A Yearning Beyond Years
/1/127579/coverbig.jpg?v=2ea34f2e2c2f3053a637d5acfe2fbf25)
His Unwanted Wife, The Hidden Genius
I flew back to New York on my twenty-fifth birthday, carrying vintage gold cufflinks I spent weeks finding for my billionaire husband, Declan. But when I walked into our townhouse, I found him throwing a massive victory party with Sloane, a glamorous socialite, standing by his side as the proud hostess. "Don't cause a scene. Go upstairs." Declan coldly dismissed me in front of his guests. Even Poppy, the rookie player whose shattered ankle I had painstakingly rebuilt, rolled her eyes and ignored me to suck up to Sloane. Hiding in the shadows, I heard the maids gossiping that everyone thought Sloane was the future Mrs. Hartford. To make matters worse, I discovered Sloane had stolen my anonymous, groundbreaking medical algorithm and was planning to present it as her own. First my husband, then the girl I mentored like family, and now the scientific foundation I had built with my own hands. Declan even texted me to cancel our birthday breakfast without a single apology, treating me like an annoying afterthought. My tears vanished, replaced by a freezing clarity. I signed the divorce papers, leaving them on his desk with zero demands for his money. Then I packed my bags, booked a one-way ticket to Boston, and prepared to destroy them on the global stage.
Chapter 1
Aurelia Vance POV:
I had been married to Declan Hartford for three years.
Today was my twenty-fifth birthday, and I had flown back from Boston in secret, hoping for one quiet evening with my husband.
I'd spent a week carefully picking out a pair of gold cufflinks as a gift for my husband.
But the laughter spilling from the front door told me I was already too late: the woman who had taken my place at his side was already inside.
The heavy oak door swung open before I reached the porch. Three young players from the New York Titans, Declan's NHL franchise, stumbled out with crystal tumblers of scotch, laughing loudly. They barely glanced at me as they passed.
I stepped into the grand foyer. The heat hit me instantly,expensive champagne, roasted tenderloin, cigar smoke.
Dozens of people filled the double parlor: executives, scouts, wives in designer dresses.
In the center stood Declan, tall and broad in a bespoke charcoal suit. Beside him, laughing into his ear, was Sloane Whitfield, her backless silver dress catching the chandelier light. Her hand rested on his forearm like she belonged there.
Before I could take another breath, a blur of blonde hair darted past my elbow.
"Sloane!" Poppy Delacroix cried, throwing her arms around Sloane's slender waist. "You were completely right about the catering! This is literally the best victory party the team has ever had!"
Poppy is fourteen, a junior elite forward prospect.
I scouted her two years ago from a crumbling youth league, back when she was at her lowest.
Her parents had once shown me great kindness, and I knew they had already passed away, leaving her all alone in the world.
Declan and I adopted her together.
I rebuilt her shattered ankle with a custom rehabilitation plan.
I had always loved and cared for her as both a mother and a sister.
Now, she did not even glance in my direction.
Declan turned his head, his gaze sweeping over the crowd until his eyes locked onto mine. The easy grin on his sharp jaw vanished instantly. His brows drew together in a hard, irritated line.
He excused himself from Sloane, cutting through the throng of players with long, impatient strides.
"Aurelia," Declan said, stopping two feet in front of me. His voice carried zero warmth. "What are you doing here?"
My throat felt like sandpaper.
"I took the four o'clock flight from Boston," I whispered, clutching the strap of my bag until my knuckles turned white. "It is my birthday, Declan. I thought we could—"
"We are celebrating the division win," he cut in, his tone sharp enough to draw blood. "The board is here. The sponsors are here. Sloane spent four consecutive days coordinating this event so the organization could project stability."
He did not look at me. His gaze slid past my shoulder to the bar, like I was a waitress who had wandered into the wrong room.
"Don't cause a scene," he added quietly. "Go upstairs."
A soft, mocking murmur rippled through a cluster of players' wives standing near the grand staircase. Two women with platinum blowouts exchanged knowing glances over their flutes of Dom Pérignon.
"I didn't know," I said, my voice barely audible over the swelling music. "I am sorry."
I turned toward the staircase, my legs trembling beneath my wool trousers.
Near the landing, Poppy was adjusting her designer jacket in the hallway mirror.
"Poppy," I said softly, pausing beside her. "How is your ankle feeling after Thursday's third period? Did you complete the isometric sequence I sent?"
Poppy rolled her eyes, sighing loudly as she pulled out her phone.
"Aurelia, please, not right now," she muttered without looking at me. "Sloane is introducing me to a marketing director from one of our partners. I don't have time for your spreadsheets."
The dismissive edge in her voice hit me harder than Declan's coldness. I had stayed up until three in the morning reviewing her biomechanical scans while she was recovering from surgery, and now I was just an annoyance in the way of her social ascent.
I walked up the rest of the stairs and entered the primary suite—the massive, sterile bedroom allocated to me under our prenuptial agreement.
I sat on the edge of the mattress and pulled out the velvet box. The gold cufflinks gleamed under the bedside lamp, cold and useless.
Downstairs, cheers erupted. The sound vibrated through the floorboards.
I walked to the French doors overlooking the rear garden. Down on the illuminated patio, Sloane was directing two servers by an ice sculpture. Declan stood beside her, his head bent down as he listened to her speak, his hand casually brushing the small of her back.
They looked like the couple the city expected them to be.
My phone buzzed in my coat pocket. I pulled it out, hoping against hope.
It was an email notification.
"Happy Birthday, Aurelia. Remember that true science requires patience and solitude. You are meant for greater arenas than New York boardrooms. -Dr. Edmund Sterling."
My mentor at Harvard was the only person in the world who had remembered.
I typed a brief "Thank you, Professor" and shut off the screen.
Hours passed. The bass eventually quieted, replaced by the occasional clatter of glassware and slamming car doors. My throat burned with thirst.
At two in the morning, I padded downstairs in my stocking feet to fetch a glass of water from the butler's pantry.
As I rounded the corner near the service hallway, the voices of two newly hired catering maids stopped me dead in my tracks.
"Miss Whitfield is stunning," the first girl whispered, scraping dessert plates into a bin. "Mr. Hartford's girlfriend carries herself like royalty."
"A girlfriend?" the other asked, pausing. "But isn't Mr. Hartford rumored to be married? Is it inappropriate to be this close with Whitfield?"
"Married?Where did that come from? Even if there was one, they must have split long ago. I've worked three events here this month, and Miss Whitfield is the only woman hosting by his side. Everyone knows she's the future Mrs. Hartford."
I shrank back into the cold shadow of the archway, my blood turning to ice.
In the home where I held a legal marriage certificate, my presence had already been wiped clean.
/0/78009/coverbig.jpg?v=6f9a1a2fed2e9958b8579f7b608147b3)
A Yearning Beyond Years
"We...shouldn't be doing this," Stacey moaned as she felt Noah's lips kiss the side of her neck. "Tell me to stop, and I will," he whispered. "I'm twelve years older than you; what would the world say?" "I don't care what the damn world says. The only thing I care about is the woman in front of m
/0/18547/coverbig.jpg?v=e93b598bdee1b1cc96af35efde92af98)
Yearning For Your Heart
When Marilyn prepares a surprise for her husband, she finds out that he has been cheating on her with her best friend. To make things worse, it turns out that their marriage was nothing but a scam to steal her inheritance. In her despair, she runs into Ethan, an attractive man who has been drugged a
/0/86831/coverbig.jpg?v=786baffa67cf77ffb832b7eba15630f9)
Ten Years a Lie
My husband, David, and I had been married for ten years, a perfect New York power couple on the outside, a carefully constructed lie within. I used his money, he had his affairs, even a secret child. Our lives ran on parallel tracks, never interfering. It was a cold, silent agreement. Then the scho
/0/91308/coverbig.jpg?v=abaf29b6cc5691be3f4865a17f541688)
Beyond A Substitute
After Beth, the love of Kingsley's life, left him, his world fell apart. Drowning in heartbreak, he vanished into obscurity... until Katherine found him and helped him heal. Her familiar aqua-blue eyes brought him peace and, eventually, love but secrets, lies, and the return of his ex-fiancée, Beth,
/0/17257/coverbig.jpg?v=b3ff5009fb5d67ee49487ceff9f9f988)
Thirty Years a Slave
Thirty Years a Slave: From Bondage to Freedom by Louis Hughes. Louis Hughes was born in Virginia (1832), but was sold (1844) in the Richmond slave market to a cotton planter and his wife who lived on the Mississippi River. Later, he traveled with them to their new home in Memphis, Tennessee, and spe
/0/64252/coverbig.jpg?v=09fd5131c42938e15b2039dc22413407)
A Love Beyond Danger
When freelance journalist Cassandra Winters stumbles upon a stolen painting tied to an ancient secret, she is thrust into a world of intrigue and danger. Enter Nicolas-a mysterious man with a shadowy past and a mission of his own. As they race against time to uncover the truth, trust becomes a luxur
/0/80768/coverbig.jpg?v=20260106194107)
A Love Beyond Betrayal
My life was always a supporting role to my brother, Caleb – a "spare part" for his childhood illness, my parents' love a finite resource entirely consumed by him. As "E," I finally felt seen, connecting deeply with Olivia after her accident-induced blindness. But my world shattered when Caleb, orch
/0/19435/coverbig.jpg?v=0c9bd81b5ebf424e2e7fd157ccfdb1af)
Time Beyond A Dream
"What if you could wake up in your dreams and live out your wildest fantasies, every night? What would you do?" Catherine wishes all her dreams were just like those that everyone has. Yet her dream was different. Her dreams weren't rainbows and sunshine however, her dreams became her reality. Aft
/0/89295/coverbig.jpg?v=c3c97236702a214ea48a0d9ba234ce46)
Ten Years a Ward
For ten years, I secretly loved my guardian, Ethan Hayes. After my family fell apart, he took me in and raised me. He was my entire world. On my eighteenth birthday, I gathered all my courage to confess my love to him. But his reaction was a fury I had never seen before. He swept my birthday cake
/0/68385/coverbig.jpg?v=b56209ca1ae26eda6e855fc1c17b9cd9)
A Connection beyond Coincidence
"Join Enoch, Iyiola, Chris, and Amaka on their journey from the halls of secondary school to the campuses of university life. From navigating the pressures of SSCE exams to exploring the freedoms of higher education, this group of friends has been through it all together.As they grow and evolve, Iyi
/0/81972/coverbig.jpg?v=ab46f35b543baacf52c3cf1d187a7e14)
Beyond A Substitute
After Beth-the love of Kingsley's life-left him, his world fell apart. Drowning in heartbreak, he vanished into obscurity... until Katherine found him and helped him heal. Her quiet strength and those familiar aqua-blue eyes brought him peace-and eventually, love. He married her, convinced he had fi
/1/114937/coverbig.jpg?v=5207417fbe6f4a5fd573defa888193a7)
Thirty Years, A Billionaire's Lie
For thirty years, I loved Javen Sullivan. Our engagement was the perfect merger of two corporate empires, and I thought my lifelong dream of being with him had finally come true. But at our party, I overheard him talking to his best man. Our entire relationship was a lie, a "business deal" to make
/1/101906/coverbig.jpg?v=96f9486fbef8c133dbc655fe388fec97)
Five Years, A Forged Vow
For five years, I was the devoted wife who helped Brandon build his tech empire. But the moment his first love, Kristal, returned with a feigned injury, he handed her the diamond necklace meant for our anniversary and abandoned me in a torrential storm. He knew my PTSD from a past kidnapping made
/0/85242/coverbig.jpg?v=f267c72581ce73678bae713271b284b3)
Five Years, A Cruel Deception
The blinking cursor on Liam Miller' s screen mocked him: "Invalid Certificate Number." He sighed, leaning back in his leather chair, the city lights shimmering behind him. Their five-year marriage certificate, an official document, yet it wouldn' t register for their new foundation. Chloe, his seem
/0/85372/coverbig.jpg?v=315f9ccb394428bc5fb1a386434512f3)
Beyond Repair: A New Beginning
The system overload alarm shrieked, sparks flying, monitors flickering. My own algorithm, my miracle cure, was dying, and it was taking me with it. Liam Thorne, facing me, declared, "Bring her back, Ava! You said your algorithm could heal anything!" His face a mask of cold fury over his lost love,
/0/85923/coverbig.jpg?v=85e750e79649bcb4f9e7aa60547ef7f8)
Beyond Biology: A Woman's Revenge
My brother, Kevin, just got the bizarre diagnosis. He had a fully functional uterus. I, a bio-ethicist, saw it as a severe medical condition, but Kevin, fueled by delusion, declared himself the "next step in human evolution." My mother, Eleanor, encouraged his madness, seeing it as a shortcut to
/0/80869/coverbig.jpg?v=20260106194418)
Beyond Forgiveness: A Husband's Vengeance
My wife, Sarah, and I had a perfect life plan: no kids, just us, travel, and careers. To seal the deal, I underwent a vasectomy. I came home that day, a bag of frozen peas on my groin, feeling a strange mix of relief and finality, ready to celebrate. But Sarah didn't want to celebrate. She sat besi
/0/85038/coverbig.jpg?v=9eaf5dae011d50d77ef0b6a257730b0b)
Eight Years, A Cruel Joke
For eight years, I clung to Liam' s drunken promise, a joke he' d made at 14 that felt like a sacred vow. I transformed myself, chasing perfection for him, believing our 22nd birthday was finally our moment. But then, I overheard him plotting: our "promise" was a cruel lie, a scheme to get rid of
/0/85798/coverbig.jpg?v=297f300371d825e6b12be6300522a24e)
Seven Years A Prisoner Wife
For seven years, my life was a cold, silent prison. My husband, David Chen, the tech world' s golden boy, saw me only as his sister Emily' s murderer. What happened to Emily that day at the lake was an accident, a tragedy. But to David and my adoptive mother, Olivia, it was my fault, a debt I had
/0/86507/coverbig.jpg?v=9201fea77d0761930e0a3303867b7023)
A Love Contract: Five Years
For five years, I was her dog. Sarah Miller, the woman I once loved, owned me, reminding me of it daily. The contract, my reason for existence, was almost over. Then, Alex Thorne, her COO, smirked, "Try again," smudging the glass I just polished. Her private office door opened; Sarah emerged, beaut
