At 40 and with three kids, the last thing I needed was my husband suddenly working every day with a gorgeous, talented, much younger French prima ballerina. But life didn't care. Late nights. Missed dinners. A shift in his voice when he said her name. And just like that, the marriage I thought was unshakable began to crack. Now I'm forced to face the truth: Every pas de deux has a breaking point. And ours... might be reaching its final step. ‧₊˚♪𝄞₊˚⊹ ‧₊˚♪𝄞₊˚⊹ ‧₊˚♪𝄞₊˚⊹ ‧₊˚♪𝄞₊˚⊹ 🩰 A marriage cracking after 16 years 🩰 Emotional cheating 🩰 Mild OW drama 🩰 Holiday angst 🩰 Mischief, fluff & cute moments 🩰 Maybe not enough grovel... and small doses of pettiness 🎄 Yes, there's an HEA. It is Christmas, after all... ✨

They told the world I was gone. My husband buried me in silence. The city learned to stop whispering my name. Time did what it always does, it moved on. But I did not die. When I return home, I don't find the life I left. I find a marriage hardened by grief, a husband colder than I remember, and a world I was never meant to see. I'm not the same woman I was either. Two years in the dark will do that to a person. It teaches you what fear tastes like. It teaches you what survives. And sometimes it teaches you why some love stories rot beautifully.

Enjoy this story free for a limited time. When you find yourself trapped between a ruthless drug lord and a private investigator who suspects you of being his girlfriend, sometimes a gal's gotta take matters into her own damn hands. Chelsea Jones is the side character. The comedic relief. The girl who no one ever really sees-until one day, the wrong person does. After she witnesses a crime she shouldn't have, Chelsea is dragged into the world of Damien Mierro: feared King of London and a man who seems to have a special interest in keeping her by his side, whether she likes it or not. To make matters worse, her saviour might just come in the form of Kaiden Beckett, a really hot but REALLY angsty PI who is determined to bring Mierro to justice-and who just won't leave her the hell alone. Now, Chelsea and Kaiden have to try to put their mutual hatred of each other aside in order to take Mierro down-because even if the line between their hate and love is quickly blurring, nothing matters if they don't make it out alive.

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.

He called her his. His ol' lady. His wife. Property of Clutch. Rebecca "Bex" Pierce never belonged to anyone. She chose him. She stood beside him. She wore his patch with pride. Until the night he chose wrong. When a lie tears through the Dawnbreakers MC, loyalty turns toxic and pride turns cruel. In front of his brothers, in front of the clubhouse, Clutch does the one thing Bex never thought he would. He doesn't hit her. He doesn't cheat. He just doesn't believe her. And if he doesn't believe her? Then the patch means nothing. So she takes it off herself. Throws it at his feet. And walks away from the only life she's ever known. No protection. No club. No husband. The fallout fractures the Dawnbreakers from the inside out. Secrets unravel. Brothers fall. The club reforms. But the woman he lost? She isn't waiting to be claimed again. If Clutch wants his wife back, he won't just have to apologize. He'll have to rebuild everything he broke. Publicly. Relentlessly. Without expecting forgiveness. Because this time, she isn't property of anyone. Not even him. This story was born inside the Grovel & Betrayal Facebook group during a live "build-a-book" day. You asked for: • Public humiliation • Believed-the-wrong-person betrayal • Nuclear heartbreak • A man who has to earn her back And as I was reading your comments, one character kept echoing in my head. Clutch. You met him in Unlawful Hearts. You saw the quiet weight he carried. You heard him whisper to Remi. You watched him stand in the fire with the Dawnbreakers. This is his story. Welcome back to the Redemption Road world, this is within the same timeline as Unlawful Hearts.

What happens when you don't believe in love at first sight, but then it happens to you? You feel this connection and you don't want to let go, but you have previous commitments that pull you away. Before you leave, you both make plans to meet, 12 months from now, in the same location. What happens when those plans don't go as intended? What happens when one person waits while the other moves on? How will you survive when you have to watch as they move on right in front of your eyes? Spoiler: There will be a happy ending between the two main characters. I will try to post updates at least once a week.

I met my angel on the worst night of my life. It turned out to be the best. I was barefoot, soaked in blood, running from something that had already taken too much from me. He didn't ask where I came from. He didn't look at me like I was broken-or like I needed saving. He just took me along for the ride and changed the trajectory of my life, as if women like me climbed into his car every night. Bunny liked him instantly. Bunny likes very few people. Now I'm hidden. Alive. Obsessed. My angel doesn't smile much. He doesn't touch unless he has to. He treats me like something fragile and volatile all at once-like I might shatter or explode depending on the day. I fall for him anyway. Hard and fast. I don't believe in happy endings. But I believe in him. Even if he doesn't realize he's already mine. Includes: Extra sweet but feral FMC • Quiet, lethal MMC • Protector romance • Obsession at first sight • Imaginary friend • Moral grayness • Touch-averse hero • Her second-chance love, his only

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.

Penny understands logic over emotion and keeps most people at arms length because she doesn't know how to connect. Oliver slips into her life-easily, first as a friend but then as something undefined and dangerously intimate but kept quietly behind closed doors. When the delicate silence between them shatters, Penny is forced to confront what she wants and what she deserves. As she steps beyond her carefully constructed world, Oliver is left facing the cost of his choices - and the realization that somethings demand more than apologies to fix. Please read the detailed authors note at the beginning of the story before you continue as my works are not for everyone.

Pastels hide stains better than you'd think. Emilia Hunt built her life on soft things - spring mornings, pretty smiles, fresh starts. Easter was her holiday. Rebirth. Renewal. Resurrection. Too bad some things refuse to stay buried. When a woman from her husband's past begins circling, old cracks split wide open. Secrets rot beneath polished floors. Lies bloom where trust once grew, and Emilia realizes something profound. Some marriages don't need saving. Some need ending. This Easter, Emilia isn't the sweet little bunny everyone remembers. She's what comes after the resurrection.