Done Being A Shadow: The Wife's Escape

Done Being A Shadow: The Wife's Escape

George B

5.0
Comment(s)
4.7K
View
24
Chapters

On the day I finally pried open the locked drawer in Marcus's study, I didn't find a surprise anniversary gift. I found a shrine to my father's business partner, Izzy. Photos of a woman who looked exactly like me stared back. That was when I realized my marriage was nothing more than an expensive lie. I wasn't his wife; I was a customized substitute for the woman he couldn't have. The nightmare worsened when scalding soup was spilled at a restaurant. Marcus didn't hesitate. He threw his body over Izzy to shield her, leaving me to take the full force of the burns. Later, while I lay in the hospital bandaged and in agony, he didn't come to comfort me. He came to demand I donate a kidney to save Izzy. "If we both needed a kidney, who would you choose?" I asked him, desperate for a lie. "Izzy," he said instantly. "She has so much more to do." He didn't know I was pregnant. He didn't know that while he was begging me to save his mistress, the stress was killing his unborn child. I wiped my tears and laughed. "Okay," I said. I signed the divorce papers and left them on his desk. On top of them, I placed a medical report dated that morning: *Spontaneous Abortion.* Then, I boarded a one-way flight to Montana and vanished, leaving him to wake up to a world where he had saved his mistress but killed his family.

Done Being A Shadow: The Wife's Escape Chapter 1

On the day I finally pried open the locked drawer in Marcus's study, I didn't find a surprise anniversary gift.

I found a shrine to my father's business partner, Izzy.

Photos of a woman who looked exactly like me stared back.

That was when I realized my marriage was nothing more than an expensive lie. I wasn't his wife; I was a customized substitute for the woman he couldn't have.

The nightmare worsened when scalding soup was spilled at a restaurant.

Marcus didn't hesitate.

He threw his body over Izzy to shield her, leaving me to take the full force of the burns.

Later, while I lay in the hospital bandaged and in agony, he didn't come to comfort me.

He came to demand I donate a kidney to save Izzy.

"If we both needed a kidney, who would you choose?" I asked him, desperate for a lie.

"Izzy," he said instantly. "She has so much more to do."

He didn't know I was pregnant.

He didn't know that while he was begging me to save his mistress, the stress was killing his unborn child.

I wiped my tears and laughed.

"Okay," I said.

I signed the divorce papers and left them on his desk.

On top of them, I placed a medical report dated that morning: *Spontaneous Abortion.*

Then, I boarded a one-way flight to Montana and vanished, leaving him to wake up to a world where he had saved his mistress but killed his family.

Chapter 1

Olivia POV

It was a Tuesday when I finally pried open the locked drawer in Marcus's study-the same day I realized my marriage was nothing more than a very expensive, very elaborate lie.

Inside, I didn't find financial documents or family heirlooms. I found a shrine.

Photos of a woman who looked terrifyingly like me stared back from the glossy paper. Letters written in Marcus's sharp, architectural handwriting were stacked neatly beside sketches of a house I had never seen. The dates went back years. Long before he met me. Long before he told me I was the only woman who ever understood him.

I stared at the woman in the photograph. Izzy Vance. My father's business partner. A woman I had admired. A woman who was currently downstairs at our dinner party.

My heart didn't break. It simply stopped.

I closed the drawer. I locked it. Then, with a terrifying sort of calm, I walked downstairs.

Just hours ago, I had given Marcus a vintage Patek Philippe watch for his birthday. I had spent six months tracking it down. In return, he had handed me a rock. A literal stone from a construction site. He called it "grounding." I called it a sign I was too stupid to read until now.

I walked into the dining room. Marcus was standing by the fireplace. He looked like a king holding court. He was forty, with the kind of silver-fox charm that made women lose their breath and their common sense. I was twenty-four. I used to think his age made him wise. Now I knew it just made him better at hiding things.

He was smiling. But that warmth wasn't directed at me.

He was smiling at Izzy.

"Olivia," Marcus said, spotting me. He waved me over. "Come here. I was just telling Izzy how much you two have in common."

I walked over. My legs felt like they were moving through deep water. I stood next to him, the dutiful wife.

"It's uncanny," Marcus said, looking between us. "The eyes. The jawline. You could be sisters."

Izzy laughed. It was a low, throaty sound. "Oh, stop it, Marcus. Olivia is much younger. And prettier."

"No," Marcus said. His voice dropped an octave. He wasn't looking at me anymore. He was staring at her. "Just... similar."

Bile rose in my throat.

The memory of last week's charity gala clawed its way to the surface. I had found Marcus drunk, leaning against a pillar. I had helped him to the suite, cleaning his shoes, loosening his tie. I thought I was being a good wife. Then I went to the restroom and heard Izzy in the stall next to me.

She was on the phone. *Don't worry about her. Marcus is mine. He always has been.*

I had convinced myself I misunderstood. I convinced myself Marcus was a gentleman. He was the man who opened doors. The man who said he wanted a traditional family.

Now, standing in my own dining room, the truth hit me like a physical blow to the chest.

I wasn't his wife. I was his echo.

"I need some air," I said.

Marcus didn't even turn his head. "Go ahead, darling. Take your time."

I walked out to the terrace. I gripped the stone railing until my knuckles turned white.

He married me because I looked like her. He married me because his mother wanted him to settle down, and Izzy was the one who got away.

He wanted me to have his children. Not to love them. But to replace the family he couldn't have with her.

I placed a hand on my stomach. I hadn't told him yet. Six weeks. When I suspected it yesterday, I felt joy. Now, I felt like a vessel. A customized incubator.

I heard footsteps behind me.

"You okay?" Marcus asked.

I turned. He held a glass of wine. He looked annoyed that he had to leave his guests.

"Just a headache," I lied.

"You need to toughen up, Liv," he said, taking a sip. "Izzy never gets headaches. She's resilient."

"I'm not Izzy," I whispered.

He paused. For a second, his eyes darkened. Then he smiled, that practiced, hollow smile. "I know. You're my wife. Now come back inside. My mother wants to make a toast."

He turned and walked away.

I stayed outside. The cold wind bit through my dress, but I didn't shiver. Whatever warmth I had for him had already turned to ice.

I remembered the document my father had sent over this morning. A share transfer agreement for his company. He wanted me to sign it before his surgery next week. Marcus had been pushing me to sign it for months, saying he would manage the assets for me.

I went back inside, but I didn't go to the party. I went to the study.

I pulled out the document. I found the clause about spousal control of assets.

I took a pen. My hand didn't shake.

I crossed out the clause. I initialed it. Then I wrote a new term in the margins. *In the event of divorce, all shares revert solely to Olivia Hayes.*

I signed the bottom.

I wasn't just a substitute. I was a person. And I was done being a ghost in my own life.

Continue Reading

Other books by George B

More
The Surrogate's Ordeal

The Surrogate's Ordeal

Sci-fi

5.0

Sarah Miller believed in her perfect marriage to Michael Thompson, a kind, strong former Army Ranger. He gifted her a silver locket, a cherished heirloom for "protection," a symbol of their unbreakable love. But Michael's attention increasingly shifted to Chloe Ashford, a fragile D.C. power broker's daughter, whom he claimed he had to protect. Sarah felt a growing unease, unaware the locket he gave her was covertly monitoring her, its hidden circuitry linked directly to Chloe. One night, Sarah overheard Michael on a secure line: "Protocol Seven is active... Pre-emptive measures for the Surrogate." Immediately, she was ambushed, abducted, and brutally tortured. As her locket snapped, it exposed its true, sinister purpose, broadcasting Michael's cold, professional directives to her tormentors. He was using her agony as a "diversion" for Chloe's "stabilization." Her entire marriage was a calculated lie, her role a disposable "Surrogate" for the mysterious "Aegis Initiative." The ultimate betrayal struck when she realized she was pregnant with his child, a life imperiled by his monstrous orchestration. How could the man she loved, her protector, willingly destroy her and their baby for another? Then came the tearing pain; her baby, sacrificed for Chloe, was gone. With her last agonizing breath, Sarah hid truth-telling evidence, ensuring her story, though tragic, would become Michael' s chilling reckoning. This was the prelude to a terrifying cascade of events where love became a weapon, and secrets refused to stay buried.

You'll also like

I'm Divorcing with You, Mr Billionaire!

I'm Divorcing with You, Mr Billionaire!

The Wine Press
4.2

I received a pornographic video. "Do you like this?" The man speaking in the video is my husband, Mark, whom I haven't seen for several months. He is naked, his shirt and pants scattered on the ground, thrusting forcefully on a woman whose face I can't see, her plump and round breasts bouncing vigorously. I can clearly hear the slapping sounds in the video, mixed with lustful moans and grunts. "Yes, yes, fuck me hard, baby," the woman screams ecstatically in response. "You naughty girl!" Mark stands up and flips her over, slapping her buttocks as he speaks. "Stick your ass up!" The woman giggles, turns around, sways her buttocks, and kneels on the bed. I feel like someone has poured a bucket of ice water on my head. It's bad enough that my husband is having an affair, but what's worse is that the other woman is my own sister, Bella. ************************************************************************************************************************ "I want to get a divorce, Mark," I repeated myself in case he didn't hear me the first time-even though I knew he'd heard me clearly. He stared at me with a frown before answering coldly, "It's not up to you! I'm very busy, don't waste my time with such boring topics, or try to attract my attention!" The last thing I was going to do was argue or bicker with him. "I will have the lawyer send you the divorce agreement," was all I said, as calmly as I could muster. He didn't even say another word after that and just went through the door he'd been standing in front of, slamming it harshly behind him. My eyes lingered on the knob of the door a bit absentmindedly before I pulled the wedding ring off my finger and placed it on the table. I grabbed my suitcase, which I'd already had my things packed in and headed out of the house.

The Scars She Hid From The World

The Scars She Hid From The World

REGINA MCBRIDE
4.5

The heavy iron gates of the Wilderness Correction Camp groaned as they released me after three years of state-sponsored hell. I stood on the dirt road, clutching a plastic bag that held my entire life, waiting for the family that claimed they sent me there for "rehab." My brother, Brady, picked me up in a luxury SUV only to throw me out onto a deserted highway in the middle of a brewing storm. He told me I was a "public relations nightmare" and that the rain might finally wash the "stink" of the camp off me. He drove away, leaving me to limp miles through the mud on a snapped ankle. When I finally dragged myself to our family estate, my mother didn't offer a hug; she gasped in horror because my muddy clothes were ruining her Italian marble. They didn't give me my old room back. Instead, they banished me to a moldy gardener’s shack and hired a "babysitter" to make sure I didn't embarrass them further. My sister, Kaleigh, stood there in white cashmere, pretending to cry while clinging to her fiancé, Ambrose—the man who had once been mine. They all treated me like a volatile junkie, refusing to acknowledge that Kaleigh was the one who planted the drugs in my bag three years ago. They wanted to believe I was broken so they wouldn't have to feel guilty about the "wellness retreat" that was actually a torture chamber. I sat in the dark of that shed, feeling the cooling gel on the cigarette burns that covered my arms, and realized they had made a fatal mistake. They thought they had erased me, but I had returned with a roadmap of scars and a hidden satellite phone. At dinner, I didn't beg for their love. I simply rolled up my sleeves and showed them the price of their silence. As the wine spilled and the lies crumbled, I sent a single text to the only person I trusted: "I'm in. Let them simmer." The hunt was finally on.

Chapters
Read Now
Download Book
Done Being A Shadow: The Wife's Escape Done Being A Shadow: The Wife's Escape George B Modern
“On the day I finally pried open the locked drawer in Marcus's study, I didn't find a surprise anniversary gift. I found a shrine to my father's business partner, Izzy. Photos of a woman who looked exactly like me stared back. That was when I realized my marriage was nothing more than an expensive lie. I wasn't his wife; I was a customized substitute for the woman he couldn't have. The nightmare worsened when scalding soup was spilled at a restaurant. Marcus didn't hesitate. He threw his body over Izzy to shield her, leaving me to take the full force of the burns. Later, while I lay in the hospital bandaged and in agony, he didn't come to comfort me. He came to demand I donate a kidney to save Izzy. "If we both needed a kidney, who would you choose?" I asked him, desperate for a lie. "Izzy," he said instantly. "She has so much more to do." He didn't know I was pregnant. He didn't know that while he was begging me to save his mistress, the stress was killing his unborn child. I wiped my tears and laughed. "Okay," I said. I signed the divorce papers and left them on his desk. On top of them, I placed a medical report dated that morning: *Spontaneous Abortion.* Then, I boarded a one-way flight to Montana and vanished, leaving him to wake up to a world where he had saved his mistress but killed his family.”
1

Chapter 1

16/12/2025

2

Chapter 2

16/12/2025

3

Chapter 3

16/12/2025

4

Chapter 4

16/12/2025

5

Chapter 5

16/12/2025

6

Chapter 6

16/12/2025

7

Chapter 7

16/12/2025

8

Chapter 8

16/12/2025

9

Chapter 9

16/12/2025

10

Chapter 10

16/12/2025

11

Chapter 11

16/12/2025

12

Chapter 12

16/12/2025

13

Chapter 13

16/12/2025

14

Chapter 14

16/12/2025

15

Chapter 15

16/12/2025

16

Chapter 16

16/12/2025

17

Chapter 17

16/12/2025

18

Chapter 18

16/12/2025

19

Chapter 19

16/12/2025

20

Chapter 20

16/12/2025

21

Chapter 21

16/12/2025

22

Chapter 22

16/12/2025

23

Chapter 23

16/12/2025

24

Chapter 24

16/12/2025