MONTANA He was the love of my life-until he left me standing in the wreckage of our marriage. Five years later, Jared Manelis is a world champion boxer, and the father of my daughters. The man he is today is galaxies away from the boy with blood on his knuckles who once promised me forever. Now a stranger, with the world at his fingertips and a talent for irritating me to no end. But when he's left fighting for his life after a championship match, everything changes. Suddenly, the man who broke me is back inside the walls I built to keep him out. Now he's asking questions we've both avoided for years; while our present battles to keep us apart, our past fights to be brought to the light and bind us together again. JARED Five years ago, fame, pride, and one stupid choice cost me my marriage-and the family I'd always dreamed of. Now I'm with a woman I don't love, have an ex who smiles at everyone but me, and a daughter too nervous to meet my eyes. Then I'm shot after the biggest night of my career-and all I can see is her. When death caresses your cheek, you know it's time to fight for what you want. So I force my way back into her world, where she can't ignore me anymore, and begin my fight for the truth, a chance to be us again. I'll remind her why she chose me all those years ago and show her why I'm worth choosing again.

A Marriage in trouble story. They were the "couple goals" from the moment they met in high school. The ones everyone believed would make it. Ten years later, their once-solid marriage begins to fracture under the weight of vicious gossip, half-truths, and misplaced trust. As outsiders worm their way into their private world, Paige and Trevor are forced to confront what's real, what's been lost, and where their loyalties truly lie.

Rosie has loved Wesley for years - quietly, carefully, and never enough to risk their friendship or losing him. Since college, he's been her constant: Late night talks, inside jokes, the one person who feels like home. When Wesley starts to fall in love with someone else, Rosie is forced to confront the truth she's hidden, and loving him means watching him choose another life. When Distance and restraint turn affection into longing and silence becomes heavier than honesty, Rosie has to decide if the bond she's protected for so worth the risk, or if some loves are just destined to remain unspoken.

Rachel's heart broke ten years ago. The man she wanted never saw her. She was never on his radar. So she moved on--or tried to. He was her best friend's brother, after all; escaping him was impossible. Instead, she built a life. Married another man who promised her the kind of love she'd stopped waiting for. But promises shatter easily. When Rachel discovers her husband's infidelity, the illusion of her happy ending crumbles. Mark was never the man who saw her. And the miserable truth is--the only man who ever did, abandoned her while her world fell apart. Now she's a new mother to her cheating, abusive husband's daughter, surrounded by friends who refuse to let her break... including him. Roy. Leroy. The man she weaved fantasies around since she was thirteen. So when he finally looks at her--really looks at her--and promises the kind of love she once dreamed about, Rachel lets herself fall. Completely. Only to learn she was never going to be his first choice. He had twenty years to hear her. Five months to claim her. And one night was all it took--for him to destroy her instead.

They call my husband the embodiment of cruelty. Demetri Ferraro was forged for control, vengeance, and bloodshed without conscience. Strangers murmur cautions about what he might do, forgetting I sleep inches from him nightly. If only they could witness what I have. There's a terrifying authenticity to our marriage. With me, he's attentive to the point of reverence. I wear his fingerprints like brands. His vigilance wraps around me, reflexive as breathing. I trusted him completely because betrayal seemed impossible. That was my undoing The merger of our families cost me things I didn't know I was losing. I salvaged only the skating rink-solitary hours on pristine ice before dawn or after midnight. The architecture of my future was more elaborate than I comprehended. The truth doesn't announce itself with confession. It arrives without remorse, manifesting as inevitability, as though questioning his constructed reality was never an option. I don't doubt that my husband loves me. For the true terror of Demetri Ferraro isn't found in shadows or violence. It's in how he determined I belonged to him, by systematically eliminating any alternative path.

Emerald Sawyer has always been my home. She was the one who saw something in me when everyone else saw a hockey goon who couldn't even read properly. When the world called me stupid, she called me capable. When I had nothing, she sacrificed to give me everything. Now, I'm Hayden "Haymaker" Sawyer-the league's most feared enforcer. My violence goes viral. My fists pay the bills. Every fight, every brutal hit, every autograph, every picture, every deal-I do it all for her. But somewhere along the way, I lost sight of her. I missed the warning signs-the threats, the harassment, the shaming, the strangers who hate her simply for being mine. When she showed me, I told her it didn't matter. It was jealousy. It was nothing. I told her that she was safe. I was wrong. The losses started piling up. The fans raged. My anger grew. My fights became more reckless. My temper snapped, and I said careless words that pushed away my entire world. While I'm smiling for the cameras, my wife was brutally attacked by a fan. While I'm protecting my career, my Emerald was fighting for her life. Every moment I'd ignored her, every time I'd put hockey before her, every careless word I'd ever said-all of it hit me at once. Now I see everything. She's alive, but terrified. She doesn't trust me. She doesn't feel safe with me. She flinches when she sees my jersey. I will never forgive myself. But I cannot give up. I will prove to the only person who ever saw me-the only person who ever loved the real me-that I am still worthy of her. That I can put her first, that I can make things right, that I will fight with everything I am to keep her safe, to bring her back to me. I demand vengeance for my wife, against everyone who ever harmed her-and that includes me. Because Emerald Sawyer is my home, my heart, and my everything. This fight-for her-is the most important fight of my life. A Marriage In Trouble Second Chance Romance. No cheating, HEA always.

A gold medalist, newly married, is revealed as a cheater in his post-gold medal win press conference.

I will come back and update this description as the story unfolds but this is a story you should go in blind and without spoilers but for now. Some love stories don't begin with a choice. They begin with timing.

This story was originally drafted under a pen name while I explored a new romance series. I've decided to publish it under my real name, Natasha Derouchie (natderouchie), where it belongs alongside my other work. The teaser and future updates will now live on my Natasha profile. Thank you for reading and supporting this journey. He needed a wife. She needed security. Julian North doesn't do love, he does contracts. When pressure from his powerful family forces his hand, he offers Lucy Bennett a solution that makes perfect sense to him: a marriage built on rules, not feelings. No promises. No expectations. No heartbreak. Lucy knows exactly what she's agreeing to. An arrangement with a man who gives her everything-except the one thing she wants most. His heart. As lines blur and pretending starts to feel real, Julian reminds her that this was never meant to be more than a deal. Lucy doesn't argue. She doesn't beg. She walks away. And Julian is forced to face the one risk he never planned for-losing the woman who changed everything. The Contract Wife is a standalone billionaire romance featuring a marriage of convenience, a guarded hero, a heroine who knows her worth, and a guaranteed happily-ever-after.

One lesson I learned very early in life was to be cheerful, to be agreeable, to do as I was told and ask for nothing, and to never ever complain. Smile Maddie. Be happy Maddie. Don't make trouble and maybe they'll love you. I grew into an adult who took care of others and never expected that those I loved would take care of me in return. I gave and never asked, never expected, never demanded. Smile Maddie. Be happy Maddie. Don't make trouble and you'll find someone that will love you. And then one day, a Dragon walked into my workplace and turned my world upside down with a single wink. Having grown up watching his father treat his men like they were disposable, just meat bags to be fed into the grinder, Dragon was determined to be different when he became president of the Dragon's Inferno MC. He cares about his people. He takes care of them. He was upfront with me, taking care of his MC and those he considered to be his would always be his priority. And I agreed to that, I joined him in that mission, throwing myself into becoming the perfect old lady of the prez. Smile Maddie. Act happy Maddie. Take care of them and maybe they'll love you. Smile Maddie. Be happy Maddie. Don't complain and maybe he'll love you. I told myself I was independent. I was strong. And I didn't need my Dragon to take care of me. And I almost believed it. Almost. But now I'm watching him with her. I'm watching him comfort her. I'm watching him listen to her, support her, reassure her. I'm watching him take time from his day to check in with her. I'm watching him worry about her. I'm watching them become closer right in front of my eyes. I'm seeing every thoughtful gesture he does for her. And me? I'm not happy. I'm not smiling. I'm done being agreeable. Fuck not causing trouble. I'm about to set my Dragon's world on fire. And then I'm walking away. She can have him. For the first time in my life, I'm choosing myself.