed to care so willing to believe such falsehoods and inflict such profound pain?
How could he be so utterly deceived?
The crushing weight of betrayal and abandonment pushed me to one final, desperate act beneath the Golden Gate Bridge.
My shattered death finally tore away Julian's blinders.
Consumed by agonizing guilt, he now confronts the horrifying truth about ClearPath and Eleanor's monstrous deception.
He vows bloody retribution and embarks on a chilling penance, willing to endure my every torment in a desperate, last-ditch effort to redeem his tormented soul and reclaim my spirit.
Chapter 1
The call came on a Tuesday.
My parents were dead.
A small plane, a sudden storm over the mountains. No survivors.
Just like that, I was an orphan. Seventeen years old.
Mr. Julian Vance arrived a week later.
He was my father's former mentee, a big name in Silicon Valley.
He was also the executor of their estate.
And now, my legal guardian.
"You'll call me Julian," he said, his voice smooth, but with an edge I couldn't quite place.
He moved me from our modest Californian home to his Atherton mansion.
It was a palace of glass and steel, cold and impressive.
Julian gave me everything.
A new wardrobe overflowing with designer clothes I didn't know how to wear.
A sleek sports car I was too scared to drive.
Enrollment in an elite private school.
He paraded me at charity galas, the orphaned daughter he'd so generously taken in.
People praised his kindness. I just felt lost.
I turned eighteen in that grand, empty house.
The milestone felt hollow.
Julian threw a party, a lavish affair.
That night, something shifted in me.
He was kind, distant but always there. I mistook his calculated care for something more.
I wrote him a letter, clumsy words pouring out my confused, teenage feelings. A crush, an inappropriate yearning for the man who was now my guardian.
I left it on his desk.
He found it almost immediately. I heard his footsteps, quick and heavy, coming towards my room.
His face was a mask of fury.
"What is this?" he demanded, the letter trembling in his hand.
His voice, usually so controlled, was raw with anger.
"You ungrateful, perverse child!"
He tore up my college acceptance letter for aerospace engineering, the one I'd worked so hard for.
"You need discipline. Correction."
He told me I was going to a special school, a place called ClearPath Academy in Oregon.
He said it would "fix" me.
My future, my dreams, shattered on his marble floor.
ClearPath was a nightmare from the moment I arrived.
They took my name, gave me a number.
Forced medication made my head fuzzy, my body heavy.
Sleep deprivation. Endless questioning.
They called it "re-education."
They told me my feelings were wrong, sick.
The staff watched me, their eyes cold.
I tried to resist, to hold onto myself.
They just pushed harder.
Months passed in a blur of grey walls and muted suffering.
Then, one day, Julian was there.
He looked the same, impeccably dressed, his expression unreadable.
He signed some papers. I was released.
He drove me back to the mansion in silence.
He still looked exactly the same, every hair in place, his suit perfect.
But there was someone new in the passenger seat on the way to the airport, and now beside him as we pulled up to the mansion.
A woman.
She was beautiful, sharp, her eyes like chips of ice.
She turned to me as we stepped out of the car.
"Hello, Amelia," she said, her voice cool and precise. "I'm Eleanor Sterling. Julian's fiancée."
Fiancée.
The word hit me like a physical blow.
My world, already tilted, spun completely off its axis.
I just nodded.
I couldn't speak.
I walked into the house, my legs unsteady.
The place felt even colder than before.
Later, Julian found me in the library.
He stood over me, his shadow long in the dim light.
"You're different," he said, his voice devoid of warmth. "Are those foolish ideas gone from your head?"
He meant my letter. My stupid, childish feelings.
A sharp pain lanced through my chest, so intense it made me gasp.
My throat closed up.
The memories of ClearPath, the shame, the fear, washed over me.
"Yes, Julian," I whispered, the words tasting like ash. "They're gone."
I had to say it. I had to make him believe it.
He watched me for a long moment, a flicker of something I couldn't decipher in his eyes.
Unease? Or just distaste?
Then, he nodded, a curt, dismissive gesture.
"Good. Go to your room."
I turned and walked away, my back straight, my face a careful blank.
Inside, I was crumbling.
A bitter taste filled my mouth. This was my new reality.
I went to my old room, the one I'd had before ClearPath.
It wasn't my room anymore.
It was filled with boxes, discarded furniture, things Eleanor clearly didn't want.
A storage space.
Eleanor appeared in the doorway, a slight, knowing smile on her lips.
"Oh, Amelia, dear," she said, her voice dripping with false sympathy. "We had to make some adjustments. Julian and I need more space now, you understand."
She gestured vaguely at the clutter. "Sorry about this."
Her apology was an insult.
"It's fine," I said, my voice flat.
What else could I say?
I was a guest here, an unwanted one.
At dinner, Julian was attentive to Eleanor.
He laughed at her jokes, touched her hand.
They looked like a perfect couple.
I sat in silence, pushing food around my plate, a ghost at their table.
Eleanor tried to draw me into conversation.
"Amelia, you're so quiet. Are you feeling alright?"
I looked up.
I picked up my water glass and drank, a precise, measured movement.
Then I set it down, perfectly aligned with my plate.
I did it again. And again.
A small, repetitive motion, an echo of the control they'd tried to drill into me at ClearPath.
I focused on the glass, the water, anything but their faces.
"She's certainly more... obedient now," Eleanor remarked, a hint of amusement in her voice.
Julian looked at me, a flicker of something – satisfaction? – in his eyes.
"ClearPath seems to have had a positive effect," he said.
He didn't understand. He didn't want to understand.
I couldn't stand it.
"Excuse me," I mumbled, pushing my chair back.
I needed to be alone.
I fled to the repurposed room, the only space that was mine, however unwelcoming.
I had a plan.
A small, desperate plan.
I had managed to hide a burner phone, a lifeline.
The suffering at ClearPath had forged a new resolve in me.
I would get out. I had to.
I took the phone from its hiding place, my hands shaking.
Relief washed over me, so potent it was almost painful.
But it was followed by a wave of despair.
Escape was one thing. What came after?
I tried to sleep, but my mind raced.
Julian's angry words from that night echoed in my head.
"Ungrateful, perverse child!"
The shame burned, fresh and raw.
Suddenly, the door creaked open.
A tall shadow fell across the floor.
Julian.
My heart leaped into my throat.
Panic, cold and sharp, seized me.
My mind fractured. I wasn't in the mansion anymore. I was back at ClearPath.
The conditioning was instant, brutal.
I scrambled off the makeshift bed, dropping to my knees.
My hands went to the hem of my shirt, ready to pull it up, to offer what they always took.
"Please," I whimpered, my voice small, broken. "Don't hurt me. I'll be good."
I thought he was one of them, one of the staff, come for another session.
Julian stared at me, his face unreadable in the dim light.
Then, I saw his expression shift.
Disbelief.
Followed by a surge of cold, hard anger.
"What in God's name are you doing?" he hissed.
The benevolent guardian was gone. The man from that night, the one who'd condemned me, was back.
"Ethan, this is unethical. It's criminal. She hasn't consented." Those chilling words, whispered in the sterile hum of an operating room, were the first thing I heard as consciousness flickered back. My heart pounded, cold dread snaking through my veins. Dr. Ben Carter, Ethan's old friend, was arguing with him. "She's my girlfriend, Ben. Practically my wife," Ethan scoffed, his voice laced with a terrifying casualness. "Chloe needs this kidney. Ava is a perfect match." Kidney. Chloe. My blood ran cold. The beautiful, fragile Chloe Vahn, who had always haunted our relationship, was now taking a piece of me, quite literally. I tried to scream, to move, but my body felt like lead, my throat raw. I felt a sharp tug, a searing line of fire on my side-the scalpel. Ten years of love, of sacrifice, building Ethan Reed and his company back from nothing, all for this. To be carved up like an animal for the woman he truly loved. When I finally regained full awareness, Ethan was by my bedside, a practiced look of concern on his face, spinning a lie about a ruptured ovarian cyst. But then, the overheard nurse's whispered conversation confirmed my nightmare: "Chloe's kidney transplant... he barely left her side." The pieces slammed into place. My despair solidified into a cold, hard resolve. No more. I grabbed my phone, scrolling to one contact I hadn't dared to call. Noah Hayes, Ethan's rival, a man of integrity. My finger trembled as I typed. "Noah," I managed, my voice raspy. "Are you still looking for a COO who knows Reed Innovate's strategies... and perhaps, a wife?" The silence stretched, then his voice, calm and serious, cut through the noise of my crumbling world. "My jet, seven days. LaGuardia."
My life with Liam Goldstein was a fairytale, a perfect love story plastered across every magazine and TV screen in Manhattan. He'd even unveiled the "Maya's Horizon" necklace, a multi-million-dollar cascade of sapphires, celebrating our perfect devotion. But fairytales are just that – tales. Then came the burner phone, the hushed calls, the screenshots, and hotel receipts that screamed 'affair'. I watched him live-stream gifts to his young mistress, Ava Sinclair, calling her his "queen," only to later find her visibly pregnant in a hospital, flaunting our engagement necklace and talking about a "situation" with me. His friends, the same ones who toasted our "perfect love," smirked as he publicly kissed Ava and joked about his "side action," assuring her I'd "never find out." Every grand gesture he'd made, from donating a kidney to cultivating a white rose garden, flashed before my eyes, revealing themselves as calculated performances. How could the man who saved my life, the one I vowed to, betray me with such grotesque audacity, in front of the world and his complicit inner circle? It felt like a sick cosmic joke, a public humiliation disguised as love. But I had given him a warning on our wedding day: "If you ever lie to me, truly lie, I will vanish from your life as if I never existed." Now, it was time to activate the Phoenix Initiative, erase Maya Goldstein, and leave Liam with nothing but ghost of a promise he had shattered.
My life revolved around Ethan, the secret husband I loved fiercely, despite the feud between our families. Then, Chloe Vance, his ex-girlfriend and now stepmother, cornered me in a powder room with a cruel bet: ten chances to make Ethan publicly claim me, or I'd sign divorce papers and disappear. Each attempt to win his affection ended in public humiliation. He remained cold, his attention always on Chloe, who openly delighted in my torment. He looked at me with disgust when I tried to bridge the distance, abandoned me in a fire, and watched me suffer an acid attack – his only concern for her. Despite my agony, he later tried to make me take the fall for her sordid scandals. How could the man I loved treat me with such brutal indifference, repeatedly choosing his ex-girlfriend while I withered? Was I merely a convenient shield, a secret to be hidden, while his true devotion remained with another woman? The casual cruelty, the dismissive betrayal, chipped away at everything I believed. Watching him side with her after that horrific attack, something inside me irrevocably shattered. My foolish, stubborn love for Ethan Gold finally, completely died. I decided then that I wouldn't just leave; I would reclaim my life and dignity, severing every last tie to the man who never truly saw me. And he would finally understand what he had lost.
For three years, I lived a lie as Ava Cole, wife to Ethan, whose devotion was reserved not for me, but his college sweetheart, Chloe Vance. I meticulously tracked his escalating betrayals in my secret "Breaking Point Ledger," knowing 100 points meant freedom. The ledger filled quickly, fueled by his unapologetic neglect and public displays of obsession. Then, disaster struck: caught in a violent car crash, I lay bleeding, my world shattering around me. Doctors, grim-faced, revealed I was eight weeks pregnant, desperately needing help. But when the hospital reached Ethan, his urgent command echoed chillingly: prioritize Chloe, who had a mere allergic reaction. My baby, our baby, was lost. "We couldn't save the baby," the nurse later confirmed, her voice laced with a silent fury that mirrored my own. The ledger, once a quiet tally, now screamed past its limit, leaving a brutal, undeniable score of his final, ultimate betrayal. There was no going back; only forward. With a soul-deep resolve, I signed my divorce papers, reclaiming Ava Miller and leaving behind the shattered remnants of a life that was never truly mine. My bags were already packed for Austin, ready for a new chapter where I would rebuild, reclaim, and rise from the ashes.
My marriage to Ethan Cole, a man revered as a titan of industry, felt less like a partnership and more like a never-ending siege. After years of fighting for even a sliver of his attention, I found him on the floor of his study, fixated on a small, wooden box. Inside, nestled on velvet, were forbidden relics: a child's drawing, a pressed flower, and a faded photo of Olivia Vance, the girl he'd been raised with. The raw, yearning expression on his face, a look he had never once given me, confirmed the crushing truth: his emotional unavailability was solely reserved for her. Our sterile, business-transaction marriage was a smokescreen for his lifelong obsession, culminating in him abandoning me in a skyscraper fire as he pulled Olivia to safety. He then brushed off my concussion from Olivia's attack, prioritized her minor burn for a top surgeon, and offered obscene diamonds to buy my silence, while she moved into our home to subtly torture me. His blindness to Olivia's manipulation, his monumental arrogance, and his consistent disregard for my pain made me realize the devastating reality: he didn't just not feel for me, he chose to torment me instead. But as I saved myself from those flames, a cold, hard resolve replaced the agony. My love for him, long dead, was now replaced by a fierce determination: I would reclaim my life, expose his deceit, and make him truly understand the cost of his choices.
My life with Mark was perfect, a picture of happy marriage. He and his identical twin, David, ran a thriving brewery, and together with my sister Jess, we were an unbreakable foursome. Then, a shattering phone call. David, always so full of life, had collapsed and died. Weeks of agonizing grief followed, but the true nightmare began at a solemn family dinner. Mark's mother, Brenda, demanded the unthinkable: I was to carry David's child for my sister, a vessel for the "Thompson legacy." My own mother, always favoring Jess, twisted the knife, urging me to "be understanding." I stood paralyzed, while Mark, my supposed anchor, vehemently defended me. But that defense was a cruel facade. One night, I found him in my guest room, not comforting my grieving sister Jess, but kissing her. And then I heard it: "I want your baby, Mark. Openly. Not... not David's ghost." Jess was pregnant with his child. The man who swore to protect me was betraying me with my own sister, all while their desperate family tried to force me into a truly monstrous act. Every loving gesture, every word of trust, twisted into a grotesque lie. Was I truly so blind? So easily manipulated? Why me? Why this profound and sickening betrayal? That night, the naive wife died. A cold, hard rage ignited. I demanded a divorce, packed my bags, and moved halfway across the country. But Mark, Jess, and their twisted family thought they could sweep me aside. They were wrong. I wasn't running; I was retreating to draw the battle lines. This wasn't just about escape anymore. It was about meticulously crafting the perfect retribution, a revenge so complete, they'd wish they never crossed me.
After eighteen years in the Tate family, Paige Tate suddenly found out that she wasn't her parents' daughter. Their biological daughter was back, and Paige was abandoned. They were about to send Paige back to her hometown, which was an allegedly poor county... However, the so-called poor county turned out to be the area where the most expensive villas in the country gathered! Overnight, she went from a fake daughter of a relatively rich family to a real daughter of a top family! Her biological parents doted on her unconditionally. They allowed her to have at least 1.6 million dollars as her pocket money, drive whichever luxury car in the garage she favored, buy whatever customized luxuries in the world she pleased, and choose any top school she preferred. If she didn't want to go to school, she could kill her time with the family business! What shocked Paige the most was that she had a fiancé... Her fiancé proposed to break off the engagement, and Paige didn't give a damn. However, she was confused by what happened afterward. He had proposed to break off the engagement, and then he clung onto her as if he was a completely different person! He became so clingy and handsy. Paige was annoyed. "Who are you, Sir?" "Baby, I am your husband." "I don't have a husband. An ex-fiancé who wants to break off our engagement is all I have." Martin Stowe, the world's richest man, feared by everyone in the world, was speechless. He wanted to punch himself as he was so silly that he called off the marriage without even meeting Paige...
"Ahh!" She was in a moaning mess. She did not want to feel anything for this man. She hated him. His hands began to move all over her body. She gasped when he pulled down the back chain of her dress. The chain stopped at her lower waist, so when he zipped it off, her upper back and waist were exposed. "D-Don't touch m-ummm!" His fingers rolled around her bare back, and she pressed her head against the pillow. His touches were giving her goosebumps all over her body. With a deep angry voice, he whispered in her ear, "I am going to make you forget his touches, kisses, and everything. Every time you touch another man, you will only think of me." - - - Ava Adler was a nerdy omega. People bullied her because they thought she was ugly and unattractive. But Ava secretly loved the bad boy, Ian Dawson. He was the future Alpha of the Mystic Shadow Pack. However, he doesn't give a damn about rules and laws, as he only likes to play around with girls. Ava was unaware of Ian's arrogance until her fate intertwined with his. He neglected her and hurt her deeply. What would happen when Ava turned out to be a beautiful girl who could win over any boy, and Ian looked back and regretted his decisions? What if she had a secret identity that she had yet to discover? What if the tables turned and Ian begged her not to leave him?
Five years ago, he upped and left his wife without informing her. He had always felt unworthy. As a result, he decided to go and become a better man. It took him five whole years of daily hard work. When he was satisfied, he returned as a powerful and honorable man. He intended to start a family with his wife. But he got back to meet the greatest shocker of his life. He actually had a daughter!
"Love is blind!" Lucinda abandoned her beautiful and comfortable life because of a man. She married him and slaved off for him for three long years. One day, the scales finally fell off her eyes. She realized that all her efforts were in vain. Her husband, Nathaniel still treated her like shit. All he cared about was his lover. "Enough is enough! I quit wasting my years with an ungrateful man!" Lucinda's heart was shattered into many pieces, but she summoned up the courage to ask for a divorce. The news caused a stir online! A filthy rich young woman recently got divorced? She was a good catch! Countless CEOs and handsome young men immediately swarmed to her like bees to honey! Nathaniel couldn't take it anymore. He held a press conference and begged with teary eyes, "I love you, Lucinda. I can't live without you. Please come back to me." Would Lucinda give him a second chance? Read to find out!
After a one-night stand with a stranger, Roselyn woke up to find only a bank card without a PIN number. Still in a daze, she was detained on charges of theft. Just as the handcuffs were about to close, the mysterious man reappeared, holding her pregnancy report. "You're pregnant with my child," he said coldly. Shocked, Roselyn was whisked away in a helicopter to the presidential palace, where she learned the truth: the man from that night was none other than the country's most powerful and influential leader!
Lucille was one of the most skilled female assassins, and on the previous night, she embarked on a top-secret mission. However, the mission's details were leaked, leading to her untimely demise at the hands of a traitorous companion. She never discovered the identity of the person who betrayed her before her death. But by some miracle, she was granted a new life, and was reborn as a girl with the same name. Determined to uncover the truth and seek revenge for her family, Lucille seized her second chance at life. She planned to avenge her loved ones. However, her plans were complicated by Joseph, an apparently frail man who was actually skilled in martial arts. And he seemed to fall for her deeply, now this newfound knowledge only added to the complications of Lucille's revenge plan...