His Rivals Daughter
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.
His Daughter, His Mistake
My husband, Austin Rogers, had been missing for five years, only to return with a royal illegitimate child. The first thing he did was burst into my daughter Joanna's room, wrap her in a blanket, and throw her into the sauna. His sister, Rosita, sneered as she poured a whole box of leeches ins
Rivals Heart
Sophie Williams and Alexander Reid are powerful CEOs in the fiercely competitive renewable energy sector. Sophie comes from a wealthy conglomerate family, and her ex-boyfriend, Ethan Turner, is from an equally rich background. Alexander, on the other hand, built his wealth from scratch. Their rival
The Innkeeper's Secret: His Daughter
I was the wife of a tech mogul I' d built from nothing. I even hired his new assistant, a woman who looked just like his dead mother, thinking I was giving him a piece of his past back. Then I discovered the truth. He wasn't just sleeping with her-she was pregnant with his son. And for months, the
The Alpha and His Daughter
Morgan Mayor had always known that her 17th birthday would mark a pivotal moment in her life. In the werewolf world, that was the age when your first shift happened, and with it, the discovery of your mate-the one person in the world who was meant for you. It was a tradition, a rite of passage, one
Lucifer's Mate (His Enemy's daughter)
Blurb What do you do when the charming king of hell leaves his throne and people just to search for two important people on earth? He’s cold and inhuman; His heart is as hard as a rock; and as cold as an ice. Love is impossible for him. But what else could be his reason for searching for them s
Dorothy Dale's School Rivals
Dorothy’s blue eyes looked out of the car window, but she saw nothing. All her faculties were bent upon thinking—thinking of something that evidently was not pleasant. Tavia fussed around in the next seat, scattering books, candy boxes, wraps, gloves and such “trifles.” She f
When Rivals Collide
Two worlds collide when Theo, in a bid to impress his father who is a renowned chef, comes up with a sinister plan to steal a recipe from Isabella, a young lady with a thriving food truck business. Sales in the widely known Montgomery's Altier suddenly begin to reduce, and it is discovered that the
Rivals to Lovers
Lena Carrington and Alaric Winfield have been rivals since childhood, always competing with each other-from school to adulthood. When Lena's family faces a financial crisis and her fiancé of three years heartlessly dumps her, all her old friends turn a blind eye, leaving her to fend for herself. O
Claimed By Two Rivals
"She is mine!" Nolan growled. "I will do anything just to not see her with anybody else!" Owen barked, turned to me, and grabbed my hand. "You have to choose one now, but remember that your choice comes with consequences. Choose this guy, and I'll do whatever it takes to separate you, even if it mea
His Secret Daughter, My Public Downfall
My wedding day was supposed to be perfect, a fairytale with Matthew, the District Attorney, my "rock" who saved my family. But then my estranged half-sister, Stella, burst in with a terrifying warning: marry him, and he would destroy me, publicly labeling me insane after his childhood friend, Nic
The Billionaire's Maid Has His Secret Daughter
Regina Carter is drowning. At twenty-eight, she's a maid, a mother to a wonderful six-year-old girl named Lily, and utterly broke. Lily needs a life-saving heart surgery, a cost her ex-husband fled from, leaving Regina to shoulder the impossible burden alone. Her only hope is a new job cleaning the
The Unwanted Wife, His Undeniable Daughter
My husband's mistress faked a miscarriage and blamed me, shattering my world. He watched me fall in the rain, pregnant with his child, and drove away. Now, three years later, I'm back in his penthouse, a survivor, not a victim. Aurora always felt like an outsider at her husband Josef's lavish famil
The Alpha's Daughter predestined to his enemy
Meridian is the daughter of the alpha of the Silver Moon Pack, but on the day of the moon celebration, an event where the man she fell in love with finally decided to propose to her. the Kingdom of Umbra, ruled by evil wizards known for conquering territories, by force, invades her lands. During t
His Wife, Her Lover, Their Daughter
The first time I knew my marriage was over was when I saw my wife Angela and our daughter Chaney laughing with Giovanni Brown at the private airfield. For ten years, I had been the perfect political husband, sacrificing my music career to be a stay-at-home dad and Angela' s smiling prop. Then, this
MATED TO TWO RIVALS ALPHAS
He was her fated mate-her brother's Beta, the one destined to protect her. But instead, he rejected her. Before the entire pack, Eric called Sherry weak and unworthy, tearing her world apart and leaving her humiliated in the one place she called home. That night, her heart broke but so did the timi
Mafia's Daughter
In the rain, soaked streets of Chicago, Salvatore Moretti, heir to a notorious mafia dynasty, was forged in blood and betrayal. Cold and calculated, he never expected his world to change, until he met her. Sophia Romano, daughter of a rival mafia boss, was raised to despise the Morettis. But when fa
