DIVIDED UNION
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The Tycoon's Wrath: Protecting His Surgeon Queen
"You want a divorce? Fine. Complete an IVF cycle, give me an heir to unlock my trust fund, and I'll sign the papers." In the dim underground garage, my cheating husband gripped my wrist tightly, his face twisted in a mocking sneer. "Stop dreaming, Ellie. Your family is bankrupt! You think if you leave me, some Wall Street billionaire is going to be blind enough to be your knight in shining armor?" Looking at his arrogant face, I felt nothing but pure disgust. For three years of a dead marriage, he paraded his mistress into our marital bed, letting her wear my clothes and carry my bags. When I demanded a divorce, my own vain mother tried to force me back to be his incubator, all for a seven-million-dollar bribe. "I'd rather die than have your child." I looked at him coldly and slammed the "PETITION FOR DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE" right into his face. Infuriated, he tightened his grip on my arm, ready to explode. Just then, blinding LED headlights tore through the darkness of the garage. A custom black Bentley Mulsanne glided silently out of the shadows, stopping inches behind us. The tinted window rolled down, revealing a sharp, lethally handsome face. The most ruthless, untouchable billionaire on Wall Street-Cosmo James. He also happened to be my husband's former best friend. Cosmo's ice-blue eyes locked onto the hand gripping my arm. His deep voice cut through the freezing air like a blade: "Take your hands off her." Cosmo leaned slightly forward, radiating sheer, predatory authority. A cold, ruthless smirk touched his lips. "You asked which Wall Street billionaire is going to be her knight in shining armor." "It's me."
Chapter 1
After a grueling thirty-six-hour shift in the neurosurgery ward, a blizzard hit Manhattan. Ellie had called her husband, hoping he could pick her up, only to have him coldly reject her.
Braving the freezing snow, she pushed open the heavy oak doors of their Upper East Side townhouse and walked straight upstairs, only to look through the half-open master bedroom door and see her husband's new assistant lying on the marital bed she had once poured her heart into decorating, wearing her favorite silk robe.
Hearing the noise outside the door, Vanessa Hayes scrambled off the marital bed in a fluster. She deliberately tugged at the loose collar of the robe, revealing a fragile panic. "Mrs. Oliver, you're home early."
Ellie's eyes were like a pool of stagnant water. There was no anger, only the chilling, numb detachment of a surgeon looking at medical waste.
Three years of marriage with this man. She and Ephram had long gone from being the envied campus couple to a pathetic, shattered reality. Ephram's infidelity was an open secret, and she, once cherished in the palm of his hand, had been thoroughly reduced to a despised, discarded wife.
"You're quite special," Ellie said coldly. "Ephram has never brought another woman back here."
This townhouse was their marital home, bought three years ago when they got married.
A flash of triumph flickered in Vanessa's eyes as she softly explained, "Mr. Oliver had too much to drink. I drove him back."
Ellie hadn't seen Ephram in two months.
Two months ago, on her twenty-eighth birthday, she was eating dinner alone at a five-star hotel restaurant when she ran into him having a candlelight dinner with a young model.
She had marched up, slapped him across the face, and screamed at him with a twisted expression for being disgusting and shameless.
Ephram had only offered a chilling sneer, telling Ellie to look in the mirror and see what she had become. Then, he wrapped his arm around the model's waist and went straight to the penthouse suite to have sex.
That night, Ellie returned to this massive, empty house and smashed every fragile thing in sight. Looking at her unrecognizable face in the mirror, she suddenly broke down into loud, agonizing sobs.
How did she become this? How did she turn into such a hysterical, miserable woman?
After that night, Ellie moved out of this townhouse. Ephram never came looking for her.
She heard he broke up with the model shortly after, but she didn't expect him to find a new replacement so quickly.
Looking at Vanessa's triumphant face, Ellie felt a wave of cold disgust finally break through her numb facade.
"Take off my robe," Ellie demanded, her voice dropping to a freezing edge.
Before Vanessa could react, the master bathroom door clicked open.
Ephram stepped out, his hair damp from the shower, wearing nothing but a white towel wrapped loosely around his waist. Seeing Ellie in the doorway, his patience immediately vanished. He walked over and pulled Vanessa into his bare chest.
"You startled her, Ellie," Ephram scolded.
Vanessa's eyes immediately watered. She shrank back into Ephram's embrace.
"Miss Stark, you misunderstood," Vanessa whispered, her voice trembling perfectly on cue. "I accidentally spilled wine on my dress. Ephram just told me to put this on so I wouldn't freeze."
The deliberate use of "Miss Stark" instead of "Mrs. Oliver" hung heavily in the air.
Ellie's hands tightened inside the pockets of her wool coat. Her knuckles turned bloodless white against the lining.
Ephram frowned, his patience visibly wearing thin.
"It's just a piece of fabric, Ellie. Do you have to make a scene out of every minor detail? Where are your manners?"
"Manners are reserved for decent people," Ellie said.
She pulled her right hand from her pocket, holding a stiff manila folder.
She stepped forward and slapped the folder down onto the black-and-white marble vanity. The sharp crack echoed through the spacious bedroom.
Ephram's eyes dropped to the paper. Printed across the top in bold black letters, the header was impossible to miss: Divorce Settlement Agreement.
The room fell dead silent. Vanessa's rehearsed expression of distress froze on her face as she stared at the title.
"Sign it, Ephram," Ellie said, looking directly at him like a doctor delivering a terminal diagnosis.
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A Heart Divided
When betrayal shatters his perfect life, noble heir Kaelan Thorne finds refuge in a humble tavern-and in Ivy, a fiery waitress with magic in her veins. But love in Eldoria comes at a cost. To protect her, Kaelan must confront his past, defy the elite, and risk everything for a future built on truth,
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A Little Union Scout
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THE UNLIKELY UNION
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Union and Democracy
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Divided Amongst the Alpha Brothers
"Can you handle five Alphas at once?" Abducted and forced to kill in a labyrinth of fifty women, Cataleia Reiss was one of the people that stood last and was accepted in a black Auction. She was bought by a mysterious stranger, claiming to be a Dominant Alpha; however, her master is suddenly assas
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Beyond Darkness: A wolf Divided
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Never regret this, Eric. I gave you every chance to turn back, but now... you've lost me.Krystle's voice trembled as she struggled to hold herself together,It's so hard to breathe... it hurts so much. I did nothing wrong,so why am I the one being punished?Moments later, the cold clang of prison door
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Two Sons, A Mother's Divided Heart
For five years, I built a new life from the ashes of my old one. I was a mother to Cale, the kindest boy in the world, and the woman who was destroyed by Congressman Hampton Garner was just a ghost. Then a schoolyard fight brought it all crashing down. The boy Cale fought was Ignatius-my son, the
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Sinful Vows: The Mafia's Unholy Union
Guilia Armando's life has always been laden with turbulence and trials from getting caught in a forbidden relationship to getting pregnant and running off to another country to save face. Just when she's about to take a breather, one more tragedy strikes. Being in an accident nearly causes her to
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Trajectory presents classics of world literature with 21st century features! Our original-text editions include the following visual enhancements to foster a deeper understanding of the work: Word Clouds at the start of each chapter highlight important words. Word, sentence, paragraph counts, and re
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Fated rejection: bounded by love, divided by fate
Excerpt. "Reject me and let me go! Staying here with me is only going to hurt you more!" Avery growled, her voice quivering gazing at the man in front of her. "You are the only one allowed to hurt me. I see no reason why I have to leave," he grinned slyly. Avery's eyes were filled with tears, th
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Complete State of the Union Addresses from 1790 to 2006
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Vermont riflemen in the war for the union, 1861 to 1865
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The Early History of the Scottish Union Question / Bi-Centenary Edition
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