Chapter 6

I was in love with Ethan Black, a brilliant man with big dreams. I gave him my twenties, my body, my loyalty. I worked three jobs while he chased his startup dreams. And when he finally made it, he became a stranger. Then I found out he got another woman pregnant, the same woman who dumped him in college when his family lost everything. That nearly destroyed me. But I stayed. I told myself love was worth it. But nothing could prepare me for the day he left our four-year-old daughter home alone... to go see her. And our little girl died. I buried my child and with her, the woman I used to be. Now, I live for one thing only: Revenge. He took everything from me. Now I'll take everything from him. He doesn't know it yet... but I'm not the same woman he left behind. And by the time I'm done, he'll wish he never met me.

Vesper's marriage to Julian Sterling was a gilded cage. One morning, she woke naked beside Damon Sterling, Julian's terrifying brother, then found a text: Julian's mistress was pregnant. Her world shattered, but the real nightmare had just begun. Julian's abuse escalated, gaslighting Vesper, funding his secret life. Damon, a germaphobic billionaire, became her unsettling anchor amidst his chaos. As "Iris," Vesper exposed Julian's mistress, Serena Sharp, sparking brutal war: poisoned drinks, a broken leg, and the horrifying truth-Julian murdered her parents, trapping Vesper in marriage. The man she married was a killer. Broken and betrayed, Vesper was caught between monstrous brothers, burning with injustice. Refusing victimhood, Vesper reclaimed her identity. Fueled by vengeance, she allied with Damon, who vowed to burn his empire for her. Julian faced justice, but matriarch Eleanor's counterattack forced Vesper's choice as a hitman aimed for her.

I was eight months pregnant when my husband drugged me and locked me in our panic room. The contractions started immediately, fierce and too soon. He told me over the intercom that his late partner's widow was also in labor. Her child had to be born first to inherit billions from a tech fund. He ignored my screams, my pleas, the blood soaking through my nightgown. He called me dramatic and manipulative. His sister arrived, not to help, but to inject me with another drug to "keep me quiet." I felt my baby's life fading along with my own. I was left to die, a casualty of my husband's greed. But he made one fatal mistake. He never knew I was Elinor Guzman, the sole heir to the Sterling empire. And now, two years after my supposed death, I'm back to collect the debt he owes-with interest.

Roses are red, tequila hits hard, and I danced like I owned the damn night. Now? Everything's a hot mess. Emily Hart just landed the dream job, personal secretary to the sinfully rich, dangerously fine CEO of Steele Empire. So naturally, she did what any girl with a fat offer letter and a killer dress would do: hit the club, danced like a vixen, and threw back shots until reality blurred and pleasure took the wheel. That's when he happened. Dominic Steele. Billionaire boss. Ruthless in the boardroom. Untamed in the bedroom. He saw her, hips swaying, lips smirking, black dress clinging like a second skin, and he didn't ask for a name. He just took. One night. One filthy, breathless, back-arching night. No promises. No names. Just raw heat and moans that echoed past midnight. Until Monday morning happened. Now, the man who made her beg without words is standing behind a glass desk in a tailored suit, And she's the new secretary who can't look him in the eye without remembering how he made her scream. She thinks he's cocky as hell. He thinks she's the sweetest kind of chaos. But when a missed period makes an unexpected appearance, it's no longer just business. It's Daddy, please....... with a whole lot of tension, temptation, and trouble in between.

For nearly a decade, I was the perfect wife to Grant Sloan, sacrificing my own dreams to support his meteoric rise. But when I saw a photo of him at a company gala with his young intern, Kylee, his hand on her back and a smile I hadn't seen in years, I knew my marriage was over. My world shattered further when my younger sister, Aubrie, was assaulted by her boss. I begged Grant, a top lawyer, to help her. He coldly refused, claiming his caseload was full, only to later stand in court as the defense attorney for my sister's attacker-who turned out to be Kylee's brother. The betrayal was absolute. Fueled by Kylee's vicious online campaign, Aubrie was driven to suicide, jumping from the courthouse roof as Grant and I watched. The final, sickening blow came when Kylee desecrated Aubrie's grave, grinding her ashes into the dirt over a plot she wanted for her dead puppy. Grant, finally seeing Kylee's monstrous nature, brutally punished her and her brother. He came back to me, broken and begging for forgiveness, even staging a grand public proposal. He thought his remorse could erase the blood on his hands and the ashes on the ground. I looked at the man who had destroyed my life and offered him a single word. "No."

I flew to Las Vegas to surprise my boyfriend of seven years with a proposal, only to overhear him celebrating his new marriage to his intern, Cortney. He had won a poker game and gotten a free marriage certificate as a prize. "What about Amelia?" his friend asked. "Amelia's fine," he scoffed. "She's so devoted, she'd wait another seven years for me if I asked." His words shattered me. I resigned from the company we built together, AG Designs, and left. But Cortney wasn't done. She framed me for leaking company secrets, a lie Gabe instantly believed. He dragged me back to our home, his eyes filled with a rage I'd never seen. "You scheming bitch!" he roared, his hand closing around my throat. "You want to destroy everything I built?!" He beat me with a steel-tipped whip until I was barely conscious, leaving me bleeding and broken. He thought he had crushed me, that I would crawl back. But as I lay there, the pain forged my broken heart into something cold and hard. I escaped, not to run, but to prepare. Now, with the help of a powerful ally, I'm back. And I will make Gabe Carrillo pay for every scar, every tear, and every betrayal. He took my love and my life's work; I'm coming back to take his entire empire.