Heart At Knifepoint
/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.
/0/72455/coverbig.jpg?v=889b95362053f39d66e53c8efaa410ad)
Heart at War
In the lands of Midyat, where pride and vengeance intertwine with family secrets, Bahar Asian is trapped between her heart and her duty. The illegitimate daughter of a ruthless patriarch, she has grown up under the shadow of her grandfather Nasuh's disdain. But her life will change when a mysterious
/1/114661/coverbig.jpg?v=7432106f52a0c306f15c009c30e4abd6)
DEAD AT HEART
Terminally ill. Betrayed by her husband. Abandoned by the only family she had. Ariel died with nothing... and no one. But fate gives her a second chance. Reborn three years before her death, she walks away from the man who ruined her life-and takes back everything they stole. Her love. Her ident
/0/76296/coverbig.jpg?v=48f19583495716405ff6084aa3ca3b79)
Isolation at the Heart of Marriage
There stood the most gorgeous man in Erica Ferguson's eyes, her groom, Arnold Binder. Tall, handsome, with a smile that could melt even the coldest heart, he had been the man of her dreams, or so she thought. The wedding had been nothing short of a fairy tale, and the love he had shown her before th
/0/71371/coverbig.jpg?v=45534e54ad36109b6f207435dbe4052f)
At the Heart of the Mafia
Under the gaze of a fallen mafia, Elvie, a young woman with a troubled past and victim of a brutal ex, seeks to rebuild her life. Working as an assistant in the villa of the Corleone, an influential crime family, she tries to avoid conflict with the three Corleone brothers, all as dangerous as each
/0/13353/coverbig.jpg?v=0d87dd885afa7048892eb2210e747eba)
/0/47428/coverbig.jpg?v=f9748e4a7d84ffe3fa2f553f05df6292)
At Crossroads
Follow the story of Gray and his friends, a bunch of high school kids as they grow up, fall in love, fall out of love and learn about life's ups and downs.
/0/9448/coverbig.jpg?v=739a69be604df2cd0bd9f37f93a39244)
/0/12242/coverbig.jpg?v=7548df8aead9487d31e28ce2b896a4d0)
At Agincourt
The long and bloody feud between the houses of Orleans and Burgundy - which for many years devastated France, caused a prodigious destruction of life and property, and was not even relaxed in the presence of a common enemy - is very fully recorded in the pages of Monstrellet and other contemporary
/0/22470/coverbig.jpg?v=4aa559cfa265f60ff51494230eaa5de7)
AT LAST
Meet Linda, a young widow whose billionaire husband died in a fire accident. He willed all of his properties to her before the accident, making her splendidly rich. After the death of her husband, she became sad and indifferent because he was the only person who cherished her - He took her from t
/0/73381/coverbig.jpg?v=49374034dafb6ed4d12d10534962a1ae)
AT Moonlight
Lyra, a young Omega, loses everything when her village is ravaged by the ruthless Lycan King of Duson's Pack. Orphaned and sold into the Crimson Pack-where Omegas are seen as harbingers of misfortune-she struggles to conceal her identity, but secrets have a way of unraveling. Fate deals her a cruel
/0/66751/coverbig.jpg?v=20250113174058)
AT SUNSET
She is the heir to Hades' throne, forged in unholy fire and bound to the underworld. For 365 days, she walks the earth, half-demon and half-human, caught in a tempest of forbidden love and dark destiny. Torn between two lovers-a fragile mortal who stirs her hidden heart and a powerful demon who prom
/0/70260/coverbig.jpg?v=28688b60d953679a14b38394bf19b3f1)
Maria's Heart
Maria Moretti is a young woman who has always lived a quiet, ordinary life, far removed from the dangerous world of organized crime. A promising career as a lawyer and a tight-knit family keep her grounded, but everything changes when she crosses paths with Luca DeLuca, the ruthless and enigmatic le
/0/78721/coverbig.jpg?v=e5d35da93361b6235cf74b534bcb0e08)
Vampire heart
The Vampire's Heart is a queer fantasy epic about memory, love, and the cost of holding history inside the body. At the center of the tale is Rehema, a reluctant seer whose bloodline binds her to the ancient Grove of Echoes-a sentient forest that records the pain and power of the world through memo
/0/62332/coverbig.jpg?v=bea07f3b24d23945bd79ad61e8e4971c)
Stinging heart
Nicole was the only one she knew that had the guts to call Jordan at this hour. The sound of the water in the bathroom stopped. Jordan came out wrapped in a bath towel. He wiped his hand and picked up the phone. Ivelle didn't know what the person from the other end of the phone said. She saw Jordan
/0/66725/coverbig.jpg?v=124cc976c069d78fa6d7f31b69078b1a)
Billionaire's Heart
Summary of Billionaire's Heart Emma Dawson, a hardworking and dedicated secretary, works for the enigmatic billionaire Alexander Grey, CEO of Grey Enterprises. Known for his perfectionism and aloof demeanor, Alexander commands respect and fear in equal measure. Emma, despite the challenges of work
/0/22422/coverbig.jpg?v=dbadfe8150377681ba1521cae9427531)
Heart Speaks
Heart Speaks is a story about Sophia. She and her younger sister, Erica, the talented musical attended the same Music High School. Henry want to date Sophia. While Benjamin want Erica, his ex girlfriend back, after breaking her heart for many times. Would Sophia accept Henry? Would Erica accept Ben
/0/42614/coverbig.jpg?v=20230713102902)
Heart chase
Carly is a crazy 22 year old girl, who believes in enjoying her life to the fullest with her best friend Racheal. However fate seemed to have something else in store for her when she met the wright's twin brothers by accident after she was drunk to a stupor. The wright's family were known as the m
/0/14072/coverbig.jpg?v=20210813184609)
/0/30478/coverbig.jpg?v=b61226bd333f7e8d7cb8652bfce83827)
THE HEART WANTS WHAT THE HEART WANTS
A young Master's Journey to love.... Rolph, the appointed future heir of a Mafia family had everything he wanted except love. Not that nobody loves him, but he doesn't know how to love. Or should we say, the ones that fell in love with him always felt wrong for him. Like his true love is out the
/0/72584/coverbig.jpg?v=0b61c2fd0205872aafcb0523f472b83d)
BENNY'S HEART
Benny has known struggle her whole life. Growing up in extreme poverty, she has carried the weight of her family's financial burdens since childhood. At just five years old, she learned that dreams meant nothing without money. By the time she turns twenty, she's exhausted mentally, emotionally
