Novels

For five years of marriage, Jason had cheated on me at least fifty-two times. I’d swallowed it all down, every single lie and betrayal. Until I was nine months pregnant, and Jason’s secretary screwed up with a major client. To salvage the deal, he wanted me to go and smooth things over with drinks and apologies. I stared at him, disbelief hardening into anger. "I’m carrying our child, Jason! You want me to go out drinking? What if something happens?" He cut me off, impatience dripping from his voice. "It’s just drinks, Sarah. Relax, it’s not like I’m asking you to go to war." He actually told the staff to pour drinks for me even though I didn't want to drink. That night I went into labor. That day, I almost died in the hospital. He spent the night with his secretary at a villa in the Hamptons. I woke up after giving birth and looked at my mother-in-law. "You promised that if I had the baby, you’d agree to the divorce. Can I go now?"

On our wedding anniversary, suspicious red marks appeared on Bernard's body. Once, he had proposed to me 99 times just to win my approval. Now, he spent his nights with others. With deep affection in his eyes, he presented me with a custom-made, one-of-a-kind ring: "Jane". I also gave him a gift in return and told him, "‘You can only open it in half a month!’ He didn’t know it contained divorce papers. By then, I would have vanished from his world forever.

My son Aaron Walker's last birthday wish was for us three to go to Disneyland. But Chris Walker, my husband, never liked me or our son. I begged him endlessly, and he finally agreed. The night before our departure, Chris vanished. Aaron passed away with his wish unfulfilled. After handling the funeral alone, I discovered Chris in a photo on my sister Sharon Norris' Instagram post. The caption read: ["I said I wanted to see the snow, and you took me thousands of miles just to find it."] I maintained my composure, packing my belongings without a tear or outburst. Then Chris cried, begging me not to go.

A week before our engagement, Robert Lockman told me that our engagement ceremony would not be held at the appointed time, instead it would be postponed for another months. He explained, "Diana told me that it's so happen that day she would be performing her first solo concert. It is a very important thing in her life and I refuse to miss it. Besides, we're getting engaged anyway. It doesn't matter if it is a week early or at a later time." This was the third time he had postponed our engagement for Diana's sake. The first time he did it when Diana, who was abroad, fell ill and said she was scared and missing him. The second time when Diana wanted to go on a spontaneous trip, Robert became very worried and chased after her. So, this was the third time.  I put down the phone and turned to look at my childhood friend and the prince of the Royal City, Anthony Norton. Then asked, "Do you need a fiancée?"  On the day of our supposed engagement ceremony, Robert was affectionately hugging Diana at the celebration banquet for Diana's concert when he saw Anthony's engagement with me. The event was broadcast all over the city and as he watched, his eyes turned red.

A week before the wedding, I found a sweet surprise. My boyfriend’s wedding ring had "Addie" engraved inside, the nickname he always used for me. I felt touched and excited, looking forward to our life together. But before I could fully enjoy the moment, he called. He was drunk from his bachelor party and needed me to pick him up. When I got to the venue, my heart dropped. There he was, holding another woman’s hand, looking at her with a soft, loving expression. My heart raced when I heard him call her “Addie.”

It had been seven years of marriage when my husband’s "childhood sweetheart," Tiffany, went viral with her grad school speech. "Every season with you is better than a thousand joys." The video was set to a montage of cutesy photos of her and my husband, Ben. Calm as could be, I posted our marriage certificate in the comments. The next second, Ben was going ballistic, all-caps on me. "I'm the guy in the video. I'm completely and utterly in love with Tiffany and I have no idea who this lady is photoshopping marriage photos with me." "I'll report this for fraud." Right after that, Tiffany posted another video, a screenshot of a $520,000 payment transfer with the caption: "Love means always feeling like you owe them." I just laughed. "Oh, you owe me alright. Here's a divorce decree, now we’re even.”

Junior year, my childhood sweetheart, Sarah, fell for the school's bad boy, Jake. He got her skipping class, smoking, drinking, and her grades plummeted. I couldn't stand to see her self-destruct, so when her parents asked, I told them everything. They grounded her. The night she and Jake planned to run away, her parents stopped her. Jake died in a car accident that same night. Later, under our parents' pressure, Sarah and I got married and had a daughter. Then, in another car wreck, I pushed Sarah and our daughter out of the way of an oncoming truck. As I faded out, Sarah leaned in and whispered, "Our daughter isn't yours. I never loved you. I married you to get back at you." I died, staring into her hateful eyes. Then, I woke up. Back in junior year. The day Jake asked her out.

Our eyes met, and in that instant, shock and disbelief flooded his face.\nHis voice trembled as he choked out, “Natalie... how—how is it you?”

As soon as he entered, he began searching the house.\nFinally, he came back to me and asked, \"Where's mom?\"