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Ellery was trapped in a suffocating marriage with Manhattan's most ruthless billionaire, Holland Sutton. She silently endured his blatant affairs, even measuring his mistress for custom lingerie at her own design studio. She drank foul, black fertility potions forced on her by his cruel mother, who treated her like nothing more than a breeding machine. She only tolerated the endless abuse because her own brother blackmailed her. He threatened to pull the plug on their dying mother's life support if Ellery didn't secure Holland's massive investment for his company. So, she swallowed her pride. She let Holland drag her around like a trophy, let his mother demand she quit her business, and allowed herself to be stripped of all dignity. But then, the devastating news broke. Holland's cousin had just welcomed a baby boy, securing the family inheritance. Ellery's womb was suddenly useless to the Sutton empire. The promised investment for her brother was instantly revoked. Every humiliation, every bitter potion she had choked down, was for absolutely nothing. She had been the perfect, silent puppet in a sick game she could never win. Yet, Holland simply dragged her to the closet and threw a black haute couture gown at her feet. "Put that on. Tonight, you are going to smile and show all of New York that my marriage is perfectly intact." Staring at the heavy dress on the floor, a cold, terrifying clarity replaced her despair. If the rules of his twisted game had changed, then so had hers.

For three years, I believed I had the perfect, flawlessly submissive wife. But right as I was about to sign a fifty-million-dollar divorce settlement to make her go away quietly, I suddenly heard a sharp, ecstatic voice echoing inside my skull. "Freedom! Long live freedom! I finally shook off this absolute bastard!" I snapped my head up, only to see Iris sitting across the table, her delicate shoulders trembling as she sobbed into her hands, looking like a shattered woman losing her entire world. It wasn't a hallucination; I could actually hear her inner thoughts. The realization hit me like a physical blow. My fragile, heartbroken wife was a calculating hypocrite who mentally cursed me out while physically begging me to stay. When I later dragged her out of a nightclub where she was partying half-naked, I heard her true thoughts about our intimacy—she considered our nights together a mere "complimentary clause" in our business contract. Even the loving, home-cooked French dinners I cherished were exposed through her mind to be microwaved Michelin-star takeout. For three years, I had prided myself on being a dominant, attentive husband, yet I was played for an absolute fool. How could she fake every single tear, every single touch, with such terrifying perfection while viewing me as nothing more than an ATM? Looking at her cowering on my penthouse floor, clutching an anniversary Birkin bag she secretly planned to sell for a Porsche, a dark rush of power blinded me. I wasn't just going to let her walk away with my millions anymore; I was going to use my new ability to rip off her mask and utterly destroy her.

Everyone in New York high society thought Keira was just a brain-damaged, degenerate junkie. They believed she was the pathetic orphan of the Barnett family, whose grandparents burned to death in a tragic lab fire. But it wasn't an accident. The billionaire McKnight family murdered them to steal their pharmaceutical empire. To silence her, they even used corporate executives to try and lock her away in a maximum-security asylum. Under the guise of a worthless addict, she became the legal ward of Hillard Conway, a ruthless billionaire who treated her like a hostile captive. His arrogant VP humiliated her at the dinner table, trying to hand her family's remaining patents to her enemies. At the elite academy, Cassie McKnight, the pampered princess of the murderers, threw an iced latte at her boots in front of the entire courtyard. "Stay out of my way, freak, or I will make your life a living hell." They all looked at her with absolute disgust, thinking she was just a piece of rotting meat they could step on. They didn't know she had already memorized the exact permeable alcohol base of Cassie's designer perfume, or that she secretly held the foundational patents that could bankrupt their entire blood-soaked legacy. Keira didn't flinch or cry. She simply stared at the rapid pulse beating against Cassie's jugular vein, tapped her hidden micro-earpiece, and calmly ordered five milligrams of high-purity lethal neurotoxin.

"And that is the reason why I said those words. I like your fear, not because it is a normal thing. I love it because deep down you are a monster like me, schiava. You fear me on a primal level, you can feel my power and dominance, and you know you aren't the strongest here. So you don't fear Renzo Valentino the human, you fear the monster that lurks inside." My life changed the night of my birthday. What started as a funny dare ended with blood and having a price on my head. I thought Renzo was the hero who saved me that night, but he was the devil who owned me forever. I, Misha Yakov, princess of the Russian mafia became Renzo Valentino's slave. He broke me, tortured me, and molded me into something new, something I hated and craved at the same time. I, Misha Yakov became my master's pet.

I am the undisputed ice queen of the ER, a doctor whose life is built on absolute control. A month ago, I impulsively married a stranger to create a legal shield against my ex-mentor's betrayal. Our prenup had one strict rule: a fake marriage with zero interference in each other's lives. But tonight, my "husband on paper" was wheeled into my ER, unconscious, reeking of cheap whiskey, and suffering from a bleeding ulcer. To authorize his emergency surgery, I had to sign the consent form as his wife, detonating a gossip bomb among my colleagues. Worse, his overbearing family found out he was hospitalized. To stop his terrifying mother from flying in and exposing our sham marriage, I had to lean over his hospital bed and take a fake, loving couple's selfie. I didn't understand why this disciplined math professor was suddenly drinking himself to death, nor why my chest tightened when he looked at me with exhausted eyes and begged for homemade soup. My perfectly ordered, untouchable life was crumbling into a chaotic mess, and I was losing my grip on the narrative. "We should probably spend some time together beforehand. We could be roommates." To prepare for an unavoidable family dinner and a wedding, my stranger husband just asked me to move into his apartment. The ultimate uncontrolled variable has just crossed the line, and our fake marriage is about to become dangerously real.

I was the wolfless, arranged mate to Alpha Kain of the Blackwood Pack. The positive pregnancy test in my hand was a miracle, the only hope I had left to salvage our freezing marriage. But when I went to share the wonderful news, he coldly slid a *Dissolution of Union Agreement* across the table. His ex-girlfriend, Galilea, the "true Luna," had returned. Overnight, my world was destroyed. Kain paraded her around the pack, suffocating me with her scent, and forced me to hand over my hard-earned career campaigns to her as a welcome gift. My packmates mocked my wolfless existence, even twisting my father's heroic death into a cheap transaction. But the most devastating blow came when I tentatively asked Kain what he would do if we had a child. "I would not allow a pup born from a bond I intend to sever to see the light of day." He would kill his own flesh and blood just to wipe the slate clean for her. The sacred mate-bond designed by the Moon Goddess meant absolutely nothing to him but a disposable debt. I was paralyzed by the injustice, terrified for the tiny, condemned life growing inside my womb. Staring at the man who was supposed to be my soul's other half, my bleeding heart finally turned to cold ash. I swallowed my secret, walked into his office, and calmly asked when the rejection would be finalized. I needed to run.

"She's mine tonight, asshole, you had her last week." Zack, taller and broader, with those piercing blue eyes, shoved him back hard. "Fuck off, Zade. Her tight little pussy belongs wrapped around my dick." And then there was Mark, my stepdad, looming in the doorway like a goddamn predator, his arms crossed over his broad chest. "Both of you back the fuck off. I'm the man of the house and that sweet ass is mine to pound whenever I want." ❤️❤️❤️ Dive into this sizzling erotica collection of taboo tropes where forbidden flames erupt in shadows of power and secrecy. Stepfamily sparks fly between a seductive step sis and stepbrothers under one tense roof. Mythical beasts knot with innocent human girls in primal forest trysts. A mafia kingpin claims a pure-hearted nun in a ruthless game of dominance. Captor hunts prey in a thrilling chase of possession. "Dad's Best Friend" awakens cravings in his ally's daughter, shattering loyalty. "Boss x Stripper" ignites when an executive ensnares his hypnotic dancer in high-stakes control. "Professor X Student," where forbidden mentorship spirals into obsessive bonds in lecture halls after dark. "Coach x Cheerleader," rigorous drills turn into steamy locker room rituals after hours. "Priest x Parishioner," sacred confessions unravel into sinful midnight vows. Read if you're ready for some heat.

Are you tired of every hockey romance turning into pure erotica by chapter ten? We are going back to basics. This is about the tension. The secrets. The stolen glances across a crowded campus, the brush of a bare hand in a freezing ice rink, and the dangerous boy who would burn the world down just to keep her safe. Caroline Reed is invisible by choice. As a pre-law student fighting to maintain a flawless 4.50 GPA, she hides in the shadows of the university athletics department. She analyzes sports compliance data just to keep her scholarship intact. Her life is perfectly ordered and perfectly safe. Leo Kincaid is the untouchable hockey captain. He is ruthless on the ice and completely guarded off it. Everyone thinks he is just another arrogant, golden boy athlete. But the numbers do not lie. When Caroline reviews the latest game footage, she finds a terrifying statistical pattern. Leo is intentionally taking penalties and throwing specific plays. When she confronts him in the dead of night at the empty arena, she expects a confession of greed. Instead, she uncovers a dangerous underground betting ring that is blackmailing him. By speaking up, Caroline has just put a massive target on her own back. Now, the only way Leo can protect her is to pull her directly into his spotlight. He forces her into his daily life under the guise of needing a personal academic manager. Suddenly, the invisible girl is everywhere he is. He watches her constantly. He fiercely dictates who she talks to. And in the quiet, frozen moments between the chaos, Caroline begins to realize that the brutal captain is the safest place she could ever be.

Aliya woke up in a dingy, freezing apartment with a throbbing headache, only to realize a horrifying truth. She had transmigrated into the American romance novel she read just last night, becoming the ultimate vicious supporting character. The exhausted man walking through the front door was Cyrus Pace, an amnesiac billionaire currently living under the delusion that he was a broke laborer. The original owner had trapped him with fabricated memories of being childhood sweethearts. Worse, she relentlessly abused him. Her phone was filled with toxic texts calling him a useless loser, and she had just staged a psychotic hunger strike to force him to buy a designer bag. Cyrus already looked at her with bone-deep, visceral disgust. In the original plot, the moment he regained his memory, his ruthless revenge would send her straight to a maximum-security prison for the rest of her life. "Are you done playing your hunger strike game?" Hearing his cold, mocking voice, the sheer terror made Aliya's blood run cold. How was she supposed to survive living with a future tyrant who already despised her? Every time his massive shadow fell over their cramped, shared mattress, her heart stopped. A single wrong move—even a microscopic mistake like accidentally crossing a physical line—would completely seal her doom. Staring at the torn box of condoms hidden under the bed, Aliya made a desperate, life-or-death decision. She had to completely rewrite her toxic persona, secretly hustle a high-commission real estate job, and save enough money to flee the country before the billionaire remembered exactly who he was.

Nora's life turned into a nightmare after she was banished from her pack by her own husband. She was subjected to mockery, abuse and humiliation before being cast out with nothing. Faced with the cruelty of a world that had never once been kind to her, the moon goddess decided to bless her with her fated mate. The same man she watched slaughter others without a single trace of mercy. The man who was twice as cold and twice as ruthless as the husband who destroyed her. Yet he would not let her go. She found herself stuck between the husband who used her and the ruthless mate who wanted her but refused to admit it. Two powerful men. One woman who was never supposed to survive any of it. And a moon goddess who was not done with her yet.

Clara came home from a fourteen-hour board meeting to the sound of a piercing scream in the playroom. When she rushed in, she found her husband, Chadwick, kneeling on the floor in a panic. But he wasn't looking at their five-year-old son, Leo, who had a massive bleeding welt on his forehead. Instead, Chadwick was trembling as he held the nanny's daughter, Autumn, who barely had a microscopic scratch. "She needs ice. And antibacterial ointment," Chadwick snapped, carrying the nanny's daughter away and leaving his bleeding son behind. From that moment, the nightmare only escalated. Chadwick ordered Clara to cook a three-hour meal for the nanny's kid, threw away Leo's favorite toys because Autumn sneezed, and even secretly took the nanny and her daughter on Leo's promised Disney trip. The final humiliation came at the Met Gala. Right before their sponsor speech, Chadwick received a frantic call from the nanny claiming Autumn was having a panic attack. He abandoned Clara in front of hundreds of flashing cameras, sprinting out of the ballroom. Clara stood completely alone, the humiliation eating through her veins like acid. She couldn't understand how a father could call the nanny's kid his "little princess" while watching his own son cry. Why was he treating his own flesh and blood like garbage just to play savior to another woman's child? Suddenly, the blinding camera flashes were blocked by a massive shadow. Erasmo Chase, the heir to New York's largest financial dynasty, stepped out of the darkness and shielded her. "A man like that is unworthy of your grief, Ms. Best," he whispered, pressing a silk handkerchief into her trembling hand. Looking at the sharp profile of the powerful man beside her, Clara's shock hardened into a lethal, cold fury. She was going to dump her family's shares, crash the board, and make Chadwick lose absolutely everything.

Eight years of devotion crumbled under one calculated betrayal. Diagnosed with a terminal illness and given only a year, Olivia faced heartbreak when her husband cheated with a student she had sponsored and asked for divorce. "She only has a year to live... can't you let her have this?" he pleaded, unaware Olivia hid the same fate. Without protest, she signed and returned to science, determined to leave something behind. Believing they'd reunite, he waited-never knowing she was running out of time. During a clinical trial, she burned through her final days. Only after her death did he learn the truth, collapsing in regret. "Olivia... I was wrong."

Yorick Hill is the second son of retired Alpha Warren and Luna Yara. His brother took over the pack two years ago and Yorick finds himself without a place in the pack or world. In an effort to find his way, he applies to the elite Warrior Academy, a highly sought after school that trains warriors into elite fighting machines. Cyra Teymoori is an Alpha female caught in an arranged mate bond. Her father arranged the bond to solidify the alliance between her pack and the pack of her betrothed. She is unhappy about the arranged mate bond and in an effort to delay the inevitable, she applied to the Warrior Academy and was admitted. Neither her father nor her betrothed are happy about her choice, but neither is willing to look away from the prestige that comes from her acceptance. When Yorick enters the Academy, he expects the year to be difficult. What he doesn't expect is to find his mate. At first, he's thrilled, until he finds out that she's expected to accept a chosen mate bond with a neighboring pack. Furious that his mate is being pressured to ignore their fated bond, Yorick tries to convince her that she should accept him. They can leave after they finish the Academy and find jobs together. He will look after her, even if it means accepting a handout from his brother to give her stability. But Cyra is hiding a secret, one that she's unwilling to share with Yorick. What will happen when the secret comes out and the real reason for the alliance bond comes to light? Can Yorick prove to Cyra that he wants her because she was meant to be his?

I threw myself in front of the ruthless Alpha King's convoy, risking death to demand justice against my fated mate who had forsaken our sacred bond. But when the King brought me to Ryker's doorstep, I found him holding the local Alpha's beautiful daughter. To protect his future, Ryker pointed at my undeniable mate mark and lied to the entire pack. "It was a lie. A paid act to comfort my dying mother." Instantly, the pack turned on me, branding me a vicious gold-digger who exploited a dead woman's memory. When I slapped him for blaspheming the Goddess, he snapped my arm in half in front of everyone. Later, his new mate's father threw a half-million-dollar check at my hospital bed, ordering me to take the blood money and vanish. I was just an Omega. In their eyes, my sacred bond and my shattered heart were worthless, easily crushed under the weight of their ambition. How could the man who promised me forever turn into a monster who wanted me dead? But my honor was not for sale. Backed by the Alpha King, I stripped Ryker of his wealth, and when they sent rogues to kidnap me that night, I threw myself from a moving van into the dark woods, ready to start my revenge.

As an Alpha's daughter, I was meant to be a proud Luna. Instead, the Moon Goddess bound me to Alpha Ryker Blackwood. But he ruthlessly rejected our Mating Bond for his chosen lover, Seraphina. His rejection didn't just break my heart; it sentenced me to the Withering Curse. A rejected mate's wolf dies first, followed slowly by their own life force. Yet, Ryker wouldn't even let me die in peace. When Seraphina was poisoned by silver, he dragged me into the medical wing and forced a needle into my arm. He drained my blood, using the lingering power of our fading bond to heal the woman who took my place. As my wolf whimpered and faded into absolute nothingness, I collapsed, coughing up black blood on the cold tile floor. He looked at my dying, trembling body not with pity, but with pure disgust. "You are nothing but a walking blood bag for Seraphina. When you are no longer useful, I will throw you out like trash." I finally understood. To him, I wasn't a mate or even a person. My agonizing death was just a minor inconvenience to his perfect love story. My home pack was secretly under attack, my life was draining away, and I was utterly alone. But a childhood friend revealed a forgotten secret: a mutual rejection severs the bond completely and stops the curse. I wiped the black blood from my mouth. I refuse to wither away for a man who treats me like garbage. I will speak the words of rejection, take back my life, and make him pay.

Eleonora woke up in the hospital, still feeling the terrifying weightlessness of her own suicide. She realized her chilling nightmare was actually a prophecy: she was destined to be the tragic, disposable villain, while her adopted sister Addisyn was the beloved protagonist. On the day of her discharge, her father abandoned her to celebrate Addisyn's eighteenth birthday. When Eleonora dragged her recovering body back to her family estate, she found her biometric access wiped and her home turned into a chaotic nightclub. Addisyn had taken over the master bedroom and was wearing Eleonora's late mother's priceless sapphire necklace. When Eleonora coldly demanded her property back, Addisyn squeezed out fake tears and played the pitiful victim. Instantly, Eleonora's childhood fiancé and lifelong friends stepped up to shield Addisyn. They scolded Eleonora for being cruel and classless, demanding she sleep in the guest room so she wouldn't ruin the party. Downstairs, the elite guests mocked her as a crazy, jealous freak who was bullying her sweet sister. In her nightmare, their blind devotion to this manipulative parasite had driven Eleonora to jump off a skyscraper. She was the sole legal heir to the Carlisle estate, yet they expected her to quietly hand over her home, her mother's legacy, and her life to a thief. But Eleonora was no longer a victim. She pulled out the irrevocable trust documents, proving her absolute ownership, and looked at her loyal butler. "Cut the power," she ordered coldly. "Throw every single trespasser out the gates."

I worked three double shifts at the garage just to buy a velvet-boxed cake for my wealthy girlfriend, Arleen. But when I pushed open the VIP room door, I saw her lover kissing her bare leg. She didn't push him away. Instead, she laughed and swirled her martini. "I only forgot Finn because I knew he would stay. He is a poor boy from Queens who follows me around like a loyal dog." Later that night, her lover intentionally crashed a Porsche to scare me, sending a piece of jagged metal into my skull. Lying in a growing pool of my own blood, I watched Arleen crawl out of the wreckage. She didn't even look at me. She threw herself at her uninjured lover, screaming for a medic. "He just got scraped by a piece of plastic. He is faking it. Deal with Jaquez first!" When I woke up, I wasn't free. Arleen had locked me in a private hospital wing with 24-hour security, planning to isolate me and keep me as her broken, captive toy forever. My blind, pathetic devotion finally froze into absolute disgust. I looked at the heart monitor next to my bed and grabbed an IV needle. I severed the sensor wire to trigger a flatline, slipped out the fire stairs while the nurses panicked, and burned my identity to ashes. This time, I was going to disappear to London, build my own empire, and watch hers burn.

I was tied to a concrete pillar in an abandoned warehouse, the heavy stench of gasoline suffocating me. Ten steps away, a masked kidnapper slammed a loaded Glock onto a metal barrel and forced my husband, Alvie, to make a sick choice. "The wife or the mistress. You only get to walk out of here with one." Alvie didn't even blink. He walked straight toward the dark corner where his mistress, Gail, was crying. He wrapped his arms tightly around her, shielding her, and guided her toward the exit. He never looked back. He didn't cast a single glance over his shoulder. To him, I was already a corpse, just trash left on the pavement. The kidnapper laughed and tossed a lighter onto the soaked concrete floor. A wall of ghostly blue fire erupted instantly, swallowing me whole. The absolute agony of my skin blistering and melting shattered my sanity. In my last moments, consumed by the inferno, I couldn't understand how the man I had loved and served so submissively could leave me to burn alive. My heartbreak quickly morphed into a hatred far deeper than the flames. Then, I violently jerked awake. I shot up from the bed, gasping for cold air, my hands frantically checking my perfectly smooth, unburned skin. I looked at the desk clock. I had returned to exactly four years ago, the morning of the annual Gallagher family gathering. The fragile, naive wife died in that warehouse. This time, I am going to destroy them both.

Avery had spent the last decade building her career from nothing to become a top-tier television host. But overnight, a fabricated lie turned her entire life to ash. A drunken celebrity she barely knew publicly claimed his devotion to her, while his girlfriend posted fake screenshots framing Avery as a homewrecker. The backlash was immediate and ruthless. The network handed her an indefinite suspension. Luxury brands terminated her endorsement deals, leaving her facing millions of dollars in penalty claims. Paparazzi swarmed her building, and angry fans screamed insults at her car. Facing absolute bankruptcy, her manager offered one suicide mission out: join a trashy celebrity dating reality show where the very girl who framed her was starring as the fragile victim. Avery was suffocating under the humiliation of being ruined for a crime she didn't commit. But the final twist of the knife came when Graham, her ex-boyfriend and now a global pop superstar, unexpectedly returned to the network. On live television, he announced to the world that he was back for his "first love"—an outsider with a pure soul. Avery's heart flatlined, knowing he couldn't possibly mean the scandalous, ruined woman she had become. The vulnerability vanished from her eyes, replaced by a cold, hard sheet of ice. She turned her back on the blinding stage lights and texted her manager. "Get the contract ready. I'm signing it today." She was walking into a coliseum, but this time, she would be the one holding the knife.

"You don't get to hurt me and then make me responsible for how guilty you feel about it." "Friends don't stand next to you, learn everything about you, and then use it to get close to the one person they know matters." Aria thought she knew two things for certain: she was going to graduate with her best friend, Iris, by her side, and she was in love with her boyfriend, Liam. One kiss changed everything. But as the secrets of their "before" come to light, Aria realizes the betrayal didn't start at a party or in a moment of weakness. It started weeks ago, in the conversations she wasn't part of and the moments she wasn't invited to. Now, Aria has to decide if she can find herself again in the wreckage of the people she trusted most-or if some bridges are meant to be burned

After the one-night stand with a man who refused to tell her his name, Charlotte would figure out on TV that the man she had s*x with the previous night was the heir to a billionaire empire. At the same time, Jace Norman-the infamous playboy heir-faces a public scandal that threatens his inheritance. To protect the family empire, his ruthless father forces him into an immediate contract marriage. And just like that Charlotte would get married to the spoiled, reckless son of the most powerful billionaire in the city. That One night, Room 55 and Five thousand dollars she desperately needed would change her life forever. Weeks later, Charlotte discovers she's pregnant. But before she can process the truth, her manipulative boyfriend claims the child is his and begins blackmailing her. As their fake marriage becomes dangerously possessive, secrets begin to spiral. An ex-boyfriend demanding money. Jace's jealous college lover is determined to destroy Charlotte. Charlotte's sister is hiding betrayal behind sweet smiles. And a billionaire father who will eliminate anyone to protect the Norman name. When a forged DNA test claims the baby isn't Jace's, the empire turns on Charlotte. But the truth is far darker than any of them realize. Because someone has been orchestrating every lie from the beginning. And when Jace finally discovers the baby is his... He will have to choose between his father's empire- Or the woman carrying his heir.

⚠️ Warning: This book contains explicit scenes, strong language, mature content, sexual kinks and dark themes that may not be suitable for some readers. Read at your own risk. Trevor Matai had already made himself an enemy of half the school just by being the smartest person in the class. So when he won the student body presidency, they just found newer and louder reasons to come for him. What he was not prepared for was jerking awake from a nightmare in the middle of class, calling out Sean Pierre's name in front of everyone, and having a very visible and undeniable 'boner' to go along with it. Does that mean he got 'bricked up' for Sean. That was quite unbelievable because Sean Pierre, who is a star quarterback and the school's golden boy, happens to be the most aggressively straight guy Trevor had ever been forced to share oxygen with. So, Sean was the absolute last person his subconscious should have chosen. And now the whole school knew. What followed was supposed to be punishment as a result of the two clashing over school activity funds. Instead, something neither of them planned for started building because the closer Sean kept him, the harder it became to pretend that none of it meant anything. But Sean was the star quarterback and there were rules that came with that title. And wanting Trevor wasn't something the world around them was going to quietly allow. Two boys with two different dreams that couldn't both survive this situation, which seemed like a rivalry that had already drawn blood and a romantic feeling between them that refused to take note of that. Society had already written the rules, but they were about to break those rules and rewrite them. Because when someone is willing to burn everything down for you... the only question left is whether you are brave enough to let them and decide what you are willing to risk for love.

Clifton, the god of esports, was secretly battling a career-ending wrist injury to protect his team. A year ago, he kissed his duo partner, Justice, only to be met with violent disgust. Justice shoved him away and dry-heaved in the rain, looking at him like a monster. Humiliated by the straight man's raw revulsion, Clifton cut him out of his life. But now, Justice suddenly appeared at Clifton's club as a rookie tryout. Instead of an ambitious climber, Justice played the perfect, pathetic victim. He cowered, trembled, and acted terrified whenever Clifton was near. He even signed a bloodsucking contract with a toxic teammate, sparking rumors he was brought in to replace Clifton as captain. During a scrimmage, Clifton hesitated to shoot because he remembered Justice had just severely burned his hand. Justice showed no mercy. He ruthlessly gunned Clifton down, humiliating the captain in front of the entire coaching staff. Clifton was consumed by blinding rage and betrayal. If Justice was so disgusted by him, why did he fake his devotion for six months just to use him? Why was he acting like helpless prey now, after trampling all over Clifton's pride? Determined to rip off the liar's disguise, Clifton dragged Justice into a live stream in front of sixty thousand viewers. "He's asking if you are in love with me." Clifton smiled cruelly, waiting for the public execution. But just as the trap snapped shut, a choked, terrified gasp came through the headset.

Arden woke up hoping last night's intimacy meant her crumbling four-year marriage was finally healing. Instead, Federico tossed a thick divorce agreement onto the bed. He coldly accused her of thinking about his brother and announced his perfect ex-girlfriend, Brooklyn, was returning. To force her signature, the trust fund keeping Arden's mother alive on life support was suddenly frozen. Federico then kicked Arden out of the master suite, banishing her to a windowless, musty maid's room. When Brooklyn later faked a car crash to play the victim, Federico didn't hesitate to blame Arden. He kicked down her door, hauled her up by the collar while she was burning with a severe fever, and threw photos at her face. The sharp edges sliced her cheek, leaving a trail of blood. "If you ever touch a single hair on Brooklyn's head again, I will personally bankrupt your family." Arden stared at the man she had loved since she was fourteen. He actually believed she was a jealous, calculating murderer. The sheer, bottomless malice in his eyes shattered the last pathetic ember of hope she had left. Wiping the blood from her cheek, Arden swallowed a handful of fever pills dry. Love was dead, and she was done begging. She put on her sharpest black suit, painted her lips a bold red, and marched straight into his company's executive boardroom to take back her life.