2846 Book(s) Related to my divorced crybaby neighbour chapter 43

"Ensure you go through those papers and sign the divorce. If there's anything you don't understand, contact my lawyer."
Grey's voice was cold as steel, not a flicker of guilt in his eyes.
"Yes, she's your sister, Lila—but I find love and peace with her. At least I can wake up every morning to a child's voice calling me Daddy."
Lila Sims never imagined her twenty-fifth birthday dinner would become the funeral of her marriage.
For three years, she sacrificed her career, her dreams, and herself for Grey Shun—the ruthless CEO of Bintex Ltd. Yet the more she tried to be the perfect wife, the deeper she sank into depression.
Until the night Grey pushed divorce papers across the table and confessed the ultimate betrayal—he found "love" with her sister, the woman who'd secretly given him the child Lila could never give.
Shattered but not defeated, Lila vows to burn down the lie she once called a marriage.
And to do that, she joins hands with Brian Carter—Grey's ex-rival, a dangerous man with his own agenda.
He promises to help her destroy Grey…
but he wants something in return: her heart.
Will Lila risk loving again just to complete her revenge?
Or will she realize that the greatest victory… is walking away before she's broken a second time?

On her wedding anniversary, Annabelle Whitmore meticulously planned a surprise. However, she drank a drugged drink given to her by her stepsister. When she awoke, she was in a strange man's bed. Photos of her surfaced online instantly, and her reputation was utterly destroyed.

Her husband, Abel Donovan, a ruthless and powerful figure, gave her no chance to defend herself, readily believing his stepsister's lies.

Anna was pregnant with his child and was cruelly driven away.

Five years later, Annabelle was no longer the infamous, abandoned woman she once was. She returned as the CEO of the global fashion empire BelleNova.

Abel never imagined she would return, especially with his child.

Three years ago, I married the man I love most, and I thought we would always be happy for the rest of our lives.

But that woman returned home and my husband's heart was taken from her again.

I was wrongly accused, insulted, and I lost everything, but I still couldn't get his heart back.

I finally decided to get a divorce, but he changed his mind again ......

Ava married him to save him from his vicious girlfriend, but at the altar, he whispered: "Just as you ruin me, I promise to ruin you beyond repair."
What followed was hell—his girlfriend in their bed, hot soup on her face, and a name she never thought she'd call herself: bitch.
When she couldn't endure anymore, she did what he always wanted. She threw her ring into the rain and signed the divorce papers.
Four years later, she's back. A Zillionaire. With three gorgeous sons who have his eyes.
Her husband knelt before her at the airport, flowers in hand. "Please forgive me, wifey."
She adjusted her sunglasses. "Ex," she remarked. "Get ready. Things will get messier from now on."

"I'm on a business trip. I'll be home in two days."
That's what my husband told me before he stopped answering my calls.
That same night, our son was rushed to the hospital.
While I sat beside his bed, terrified and alone, I discovered a truth my husband had spent years hiding.
One lie led to another.
The deeper I dug, the less I recognized the man I'd loved for ten years.
He thought I would keep believing him.
He thought I would never leave.
Most of all, he thought everything he took from me would stay his.
He was wrong.
Because while he was busy protecting his secrets, I was gathering the truth.
And when the day finally came, I didn't just walk away from my marriage—
I made sure he paid for every lie.
This time, I'm not fighting to keep what we built together.
I'm taking back everything that was mine.

At seventy-two, Richard Hayes finally asked my mother for a divorce.

He thought he was setting himself free.

He did not know Eleanor Hayes had been waiting ten years for him to say the words.

By sunset, his new woman would be calling my mother cruel.

By winter, he would be standing on her porch with two suitcases and nowhere soft to land.

And my mother, who had spent nearly half a century opening doors for him, would finally learn how peaceful a locked door could sound.

For a whole year, my husband's childhood friend treated my high-end boutique like her personal closet.

Bags that ran a few thousand dollars, couture gowns worth tens of thousands. She took whatever she wanted and walked out, never once saying the word "money."

The store bled cash month after month. When I finally hit my limit and told her to pay up, she slapped me across the face in front of a room full of customers.

"You should be flattered I even shop here. And you've got the nerve to ask me for money?"

Garrett came rushing in with his coffee, and the first thing out of his mouth wasn't whether I was okay. He pulled her behind him and told me to apologize, then said if I didn't, he'd divorce me.

I didn't cry, didn't make a scene. I picked the bill up off the floor, turned around, walked out, and made one phone call.

Three days later, Bianca comes back with five of her socialite friends, bragging that they're going to clean out every expensive piece in the place.

I hold my coffee and smile, tell them to take their time.

What she doesn't know is that three days ago, this store already changed hands.

I married Massimo Salvatore, the mafia don, thirty-two times. And divorced him thirty-two times.

Every single time for the same reason—his precious Claudia came back from her overseas treatment facility.

"She took a bullet to the head for me. Any stress could kill her." That was his only explanation.

The first divorce, I trashed the entire living room. He slapped me across the face: "Cut the DRAMA. We'll get back together once she's stable."

The third time, I followed them to the club and caught them kissing. I confronted him—got locked in the basement for seven days.

Sign the papers, take off the ring, pack my bags. Like a nightmare on repeat.

Until the thirty-third time.

A rival family grabbed both me and Claudia. With a gun to his head, he could only save one of us. I looked at him, voice breaking: "Massimo, just this once, pick me."

He walked toward her.

Four hours later, his men found me in some abandoned warehouse. Three broken ribs, blood everywhere. Our baby—gone.

Massimo camped out by Claudia's hospital bed, wouldn't leave her side. Didn't visit me once. Not even when I got discharged.

That's when I was done.

"What...are ...you doing Mr. Professor?" She asked stuttering.

"I know what I'm doing Ms. Khanna," He smirked to her. He took hold of her hands and placed them above her head.

"Leave me," She said and struggled from his tight grip but alas no use. He stood there like a rock.

"I won't leave you. What will you do Miss?" He queried.

"I will complain to principal," She emphasised. With that he came close to her and crashed his lips with her.

She was shocked for a moment. She stood like a statue in that place and shivered from his touch which affected her so much.

"What will you do Ms. Khanna?" He prompted and went from there with a smirk playing on his lips.

"I hate you professor," She screamed making his smirk grew wider.


Naina Kapoor. A beautiful, cute, intelligent, ambitious and lovely person. She loves her
parents and her sister Meera. She wants to become successful in her career but one decision of her parents changes her life completely. Arranged marriage, selected by her parents and he is her sister's brother-in-law. Let's see what happens to her life.

Shourya Khanna. A handsome, intelligent, caring and arrogant person. He loves his family so much. He is the CEO of Khanna Industries. He has a brother who loves him so much and his sister-in-law who treats him like her own brother. She wants him to get married to her sister. She thinks he is perfect for her.

Will Shourya support her dreams or not?

At her own birthday banquet, another woman was the star of the night.
She stood at the door and watched her husband crown his "friend" with a diamond-studded tiara — the very gift she thought was meant for her.
On the stage, he smiled tenderly. Their daughter laughed and danced. She alone was the uninvited stranger.
For six years, she gave up a brilliant research career to become his housewife — and received not a single word of gratitude.
When her heart finally went cold, she walked away, leaving nothing behind but a divorce agreement.
Then she returned to the lab — and stunned the world as a leading scientist. No more shrinking herself for anyone. She became herself again.
And the man who once treated her like air cornered her with red-rimmed eyes:
"Darling, I was wrong. Please come home."

Her daughter lay dying—her only chance at survival resting in a bone marrow transplant from her biological father.
That man, the one Stella Johnson had once loved with all her heart, was nowhere to be found.
While Stella made call after call, hands trembling with desperation, Charles Hart was busy building a crystal castle for the daughter of his beloved white moonlight—lighting up the entire city with fireworks in her honor.
All Stella got in return was a cold, clipped response:
"I'm busy."
And then… silence.
She waited.
And waited.
Until the warmth left her daughter's tiny hand.
He never came.
Cradling the small urn, Stella stepped into the streets—only to be greeted by a cruel spectacle.
Every digital screen on the bustling boulevard played the same scene:
Charles, his white moonlight, and their daughter, smiling under the fireworks as they sang "Happy Birthday," basking in a future built on someone else's grave.
The love Stella once held for Charles didn't just die that night—it was burned to ash.
And from those ashes, something far stronger rose:
Hatred. Cold. Sharp. Unforgiving.

Do all men lose interest in their wives after marriage?

We’ve been married for five years, and he never touched me.

At first he said he wasn’t well, so I was understanding. Later he recovered, but still kept me far away.

On our fifth wedding anniversary, my sister came in for a check-up, clearly pregnant with his child.

The truth hit me hard: he wasn’t incapable. He was just incapable with me.

I drew up the divorce papers, ready to end this empty marriage.

On the reason for divorce, I wrote with my own hand:

“Male sexual dysfunction; no marital relations in five years.”

He only smiled coldly when he saw it.

A week later, in the urology clinic.

I put on my medical gloves, looked at him, and said calmly:

“Sir, will you undress yourself, or shall I help you?”

His disapproval didn’t take away my confidence.

I still embraced better things in my career and love life!

But his life started to be filled with one accident after another.

[Dear readers, if you loved this book, be sure to read my new recommended read: After Affair: I Took My Children and Remarried.]
"Married for Three Years, He Vanished Every Night.
She endured a sexless, loveless marriage for three years, stubbornly believing that one day her husband would see her worth. However, what she didn't expect was to receive his divorce papers instead.
Finally, she made a decision: she didn't want a man who didn't love her, so she left in the dead of night with her unborn child.
Five years later, she transformed herself into a top orthopedic surgeon, a top hacker, a gold medal architect in the construction industry, and even the heiress of a trillion-dollar conglomerate, with aliases dropping one after another.
Until someone exposed that beside her were two four-year-old little devils who bore a striking resemblance to a certain CEO's dragon and phoenix twins.
Unable to sit still anymore after seeing the divorce certificate, her ex-husband cornered her, pressing her against the wall, asking with each step closer, ""My dear ex-wife, don't you think it's time you gave me an explanation?"

Rumor has it that Edward Hawthorne, the world's wealthiest man, is engaged to a woman from an equally illustrious family.
Yet those closest to him whisper about the first love he’s been chasing for more than ten years.
But as far as Alice Sterling is concerned, neither the fiancée nor this mysterious “first love” really matters. Her formidable boss, Edward, is already married—and completely devoted to his wife.
He gifts her jewels worth millions without blinking, personally selects her presents from exclusive designer boutiques, and carefully plans intimate candlelit dinners.
If that’s not love, what is?
Except…why do those multi-million-dollar necklaces keep finding their way to her? And why is the scarf he supposedly bought for his wife now wrapped around her neck?
As the soft candlelight plays across his sharp features, something clicks inside Alice.
It turns out the spoiled, pampered wife of the billionaire tycoon…has been her all along.

I was kidnapped. My brother drugged me and sold me to the Serpent Pack.
The desire was getting stronger, and my heart was in despair. Suddenly, a man appeared and told me that I was safe. I didn't know who he is, but I wanted him so badly. He told me he is Owen and demanded I remember his name.
I hope my mate Blake could forgive me. I had no choice.
When I went to tell Blake about all this, I was shocked by what I saw. Blake was sleeping with his good friend Jeremy! OMG! My mate is gay!
While filming them to keep some evidence, Owen showed up...

"I hope you're not serving that dirty maid my food!" Eliora—the woman Adrian truly loved and the one who acted as if she already owned the house—snapped with a sharp, venomous voice from the staircase.
"I wasn't planning to eat it anyway," I said calmly, rubbing my stomach. "I have better taste than that. And I don't want anything, or anyone, that might harm my child."


She loved him in silence. He denied her without remorse. Alvara was forced into a marriage with the billionaire who took her innocence, only to discover it was a nine-month trap.
Forced into a marriage built on cold rules and public lies, Alvara quickly learns that being a wife does not mean being wanted. Every kindness has conditions. Every smile hides control. And every mistake is hers to bear alone.
When the marriage ends, Alvara walks away with nothing but scars and a vow never to be weak again.
Years later, she returns...changed, guarded, and no longer willing to beg for what she deserves. But the man who once denied her isn't ready to let go.
In a world ruled by power, pride, and regret, can love survive after divorce… or is denial the one thing that never truly ends?

They were the city’s perfect couple until the cameras caught their perfect breakup.

After three years of a loveless marriage to a billionaire CEO, George Robert, Lea finally files for divorce. The media named her “the woman who tamed the Ice King.”
They have no idea she’s the one who melted first and got burned.

The ink on their divorce papers is barely dry when fate brings them together again. A scandal. A contract. A second chance neither of them asked for.

Their love had died long before the divorce, or so she believed. But when a scandal threatens both their companies, she finds herself back in his world, bound by a new contract, a fake remarriage to save their reputations.
This time, she has secrets, one that could destroy him, and another that could save them both.

He says it's just business.
She says it's just revenge.
But the truth? Neither of them stopped longing for the other.

Sometimes, the real love story doesn’t begin with “I DO.”
It begins the moment you say "GOODBYE".

Kayla Brookes once believed in forever. She gave her heart to Adrian, the man she thought was her soulmate, and trusted her best friend like a sister. But everything came crashing down the day she walked in on their betrayal. In one brutal moment, her marriage ended, her heart shattered, and her world fell apart.

Left with nothing but her pain and a dream, Kayla vowed to rise again. She buried her tears and built herself from the ground up, turning every ounce of heartbreak into strength. Four years later, the woman who was once broken now sits on top of the world—CEO of the country’s most successful interior design company, admired, respected, and untouchable.

But fate has a cruel sense of humor. Adrian returns, filled with regret and desperation. He begs for forgiveness, pleads for another chance, and promises he’s not the same man who let her go. For the first time, Kayla sees sincerity in his eyes… but she also remembers the pain.

And then there’s Steven Wade—the cold, calculating heir to Europe’s most powerful family. Mysterious, charming, and impossible to read, Steven offers Kayla everything Adrian couldn’t: security, admiration, and a chance at a future untouched by the past. Yet beneath his polished mask lies secrets of his own.

Caught between a man who destroyed her and a man who might never let her in, Kayla faces a choice that could define her forever.

Will she listen to her heart—or protect herself from love’s cruel game?
Because in the end, even power, success, and revenge can’t silence the heart that still remembers what it means to love… and what it means to hurt.

Three years of their contract marriage, Kathryn Alberto got tired of how unfair her husband treats her and requested to have a divorce. Lyon Alberto is a very busy man that he hardly remembers he’s married and it almost seemed as if he was forced into the marriage. Lyon rejected Kathryn request for he’s running for the presidency election and needs his wife till it’s over. Lyon offer her a contract to stay for 3months till the election is over. Kathryn accept but on a condition and that’s if Lyon stays with her 24hours. The Table turned! Things are about to get spicy! Now that Lyon finds his wife more attractive and his dirty past!!

She has loved him all her life, she married him to save him from his vicious girlfriend but all she got in return was hatred and mistreatment from him and his girlfriend, when she couldn't endure anymore she did what he has always wanted, she signed the divorce papers

Two years later, she's back with three gorgeous sons and was now a Zillionaire, her husband knelt before her at the airport

"Please forgive me wifey"

"Ex.." She remarked.

When Owen cheated, he thought Avery would never leave him.
“Avery, I was wrong. Please give me another chance,” he begged, filled with regret.
But another man stood by Avery’s side, firmly holding her hand.
“She’s mine now. You don’t deserve her,” the mysterious billionaire declared.

The night Owen kissed another woman in a bar, Avery’s heart shattered. Determined, she filed for divorce. Owen brushed it off, convinced she couldn’t survive without him.
But after the divorce, Avery rose from the ashes. She conquered multiple industries, earning admiration and respect from everyone around her.
Now, as Owen tries to win her back, he realizes it’s too late—Avery has found someone new, a powerful and enigmatic tycoon who’s ready to protect her at all costs.

Ethan and I have been in a secret marriage for four years. For the sake of his white moonlight, Chloe, he asked me to sign the divorce agreement eight times.
When we first got together, he held me gently and promised to make our marriage public, but he abandoned me again and again for her.
During the first divorce, I stood in the cold wind holding flowers and cried bitterly. On the sixth divorce, he was accompanying her to celebrate her birthday.
My repeated concessions only brought me repeated hurt and betrayal from him. Until this time, I took the initiative to pack my luggage. He thought I would wait for him to remarry, but little did he know that this time, I would leave completely and never look back.

While she’s at home preparing dinner for him, he’s out on dates. While she’s drinking with men to secure a business deal for him, he’s announcing his single status to boost his stock. When she drags herself to the hospital with a high fever, he’s there at the same hospital, caring for René—his mistress. She loved him for ten years, gave everything she had, and did everything she could for him. She never believed their love could die. Yet, it did. She doesn’t hate him; she’s simply exhausted, so she decides to leave.
Only then does she find a firm chest and a warm embrace that had been waiting for her all along. With her first taste of true love, she realizes how much time she wasted with her ex, a man who never truly loved her.
When he comes home one day, he’s shocked to find the woman who had always been there for him is gone. Regret floods him, and he chases after her, only to see another man by her side, taking sacred vows with her, their hands intertwined. In that moment, he realizes he’s lost the innocent girl who once loved him—the most precious treasure he ever had. And now, she’s gone forever.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Parker. We couldn't save the baby."

My hand instinctively reached for my stomach. "So... it's really gone?"

"Your cancer-weakened body can't support the pregnancy. We need to end it, soon," the doctor says.

After the surgery, HE showed up. "Audrey Sinclair! How dare you make this decision without consulting me?"

I wanted to pour out my pain, to feel his embrace. But when I saw the WOMAN beside him, I gave up.

Without hesitation, he left with that "fragile" woman. That kind of tenderness, I’ve never felt it.

However, I don't mind that anymore as I have nothing now - my child, my love, and even... my life.


Audrey Sinclair, a poor woman, fell in love with a man she shouldn't have. Blake Parker, New York's most powerful billionaire, has everything a man could dream of - money, power, influence - but one thing: he doesn't love her.

Five years of one-sided love. Three years of secret marriage. A diagnosis that leaves her with three months to live.

When the Hollywood starlet returns from Europe, Audrey Sinclair knows it's time to end her loveless marriage. But she doesn't understand - since he doesn't love her, why did he refuse when she proposed divorce? Why is he torturing her during these last three months of her life?

As time slips away like sand through an hourglass, Audrey must choose: die as Mrs. Parker, or live her final days in freedom.

[Where is Bryce?] I signed.

Serena's lips curled into a cruel smile. "Looking for your husband?" She tilted the phone away from her face, panning across the rumpled sheets until the camera revealed Bryce.
 
He was naked, sprawled across the king-sized bed, fast asleep. One arm stretched beneath Serena's neck, the other hand rested possessively on her bare breast.

"He's exhausted," Serena whispered, the camera returning to her smirking face. "We've been at it for hours. Did you know he calls my name when he comes? Has he ever done that with you?"

Evelyn lost her voice due to an accident in her childhood, which made her the mute wife when married to Bryce Finch. After three years of marriage, her husband ignored her, her mother-in-law despised her, and her husband's lover humiliated her. On her birthday, Evelyn recorded the evidence of her husband's infidelity and decided to leave this marriage. Just then, she discovered that she was pregnant. What’s more, she found that there were still many secrets about herself that remained unsolved... Thus, she began her counterattack.

To save my wife’s family, I buried my name, wore myself down, and let a few strands of my hair turn gray while caring for her on the edge of death.

Three years later, she slipped into custom Chanel and slapped a divorce agreement down in front of me.

With her arm wrapped around a so-called old-money heir from Wall Street, she mocked me as a worthless nobody who couldn’t even afford a luxury handbag, a bottom-feeder who was never fit to stand beside her.

I signed my name without a word and watched her leave in triumph.

What she didn’t know was that the man preaching investments was nothing more than a Ponzi fraudster facing multiple charges.

And when the conference room door closed, Manhattan’s most feared ice-cold attorney bowed to me at a perfect ninety degrees and welcomed me to unlock the seventy-billion-dollar trust fund and take back control of the entire conglomerate.

A few months later, inside a women’s maximum-security prison in Brooklyn, she was dressed in a filthy, tattered prison uniform, sprawled across a floor slick with dirty water, sobbing as she was beaten and begging for my forgiveness.

I simply lifted my whiskey and calmly switched off the surveillance feed.

When my husband handed the project I bled for to his "depressed" childhood sweetheart, he told me to be mature. "You're my wife. You shouldn't care about the credit."

So, when I was in the hospital miscarrying our baby while he threw her a party, I didn't cry. When she posted selfies wearing my anniversary necklace, I didn't scream.

Julian thought he had finally broken me into the perfect, obedient housewife. He truly believed I was nothing without him.

What a pathetic joke.

He had no idea his entire "business empire" was secretly kept alive by my family's trust fund.

He certainly didn't know the "mundane paperwork" he blindly signed this morning was my resignation—and our divorce agreement.

Five years ago, Elena overheard the ambiguous whispers between her husband Arthur and his first love. In that split second, all her love for him crumbled to dust. She left the country with her pregnant belly, vowing never to have any connection with this man again.​
Five years later, Elena returns to her home country with her twins Liam and Luna—now a world-renowned top doctor. Unexpectedly, she finds herself entangled with Arthur once more. His eyes reddening with emotion, he grabs her abruptly and pleads, "Elena, I was truly wrong. This time, I will never let you get hurt again."

Marrying her best friend was a dream come true for Kelly, but everything truly has a limitation.
Pierce is Kelly’s first love, but as his best friend, she knew well there was always another woman deep in his heart.
Lexi Gilbert. The woman Pierce could never forget even if he had already been arranged to marry Kelly.


Kelly finally realized their happy marriage of the last three years was just a beautiful dream when Pierce asked for a divorce just because Lexi returned.
She could only be his best friend even if she was carrying his baby.


Since their friendship had become a cage, Kelly chose to set him free, as well as the miserable herself.
But why then, it was Pierce who became the one who refused to move on?
To make matters worse, her devil stepbrother also domineeringly stepped in at the same time, asking her to be his.


Her Prince Charming vs. Her Devil Stepbrother?
How could Kelly save her heart in this battle of love and hate?

"You will keep teleported back if you choose to want to be with him, remember it!" The kindest man turned into a villain.

"I won't lose you to him again!" The ruthless man turned into soft.

In between them, Choi was bewildered to choose her right future partner.

While she was anxious between them, her family members tried to kill her for the property that was going to be her.

Who will she choose? And the teleportation will keep turn the table again and again to make her life worse?

Let's see in the chapters!

“Gabriel Bryce, how can you stand being so shameless?” Leonica asked, staring daggers at her atrocious husband and his mistress. “This is the house gifted to my by grandmother, yet you dare bring another woman into it? Aren’t you afraid that grandmother would be disappointed with you actions…?”
Leonica’s words remained unfinished as an enraged Gabriel swung his hand through the air, smacking his palm clean on her left cheek.
Leonica held her throbbing cheek, eyes wide and teary as she stared at her husband who glared down at her ferociously.
“The nerves of you to mention my grandmother. You have no right to do so!” He spat, taking a step forward and jabbing his index finger painfully into her shoulder, making her take several steps back. “Bare this in mind, Leonica Romero, if not for the wishes of my late grandmother, I’d much rather be dead than associate myself with somebody like you.”
~* *~
Leonica Romero has always had a long time crush on Gabriel Bryce, CEO of Bryce Empire and Norway’s Business tyrant. Fortunately, at the request of his Ill grandmother, her family’s long time friend, Leonica gets the chance to marry her beloved.
Feeling elated, she abandoned her position and dream job in the Romero household and becomes a humble housewife for Gabriel. However, Three years later, on the day of Gabriel’s grandmother’s funeral, Leonica is stunned speechless when he demands for a divorce, as his ex girlfriend Angelina Fernandez had suddenly returned, proclaiming her undying love for him.
But that wasn’t the only shock Leonica received that day. Hours after Gabriel’s declaration for a divorce, Leonica wakes up in the hospital to a shocking news.
She was two months pregnant.
And Gabriel knew nothing about this!

For three years, Amber Hargrove had been trying to please her ex-husband and his family, only to have him beat her for his mistress. At that moment, she finally understood that this man would never love her.

So, she decisively divorced him and returned home to inherit his fortune.

Yes, she was worth millions.

She accepted her family's arrangement and married a wealthy man; after all, it was just a marriage of convenience, and she would never love anyone again.

But a year later, she texted the wealthy man to file for divorce. The butler immediately rushed in, flustered:

"Madam, the master has fainted again. The doctor instructed me not to mention sensitive topics like the stock market crash, the company's shrinking net worth, or divorce."

Huh? She couldn't even mention divorce? What was he trying to do?

<>



Vanessa thought rock bottom was signing divorce papers with Derek Holland, a man with the emotional depth of a teaspoon. Turns out, rock bottom had a basement, and Ryker Holland was waiting for her down there with a smirk and a plan.

Ryker, Derek's older half-brother (aka the family's dirty little secret), shows up offering Vanessa a deal: help her make her ex-husband, Derek Holland, jealous enough to come crawling back. In exchange, he secures his position as CEO.

But Ryker isn't doing this out of kindness. He is petty and cruel. He would do anything to trample all over Derek, and now he has the perfect weapon. Vanessa, freshly dumped and just desperate enough to play along. And if she happens to enjoy making her ex suffer too? Well, that's just a bonus.

As Vanessa sinks deeper into Ryker's twisted world of fake romance, secrecy and family dysfunction, things start getting real. Because fake love? It's a lot easier to control than real feelings. And Ryker has no idea what to do when the game stops being a game.

Is Vanessa walking into a trap or building one of her own? Either way, the Holland brothers are going down. One's going to break, and the other's going to enjoy every second of it.

_Disclaimer:

This story contains morally complex and flawed characters, who often operate with hidden motives and questionable ethics. Themes explored include emotional manipulation, gaslighting, power imbalance, dual identities, and blurred lines between love, control, and obsession. Certain scenes may be intense or unsettling. Reader discretion is strongly advised.

Celia Hale married Kent Grant because two families decided their futures over a dinner table before she was old enough to object. She spent four years being the perfect wife — brilliant, composed, invisible in all the ways that mattered — while her husband built his empire on her family's patents and her silence.

She is done being silent.

The divorce is coming. She has chosen the moment with the precision of someone who spent four years learning exactly where to press. She is going to wait until Kent's IPO reaches its peak, until the cameras are on and the champagne is poured and he is standing at the absolute height of everything she helped him build —

And then she is going to hand him the papers.

But first, she needs somewhere to think. Somewhere he will never look for her.

The fifty-sixth floor of Apex Tower is not what she expected. The rent is one dollar a month. The view is unreasonable. And the landlord is a man she has never heard of — quiet, precise, always in black, always in white gloves, and always, somehow, already in the room before she notices him.

She does not know who he is yet.

She will.

Because the moment she moves into that apartment, things begin to shift in ways she cannot explain. She notices him before she means to. She listens for him in the hallway without deciding to. She catches herself wondering what he thinks of things she has never needed anyone's opinion on before.

And her husband, who has never once looked nervous in four years of marriage, starts watching her the way people watch things they are about to lose.

She tells herself this is what winning looks like.

She is not wrong.

But she is not prepared for what happens when the man on the fifty-sixth floor looks at her the way her husband never did — like she is the only thing in the room worth his attention, and he has all the time in the world to prove it.

She came here to finish what she started.

She is going to fall in love with him instead.

His ex‑mate had come back.
The one he’d loved before our pack arranged this bond.
I was just the contract wife.
I knew my place. So I laid the divorce papers on his desk, calm and final.
“Sign it. You don’t need me anymore.”
He stared at me like I’d grown a second head.
Then his jaw tightened, that wolf dominance flaring in his eyes—raw, territorial, furious.
He stepped close, caging me against the wall, his voice a low, dangerous growl.
“Need you? I don’t need you. I own you.
You think you get to choose when this bond ends?
You don’t run. You don’t leave.
You don’t get to divorce me. Not now. Not ever.
You’re mine!"

Eight years of marriage — she thought she'd married love itself.
Until the day she watched her husband's Bentley rocking on the roadside, and knew exactly why.
She played it cool. Maneuvered him into signing the divorce papers without a clue, then waited for her billion-dollar exit.
But before she could walk free, someone poisoned her drink and staged a crash that nearly killed her.
The man who saved her wasn't the husband who swore he loved her — it was Erwin, cold, dangerous, and ruler of a business empire.
The untouchable, legendary Erwin — shielding her, risking himself, again and again.
When Levi finally woke up to what he'd lost, he came back red-eyed and desperate: " I was wrong. Can we start over? I can't live without you."
Erwin simply tilted his head and kissed her — eyes cutting straight to Levi's ashen face:
"I don't think you understand. The moment you let her go, she became my wife."

For two years, Serena believed she was the luckiest woman alive. Her husband Leo worshipped her—he was tender, protective, and swore he'd never let anyone hurt her. He even refused to touch her, claiming she was too precious.

Then, on their wedding anniversary, she walked into his private club and heard him whisper to another woman: "Take care of our baby."

The woman was his brother's wife.

Everything—the gentleness, the restraint, the so-called love—had been an elaborate performance. And when Serena demanded a divorce, Leo didn't beg. He didn't apologize. He smiled and said: "Your grandmother wouldn't want that."

Now Serena must fight her way out of a marriage designed to cage her, a family that wants her silent, and a past that still has teeth. But the man who appears from the shadows to help her… is the same one who abandoned her years ago.

And he has secrets of his own.

Molly thought she had the perfect life with her husband. But everything shattered when she discovered his mistress’s pictures hidden inside the house, he claimed to have built for her. The final blow? The mistress wasn’t a stranger at all, but her own sister!
Heartbroken, she signed the divorce papers and woke up drunk in front of her college sweetheart, Giovanni Dawson, who now ruled the underworld. Giovanni wants to help her take revenge and win her heart, but can she trust him after he broke her heart once?
And oh, he comes with a mysterious four-year-old boy who is determined to keep every woman out of his life for good.

Karen had invested her last penny in the business she had recently established and was eagerly awaiting the promised funds from her benefactor to take it to the next level.
"Maybe he forgot. I should remind him," she thought, and promptly sent a text message: ‘I hate to sound desperate, but my finances are tight.’
After sending the message, she realized she had used the wrong number. She quickly started typing, ‘Please ignore the...’ when an alert popped up on her phone: ‘Five billion dollars transferred to you by Roger Dawson.’
Roger? The first name sent a chill down her spine, but the last name left her puzzled. "Roger? Could it be Tonia's bodyguard?" That was his number, but when did his name change?
Her phone rang immediately, and the name she had feared for months echoed in her ears, his voice filled with emotion yet calm like a winter breeze. "Karen, stay put, I'm on my way to you."
The call ended before she could process it. He was the reason she had fled, refusing to sign the divorce papers.
Her love for him was unrequited, his heart belonging to her adopted sister, but what hurt more was the feeling of being traded between friends like a commodity.
She would rather die than return.

"Use me to get back at your ex. Make him jealous. Even if he doesn't love you, he won't handle seeing you with someone else. Especially someone like me."
I blinked at him, confused. "Especially someone like you? Why would he be jealous? He doesn't even like me."
He smirked. "Trust me. Derek will lose his mind watching his ex-wife move on. He'll wonder if you ever loved him... and why you replaced him so easily. That's when he starts running back."
"Deal?"
His eyes glittered with danger. My brain screamed run. But I still found myself nodding.
"Deal."
Vanessa Holland thought signing divorce papers with Derek—a man with the emotional depth of a teaspoon—was the worst day of her life.
She was wrong.
Rock bottom has a basement... and Ryker Holland is waiting there, handsome, ruthless, and armed with a plan.
Ryker, Derek's half-brother and the real power behind the Holland empire, offers Vanessa a deal she's not supposed to refuse: Make Derek jealous enough to crawl back in humiliation, while Ryker secures the CEO throne he's been denied.
But this isn't kindness. Ryker is petty. He is cruel. And he wants to destroy Derek—piece by piece.
Vanessa is the perfect weapon: a discarded wife with nothing left to lose... and maybe just enough vengeance in her heart to play along.
Except fake dating Ryker doesn't stay fake for long.
Emotions blur. Lines cross.
The man she should fear becomes the one she can't stay away from.
Now Vanessa must decide: Is she Ryker's pawn? Or has she learned how to play the Hollands better than either brother ever expected?
Two brothers. One broken heart.
Revenge never looked this tempting...
And the Holland boys are going down—
one will break, and the other will enjoy every second of it.
Disclaimer: Contains morally grey characters, power games, manipulation, emotional cruelty, and a whole lot of chemistry. Reader discretion advised.

My ex-husband betrayed me.
My new husband saved me.
“Trust me,” he whispered against my lips.
I wanted to.
But every answer I find about my past leads back to him.
And I'm starting to wonder...
Was meeting him really fate—or part of a secret planned long before I knew the truth?

I divorced the same man nine times.
The first eight times, I was the one sobbing, begging him not to go.
The ninth time, I was the one who slid the papers across the table.
He signed them, then told me we'd remarry once she left.
I said okay.
What he didn't know was that my flight was already booked.
This time, I was leaving for good.

I was seven months pregnant when the car crash left me hemorrhaging and clinging to life.

My husband, an attending physician, burst into the ER—only to turn around and divert the last bags of blood meant to save me and our child.

He gave them to the woman who had hit me: his first love, Sienna, who had just returned from overseas.

When I woke up from surgery, I learned that I hadn't just lost our baby; I had permanently lost my uterus.

Yet my husband didn't bring me comfort. He brought a Waiver of Prosecution.

There are too many ways of taking revenge on a woman. But he chose marriage. In the past three years, he acted like a ruthless husband, treating her coldly, and even more worse, humiliating her. Even when she was pregnant, he tried to force her to give it up, to retire from film field, to expel her from her country.

At a lavish dinner, a billionaire with a net worth of four billion embraced my ex-wife and slapped five thousand yuan in my face: "Kneel down, kiss her shoes, and then get out of here."
The entire audience of celebrities burst into laughter, while the ex-wife's eyes were filled with the pleasure of revenge.
Without even lifting my eyelids, I dialed a number in front of everyone: "I'm going to bankrupt one person. Execution level: nuclear bomb."
They laughed at me for pretending to be crazy.
Three minutes later, the entire nation was in an uproar. Four billion dollars in assets were frozen, the FBI broke down the door, and the once arrogant tycoon collapsed to the ground like a dog.
I endured for three years, just to save her grandfather's life. Since she's in such a hurry to break the contract, I don't need to pretend anymore.
This is not just a story about divorce; it's a countdown to the gods regaining control of the Book of Life and Death on Earth.

I thought Jon was my salvation—until I saw him kissing another woman and discovered he had destroyed my training plan with his own hands.

With an injured knee, I fought my way back onto the ice, determined to win everything I’d lost. But every time I was about to break, it was always Leon who appeared.

He was cold, dangerous, and impossible to read.

He was also my ex’s older brother.

He saved me from an alley, carried me out of danger, and warned me in that low voice, “Not competing won’t kill you either.”

I asked, “Then why do you keep saving me?”

His gray-blue eyes locked onto mine. “Because I don’t want to see you break.”

I knew I should stay away.

But on the night of a thunderstorm, when the power went out and someone knocked on my door—

Was it really him?

In everyone's eyes, Bertha and Derek had the wrong marriage. Married for three years, Bertha thought she would melt Derek's icy heart but she was wrong. Derek's heart only goes out to Laura - his ex-girlfriend. Derek treats Bertha poorly. One day, she saw her husband having an affair with Laura. Unable to continue anymore, she decided to divorce Derek. She will not waste her youth on a heartless man, someone who has trampled on her heart many times. After the divorce, Bertha returned to her parents' home, becoming the heir to the fortune left by her parents. No one knows her true identity. A life like a queen awaits her. As for Derek, he thought that Bertha's life would be miserable after the divorce until one day, he found Bertha and said. “I want to remarry with you. What are conditions?" Hearing Derek's words, Bertha just smirked, looking at him with disdain.

Scarlett Taylor looked at the test report saying she had a last-stage cancer, and the news of her husband, Everett Robinson, and his ex-girlfriend Amelia Martin getting married soon, and her world crumbled.
At that moment, she realized that her three years of marriage and love for Everett were nothing more than a joke.
Clenching the test reports in her hand, Scarlett decided to give up on this loveless marriage and live the remaining days of her life for herself.
At the gate of the divorce office, Everett sneered, "Scarlett Taylor, I am waiting for the day when you regret this!"
Scarlett looked at him and smiled mockingly, "The only thing I will regret is marrying you!" and left.
Two months later when Scarlett came back, Everett kneel in front of him, begging, "Scarlett, I regret it, Please forgive me and let's get back together."
Scarlett looked at him and sneered, "Get lost! I don't know you!"