Jilted By Nephew, Claimed By King

I was kneeling on the cold concrete of an abandoned warehouse, staring at a ticking timer while a masked man held a knife to my throat. My fiancé's nephew, Preston, finally burst through the door, but he wasn't alone. He was clutching my stepsister, Felicia, both of them looking frantic. The kidnapper gave Preston a brutal choice: the bomb was rigged to the door, and he could only take one woman with him. The other would stay behind to burn. Without a single second of hesitation, Preston grabbed Felicia's hand and turned his back on me. "I'm sorry, Annelise," he said, his voice flat and devoid of any real regret. He slammed the heavy iron door shut, leaving me to scream in the darkness as the flames began to roar. He didn't just leave me to die; he did it to protect his inheritance, treating me like a piece of trash that was finally being cleared from his path. Later, in the hospital, he didn't even offer an apology. Instead, he raised his hand to strike me, threatening to finish what the fire started if I dared to speak a word about his cowardice. His stepsister laughed, trying to pour scalding coffee on my face while calling me a pathetic loser who should have stayed in the warehouse. I sat there, cowering and shaking like a broken girl, letting them believe they had won. I watched their cruelty with wide, watery eyes, wondering how they could be so blind to the monster they were provoking. What Preston didn't know was that the entire kidnapping was a performance I had choreographed myself, and every second of his betrayal was recorded in 4K. Now, I've successfully moved into the manor of the real king-his uncle, Francesco Lancaster. He thinks he's rescued a wounded bird, but he's actually invited a world-class predator into his home. The game is no longer about survival; it's about total destruction.

Chapters

Chapter 5

The morning sun streamed into the hospital room, doing nothing to warm the chill in the air. Annelise sat on the sofa, wearing a fresh set of clothes Silas had brought. She had reapplied the dull foundation, put the glasses back on, and drawn her hair into a severe, unflattering bun. But she could feel the tension in her muscles.

The door opened. Preston walked in, holding a bouquet of roses that looked like they cost more than Annelise's foster family's car. Felicia trailed behind him, holding two cups of coffee.

"Annelise, darling!" Felicia cooed. Her voice was like syrup laced with arsenic. "We were so worried! The news said you were in shock."

Preston tossed the flowers onto the bed. He didn't look sorry. He looked annoyed.

"Why haven't you been answering my calls?" Preston demanded. "Do you know how bad this looks for me? The press is sniffing around."

Annelise looked at him over the rim of her glasses. "You left me to die, Preston."

"It was a split-second decision!" Preston waved his hand dismissively. "It was a high-stress situation. You can't hold that against me. Besides, you're fine."

Felicia stepped forward, a smirk playing on her lips. "Here, have some coffee. You look like you need it. You look... dreadful."

She extended the cup. Annelise reached for it.

Just as Annelise's fingers brushed the cardboard sleeve, Felicia's wrist flicked. It was subtle, a motion meant to look like a fumble. The cup tipped. Scalding dark roast liquid arched through the air, aiming straight for Annelise's face.

Reflex took over.

Annelise didn't flinch back. Her left hand shot up, blurring with speed. She caught Felicia's wrist in mid-air, twisting it sharply outward.

The coffee splashed, but not on Annelise. It cascaded down the front of Felicia's cream-colored Chanel dress.

"Ahhh!" Felicia shrieked, jumping back. "You bitch! You burned me!"

Preston stared. His mouth hung open. He had never seen Annelise move like that. It was faster than the eye could follow.

Annelise stood up. She didn't let go of Felicia's wrist. She squeezed. She felt the delicate bones grind together.

"Let go!" Felicia screamed, dropping to her knees.

Annelise leaned down. Her voice dropped an octave, losing the tremble, losing the fear. It was cold steel.

"This is the only warning I will give you," she whispered into Felicia's ear, so low that only she could hear. "Next time, it won't be coffee."

She shoved Felicia away. Felicia scrambled back, clutching her wrist, sobbing.

"What the hell are you?" Preston stepped forward, his face red with anger. "You attacked her!"

"She tried to burn me," Annelise said calmly. "I'm done being your punching bag, Preston. Your uncle knows what you did. You think your trust fund is safe? You think your position in the company is secure? You need this merger, and you just tried to destroy its most important asset."

"Shut up!" Preston roared. The truth stung more than the coffee. He raised his hand, stepping into her space, preparing to backhand her.

Annelise watched the hand coming. She calculated the trajectory. She could duck, strike his throat, and collapse his windpipe in two moves.

Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a shadow in the doorway. A tall, broad shadow.

Francesco.

Annelise aborted the counter-strike. She relaxed her core. She let her eyes go wide.

She threw herself backward, tripping over her own feet. She crashed into the coffee table. The crystal vase of lilies shattered, sending glass shards skittering across the floor.

"No! Please!" Annelise screamed, curling into a ball on the floor, covering her head with her arms.

Preston stood there, his hand raised, confused. He hadn't even touched her yet.

"I didn't..." Preston started.

"That's enough."

The voice came from the doorway. It was quiet. Deadly quiet.

Francesco Lancaster stepped into the room. He looked at Felicia, wailing about her dress. He looked at Preston, hand raised in a threat. And he looked at Annelise, cowering amidst broken glass.

His eyes went black.

Continue to next part

My fiancé always told me he loved me. But not long after our engagement, I woke up suffocating in the dark. He was pressing a pillow over my face, his eyes cold and dead, while my half-sister stood by watching with fake pity. They had orchestrated everything just to steal my trust fund. It all started with a massive hotel scandal. They had drugged me, thrown a cheap escort into my bed, and brought a mob of paparazzi to ruin my reputation. When my fiancé broke through the crowd, playing the heartbroken victim, he knelt down with a massive diamond ring. "I know things have been hard, but I love you. If you come home with me, I will forgive all of this." In my past life, I cried tears of gratitude and let him slide that ring onto my finger. That ring sealed my death warrant. I lost my company, my dignity, and eventually, my life. Until my lungs burned and my heart stopped, I didn't understand. How could the people I trusted most plot my murder so ruthlessly? Why did they have to tear my entire life apart? Opening my eyes again, I was back on the morning of the hotel scandal, exactly one year ago. But the man lying bare-backed in my bed wasn't a random escort. It was Johnathan Chase, my family's biggest corporate rival and the most ruthless predator on Wall Street. Listening to the paparazzi pounding on the door, I smiled coldly.

Action Modern Romance

8.5

Alpha's Rogue Luna

8.5

Due to an insurgence in rogue activities; wolf groups are finding it essential to forge agreements with other packs to protect themselves . It is largely done by marriages between Alphas and she-wolves of high rank members in another. Snow – who was an abandoned rogue herself; discovered by Amanda, the daughter of the Moonbeam Packs Gamma wolf – is about to be pushed into pre-arranged marriage with an awful, lecher of an Alpha. Neither sister wants Snow to have to marry him - alliance or not – therefore, Amanda helps Snow leave the pack the night before the wedding. Snow finds herself unwittingly intruding onto the Cerberus Pack's territory; and, ending up protecting their Beta's young sister from a nasty rogue assault. When the Alpha sees Snow for the first time; he proclaims her to be his mate. She resists at first, even though she's curiously attracted to him; and, ultimately gives in to her inner-wolf's need and accepts him as her mate. Meanwhile, the jilted Alpha is angry, and wants Snow back . not out of love, but, out of spite and desiring payback for running out on him. He even goes as far as collaborating with renegade cells to go to war with the Cerberus Pack to get Snow back.

Action Romance Werewolf

9.3

Ex - Husband's Late Redemption

9.3

After five years of a cold, neglected marriage, Sarah finally chooses herself and leaves her husband, Mark. She was once a devoted wife who endured his indifference, but her departure marks a dramatic transformation. As Sarah thrives in her newfound independence, a stunned Mark realizes the depth of his mistake. He begins a desperate pursuit to win her back, but Sarah is no longer the woman he once ignored. Can his late redemption ever be enough?

Action Modern Romance

8.4

Flash Marriage To My Ruthless Professor

8.4

I signed a prenuptial agreement with a cold-blooded Wall Street predator just to unlock my trust fund and fight my greedy stepmother. We were nothing more than legal roommates bound by a strict three-year contract. But to survive the corporate war at my family's company, I skipped my mandatory university finance class and paid a guy to answer the roll call for me. The stand-in was immediately caught and kicked out by the notoriously ruthless new professor. That night at dinner, I complained to my contract husband about the professor. "He's an unreasonable, arrogant dictator who gets off on torturing his students," I complained bitterly. My husband just calmly cut my steak and listened as I bragged about how I was going to fake-cry and manipulate the professor the next morning. I even rushed to the faculty office the next day and performed a desperate, tearful apology to an elderly man I assumed was the tyrant. I thought I had perfectly balanced my corporate war and my academic life. I thought I had fooled everyone. But when I confidently sat in the front row of the massive lecture hall, the heavy wooden doors pushed open. The terrifying new professor walked onto the podium and aggressively wrote his name on the chalkboard: Elliot Dillard. It was my contract husband. He looked down at me with cold, merciless authority, knowing every single lie I had told, and slowly called my name.

Action Modern Romance

9.4

Healing My Seven Broken Beast Mates

9.4

My retirement was finally approved, and I was supposed to be sipping drinks on a sunny beach. Instead, a cold system voice forced me into a nightmare scenario: "Cursed Mates Who Want Me Dead." I woke up in a stinking cave, trapped in the body of a psychopathic tribal princess. The memories that flooded my brain made me sick. The original owner of this body had forcibly marked seven of the continent's most powerful beast-men and reduced them to tortured pets. She had ripped the shimmering scales off Jordi the Merfolk prince, gouged out a proud wolf-man's power crystal, and snapped an eagle-man's magnificent wings. Now, Jordi was a mutilated, terrified mess hiding in a corner. He was so traumatized that he tried to slit his own throat just to escape me. His sister was actively trying to assassinate me. To make matters worse, the system warned me that if I didn't heal these seven ticking time bombs, my soul would be erased. Yet the future timeline clearly showed that these men would eventually unite, burn my tribe to the ground, and dismember me alive. I was paying for a monster's sins. Every time I tried to show mercy, they thought it was a sick new torture method. Words were useless, and my very presence was a trigger. But I am a Tier-S operative, and I don't play the victim. I forced the system to unlock my powers and strapped on my tactical gear. "Stay here and don't starve." I left the trembling Merfolk behind and walked into the deadly primitive forest, heading straight for the powerful Oasis Tribe to take back his stolen scales by force.

Action LitRPG Mafia

8.7

Heartbreak And Wars

8.7

BLUR Aloe reaches her limit in her toxic marriage when she discovers her billionaire husband was cheating on her on their matrimonial bed and wasn't remorseful about it. Pregnant and desperate to escape her toxic husband, she flees into the arms of his sworn enemy, Blake Matthew. Caught in a war between two old sworn rivalers, Aloe must fight for her life and her child... But now the question is, can she reclaim her future without losing herself to the war between two men who want to destroy each other?

Action Modern Romance

Jilted By Nephew, Claimed By King

Chapter 5

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