When my fiancé, Arthur Callahan, bought my wedding ring, he did what he always did. He bought two and let my older twin sister, Irene Monroe, choose first.   One was a diamond ring he'd paid $3,000,000 for at an auction. The other was a cheap plain band he'd picked up at a flea market for less than 10 bucks.   I pointed to the diamond ring and said, "Could I choose first this time?"   Arthur gave my cheek a little pinch.   "Irene's always been competitive. If she can't have the best, she'd rather have nothing. You're not nearly as particular. There's nothing wrong with the other one."   I didn't answer. I only felt a strange emptiness in my chest.   For as long as I could remember, Irene had always come first with Arthur. Sometimes it seemed as though she was his girlfriend.   I looked at the cheap ring, then pushed it back.   "Irene, you can have both. I don't want either one."   I decided to let Arthur go. I was done taking whatever she left behind.

I was 22 when I met Adrian Reed, my father's adopted brother. From the moment he saw me, he couldn't take his eyes off me. Later, I was his assistant by day. At night, he pinned me to the bed and kissed me until we were both breathless. During our four-year secret relationship, he had me grow out my hair, chose my dresses, and molded me into the woman he wanted me to be. Then his old flame, Vivian Hale, came back from overseas, and he rushed to the airport to pick her up. I followed him there. One glimpse of her profile, and I suddenly understood: whenever Adrian looked at me, he'd been seeing her all along. Only an hour earlier, he had held me in his arms and left hickeys on my neck. Now, he was gently smoothing another woman's long hair. When Adrian saw me, his expression shifted. He pulled me aside. When I confronted him, he laughed dismissively. "Ivy, you were the one who insisted on being with me. I never promised I would marry you. Throwing a tantrum now is honestly just tiresome." I swallowed my hurt and texted my father, telling him I would accept the Hart family's marriage proposal. When I looked up again, I smiled. "All right. Then goodbye."

There were 24 minutes until my wedding, and I was locked out of the bridal suite.   The hotel manager swiped the key card twice, but the lock didn't respond.   "Ms. Carter, the system says you don't have access."   I thought I must have misheard.   "I'm the bride."   Sweat began to bead on the manager's forehead.   "But the room is registered to Ms. Blake. When she checked in early this morning, she specifically changed the access settings. No one can go in without Mr. Reed's permission."   Everyone in the hallway fell silent.   My mom Mia Carter held my wedding dress, the smile slowly fading from her face.   My veil, jewelry, wedding shoes, and bouquet were all locked inside.   In 24 minutes, the ballroom doors would open right on schedule.   And I couldn't even put on my wedding dress.   I called my fiancé, Daniel Reed.   Daniel Reed came upstairs in less than a minute.   But when he arrived, he didn't look at me first.   He went over to the door and listened. Once he was sure there was no sound from inside, he visibly relaxed.   "Olivia was up all night checking the arrangements for us. She's only just gone to bed. Go next door and get your makeup done. Let her sleep a little longer."   I stared at Daniel Reed as he stood in the doorway, blocking my way.   "All my things are in there."   "Get your makeup done first. We'll still have time. Once Olivia wakes up, I'll go in and get them for you."   I checked the time.   "Open that door in the next 30 seconds, or the wedding's off."

I, Emma Bennett, was 30 minutes late to my wedding rehearsal. By the time I arrived, my fiancé, Wright Hugh, had already walked my best friend, Jenna Hart, down the aisle. Jenna should have been in a bridesmaid dress. Instead, she was wearing my wedding gown while Wright stood beneath the arch, smiling as he held out his hand to her. After the run-through, they debated when the music should start, then argued over who would say the vows first. The wedding planner laughed. "Come on, groom. No arguing now. At a wedding, the bride gets the final say." They exchanged a sheepish glance, then both looked down, cheeks flushed. I stood a short distance away and watched them decide every detail of my wedding. It was supposed to be my wedding to Wright, yet Jenna looked far more like the bride. I swallowed the ache in my throat and texted my boss. Emma: Ma'am, I've thought about the Valoria assignment you mentioned. I'll take it.

My name is Nora Bennett. I'm a litigation partner at Cole & Bennett LLP, the law firm I built with my husband, Ethan Cole. When I pushed the door open, I already knew. Ethan's junior associate, Lily Harper, was hiding under his desk. She was dragging it out on purpose, and Ethan's face nearly cracked. Without so much as a sideways glance, I placed a stack of documents in front of him. "Witness fees for that case last week. Sign here." He was fighting to contain his pleasure and didn't bother reading a single page. He picked up his pen and signed, one page after another. Only after he finished the last page did he look up, his eyes hazy. "You weren't due back from Riverdale till tomorrow. Why so early?" I gathered the documents. "Came back to handle something urgent." Before turning to leave, I glanced under the desk. "Let her out." Ethan stiffened. He probably expected me to do what I always used to do—confront the girl, demand answers, gather evidence, force him to swear there wouldn't be a next time. But all I said was, "She's been on her knees too long. Her legs will go numb." Knowing he was in the wrong, he immediately changed the subject. "What's so urgent?" I didn't answer. I simply closed the door behind me and flipped the sign outside to DO NOT DISTURB. What he didn't know was that buried in that stack of documents was our divorce agreement. My something was already done.

I am the daughter of the Riverbend Pack's Alpha, born to a position of extraordinary privilege.   My boyfriend, Daniel, is nothing more than an ordinary werewolf from a poor family.   After we got together, I hid my identity and pretended to be an ordinary werewolf, starting at the bottom and working alongside him.   But on the eve of our wedding, I caught him sleeping with his female boss, Vivian.   "Emma is ugly and poor. She can't hold a candle to you. I'll be counting on you to help me advance at work."   Pain tore through my body. I forced down the urge to barge in and confront them and began planning my revenge.   What he didn't know was that Vivian was the illegitimate daughter of my father's Beta. With a status like hers, she normally wouldn't even qualify to meet me.   After tearing the contract worth 1.5 million dollars in my hands to shreds, I messaged Dad.   Emma: I'll agree to the arranged marriage. I'll come home next week.

On my wedding day, I spotted it immediately.   The man standing in the groom's place wasn't my fiancé, Alpha Liam. It was his identical twin brother, Noah.   Amid the raucous cheers and excited chatter, Noah leaned close, his warm breath brushing my ear.   "Ava, Liam got held up and will be late. He asked me to stand in for him for now."   Got held up?   What the hell could've been more important than showing up for his own wedding?   Off to the side, Liam's friends were clapping and cheering, but their hushed, snickering remarks didn't escape me.   "Liam's got some nerve, letting Noah stand in for him at his own wedding. Isn't he worried Ava will figure it out?"   "What choice did he have? Mia insisted on coming back to the pack today, so he took off at the crack of dawn to pick her up from the airport."   "Relax. It's fine. Ava's head over heels for him, isn't she? Even if she finds out, she won't make a scene."   All because Mia was back?   I dug my nails so deep into my palm that they nearly broke the skin. A sharp, bitter ache spread through my chest, and I couldn't force it down.   Amid the laughter and celebration, my best friend Lily looked at me, her eyes filled with sympathy.   "Ava... do you still want to go through with this?"   I brushed the tears from my cheeks and steadied myself. When I spoke, my voice was cold and unwavering.   "Go through with it? Hell yeah."   I quickly fixed my smudged makeup, then pulled out my phone and sent a message to Ethan, Alpha of the Ashclaw Pack, Liam's longtime rival and the man who'd been pursuing me for seven years.   Ava: You once said you wanted to marry me? Does that offer still stand?

The day before my wedding to Jacob Parker, I discovered I was the Miller family's fake heiress. My parents gave me two choices.   I had to cut ties with the family and get thrown out of Crownwell District, straight back to the slums, or let the real heiress, Audrey Miller, marry Jacob while I became his mistress.   "Rosalie, stop being so stubborn. You've been pampered your whole life. How do you expect to survive on your own? Becoming Jacob's mistress is the best deal you're going to get."   Everyone was convinced I would pick the life of Jacob's mistress.   I simply looked at Jacob, who had been silent all this time. "Do you want me to be your mistress too?"   Jacob paused before answering, "Rosalie, the title of the Miller family's heiress was always supposed to belong to Audrey. You've enjoyed it for years, so you owe it back to her. And our engagement should go back to her too."   Seeing the displeasure on my face, Jacob quickly pulled me into his arms. "But don't worry. Even if you're only my mistress, I'll still treat you right. You'll have everything a wife would."   I gave a sneer and slipped out of his arms. What he didn't know was that I had received a message from Elliot Shaw, the richest man in the country, the day before.   Elliot: Rosalie Miller, if you don't marry me, I'll buy out the Miller Group and make you my wife!   What made Jacob think I would turn down the richest man's wife title just to become his secret mistress?

My Alpha husband, Declan Hayes, had a severe sex addiction. He had slept with many women before me, but after we got together, he discovered I was the only person who could ease his symptoms. Every time we had sex, we had to try all sorts of things before his urges would finally subside.   More than once, Declan pinned me beneath him and breathed, "Honey, I swear I could die happy buried inside you. You're my cure. What would I ever do without you?"   I believed him. So I spent every day studying every resource I could find and learning new techniques, all so I could satisfy him and help keep his sex addiction under control.   Then came the day he threw a welcome-back party for his childhood sweetheart, Beatrix Collins. When I arrived, I happened to overhear him talking with his friends.   "Declan, is your wife really that wild in bed?"   "Of course. Declan trained her himself."   "What about Beatrix?"   Declan exhaled a stream of smoke, his expression softening. "She's different. She's innocent. I can't bring myself to touch her."   A chill spread through my chest until my heart felt numb. I turned around and booked a mate bond severing ritual with a witch for five days later.   'If he doesn't cherish me, then I don't want him anymore. I want to see how well Declan can control his sex addiction once I'm gone.'

After the ball, the prince picked up the glass slipper I'd left behind in my haste and declared that he would marry whoever it fit.   In my first life, my eldest stepsister, Vanessa, secretly shaved down her little toe so she could squeeze into it. Once they were married, the prince cut off her legs.   "Not her!"   In my second life, my other stepsister, Chloe, carved away part of her heel and married him. The prince promptly shoved her from a tower.   "Not her either!"   In my third life, my stepmother, Diana, gritted her teeth, cut away part of her ankle, and forced her foot into the slipper.   Without another word, the prince held her beneath the palace fountain until she drowned.   By the fourth life, they were out of ideas. Terrified, they hurriedly sent me in their place.   The glass slipper fit me perfectly.   My whole family finally breathed a sigh of relief.   But the moment the prince saw me, he drew his sword and ran me through.   "Why is it still not her? Where the hell is she?"   In our final life, the prince sent his royal steward with the glass slipper, and all four of us insisted it wouldn't fit.   The steward gave us a strange look.   "His Highness said the slipper belongs to one of you."

The richest tycoon, Theodore Blackwell, wanted a Rowan to marry his comatose heir, Damon.   The moment the news spread, my parents completely lost their composure. They begged me again and again to take Juliette's place and marry him.   I was the Rowan family's biological daughter, but everyone outside believed I was adopted. I used that misunderstanding as my shield, coldly refused, and left for a vacation on Kailora Island.   No one expected that less than a week after her wedding, Juliette would betray the Blackwell family by having an affair with their chauffeur.   Theodore was consumed with rage. He had her dragged to the streets and sold into the trade. The very next day, she ended her own life.   The Rowan family was destroyed by the Blackwell family's retaliation and fell into bankruptcy. My parents were left crammed inside a tiny rental apartment, spending their days drowning in despair.   I cried and begged my childhood sweetheart and fiancé, Mark Ashford, for help.   But he turned around and brought the debt collectors straight to my parents' door. Then, with his own hands, he handed me over to those people.   He stood there and watched as they tortured me to death, never once trying to stop them.   “If you hadn't refused to marry Damon in Juliette's place, how could she have been pushed to the edge at such a young age? Everyone in the Rowan family is guilty of killing her. I'll make every single one of you pay the price!”   That was when I finally understood.   My parents, my brother, and even the man who was supposed to love me had only ever cared about Juliette.   After I was reborn, I chose to marry Damon.   When I stood beside the young and striking Blackwell heir with a wedding ring on my finger, the people who had thrown me away were left drowning in regret.

The day after my boyfriend Damian Lawson and I got engaged, something happened that no one could have expected.   My father and Damian's mother were found dead in the same bed.   After examining them, the doctors said they had died because the sex had been too intense, causing excessive physical and emotional arousal that ultimately proved fatal.   From that day on, Damian and I were completely through.   We had once been lovers preparing to get married, but because of what happened between our parents, we became the people we hated most.   Damian barged into my father's funeral with a group of people and turned the entire ceremony into chaos.   To get back at him, I smashed his mother's gravestone.   From then on, we fought each other for ten whole years.   For those ten years, the first thing we did every morning when we woke up was think of ways to strike at each other.   We relentlessly went after each other's companies, both determined to drive the other into bankruptcy.   It wasn't until ten years later that we finally grew tired of it all.   Damian left and moved to Ravenport, then later went to Crown Street.   I stayed in Westbridge.   I sold my company and stopped running a business myself.   Later, I turned to the financial markets and became the mastermind operating behind the scenes of Westbridge's stock market.

My boyfriend, Soren Hale, was Moonskar Pack's Alpha heir.   On our wedding day, just as we were about to exchange rings, his first love, Ella Dawson, burst in to stop the ceremony and claim him for herself.   Soren stopped the ceremony on the spot, replaced me with her as the bride, and told me, "The wedding is only a formality. You'll still be my only true mate."   Furious, I broke our mate bond right there and chose a wolfless man from among the guests as my new groom. Everyone dismissed him as a loser because they believed a wolfless man could never have a fated mate.   Everyone laughed at me.   What none of them knew was that the "loser" I chose was actually the powerful and respected Crown Prince.   I attended a charity gala with my husband 5 years later and ran into Soren again.   He looked down at me arrogantly. "You married a loser just to spite me. Finally ready to come back? If you ask nicely, I might consider restoring our mate bond."   'Restore a mate bond with him? Please. My son's already talking.'

The day I was brought back to Manhattan from Montana, I finally learned I was supposed to bear the Winslow surname—the family that controlled half the shipping trade along the East Coast. Life at the Winslow estate was nothing like the hostile welcome I'd braced for. My birth father, the current patriarch of the family, met me with red-rimmed eyes and publicly claimed me as his child in front of every household member. Even Isabel Winslow, the adopted daughter who'd occupied my place for twenty years, greeted me politely as her younger sister and personally walked me through proper table manners and social etiquette. Still, a heavy knot sat tight in my chest. Every time I misused silverware or stumbled over my words at formal gatherings, I could hear the staff snickering behind my back, their voices hushed. One day, I reached my breaking point. I raised my hand and slapped the maid who'd been mocking me. Mom snapped at me, at the end of her tether. "What on earth are you trying to do!" My voice shook as I spoke. "All of you keep comparing me to Isabel! You say I'm crude, that I'm an embarrassment to bring to society events. But every single thing she has right now was stolen from me. Why do you all get to laugh at me like I'm some joke?" I fixed my gaze hard on them. "This house can have either her or me. Not both." Dad flinched, avoiding my stare. "This isn't Isabel's fault." Not her fault. Then whose fault was it? Mine? "Figure out which one of us you want."

Everyone who worked at Ashford Manor envied me.   I was Cressida Bennett, personal maid to Elliot Ashford, the sole heir to the Ashford family. I looked after his daily needs and earned a million dollars a year.   Then a new maid named Megan Doyle arrived at the manor. When she heard what I was paid, her eyes nearly popped out of her head.   "She makes a million dollars just for looking after Mr. Ashford? Mr. Ashford even gave her such an expensive necklace. Is she his maid or his mistress?"   Early the next morning, Megan went straight to Elliot's father, Victor Ashford.   "Mr. Ashford, I'd like to take over as your son's personal maid. I'll accept only 90,000 dollars, and I promise I'll do a better job than Cressida."   Afterward, she came looking for me, smug satisfaction written all over her face.   "Elliot's father has already agreed. He's been unhappy with you for a long time, and the Ashfords will throw you out any day now."   She expected me to be furious. Instead, I nearly laughed out loud with relief.   'At last, I'm going to be free.'   What none of them knew was that Elliot was a vampire more than 200 years old. When he was in a good mood, the way he licked my neck and sank his fangs into me could be almost unbearably tender. When he lost control, he bit me all over without caring how badly he hurt me. A single feeding could leave me at death's door.   Being his personal maid meant feeding him my blood whenever he wanted it. For an ordinary human, taking the job was practically a death sentence.

To get a firsthand look at the company, I hid my background and downplayed my abilities, taking an internship at one of my family's subsidiaries as an invisible nobody.   My coworker, Vivian Cook, was obsessed with selling herself as the true heiress of a wealthy family who spoke eight languages and had unmatched business instincts, so she picked me to make herself look better.   When investors from Florenne visited to discuss a partnership, the director assigned Vivian to receive them. She froze on the spot and couldn't get a full sentence out. I stepped forward instead. My fluent Florenian and strong negotiating skills won the contract without a hitch.   People whispered behind the cubicle walls.   "Oh my God, Diana's amazing! She has made the rich girl Vivian look like a total airhead!"   Vivian snapped on the spot, "Did you steal my spotlight on purpose? My brothers have spoiled me my whole life. No one's ever dared treat me like this. Now, apologize to me in front of everyone, and bark like a dog. Then I'll let this go."   I stared at her in disbelief. "Did your brain suddenly stop working?"   Vivian curled up in fear and made a call. "I need help. Someone's picking on me at work."   A few minutes later, three luxury cars worth millions pulled up and blocked the company's entrance.   The employees whispered excitedly behind the cubicle walls.   "Oh my God! The three young masters came to back Vivian up!"   "I knew it. Vivian really is the heiress to the Crownstone Group. Diana's done for this time!"   I almost laughed out loud. What were my good-for-nothing brothers doing at the office? Oh no. Was Vivian actually Karen Cook, my family's chauffeur's daughter who always slipped into her hometown dialect whenever she panicked?   Before I started working here, I told my brothers to give her any position they could. Instead, they shoved her into the top company in our industry and spoiled her beyond saving?

I was born rolling in money, but I traded all my brains for it. My father was the favorite son of the richest patriarch. Everyone said my grandpa was naturally suspicious, yet he handed full control of the Group and the family trust fund over to my father.  My mother headed an artistic household. She won tons of major art awards, and everyone in the industry praised her grace, taste and poise. Still, every socialite grew jittery the second they laid eyes on her. My eldest brother, Ethan Shaw, graduated from MIT at eighteen. He served as the CFO of the Summit Group. My second brother, Leo Shaw, joined the special forces at seventeen. He turned into a top-tier special operator famous across the whole nation. Then there was just me. I could not make heads or tails of financial statements and had zero eye for art. I sucked at practically everything. The rest of the family were all outstanding elites. Someone had to balance things out, right? I was perfectly fine playing the useless rich young lady. Then today, a young woman showed up at the door clutching a paternity test report. She claimed I was the fake heiress and she was the real one.  I stared at her and nearly jumped out of my skin from excitement. I knew it! Someone like me could never be blood-related to this family. I'd be nothing but a disgrace to the whole family.

I fell in love with my father's adoptive younger brother, Julian Crane, a man fifteen years older than me. On the night of my twentieth birthday, he lured me into his room. And for the first time, I had tasted the forbidden fruit. He coaxed me in that low, seductive whisper, "Be good. Give yourself to me." Blushing furiously, I tangled with him all through the night. To be wanted by the man I had secretly loved all along—what more could I ever ask for? After that, we carried on a secret affair for seven years. When I finally mustered the courage to tell the world about our relationship, I overheard his friends mocking me outside the door of a private booth at a bar. "Julian, your first love is back from overseas. What are you going to do about that niece of yours? You know, the one who's basically just your bed warmer." The words sent the whole room erupting into laughter. Another friend piled on right after. "Julian really is something else, isn't he? Sleeping with his niece, and then using the whole uncle-niece relationship as an excuse to keep her quiet and keep it all under wraps." The group dissolved into raucous amusement. The next day, Julian announced my identity in front of all his friends and showered me with every indulgence imaginable. But when a horse went berserk and charged wildly at the equestrian club, he immediately let go of my hand and pulled Vivian Ashford, who was farther from danger, into his arms instead. I left covered in wounds, and I opened his private Instagram account. It was filled with photos of Vivian, along with a chronicle of their love story. At that moment, every last ember of love in my heart was extinguished. I picked up my phone and dialed Julian's archrival, Grayson Shaw. "All those years ago, you said you would marry me. Does that offer still stand?"

My ex-husband was Daniel, the Alpha of the Dubois Pack. Five years after our divorce, he showed up with a diamond ring in his hand and that same smug, self-assured smile on his face. "Honey, I'm right on time to ask you to take me back. Marry me again, okay? We can restore our mate bond." It had all started five years earlier, at his adopted sister Mia's birthday party. She had looked at Daniel and announced her birthday wish for everyone to hear. "I want to know whether you and Amelia are really true mates. So, you two have to get divorced, and you can't see each other for five years." "If she agrees to marry you again after those five years are over, I'll believe your love is real." Daniel hadn't hesitated for even a second before agreeing. He had glanced at me, his face filled with absolute confidence. "I know what we have is unbreakable. My wife will only ever love me for the rest of her life. There's no way she won't take me back." I hadn't said a word. He had no idea that, in that very moment, I had given him his first and last chance to choose me. I pushed the memory aside and returned to the present. Daniel was kneeling before me on one knee, holding up the enormous diamond ring so it sparkled in the light. I didn't even glance at it. Instead, I raised my left hand and showed him my wedding ring. "You came too late. I'm already married."