The Lord of the sins
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.
The Lord of the sins
"Come with me," he ordered. "I'm not going anywhere!" Freya stood her ground, looking up at his blank face. Something flashed past his dark eyes as he heard her. "You really have some guts, don't you?" "Well, I don't care what this is. I don't care why I'm in a wedding gown and why I'm being
Sins of the heart
Sell your virginity to me and I will clear your father’s debt”. Angelique Ryans had a promising future ahead of her. Prestige school, lovable personality, talent. She had it all, until the day her father gambled away their lives to a man famed for brutality. The choice was simple- strip for the ma
Sins of the Past
Marie Mirey is a famous actress who one day meets a writer named Jonnathan. Between them, a passion and a desire awakens that is forbidden because eMarie has a boyfriend. Still, they can't help but attract each other. What Marie doesn't know is that Jonnathan has a dark past and that a mysterious p
SINS OF THE FATHER
Born a prince, cursed to live as a beast. For more than 17 years, Rían has been trapped in wolf form, the price of his father's sins. The curse can only be broken by his true mate accepting him as he is, but Rían's kingdom has fallen, his people enslaved, and he is hunted as a monster. Ella, the f
Sins of the Saverios
"I should kill you for what you've done," she seethed, her voice shaking with rage and something darker. He stepped in, chest to chest, his voice a seductive threat. "Then do it, tesoro. But don't pretend you weren't touching yourself last night, whispering my name like it was a confession." She tr
The Sins of the Love
For her beloved man, she donated her liver, but what brought her was endless shame from that man.
Lord of the World
Secular humanism has triumphed. Everything the late Victorians and Edwardians believed would bring human happiness has been achieved: technology has made it so no one need work for a living, the social sciences ensure a smooth-running social order, and in the name of tolerance, religious beliefs hav
SINS OF THE SHATTERED VEIL
Lexa is a young beautiful girl who has always been on the run from Darius Martinez who is also called Lucifer, she knows she needs to get away from him at all cost because of the grave sin that she has committed. Her heavy and cruel sin binds her fate to his relentless pursuit, no one will ever for
The Hosts of the Lord
This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preservin
BRIDE OF THE DRAGON LORD
A forced marriage. A cursed dragon king. And a love that could destroy them both." To stop a centuries-old war, Princess Evelynn is forced to marry King Darius, the ruthless Dragon Lord. But she is no ordinary bride-she is a sacrifice. A prophecy warns that if Darius loves her, he will burn the wor
Rise of the Mafia Lord
When Xavier Hale, a young outcast born into a powerful Mafia family, is brutally expelled and left for dead, he's given a second chance by a mysterious organization. With the help of an advanced AI system 'Erebus', he had awakened, which now granted him unlimited skills and cash, Xavier must navigat
The Works of Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron (Noel) or Lord Byron was an English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement. Among his best-known works are the lengthy narrative poems Don Juan and Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, and the short lyric "She Walks in Beauty". Byron is regarded as one of the greatest British
The Life of Lord Byron
Lord Byron was an English poet who became one of the leading figures in the Romantic Movement. Byron is still considered to be one of the most influential poets in history. This edition of John Galt's biography on Lord Byron includes a table of contents.
The Darker Sins
A secret mission was all it took for Elise to gain the infamous twins, Azael and Reuel's attention and from then on, there was no stopping them. While the twins want her, Elise wants nothing to do with them. Amidst the growing infatuation and feelings, Elise has even to protect herself from the dang
Bride of the Demon Lord
Just like every other young lady at her age, she also wants to get married to the very Man of her dreams.. but things are rather better to remain a dream... Are losing her parents in such a tender age, Li Wai young, moved in with her uncle who also have a daughter who happens to be the same age a
In the arms of two sins
His tie hung loose, his eyes darker than sin. The scent of whiskey lingered on his breath as he leaned closer. "Tell me to stop," he murmured, the words brushing against my skin like a dare. "You're drunk," I said, staring into those grey eyes as my heartbeat filled the silence. He smiled faintly,
The Consequential Bride Of the Mafia Lord
"I don't particularly care what you want, Marcelina," Domenico Vitali said flatly. "You walked away carrying something that belongs to me. That makes you mine until I decide otherwise." **** Marcelina never wanted love or marriage. She wanted a baby. After watching her mother disappear piece
Love Full of Sins
In the North City. A red sports car roared past on the Beltway. Suddenly, the car swung from side to side and crashed into the side fence and into the ditch. Gabrielle Morton was thrown out of the car and hit the ground hard. She was awake for a moment: death hurts so much. But she doesn’t want to d
