The CEO's Secret Owner

The Hero Husband's Cruel Betrayal

My husband, Greyson, is a celebrated war hero. When the community center caught fire, he saved a child. But it wasn't our son. He walked right past Karter to rescue another boy, publicly claiming the child as his own. That betrayal was nothing. When Karter later collapsed, his rare heart condition triggering a life-threatening crisis, I ran for his life-saving medication. The safe was empty. Greyson had taken it. He' d given our son' s only dose to the other boy to make him "feel strong." While Karter fought for breath, the news hailed my husband as a selfless hero for his "noble sacrifice." For years, I excused his coldness and blatant favoritism, hoping the man I married would return. But watching him smile on TV as he condemned our son to death, I finally understood. He called my desperate pleas "drama" and hung up. He's convinced I'm too weak to leave, that I'll come crawling back like I always do. He has no idea I've already filed for divorce, severed our mate bond, and am driving our son far away, leaving him to the ruin he so richly deserves.

The Termination Plot

At eight months pregnant, I believed my life was a fairy tale. I had a perfect home, a miracle son on the way, and Derek—the husband who worshipped the ground I walked on. Or so I thought. One piece of paper turned my fairy tale into a horror story. A vasectomy certificate, hidden in the back of a drawer in his office. It was dated a year ago—six months before our child was conceived. Panic drove me to his corporate office, desperate for an explanation, praying for a misunderstanding. But the truth waiting for me behind his closed door was sharper than any knife. "I can't believe she still hasn't figured it out," his best friend, Edison, laughed. "She walks around glowing like a saint." "Patience," my husband’s voice replied, cold and unrecognizable. "The bigger she gets, the harder she falls. And the bigger my payout. It’s all for Else." They weren't just lying. They were betting. They were gambling on my humiliation, treating my life and my unborn child as props in a sick game to avenge his sister. Standing in that hallway, clutching my belly, the woman I used to be shattered. But from the shards, something new was born. Something cold, calculating, and merciless. I didn't flee. I didn't scream. I wiped my face and composed a smile that didn't reach my eyes. If they wanted a game, I would play. But they had no idea that the rules had just changed. I wasn't the prize anymore. I was the punishment.

My True North After Their Deceit

I spent four years and my life savings funding my boyfriend's law degree across the country. I thought we were building a future. But when I flew to California to surprise him with a proposal at his graduation, I found him on one knee. Not for me, but for Janessa-my best friend since childhood. I collapsed on the spot. When I woke up in the hospital, the nightmare only got worse. The nurse innocently crushed me: "It' s good you' re awake. Eric was so worried, just like when their dog got sick. They' ve been such a sweet couple living together these past two years." My blood ran cold. Then his mother called his phone, asking if he had finally dumped his "ATM machine" to marry the girl the family actually approved of. Every bill I paid, every "emergency" transfer, had funded their secret life. Janessa was even wearing the dress I bought her while accepting the ring I paid for. They walked into my hospital room, ready to gaslight me one last time. But I wasn't the naive girl anymore. I wiped my tears, unlocked the evidence on his phone, and prepared to burn their perfect little world to the ground.

He Didn't Know His Wife's Identity until they Divorced

Five years ago, Bettina Rowe was wounded in her abdomen to save Asher Lambert, which caused her not to get pregnant. Asher had told her that he would never want a baby. But he eventually entertained the idea of surrogacy. He chose Betsy Sugden, a college student who resembled Bettina, to give birth to his baby. Asher didn't know that Bettina had already decided to divorce him when he brought up that idea.

Beyond His Lies: Her True Legacy

Five years I poured into Legacy AI, a tribute to my late father, David Miller, and his last research notes. The final pitch, my moment of truth with lead investor Mr. Hayes, was here in the boardroom. Then, a press release from Johnson Dynamics, my ex-fiancé Mark Johnson's company, slammed me: an intellectual property lawsuit, claiming his newly secured patents covered my life' s work. His company had conveniently acquired my father's old firm, where we all began. Mark, once my father's star mentee and my own mentor, then fiancé, painted my father as erratic and my work obsolete. He fed the media a narrative of my instability, isolating me before I could even speak. "It' s unfortunate that Ms. Miller, a talented engineer I once mentored, chose this path. We believe she was misled by her late father' s incomplete and often erratic research." He had reduced our shared dreams, our bond, to nothing more than a calculated business move, a strategic step in his relentless climb to power. He saw my father's legacy, our legacy, not as something to build upon, but as a distraction, a tool for his ambition. The betrayal was public, humiliating. Mr. Hayes' warmth vanished, investors whispered, and the opportunity vanished. Mark had destroyed everything. But the cold dread morphed into a steel resolution. He thought he' d won, that I' d crumble. He had underestimated me, and, more importantly, he had underestimated my father. The fight wasn't over; it had just begun, and the answer lay hidden in my father's last, unsorted box of research.

Marrying The Man Who Saved Me

My engagement party was supposed to be the happiest day of my life. The ballroom glittered, my custom silk gown flowed, and my fiancé, Liam Thompson, smiled charmingly beside me. Everything was perfect, almost suffocatingly so. Then, Liam leaned in, his breath warm against my ear, and whispered, "I can' t do this, Olivia. I don' t love you. I never have." The world crumbled. My champagne glass trembled, the room' s buzz faded as shock and heartbreak seized me. As I reeled, my mother collapsed, clutching her chest, her panicked cries echoing through the suddenly silent ballroom. Liam, still smiling for the crowd, held me back saying, "Let the paramedics handle it. You' ll only get in the way." The whispers grew, laced with judgment, not for him, but for me, the frozen woman watching her mother suffer. My parents, desperate for the merger to save our struggling business, pleaded with me to reconsider. How could he be so cold? Was our entire relationship a calculated lie for a business deal? Was I so blind to his cruelty, to the manipulative whispers of the struggling musician he was "mentoring"? In that moment, the naive girl who loved him died. I wrenched free from his grasp, declaring, "We' re done, Liam! The engagement is off!" Just as chaos erupted, a calm, steady voice cut through the noise, "I' ll marry her." It was Ethan Thompson, Liam' s older, enigmatic brother, stepping out of the shadows, offering a lifeline I never expected. My future, uncertain yet again, hung in the balance.

After Betrayal, She Claimed Her Empire

Serena Vance, an unloved wife, clutched a custom-made red velvet cake to her chest, enduring the cold rain outside an exclusive Upper East Side club. She hoped this small gesture for her husband, Julian, would bridge the growing chasm between them on their third anniversary. But as she neared the VIP suite, her world shattered. Julian's cold, detached voice sliced through the laughter, revealing he considered her nothing more than a "signature on a piece of paper" for a trust fund, mocking her changed appearance and respecting only another woman, Elena. The indifference in his tone was a physical blow, a brutal severance, not heartbreak. She gently placed the forgotten cake on the floor, leaving her wedding ring and a diamond necklace as she prepared to abandon a marriage built on lies. Her old life, once a prison of quiet suffering and constant humiliation, now lay in ruins around her. Three years of trying to be seen, to be loved, were erased by a few cruel words. Why had she clung to a man who saw her as a clause in a will, a "creature," not a wife? The shame and rage hardened her heart, freezing her tears. Returning to an empty penthouse, she packed a single battered suitcase, leaving behind every symbol of her failed marriage. With a burner phone, she dialed a number she hadn't touched in a decade, whispering, "Godfather, I'm ready to come home."

Reborn Rich, My Vengeance Rises

My husband, Ethan Vance, made me his trophy wife. My best friend, Susanna Thorne, helped me pick out my wedding dress. Together, they made me a fool. For three years, I was Mrs. Ethan Vance, a decorative silence in his billion-dollar world, living a quiet routine until a forgotten phone charger led me to his office. The low, feminine laugh from behind his door was a gut-punch; inside, I found Ethan and Susanna, my "best friend" and his CMO, tangled on his sofa, his only reaction irritation. My divorce declaration brought immediate scorn and threats. I was fired, my accounts frozen, and publicly smeared as an unstable gold-digger. Even my own family disowned me for my last cent, only for me to be framed for assault and served a restraining order. Broke, injured, and utterly demonized, they believed I was broken, too ashamed to fight. But their audacious betrayal and relentless cruelty only forged a cold, unyielding resolve. Slumped alone, a restraining order in hand, I remembered my hidden journal: a log of Ethan's insider trading secrets. They wanted a monster? I would show them one.

Pregnant and Divorced: I Hid His Heir

Vivian clutched her Hermès bag, her doctor's words echoing: "Extremely high-risk pregnancy." She hoped the baby would save her cold marriage, but Julian wasn't in London as his schedule claimed. Instead, a paparazzi photo revealed his early return-with a blonde woman, not his wife, at the private airport exit. The next morning, Julian served divorce papers, callously ending their "duty" marriage for his ex, Serena. A horrifying contract clause gave him the right to terminate her pregnancy or seize their child. Humiliated, demoted, and forced to fake an ulcer, Vivian watched him parade his affair, openly discarding her while celebrating Serena. This was a calculated erasure, not heartbreak. He cared only for his image, confirming he would "handle" the baby himself. A primal rage ignited her. "Just us," she whispered to her stomach, vowing to sign the divorce on her terms, keep her secret safe, and walk away from Sterling Corp for good, ready to protect her child alone.

Rejected by the Son, I Chose the Don

On my wedding day, my father sold me to the Chicago Outfit to pay his debts. I was supposed to marry Alex Moreno, the heir to the city's most powerful crime family. But he couldn't even be bothered to show up. As I stood alone at the altar, humiliated, my best friend delivered the final blow. Alex hadn't just stood me up; he had run off to California with his mistress. The whispers in the cathedral turned me into a joke. I was damaged goods, the rejected bride. His family knew the whole time and let me take the public fall, offering me his cousins as pathetic replacements-a brute who hated me or a coward who couldn't protect me. The humiliation burned away my fear, leaving only cold rage. My life was already over, so I decided to set the whole game on fire myself. The marriage pact only said a Carlson had to marry a Moreno; it never said which one. With nothing left to lose, I looked past the pathetic boys they offered. I chose the one man they never expected. I chose his father, the Don himself.

I Slapped My Fiancé-Then Married His Billionaire Nemesis

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.

Contract With The Devil: Love In Shackles

I watched my husband sign the papers that would end our marriage while he was busy texting the woman he actually loved. He didn't even glance at the header. He just scribbled the sharp, jagged signature that had signed death warrants for half of New York, tossed the file onto the passenger seat, and tapped his screen again. "Done," he said, his voice devoid of emotion. That was Dante Moretti. The Underboss. A man who could smell a lie from a mile away but couldn't see that his wife had just handed him an annulment decree disguised beneath a stack of mundane logistics reports. For three years, I scrubbed his blood out of his shirts. I saved his family's alliance when his ex, Sofia, ran off with a civilian. In return, he treated me like furniture. He left me in the rain to save Sofia from a broken nail. He left me alone on my birthday to drink champagne on a yacht with her. He even handed me a glass of whiskey—her favorite drink—forgetting that I despised the taste. I was merely a placeholder. A ghost in my own home. So, I stopped waiting. I burned our wedding portrait in the fireplace, left my platinum ring in the ashes, and boarded a one-way flight to San Francisco. I thought I was finally free. I thought I had escaped the cage. But I underestimated Dante. When he finally opened that file weeks later and realized he had signed away his wife without looking, the Reaper didn't accept defeat. He burned down the world to find me, obsessed with reclaiming the woman he had already thrown away.