Married To My Ex-Fiancé's Silent Uncle

Twenty minutes before the "Wedding of the Century" at The Plaza, I stood outside the Presidential Suite in a fifty-thousand-dollar Vera Wang gown. I was the girl from a West Virginia trailer park about to marry Hugh Maxwell, the golden heir to a billion-dollar defense empire. I pushed the door open only to find Hugh pinned against the bed with my own stepsister, Floy. She was wearing my bridal diamond necklace, and the sounds of their laughter scraped against my eardrums like sandpaper. I didn't scream; I listened as Hugh grunted that once the wedding was over and the trust fund unlocked, he'd dump "that hillbilly trash" on a bus back to the mountains. They weren't just cheating; they were planning to steal my family's land deeds and leave me with nothing. When I set off the sprinklers and exposed their naked bodies to the paparazzi, the Maxwell family didn't apologize. They called me a "greedy peasant" and threatened to ruin my life unless I signed a new deal to save their crashing stock. I realized then that I was never a bride to them. I was a transaction, a rounding error in a ledger to be used and discarded. They thought my poverty made me weak and my silence made me a victim. "If we don't have a marriage certificate by midnight, the bank freezes thirty percent of our liquidity," their lawyer warned. So, I gave them exactly what they wanted. I used a loophole in their hundred-year-old family covenant and married the only other direct heir available. I didn't marry Hugh. I walked into the ICU and married his uncle, Fleet Maxwell-the legendary war hero who had been in a vegetative state for months. Now, I am the matriarch of the Maxwell dynasty. I've suspended Hugh's executive powers, exiled my mother-in-law to the Swiss Alps, and taken control of the family vault. They think I'm just a gold-digger waiting for a "corpse" to die so I can collect a fifty-million-dollar widow's payout. But last night, as I lay beside my comatose husband, the man they called a vegetable gripped my hand back.

Modern Scheming Contract marriage Billionaires CEO Flash Marriage Revenge Age Gap

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Chapter 1

Lyra's POV

I woke up with the dawn, feeling a surge of energy and determination. I had a long day ahead of me, and I was ready to tackle it head-on. First things first, I needed to get cleaned up. I headed to the bathroom, the cool water refreshing my skin as I washed away the sleep. After my bath, I made my way to the training grounds. The familiar scent of sweat and earth greeted me as I arrived. I was no stranger here; in fact, I was a regular. The pack warriors knew me, and they knew not to go easy on me. I was the alpha's daughter, after all, and I had a reputation to uphold.

As I began to warm up, a few of the pack warriors approached me. "Hey, Lyra! Ready to get your butt kicked?" one of them joked.

I rolled my eyes good-naturedly. "Bring it on, Liam. I'm not going down without a fight."

Liam, a tall, muscular warrior with a mischievous grin, chuckled. "We'll see about that."

We sparred for a while, our movements swift and precise. I was determined to prove myself, to show them that I was more than just the alpha's daughter. After a few rounds, another warrior, a quiet, brooding man named Thane, approached us. "Lyra, can I have a word with you?"

I nodded, curious. "What's up, Thane?"

Thane hesitated, his eyes scanning the surrounding area before focusing on me. "I'm still sad about what happened at the mate ceremony. I was really hoping you'd find your mate."

My heart ached at the mention of the ceremony. I had been hoping to find my mate too, but it hadn't happened. "Yeah, me too," I admitted. "But it's not the end of the world. I'll find my mate when the time is right."

Liam nodded in agreement. "You will, Lyra. And when you do, we'll be here to support you."

I smiled, feeling a sense of gratitude towards my fellow warriors. "Thanks, guys. That means everything to me."

Thane spoke up again. "We were all rooting for you, Lyra. We wanted to see you happy."

I felt a lump form in my throat at their kind words. "I appreciate that, Thane. It means a lot to me."

We continued to spar and train, our movements fluid and synchronized. I felt alive, connected to my pack and my purpose. As the morning wore on, I knew I had to wrap it up. I had to get back to the pack house, clean up again, and change into fresh clothes. I couldn't show up to the rest of my day looking like I just rolled out of the training grounds.

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