Broken winning back her heart

No Longer Mrs. Cooley: The Architect's Return

Xiao Xiaosu

I went to the City Clerk’s office for a routine copy of my marriage license to finalize a trust fund audit. I expected a simple piece of paper, but the clerk’s pitying look told me my entire life was a lie. "The license was never finalized, Ms. Oliver. In the eyes of the state, you are single." The three-hundred-guest wedding at the Plaza and the Vogue features meant nothing. My husband, Gray Cooley, had intentionally filed the documents with a "procedural defect" so he could discard me without a legal divorce. Moments later, an iCloud invite titled "Our Little Secret" popped up on my screen. It was a photo of my best friend, Brylee, holding a positive pregnancy test at our Hamptons estate. Gray’s text to her was the final blow: "Happy anniversary, babe. This baby is the best gift. Once the trust unlocks today, we’re done with the charade." I soon discovered they were even stealing my career, reassigning my architectural masterpiece to Brylee while preparing my eviction notice. Gray's mother called me a "barren mule" in a leaked recording, mocking the infertility I suffered after saving Gray’s life in a construction accident. I wasn't a wife; I was a three-year placeholder used to secure his inheritance. How could the man I bled for treat me like a disposable prop? How could my best friend carry his child while pretending to comfort me through my darkest moments? The betrayal burned until it turned into a cold, hard stone of fury. I didn't cry. Instead, I walked into the penthouse of the Barretts, the Cooleys' most powerful rivals. I signed a marriage contract with Kane Barrett, the man the tabloids called the "Beast of Wall Street." "I want a wedding," I told his father, my voice steady and lethal. "Bigger than the one I had with Gray." If they wanted me gone, they would have to watch me become the woman who owns their world.

Modern Revenge Divorce

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Sarah's POV

"Hello Mum, how are you doing?" I asked, genuinely wanting to think about anyone else but myself. My current situation in my marriage was weighing me down. Being in a loveless marriage or at least where the love was one-sided was a pain in the ass. I had to struggle every day to be noticed by my husband.

Granted our marriage had been a contract marriage – an agreement between his father and my grandfather -, with no promise of love but yet I found myself yearning for my husband to notice me. Richard had always been my crush right from high school but he had just never noticed me, always been too cool from day 1 to notice the nerdy girl in the corner. Even though I was more girlish now with curves and a D-sized cup, he still didn't see me. I guess it was once a nerd, always a nerd.

"Sarah?"

Mum's voice pulled me out of my thoughts and I sighed. "I'm sorry Mum, what were you saying?"

"Are you okay? You sound worried." Sometimes her ability to read me even from far away was scary but that was one of the many things I loved about her. Lucia Williams was the perfect blend of sweet and spicy, a disciplinarian with an air of sweetness and a tender heart.

"Honestly, no." Then I proceeded to tell her about how things were. Starting from our wedding night when I thought he would at least touch me and I had been bursting at the seams with nerves. I didn't have to be so worried, he didn't even spend the night at home.

I heard a long sigh on the other end and then another before letting out a sigh of my own. I was honestly getting tired of being stuck in this unfavorable arrangement. Going into it in the place had seemed pleasant because I had feelings for Richard and thought with time, he would feel something for me as well. Perhaps I had been binging too much on those romcoms on Netflix. But was it such a big ask for my husband to love me?

"Have you tried seducing him?" she asked and I frowned. Seducing him? Even though I was no longer the shy little nerd I was in high school, I still wasn't the girly woman either. The only thing that had changed had been my big circle glasses that always slept on my nose and now I tried to apply makeup once in a while.

"Don't answer that, you wouldn't know what to do." She sighed again and I could picture her frown. "All right, here's what you'll do." I listened closely as she instructed me on what to do to save my marriage while I gobbled it up. I know this much desperation was bad but I couldn't help it. Perhaps if I could choose who to love then I wouldn't care what he did.

"I'll leave the house now. Will call you when I get to the store."

Some fifteen minutes later, I got out of the car and told Desmond, the driver where to pack the car. Walking into the store, I speed-dialed Mum and waited for her to answer the call while I eyed the different aisles of lingerie and underwear. One of the shop attendants walked up to me with her boobs on display and a bright smile on her face. "Welcome to Sexy Secrets. What can I help you with today?" she asked and I gave a nervous smile.

"I would like to get something sexy," I told her and she nodded, an air of confidence about her. "Could you help me?"

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