A Game With No Rules
/1/127579/coverbig.jpg?v=2ea34f2e2c2f3053a637d5acfe2fbf25)
His Unwanted Wife, The Hidden Genius
I flew back to New York on my twenty-fifth birthday, carrying vintage gold cufflinks I spent weeks finding for my billionaire husband, Declan. But when I walked into our townhouse, I found him throwing a massive victory party with Sloane, a glamorous socialite, standing by his side as the proud hostess. "Don't cause a scene. Go upstairs." Declan coldly dismissed me in front of his guests. Even Poppy, the rookie player whose shattered ankle I had painstakingly rebuilt, rolled her eyes and ignored me to suck up to Sloane. Hiding in the shadows, I heard the maids gossiping that everyone thought Sloane was the future Mrs. Hartford. To make matters worse, I discovered Sloane had stolen my anonymous, groundbreaking medical algorithm and was planning to present it as her own. First my husband, then the girl I mentored like family, and now the scientific foundation I had built with my own hands. Declan even texted me to cancel our birthday breakfast without a single apology, treating me like an annoying afterthought. My tears vanished, replaced by a freezing clarity. I signed the divorce papers, leaving them on his desk with zero demands for his money. Then I packed my bags, booked a one-way ticket to Boston, and prepared to destroy them on the global stage.
Chapter 1
Aurelia Vance POV:
I had been married to Declan Hartford for three years.
Today was my twenty-fifth birthday, and I had flown back from Boston in secret, hoping for one quiet evening with my husband.
I'd spent a week carefully picking out a pair of gold cufflinks as a gift for my husband.
But the laughter spilling from the front door told me I was already too late: the woman who had taken my place at his side was already inside.
The heavy oak door swung open before I reached the porch. Three young players from the New York Titans, Declan's NHL franchise, stumbled out with crystal tumblers of scotch, laughing loudly. They barely glanced at me as they passed.
I stepped into the grand foyer. The heat hit me instantly,expensive champagne, roasted tenderloin, cigar smoke.
Dozens of people filled the double parlor: executives, scouts, wives in designer dresses.
In the center stood Declan, tall and broad in a bespoke charcoal suit. Beside him, laughing into his ear, was Sloane Whitfield, her backless silver dress catching the chandelier light. Her hand rested on his forearm like she belonged there.
Before I could take another breath, a blur of blonde hair darted past my elbow.
"Sloane!" Poppy Delacroix cried, throwing her arms around Sloane's slender waist. "You were completely right about the catering! This is literally the best victory party the team has ever had!"
Poppy is fourteen, a junior elite forward prospect.
I scouted her two years ago from a crumbling youth league, back when she was at her lowest.
Her parents had once shown me great kindness, and I knew they had already passed away, leaving her all alone in the world.
Declan and I adopted her together.
I rebuilt her shattered ankle with a custom rehabilitation plan.
I had always loved and cared for her as both a mother and a sister.
Now, she did not even glance in my direction.
Declan turned his head, his gaze sweeping over the crowd until his eyes locked onto mine. The easy grin on his sharp jaw vanished instantly. His brows drew together in a hard, irritated line.
He excused himself from Sloane, cutting through the throng of players with long, impatient strides.
"Aurelia," Declan said, stopping two feet in front of me. His voice carried zero warmth. "What are you doing here?"
My throat felt like sandpaper.
"I took the four o'clock flight from Boston," I whispered, clutching the strap of my bag until my knuckles turned white. "It is my birthday, Declan. I thought we could—"
"We are celebrating the division win," he cut in, his tone sharp enough to draw blood. "The board is here. The sponsors are here. Sloane spent four consecutive days coordinating this event so the organization could project stability."
He did not look at me. His gaze slid past my shoulder to the bar, like I was a waitress who had wandered into the wrong room.
"Don't cause a scene," he added quietly. "Go upstairs."
A soft, mocking murmur rippled through a cluster of players' wives standing near the grand staircase. Two women with platinum blowouts exchanged knowing glances over their flutes of Dom Pérignon.
"I didn't know," I said, my voice barely audible over the swelling music. "I am sorry."
I turned toward the staircase, my legs trembling beneath my wool trousers.
Near the landing, Poppy was adjusting her designer jacket in the hallway mirror.
"Poppy," I said softly, pausing beside her. "How is your ankle feeling after Thursday's third period? Did you complete the isometric sequence I sent?"
Poppy rolled her eyes, sighing loudly as she pulled out her phone.
"Aurelia, please, not right now," she muttered without looking at me. "Sloane is introducing me to a marketing director from one of our partners. I don't have time for your spreadsheets."
The dismissive edge in her voice hit me harder than Declan's coldness. I had stayed up until three in the morning reviewing her biomechanical scans while she was recovering from surgery, and now I was just an annoyance in the way of her social ascent.
I walked up the rest of the stairs and entered the primary suite—the massive, sterile bedroom allocated to me under our prenuptial agreement.
I sat on the edge of the mattress and pulled out the velvet box. The gold cufflinks gleamed under the bedside lamp, cold and useless.
Downstairs, cheers erupted. The sound vibrated through the floorboards.
I walked to the French doors overlooking the rear garden. Down on the illuminated patio, Sloane was directing two servers by an ice sculpture. Declan stood beside her, his head bent down as he listened to her speak, his hand casually brushing the small of her back.
They looked like the couple the city expected them to be.
My phone buzzed in my coat pocket. I pulled it out, hoping against hope.
It was an email notification.
"Happy Birthday, Aurelia. Remember that true science requires patience and solitude. You are meant for greater arenas than New York boardrooms. -Dr. Edmund Sterling."
My mentor at Harvard was the only person in the world who had remembered.
I typed a brief "Thank you, Professor" and shut off the screen.
Hours passed. The bass eventually quieted, replaced by the occasional clatter of glassware and slamming car doors. My throat burned with thirst.
At two in the morning, I padded downstairs in my stocking feet to fetch a glass of water from the butler's pantry.
As I rounded the corner near the service hallway, the voices of two newly hired catering maids stopped me dead in my tracks.
"Miss Whitfield is stunning," the first girl whispered, scraping dessert plates into a bin. "Mr. Hartford's girlfriend carries herself like royalty."
"A girlfriend?" the other asked, pausing. "But isn't Mr. Hartford rumored to be married? Is it inappropriate to be this close with Whitfield?"
"Married?Where did that come from? Even if there was one, they must have split long ago. I've worked three events here this month, and Miss Whitfield is the only woman hosting by his side. Everyone knows she's the future Mrs. Hartford."
I shrank back into the cold shadow of the archway, my blood turning to ice.
In the home where I held a legal marriage certificate, my presence had already been wiped clean.
/0/529/coverbig.jpg?v=20171121200103)
The Rules of the Game
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part
/0/5136/coverbig.jpg?v=d924b311615a416bbd662b4aba6d1d0c)
/0/40377/coverbig.jpg?v=25288110c178653067b9aa85ca3417fd)
A Game of No Strings
Friends with benefits, but what happens when one of them starts catching feelings? Sharon and Andrew were two worlds apart according to the public. Nothing made them seem compatible. Known as a financial prodigy with an incomparable potential for maximizing gains, Andrew was perceived as a ma
/0/82295/coverbig.jpg?v=a0e92fb4880c151fa92bec573ea56bfb)
No Second Chances: My Empire, My Rules
I stood at the Northwood University Alumni Gala, a successful architect, a wife, and a mother, years after I' d left everything behind. Then, my ex, Ethan Hayes, stepped onto the stage, and the whole room hushed. He finished his speech and, to my horror, dropped to one knee before me, publicly pro
/0/38498/coverbig.jpg?v=587571c75010fc0117705d96c12d4806)
Three Rules
Ella Sandoval, 25 years old, maganda at sexy. Pangarap na maging sikat na designer. Mahilig makipagnobyo sa mayayaman na lalaki upang makuha ang luho at maitulong ang pera sa kaniyang mga magulang. Marami sa mga lalaki ay sinasamba siya, ngunit hindi pagdating kay Herbert Gutierrez. Si Herbert ay i
/0/28449/coverbig.jpg?v=4810a797dbccb97eaa1b32540f2645dd)
Rules of A Forbidden Romance
After her mother remarried a Korean businessman, Isla found herself trapped under the same roof with her stepbrothers; Eun-woo and Ji-hoon. She takes an instant dislike to Eun-woo after he showed his cold side during the first time they met each other while Ji-hoon turned out to be neutral and event
/0/69434/coverbig.jpg?v=20250215145448)
Love isn't a game
Synopsis: In the shimmering city of The Golden Bridge, Liam Morgan reigns as a powerful and ruthless CEO, a far cry from the quiet, brilliant boy who once endured relentless torment in high school. When Hazel Whitmore-the once-charismatic queen bee who made his life miserable-unwittingly lands a job
/0/49621/coverbig.jpg?v=7d14ff2a769d4b0cdb464e8bd4ff7633)
A GAME FOR FOUR
This is a love story between 4 people it's filled with suspense as love plays between 4 sets of individual
/0/67684/coverbig.jpg?v=20260505115622)
REVENGE IS A GAME
"Who are you?" "Your worst nightmare" "Ava... I thought you were dead?" When Ava discovers the devastating truth about Logan's betrayal, her world crumbles. Fuelled by anger and thirst for revenge, she comes back with a new face and identity and embarks on a dangerous game of revenge. As the pas
/0/79398/coverbig.jpg?v=bab8bd621cb19ea558f3f506fcae42a1)
A Game of Temptation
There were several ways to celebrate her best friend getting hitched off to the man of her dreams. Having sex with a stranger wasn't one of them-at least Laura didn't plan on it. But when an opportunity presents itself in the form of an incredibly sexy tattooed man, who was she to say no? Laura doe
/0/87180/coverbig.jpg?v=0f7025e5561b4b567dbcad609854d2e8)
DAMSEL RULES
Denzel Ramos doesn't believe in happy endings-not when her father lies comatose after a scandalous accident, her mother's strength is unraveling at the seams, and every bill feels like a battle. Her armor? Cold logic, a killer chess game, and three ironclad rules: 1. Don't fall in love. 2. Don't acc
/0/23878/coverbig.jpg?v=c796d09c7ecc6a67a44aa2a13596e87b)
Traditional rules
Tradition they say, is the air on which we breath The earth on which we live. It is what makes us unique and different But is tradition dynamic. Try reading this book"Traditional rules" It serves as an eye opener to the traditional blinded one's. It is equipped with the culture and tradition of th
/0/46730/coverbig.jpg?v=480ccbf49ea4e1c7128ff81542ab8fde)
Broken Rules
She's never to fall in love, to ever feel attracted to a man. Her purity must remain intact and she must stay untouched. She's the goddess of the Ocean and should never break the covenant of her birth. Disaster awaits her if she fails to abide to the rules and the love of her loved ones. What
/0/94738/coverbig.jpg?v=6349b18e21ae72fdf395350c85092221)
Prisoner No More, Queen Of The Game
Imprisoned at twenty and freed at twenty-three, she spent three years sharpening her skills-enough to crush her enemies. In her previous life, she was betrayed by her parents and brother, taking the fall for an impostor's crime. Tortured in prison while the impostor lived in luxury, she died w
/1/110735/coverbig.jpg?v=0f1a22161c4167d2652406a0bf8d9a01)
A Game Of Revenge
"You are only making things difficult for us." he said. "Just sign the papers and let's get this over with." As I opened my mouth to speak, I noticed that the wardrobe was slightly opened. Curious, I began to walk towards it. "Emily, what do you think you're doing?" he asked. But I ignored him
/0/75221/coverbig.jpg?v=e2ac2246d349bf556bdb2f49495db2a2)
A Game of Desire
He's used to control. She wasn't supposed to matter. Now, she's the one thing he can't ignore. A chance encounter at a coffee shop lands Haylee an unexpected job-personal assistant to Martin Knight, the cold, ruthless billionaire who doesn't just run New York's real estate empire-he owns it. But fro
/0/18725/coverbig.jpg?v=d2fad23145a2c61f392a435e986a48ed)
Attracted: A Love Game
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 d
/0/84858/coverbig.jpg?v=180567d06f9e47649696ea9f8ff0d5ef)
Chloe’s Game: No More Mr. Nice
The air in my workshop crackled with the hum of servers, a frantic race against a deadline for the National Tech Innovator' s Competition. My revolutionary AI was finally ready, my fingers flying across the keyboard, when my older brother Ethan walked in, his smile perfect and camera-ready. He han
/0/34085/coverbig.jpg?v=317c09d62285241aa7ba85bc9c687cf2)
Wild Passion: A Dangerous Love Game With My Boss
One night, Deanna batted her eyelashes flirtatiously at the dashing Dario and together, they indulged in a night of endless passion. The time they met again, they had different goals in mind. She boldly hooked up with him, while he enjoyed it without hesitation. Knowing that their shared moments o
/0/22186/coverbig.jpg?v=855e194565b75961e3e3054f860f5155)
Rules Breaker
She is the weakness of the both twin brothers. One loves her and one loves only her body but they like to share. Their parents told them to share everything so they like to share but will she agreed to get shared by the Star Twins. They played a game in which she lost. Now all she has to do is obe
