The Charmer
/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.
/0/18231/coverbig.jpg?v=baf7388257bd58889dba5a3037b6fb03)
I Rule the Underworld
Once a mediocre man, and now a powerful Yama. His name is Evan Ye, the overlord of the underworld. He commands deceased historical figures and countless heroes from movies and cartoons. The sole purpose of his minions, whether it be the fearsome characters of computer games or the beautiful, sexy fe
/0/18482/coverbig.jpg?v=cab7f99796a207c586db0721bfc523b3)
Genius Twins And Their Mother
Lancy, a daughter of a wealthy family, is sold to an agent organization. During a mission, she is seriously injured and lost her consciousness. Years later she wakes up, unexpectedly finding that she has boy/girl twins. Her six-year-old boy is smart, with excellent business thinking; the girl is goo
/0/18510/coverbig.jpg?v=5e2bd42482281165f5c3d0f39d9ef28d)
Forever And Always
Twenty year old Viola's life seems to have bloomed into happiness as she proposes to her fiance at her birthday party. However, the man she thinks is in love with her turns out to be an extremely cruel husband, who takes control of her life after tying the knot. Expelled from the school, and humilia
/0/18080/coverbig.jpg?v=92077f1de15d5cf7aa84d8377d333bc1)
Trapped with the Lawyer
Trapped series - Episode II: Trapped with the Lawyer. It all starts on that fateful night, when Ella, who is the dear sister of Samuel’s best buddy, sneaks into the hotel where the drunken Samuel resides and gets pregnant… “I don’t want a divorce! I don’t want a divorce! I did no such thing!”
/0/22021/coverbig.jpg?v=4cb57f9f1a67930f06ff97b3761b0f0c)
The Vampire's Omega
Tearing her clothes into two halves he asked, "Who did these to you, who hurt you" His voice rang through her ears, filling the room with anger, which emitted with the desire to kill, and truly, he was going to rip who so ever that had caused these injury on her. "Bella speak" His voice calm but t
/0/32272/coverbig.jpg?v=8b9197dd01d9380fd681906941a89488)
Wolves And Vampires
The story of a Lycan and his Mate, and the devil who threatened to tear them apart. And the story of Three powerful vampire Kings and their fragile mate. Mysteries, the darkness of the past, and storms ahead, Can any of them make it to their final destination? Or they will get lost in the waves of t
/0/35991/coverbig.jpg?v=c9a2a14badac786d0b209334060f4bd5)
Mighty Super-rich Heir
Ever since I was a child, I had always been poor. Every time I came home from school, I would be met with the sight of my father busying himself in the kitchen. From my earliest recollection, I would always remember my father wearing his old factory uniforms in the house. His hair was snow-white an
/0/32517/coverbig.jpg?v=0af252b4cabc74c5b67dfcf70f02e4de)
Billionaire's Abandoned Love Slave
"You look so fucking sexy with your mouth wrapped around my cock," Ryan groaned, increasing the speed of his thrusts into my mouth. I moaned at his praise as I widened my mouth. And a split second later, he filled my mouth with his warm release. I smirked as I gazed up seductively at him and licke
/1/107558/coverbig.jpg?v=40b564db5c700ee3c142abc4e9281e67)
The Mute Bride's Secret Billionaire Contract
I woke up with a throbbing pressure behind my eyes and the taste of metallic champagne in my throat. Instead of my cramped apartment, I was draped in expensive silk under a ceiling the color of a storm cloud. A pear-shaped black diamond sat heavy on my finger, and a document on the nightstand confi
/0/75843/coverbig.jpg?v=d4a95b2505f79b6620d063905b7fb5a9)
HIS MALE SLAVE IS A WOMAN
To the ruthless Alpha Ashen Vladimir III, loyalty is everything,and disobedience is death. So when a sharp-tongued male slave named Nicholas is sent to serve in his brutal court as a server boy Ashen doesn't expect defiance... or attraction. But "Nicholas" is no ordinary slave. She is Nicolette Si
/0/25097/coverbig.jpg?v=37577a1327a2fba54e85087d0e53448f)
Survive among the Vikings
Can true love overcome all the pitfalls of destiny? The Vikings invaded the village where Rosalie lived. They murdered children and the elderly and abducted young women and strong men to their country to sell them into slavery. At the slave market, Rosalie is bought by a spirited young jarl. What wi
/0/33016/coverbig.jpg?v=8ab436c74892e222dfe90a543af34310)
Loved By A Star
A boy falls in love with a girl he once hated because of her pomposity...he then faces the test of letting her know his feelings
/0/16069/coverbig.jpg?v=c53f77ac19b010d7131ee1a4c70731db)
/0/84441/coverbig.jpg?v=c689b5b3cabee2b2484b7d8396a4b936)
Too Late For Their Love: The North Star Shines Bright
My biological parents were tech billionaires, yet for me, Sarah Miller, every penny was a battleground. They preached "character" and "tough love," while lavishing everything on Ashley, their "perfect" adopted daughter, who got whatever she wanted. On SAT day, a torrential storm hit. I desperat
/0/84651/coverbig.jpg?v=e87eb374c27013b5b67251bf67bd661e)
The Price of Trust
Ava Reed was at the pinnacle of her career, overseeing the groundbreaking Nexus Tower, a testament to her vision and her late father' s legacy. Then, the blueprint for her dream project, her future-and her trust-shattered into a million pieces. Her live-in assistant, Liam Stone, the man who shared
/1/114098/coverbig.jpg?v=0a2829bcc9a6d577682509cc85fa8316)
The Alpha's Abandoned Mate Is The True Luna
My Alpha mate abandoned me three years ago, leaving me as a disgraced Omega to raise our two children in a freezing, ruined hovel. To keep them from starving, I was forced into a humiliating deal with a rogue wolf named Jax, who stole our pack rations and demanded my young son as payment. The enti
/0/70300/coverbig.jpg?v=de170a100569aaf28a9eb1a3541ed10f)
Love In The Shadows
Julian's team had outdone themselves. The club sparkled with elegance, from the glimmering chandeliers to the sleek black and gold décor. Lexi's mural stretched across the main wall, its vibrant colors glowing under the soft lights. Guests gathered near it, admiring the art and snapping photos. "Yo
/0/89720/coverbig.jpg?v=38061431b7c3a5b1d745a0368512b074)
Regret Cheaper Than Dust
Everyone in Seavelt knew that Dr. Ethan Caldwell, the city's top gynecologist, never got close to women. No matter how many youthful figures stood before him, he never so much as glanced their way. I always thought I was different, even after ten years together, when he wouldn't let me touch h
