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 6
Theo lay unconscious in the hospital bed, his small face flushed with fever. An IV line ran into his arm, the steady drip the only sign of control in an otherwise worsening situation.
When Rhys stepped inside, he immediately felt it-
The tension.
Theron sat beside the bed, silent, still, but the pressure around him was suffocating.
"Sir," Rhys said quietly.
Theron stood without a word and walked out. Rhys followed, and the door clicked shut behind them.
"Any update on Nyx?" Theron asked.
"We reached him," Rhys said carefully. "He refused."
The air shifted.
Rhys didn't pause.
"But I tracked his movements. He's heading to the capital-someone important is here. He's already booked a flight. Arrival should be tomorrow afternoon. I'll have people waiting at the airport."
"No."
Theron's voice cut clean through the hallway.
"I'll go."
Rhys blinked, then nodded. "Understood."
Theron didn't explain.
He didn't need to.
If Nyx was as difficult as they said-
Sending someone else wouldn't be enough.
Monroe Residence
Dinner had just ended when Howard returned.
Scarlett set her glass down.
"Mom, Louie-I need to step out for a bit. Something came up."
Amy looked concerned, but didn't stop her. Louie just gave a small nod.
Outside, Scarlett didn't waste time.
"Well?"
Howard's expression darkened. "I found out who did it."
A pause.
"It was Colin Drake."
Scarlett's eyes went cold.
"Why?"
Howard hesitated, just for a second.
"Louie's fiancée thought he wasn't good enough for her. She got involved with Colin. Louie caught them together... confronted him."
He exhaled slowly.
"It turned into a fight. Colin had his guys step in. They broke Louie's legs... then wrecked the yard."
Silence.
"And now," Howard added, "she's engaged to Colin."
A sharp crack echoed as Scarlett's fingers tightened into a fist.
The air around her seemed to shift.
"Where is he?"
"At a club."
Scarlett got there fast.
Too fast.
Inside the private room, Colin Drake was exactly where you'd expect him to be-sprawled across a couch, surrounded by women.
One draped over his left arm. Another leaning into his shoulder.
He laughed, careless, indulgent.
"Oh, you're awful," one of them teased, pressing closer.
"Yeah?" Colin smirked. "You like that, don't you?"
He leaned in for another kiss-
The door slammed open.
Hard.
The entire room went still.
Colin turned, annoyed-
Then froze.
His gaze locked onto Scarlett.
And shifted instantly.
Interest. Sharp. Unfiltered.
"Well... now this is new," he said, pushing the women aside as he stood. "Who are you?"
Scarlett didn't react.
"Are you Colin Drake?"
"That depends," he said lazily. "Who's asking?"
But his eyes stayed on her.
A woman like that didn't walk in by accident.
And she definitely didn't walk in for someone else.
Howard stepped forward slightly, already reading the look on his face. If Scarlett hadn't stopped him earlier, Colin would already be on the floor.
"Gloves," he said quietly.
Scarlett took them without looking.
Slid them on.
Then raised her eyes.
Cold. Focused.
Something about it made Colin pause.
"Alright," he said, a little less relaxed now. "What do you want?"
Scarlett tilted her head slightly.
"Louie Monroe is my brother."
The shift was instant.
Recognition hit.
"...Scarlett?"
His eyes widened slightly.
"Scarlett Hayes. Right?"
A slow grin spread across his face.
"I thought you were still locked up. What, they let you out early?"
Scarlett didn't answer.
Colin let out a short laugh, the mockery clear.
"What, you here to stand up for him?" he said. "Your brother picked a fight he couldn't win."
He leaned back, tapping his cheek.
"Go ahead. Take your shot."
His grin widened.
"I won't even move."
Scarlett looked at him for a second.
Then-
"Your call."
She moved.
Fast.
Too fast for him to react.
CRACK-
The sound echoed through the room.
Colin's head snapped to the side as his nose shattered on impact. The force sent him flying backward, crashing hard onto the floor.
A beat of silence-
Then-
"AAAH-!"
He screamed, clutching his face, blood pouring between his fingers.
"You-!" His voice broke into a roar. "I'll kill you!"
Scarlett walked toward him, unhurried.
"Oh?" she said calmly.
Her foot came down-
CRACK-
The sound was worse this time.
A scream tore out of him, raw and uncontrolled.
"Stop-!"
Too late.
She pressed down harder.
Bone gave under pressure.
Another scream. Louder. Desperate.
She didn't rush.
Didn't hesitate.
By the time she stepped back-
Both legs were destroyed.
Colin lay there shaking, his face drained of color, his body barely responding to the pain.
Scarlett looked down at him.
Unmoved.
"Now we're even."
He glared up at her, hatred burning in his eyes-
But he didn't say another word.
He couldn't.
Right then, Brielle rushed in.
She stopped cold at the sight.
"Honey?!"
Her voice cracked.
She stared at Colin, broken on the floor, panic flooding her face.
"What happened?! Who did this?!"
"I did."
Scarlett's voice cut through the room.
Brielle snapped her head toward her.
"Scarlett?!"
Shock turned to anger almost instantly.
"What is wrong with you?!" she snapped. "You're insane! You should've stayed in prison!"
Scarlett didn't react.
"Whether I belong there isn't your concern," she said evenly.
Her gaze sharpened.
"I broke his legs because he broke my brother's."
A beat.
"You knew that."
Brielle didn't hesitate.
"He deserved it."
The temperature in the room dropped.
Scarlett's expression hardened.
"Deserved it?"
Her voice was quiet.
Controlled.
"He worked himself to exhaustion for you," she said. "Gave you everything he had."
Her eyes locked onto Brielle's.
"And that's what you call deserving it?"
Brielle let out a short, dismissive laugh.
"He had nothing," she said coldly. "No money. No future. Did he really think that was enough?"
Scarlett let out a quiet laugh.
Her gaze lingered on Brielle for a moment.
Pretty, sure.
But compared to Louie?
Not even close.
That wasn't bias.
It was fact.
She didn't deserve him.
"What's so funny?" Brielle snapped. "Am I wrong?"
She lifted her chin, smug.
"A guy who can't even make three grand a month thinks he can marry me?"
"My fiancé's different. He's got money. He runs his own company. He actually knows how to treat me."
"If I want a designer bag, I get one. Your brother? He'd have to kill himself just to afford it."
Every word dripped with contempt.
Scarlett drew in a slow breath, holding her temper in check.
Her eyes flicked briefly to the women huddled in the corner-
Then back to Brielle.
"You see this?" she said evenly. "You're engaged to him, and he's still hooking up with other women."
"What's that got to do with you?" Brielle shot back. "I don't care. I want him."
But that wasn't true.
Not completely.
No one was that indifferent.
She just chose not to look too closely.
Money.
Status.
The life she wanted.
Scarlett's gaze hardened.
"Good," she said quietly.
"Then stick with that choice."
There was a weight behind her voice now.
A promise.
"You're going to regret it."
"Everything you said. Everything you chose."
At first, she'd only planned to teach Brielle a lesson.
Now?
That felt like a waste.
No-
She wanted something else.
Something lasting.
Not pain.
Regret.
The kind that stayed with you.
The kind that didn't fade.
"Let's go," she said, turning to Howard.
She walked out without another glance.
Behind her, Brielle's voice cut through the room-
"Stop right there, Scarlett! You think you can just walk away after this? I'm calling the police! I'll send you back to prison!"
Scarlett didn't slow down.
Didn't even turn.
She was already gone.
Howard lingered for half a second, glancing back at Brielle.
Amused.
Calling the police?
That was cute.
If she thought that would work-
She had no idea who she was dealing with.
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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."