Five Years Of Lies: The Wife's Awakening

Five Years Of Lies: The Wife's Awakening

A Miao

5.0
Comment(s)
2.6K
View
10
Chapters

To an orphan like me, the Donovans' approval was oxygen. I thought I was living a fairy tale as Ivan's fiancée, finally finding a place to land. That illusion shattered the night I overheard my future father-in-law whisper behind a study door. "We can't keep paying Kayla forever. If this comes out, it ruins the merger." The name hung in the air like toxic smoke. Driven by a sickening gut feeling, I dug deeper. I found a tuition bill for a prestigious kindergarten for a boy named Leo-paid for by the Donovans. I disguised myself as a pest control worker and infiltrated the address on the bill. Inside the playroom of a massive mansion, I found the smoking gun. It wasn't a receipt. It was a commissioned oil painting. It depicted my fiancé, Ivan, smiling with his arm around a beautiful woman, a young boy standing between them. The plaque read: *Our Happy Family - 2023.* They weren't just cheating; they were living a parallel life. They thought I was just the naive, grateful scholarship student who would never look too closely. They were wrong. At our lavish fifth-anniversary party, in front of five hundred of Manhattan's elite, Ivan waited for my loving toast. Instead, I signaled the AV booth. The giant screen behind us flickered to life. But it didn't show our wedding photos. It showed the painting. And then, I played the recordings.

Chapter 1

To an orphan like me, the Donovans' approval was oxygen. I thought I was living a fairy tale as Ivan's fiancée, finally finding a place to land.

That illusion shattered the night I overheard my future father-in-law whisper behind a study door.

"We can't keep paying Kayla forever. If this comes out, it ruins the merger."

The name hung in the air like toxic smoke.

Driven by a sickening gut feeling, I dug deeper. I found a tuition bill for a prestigious kindergarten for a boy named Leo-paid for by the Donovans.

I disguised myself as a pest control worker and infiltrated the address on the bill.

Inside the playroom of a massive mansion, I found the smoking gun.

It wasn't a receipt. It was a commissioned oil painting.

It depicted my fiancé, Ivan, smiling with his arm around a beautiful woman, a young boy standing between them.

The plaque read: *Our Happy Family - 2023.*

They weren't just cheating; they were living a parallel life. They thought I was just the naive, grateful scholarship student who would never look too closely.

They were wrong.

At our lavish fifth-anniversary party, in front of five hundred of Manhattan's elite, Ivan waited for my loving toast.

Instead, I signaled the AV booth.

The giant screen behind us flickered to life. But it didn't show our wedding photos.

It showed the painting.

And then, I played the recordings.

Chapter 1

Ariana POV

I was standing in the center of the ballroom, clutching a glass of champagne, when I realized my perfect life was actually a glass house waiting for a single stone to shatter it.

Just ten minutes earlier, Ivan had wrapped his arm around my waist.

He had whispered into my ear that I was the most beautiful woman in the room.

His parents, Eleanor and Richard Donovan, had beamed at us like we were the crown jewels of their family dynasty.

To an orphan like me, who had spent a lifetime on the outside looking in, their approval was oxygen.

I had spent my whole life looking for a place to land, and the Donovans had given me a runway.

I was a resident physician, tired and overworked, but tonight I didn't feel like a scholarship student running on caffeine. I felt like a princess.

"Happy birthday, Ariana," Eleanor said, handing me a small velvet box.

Inside was a diamond tennis bracelet that probably cost more than my medical school loans.

"You are the daughter we never had," Richard added, patting my shoulder with a heavy, reassuring hand.

I blinked back tears, feeling that warm, sticky sensation of pure gratitude clogging my throat.

Overwhelmed, I excused myself to go to the powder room, needing a moment to collect myself before I started crying in front of half of Manhattan's elite.

The hallway was quiet, the muffled sounds of the jazz band fading into a dull thrum behind me.

I passed the study door.

It was slightly ajar.

I wouldn't have stopped, but I heard the tone of Richard's voice slice through the silence.

It wasn't the warm, fatherly baritone I knew.

It was sharp. Anxious.

"We can't keep doing this, Eleanor," he snapped, his voice barely a whisper.

I froze.

My hand hovered over the doorknob, not touching it.

"We have to," Eleanor replied, her voice low but frantic. "It has been five years. If this comes out now, it ruins everything for Ivan."

"Kayla is getting impatient," Richard said.

The name hung in the air like a cloud of toxic smoke.

Kayla.

I didn't know a Kayla.

"She agreed to the terms," Eleanor hissed back. "She stays quiet, she gets the money. Ivan is marrying Ariana. That is the plan. It has always been the plan."

My breath hitched in my throat.

I took a step back, my heels silent on the plush carpet as the world tilted on its axis.

I turned and walked back toward the party, my heart hammering against my ribs like a frantic drum.

Ivan found me by the bar a moment later.

"There you are," he smiled, that dazzling, perfect smile that had made me fall in love with him three years ago. "I missed you."

He kissed my forehead.

His lips felt warm, but a sudden chill radiated down my spine.

I looked at him, really looked at him.

His blue eyes were clear, innocent.

"Are you okay?" he asked, tilting his head.

"Just tired," I lied.

It was the first lie I had ever told him.

Later that night, lying in bed next to him, I couldn't close my eyes.

I stared at the shifting shadows on the ceiling.

The name echoed in my head like a curse.

Kayla.

Five years.

I drifted into a restless sleep, and in my dream, a faceless woman stood at the end of the bed, laughing while my world burned down around me.

Continue Reading

Other books by A Miao

More
From Mafia Wife to Rival's Queen

From Mafia Wife to Rival's Queen

Mafia

5.0

After fifteen years of marriage and a brutal battle with infertility, I finally saw two pink lines on a pregnancy test. This baby was my victory, the heir that would finally secure my place as the wife of mob capo Marco Vitiello. I planned to announce it at his mother's party, a triumph over the matriarch who saw me as nothing but a barren field. But before I could celebrate, my friend sent me a video. The headline read: "MOB CAPO MARCO VITIELLO'S PASSIONATE NIGHTCLUB KISS!" It was him, my husband, devouring a woman who looked like a younger, fresher version of me. Hours later, Marco stumbled home, drunk and reeking of another woman's perfume. He complained about his mother begging him for an heir, completely unaware of the secret I held. Then my phone lit up with a text from an unknown number. "Your husband slept with my girl. We need to talk." It was signed by Dante Moretti, the ruthless Don of our rival family. The meeting with Dante was a nightmare. He showed me another video. This time, I heard my husband's voice, telling the other woman, "I love you. Elara... that's just business." My fifteen years of loyalty, of building his empire, of taking a bullet for him—all dismissed as "just business." Dante didn't just reveal the affair; he showed me proof that Marco was already stealing our shared assets to build a new life with his mistress. Then, he made me an offer. "Divorce him," he said, his eyes cold and calculating. "Join me. We'll build an empire together and destroy him."

Betrayed By The Don: Her Ultimate Escape

Betrayed By The Don: Her Ultimate Escape

Mafia

5.0

On our anniversary, I was basting the roast when my husband’s encrypted laptop lit up on the kitchen counter. Alex Bradley, the ruthless Underboss of New York, never made mistakes. But tonight, he left a chat room open. The notification shattered my world: "Is the idiot eating the dog food yet?" It was from his mistress, Charlotte. They were betting on whether I would eat the red velvet cake she had spiked with her Rottweiler’s excrement. I realized then that my marriage was a long-con. I was just a "placeholder" wife to secure his promotion to Don. To survive, I had to play the part. Alex sat on the bed, feeding me the tainted cake with a loving smile. "Eat up, Jillian," he purred. "It’s to die for." I swallowed every bite of the filth, forcing myself not to vomit until he left the room. The humiliation didn't stop there. I found out our marriage license was void. He publicly bought me a twenty-million-dollar necklace at a gala, then abandoned me to face the debt, forcing me to hand over my grandmother’s earrings as collateral. He even watched calmly as his family beat me for a prank Charlotte orchestrated. But the final blow came when I overheard him planning our "romantic" getaway. "The blizzard hits Friday," he told Charlotte. "It’ll look like a tragic accident. Hypothermia." He thought he was taking a lamb to the slaughter. He didn’t know I had been counting down the days. When we arrived at the cabin and he went to prepare my "accident," I didn't cry. I tossed one of my boots over the cliff edge to stage my death. Then I climbed into the black extraction van waiting in the snow. Alex Bradley thought he had killed his wife. He had no idea he had just set her free.

Blinded By Her Betrayal

Blinded By Her Betrayal

Romance

5.0

The scent of lilies was thick, sweet, and suffocating. It was my wedding day, a grand affair Chloe had meticulously planned, even insisting on a custom-designed lighting fixture for the venue. Then the world exploded: metal twisted, glass shattered, and a crushing impact stole my sight, leaving me in a terrifying void. Chloe stayed by my side, weeping as the doctors delivered their grim prognosis: permanent blindness. She promised to be my "eyes," to take care of me, and swore our extravagant wedding would still happen, a beacon of eternal devotion. Her words were a lifeline in the suffocating dark, and I clung to them, believing in a future where her love would guide me. But then, the flickers started, ghost images resolving into light. My sight was returning, yet an instinct deep inside told me to keep it a secret. I continued to play the blind man, observing, listening, hidden in plain sight. One evening, feigning sleep, I heard Chloe whisper to Mark Stone, her brother-in-law. "Are you sure this was the only way?" she asked. "It was the cleanest way," he murmured, "An accident. Now he's helpless. He'll never find out about us." My heart stopped as I saw Mark kiss her-long and deep-before they spoke of my "inheritance" and a future built on my ruin. They planned it all: the accident, my blindness, my slow, humiliating descent into a "charity case" to be exploited. The betrayal was a physical blow, a cold, black void far worse than any darkness they thought they' d cast me into. They thought me a sightless fool, an easy target. They had no idea who I truly was, or what I was capable of. A silent, burning rage ignited within me, hardening into an unbreakable resolve. They wanted a show? I would give them one tonight at the wedding-a spectacle they would never forget, where their carefully constructed lies would unravel.

The Star Maker's Revenge

The Star Maker's Revenge

Romance

5.0

I watched the man I loved, the star I' d built from scratch, standing on a stadium stage. My heart hammered, knowing he was about to call me up, to begin our dreamed-of life together. But then he smiled, a brilliant, camera-ready smile that didn' t reach his eyes. "I' d like to welcome to the stage, my fiancée… Nicole Lawrence!" The name hit me like a physical blow as the polished pop-country princess glided out to kiss him. Later, when I confronted him with our old demo tape, he stared at me with cold, empty eyes. "I' m sorry, I don' t know you. You should probably go home." Then I heard his manager whisper: "Good job. The amnesia story is perfect. We can' t have any small-town baggage dragging you down." My blood ran cold. It wasn' t amnesia. It was a choice. I was baggage. The humiliation only escalated. Nicole publicly mocked me, then staged a fall, screaming I pushed her. Caleb rushed to her, snarling, "What the hell is wrong with you, Stella? Get her out of here! She' s poison to my career." Security guards dragged me out, dumping me on the sidewalk. Days later, Nicole broke my father' s beloved guitar, his legacy. And Caleb, seeing her theatrical tears, finished the job, stomping on the splintered wood. He blacklisted my name, starved me of work, and used his fame to have me arrested for a staged poisoning attempt. I became a pariah, selling my father' s precious mementos to survive. How could he do this? How could a lifetime of love and shared dreams be erased so easily? Was I just a forgotten memory, or something worse? Was this all part of a calculated plan, or was he truly that cruel? My world shattered, left homeless and brutally attacked in an alleyway, I lay dying. But then, a shadowy figure appeared, a hand reached down. I woke up in a sterile room, face-to-face with Wesley Hughes, "The Wanderer." He told me the truth: Caleb' s betrayal was a calculated move, and Nicole' s malice was intentional. He had proof. And more importantly, he revealed our fathers' long-lost pact. My father' s legacy, our legacy, was waiting to be reclaimed. This wasn' t the end. This was the beginning of my reckoning.

You'll also like

I Slapped My Fiancé-Then Married His Billionaire Nemesis

I Slapped My Fiancé-Then Married His Billionaire Nemesis

Jessica C. Dolan
4.9

Being second best is practically in my DNA. My sister got the love, the attention, the spotlight. And now, even her damn fiancé. Technically, Rhys Granger was my fiancé now-billionaire, devastatingly hot, and a walking Wall Street wet dream. My parents shoved me into the engagement after Catherine disappeared, and honestly? I didn't mind. I'd crushed on Rhys for years. This was my chance, right? My turn to be the chosen one? Wrong. One night, he slapped me. Over a mug. A stupid, chipped, ugly mug my sister gave him years ago. That's when it hit me-he didn't love me. He didn't even see me. I was just a warm-bodied placeholder for the woman he actually wanted. And apparently, I wasn't even worth as much as a glorified coffee cup. So I slapped him right back, dumped his ass, and prepared for disaster-my parents losing their minds, Rhys throwing a billionaire tantrum, his terrifying family plotting my untimely demise. Obviously, I needed alcohol. A lot of alcohol. Enter him. Tall, dangerous, unfairly hot. The kind of man who makes you want to sin just by existing. I'd met him only once before, and that night, he just happened to be at the same bar as my drunk, self-pitying self. So I did the only logical thing: I dragged him into a hotel room and ripped off his clothes. It was reckless. It was stupid. It was completely ill-advised. But it was also: Best. Sex. Of. My. Life. And, as it turned out, the best decision I'd ever made. Because my one-night stand isn't just some random guy. He's richer than Rhys, more powerful than my entire family, and definitely more dangerous than I should be playing with. And now, he's not letting me go.

Rejected Heiress: My Heartless Family's Regret

Rejected Heiress: My Heartless Family's Regret

Cassandra
5.0

For seventeen years, I was the pride of the Carlisle family, the perfect daughter destined to inherit an empire. But that life ended the moment a DNA report slid across my father’s mahogany desk. The paper proved I was a stranger. Vanessa, the girl sobbing in the corner, was the real biological daughter they had been searching for. "You need to leave. Tonight. Before the press gets wind of this. Before the stock prices dip." My father’s voice was as cold as flint. My mother wouldn't even look at me, staring out the window at the gardens as if I were already a ghost. Just like that, I was erased. I left behind the Birkin bags and the diamonds, throwing my Centurion Card into a crystal bowl with a clatter that echoed like a gunshot. I walked out into the cold night and climbed into a rusted Ford Taurus driven by a man I had never met—my biological father. I went from a mansion to a fourth-floor walk-up in Queens that smelled of laundry detergent and struggle. My new siblings looked at me with a mix of fear and disgust, waiting for the "fallen princess" to break. They expected me to beg for my old life back, to crumble without the luxury I’d known since birth. But they didn't know the truth. I had spent years training in a shark tank, honing survival skills they couldn't imagine. While Richard Carlisle froze my trust funds to starve me out, my net worth was climbing by millions on an encrypted trading app. They thought they were throwing me to the wolves. They didn't realize they were just letting me off my leash. As the Carlisles prepared to debut Vanessa at the Manhattan Arts Gala, I was already making my move. "Get dressed. We're going to a party."

Chapters
Read Now
Download Book