MARRIED TO A STRANGER : THE BILLIONAIRE'S BRIDE

MARRIED TO A STRANGER : THE BILLIONAIRE'S BRIDE

ONLY ME

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BLURB Gold Bennett thought she had it all, until the man she'd loved and supported through law school shattered her world. Jason, her charming, ambitious boyfriend, had promised they'd build a life together. But when a rich heiress comes into the picture, he doesn't hesitate to abandon Gold, leaving her heartbroken and lost. The man who once claimed he'd never leave her now has a new fiancée, and Gold is left to pick up the pieces of a future she had built around him.Devastated and burned by betrayal, Gold is done with love. But when a cold, calculating billionaire named Daniel Copper offers her a way out of her grief, she reluctantly agrees to a marriage of convenience. It's a practical solution to her pain, or so she thinks. After all, Daniel is a stranger,handsome, yes, but distant, with an air of mystery that warns her to keep her distance. He needs a wife to settle a score, and she needs a way to reclaim her life.But as the days go by, what begins as a contract quickly turns into something far more complicated. Beneath Daniel's icy exterior lies a man who has his own reasons for wanting her by his side. Despite their agreement, sparks begin to fly, and Gold finds herself drawn to him in ways she never expected. As they navigate their new life together, Gold realizes that Daniel isn't just the CEO of a billion-dollar empire, he's also carrying a past as dark and tangled as her own. And when their marriage starts to feel less like a business deal and more like something real, she's torn between what she wants and what she's afraid of.But just as their relationship begins to shift, Jason reappears, determined to win Gold back. The game of love, revenge, and trust gets more dangerous, and Gold must decide whether she can trust Daniel with her heart,or if he, too, will betray her when she least expects it.In a world where love is a battlefield and trust is fragile, will Gold's second chance at love be her salvation? Or will her past come back to haunt her when she least expects it?

Chapter 1 Goodbye

Chapter One: Goodbye

The waiter dropped the check between them with a polite smile and the kind of quiet detachment that only came from years of serving people at their best and worst. Gold Bennett didn't move. She just stared at the glossy black folder sitting between her and Jason Carter like it was a ticking bomb.

Jason didn't reach for it either. Of course not.

Gold blinked slowly. This wasn't new.

She reached across the table, picked up the check, and slipped her card in without a word. Three years of dating, and she could count on one hand the number of times he'd paid for dinner,and even then, it was usually fast food or a drive-thru milkshake. Not that she minded. She hadn't dated Jason for his money. She had dated him because she loved him. Because she believed in him. Because they had built something together,or so she thought.

But tonight, everything felt different.

Jason wasn't looking at her. He hadn't really looked at her all evening. His eyes had been glued to his phone, his fingers tapping at invisible messages. Now, he was chewing on the edge of his thumbnail like a guilty child, and Gold's stomach twisted.

"Are you gonna say it, or should I just guess?" she asked softly.

Jason looked up, startled, as if he hadn't realized she could see him from across the table. "Say what?"

"Whatever it is you dragged me here to say," she replied, folding her arms.

He blinked. "Gold..."

"Don't 'Gold' me. You've been weird for a month, and this,",she gestured around at the upscale restaurant he had suggested out of nowhere,"isn't your thing. So just say it."

Jason shifted in his seat, like the booth had suddenly grown too tight. He ran a hand through his perfectly styled hair and sighed.

"I met someone."

Just like that.

No warning. No apology. Just four words that split the air like a blade.

Gold didn't respond right away. Her mind was still catching up to her ears.

"I see," she said finally, her voice calm,too calm.

"She's... well, she's different. Her name's Victoria. Her dad's a big-shot investor, and she's got a lot of connections. And we just... click, you know?"

Gold blinked. "And we don't? After three years?"

Jason winced. "It's not like that. You've been amazing. You helped me get through law school, you supported me when I didn't have a cent,"

"Yeah," she cut in. "I paid the rent. Cooked the meals. Covered your textbooks. I was your girlfriend and your safety net."

He nodded helplessly. "I'm not trying to be a jerk."

She gave a soft, bitter laugh. "You don't have to try. You're nailing it."

Jason's eyes dropped to the table, and for a long moment, neither of them spoke.

Gold felt the heat rising behind her eyes, but she refused to cry. Not here. Not for him.

"You know what hurts the most?" she asked quietly. "Not that you met someone else. Not even that you want someone else. It's that you waited until you had everything you needed from me, and then you decided I wasn't shiny enough anymore."

Jason flinched. "That's not fair."

"No, Jason," she said, her voice rising just slightly. "What's not fair is that I believed you when you said we were building something. What's not fair is that I lost sleep helping you study for the bar, and now that you've passed, I'm not good enough to stand beside you."

"I didn't plan it like this," he muttered.

"But you still made the choice."

Silence again.

The waiter returned with the receipt. Gold signed it without looking at the total.

She stood slowly, reaching for her purse. "You know what? I hope she's everything you want. I hope her connections and her perfect hair make you feel like the man you're pretending to be."

Jason opened his mouth to say something,maybe to apologize, maybe to backtrack,but Gold didn't give him the chance.

She walked out of the restaurant with her head held high and her heart crumbling with every step.

The cold air slapped her cheeks the moment she stepped outside. Autumn in New York had a way of cutting straight through you, but Gold didn't flinch. She needed the sting. She needed something sharp and real to keep her from falling apart.

She kept walking. Past glowing storefronts, couples wrapped in coats and each other, steam rising from grates. Her phone buzzed in her purse,probably Leila wondering how the dinner went,but she didn't look.

She couldn't.

When she finally stopped, it was in front of her apartment building. The brick exterior looked the same as it had that morning, but everything else felt... off. She climbed the steps slowly and unlocked the door to the apartment she shared with Leila.

Leila wasn't home. Thank God.

Gold dropped her purse on the couch, kicked off her heels, and sank to the floor like her bones had given up.

She didn't cry.

Not at first.

But the tears came eventually,quiet and steady, like rain on glass. She buried her face in her hands and let it happen.

Let herself mourn.

Not just the relationship, but the years she couldn't get back.

The hopes she'd built around Jason, the future she'd imagined.

All gone.

Her phone buzzed again. This time, she glanced at the screen.

Leila: You okay?

Gold stared at the words. She didn't know how to answer that.

No. Not even close.

But after a moment, she typed back, "Yeah. Just tired."

A lie. But an easier one.

She dropped the phone, wiped her face with trembling fingers, and looked around at the apartment she had decorated with pieces of a life she thought would include Jason.

Then, a thought,quiet, but powerful,rose from somewhere deep inside her.

You're not done. Not even close.

Jason might've left her, but he hadn't broken her.

She was Gold Bennett.

She had poured love into a man who didn't deserve it and came out of it with nothing but strength.

The next time she gave her heart, it would be on her terms.

She didn't know how yet. She didn't know when.

But one thing was certain:

The next chapter of her story wouldn't be written in heartbreak.

It would be written on fire.

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Chapters
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MARRIED TO A STRANGER : THE BILLIONAIRE'S BRIDE
1

Chapter 1 Goodbye

29/04/2025

2

Chapter 2 Strangers Promises

29/04/2025

3

Chapter 3 The Contract

29/04/2025

4

Chapter 4 Sealing with a Ring

29/04/2025

5

Chapter 5 Everything is Strange

29/04/2025

6

Chapter 6 The Unexpected Wife

29/04/2025

7

Chapter 7 All eyes on me

29/04/2025

8

Chapter 8 Almost, Maybe, Something

29/04/2025

9

Chapter 9 Seeing Him

29/04/2025

10

Chapter 10 The Dinner Date

29/04/2025

11

Chapter 11 The Dinner With the Hastings

29/04/2025

12

Chapter 12 Cracks in the Armor

11/05/2025

13

Chapter 13 The Space Between Us

11/05/2025

14

Chapter 14 Echoes of the past

11/05/2025

15

Chapter 15 Fault Lines

11/05/2025

16

Chapter 16 shadows and Signatures

11/05/2025

17

Chapter 17 The Cost of Loyalty

11/05/2025

18

Chapter 18 Beneath the Surface

11/05/2025

19

Chapter 19 Shadows in the Open

11/05/2025

20

Chapter 20 The Taste of Truth

11/05/2025

21

Chapter 21 A War we didn't choose

11/05/2025

22

Chapter 22 The Price of Silence

11/05/2025

23

Chapter 23 Ashes and Reckoning

11/05/2025

24

Chapter 24 The thing We Carry

11/05/2025

25

Chapter 25 Ashes and Echoes

11/05/2025

26

Chapter 26 Tangled lies

11/05/2025

27

Chapter 27 Threads of Betrayal

11/05/2025

28

Chapter 28 Beneath the surface

28/05/2025

29

Chapter 29 Shadows and fire

28/05/2025

30

Chapter 30 The Madrid Gambit

28/05/2025

31

Chapter 31 The Price of war

28/05/2025

32

Chapter 32 No way out

28/05/2025

33

Chapter 33 The Judas Within

28/05/2025

34

Chapter 34 When the shadows strike

28/05/2025

35

Chapter 35 Echoes in the Fire

28/05/2025

36

Chapter 36 The Cost of Truth

28/05/2025

37

Chapter 37 Echoes in there

28/05/2025

38

Chapter 38 The Phoenix and the shadows

28/05/2025

39

Chapter 39 The Ashes and the Crown

28/05/2025

40

Chapter 40 The Tipping point

28/05/2025