Flash Marriage To The Ruthless Surgeon
My abusive ex was threatening a lawsuit that would destroy my father's career and wipe out my PhD. I was completely out of options.
That night, Graham, the boy from next door I hadn't seen in a decade, showed up at my apartment in the middle of a hurricane. Now a wealthy orthopedic surgeon, he offered a transactional marriage: he needed a local wife to keep his family away while he cared for his sick mother, and in return, he would make my ex disappear.
I thought it was a simple deal. But the morning after we signed the marriage license, Graham didn't just scare my ex off—he ruthlessly dismantled him. Then, Graham turned to me. His eyes were dead as he pulled out his phone, showing me a high-resolution photo of the night I illegally sold lab samples to pay off my ex's initial blackmail. He had hired a private investigator to stalk me. If that photo leaked to the FDA, I wouldn't just lose my degree; I'd go to prison.
"I needed a guarantee," he said flatly.
I was shaking with rage and terror. This wasn't a rescue. It was a hostage situation. Why did he hunt me down? Why use my darkest secret to trap me in this twisted marriage?
I couldn't live like this. I demanded an immediate divorce. But at the courthouse, the clerk dropped a bomb on us: state law required a mandatory thirty-day waiting period. Thirty days trapped with a ruthless, manipulative stranger. I had to find a way to break his leverage before the month was up.
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Chapter 6
Jaimie had learned about Gerry’s hospitalization two days earlier, through a curt voicemail from his lawyer. The message stated that Gerry Brady had sustained a fractured right arm during what the lawyer called "the incident at the restaurant," that he was being treated at St. Clare’s Hospital, and that his legal team was preparing to pursue maximum damages. The words had burrowed into her brain like a splinter she couldn’t remove. She had spent the following forty-eight hours staring at her ceiling, her bank balance, and the wall, cycling through every possible outcome until only one desperate option remained. She had to go there. She had to see him. She had to try.
The walls of the hospital corridor were painted a dull, institutional green.
Jaimie sat in a plastic chair outside room 412, her hands clasped so tightly in her lap that her knuckles were white. She had spent the last hour staring at the wall, trying to convince herself that this wasn't a mistake.
She had come to the hospital to see Gerry. It was a desperate move, maybe a stupid one, but she had to try. She had checked her bank account again this morning-$3,247.56. It was a joke. Gerry wanted fifty thousand.
She had to negotiate. She had to beg if she had to. Anything to avoid a lawsuit.
As she waited, she overheard two nurses chatting at their station. "Did you hear Dr. Evans is out sick? They had to pull in that new surgeon from Washington to cover his patients. Hired him almost overnight, apparently-some kind of emergency credentialing." The other nurse nodded. "Yeah, Dr. Lawson. He specifically asked to take over the case in 412. Said he wanted to review the file personally." A cold knot formed in Jaimie's stomach, but she pushed the thought away. It had to be a coincidence.
She stood up, took a deep breath, and pushed open the door to Gerry's room.
He was sitting up in bed, his right arm in a cast resting on a pillow. The TV was on, playing some daytime talk show. He looked up as she walked in, and a slow, slimy smile spread across his face.
"Well, well," he said, his voice nasally. "Look who finally came to her senses. Did you bring the check, or are you here to watch me call my lawyer?"
"I don't have fifty thousand dollars, Gerry," she said, staying near the door. "I have five. That's all I can get right now. Take it, and we can forget this whole thing."
Gerry laughed, a harsh, grating sound. "Five grand? That barely covers my legal fees, Jaimie. You're going to have to do better than that."
"I can't. You know I can't."
He leaned forward, his eyes roaming over her body in a way that made her skin crawl. "Maybe we can work out a different kind of payment," he said, his voice dropping to a whisper. "You know, for old times' sake."
"Go to hell," she snapped, the anger flaring up and burning through her fear.
"Don't talk to me like that!" Gerry shouted, his face twisting with rage. "You did this to me! You and your crazy father! I'm the victim here!"
"Mr. Brady, please keep your voice down."
A nurse appeared in the doorway, a heavyset woman with a stern expression. "This is a hospital, not a bar."
"She's harassing me!" Gerry whined, pointing at Jaimie with his good hand. "I'm a patient! I'm in pain, and she's here yelling at me!"
The nurse looked at Jaimie, her gaze disapproving. "Ma'am, if you're causing a disturbance, I'll have to ask you to leave."
"I'm not-" Jaimie started, but before she could finish, the door swung open again.
A man stepped into the room. He was tall, wearing a white lab coat over a crisp dress shirt. He had a stethoscope draped around his neck and a patient chart in his hand.
Jaimie's heart stopped.
It was Graham.
He walked past her as if she didn't exist, his attention focused entirely on Gerry. "Mr. Brady," he said, his voice professional and cool. "I'm Dr. Lawson. How are we feeling today?"
Gerry's face went slack. He looked from Graham to Jaimie, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. "You... you know her?"
Graham didn't even glance at Jaimie. "I know she's visiting during restricted hours. Miss, I'll have to ask you to step out."
Jaimie couldn't move. She was frozen to the spot, her brain trying to process what she was seeing. Dr. Lawson. Graham was a doctor at this hospital. Graham was Gerry's doctor.
This wasn't a coincidence. This was a setup.
Gerry, oblivious to the tension, saw an opportunity. He turned to Graham, his face a mask of suffering. "Doctor, you have to do something. She attacked me. Her father broke my arm. They're trying to ruin me. And now she's here, threatening me!"
He was playing the victim, using the presence of an authority figure to bolster his case. He thought the doctor was on his side.
Graham listened patiently, his expression neutral. He checked the monitors, adjusted the IV drip, and made a note on the chart.
"Mr. Brady," Graham said, his voice still calm. "Your chart indicates a blood alcohol level of point one two upon admission, and traces of oxycodone in your system. That suggests you were not in a sound state of mind during the altercation."
Gerry's face went pale. "That's... that's not relevant."
"It's highly relevant to your credibility," Graham said, his tone sharpening slightly. "Furthermore, the security footage from the restaurant shows you initiating the physical contact with an elderly man. A man who was simply defending himself."
Gerry started to sweat. "You can't... that's private!"
Graham finally looked at Jaimie. His eyes were flat, empty. "Miss Stuart," he said, using her maiden name like a weapon. "Please wait outside. I need to discuss my patient's treatment plan with him. Privately."
Jaimie wanted to scream. She wanted to demand answers. But the look in his eyes told her not to push it. Not here.
She turned and walked out of the room. The door clicked shut behind her.
She leaned against the wall, her legs weak. Graham was inside with Gerry. He was Gerry's doctor. He had access to Gerry's medical records, his blood work, his everything.
The web he had spun was so much bigger than she had realized. She wasn't just married to him. She was trapped in his world, and he had been watching her long before he knocked on her door.
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8.0
When gifted cellist Vivienne Aurel inherits her late father's catastrophic $4.2 million debt, she expects to lose everything. She doesn't expect the debt to be bought by Caspian Vane, the most feared private equity magnate in New York. Caspian doesn't want to ruin her; he wants her to work exclusively for him as the artistic director of his new cultural foundation for eighteen months. Forced into his world under a binding agreement, Vivienne prepares to fight against a cold, transactional cage. But as the intense, quiet proximity between them begins to blur the lines of their contract, she discovers a terrifying truth: the man who now owns her future has been watching her from the shadows long before she ever knew his name.
8.4
I worked three double shifts at the garage just to buy a velvet-boxed cake for my wealthy girlfriend, Arleen.
But when I pushed open the VIP room door, I saw her lover kissing her bare leg.
She didn't push him away. Instead, she laughed and swirled her martini.
"I only forgot Finn because I knew he would stay. He is a poor boy from Queens who follows me around like a loyal dog."
Later that night, her lover intentionally crashed a Porsche to scare me, sending a piece of jagged metal into my skull.
Lying in a growing pool of my own blood, I watched Arleen crawl out of the wreckage.
She didn't even look at me. She threw herself at her uninjured lover, screaming for a medic.
"He just got scraped by a piece of plastic. He is faking it. Deal with Jaquez first!"
When I woke up, I wasn't free. Arleen had locked me in a private hospital wing with 24-hour security, planning to isolate me and keep me as her broken, captive toy forever.
My blind, pathetic devotion finally froze into absolute disgust.
I looked at the heart monitor next to my bed and grabbed an IV needle.
I severed the sensor wire to trigger a flatline, slipped out the fire stairs while the nurses panicked, and burned my identity to ashes.
This time, I was going to disappear to London, build my own empire, and watch hers burn.
9.2
Jacqueline Blackburn, a desperate Ivy League tutor, walked into the sleazy Veridian VIP club just to save her job.
But her billionaire client, the ruthless Christian Montgomery, mistook her for a cheap escort, blowing cigar smoke in her face and treating her like trash.
When she furiously turned to leave, a drunk former client attacked her in the hallway, tearing her white dress open and pinning her by the throat.
She fought back, stabbing the man's hand with a pen, only for Christian to emerge from the shadows and brutally crush the attacker's bleeding hand under his heel.
Instead of letting her go, Christian draped his heavy suit jacket over her exposed skin, trapped her in his dark suite, and forced her to sign a suffocating contract.
"You have exactly ninety days, or I will personally ensure you cease to exist in my city."
She thought she could just keep her head down, teach his nephew, and survive.
But she didn't understand why this terrifying underground tyrant was suddenly so fixated on her.
Why did he use his immense power to isolate her, publicly claim her at a billionaire gala, and track her every move?
When she received a chilling midnight text demanding she pack her bags and move into his sprawling estate by 8:00 AM, the terrifying reality set in.
She hadn't escaped the wolf. She had just walked directly into his cage.
7.1
The last thing I remembered was the blinding flash of my starship crashing. But instead of a rescue crew, I woke up tied to a wooden post, surrounded by hostile beastmen.
My universal translator kicked in just in time to hear their priestess, Chelsea, declare that I was a cursed demon who ruined their hunt. To save the clan from winter starvation, I was to be burned alive.
The flames were already blistering my legs, and jagged stones hurled by the crowd gashed my forehead. I barely negotiated a three-day reprieve to find them food, venturing into the deadly primeval forest.
I found a massive supply of wild potatoes and even gained the protection of Bronson, a terrifyingly powerful saber-toothed tiger beastman.
But Chelsea wouldn't stop.
She labeled my food as poisonous, tried to sentence me to starve in a penitent's cave, and when my agricultural knowledge proved her wrong, she invoked an ancient law. She incited the tribe's savage warriors to fight over me, turning me into breeding property.
I was a scientist offering them endless food, yet their primitive ignorance and one woman's vicious jealousy kept pushing me toward a brutal end. I was terrified, completely powerless against their monstrous physical strength.
As five ruthless challengers drew their bone axes to claim me, I begged Bronson to leave me and run.
Instead, he pulled me against his scarred chest and kissed me fiercely in front of the entire clan.
"She is my mate," he roared, unleashing a soul-crushing aura. "Anyone who wants her, come at me together."
9.1
He postponed putting my name on the deed 18 times.
Each time, his mentee Ciera had an “emergency.” Each time, he ran to her.
I watched him give her his prized Montblanc pen—the one he wouldn’t even let me borrow. I saw her post their late nights on Instagram. I ate anniversary dinners alone while he “mentored” her.
Then he bought me a necklace—identical to the one she just flaunted online.
That was when I stopped feeling anything.
I didn’t cry. I didn’t fight. I simply packed two suitcases, resigned from our firm, and booked a one-way ticket to London.
He thinks I’m coming back in a week.
He has no idea I’m gone for good.
Nineteen broken promises. One silent goodbye. And a new life waiting across the ocean.
8.0
Scarlett Hayes thought marrying James Whitmore would finally make her family see her as more than a burden.
Instead, it destroyed her life.
Framed for crimes she didn't commit, betrayed by the people she trusted most, and sentenced to prison while pregnant, Scarlett lost everything in a single night.
Then came the cruelest blow of all.
After giving birth in chains, she was told her baby had died.
The people responsible believed she would spend the rest of her life rotting behind bars.
They were wrong.
Five years later, Scarlett returns.
No longer the discarded daughter of the Hayes family. No longer the broken woman they left behind.
Now she is Commander Scarlett Hayes-a decorated war hero, the unseen force behind a global intelligence empire, and a woman powerful enough to make governments tremble.
She comes back for one reason only: revenge.
Her ex-husband, the stepsister who stole her life, and the family who buried her alive are about to learn exactly what happens when a woman with nothing left to lose takes back everything they stole.
But as Scarlett tears through the secrets of her past, one truth threatens to change everything-
the child she mourned for years may not be dead.
And the mysterious man connected to the night that changed her life has been watching from the shadows all along.