Bound to the Bastard Alpha
They gave Fiona to the crippled bastard as a cruel joke-the adopted daughter married off to the wheelchair-bound outcast nobody wanted.
Her real crime? Existing when the true heiress returned. Her mate rejected her for her manipulative sister. Her family cast her aside. And her forced husband? He's cold, cruel, and makes it clear he despises this arrangement as much as she does.
But something's not adding up. The man in the wheelchair spends money like he owns the world. He stands up for her when no one else will. And there's something disturbingly familiar about his voice, his touch, the way he looks at her.
Then one night, he stands up from that wheelchair, and Fiona realizes she's been played.
Her husband isn't a helpless outcast. He's the most powerful Alpha in the country, and he's been hiding in plain sight.
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Chapter 3
Fiona's POV
Darkness surrounded me when I opened my eyes, and every inch of my naked skin was still humming from what we'd done hours ago.
The stranger beside me was a dark silhouette in the shadows, breathing deeply in sleep while my heart raced with the memory of his hands on my body.
We'd kept our masks on the entire time. I refused to show my face and he seemed just as determined to stay anonymous. But even behind the disguise, even in pitch black darkness, something about him had felt achingly familiar, like my soul recognized his even though we were complete strangers.
I needed to leave before he woke up.
Moving as quietly as possible, I gathered my clothes scattered across the hotel room floor and got dressed with shaking hands. Every small sound made me freeze, terrified he'd wake and see me sneaking out like some guilty criminal.
Once I was dressed, I pulled some cash from my purse and left it on the counter. Payment for services rendered, I guess, though calling it that made my stomach twist uncomfortably.
My hand was on the doorknob when doubt crashed through me. What the hell was I thinking last night? Sleeping with a masked stranger hours before my forced wedding?
But there was no time to regret it now.
I slipped out and ran down the hallway, finally ripping the suffocating mask off my face.
That's when my phone exploded with sound.
"Where the hell are you, you ungrateful idiot?" My mother's voice was pure venom through the speaker. "Today is your wedding and you dare sleep out? Are you out of your mind? Did you forget what happens to that precious nanny of yours if you run away from marrying that useless cripple?"
Ice flooded my veins.
"Oh my God!" I slapped my forehead so hard it stung. "The wedding!"
I hung up and bolted down the hallway like the devil himself was chasing me.
Hours later, I stood in front of a mirror wearing the most hideous wedding dress I'd ever seen in my life.
It was at least two sizes too big, hanging off me like a deflated balloon. The cheap fabric looked like it came from a discount bin and the whole thing screamed "we don't actually care about you at all."
They'd done this on purpose. Sent me an oversized monstrosity to make sure I looked as pathetic as possible on what was supposed to be the most important day of my life.
"Why are you in that hideous wedding dress?"
Hannah's voice made me spin around. My best friend stood in the doorway with her jaw hanging open in shock and fury blazing in her eyes.
"Don't tell me you're actually going through with this insane bullshit your parents cooked up!"
"Hannah!" Relief crashed through me and I threw myself at her, hugging her so tight I could barely breathe.
When I finally let go, the words poured out in a desperate rush. "I don't have a choice! They threatened Lolo. You know she's the only person who actually loves me in this world. She raised me when my parents couldn't be bothered. And now she's dying in that hospital and they're holding her treatment over my head like a weapon."
My voice cracked. "If I don't marry this man, they'll stop paying for her care and she'll die. So yes, I'm going through with it, even if I have to marry some bastard I've never met."
Hannah's face crumpled and she pulled me back into her arms. "You deserve so much better than this, bestie. You really do." Her voice was thick with sympathy. "But since a life is on the line and your parents are cruel enough to use it against you, I guess you don't have a choice. Good luck, Fiona. I can't exactly say happy married life when this whole thing is a nightmare."
Before I could respond, my mother's shrill voice pierced through the room like nails on a chalkboard.
"Will you get your fat behind out of that room already, Fiona? Do you think we have all the time in the world? Spending so much time in there acting like some Cinderella!"
I exchanged a look with Hannah and sighed. "Coming, Mom!"
"That's not a mom, Fiona," Hannah whispered as we headed for the door. "That's literally a witch!"
Despite everything, I laughed. "If only she had a magic wand and pumpkin carriage to match that attitude."
When we reached the bottom of the stairs, my mother's scowl greeted us like a slap. "Finally! What took you so long?"
I forced a smile. "Sorry, Mom. Just getting ready."
Her eyes raked over me from head to toe, taking in my disheveled appearance and the disaster of a wedding dress. "Well hurry up. We can't keep your groom waiting."
The words sent ice down my spine.
Outside in the compound, I immediately spotted Nathan with a split lip and bruised nose. Serena was fussing over him, asking about his injuries while he puffed up like a peacock.
"I put some weak wolf in his place," Nathan bragged, his voice dripping with arrogance. "Taught him a lesson he won't forget."
I couldn't help myself. "So if you're fighting a weak wolf and end up with a busted nose and split lip, does that mean you're weaker than a weak wolf?" The sarcasm rolled off my tongue effortlessly. "Would your whole body be bloated if you fought a normal wolf? What would happen against a strong one?"
"You're just jealous that Nathan picked me over you!" Serena snapped, glaring daggers at me. "I understand you're bitter because you didn't get the better man!"
I laughed coldly. "Jealousy? Trust me, I couldn't care less about Nathan's choice anymore. His actions already proved he's far from being any kind of 'better man.'"
Serena looked away and went back to fussing over Nathan's injuries. I turned away too, my stomach churning with disgust.
Hours dragged by at the church while we all waited for the groom to arrive.
Part of me hoped he'd been in some horrible accident that would spare me from this nightmare. But then a car appeared in the distance and my brief fantasy died.
Serena wasted no time twisting the knife. "Are you excited to see the ugly crippled bastard you'll be spending the rest of your life with, sis?" Her voice dripped pure malice. "Nathan says his brother is nothing to write home about. People think he's the older one even though he's younger because of how old and haggard he looks." She laughed cruelly. "And you have so much in common! You're an orphan who's merely adopted, while he's an illegitimate bastard child. What a beautiful match made in heaven!"
"Give me one chance to shut this whiny bitch up!" Hannah snarled, her fists clenched.
But before anyone could respond, the car door opened.
An old man in a suit emerged first and my heart plummeted straight to my feet. He looked old enough to be my grandfather and I thought I was going to faint right there.
Then the man walked to the other side of the car, pulled out a wheelchair from the boot, and started helping someone else out.
Relief crashed through me so hard my knees went weak. He wasn't the groom.
The soft sound of wheelchair wheels rolling across pavement filled the air.
And then I saw his face.
My breath stopped completely.
It was nothing like what they'd told me. Nothing like I'd imagined.
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8.9
Debora went to prison to protect the man she loved, only to end up a paroled convict living under the roof of her abusive foster parents.
When they found her positive pregnancy test from a one-night stand, they threatened to kick her out and send her straight back to a cell.
Just as they were about to report her, the stranger from that dark hotel room suddenly appeared.
He paid her foster parents one million dollars to marry her and take her away.
Debora thought she was finally safe.
But the moment they were alone, he looked at her with pure, venomous hatred.
He didn't want a wife; he wanted a prisoner.
He believed Debora was the ruthless murderer who had destroyed his life in a car crash, and he planned to make her suffocate in her own despair.
He didn't know she was just a scapegoat.
To survive and protect her baby, Debora found a job at a bridal shop, only to run into the real culprit—the man who actually drove the car and framed her.
He was now happily engaged to a wealthy heiress.
They deliberately ruined a priceless wedding gown and blamed it on her.
"Kneel on this floor and apologize, or I'm calling the police to revoke your parole!"
Why did she have to rot in hell for his sins, while the man she married wanted to destroy her?
Just as her trembling knees were about to touch the cold marble floor, the heavy glass doors were violently shoved open.
Her billionaire husband strode in like a force of nature, his eyes locked onto the wealthy couple with a terrifying, destructive rage.
8.7
For three years, I played the perfect, submissive housewife to billionaire Julian Harrison.
But right after an intimate night together, he coldly threw a divorce agreement onto the bed.
"Scarlett landed an hour ago. I need my single status restored to welcome her back."
That same night, I ended up in the emergency room and discovered I was pregnant with twins.
When Julian found out, he didn't show a shred of joy. Instead, he stormed into my hospital room, threw a blank check directly at my face, and ordered me to get rid of them.
He accused me of using the babies as a sick game to trap his assets.
Then, his ruthless lawyer kicked me out of our penthouse, confiscating the jewelry he gifted me and tossing my worn-out notebook onto the floor like garbage.
Standing in the freezing rain, my heart completely died.
I had swallowed my pride, managed his life, and cooked his meals to his exact standards for three years, only to be thrown away the second his first love returned.
But he didn't know that the notebook his lawyer discarded contained the secret formulas of Aura Beauty, a billion-dollar empire I built in the shadows.
I tore his check into pieces, blocked his number, and left in a Maybach sent by my associate.
Logging into my global CEO database, I looked at his company's fragile stock chart with a predatory smile.
The docile Mrs. Harrison died in the rain. It was time to crush his empire.
8.3
Lucas Vane was my ruin. My first love, my greatest regret, and the man who shattered my life before disappearing into the shadows. I thought I had finally escaped his reach, until a desperate debt forced me into a cold, clinical contract with the one man I should have feared more.
Victor Vane. The powerful, terrifying patriarch who doesn't know the girl he just bought was once his son's greatest obsession.
Now, I am trapped between two worlds. I am the wife of the father, bound by a signature and a ring, yet I am pursued by the son who is determined to reclaim what he lost. As the lines between hatred and desire blur, I find myself craving the touch of the man who owns me, and the man who broke me.
Secrets can only stay buried for so long. What happens when the King finds out his Queen belongs to the Prince?
9.0
To save her dying mother, Adaline walked into the Waldorf Astoria to deliver a shirt to her fiancé.
She didn't know her stepsister, June, had swapped her keycard. Adaline stumbled into a pitch-black suite and was brutally assaulted by a stranger in the dark.
The nightmare didn't end there. June paid off the only bone marrow donor for Adaline's mother to flee the city, and stole Adaline's fiancé. Bankrupt and desperate, Adaline was forced to sell herself into a loveless marriage with the ruthless billionaire Ferris Finch just to secure a medical team.
But when Ferris saw the dark, violent bruises covering her body, his eyes filled with absolute disgust.
"You make me sick. Pack up your cheap tricks."
He mocked her, calling her a filthy woman who couldn't even wash her lover's marks off before crawling into his house.
Adaline swallowed her pride and endured his cruel humiliation. When June publicly taunted her about the hotel assault, Adaline finally snapped, ending up handcuffed in a freezing police cell.
She thought she was completely out of moves, waiting to rot in prison while her new husband despised her.
But back at the estate, Ferris had just pulled the hotel's security footage.
Staring at the screen, the arrogant billionaire's face turned completely ashen.
He finally realized that the innocent woman he had destroyed in the dark that night, and the wife he was currently torturing, were the exact same person.
7.9
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.
7.9
Erin woke up in her luxurious Fifth Avenue penthouse, three days after returning from the cold, sterile psychiatric hospital where her husband had locked her away.
On the night of their third anniversary, Crockett Winters came home smelling of his mistress's perfume, expecting his docile wife to serve him.
Instead of playing the obedient fool, Erin calmly exposed the million-dollar diamonds he had just bought for his lover.
Furious at her sudden defiance, Crockett tried to physically intimidate her, pinning her against a wall to reassert his dominance.
When his aggression failed, he threw a brutal divorce agreement on the table.
"Sign it, and you walk away with nothing. You can't survive without me, and you know it."
He sneered, convinced the ironclad prenup would terrify her. He thought her rebellion was just a pathetic, jealous tantrum, a desperate play for his attention while he continued to pamper his mistress.
He truly believed she was just a beautiful canary who would eventually crawl back to her gilded cage in tears.
But Erin didn't cry, and she didn't sign the papers.
Instead, she locked him out of the master suite and pulled out his unlimited Centurion card.
In a single night, she calmly spent ninety million dollars of his money to buy up prime real estate and hidden assets, taking the first step to build an empire that would completely destroy him.