Unmasking Her, Reclaiming His Life

Unmasking Her, Reclaiming His Life

Quent Prisco

5.0
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The heavy glass door of the city clerk' s office swung shut, sealing my fate. Today was supposed to be perfect, our third wedding anniversary, a day to celebrate the love Olivia and I had built. I clutched a small, official envelope, the certified copy of our marriage certificate, a simple gift. But the clerk' s flat voice still echoed in my ears: "There is no marriage certificate on file for an Ethan Miller and an Olivia Reed." My perfect life shattered. Olivia, my wife, the love of my life, was legally married to Alex Thorne, my protégé. The man who had filled in for me, the man she' d once dismissed. Every memory, every whispered promise, every intimate moment we shared, felt like a meticulously crafted lie. My heart pounded, a grotesque drumbeat against a hollow chest. How could this be? How could the woman I loved, the woman who promised me forever, be living a double life? How could I have been so blind? I walked into our apartment, the home I designed as a monument to our love, and heard her voice from the bedroom, low and intimate. "Of course, I miss you, Alex. Ethan doesn't know anything, he' s as clueless as ever. You know I can' t leave him, not yet. He' s too useful, his name still carries weight in this city, but you' re the one I' m married to, you' re the one I truly need." The words struck me like a physical blow, choking the air from my lungs. I wasn' t a husband; I was a prop, a stepping stone in her grand scheme. But the love I felt for her died in that hallway, replaced by something cold and sharp. I wouldn' t give her the satisfaction of a fight. I would disappear. And then, when she was comfortable in her world built on my back, I would return and take everything from her.

Introduction

The heavy glass door of the city clerk' s office swung shut, sealing my fate.

Today was supposed to be perfect, our third wedding anniversary, a day to celebrate the love Olivia and I had built.

I clutched a small, official envelope, the certified copy of our marriage certificate, a simple gift.

But the clerk' s flat voice still echoed in my ears: "There is no marriage certificate on file for an Ethan Miller and an Olivia Reed."

My perfect life shattered.

Olivia, my wife, the love of my life, was legally married to Alex Thorne, my protégé.

The man who had filled in for me, the man she' d once dismissed.

Every memory, every whispered promise, every intimate moment we shared, felt like a meticulously crafted lie.

My heart pounded, a grotesque drumbeat against a hollow chest.

How could this be?

How could the woman I loved, the woman who promised me forever, be living a double life?

How could I have been so blind?

I walked into our apartment, the home I designed as a monument to our love, and heard her voice from the bedroom, low and intimate.

"Of course, I miss you, Alex. Ethan doesn't know anything, he' s as clueless as ever. You know I can' t leave him, not yet. He' s too useful, his name still carries weight in this city, but you' re the one I' m married to, you' re the one I truly need."

The words struck me like a physical blow, choking the air from my lungs.

I wasn' t a husband; I was a prop, a stepping stone in her grand scheme.

But the love I felt for her died in that hallway, replaced by something cold and sharp.

I wouldn' t give her the satisfaction of a fight.

I would disappear.

And then, when she was comfortable in her world built on my back, I would return and take everything from her.

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Betrayed By Ambition: Ava's Revenge

Betrayed By Ambition: Ava's Revenge

Romance

5.0

My husband, Mark Thompson, the tech visionary, greeted me with his usual confident smile, but it didn't reach his eyes. Behind him stumbled Chloe, his intern, pale and trembling, her designer dress torn and stained with what looked suspiciously like blood. "Ava," Mark' s voice was low, laced with anger and concern. "Something terrible has happened." Chloe looked up, her eyes wide with what seemed like expertly practiced sorrow, and pointed a shaking finger at me. "It was your fault," she whispered, her voice cracking. "He said… he said he saw my picture with you, at that charity event." Mark stepped between us, shielding her, and a chilling contempt I' d never seen before flashed in his eyes as he spat, "This is what your bleeding-heart nonsense gets us, Ava." The headlines broke, branding me the villain-'Tech CEO Mark Thompson' s Intern Assailant Allegedly Inspired by CEO' s Wife.' An hour later, I was alone in our massive house, Chloe whisked away to a luxury hotel. "You' ve become a liability, Ava," Mark stated, his words cold, calculated. "You are a problem that I have to solve." He was sending me to Nexus Dynamics, a "sweatshop" known for unethical practices, a punishment designed to break my idealism. Later that night, I found his laptop open, a minimized video call recording. Mark' s smug face appeared on screen. "-the Chloe plan is working perfectly. Ava' s obsession with ethics is the perfect weapon to use against her." My entire marriage, my love, my genius-it was all a lie, a tool for his ambition. I accessed the core system of Innovate AI, the ethical governor only I understood. I initiated a hidden command: a gradual decay protocol. Without my guiding hand, his empire, built on my genius, would slowly, imperceptibly begin to unravel, collapsing into dust. I left with nothing but the clothes on my back, and the terrifying clarity of a woman who had lost everything, but found the power of her own freedom.

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THE SPITEFUL BRIDE: MARRY TO RIVAL'S SON

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"Let's get married," Mia declares, her voice trembling despite her defiant gaze into Stefan's guarded brown eyes. She needs this, even if he seems untouchable. Stefan raises a skeptical brow. "And why would I do that?" His voice was low, like a warning, and it made her shiver even though she tried not to show it. "We both have one thing in common," Mia continues, her gaze unwavering. "Shitty fathers. They want to take what's ours and give it to who they think deserves it." A pointed pause hangs in the air. "The only difference between us is that you're an illegitimate child, and I'm not." Stefan studies her, the heiress in her designer armor, the fire in her eyes that matches the burn of his own rage. "That's your solution? A wedding band as a weapon?" He said ignoring the part where she just referred to him as an illegitimate child. "The only weapon they won't see coming." She steps closer, close enough for him to catch the scent of her perfume, gunpowder and jasmine. "Our fathers stole our birthrights. The sole reason they betrayed us. We join forces, create our own empire that'll bring down theirs." A beat of silence. Then, Stefan's mouth curves into something sharp. "One condition," he murmurs, closing the distance. "No divorces. No surrenders. If we're doing this, it's for life" "Deal" Mia said without missing a beat. Her father wants to destroy her life. She wouldn't give him the pleasure, she would destroy her life as she seems fit. ................ Two shattered heirs. One deadly vow. A marriage built on revenge. Mia Meyers was born to rule her father's empire (so she thought), until he named his bastard son heir instead. Stefan Sterling knows the sting of betrayal too. His father discarded him like trash. Now the rivals' disgraced children have a poisonous proposal: Marry for vengeance. Crush their fathers' legacies. Never speak of divorce. Whoever cracks first loses everything. Can these two rivals, united by their vengeful hearts, pull off a marriage of convenience to reclaim what they believe is rightfully theirs? Or will their fathers' animosity, and their own complicated pasts tear their fragile alliance apart?

Secret Baby: The Jilted Wife's Final Goodbye

Secret Baby: The Jilted Wife's Final Goodbye

Cait
5.0

I sat on the cold tile floor of our Upper East Side penthouse, staring at the two pink lines until my vision blurred. After ten years of loving Julian Sterling and three years of a hollow marriage, I finally had the one thing that could bridge the distance between us. I was pregnant. But Julian didn't come home with flowers for our anniversary. He tossed a thick manila envelope onto the marble coffee table with a heavy thud. Fiona, the woman he'd truly loved for years, was back in New York, and he told me our "business deal" was officially over. "Sign it," He said, his voice flat and devoid of emotion. He looked at me with the cold detachment of a man selling a piece of unwanted furniture. When I hesitated, he told me to add a zero to the alimony if the money wasn't enough. I realized in that moment that if he knew about the baby, he wouldn't love me; he would simply take my child and give it to Fiona to raise. I shoved the pregnancy test into my pocket, signed the papers with a shaking hand, and lied through my teeth. When my morning sickness hit, I slumped to the floor to hide the truth. "It's just cramps," I gasped, watching him recoil as if I were contagious. To make him stay away, I invented a man named Jack-a fake boyfriend who supposedly gave me the kindness Julian never could. Suddenly, the man who wanted me gone became a monster of possessiveness. He threatened to "bury" a man who didn't exist while leaving me humiliated at his family's dinner to rush to Fiona's side. I was so broken that I even ate a cake I was deathly allergic to, then had to refuse life-saving steroids at the hospital because they would harm the fetus. Julian thinks he's stalling the divorce for two months to protect the family's reputation for his father's Jubilee. He thinks he's keeping his "property" on a short leash until the press dies down. He has no idea I'm using those sixty days to build a fortress for my child. By the time he realizes the truth, I'll be gone, and the Sterling heir will be far beyond his reach.

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