Fake Vows, Real Love: The CEO's Wife
For three years, I hid my identity as a billionaire heiress to build a life with the man I loved. I gave up everything to support Ben's career, believing we were creating a future together from the ground up.
The day before our engagement, I overheard him with his boss, Haylie. He called me a "stepping stone," a poor, simple girl he was using to climb the corporate ladder and get closer to her.
He laughed about our "humble" life and mocked the silver ring on my finger, calling it a necessary prop. He was sleeping with her, taking credit for the multi-million dollar deal I secretly engineered, and saw my love as a naive distraction.
The man I sacrificed my entire world for saw me as less than nothing. My love didn't just die; it turned into ice-cold rage.
So I walked out of his life and straight into the arms of my family's biggest rival.
He offered me a deal I couldn't refuse.
"Marry me," Jaxson Banks said with a smirk. "And together, we'll burn their world to the ground."
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Chapter 6
Isolde POV
The grand gates of the Park estate swung open, revealing the familiar, sprawling gardens and the majestic mansion that had been my childhood home. It was a stark contrast to the cramped apartment I had just left. A sense of weary relief washed over me. I was home.
My father, Alger Park, no, my actual father, the one who truly cared, met me at the door. Not Alger, my uncle. My real father, William Park, greeted me with a solemn nod, his eyes filled with a mixture of concern and approval. "Isolde," he said, his voice deep. "It's good to have you back."
"It's good to be back, Dad," I replied, a genuine smile finally touching my lips.
He led me to a lavish drawing-room, where a figure already sat, impeccably dressed. "We have a meeting, Isolde," my father said, waving a hand towards the man. "A strategic alliance. A marriage of convenience, as you requested."
My breath hitched. I had agreed to this. I had sent that text. But I hadn't expected it to move so fast. I had also foolishly assumed I would have some say in who the alliance was with. I walked further into the room, my eyes fixing on the figure. He turned, a sardonic smirk playing on his lips.
My teacup clattered against its saucer. "Jaxson Banks?" I gasped, the name ripping through the carefully constructed calm I had built. Jaxson, heir to Banks Corp, my childhood rival, the bane of my existence, the one person who could always push my buttons like no other. This was not what I expected.
He chuckled, a low, arrogant sound. "Surprise, Isolde. Miss me?" His eyes, sharp and intelligent, swept over me, a familiar glint of mischief in their depths. "Still playing the 'poor orphan' act, I see? Did your little junior analyst job finally bore you? Or did your ambitious boyfriend finally realize he was punching below his weight class?"
My face flushed with a mixture of anger and humiliation. He knew. Of course, he knew. Jaxson Banks always knew everything. He had been my rival since we were kids, competing in everything from chess tournaments to debate clubs. He was always one step ahead, always ready with a witty, cutting remark. This strategic marriage was already off to a terrible start.
"You arrogant pig!" I snapped, grabbing a decorative cushion from the armchair and launching it at him.
He caught it effortlessly, a smug grin spreading across his face. "Still as fiery as ever, Park. Some things never change." His expression then sobered, his tone dropping to a serious note that made me sit up straighter. "I heard about Ben Carpenter. The whole office is buzzing. The poor, ambitious scholarship boy, sleeping his way up the corporate ladder with Haylie White." His eyes met mine, a flicker of something surprisingly gentle passing through them. "I'm sorry, Isolde. He wasn't worth it."
I went silent, the cushion still clutched in Jaxson' s hand. The sudden shift in his demeanor caught me off guard. The raw wound of Ben's betrayal throbbed anew. I hated that he knew. I hated that he saw my pain.
"He was a fool," Jaxson continued, his voice steady. "A dime-a-dozen opportunist who couldn't see the diamond in front of him because he was too busy chasing pyrite." He stood up, his tall frame suddenly imposing, casting a shadow over me. "He looked at you, Isolde, and saw a stepping stone. A temporary convenience. A means to an end. Do you know what that says about him? Not about you."
I tried to retort, to defend my past judgment, but the words stuck in my throat. He was right. Every agonizing word he uttered was true.
Jaxson leaned down, his face close to mine. He reached out, his fingers gently but firmly taking my chin, tilting my face up to meet his gaze. His touch was electric, unsettling. "You, Isolde Park, are an heiress. A brilliant woman. You chose to hide your power, to dim your light for a man who didn't even deserve a flicker. Do you truly believe you are so worthless that you needed to be 'rescued' by a man like him?"
I slapped his hand away, my eyes blazing. "Don't you dare question my worth, Jaxson Banks!"
He straightened up, a smirk returning to his lips. "Good. Glad to see you still have some fight left in you." He paused, then dropped the bombshell. "Marry me, Isolde."
I blinked. "Are you insane?" I retorted, a nervous laugh escaping me. "We hate each other!"
He shrugged. "A healthy rivalry is better than a miserable romance, wouldn't you agree? Besides..." He leaned in again, his voice dropping to a seductive whisper. "Think of the power we'd wield. The havoc we could wreak."
His words struck a chord. Power. Havoc. Revenge. My mind, still reeling from betrayal, seized on the idea. This wasn't about love. It was about strategy. It was about survival. It was about making Ben and Haylie pay.
"Fine," I said, my chin lifting, a cold fire in my eyes. "But on one condition. I want the most spectacular, over-the-top, high-society wedding this city has ever seen. I want every single one of those hypocrites to know exactly who they're dealing with."
Jaxson' s eyes glinted with amusement. "Is that all, Isolde Park? Because I can promise you, if we're doing this, it won't just be a wedding. It'll be a declaration of war. What exactly do you want to achieve with this 'spectacular' event?"
I met his gaze, my voice dropping to a low, dangerous growl. "I want Ben Carpenter ruined. I want Haylie White bankrupt. And I want my uncle, Alger, to know he picked the wrong side."
Jaxson threw his head back and laughed, a genuine, booming sound that filled the room. He reached out, ruffling my hair, a gesture he used to do when we were kids, after a particularly fierce debate. "Now that's the Isolde I know. Welcome back to the real game, Park. This is going to be fun."
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9.6
Minutes before announcing her grand engagement, Darla caught her fiancé sleeping with her stepsister.
She publicly exposed them and canceled the wedding on the spot.
Furious, her adoptive mother demanded Darla marry a fifty-five-year-old predator to save their broken business deal.
"If you don't do exactly what I say, I'll let your father rot in prison for the rest of his life."
Desperate to escape her family's control, Darla grabbed a massive, intimidating hotel security guard she bumped into in the hallway.
She shoved all the cash in her purse at him—eight hundred dollars—and begged him to fake-marry her.
They signed the papers at City Hall that same day.
But the nightmare didn't end.
That evening, Darla received a cold phone call from the state penitentiary.
Her father had been found dead in his cell, and her company, owned by her ex-fiancé's family, fired her immediately.
They had taken everything from her, leaving her completely broken and sobbing on the floor of her tiny apartment.
She thought she had nothing left but a broke, fake husband to keep her company.
She had no idea that the "poor security guard" holding her in his arms was actually Anson Prince, a ruthless billionaire CEO.
And he was already making the calls to tear her abusers' empires to the ground.
8.4
Everly spent four years playing the perfect, accommodating wife to Carson Moss, swallowing every grievance just to secure medical treatments for their sick daughter.
But at a high-society banquet she exhausted herself organizing, Carson's pregnant mistress crashed the party.
The woman shoved an ultrasound of Carson's "real heir" directly into Everly's frail grandfather's face.
The shock triggered a massive heart attack.
Carson refused to use his private helicopter to save the dying old man, choosing to protect his mistress and his company's IPO instead. Her grandfather died on the hospital table.
Instead of remorse, her mother-in-law demanded Everly publicly cover up the murder.
"You will do exactly as I say, or I will freeze every single cent of the medical trust fund paying for your crippled daughter's treatments."
When a battered Everly returned to the estate, she discovered her three-year-old daughter covered in dark bruises and pinch marks. Her in-laws were deliberately torturing her disabled child.
Everly couldn't comprehend how a family could be so utterly heartless. Her only family was murdered, her child was abused, and her husband threw a five-million-dollar check at her face as hush money.
They thought she would just break and quietly disappear.
But when a terrifyingly powerful billionaire unexpectedly blocked Carson's security team from locking her up, Everly finally saw her window.
She grabbed her sleeping daughter and ran out into the freezing storm, making a blood-bound vow to make the entire Moss family bleed.
7.0
Eleanore thought her fiancé, Johan, was her only salvation after her family went bankrupt.
But at a high-society gala, he handed her a drugged glass of water. As the unnatural heat burned through her veins, the horrific truth hit her. Johan had isolated her and controlled her finances, all while secretly getting engaged to a wealthy heiress. He drugged Eleanore to ruin her completely, planning to lock her away as his helpless, secret mistress.
Desperate and losing her mind to the drug, Eleanore fled down the hallway. With Johan and his bodyguards hunting her, she stumbled into the dark presidential suite.
But she wasn't alone. Sitting on the leather sofa was Alexander Briggs—the most feared corporate raider on Wall Street, and Johan's exiled brother.
Outside the door, Johan was screaming, ready to drag her back to hell.
"I can be your antidote. But it's going to cost you."
The ruthless billionaire looked at her trembling body with cold calculation. He offered her a staggering deal: a three-month fake marriage to destroy Johan's empire, and in return, absolute protection and her father's massive debts paid in full.
She couldn't understand why the most powerful predator in New York would use a ruined girl as his weapon, but she knew she would rather die than let Johan touch her again.
When Johan finally broke down the door to claim his prey, Alexander calmly pulled Eleanore into his arms.
"Watch your mouth. You are speaking to my future wife."
7.9
On my wedding day, my fiancé Connor received an urgent phone call.
He told me a D-list actress had broken her leg on set, then abandoned me right at the altar.
In my past life, I cried until my throat bled, begging him not to leave.
But my tears only brought endless humiliation. My mother and adopted sister mocked me, framed me, and forged my signature to steal my multi-million dollar trust fund.
They kicked me out of the family estate without a single dime.
I ended up freezing to death in the minus-twenty-degree New York blizzard, listening to my mother's voicemail telling me to die in the street as long as I didn't bleed on her carpets.
Until my last breath, I couldn't understand why my own blood relatives hated me so much, yet treated an adopted daughter like a precious princess.
The only person who showed me any mercy—draping his wool coat over my frozen corpse and giving me a proper burial—was Connor's ruthless, untouchable uncle, Harding Snow.
Opening my eyes again, I was back in the bridal suite, right as Connor was rushing out the door.
This time, I didn't shed a single tear.
I let him run to his actress, then walked straight into the VIP room to face the most feared billionaire on Wall Street.
"The wedding proceeds as planned, but the groom's name changes to yours."
9.5
For nine years, I poured my soul into proving I was worthy of my wealthy boyfriend, Clayton Wright. I endured his endless, humiliating "tests," sacrificing everything for a place in his world.
But at our engagement party, the final test was revealed. He stood by as his ex-girlfriend, Anjelica, framed me for shattering a priceless family heirloom.
"You manipulative bitch!" he snarled, slapping me across the face. He then ordered his bodyguard to force me to my knees, grinding them into the sharp, broken fragments of the watch.
As I bled on the floor, he pulled out his phone and gave a single command: demolish my childhood home, the last piece I had of my deceased father.
He destroyed my past and my dignity, yet minutes later, my phone buzzed with a message from him.
"The engagement is just for show. I'll still marry you. You're my destiny."
That night, clutching the last of my father's life insurance, I booked a one-way ticket and vanished. He thought he had finally broken his little project, but he had just unleashed a woman with nothing left to lose.
9.3
For years, Gabriela believed the man beside her would be the one she grew old with. They had loved each other since they were young, but in the end, all those years meant nothing beside a younger woman's smile.
Returning from a business trip, she uncovered his betrayal with brutal clarity. Still, she did not cry or beg. She took out her phone, recorded every damning second, and filed for divorce the moment she could.
Afterward, she rebuilt her life into something brighter, richer, and stronger, even marrying a powerful tycoon. As for her ex and his shameless mistress, they could rot together.