From Prison To Power: Rise Of The War Goddess
Scarlett Hayes thought marrying James Whitmore would finally make her family see her as more than a burden.
Instead, it destroyed her life.
Framed for crimes she didn't commit, betrayed by the people she trusted most, and sentenced to prison while pregnant, Scarlett lost everything in a single night.
Then came the cruelest blow of all.
After giving birth in chains, she was told her baby had died.
The people responsible believed she would spend the rest of her life rotting behind bars.
They were wrong.
Five years later, Scarlett returns.
No longer the discarded daughter of the Hayes family. No longer the broken woman they left behind.
Now she is Commander Scarlett Hayes-a decorated war hero, the unseen force behind a global intelligence empire, and a woman powerful enough to make governments tremble.
She comes back for one reason only: revenge.
Her ex-husband, the stepsister who stole her life, and the family who buried her alive are about to learn exactly what happens when a woman with nothing left to lose takes back everything they stole.
But as Scarlett tears through the secrets of her past, one truth threatens to change everything-
the child she mourned for years may not be dead.
And the mysterious man connected to the night that changed her life has been watching from the shadows all along.
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Chapter 5
Inside the other car-
Theron watched Scarlett's vehicle disappear in the rearview mirror, then looked away.
"Find out who she is," he said. "I want a full profile."
Rhys nodded from the driver's seat. "I'll take care of it."
Still, the request didn't sit right.
Theron had never shown interest in women. Not once.
So why her?
It wasn't just her looks. That wasn't enough to catch his attention.
There had to be more to it.
Theron lowered his gaze to the boy in his arms.
Theo's skin burned with fever. His breathing came shallow and uneven, each breath weaker than the last.
This wasn't new.
Four years ago, Theron had found him in a trash bin-barely alive, poisoned, clinging to whatever strength he had left.
They saved him.
But not completely.
Since then, the fevers kept coming back. Ten days at a time. Sometimes longer. Each one worse than the last.
The doctors hadn't sugarcoated it.
If this kept up-
Theo didn't have much time.
"Any updates on Dr. Nyx?" Theron asked.
Rhys shook his head. "Nothing concrete. He's off the grid. And even if we find him... there's no guarantee he'll agree to help."
Theron's expression hardened.
"Find him."
A beat.
"Whatever it takes."
The temperature in the car seemed to drop.
Rhys tightened his grip on the wheel. "Understood."
In his arms, Theo shifted slightly.
A faint sound slipped from his lips.
"Mo... Mommy..."
Theron went still.
The word came again, weak and broken.
"Mommy..."
He knew who the boy meant.
Not the woman who gave birth to him.
Her.
Scarlett.
As for Theo's real mother-
The woman who had thrown him away like he was nothing-
Theron's gaze turned cold.
He would find her.
And when he did-
She wouldn't get away with it.
Meanwhile-
Scarlett had just stepped out of the car when a sudden unease hit her.
Her hand went to her chest.
A dull, twisting pain tightened around her ribs, sharp enough to make her pause.
"Are you okay?" Howard asked.
"I'm fine."
She lowered her hand, her gaze settling on the small house beneath the wide, shadowy branches of a banyan tree.
This was it.
After her mother remarried, Scarlett had been left behind in the countryside with her father-a gambler who barely cared whether she lived or died.
One day, he disappeared.
No warning. No explanation.
Just gone.
She would have starved-
If the Monroe family hadn't taken her in.
They raised her like their own.
Louie treated her like a real sister.
For a while, she had something that felt like a home.
Until five years ago, when her biological mother came back and took her away.
After that, the Monroes moved to the city and built a quiet life on the outskirts.
They had always been good to her.
Better than family.
And now, after five years-
She was finally back.
Her throat tightened.
Scarlett stepped forward and knocked on the door.
A moment later, it opened.
"Lettie!"
Amy stood there, her face lighting up-then faltering.
"I'm sorry... we couldn't come get you today-"
"It's okay," Scarlett said softly. "I'm not a kid anymore."
She stepped inside-
And stopped.
The yard was a mess.
Chairs overturned. Dirt disturbed. Something had happened here.
Her expression sharpened.
"What happened?"
Amy hesitated, her shoulders sinking slightly.
"Come in first," she said. "It's been a long time. Go see Louie."
Scarlett frowned.
If he was home, why hadn't he come out?
A second later, she got her answer.
A wheelchair rolled into view from the hallway.
Scarlett froze.
"...Louie?"
Her voice broke.
Her eyes dropped instantly to his legs.
She crossed the room in two quick steps, reaching for the blanket covering them.
"Don't," he said, catching her wrist. "You don't need to see it."
Her jaw tightened.
"Let go."
"Lettie-"
"Let go."
Her voice was low. Steady. Not a request.
Louie held her gaze for a second-
Then slowly released her.
He looked away.
Scarlett pulled the blanket back-
And everything inside her went cold.
His legs were ruined.
Twisted at unnatural angles, the damage severe enough that it was obvious-this hadn't been treated properly. Maybe it couldn't be.
Either way, it was permanent.
Hard to even look at.
"Who did this?" she asked.
Her voice was quiet. Too quiet.
Louie pulled the blanket back over his legs. "Drop it. We can't take them on."
Scarlett let out a slow breath.
"There's no one I can't deal with," she said.
"Just tell me who it was."
"I'll handle it."
"Not this time," Louie said, meeting her eyes. "You just got back. Let it go. We'll keep things simple. That's enough."
He meant it.
So did Amy.
They were afraid she'd do something reckless.
Scarlett saw it clearly.
So she let it go.
For now.
Her gaze fell back to his legs.
"...Can it be fixed?"
Louie gave a short, humorless laugh. "Every specialist I saw said the same thing. I'm not walking again."
He tried to sound fine with it.
He wasn't.
Scarlett didn't react.
"I know someone," she said. "If anyone can fix this, he can."
Louie shook his head. "Don't get your hopes up."
"He's not like the others."
She turned to Howard. "Get Dr. Nyx here."
Howard nodded. "I'll reach out-"
"Wait."
Scarlett held out her hand.
"I'll call him."
She dialed.
The line picked up after a few rings.
"Well, this is a surprise," an older man said. "Didn't think you remembered me."
"Where are you?" Scarlett asked. "I need you here."
A pause.
"What happened? You're hurt?"
"It's not me. It's my brother, Louie. His legs are badly damaged. I need you in the capital. Tonight."
"Tonight?" he scoffed. "I'm in the U.S. Even if I leave now-"
Scarlett glanced at Howard.
"Call in a military jet," she said. "Have it ready."
Silence.
Then-
"Don't you dare," the man snapped. "I'm not making a scene like that."
A beat.
"...I'll book a flight. Earliest one I can get. Just don't send anyone after me."
The call ended.
Not long after, his assistant stepped into the room.
"Someone from Cross Corp reached out," he said. "They're offering a huge fee for a private consult."
"No time," the man replied, already grabbing his coat. "I've got somewhere to be."
"Should I decline it?"
"Yeah."
He didn't even hesitate.
"Book me the next flight out."
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7.4
In a city where data is power and truth is a weapon, some secrets are worth killing for.
Mara Quinn is a ghost in the system, an underground journalist known only as Cipher, feared by corporations and hunted by those with everything to lose. When she breaches a classified network inside Axiom Industries, she uncovers something no one was meant to see: ORACLE, a predictive AI capable of shaping human behavior on a global scale.
She expects retaliation. She doesn't expect Kael Draven.
Cold, brilliant, and untouchable, Kael is the architect behind Axiom's empire, and a man who doesn't make threats he can't execute. Instead of silencing Mara, he offers her a choice: work under his watch, or disappear from existence entirely. Trapped inside his glass fortress known as The Spire, Mara is pulled deeper into a world of surveillance, manipulation, and power plays that stretch far beyond anything she imagined.
But ORACLE isn't just a tool, it's already been used. Governments have fallen. Empires have shifted. And someone else is pulling the strings.
As a rival syndicate closes in and a hidden war erupts across the city, Mara and Kael are forced into an uneasy alliance, one built on intellect, suspicion, and a dangerous, undeniable pull neither of them can ignore.
Because in a world where every move is predicted...
the only thing more dangerous than control is feeling.
And the system is already watching.
7.7
Rory stood on the witness stand, forced by her father into an impossible choice: secure her dying mother's medical funding, or save her innocent boyfriend.
She looked Corbin right in his trusting eyes and lied to the court, testifying that he was the one driving the car during the fatal hit-and-run, sending him to a maximum-security prison for ten years.
The betrayal destroyed him. Corbin's father died of a heart attack upon hearing the guilty verdict. Six years later, Corbin returned as a ruthless billionaire and systematically blacklisted Rory from every job in the city. He cornered her into singing at his private club, humiliating her by forcing her to drink scotch—knowing she was severely allergic—and making her throw away his promise ring just to earn a stack of cash.
"Remember this moment. This is only the beginning."
She endured his cruel revenge because she was hiding a desperate secret: she was raising his five-year-old daughter, Willa. But when Willa's congenital heart defect suddenly worsened, requiring an impossible one-million-dollar surgery, Rory realized Corbin's calculated blockade had left her completely trapped with no way to save their child.
Staring at the sterile hospital walls, the last shred of her guilt burned away, replaced by a cold, hard resolve. He had destroyed her career and backed her into a corner, but he was the only one with the money. Wiping her tears, Rory turned and headed straight for Vance Tower.
9.6
My world revolved around Jax Harding, my older brother's captivating rockstar friend.
From sixteen, I adored him; at eighteen, I clung to his casual promise: "When you're 22, maybe I'll settle down."
That offhand comment became my life's beacon, guiding every choice, meticulously planning my twenty-second birthday as our destiny.
But on that pivotal day in a Lower East Side bar, clutching my gift, my dream exploded.
I overheard Jax' s cold voice: "Can't believe Savvy's showing up. She' s still hung up on that stupid thing I said."
Then the crushing plot: "We' re gonna tell Savvy I' m engaged to Chloe, maybe even hint she' s pregnant. That should scare her off."
My gift, my future, slipped from my numb fingers.
I fled into the cold New York rain, devastated by betrayal.
Later, Jax introduced Chloe as his "fiancée" while his bandmates mocked my "adorable crush"-he did nothing.
As an art installation fell, he saved Chloe, abandoning me to severe injury.
In the hospital, he came for "damage control," then shockingly shoved me into a fountain, leaving me to bleed, calling me a "jealous psycho."
How could the man I loved, who once saved me, become this cruel and publicly humiliate me?
Why was my devotion seen as an annoyance to be brutally extinguished with lies and assault?
Was I just a problem, my loyalty met with hatred?
I would not be his victim.
Injured and betrayed, I made an unshakeable vow: I was done.
I blocked his number and everyone connected to him, severing ties.
This was not an escape; this was my rebirth.
Florence awaited, a new life on my terms, unburdened by broken promises.
8.4
Kenzie, the former leader of the Aegis Alliance, opened her eyes to find herself reincarnated as a freezing, abandoned infant in a wet cardboard box.
She was rescued from the rain by Devin Ayers, a ruthless billionaire, and rushed to a private hospital, but a deadly threat was already waiting for her.
The ER doctor, Desiree Dillon, approached her with a syringe. Through a sudden burst of telepathy, Kenzie read the doctor's dark thoughts. Desiree wasn't trying to cure her fever. She deliberately ignored the safe dosage, drawing a lethal amount of Diazepam to permanently silence the crying baby and disguise it as sudden infant death.
"This will make it all go away," Desiree smiled gently, the needle glinting as it moved inches from Kenzie's arm.
Trapped in a weak, paralyzed three-month-old body, Kenzie couldn't run, fight, or even speak. She could only watch the poison inch closer.
How could she survive death only to be assassinated in a hospital bed by a corrupt doctor? She used to command armies. The sheer injustice and terror of dying completely helpless in this tiny body ignited a blinding rage inside her.
Refusing to be a victim again, Kenzie pushed her newborn brain to its absolute limit and unleashed a desperate telepathic scream directly into the billionaire's mind.
"Poison! She's trying to kill me!"
Devin, who had been looking away, suddenly froze, his icy gray eyes locking onto the doctor's wrist.
7.7
Five years ago, Zaria Blackthorne lost everything. Framed as a traitor's daughter, she watched her parents die, was betrayed by her fated mate, Callum Nightbane, and cast into prison-only to be saved by a monster who wanted to ruin her. That night, she should have died. But fate had other plans.
Now, she's back. No longer the naïve girl who once begged for mercy, she has been reborn as Celeste Draven, the temptress of Nightbane Academy. With a new identity, a rare bloodline that makes her irresistible, and a body forged for seduction, she is ready to dismantle the lives of those who betrayed her-one sinful encounter at a time.
But revenge comes at a cost.
Three powerful men are obsessed with her and they are a tool in her revenge games and then she realised the deeper she played, the harder it becomes to keep the men in control.
And what do you think will happen when the truth comes to light, and she discovered she was being played herself? Will she sacrifice her love for vengeance or allow her enemies to burn and claim the throne for herself?
Dive into this story of betrayal, revenge, reverse haram, and obsession, where no man actually owns Zaria Blackthorne.
9.3
WARNING!! THIS STORY CONTAINS A LOT OF MATURE THEMES, ELEMENTS OF HARDCORE BDSM, PRAISE KINKS, SLUT-SHAMING KINKS, AND DEGRADATION KINKS. READ WITH CAUTION.
(BOOK ONE OF THE DELUCA KINGS SERIES)
Serena would do anything to uncover the death of her parents, including sleeping with the most dangerous man in New York, Nero DeLuca. And he knows this, so he strings her along so he can see how far she's willing to go.
***
"Get on your knees," Nero said.
"Excuse me-"
"You're my submissive, and you exist for the sole purpose of my pleasure. I don't tolerate defiance. When I say get on your knees, you get on your knees."
"Yes," I replied as I got on my knees, hating how much his commanding tone turned me on.
He put his finger under my chin and lifted it so I could look at him.
"Yes, what?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good girl. Now get on the bed and show me that beautiful cunt. I want to see what it looks like before I destroy it with my cock. Tonight, the whole of New York will know you belong to me. I'll not take anything less than you screaming my name, and by the time I'm done with you, you'll feel me between your legs for a week."