The Billionaires obsession with his contract wife

While I Was Bleeding Out, He Lit Lanterns For Her

Katie Oettgen

As I lay on the floor of our manor, bleeding out from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, I used my last ounce of strength to call my husband, Cole. I begged him for help, my vision blurring. But the only thing I heard was the clinking of champagne glasses and his mistress's giggle in the background. "Stop the drama, June," Cole snapped, his voice cold. "We're about to go on stage. Don't call again." He hung up, leaving me to die alone on the Persian rug while he accepted an award with another woman on his arm. I woke up in the hospital days later. My baby was gone. They had removed my fallopian tube. Cole finally arrived, smelling of expensive scotch and his mistress's perfume. He didn't hug me. He didn't cry. Instead, he leaned over my hospital bed, pressing his knee into the mattress until my fresh stitches tore open and bled. "You embarrassed me by calling an ambulance," he hissed. "My mistress, Alycia, says you're faking it. Clean yourself up." He left me bleeding again to go announce a $10 million donation to Alycia's "groundbreaking" medical research. I stared at the TV screen, numb. The research Alycia was taking credit for? It was mine. I wrote that patent years ago under a pseudonym. They thought I was just a poor, orphan housewife who needed Cole's money to survive. They had no idea I was actually a billionaire scientist hiding my identity. I pulled the IV needle out of my arm. A drop of blood fell onto the divorce papers I had been hiding. I didn't wipe it off. I signed my name right over it. Then I walked into the bank, reactivated my dormant account with $128 million, and bought the penthouse directly overlooking Cole's house. The mourning widow is dead. The avenger is born.

Romance Crime Revenge Pregnancy Enemies to Lovers Pregnancy Personal Growth

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SOPHIA'S POV

"You did what?"

My voice trembled as I stared at the man I called my father. The walls of his office seemed to close in as he refused to look up at me.

"It was a bad business deal. I had no idea it would lead us here. I didn't know it was a scam, " he said, bending his head.

If I had not known him better, I would have believed he was genuinely remorseful, this had been the drill for the longest time.

"Dad, you gambled away a business the whole family has been depending on. This is not even the first time you're doing this. How could you continue even after we almost lost everything the last time?" I said, trying to control my voice out of respect.

"It wasn't supposed to end like this, it seemed a fair deal, the benefits were mouth-watering –"

"I can't believe you would do this, you even used my shop as collateral, you know how things have been for me, you still want to take everything from me?" I asked, tears rolling down my cheeks.

I had woken up that morning with the intention of resuming work, a little fashion-designing house I had been running since I turned 18, it wasn't doing too well, but it was enough to sort our bills every time my dad gambled and landed us in trouble.

I got to work, and the place was locked; my things were thrown outside, with security officials not letting me go in. I had fought, but my efforts were futile, and they had insisted I go talk to my father.

"Who do we owe this time? How do you come out of this mess?" I asked, my voice crossing the line I had set for it.

"Don't talk to Father like that." My sister Henna shouted from the corner she had been standing the whole time.

I turned to face her, my insides boiling with suppressed anger threatening to burst out, "What did you say?"

"Come on, Sophia, it was just one bad mistake, it's not like those things are not supposed to happen in businesses, it's called risk, and it's unavoidable, don't be a brat." She said and walked off to stand close to my father, who had his head buried between his hands.

I bent my head in frustration, biting my lips to fight back tears "I must be the only sane person in this house, Henna at your age, I was already paying for the family's bills, I was working more than expected to make sure we didn't lack, what have you done with your life so far if not constantly causing trouble?"

She rolled her eyes and flipped her hair.

"I don't know how you guys don't understand that I'm tired, my business is falling, and I haven't taken time to create a good life for myself because I've been sacrificing everything to make this family stable. The only business we have had been gambled away, how did it even get up to that extent, Dad?"

"If it's not gambling, then a police case or some fight over jewelry, can I please catch a break?" I yelled, my chest rising and falling in anger.

"I'm sorry, Sophia, I honestly didn't mean for things to turn out like this. It was a good game, and I was close to winning. I just kept putting everything down, and I unfortunately ended up losing everything." He said and started hitting his chest.

"Just like that?"

"They were going to arrest me till he came, he helped me out and I had to put the business down, he said he'll give me everything back if I can grant him a favour, I had no choice."

"He? Who? And what has that even got to do with my shop being locked up?" I asked, walking closer to his table.

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