To everyone else, Nora and Philip had the perfect marriage - a lovely home, and a life many envied. But perfection is a fragile illusion. When Philip falls for another woman, Nora's world shatters in slow motion. Caught between betrayal, bruises, and unbearable love, she must choose between holding on to what's already broken or reclaiming the pieces of herself she lost in the name of "perfectness." As the affair spirals out of control - secrets unravel, loyalties flip, and forgiveness becomes a battlefield. In the end, love is no longer about who wins... but who survives.

The man I married broke me. Not because he didn't love me- but because he couldn't stay when grief moved in. Three pregnancies. Three losses. One marriage that shattered under the weight of everything we couldn't fix. And somewhere in the silence, in the distance I didn't know how to cross, he made a choice that broke what little I had left. If only I had known how fragile love could be. This is a story about loss that doesn't heal cleanly. About love tested in the quiet. About betrayal that doesn't come from hate-but from weakness. Sometimes heartbreak doesn't arrive all at once. Sometimes it happens slowly, while you're still trying to hold everything together.

Callum Hayes, 43, is a top neurosurgeon with a perfect reputation-and a wife, Elena, 43, who sacrificed her life for his. But when Ava Sinclair, 24, a new nurse at his hospital, catches his eye, one glance becomes a touch... then a secret neither of them can walk away from. Now Callum is juggling a loyal wife, a forbidden lover-and a truth darker than either woman realizes.

I always thought we were destined to be together. A decade together and what seemed like the perfect love story. Until one day, it slowly started to unravel at the seams. I realized our "perfect" love story only looked so perfect because I was being complacent. Once I started to speak up for myself, the facade crumbled and it all came crashing down. This is my story.

They say a woman like me shouldn't love a man like him. I'm too loud. Too volatile. Too willing to burn everything down just to make a point. But Matthias Moretti didn't pick me for my sweetness. He picked me because I'm the only woman in this cursed city who can take his violence, match his obsession, and ride him like owning him is a birthright. He was supposed to be a holiday sin I'd laugh about later, a sweat-soaked distraction I used to bury my past. Then one savage little truth blew the floor out from under me and everything we built. Now he's tearing apart his own empire trying to drag me home, razing anything that stands between us. He shouldn't worry. I'm not hiding. I'm waiting.

Six years ago, Blanchard Collins packed her bags, boarded a bus to Houston, and never looked back. She left behind her abusive father, the town that never forgave her for speaking her mind, and Rueben Bailey, the boy who broke her heart the night before they were supposed to run away together. Now twenty-four, Blanchard returns home with her five-year-old daughter, Willow, and a dying mother who's asked for one final thing-her presence. But coming home means facing the ghosts she thought she'd buried, including the man she's never truly stopped loving. Rueben "Benny" Bailey did what his family expected. Stayed, took over the farm, and proposed to the girl everyone said was right for him. But when Blanchard walks back into church with a little girl who looks just like him, everything he's built starts to fall apart.

On Christmas Eve, Elowen Foster tries to save her long-term relationship with a grand romantic gesture-only to walk straight into betrayal, champagne shattering on tile as her high school sweetheart is caught cheating over his desk. A week later, still raw and humiliated, she's dragged to a New Year's Eve party hosted by her best friend and her husband... who has invited the cheating ex and his shiny new replacement. Cornered, hurting, and trying not to cry into a plastic flute of prosecco, she's rescued by the one man she never expected to want her comfort- Rowan Hale Her best friend's older brother. The Viking. The one who used to tease her relentlessly. The one she secretly crushed on for years. What begins as a strategic distraction turns into one unforgettable night that changes everything.

Eight years ago, Bailey ran from the small town that broke her heart. She left behind a love that once felt unbreakable, a boy who chose rumors over trust, and a town that turned its back on her when lies painted her as a sinner. Now she's back-pulled home by a will she never expected and a past she tried to forget. Ashton, the mayor's golden son, has moved on. He's successful. Respected. And engaged to the best friend who betrayed her. What no one knows is the secret Bailey carried with her when she left. A child. Ashton's child. In a town where gossip never dies and forgiveness comes at a cost, Bailey must face old wounds, buried truths, and the question she's been avoiding for years. Can first love survive betrayal... or is some damage permanent? Some love stories don't end...they wait.

I'm engaged to the woman of my dreams. Emilia is brilliant, beautiful, and an incredibly successful doctor. I'm a grease-stained mechanic who makes a quarter of what she does. She believes in me. She loves me. But I don't deserve her. So I go out looking to destroy us... and Emilia catches me. I've shattered the only woman who ever made me feel worthy. She doesn't trust me. The ring is off. Our future is hanging by a thread. If I want her back, I'll have to unlearn everything my father taught me about love, money, and what it means to be a man. But this isn't a fairytale... and sometimes you don't get second chances. WARNING: This story contains themes of infidelity, childhood abuse, relationship abuse, and misogyny.

Nora never wanted much. Just a steady home. Simple days. A life that held its shape. She didn't crave excitement or change. She only needed predictability. Her routines, her quiet, her small world. It was enough. She believed that if she kept everything perfectly still, the life she had built would hold. And for a long time, it did. But when the ground finally shifted under her feet, Nora didn't move with it. She froze in place, the way people do when they have no other direction to turn. Because where does a person go when they have nowhere to go? Warning: This story uses mature language and scenes. © IcecreamSundae5. All rights reserved.