Tehzeeb

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.

Modern Revenge Divorce

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It was a dim and gruesome basement.

Winter Josh had been dehydrated by three days, and her consciousness was clouded.

Her palm-sized face looked bloodless.

She was unwilling to die like this, but her only relative and grandma still needed her care, and the matter with her mother hadn't come to the surface...

"Water... I need water..." Winter opened her dried and withered lips, forcing out a few words.

Feeling a sudden cold sensation from her lips, she involuntarily opened her mouth and swallowed like a withered sapling welcoming a long-lost rain.

The abuse from a sharp voice went into her ears, "Eek, Winter, lowly bitch, you are still alive after three days!"

Winter slowly opened her eyes when Betsy Josh's enlarged face came into view. Under the dim light in the basement, her pretty face looked extremely hideous.

Her hand was grasping a wad of damp and dirty rag still dripping murky water.

Now Winter realized the coolness in her trance came from it.

This was outrageous! The mother and daughter had been trying every means to torture her. Her father not only turned a blind eye but even added insult to injury.

Unhurriedly Betsy took out her cell phone and played a video clip.

"Take a look at this. If you don't marry into the Lloyd Family, prepare to collect the dead body of your grandmother!" Her cold voice and ferocious expression sent a dull pain through Winter.

She had never expected her father, the mother and daughter should threaten her with the life of her grandmother.

"I'll marry!" She clenched her fists to the point that her nails dug deep into the flesh of her palms, "You'd better ensure my grandma's... safety... otherwise, I'll haunt you as a ghost!" Said Winter hatefully.

One day, she would make them pay for what they did to her today!

"My dear sister, why are you so insensible? The Young Lady position of the Lloyd Family is originally yours, and now I give it back. You should thank me!" As the fiancée of Mr. Lloyd, Betsy felt relieved and said in a voice dripping with sarcasm.

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