Craving for My Tyrant Husband
I was cheated on by my scumbag boyfriend.
On the night I got blackout drunk, I married a stranger, and when I woke up, I only found a marriage certificate and a black card.
He took care of my scumbag ex for me, gave me a canary diamond ring, but refused to show his face-he only called me baby on video calls.
I ran to my best friend's house to hide, only to find that the billionaire next door, who made my heart skip a beat, had the exact same scent as him.
My best friend cried and begged me: "He's Augustus, a tyrant who eats people alive!"
But only I knew that the man who pressed me against the terrace railing, leaned down to kiss me, and whispered "I'll protect you" softly.
Fifty thousand dollars to sneak photos of his private office? I'll go.
Not for the money, but to ask him to his face-
Gus, how many secrets are you hiding? And how long have you been craving me?
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Chapter 3
The next morning, Everleigh was sitting at Illa's kitchen island, nursing a coffee, when her phone vibrated again.
It wasn't a text this time. It was a notification.
Invitation to download: Enigma.
"What is that?" Illa asked, leaning over Evie's shoulder, a piece of toast hanging from her mouth.
"I don't know. An app invite."
Illa squinted,"Enigma? That's military-grade encryption. The server is in a bunker in Switzerland or something. My brother uses it. All the paranoid Wall Street guys do."
A text from Gus popped up on Evie's regular message app.
Standard texts aren't safe. Download this.
Evie frowned. "He's paranoid."
"He's rich," Illa corrected. "Download it."
Evie did. The interface was stark black and white.
No profile pictures. Just one contact listed: Gus.
I had your number changed, the first message read. To stop your ex from calling. The new SIM card is with the doorman.
Evie bristled. "He changed my number? Without asking?"
"Control freak," Illa muttered, chewing her toast. "Definitely rich."
Evie typed back. You have no right to control my life.
I have every right, came the reply. I'm your husband. And I hold grudges against men who make my wife cry.
Evie stared at the word wife. It looked alien on the screen.
Ten minutes later, the doorman delivered a small package. Inside was a brand new, top-of-the-line smartphone and a SIM card.
Evie swapped the cards. The silence was immediate. No more barrage of hate-texts from Darrin. It felt... lighter.
The Enigma app pinged.
To apologize for the unilateral decision, and to show sincerity, you need a ring.
Evie rolled her eyes. We are getting divorced. I don't need a ring.
As long as we are legally married, you wear my ring, he wrote. It's a matter of principle for me.
"A matter of principle?" Illa scoffed, reading over Evie's shoulder. "Okay, that's weirdly formal. Maybe he's a distant cousin? Like, a third cousin twice removed who owns a car dealership in Jersey?"
You're bossy, Evie typed.
A moment later, an audio file appeared in the chat.
She pressed play.
"Be good, Evie."
The voice was low, rough,It was the voice from the hotel room.
Evie's face went nuclear red.
Illa grabbed the phone. "Play it again."
She listened, her eyes widening. "Okay. That voice? That is the voice of a man who has never flown economy. That is a private jet voice."
She handed the phone back, a mischievous glint in her eye. "Let's test him."
"Test him?"
"If he wants to buy you a ring, let him. We'll see if he's a Jersey car dealer or... something else." Illa grabbed Evie's phone and typed. Fine. But I want to pick it out.
Go ahead, Gus replied instantly. Send me the link.
Illa opened the browser on her iPad and went straight to Harry Winston.
"Illa, no!" Evie tried to grab the tablet. "That's insane."
"Hush," Illa swatted her hand away. "If he's a fake, he'll ghost you the second he sees the price. If he's real... well, you get a ring."
She didn't go to the engagement ring section. She went to High Jewelry. The stuff that didn't have prices listed, just "Price upon request."
"This is too much," Evie said, feeling dizzy as Illa scrolled past diamonds the size of grapes.
"It's a stress test," Illa insisted.
Next door, in a soundproofed study, Agustus Williams sat at the head of a mahogany table. Twelve men in suits were arguing about a merger.
His phone buzzed. He glanced at it, and the corner of his mouth twitched. He held up a hand. The room went instantly silent.
"Five minute recess," he said, his voice leaving no room for argument.
He opened the app. He looked at the link Illa had sent. It was a generic page. He knew exactly what she was doing. Illa. His annoying, meddling little sister.
He opened his gallery and selected a photo he'd taken at a private viewing in Sotheby's last week.
Back in Illa's apartment, Evie's phone pinged.
An image loaded. It wasn't a link. It was a photo of a rough, uncut stone. It glowed with an inner, vibrant pink fire.
Do you like this one? the caption read. Or do you prefer it cut?
Illa gasped. It was a sound of pure, unadulterated shock. She dropped the toast.
"That..." She pointed a trembling finger at the screen. "That is a raw pink diamond. Evie, that's not from a website. That's from an auction catalog. A private one."
"Is it expensive?" Evie asked, feeling like a child.
Illa looked at her, her face deadly serious. "That stone? It could buy this entire building. Twice."
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9.5
My adoptive sister drugged me and sent me to a hotel for a fake audition, where a powerful stranger assaulted me in the pitch-black suite.
When I escaped home, my fiancé, Ethan, and my entire family ambushed me. They threw staged photos in my face, accusing me of selling my body to a sleazy director.
They called me a whore, stripped me of my trust fund, and threw me onto the street. But Ethan refused to let me go. He had me blacklisted from every job and even froze my only friend's bank accounts, trying to break me completely.
Forced into a corner, I had no choice but to attend a high-society party as his date, where he and my sister made sure everyone in New York saw me as worthless trash.
I couldn't understand the depths of their cruelty. Why would the very family who took me from an orphanage orchestrate such an elaborate plot to ruin me?
But during a sudden blackout at the party, I ran straight into the arms of my attacker. When the lights came back on, I finally saw his face. He wasn't a director—he was Abraham Bush, the most ruthless billionaire in the country. And just as my ex-fiancé is about to strike me after discovering I'm pregnant, Abraham's men have surrounded the house.
7.4
I was a broke clinic doctor drowning in debt, so I took a confidential job to evaluate a billionaire heir's fertility.
I marched into the VIP ICU, pinned the struggling patient down, and injected a sedative. I finished the extraction and loudly declared to the family lawyer that the Holt heir was completely sterile.
But then, a chilling laugh echoed from the doorway.
The real heir, Jarrod Holt, the tyrant of Wall Street, stepped in. I had just sterilized his younger brother right in front of him.
Facing a decade in federal prison, I was completely at his mercy. To make things worse, my arrogant ex-boyfriend tried to publicly humiliate me, and my greedy uncle threatened to burn my dead mother's belongings for ransom. I was pushed to the absolute brink of ruin.
But instead of destroying me, Jarrod offered a terrifying lifeline. He bought out a Manhattan high-rise in five minutes just to ruin my ex, then handed me a marriage contract.
I was terrified and deeply confused. Why would this ruthless billionaire force a nobody into a fake marriage? He knew details about my past that no one should know. Did he discover my hidden identity as 'E', the underground surgeon the entire medical world was hunting for?
With my back against the wall, I signed the prenuptial agreement.
"I do," I whispered at City Hall.
He shoved his heavy, antique family ring onto my finger. It was supposed to be strictly business with absolutely no physical contact, but when his lips crashed violently onto mine, I knew I had just sold my soul to the devil.
9.4
Owned By You
9.4
Deborah grew up as the only girl among six overprotective brothers, each powerful, intimidating, and fiercely loyal. In their eyes, no man is ever good enough for their sister. They swore that only they would choose the man worthy of her hand.
But Deborah has a secret that could destroy everything. Behind closed doors and hidden glances, she's been having an affair with Luther Cain, the cold, handsome CEO of one of the country's most powerful companies... the Cain Industry..... and her brothers consider their greatest rival.
As their forbidden relationship deepens, passion turns into danger. Lies begin to unravel. And when her brothers discover the truth, Deborah must choose between the family that raised her, and the man she's willing to burn the world for.
7.2
Stepping out of the women's correctional center, Karli took her first breath of freedom in three years.
But the luxury SUV waiting for her didn't bring her home. Instead, her adoptive parents tossed a prenuptial agreement onto her lap.
They demanded she marry a violently unhinged, disfigured man so their company could secure a massive commercial deal.
When she refused, her adoptive mother slapped her hard across the face.
The blow brought back the suffocating nightmare from three years ago—how they had drugged her, framed her for a crime she didn't commit, and sent her to prison just so her stepsister could steal her fiancé.
Now, to break her again, her adoptive father ordered his bodyguards to drag her into the estate's freezing, pitch-black basement.
"You can rot in the dark without food or water until you sign that paper!"
Sitting on the damp cement, bleeding and shivering, a white-hot fury burned away Karli's panic.
They had stolen her youth, her reputation, and her grandfather's inheritance. She would rather die than be their sacrificial lamb again.
She smashed the basement window with a hammer, dragged her bleeding body through the shattered glass, and sprinted blindly into the stormy night.
Under the flickering neon sign of a convenience store, she grabbed the sleeve of a terrifyingly cold stranger.
"Are you single? Marry me right now."
She just needed a legal marriage to escape her family, entirely unaware she had just proposed to the most ruthless billionaire in Chicago.
7.4
I was a wolfless Omega, sold to the powerful Blackwood Pack to save my bankrupt family from ruin.
But on my wedding day, as I walked down the aisle alone, my groom didn't show up.
Braden, the Alpha heir, had abandoned me at the altar. He boarded a private jet with his scentless human mistress, leaving me to face the cruel mockery of the most powerful Alphas in North America.
To clean up his mess, the Dowager Luna offered me two humiliating replacements to fulfill our sacred marriage treaty: a brute who despised me, or a trembling coward who couldn't even look me in the eye.
The pack members sneered, publicly screaming that I was nothing but "leftovers" and a rejected stray.
They expected me to lower my head, accept their scraps, and remain a pathetic pawn in their political games. They thought a fragile, wolfless girl would just break down and cry.
But a white-hot pride ignited in my soul. I refused to be their victim.
I rejected both of their pathetic options and pointed directly at the most terrifying man in the room—the Lycan King himself.
"I demand a replacement. I choose him."
I didn't just escape humiliation; I forced the ruthless King to make me his Queen.
Now, I am the Luna of the entire pack, wielding the power to control their fate, and stepmother to the coward who threw me away.
It's time to teach these beasts exactly who they are dealing with.
9.5
The night I ran, I left everything behind.
My dead fiancé's ghost. His brother's cold hands reaching for me. A father who won't meet my eyes because he's already sold me to the highest bidder.
I thought I was escaping.
Then a stranger pulled me from the darkness, and I learned what real danger looks like.
Damon moves like he owns the world. Talks like every word matters. Looks at me like I'm the only woman who ever made him feel something. He says he's the son the Kings family erased, the bastard they tried to bury. He says Evan loved me-really loved me-and that's why I should trust him.
He wants me to sign a contract. One year as his wife. One year to help him destroy the family that destroyed us both. One year pretending to belong to a man who makes my heart race and my skin burn every time he's close.
But the closer we get, the more I feel him keeping secrets.
He touches me like I'm fragile. Looks away when I ask about Evan. Holds the truth behind his teeth like it might cut us both.
And the whole time, I'm falling.
Falling into his warmth. His danger. His impossible kindness that feels too real to be fake.
But if I've learned anything from the Kings, it's this: the men who save you are always the ones who need you most.
And the ones who need you?
They're the ones who hurt you in the end.
Evan knew something the night he died. Something about my father. Something about the deal that would make the Kings the most powerful people in the country.
Damon knows too.
And the only way he'll tell me?
Is if I say yes.
Say yes to the contract. Say yes to the marriage. Say yes to the fire building between us that feels less like pretending every single day.
But when I finally learn the truth-about Evan, about my father, about the empire that wants us both dead-
Will the man holding me survive what comes next?
And more terrifying:
Will I survive loving him?