Push Someone Away Novels & Stories

After three years of marriage, we became the couple everyone in the city envied. I truly believed Edmund and I would be happy forever—until my sister, Avery, returned. Everything changed. My husband’s constant favoritism toward her and my son’s growing coldness left me unable to carry on. On Christmas Day, I walked into the courthouse. When the judge asked me one last time if I wanted to fight for my son’s custody, I simply shook my head. “Your Honor, I waive my right to custody, and I agree to the divorce.” Out of our seven years of marriage, two had been spent trapped in endless legal battles. I was utterly exhausted. This time, I chose to let go. I dialed a number and called my old professor, Robert, overseas. “Professor Robert, that research project you mentioned before... I’m in.”

【What should I do if I’ve fallen in love with my sister’s fiancé?】 I came across an Instagram post from an account with a default profile picture on my flight back to New York. The comments were brutal, each one harsher than the last. Then I saw a reply from a burner account: 【Don’t blame her. I was the one who led her on.】 【She acts tough, but she’s more fragile than anyone. I just can’t help feeling sorry for her.】 My finger froze on the screen, because the profile picture on that account was the cat my boyfriend, Vincent, had given me. With trembling fingers, I opened the poster’s profile. There was only one video on it. In the video, a woman had her back to the camera as she bent down to water a nearly dead plant, a silver bracelet on her wrist. It was the matching bracelet mom had left for my sister Clara and me before she died. For a long moment, I could barely breathe. Suddenly, I thought back to the first time I brought Vincent home to meet Clara. After one failed relationship, Clara had decided all men were the same. She looked at Vincent coldly and said, “He’s no different from the rest. One day, he’ll betray you too.” Vincent held my hand then and said, each word clear and steady, “If I ever betray Nora, may I lose everything.” Clara only scoffed, “Then we’ll see.” But if all of this was true, I was caught between the sister who had raised me and the man I had loved for five years. What was I supposed to do?

I push through my Gamma warrior training ahead of schedule just to get back to the pack sooner. All I want is to stand beside my Alpha, Kyle Faucher, and finally complete our mate-bonding ceremony. But when I step into our house, scarred and feeling hopeful, I see 100 old boarding passes to the Darkmoon pack littering the floor. That pack is only a mile from my training grounds. Kyle's been that close for two years, and still, he never came. I sprint to the place where we were supposed to have our mate-bonding ceremony, clinging to the desperate hope that there's an explanation. But the moment I burst through the doors, I stopped cold. Kyle is down on one knee, dressed in a tailored suit, his eyes locked on someone with a softness I've never seen in him before. Standing across from him, smiling through her tears, is my stepsister, Vivian Blackwell. "Vivian, I haven't completed the mate-bonding ceremony with Serene. Say the word, and I'll reject her and mark you right now." At that moment, the world goes still, and I even forgot how to breathe. So this is what he's been doing while I was gone, chasing the woman he never let go of. Meanwhile, I spent those two years giving everything I had, trying to become someone worthy of standing by his side. I don't ask why or shed a tear. I just turn around and walk away. If she's what he wants, then so be it. The mate-bonding ceremony I dreamed of will be theirs instead. But the second I'm gone, he loses it and sends every warrior looking for me.

I took a drugged drink for Moretti, the Don I had loved for seven years. He helped Bella, my frightened sister, to her feet first. "Bella is fragile. I'll get her to the car." "Iris, wait here. I'll come back for you soon." My stomach burned like fire, but my fingers were turning cold. I stood there frozen for a long moment before a bitter laugh slipped out. It was the ninety-ninth time he had chosen Bella. In college, I once waited for him in the library with a fever, expecting him to take me home. Then Bella called and said her panic attack was back, so he told me to wait. Years later, I entered the Valtieri family and became his underboss. I balanced his books, negotiated his deals, took bullets for him. He still believed I would always wait. I bit my tongue and forced myself to stay clear-headed while I handled another round of probing from the rival family. At one in the morning, Moretti still had not come back. Bella's post appeared first. In the photo, Moretti was making her a late-night meal. That was when I understood. This time, too, he would not come back for me. And I no longer wanted to wait. I opened my phone and bought a ticket to Sicily three days later. Moretti, goodbye.

On the day I discovered I was pregnant, my husband's first love—who also happened to be my half-sister—returned.

For three years, Nina Walker had done everything James Gibson asked. Even when he sent her to Harbor City the day after their wedding, she never complained. In those three years, she didn’t just help the company gain a solid foothold there. She also turned her patents into more than a billion dollars in profit. But when her mother fell seriously ill and Nina begged him through tears to let her take time off, he shut her down with a single sentence. “She’s not dead yet, is she?” That was all it took for him to dismiss her. Nina came back anyway. Only then did she realize their marriage had been a lie from the very beginning. He had married her only for the sake of the child he’d had with the woman he’d never gotten over. He had sent Nina to Harbor City only so she wouldn’t disturb their happy little family of three. Even the dog she had left behind had been abused. In that moment, something inside Nina finally died. She resigned from the company, signed the divorce papers, and walked out of the Gibson family’s life without looking back. When James found out, he only gave a cold, dismissive laugh. He was sure she would come crawling back. But the next time he saw Nina, she was standing at the press conference of a biotech company. She had just developed a patented gene-editing technology, and she was answering reporters’ questions with calm confidence. Standing protectively by her side was the most powerful, untouchable tycoon in Harbor City’s elite circles. James dropped to one knee, tears streaming down his face. “Nina, I was wrong. Please. Give me one more chance.” Nina had given him plenty of chances. But this time, that chance was someone else’s. The man behind her stepped forward, wrapped an arm around her waist, and made his claim clear without hesitation. “She’s my wife now.”

On my son, Nicholas Grafton's birthday, I've gone to great lengths to prepare a delicious carnivorous feast and a beautiful pendant meant for protection. But that's when I overhear Nicholas speaking with my Alpha mate, Tobias Grafton. "Daddy, I've already promised Aunt Whitney that I'd go to the amusement park with her on my birthday. But Mommy insists on celebrating my birthday with us. "What should I do? I want to celebrate my birthday with Aunt Whitney more, but Mommy doesn't like her at all. This makes me very troubled…" I freeze on the spot. At the same time, my face goes pale. Soon, I receive a mind-link message from Tobias. "I have something to do tomorrow, so lunch is now canceled." The next day, I head over to the amusement park, as though my sixth sense was leading me there. As expected, I spot Tobias and the others. Nicholas can be seen sitting on Tobias' shoulders while shrieking excitedly at the top of his lungs. Whitney Lockwood, my half-sister, shields Nicholas protectively the whole time. The three of them look so close, like they are the actual family here. Tobias' head is lowered at all times, his gentle gaze constantly fixed on Whitney's face. As I stare at them from my spot, I let go of everything related to them all of a sudden. After looking down at the diagnosis report that shows the confirmation of late-stage silver poisoning, I turn in an application to dissolve my mate bond with Tobias without hesitation. Now, I no longer want anything to do with Tobias and Nicholas anymore.

Despite me being three months pregnant, my husband asked me to jump into the water to help his first love look for her necklace. I teared up and begged my husband not to make me do this . Yet his friends all criticized me. “He’s just asking you to jump into the water. You’re the only one who can swim here. Nothing will go wrong if you’re only in for a little while.” “Minerva, that’s the memento Violet’s mother left for her.” I tried to keep fighting against it and grabbed the hem of Shaun’s shirt. But he shoved me into the sea. I struggled against the water as I hoped to see any hint of pity in Shaun’s eyes. Yet he said, “Minerva, you’re an excellent swimmer. You’ll be fine.”

I was six months pregnant when my husband, Michael Greene, shoved me off the edge of a yacht during a birthday party. Why? Because Lily Clement, his childhood sweetheart, had fallen into the water, and apparently, the yacht was too small for all three of us. After being pulled from the ocean, suffering from hypothermia and shock, I was taken to the hospital. Doctors determined that emergency surgery was necessary and required a family member's consent. However, no matter how many times they called, Michael never picked up. At the same time, lying in a hospital bed, I scrolled through Lily’s Instagram and saw the post she shared just hours earlier. It was a photo of the two of them, soaked but clinging to each other like lovers out of a movie. "Sometimes love comes from the most unexpected places. Thank you for always being there for me—quietly, selflessly, unshakably." That was all I needed. The day I was discharged, I left Michael a signed divorce agreement. If he wanted to be her knight in shining armor, I’d let him.

During the holidays, my boss wants us to choose between a holiday bonus and tarts. I don't like tarts at all, so I'm the first one to vote for a bonus. But the intern, Davin Holt, who's in charge of gathering everyone's votes and opinions, is quick to pin me on the hall of shame in the company's group chat. "Fabian, we mainly celebrate the holidays just to experience the atmosphere, you know? Isn't it too materialistic of you to vote for a bonus instead?" The department head tags me in the group chat as well. "Fabian, our company prioritizes the team spirit even more." In the end, everyone except me chooses the tarts. On the day of our holiday team bonding event, Davin bought everyone nut tarts. He knows that I'm allergic to nuts, and yet he still forces me to eat the tart in front of my boss just to show that I have team spirit. "Fabian, I bought the tarts with everyone's bonus. You can't just rain on our parade by rejecting them, right?" The next thing I know, I begin having difficulties breathing. At the same time, patches of red rashes break out on my skin. But Davin shoots me a look of disgust. "Dude, must you really spoil the mood while everyone else is having fun?" Desperately, I rummage through my bag for my allergy medication, only to see more tarts in its place. The sight of me looking so wretched makes Davin roar in laughter. "Medicine can be harmful to you, you know! You should have more desserts instead! That's why I've changed all of your medication to tarts!" Already, I find it more and more difficult to breathe. So, I text the CEO of this company on the spot. "Mom, my allergy is acting up! I'm at…"