The Hundredth Rejection

My phone screen lit up, not with a text, but a stark, black-and-white pop-up. "Ethan' s SAT scores: 1580. Stanford bound with Tiffany. You' re the 'just in case' girl." Just moments earlier, my childhood crush Ethan, whose father my own dad died saving, feigned despair over "disastrous" SAT scores. He'd gently coerced me, the valedictorian, to give up my dream school for State College, all for "us." These mysterious pop-ups, visible only to me, had always been unsettlingly, terrifyingly right. This one revealed his calculated deception: he'd aced his SATs and was going to Stanford with his new girlfriend, Tiffany. My heart turned to ice. I was his backup plan, a discarded pawn. The betrayal escalated at his lavish graduation party where he publicly humiliated me, painting my sacrifice as my idea. Then, with Tiffany's cruel suggestion, he trapped and locked me in a dark utility closet. The final blow: he brazenly showed my ailing mom a faked State acceptance letter, causing her to suffer a heart attack. As I sat by her hospital bed, watching her struggle for breath, a cold rage ignited. How could the boy whose family owed us everything be capable of such cruel manipulation? My dad died for his. Why was I his pawn? What were these pop-ups? But in that sterile room, watching his continued charade, something inside me snapped. I slapped him, hard. No longer a confused victim, I saw him for what he was: a manipulative abuser. This wasn't the end of my story. This was the beginning of my fight to reclaim it.

My hand trembled as I prepared to call Kevin. I had sacrificed everything for him, cutting ties with my tycoon father, Harrison Gold. But finally, my father had agreed to meet Kevin, even considering funding his tech startup. Peace and success felt within our grasp. Then, a new Instagram post from Jess Vance, Kevin's business partner, popped up. It was an ultrasound picture, captioned, "Love knows no timeline." My blood ran cold when Kevin called moments later. "Jess is pregnant," he stated flatly. "It's mine," he continued, "and she' s Harrison Gold's daughter." He demanded a divorce, claiming it was "just business" to secure vital funding. He violently shoved me as I resisted, sending me crashing into a table. A searing pain ripped through me as I crumpled, bleeding profusely. I was losing our baby, and he just walked out, leaving me there. The man I loved and gave everything for had brutally betrayed me. He destroyed our marriage, our future, and our unborn child for a lie and for money. How could he commit such a monstrous act, all for a fabricated identity for his mistress? But he made one critical mistake: he provoked a Gold. He dismissed me as unsupported, never realizing my powerful father's true reach. My father, seeing my brokenness and the loss of his grandchild, vowed cold, absolute revenge. This wasn't just a breakup; it was a war, and I, Sarah Gold, was about to rise from its ashes.

I remember the Orlando theme park vividly, a chaotic backdrop to the day I, Sarah, believed I saved my younger brother, Kevin, from a suspicious beat-up van and the men within. For twenty-two agonizing years that followed, he systematically dismantled my happiness, turning my very existence into a meticulously crafted hell, blaming me for every one of his pathetic failures and wasted life choices. On my fortieth birthday, as celebratory champagne turned to deadly poison in my throat, Kevin leaned close, his eyes glinting with pure, unadulterated triumph, whispering, "You should have let me go, Sarah; this is all your fault." That agonizing betrayal, that final, calculated act of malice, consumed me entirely as darkness quickly enveloped my world, stealing my breath and my future. I died, drowning in his insidious lies and my own complete helplessness, forever haunted by his chilling words, believing my life was ultimately a tragic, unending consequence of his twisted vendetta. Then, with a jarring jolt, I was miraculously back in that exact moment, the searing Florida sun oppressive, the cheerful theme park music grating, fully transported to the very nightmare where my torment began. There he was again, my sixteen-year-old brother Kevin, a familiar cocky smirk adorning his young face, confidently heading straight for the same beat-up van and its sinister occupants. This time, no frantic screams of warning tore from my throat; no desperate rush to interfere compelled my feet forward, no instinct to rescue him remained. A chilling stillness settled deep within my core, an immediate echo of the grave he' d prepared for me, as I consciously embraced a profoundly different path. I watched him climb into the decrepit van, watched its door slam shut on his ignorant bliss, and understood with absolute clarity that my second chance was not for any kind of salvation, but for a justice far colder and more absolute than I ever conceived.

After two decades in a black-site prison, Elara was finally free, stepping back into a world she believed her husband had fought to reclaim for her. But an overheard conversation shattered that illusion: her husband, Marcus, coolly admitted he' d orchestrated her imprisonment as a 'perfect sacrifice' to protect their son, Alex, and clinch his climb to power, all while collaborating with Elara' s own adopted sister, Chloe, his mistress. Returned home a ghost, Elara watched as Chloe usurped her prestigious position, flaunting Elara' s own uniform. At a public gala, her father openly slapped her, demanding she yield her family legacy to Chloe, while Marcus and Alex turned their backs, leaving her isolated and humiliated. The final blow came when Chloe feigned an attack, leading Alex to violently shove his mother against a pillar, and Marcus to threaten Elara with a return to the very prison she'd just escaped. Twenty years of torture and isolation, endured with the false hope of vindication, were exposed as a cold, calculated transaction by those she loved most. The once unwavering love she held for her family incinerated into ash, leaving only a chilling clarity: they valued power over her life. With her past reduced to embers and her future with them extinguished, Elara activated a secret family protocol, erasing every trace of her existence, and walked out into the night, reborn to forge a new identity-and a new life-far from their toxic shadow.

The applause roared like the ocean, but my world felt silent. On stage, my twin sister, Stella, was smiling, delivering the salutatorian address at Northwood University. She was using my name, Ava Davenport. But this wasn't her life. It was mine. I knew because I' d lived this moment before, watching from a dark room, right before the police arrested me for a murder I didn' t commit. This time, I was here, walking down the aisle towards her. The murmurs started, questions of two identical girls. Dean Harrison demanded to know who I was. "I'm Ava Davenport," I stated, clear and steady, pointing at the impostor. Chaos erupted as my biological parents, the Davenports, stepped forward. They embraced Stella, claiming she was their daughter, and called me a disturbed impostor. Stella produced pristine ID with her face, bearing my name. My mother then revealed the "definitive proof" : a star-shaped birthmark on Stella' s left wrist. Ethan, the high school quarterback, vouched for Stella, his words echoing my conviction in a past life. My foster parents, brought by the Davenports, labeled me a "pathological liar" obsessed with my "real family." Security guards advanced. The weight of their orchestrated lies was crushing, turning the crowd' s whispers into a deafening judgment. They saw a crazy stalker, a criminal. Every detail was identical to my previous nightmare, a life where I endured and lost everything. But this time, my heart wasn't racing. It was cold, heavy, and ready. "Just one more piece of evidence," I declared, calm and collected, reaching for my phone.

The smell of cheap hotdogs and burnt sugar hung heavy in the air. I stood there, watching Jake Henderson, the town's golden boy, showing off on the old wooden tower. Just like before, he was about to fall. Last time, I sacrificed everything. I became his human shield, shattering my hand, losing my art scholarship, and condemning myself to a lifetime of his manipulation and infidelity. He married me out of supposed obligation, then poisoned our children against me, constantly whispering how I' d supposedly stolen his chance with Tiffany, his 'white moonlight' who' d effortlessly claimed my future. I died alone, full of agonizing regret in a sterile room, my dreams turned to ash. But now, I was back. Frozen at the exact same moment, watching him teeter. A cold, unwavering resolve washed over me. No. More. Sacrifices. This time, I wouldn't move an inch. Let him fall. This was my chance to shatter the chains of the past, reclaim my stolen future, and finally build a life free from Jake.

Rumors claimed that Fernanda, newly back with her family, was nothing more than a violent country bumpkin. Fernanda just flashed a casual, dismissive grin in response. Another rumor suggested that the usually rational Cristian had lost all sense, madly in love with Fernanda. This frustrated her. She could tolerate gossip about herself, but slander against her beloved crossed the line! Gradually, as Fernanda's multiple identities as a celebrated designer, a savvy gamer, an acclaimed painter, and a successful business magnate came to light, everyone realized they were the ones who had been fooled.

Kara Martin was known as Miss Perfect. She was a beauty with good personality and successful career. Unfortunately, her life changed at one night. She was accused of adultery, losing her job, and abandoned by her fiance. The arrogant man who slept with her did not want to take responsibility. He even threatened to kill her if they met again. What's worse, Kara was pregnant with twins and she chose to give birth to them. Four and a half years later, Kara returned to work at a large company. As the secretary, she would frequently face their notorious CEO. Kara thought it wouldn't be a problem, but as it turned out ... the CEO was the father of the twins!

Three years of marriage couldn't melt Theo's frozen heart. When an art gallery collapsed on Lena, he was off romancing another woman-lavishing her with a private jet. Three steel pins held Lena's shoulder together, but her heart remained broken. She filed for divorce and told everyone that he was impotent. Rising from the rubble, Lena blazed onto the design world's A‑list. She expected him to sail off with his true love-until Theo reappeared at her runway, pressing her against the wall. "Impotent, huh? Care to give it a try?"

"I heard you're going to marry Marcelo. Is this perhaps your revenge against me? It's very laughable, Renee. That man can barely function." Her foster family, her cheating ex, everyone thought Renee was going to live in pure hell after getting married to a disabled and cruel man. She didn't know if anything good would ever come out of it after all, she had always thought it would be hard for anyone to love her but this cruel man with dark secrets is never going to grant her a divorce because she makes him forget how to breathe.

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."

It was supposed to be a marriage of convenience, but Carrie made the mistake of falling in love with Kristopher. When the time came that she needed him the most, her husband was in the company of another woman. Enough was enough. Carrie chose to divorce Kristopher and move on with her life. Only when she left did Kristopher realize how important she was to him. In the face of his ex-wife’s countless admirers, Kristopher offered her 20 million dollars and proposed a new deal. “Let’s get married again.”