Reese

After six years of loving Julian Grayson and literally keeping him alive with her rare blood donations, Hazel Ashworth is just three days away from becoming his wife when he calls to cancel their wedding. 
The reason? Her half-sister Ivy has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and her dying wish is to marry Julian instead. Hazel watches in horror as Julian takes her handcrafted wedding dress to Ivy, who plans to wear it while stealing not just Hazel's fiancé, but her entire wedding—same venue, same date, even the same cake flavor. 
It's a devastating replay of their childhood, where Ivy's mother Eleanor destroyed Hazel's family by seducing her father and driving her mother to suicide, then spent years pushing Hazel out while Ivy took everything that was once hers. 
But this time, Hazel refuses to break like her mother did. She demands Julian's entire company and two million dollars as compensation, then shows up at the hospital to deliver Ivy's "wedding gift" in the most explosive way possible.
As Ivy plays the perfect dying victim and Julian remains blind to her manipulation, Hazel begins to suspect that her half-sister's illness might not be as terminal as everyone believes. When Ivy has the audacity to ask Hazel to witness her wedding to Julian, the gloves come off completely. 
Now Hazel must decide how far she's willing to go to expose the truth and reclaim what's rightfully hers, even if it means destroying the man she once loved in the process.

The Billionaire Backs Me Up

Chapter 63 - A Public Spectacle and a Sudden Summons


Time seemed to stop as Julian knelt before me, holding out that ostentatious diamond ring like some sort of peace offering. The funeral home had fallen into stunned silence, save for Eleanor's theatrical sobs from the front row. All eyes were on me, waiting for my response to this wildly inappropriate proposal.


I took a deep breath, my thoughts racing. This man had humiliated me, betrayed me, and now had the audacity to propose at his dead wife's funeral? The sheer audacity was breathtaking.


"Get up, Julian," I said, my voice calm but carrying throughout the hushed room. "You're embarrassing yourself."


He remained on one knee, his expression earnest. "Hazel, please. I know I hurt you, but I never stopped loving you. This is our second chance."


I laughed then, a short, incredulous sound. "Our second chance? At what exactly? For me to be your backup plan now that Ivy is gone?"
