Considerably Wicked
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.
Wicked Promises
When Isadora Langston survives an assassination attempt, she is sent into hiding under the protection of the one man her father warned her about-Luciano Moretti. He's ice and gunpowder, the dark prince of a crime empire that thrives in blood. She's America's golden girl, groomed for perfection and p
The Billionaire's Wicked Game
He's rich, powerful, and completely off-limits. So why am I in his bed? Matthew was never supposed to be more than my best friend. He's the man who knows all my secrets, the one who's been there through heartbreaks and late-night breakdowns. He's charming, arrogant, devastatingly handsome... and co
His Wicked Claim
Ava Monroe is a brave journalist chasing the truth behind a series of killings that have been tagged as animal attacks in Chicago. Her search led her to the powerful and most feared Moretti Mafia family. To get answers, Ava decides to go undercover-but she doesn't expect to meet Lucien Moretti, the
Wicked Temptations (Erotica shorts)
An unapologetically explicit collection of short erotica designed to leave you breathless. Dive into a world of intense friction, filthy whispers, and intoxicating passion where every boundary is pushed and control is completely surrendered. No filler, no rules, just pure, concentrated heat that wil
Teasing your wicked heart
Following her father's passing, Lady Sarah Jane is handed down to her inheriting uncles and cousins as the obedient ward who no one wanted to take care of. After the passing of her last surviving family members and the impending dissolution of the Rosenberg title, Sarah Jane had to figure out how to
The Wicked Alpha
Rebecca was watching the full moon from the window of her room. AND hearing the speech behind her back. She already decided to let him live here... It was not a game of mind but her heart. And she already has given her heart to him. But the dangers that come along with him are far more dangerous tha
My Wicked Billionaire Baby
Leon Ronnie, CEO and manager of the Ronnie Building, wants me, a simple ordinary girl, to live in his mansion? What should I do?
The Wicked Deeds
The Powerful Alpha Julian Cesario is a ruthless Alpha King that enjoys his bachelor hood. He believes that women are to be sampled and discarded like fine wine. A woman should not control a man, especially when he is in charge. Until he meets her---a she wolf full of so much spirit and courage that
Sold To The Wicked Him
Losing her grandmother, Lea was betrayed by her Aunt Estrella. Instead of introducing her to a work like what they talked about, she was sold in the underground auction. "Five billion dollars going thrice, Sold!" And with that amount of money, her life now belongs to that man. Aiden Lazarus, a pe
Wicked Proposal - A Mafia Romance
What's worse than being dragged to a wedding? Finding out the groom is your ex. And he's still not over you. Yulian Lozhkin was crafted by the Good Lord Himself. Stormy-gray eyes. GQ stubble. Cheesegrater abs. Too bad he's one of the most dangerous, powerful men in the city. He needs a fake fianc
Betrothed to the Wicked Tycoon
When I entered our room, I immediately saw Marcus on our balcony smoking. He was wearing a white tank top and pajama bottoms. When I closed the door, he faced me, and I immediately saw the sharp look in his eyes. "M-Marcus, you came home early from work," I said to him with some nervousness. Alread
THE WEREWOLF BILLIONAIRE WICKED STRANGER
I was supposed to be in Room 30, the cheapest room. I mistakenly entered Room 300, the billionaire's den. He was Brandon Crestwood. Billionaire. Alpha. A werewolf who hasn't touched a woman in 5 years. I was Serena, a broke girl whose fiancé dumped her for her cousin on the same day. One night in
My Farewell To A Wicked Wife
The hospital corridor smelled of disinfectant, quiet except for my wife Sarah's voice through the door. She' d claimed amnesia after a car accident, unable to remember me, her husband of five years. But what I heard next wasn't confusion. "It' s just for seven days. Then I'll say my memory came bac
Crave: A Collection Of Wicked Desires
Lust doesn't care who's watching-or what form it takes. From growling beasts in the woods to possessive men in penthouses, from scandalous threesomes under silk sheets to Santa's very naughty lap-Crave is a shameless collection of erotic shorts where anything goes and no fantasy is too filthy. Whet
Her Wicked Game, Our Last Stand
My life was a picture of comfort and privilege, built on my parents' hard work. Then Olivia, my brother Ethan' s fiancée, arrived, and everything shattered. She began with subtle manipulations, demanding I move out of my own family home, weaponizing "propriety" to brand me a social embarrassment,
Forced to Marry the Wicked Werewolf Prince
"I, Alec Tawr of Lunar Crest pack, reject you, Elara Wildewood, of Lunar Crest pack," he utters, his voice cutting through the silence. The words sear into my soul, and my heart shatters, broken pieces scattering within me. The pain consumes me, wrapping its icy tendrils around my spirit. "Why?" I
Reborn As The Beastmen's Wicked Wife
Isolde woke up in a freezing, ruined stone house with a splitting headache and only five percent of her life signs remaining. Before she could even process the mechanical system voice in her head, a flood of violent memories slammed into her. She had transmigrated into the body of a cruel noblewom
90 Days With The Wicked CEO
Everybody hated this CEO named Howard Fontabella for lacking empathy towards his employees. He was given a sanction for his behavior as he was destined to become a humanitarian volunteer for 90 days together with a sassy woman named Zannie Justiniano who was secretly having a wrath against him becau
The Wicked Princess Returns: Breaking the Arrogant Heir
They exiled me hoping for a nun. I came back a queen with a custom Pagani and a taste for chaos. Chicago is my playground, and its little princes have forgotten the rules. My rules. Enter Cullen Vaughn. The golden heir, the perfect gentleman, the city's darling. He made the mistake of standing in
Series#1 The Wicked Beauty Of The Virgin Red
Red, never had it easy growing up. When young, she was forced to become a ruthless cold-blooded huntress, despite that being the last she wanted. Causing the demise of her family and the very core of her being, to become stone, frightened from ever allowing another soul near. As time passed on, Red
