The Divorce I Never Knew

The Divorce I Never Knew

Luo Lijiang

3.5
Comment(s)
6.1K
View
21
Chapters

My wife, Catalina, is a billionaire CEO. To me, she's an angel. Three years ago, her stalker, Dixon Bright, shattered my hand with a hammer, ending my career as an architect. Catalina nursed me back from the brink, her love the only thing holding me together. On our fifth anniversary, I went to the DMV. The clerk looked at me strangely. "Sir, our records show you were divorced three years ago. On October 12th." The same day I was attacked. The record also showed who Catalina married that very day: Dixon Bright. My world tilted. Her tender care-feeding me, dressing me, encouraging me to draw with my left hand-was it all a lie? I found their secret house, a glass mansion she called an "investment." Inside, she wasn't punishing him. She was kissing him. I pressed my ear to the glass and heard the words that destroyed me. "It was your idea to cripple him," she cooed to Dixon, stroking his hair. "It was the only way to make sure he'd never leave me. You did a good thing, Dixon. You earned your reward. You earned me." My loving wife hadn't just betrayed me. She had ordered my destruction to turn me into a pet she could keep in a cage. My phone buzzed. A text from Catalina. "Happy anniversary, my love. Can't wait to celebrate tonight. <3" She thinks I'm her broken treasure, safe in her grasp. She has no idea I just saw the warden with the key. She thinks she broke me. But tonight, my escape begins.

The Divorce I Never Knew Chapter 1

My wife, Catalina, is a billionaire CEO. To me, she's an angel. Three years ago, her stalker, Dixon Bright, shattered my hand with a hammer, ending my career as an architect. Catalina nursed me back from the brink, her love the only thing holding me together.

On our fifth anniversary, I went to the DMV. The clerk looked at me strangely. "Sir, our records show you were divorced three years ago. On October 12th."

The same day I was attacked.

The record also showed who Catalina married that very day: Dixon Bright.

My world tilted. Her tender care-feeding me, dressing me, encouraging me to draw with my left hand-was it all a lie? I found their secret house, a glass mansion she called an "investment." Inside, she wasn't punishing him. She was kissing him.

I pressed my ear to the glass and heard the words that destroyed me.

"It was your idea to cripple him," she cooed to Dixon, stroking his hair. "It was the only way to make sure he'd never leave me. You did a good thing, Dixon. You earned your reward. You earned me."

My loving wife hadn't just betrayed me. She had ordered my destruction to turn me into a pet she could keep in a cage.

My phone buzzed. A text from Catalina. "Happy anniversary, my love. Can't wait to celebrate tonight. <3"

She thinks I'm her broken treasure, safe in her grasp. She has no idea I just saw the warden with the key. She thinks she broke me.

But tonight, my escape begins.

Chapter 1

Today was my fifth wedding anniversary. I went to the DMV to update the address on my driver' s license. A simple task, something to do while my wife, Catalina, planned our evening.

The clerk, a woman with tired eyes, tapped at her keyboard.

"Eleazar Miller?"

"Yes, that' s me."

She looked at her screen, then back at me. A small frown formed on her lips. "Sir, I need you to confirm some information."

"Okay."

"Your marital status is listed here as divorced."

The air left my lungs. The busy noise of the DMV faded into a dull hum. "I' m sorry, what? That' s a mistake. I' m married."

The clerk didn' t look up. "The system shows your divorce was finalized on October 12th, three years ago."

My heart started to pound against my ribs. "Three years ago? Who... who did I divorce?"

She read from the screen in a flat voice. "Catalina Carter."

My own wife' s name. It felt like a punch to the gut. "And... does it say if she remarried?"

The clerk' s fingers tapped a few more times. "Yes. Same day. She married a Mr. Dixon Bright."

Dixon Bright.

The name was a scar. A physical one. I instinctively looked down at my right hand, the one that used to hold a pencil and sketch entire worlds. Now, it was a useless, twisted claw.

Dixon Bright was Catalina' s obsessed stalker. Three years ago, on October 12th, he cornered me in a parking garage. He said Catalina would never love me, that I was just a temporary distraction. Then he took a hammer to my hand, shattering the bones, my career, my entire life.

I remembered Catalina' s fury afterward. She had screamed, cried, promised to make him pay. She had held me, telling me she would take care of me forever. She said she loved me more than anything.

How could she marry the man who did that to me? How could she do it on the very same day?

My mind spun. It didn' t make sense. The last three years... Catalina had been my rock. She nursed me, fed me, dressed me. When I fell into a deep depression, unable to work, she built a state-of-the-art studio in our home, encouraging me to learn to draw with my left hand. She was my angel, my savior.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. A text from Catalina.

"Happy anniversary, my love. Can' t wait to celebrate with you tonight. I have a surprise for you. <3"

The message was a cruel joke. The words swam before my eyes. All her care, her devotion... was it all a lie?

She was a tech CEO, a billionaire from an old New York family. To the world, she was cold and ruthless. To me, she was the warmest person alive. She never looked at anyone else the way she looked at me. She told me I was her beautiful, fragile treasure.

A treasure she kept in a cage.

A cold dread seeped into my bones. The DMV papers in my hand felt like a death certificate. I had to know. I had to see it for myself.

The divorce record listed Dixon Bright' s address. It was a secluded property in the hills, not far from our home. A place she told me she bought as an investment.

I drove there, my mind a blank, hollow space. The house was a modern glass box, just like the ones I used to design. It was her style. Our style.

I parked down the road and walked up the long driveway. The lights were on. I crept toward the floor-to-ceiling windows, my heart hammering in my chest.

I heard a muffled sound from inside. A cry. It sounded like someone was in pain.

Then I saw them.

Catalina was standing over a man kneeling on the floor. It was Dixon. He was crying, but she was holding a riding crop, the kind she kept in our bedroom. She told me it was just for show.

I thought she was punishing him. Maybe this was her twisted justice.

But then she lowered the crop and knelt, lifting his chin. She wasn't angry. Her expression was one of fondness, of intimacy. She kissed him, a long, deep kiss that made my stomach turn.

"You' re such a bad boy," she whispered, her voice carrying through the glass. "Making me worry like that."

Dixon looked up at her, his eyes full of adoration. "I' m sorry, Cat. I just miss you so much when you' re with him."

On the table next to them was a bottle of wine. It was a rare vintage, one I had bought for Catalina for our first anniversary. It was my favorite. Our favorite. She was sharing it with him.

A wave of nausea washed over me. The world tilted on its axis. My right hand, the dead one, throbbed with a phantom pain that was so real, I almost screamed.

Then I heard the words that shattered what was left of my world.

"Don' t worry about Eleazar," Catalina said, stroking Dixon' s hair. "He' s so broken now. He needs me. He' d be lost without me."

She smiled, a cold, predatory smile I had never seen before. "Besides, it was your idea to cripple him. It was the only way to make sure he' d never leave me for some job in Europe. You did a good thing, Dixon."

She kissed him again. "You earned your reward. You earned me."

Dixon' s face lit up with a sick kind of pride. "So you' re not angry that I hurt him?"

"Angry?" She laughed, a sound that was no longer beautiful but monstrous. "Of course not. I love him, which is why I have to keep him. Perfectly, beautifully broken. Right where he belongs."

They were celebrating. Not my anniversary. Theirs.

I stumbled back from the window, my breath catching in my throat. I ran, not knowing where I was going, just needing to get away. The cold night air burned my lungs.

My phone buzzed again. Another text from Catalina.

"Where are you, honey? I' m waiting at home."

Home. The word was meaningless now. The woman I loved, the woman who I thought loved me, had orchestrated my ruin. She hadn' t just betrayed me. She had destroyed me, piece by piece, and then lovingly reassembled me into a pet she could keep on a leash.

Her love wasn't a comfort. It was a prison. And I had just seen the warden with the key.

I stopped running, gasping for air. The pain in my chest was so immense, I thought I was dying. But underneath the pain, a new feeling began to crystalize. A cold, hard resolve.

She thought she had broken me. She was wrong.

This wasn' t the end. It was the beginning. I would escape her. I would rebuild my life. And one day, I would make her see the man she tried to destroy.

Continue Reading

Other books by Luo Lijiang

More
Marrying My Ex's Ruthless Uncle

Marrying My Ex's Ruthless Uncle

Modern

5.0

I'm Kailee Lynn. On the night of my engagement party, my fiancé Julian left me standing alone in front of every wealthy guest in the city, humiliating me without a single shred of mercy. I became the biggest laughingstock of high society overnight, written off as a nobody from a small town with no status, no backing, and no right to stand among them. Everyone looked down on me, convinced I was weak and easy to push around. But I've never been one to swallow insults or accept defeat. Instead of fleeing in shame, I turned and walked straight toward the darkest, most intimidating figure in the entire banquet hall-Ervin Hendricks, the reclusive and ruthless fifth heir of the powerful Hendricks family. Rumors followed him everywhere: they said he was confined to a wheelchair, cold-blooded, dangerously unhinged, and cruel enough to ruin anyone who crossed him. The entire room held its breath, certain I was walking straight to my doom. I lifted my chin, met his sharp gaze steadily, and spoke in a calm, unshakable tone: "Ervin Hendricks. Marry me. I'll clear every obstacle in your path and help you seize everything that belongs to you. In return, you'll stand by my side and shield me from this world's cruelty." In the blink of an eye, I went from Julian's discarded fiancée to his aunt by marriage, the official Mrs. Hendricks. The whole town waited eagerly to watch me break down, to see me suffer at Ervin's hands and beg for mercy. They had no clue I was hiding far more than they could ever imagine. I'm the elite medical genius that top hospitals beg to consult, the unbeatable hacker who can crack any system in minutes, the hidden tycoon pulling strings behind global empires, and the secret powerhouse even the most elite families dare not cross. One by one, my true identities were unveiled, and every person who once mocked me fell silent, bowing to my power. As for Julian? He watched me rise from a social outcast to the most feared and respected woman in the city, standing proudly beside the all-powerful Ervin Hendricks. Meanwhile, his own fortune crumbled, his reputation was in tatters, and the life he'd chased after leaving me turned into a complete disaster. He was consumed by regret, so desperate he lost his mind. He chased me down at every high-society event, his eyes red with guilt and desperation, pleading for forgiveness, groveling to take back every cruel word, begging me to give him a second chance. He whined about how he'd made the worst mistake of his life, how he'd thrown away the only person who could have made him truly successful. I felt nothing but cold contempt for him. You cast me aside like worthless trash when you thought I had nothing to offer. You chose arrogance and greed over loyalty, and now you think a few empty apologies can erase that? I didn't even spare him a glance, simply linking my arm through Ervin's and stepping past him without a second thought. And then, the man everyone believed would never walk again suddenly rose from his wheelchair, pulled me tight against his chest, and whispered in a deep, soft, and utterly possessive voice that only I could hear: "Kailee. You're my little treasure, my only obsession, and the only person I'll ever love and protect with everything I have." This life, I'm taking down every enemy that wronged me, dominating every circle I step into, and making the most powerful man in the city wrap himself entirely around my finger.

The Ruined Heiress and Her Ruthless Monster

The Ruined Heiress and Her Ruthless Monster

Modern

5.0

My fiancé cheated on me with a bottle service girl on the giant screen at our own engagement party. I woke up the next morning in a strange bed, smelling of sandalwood and expensive scotch, only to realize I was in the penthouse of Julian Blackwood—the man I had cruelly humiliated ten years ago. Before I could even process the shame, my world collapsed. My father suffered a massive stroke, and my half-brother Conrad immediately moved to seize the family empire, while a swarm of illegitimate siblings emerged to strip us of every cent. "You're a stain on my floor, Vivian," Julian told me, his eyes as cold as a stormy sea. He didn't just want me gone; he wanted to watch me go bankrupt. My stepmother hissed that I needed to get on my knees and beg him to be our lawyer, or we’d end up on the street. Then, a biker with a metal bat tried to kill me on a dark Hamptons road, proving my own family had already put a price on my head. I didn't understand why the boy I once called "the gardener's son" was now the only one standing between me and a shallow grave. Julian saved my life from the wreck, but his touch felt like a threat. Was he protecting me, or just making sure he was the one who got to finish me off? Standing in the lobby of Blackwood & Partners, I looked straight into the security cameras and told the biggest lie of my life. I told the world that Julian was obsessed with me, turning a restraining order into a scandalous affair. If I had to be a villain to survive my own family, I would be the most dangerous one New York had ever seen.

The Genius Heiress They Tried To Break

The Genius Heiress They Tried To Break

Mafia

5.0

I stood outside the Genovese estate in the freezing rain for two hours, waiting for the man I loved to let me in. I was Elena Russo, the brilliant forensic accountant who had just laundered forty million dollars for the family. I was the adopted daughter, the fixer, and the fiancée of the Underboss, Luca. But the moment Sofia, the "real" daughter, returned, I became nothing but a placeholder. Luca looked me in the eye, swirling his scotch, and delivered the blow. "I need you to hand your work over to Sofia. She needs the prestige to be accepted by the Commission." He demanded I give up my life’s work—a complex laundering algorithm—so his new favorite could take the credit. When I refused, the humiliation began. Sofia faked a fall into the pool, and my adoptive father kicked me into the deep end to "teach me a lesson." I nearly drowned. Luca didn't save me. He handed me a diving mask and told me to find Sofia's lost ring at the bottom of the freezing pool before I was allowed to warm up. They stole my code. They ruined my reputation at the university. They slapped me in front of the press. They thought I was a stray dog with nowhere to go. They were wrong. Lying in the hospital bed, I dialed a number I had memorized years ago. "This is Asset 724," I whispered. "I'm ready to come home." The next day, the Russo empire began to crumble. And when a convoy of black SUVs arrived to collect me, Luca finally realized his mistake. My real father wasn't a nobody. He was Don Moretti, the King of the West Coast. And he was here to burn their world to ash.

Betrayal's Sting: A Husband's Reckoning

Betrayal's Sting: A Husband's Reckoning

Romance

5.0

Tonight was supposed to be special. Our fifth anniversary. I' d booked our favorite restaurant, bought a new shirt Chloe loved. Then, scrolling through social media, a photo from her company' s group chat caught my eye. Chloe, laughing, her hand resting on the arm of her intern, Liam. The caption called it "burning the midnight oil." I called it a lie. I typed a reply, directly into the chat: "Looks like fun. Chloe, I\'m still waiting for our anniversary dinner. The reservation was for seven." My phone rang instantly. It was Chloe, her voice a furious hiss. "What the hell do you think you\'re doing? Are you trying to embarrass me?" "Embarrass you?" I retorted, her dismissive tone burning me. "I' m sitting here alone on our anniversary. You told me you were stuck in a meeting." She called me needy, childish, then hung up. All my sacrifices, my life savings poured into her startup, the sleepless nights coding her company' s foundation – for this? To be a ghost in her shiny, successful life? The truth was laid bare: I was just an afterthought. I looked at our wedding photo, so full of hope, then slowly, deliberately, turned it face down. Then I blocked her. The next morning, her company's lead engineer called, panicking. "It's the Genesis build. It's a complete disaster. Liam broke it." Chloe had brushed off my warnings about Liam's sloppy code. She called him a rockstar. Now, she needed me to fix her golden boy' s mess. She sent her assistant to drag me to the office. Then Chloe herself called from the assistant's phone. "Ethan Miller, you get down here right now!" She tried to smooth-talk me, sweet-talking about "us." And then I heard it. A soft, wet sound, a kiss. And Liam' s voice. "Is he giving you trouble, boss? Let me talk to him." Chloe' s hushed, affectionate whisper: "It's fine, sweetie. I've got this." My world stopped. "Sweetie?" I repeated, the word dripping with mock sweetness. "Is that what you call your interns now, Chloe?" The betrayal, concrete and undeniable, sliced through me. All that anger, all that pain, crystallized into one chilling realization: "You don't need me. You need my work. There's a difference." "Consider your contract terminated," she threatened. "Consider it terminated," I replied, and hung up. I finally felt nothing. Just a vast, empty space where five years of my life used to be. I was done.

You'll also like

The Fallen Heiress's Debt to the Billionaire

The Fallen Heiress's Debt to the Billionaire

Shen Xiyan

I was once the princess of the Upper East Side, but now I’m just "debt wrapped in pretty skin." To keep my father alive in a federal penitentiary, I signed a contract I didn't fully understand. I thought it was about restoring my family's name, but producer Barnett Orr treated it like a bill of sale for my soul. Inside his limousine, the air smelled like gasoline and fear. Barnett didn't want a star; he wanted a victim. He bruised my jaw and ripped my vintage silk gown to shreds, laughing because he knew I couldn't fight back without signing my father's death warrant. "Don't forget who owns you, Felicity," he whispered. When he dragged me into Dewitt Knight’s penthouse party, I was a walking disaster. I huddled in Barnett’s oversized jacket, my lip bleeding and my spirit shattered. The elite crowd didn't see a victim; they saw a fallen girl selling herself for a role. A former rival poured red wine over me, and the room erupted in cruel laughter while Barnett told everyone he was just "testing my commitment." I looked up at the balcony, locking eyes with Dewitt Knight. He was a god in a bespoke suit, looking down at me with cold, lethal disgust. He didn't see the bruises or the desperation. He only saw a transaction he found beneath him. "So the rumors are true," he said, his voice cutting through the music. "The Aguilars really will do anything for money now. Even this." I was trapped between a monster who wanted to break me and a man who thought I was trash. No one cared that my father's life depended on my silence. When Barnett cornered me in a guest room later that night, his belt jingling like a death knell, I realized no one was coming to save a girl like me. I fought back with a crystal vase, shattering it against his shoulder, but I was drowning in my own terror. Just as Barnett lunged for my throat, the door was kicked off its hinges. Dewitt stood there, finally seeing the blood on the carpet and the map of purple bruises on my bare back. He chased the monster away, but I didn't feel safe. I locked the guest room door, wedged a chair under the handle, and slept with a silver letter opener pressed against my skin. When I crept into the kitchen at midnight and found him waiting in the shadows, I aimed the blade at his heart. "In this house, no one hurts you," he promised, his voice a low velvet rumble. But in a world where I had already been sold once, I knew that even protection came with a price I couldn't afford to pay.

No Longer Mrs. Cooley: The Architect's Return

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.

Secret Triplets: The Billionaire's Second Chance

Secret Triplets: The Billionaire's Second Chance

Roderic Penn

I stood at my mother's open grave in the freezing rain, my heels sinking into the mud. The space beside me was empty. My husband, Hilliard Holloway, had promised to cherish me in bad times, but apparently, burying my mother didn't fit into his busy schedule. While the priest's voice droned on, a news alert lit up my phone. It was a livestream of the Metropolitan Charity Gala. There was Hilliard, looking impeccable in a custom tuxedo, with his ex-girlfriend Charla English draped over his arm. The headline read: "Holloway & English: A Power Couple Reunited?" When he finally returned to our penthouse at 2 AM, he didn't come alone-he brought Charla with him. He claimed she'd had a "medical emergency" at the gala and couldn't be left alone. I found a Tiffany diamond necklace on our coffee table meant for her birthday, and a smudge of her signature red lipstick on his collar. When I confronted him, he simply told me to stop being "hysterical" and "acting like a child." He had no idea I was seven months pregnant with his child. He thought so little of my grief that he didn't even bother to craft a convincing lie, laughing with his mistress in our home while I sat in the dark with a shattered heart and a secret life growing inside me. "He doesn't deserve us," I whispered to the darkness. I didn't scream or beg. I simply left a folder on his desk containing signed divorce papers and a forged medical report for a terminated pregnancy. I disappeared into the night, letting him believe he had successfully killed his own legacy through his neglect. Five years later, Hilliard walked into "The Vault," the city's most exclusive underground auction, looking for a broker to manage his estate. He didn't recognize me behind my Venetian mask, but he couldn't ignore the neon pink graffiti on his armored Maybach that read "DEADBEAT." He had no clue that the three brilliant triplets currently hacking his security system were the very children he thought had been erased years ago. This time, I wasn't just a wife in the way; I was the one holding all the cards.

Chapters
Read Now
Download Book
The Divorce I Never Knew The Divorce I Never Knew Luo Lijiang Billionaires
“My wife, Catalina, is a billionaire CEO. To me, she's an angel. Three years ago, her stalker, Dixon Bright, shattered my hand with a hammer, ending my career as an architect. Catalina nursed me back from the brink, her love the only thing holding me together. On our fifth anniversary, I went to the DMV. The clerk looked at me strangely. "Sir, our records show you were divorced three years ago. On October 12th." The same day I was attacked. The record also showed who Catalina married that very day: Dixon Bright. My world tilted. Her tender care-feeding me, dressing me, encouraging me to draw with my left hand-was it all a lie? I found their secret house, a glass mansion she called an "investment." Inside, she wasn't punishing him. She was kissing him. I pressed my ear to the glass and heard the words that destroyed me. "It was your idea to cripple him," she cooed to Dixon, stroking his hair. "It was the only way to make sure he'd never leave me. You did a good thing, Dixon. You earned your reward. You earned me." My loving wife hadn't just betrayed me. She had ordered my destruction to turn me into a pet she could keep in a cage. My phone buzzed. A text from Catalina. "Happy anniversary, my love. Can't wait to celebrate tonight. <3" She thinks I'm her broken treasure, safe in her grasp. She has no idea I just saw the warden with the key. She thinks she broke me. But tonight, my escape begins.”
1

Chapter 1

13/08/2025

2

Chapter 2

13/08/2025

3

Chapter 3

13/08/2025

4

Chapter 4

13/08/2025

5

Chapter 5

13/08/2025

6

Chapter 6

13/08/2025

7

Chapter 7

13/08/2025

8

Chapter 8

13/08/2025

9

Chapter 9

13/08/2025

10

Chapter 10

13/08/2025

11

Chapter 11

13/08/2025

12

Chapter 12

13/08/2025

13

Chapter 13

13/08/2025

14

Chapter 14

13/08/2025

15

Chapter 15

13/08/2025

16

Chapter 16

13/08/2025

17

Chapter 17

13/08/2025

18

Chapter 18

13/08/2025

19

Chapter 19

13/08/2025

20

Chapter 20

13/08/2025

21

Chapter 21

13/08/2025