No More Doormat: Dump The Fiancé, Snag The Underworld Emperor

"Clara, I hate you!" Emily Jones screamed.

Pain slammed into Clara Jones.

"Why..." Struggling to breathe, Clara forced her head up. Her voice trembled as she stared at Emily through the haze.

Years ago, Ramona Jones, her stepmother, had joined the Jones family with her daughter, Emily.

Over the years, Clara had treated Emily like real family and had given her the kind of care she would have given a younger sister.

Never once had she imagined that Emily would be so cruel.

Shock crashed into Clara and tangled with rage and hurt, and the betrayal from someone she had called family cut deeper.

Emily rested one hand on her flat stomach, and triumph flickered in her eyes.

She stared down at Clara and said, her tone sharp with spite, "If you're still here, how are Robert and I supposed to tell people about our baby?"

A baby?

What baby?

A car door opened nearby before Clara could gather her thoughts, and a tall figure stepped out and walked toward them. It was Robert Cooper, the fiance she had chased for ten years.

Only then did Clara grasp that he had been secretly involved with Emily, watching the whole thing.

She fixed her eyes on him as he drew closer, searching his face for any sign of remorse.

He did not bother to look at her. Sliding an arm around Emily's waist, he said, "Stop wasting time on her. Get it over with. Send her to join her useless grandmother, comatose father, and foolish brother."

Rage and disbelief hit Clara like a physical blow. "It was you. My grandmother, my father, and my brother...? You horrible people. Emily, Robert, I will make you pay!"

Fallen at first, Clara forced herself upright and felt a fierce, sudden strength surge through her.

Fueled by the determination to take Emily down with her, Clara threw herself at her stepsister with every ounce of strength left.

Caught off guard, Emily jumped back, but Clara's nail still managed to scrape her cheek.

Fury twisted Emily's features, and the woman who worshipped her own reflection let out a wild snarl. "Get the share transfer contract. Make her sign it!"

Emily snatched up Clara's limp hand, and pressed a scarlet fingerprint onto the official paper.

Vision fading, Clara could just make out the twisted smile on Emily's face as her laughter echoed in the dark.

Bitterness and regret twisted inside her.

If only there was a way to start over...

A moment later, Clara's world faded to black.

...

Lightning flashed across the sky as rain hammered down in sheets.

Without warning, Clara's eyes snapped open. She found herself sitting in the far corner of a school auditorium, surrounded by rows of students.

Her first instinct was to look down. In the reflection of a tiny mirror on the table, she saw herself wearing a wedding dress, but her face was smeared with clownish, ugly makeup.

Sneering voices rang out from the crowd.

"Who even knows how