The Substitute Bride of the Alpha

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 Revenge Female-centered Divorce

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SCARLET'S POV"

I felt a tight slap across my face where I stood, and my lips broke and gave way to fresh blood. I could taste it in my mouth.

My cheeks ached as tears pricked at my eyes and my fist clenched into a ball of rage, but I dared not move away from the spot I was unless I wanted to make it worse.

Ever since I lost my parents, my life has been worse compared to hell. My mother was a human who just had to fall in love with a werewolf, and they had me. After she died, my dad remarried his mate, who later had a daughter for him.

I always found my mother's disappearance strange, as she was fine one night and the next morning, she was found dead in her bed. Nobody cared enough about her though to have the death investigated.

Only a few days later, my dad brought home his mate who was already pregnant. Soon after, he left to join my mother in the same strange way she had been.

My suspicions were that my stepmother had killed both my mom and my dad, but I didn't have any proof and even if I did, no one would spare me a listening ear or the time to take action.

Just like my mother, I was a human. In other words, I was useless.

I'd had to live with my stepmother, Hannah, and my step-sister, Deborah, who treated me as no more than a doormat.

"Why do you have to be so stupid?!" My stepmother spat at me with eyes widened in anger and frustration. "Everywhere I go, I am reminded of this baggage that I have with me, and you always have to let it show that you are so useless! Why were you even born?!"

I always ask myself that question as well. Why was I even born in the first place? To live like a slave and be treated like a non-living thing?

She scoffed as my eyes fell to my feet. I hid my hands behind my back and stood in an apologetic manner. She hadn't given me the chance to speak, therefore, I couldn't apologize.

"Who gave you the permission to touch my things?" "Answer me when I am talking to you, you filthy pig!" She spat out at me.

"I didn't mean to–"

Another slap landed on my face, shutting me up. I winced from the pain and cupped my cheeks in my hand. I stared up at her as tears trailed down my cheeks.

"Of course." She stood with her hands on her hips. "You didn't mean to, it was a mistake. Every time you ruin something, it is always an accident! You yourself are an accident! Only the moon goddess knows what made that fool. Thomas marries a puny human."

Thomas was my father. I gritted my teeth in anger. The way she spoke of my late parents always got on my nerves, but there was nothing I could do about it.

My dad was an alpha and could do things the way he wished. That was how he decided to marry my mother after falling in love with her and no one could question him.

"Stop wasting your strength on this useless thing mother." My stepmother, Deborah, spoke up.

She rose from her seat and walked towards us. "I have a few chores for her to carry out. That's the only thing she is good for: running errands and washing the toilet." She threw a small sheet at me and, along with it, were a few hundred dollars. "Hurry! Make sure you get everything on that list."

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