Contract Wife For Six Months
In the world of wealth and luxury, Henry Royals stands as a young billionaire who earns his fortune through hard work and determination, refusing to rely on his family's wealth.
At just 25 years old, he is hailed as the richest billionaire in Georgia. However, his single lifestyle becomes a constant source of annoyance for his mother, who is determined to see him settle down.
In an attempt to appease his mother and escape her nagging, Henry finds himself crossing paths with Dera Harold, a waitress at a popular bar he always visited of which he wants to clear his mind.
Faced with mounting pressure from his mother, Henry proposes a contracted marriage to Dera offering her a substantial sum of money in return.
Initially hesitant, Dera eventually agrees to the arrangement when she finds herself in desperate need of funds to pay for her mother's surgery. While her parents reside in Italy, Dera has come to Georgia to make a living for herself.
As the two embark on their contracted marriage, they find themselves bound by numerous rules and expectations.
The journey is not without its challenges, but over time, Dera begins to adapt and adjust to her new life.
The question remains: will Henry and Dera be able to adhere to the rules of their marriage for six months?
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Chapter 5
FLASHBACK
"Come here, Dera," her dad gestured for her to come, and she walked closer to him. She sat beside him on the sofa.
"Dad, why did you call me here? I really have work to do, you know," she pouted cutely, and her dad ruffled her hair.
"Do not enter any marriage without knowing everything about your spouse," he paused and looked at her. "You know you're the only child I have ever, so no matter what happens, do not enter any type of marriage, because marriage is sacred," he said, and she nodded and hugged him.
"I love you, Dad," she said, unlocking from the hug. "I love you too, my princess, so now go do your assignment," he said and stood up.
END OF FLASH BACK
"Dera, brace yourself; you're doing this because of Mom, not because of anything," she slapped her cheeks lightly on the road, and people turned to look at her like a mentally deranged person.
She walked home and found Luciana still watching a movie. She pulled off her sneakers and placed them neatly in one corner of the sitting room where shoes are kept before slipping into her flip-flops. She sat beside Luciana and stared at how concentrated Luciana was on the Korean drama she was watching, named "Penthouse: The War of Life."
"I don't even know where to start telling Luciana about my ordeal," Cherry thought.
"Jun Dan-tae is the most wicked man ever. Imagine how he can be so cruel to kill his own wife," Luciana hissed in anger as she threw a chip into her mouth, her eyes glued to the TV.
"I really pity this innocent girl called Bae Ro-na and her mother. They have suffered greatly from Jun Dan-tae and Seo-jin's hands," she blinked repeatedly, not minding if Dera was there or not.
Dera bit her lips as she stared at Luciana, contemplating whether to tell her or not.
"It won't be nice if she eventually finds out herself or if someone eventually tells her," she said inwardly.
She faced Luciana again, taking a deep breath in and out before starting.
"Luciana," she called slowly, and Luciana turned to her.
"Hey, what's the matter with you? You don't sound okay. What's the problem?" She asked, concentrating fully on Dera.
"I have something to tell you."
"What is it, Dera? You're scaring me. Just say it already," Luciana said, and Dera took a deep breath and shut her eyes before opening them and starting.
"I'm getting married tomorrow," she dropped the bombshell, her voice filled with hesitation.
"What!! You must be joking, right?" Luciana laughed like a manic who just escaped an asylum.
"Wait, let me finish," Dera cut her off. "I'm getting into a contracted marriage with Henry Royals."
"Henry Royals! Are you high? Dera? or are you on drugs?" Luciana asked, not ready to believe what Dera said.
"He offered me a contract to be his wife for six months, just so his mom will let him be. After the six months, we both will get divorced and go our separate ways," she bit her lower lip hard while Luciana burst into another fit of laughter.
"I think you're high, Dera, because how on Earth is what you said possible? Henry Royals of all people? That dude hates everyone, and ladies are included, so how then is he getting married to you?" Luciana asked, furrowing her brows, still not believing what Dera said.
"That's none of my business. If he hates everyone or not, it's not my problem. After all, I will be able to pay for Mom's surgery," she muttered, and Luciana sighed making Dera looked at her. "Hey, what's wrong with you?" she asked.
"I bet you won't be able to leave after those six months. I have watched movies and read books about contracted marriages. The female lead and male lead are going to fall in love with each other and then get married legally," she scoffed, and Dera shook her head.
"Then stop reading such books and stop having such a mentality because it's not happening with me, okay? So be rest assured. Moreover, you know his phobia for people, right? He isn't going to fall for a middle-class lady like me," Dera said, and Luciana sighed.
"So how much is he paying you?"
"Twenty million dollars," she whispered into Luciana's ear.
"Wow!! That's a really huge amount," Luciana eyes widened, and her mouth hung open.
"So, my baby is going to become a millionaire soon," she gushed, and Dera smiled.
"That reminds me, Luciana, how's Redmond? Is he talking to you?" Dera asked, and she sighed.
"How I wish I could control my heart, Dera. I would be the happiest person on Earth. I fell for a cold-blooded monster who doesn't talk to people, let alone be friends with them," she paused and looked at her friend
"I'm so fed up, Dera. I wish I could just get rid of the feelings I have for him, but I can't because my heart keeps beating whenever I see him. And you know the funniest part? I would take almost one hour to dress up and put on makeup just for him to look at me, but that monster wouldn't spare me a single glance," Luciana said, fighting back the tears threatening to fall.
"Hey, it's okay. He's going to love you, okay? Stop going the extra mile; just be yourself and don't waste your time making up," Dera pulled Luciana into a comforting hug.
After hugging for a few seconds, they both disengaged, and Dera spoke first to lighten the mood.
"Dad called this morning; Mom has only one week to live if she doesn't undergo the surgery as fast as possible. That's the reason I accepted the contract."
"I clearly rejected the offer yesterday when he came to the bar, but when Dad called this morning, I had to run to his house to tell him I agree already," Dera explained as tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Don't cry, okay? You were the one consoling me just a few minutes ago, and now you're crying," Luciana said, patting her head.
"Thanks for coming into my life, Luciana," she hiccuped.
"It's fine. What are friends for?"
"You're not just my friend; you're my crazy elder sister," Dera said, and they both burst into laughter.
"Hey, stop laughing like that; it's really scary. I don't want to be having weird and scary dreams, okay?" She said, and Luciana smiled before returning her gaze back to the TV.
After watching "The Penthouse" for some minutes, Dera got really tired and yawned loudly.
"Are you okay?" Luciana asked, her eyes glued to the TV screen.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just tired," she said and stood up, heading to her room. She didn't have a good night's sleep because she was thinking about the marriage contract Henry had offered her. She dropped her bag and phone on the bed before walking to the bathroom to take a cool shower.
After bathing for ten minutes, she came out and wore a pair of shorts and a big white hoodie before lying on her bed to rest. She couldn't rest because she was thinking about how to cope as a wife, something she wasn't expecting or prepared for. Everything just filled her head so much that she couldn't even close her eyes for a few seconds.
"How on Earth am I supposed to cope as a wife, for Christ's sake? This is not what I planned for myself. I planned to have a bright future, be the CEO of my own company, have a lovely husband, and cute kids," she muttered, turning from one end of the bed to another.
"And to make matters worse, a billionaire for crying out loud, the top richest man in all of Georgia," she said, ruffling her hair, making her look like a witch. Her hair was scattered all over the bed as she kept rolling from one end of the bed to another, like a child throwing a tantrum over a candy.
"Why did my life end up like this?" she muttered, biting her lower lip. The fact that she was getting into a contracted marriage the next day was driving her crazy-marrying someone she didn't know, a complete stranger.
"God! I might go crazy any moment from now," she said, throwing her legs in the air.
"After signing the contract tomorrow, I'll have to start living as his wife and behaving like his wife during occasions. But when we're at home, we'll be strangers," she ruffled her hair for the umpteenth time.
"How am I supposed to cope as a contracted wife? I won't be able to work anymore. I'll be stuck in the house from morning till night. My goodness! I might go mad or lose my mind before the six months are over," she sighed and used the pillow to cover her face.
"What if, in the process of being his wife, I fall in love with him and he doesn't feel the same way about me? Then I'll be the one with unrequited love! Oh my gosh!"
"Dera, you can't and you won't fall in love with Mr. Henry, okay? He's above your level, and moreover, we're worlds apart, from different socioeconomic statuses. So brace yourself and never mention the word 'love,' not to talk of falling in love," she shrugged, breathed out, and stared at the ceiling.
NEXT DAY
Dera groaned as her phone kept ringing. She was about to ignore it when she mistakenly saw the caller's ID; it was Henry. She sprang up immediately and picked up the call.
"Good morning, Mr. Henry," she greeted, bowing as if he was there with her.
"Enough of the greeting. Come straight to my house, and then we will proceed to the court to get the paperwork done," he hung up as soon as he finished, without even waiting to hear from her.
"That cold man," she gritted her teeth and grumpily walked to the bathroom to take a shower.
After thirty more minutes, she was done dressing and doing her morning routine. She carried a small handbag and her phone, then walked downstairs. She met Luciana setting the dining table.
"Good morning, Luciana," Dera greeted.
"Good morning, Dera. How was your night?"
"Not good at all. I was just thinking of how to cope with being a housewife to a cold billionaire. Luciana, I will just die of boredom," Dera pouted, and Luciana smiled.
"Come here," she gestured, and Dera walked up to her. Luciana hugged her while patting her hair.
Luciana was more like a sister than a friend to Dera because she had done practically everything for her. Though Luciana was three years older than Dera, she saw her as an elder sister she didn't have.
"Stop being sad and just have breakfast, okay?" Luciana disengaged from the hug and pulled out a chair for her. Dera sat down, and they started eating immediately. Dera hadn't had a proper dinner last night because she lost her appetite due to the marriage issue.
After a few minutes, she finished her breakfast, stood up, wiped her lips, and gave Dera a peck on her cheeks before walking out of the house. Dera boarded a taxi straight to Henry's house and arrived in less than ten minutes.
The gate man already knew she was coming, so he immediately opened the gate for her, and she walked into the house. Henry was seated on one of the sofas in the living room, with his legs crossed on the other. He looked breathtaking in sweatpants and a hoodie.
She walked in but was lost in thought. She never expected Henry to be in the living room, so let's just say he caught her off guard, and she almost jumped out of fear. She held her chest and was breathing really hard, her heart racing as if she had run all the way to his house.
He looked up from the book he was reading and saw her holding her chest, trying to catch her breath.
"Did I startle you that much for you to be breathing so hard?" his husky voice echoed in the living room.
She didn't say anything; she just walked to one of the sofa facing him and sat down quietly.
"We're leaving by 10:00 am, so get ready," he said, and she nodded. She knew she was lying; she wasn't prepared at all. She felt like the ground should open and swallow her rather than entering into a contracted marriage. But she was left with no option other than to accept the fact that she was going to live under a man's roof and become his legal wife for six months.
"Calm down, Dera. It's just for six months, okay? Get yourself together," she said inwardly, trying to calm herself.
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7.7
In their first year of marriage, Melinda's husband never shared her bed, and the loneliness became a craving.
She understood why after catching him kissing her sister-she was just a stand-in.
When that restless craving finally sharpened into an ailment, she went to the hospital and met a doctor whose steady hands almost unraveled her.
The next day, he showed up as the company's new CEO and made her his assistant.
"Sir, I have a husband. Stop hitting on me." She had tried to resist, but eventually, she still became his girlfriend.
Her ex begged tearfully, "Melinda, let's start over. Don't leave me."
Melinda huffed, "Sorry. I'm not interested in a man who couldn't perform in bed."
7.4
I was the bankrupt socialite everyone pitied, standing in the mud at my mother's grave with nothing left but a pair of old Louboutins and a single white rose. My bank account was overdrawn by three hundred dollars, but I still believed Julian, my fiancé, was the one person who hadn't abandoned the toxic Compton name.
Then I saw his Maybach shaking in the cemetery parking lot. Through a crack in the window, I heard the man I loved whispering to my stepsister, Tiffany.
"Don't worry about the broke princess. Once I secure her voting proxy for the trust, I'm dumping her."
Tiffany laughed, clutching the scarlet coat she'd charged to my own maxed-out credit card.
"She's so pathetic, Julian. She actually thinks you love her."
I didn't scream; I recorded them. But when I tried to use that leverage, my family turned into vipers. To protect Julian's status, they framed me for causing Tiffany to miscarry a fake pregnancy and planted stolen documents in my bag. My own father stood by as they locked me in a room, planning to sell me to a predatory creditor named Hightower to settle his gambling debts. I ended up in a freezing police cell, my ankle shattered and my reputation destroyed.
I sat on that metal bench, shivering as I realized my own blood had traded my life for a check. I called the only man powerful enough to burn them all-Julian's uncle, the "Butcher of Wall Street," Alden Stark. The phone just kept ringing. He wasn't coming. To the world, I was just a walking bankruptcy filing, a girl who had finally run out of luck.
I didn't wait for a savior. I escaped custody and ran barefoot through the rain, leaving a trail of blood on the marble floor of Stark Tower. When I collapsed at Alden's feet, he didn't look at me with pity; he looked at me like a rare, damaged artifact he finally owned.
"Inform the board that this is my fiancée," he announced, lifting me into his arms.
I signed the marriage contract that night, trading my freedom for the power to ensure my family's liabilities exceeded their assets for the rest of their natural lives.
9.3
They say you can't have it all. I'm about to prove them wrong-or destroy myself trying.
When my struggling mother married billionaire Richard Stone, I thought I was gaining a family. Instead, I found three stepbrothers who became my obsession, my downfall, and my salvation.
Dominic, the eldest, cold and commanding, who kisses me like he's claiming his kingdom and looks at me like I'm the only thing he can't control.
Julian, the charming playboy who hides a vulnerable soul beneath his perfect smile, making me feel like I'm the only woman he's ever truly seen.
Asher, the brooding artist who paints me like I'm his muse and touches me like I'm his masterpiece, seeing parts of my soul I didn't know existed.
They're forbidden. They're dangerous. They're everything I shouldn't want.
But when I discover my father didn't die by suicide that he was murdered by the very man who now calls himself my stepfather, these three powerful men becomes my unlikely allies.
First it was a forbidden attraction, now it's an arrangement that defies every rule.
The rules are simple:
I'll give each of them a chance.
I'll take everything they offer.
And in the end, I'll have to make the hardest decision of my life:
Choose one of them. Choose all of them. Or choose myself.
7.6
The harsh glare of the spotlight hit Harper's custom wedding dress as she smiled at her groom.
But a single phone call from his mistress, Lila, made Chase violently shove his way down the aisle and sprint out of the hotel.
He left Harper to face the flashing cameras and the mockery of hundreds of guests.
Her mother-in-law dragged her into a hallway and slapped her hard across the face.
"You cannot even keep your own man in the room. You are making a mockery of this family."
When Harper rushed to the hospital, Chase blamed her for Lila's theatrical, fake miscarriage.
He threatened to pull every cent of capital from Harper's investment firm if she dared to walk away.
The Young family then used the media to frame Harper, turning her into a public pariah who viciously "killed" an unborn child.
Mobbed by ruthless paparazzi, Harper was pushed into the freezing rain, her knees bleeding on the concrete.
She couldn't accept that her entire life and career were being destroyed by a mistress's pathetic lie.
When Chase later tried to buy her silence with a pink diamond—the exact same one he had just gifted Lila—her remaining love turned to absolute ice.
But fate intervened when she was rescued from the mob by Antoni Donovan, the most ruthless billionaire on Wall Street and her biggest corporate rival.
Discovering that Antoni was actually her best friend's older brother, a dangerous smile spread across Harper's face.
She picked up his gold-lettered business card.
She was done being the victim; she was going to use the wolf of Wall Street to crush her ex-husband.
9.1
After catching her fiancé cheating on her, Lena Hart goes out drinking with one goal: forget everything. One reckless night turns into a steamy one-night stand with a handsome stranger who leaves her breathless and nameless.
She leaves before morning, convinced it was just a mistake she can bury.
Until she walks into work.
The stranger is Lucas Reed, her company's new CEO.
And Lena is assigned as his personal assistant.
Now she's trapped in relentless proximity with the man who knows her body better than he should, forced to sit outside his office, take his orders, and pretend their night never happened. Lucas is powerful and devastatingly aware of exactly what they're risking and exactly how badly he wants her, the harder they try to stay professional, the more dangerous their attraction becomes.
One night was supposed to mean nothing.
Now it could destroy her career... or become the one thing neither of them can walk away from.
9.7
Isla Hart has one priority: survival. Drowning in bills and personal struggles, she needs money, fast. So when Lucien Cross, a powerful and emotionally distant CEO, offers her a lucrative deal to pose as his fiancée, she accepts. The rules are clear: no emotions, no attachments, and no complications. It's strictly business.
Lucien Cross has built his life on control. Wealth, power, and influence are effortless to him-but love is a liability he refuses to entertain. With a critical merger at stake, a fake engagement is just another calculated move. Isla is meant to be temporary, a convincing presence by his side until the deal is secured.
But proximity has consequences.
As Isla steps into Lucien's world, she begins to see beyond the cold exterior, the loneliness, the pressure of his empire, and the past he keeps buried. And Lucien, despite himself, finds his carefully ordered life unraveling. Isla isn't just playing a role anymore. She challenges him, softens him, and awakens feelings he never planned to have.
When the truth behind their engagement starts to surface and old secrets threaten Lucien's empire, the line between contract and reality shatters. Isla is forced to face the one thing she promised herself she'd avoid: love.
Now, with everything on the line, reputations, power, and hearts, Isla must decide whether love is worth the risk. Because this time, love was never in the contract. And the fallout could cost them both everything.