From Abandoned Puppet to the Tycoon's Contract Wife
For five years, I was the secret weapon behind A-list actor Johan Lee. As his top agent and devoted girlfriend, I cleaned up his scandals, secured his contracts, and deliberately dressed down so I would never outshine him. Tonight was his birthday, and I was waiting in his penthouse in black lace, ready to surprise him.
The only surprise was the one I got when he walked in with a 22-year-old actress. From inside his walk-in closet, my romantic evening turned into a nightmare as I listened to them fall into his bed.
But the cheating wasn't the worst part. It was hearing his cruel, dismissive laugh as he explained why he kept me around.
"She's safe," he told the other woman. "She dresses like a depressed librarian. I don't need a queen trying to steal my spotlight. I need an assistant."
An assistant. Five years of my life, my love, and my career-building genius, all reduced to a convenience. The grief in my chest instantly hardened into ice. The mousy girlfriend he took for granted was gone forever.
I walked out of that closet, ended his career with a single video, and thought I was finally free. But then my aunt called, screaming. My family's company was mysteriously facing bankruptcy, and their only way out was to enforce an old family contract. I was to be sold in marriage to the ruthless billionaire who engineered their downfall: the infamous Colvin Sykes.
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Chapter 2
The bedroom was immaculate. The moonlight spilled across the floor, highlighting the slight wrinkles on the expensive duvet.
Gabrielle set her bag on the armchair. Johan must have come home to nap between meetings. She unzipped her tote and pulled out the black lace lingerie she had bought specifically for tonight.
She unbuttoned her stiff blazer and let it drop to the floor. She unhooked her bra and stepped out of her skirt. The cold air hit her skin, making her shiver. She pulled the delicate lace over her body.
She walked over to the full-length mirror. She reached up and pulled the pins from her tight bun. Her dark, wavy hair cascaded down her shoulders. She took off the heavy black glasses and set them on the dresser.
The woman in the mirror did not look like an assistant. She looked striking. Her cheekbones were sharp, her eyes wide and clear. This was the face she hid from the world because Johan hated when people looked at her instead of him.
The sound of a key turning in the front door echoed through the quiet apartment.
Gabrielle's heart hammered against her ribs. He was early.
She looked around the room in a panic. The walk-in closet was her only option. She grabbed her clothes and her bag, darted into the massive closet, and pulled the door shut. She left a tiny crack open so she could see.
Footsteps approached the bedroom. Heavy, familiar steps. And then, the sharp click of high heels.
"Johan, are you sure your agent is not coming over?" a woman asked.
The voice was high and breathy. Gabrielle recognized it instantly. It was Lacey Morrow, the new actress Johan was supposed to be mentoring.
Gabrielle's stomach dropped. A cold sweat broke out across the back of her neck.
"Relax," Johan said. His voice was thick with amusement. "I told her I had a late meeting with the director. She believes everything I say."
Lacey giggled. She walked into Gabrielle's line of sight. She wrapped her arms around Johan's neck.
Gabrielle clamped her hand over her own mouth. Her teeth bit into her palm. The black lace against her skin suddenly felt like sandpaper. Her lungs forgot how to pull in air.
Lacey stopped in front of the mirrored closet door. She ran a hand through her blonde hair, staring at her reflection.
"When are you going to dump her?" Lacey asked. "I hate sneaking around like this."
Johan grabbed Lacey by the waist and pulled her away from the mirror. He threw her onto the bed.
"What is the rush?" Johan asked. "She is still useful to me."
The sound of their lips meeting sent a wave of bile up Gabrielle's throat. Her knees shook so violently she had to lean against the wooden shelves to stay upright.
Her perfect world shattered into jagged pieces right in front of her eyes. Five years of devotion. Five years of hiding her own light so he could shine.
She reached into her bag with trembling fingers. She pulled out her phone. Her hands shook so badly she almost dropped it. She opened the voice memo app and pressed record.
She could not just run out crying. She was a top-tier agent. She needed leverage.
The noises from the bed grew louder. Every gasp and moan felt like a physical blow to Gabrielle's chest. She squeezed her eyes shut. Hot tears burned a path down her cheeks, ruining her carefully applied makeup.
She forced her eyes open. She made herself watch through the crack in the door. She needed to burn this image into her brain so she would never be stupid enough to forgive him.
Outside the closet, Lacey suddenly stopped moving. She pushed Johan's chest.
"Honey," Lacey said, her voice dropping to a whisper. "I feel like someone is in here."
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7.2
Five years ago, Zara Cole lost everything she believed in-love, trust, and the man who promised her forever.
Today, she's back in his world with one mission: destroy the empire that chose power over her.
Alexander Cross is no longer the man she loved. He's a billionaire CEO with a flawless reputation and a past he buried deep-until Zara returns as the woman determined to expose him.
What begins as revenge becomes a dangerous game of truth, betrayal, and forbidden desire.
And when secrets rise to the surface, Zara must decide:
Will she take down the man who broke her heart...
or risk everything for the love that never truly died?
8.7
Lina Carter was just a waitress trying to make ends meet. On the other hand, Alexander Knight was a billionaire who would do anything to safeguard his empire. When he proposes a deal for her to be his fake girlfriend, it seems straightforward, he act like she loves him, stick to the rules, and walk away with a nice payday. No feelings involved. No strings attached. No room for error.
But as they share fake kisses, those moments turn into lingering glances. What starts as cold, business-like orders shifts into a quiet sense of protection. Suddenly, the line between pretense and reality begins to blur.
Then, out of nowhere, his ex-fiancée reappears-gorgeous, ruthless, and hell-bent on ruining Lina's life. When the truth about their arrangement comes to light, Lina finds herself publicly humiliated, tossed aside as if she never mattered at all. She walks away with her pride shattered, but her heart still whole.
Now, the man who once paid her to pretend is realizing he wants her for real. But some betrayals cut too deep... and some love stories start with a lie that's just too painful to forgive. She was brought in to act. He ended up falling for her for real.
7.2
I thought I was just marrying a middle-class commercial pilot who proposed to me in a Brooklyn cemetery to fulfill his grandmother's bizarre dying wish.
But when an arrogant pilot tried to harass me at the airport, my "ordinary" husband suddenly appeared, his eyes like chips of ice.
"Take your hand off my wife."
With that single cold command, he had the airline's top executives groveling and the man practically fired on the spot.
Everyone called him "Mr. Chandler." He handed me an exclusive black Centurion card, claiming it was just a standard "manager's perk." His retired parents, who supposedly ran a small business, visited me wearing Patek Philippe watches. I ignored all the glaring red flags, foolishly believing I had just lucked into a stable, caring marriage after a lifetime of disappointments.
Yet, despite his constant, suffocating generosity, he kept a physical wall between us. After a kiss so desperate and hungry it felt like he had been starving for it his entire life, he violently pushed me away.
"We should take this slow."
I couldn't understand why a man who looked at me with such intense, possessive devotion would treat our marriage like a sterile business deal. Why was he orchestrating every perfect detail of my life while refusing to even share a bed with me?
I had no idea that the man sleeping in the guest room wasn't a pilot at all. He was Harmon Chandler, the ruthless billionaire emperor of the Chandler Group. And he had been secretly monitoring my every move for ten years.
8.0
I spent two years as the perfect, dutiful wife to Foster Baird. I was his unpaid PR consultant and his emotional punching bag, enduring his mother’s snide comments about my orphan background all for the sake of a "marriage" I thought was real.
But when I went to the City Clerk’s office to replace a damaged document, the clerk looked at me with genuine pity.
"There is no record of a marriage license for you and Foster Baird. Legally? You aren't married."
The betrayal went even deeper. I returned to our penthouse to find Foster’s mistress on our sofa, alongside a five-year-old boy who shared Foster’s exact features. Foster hadn't just cheated; he had a secret family that predated our entire relationship. He had even bribed a doctor to lie to me about being infertile just to keep me docile and focused on his business. When the mistress moved into my guest wing the next day, Foster demanded I act as their hostess and serve them dinner.
I watched them play happy family in the home I built, realizing I was never a wife—I was just "cheap labor" he intended to discard once his company stock stabilized. He thought I was a barren charity case with nowhere to go.
He was wrong. That same afternoon, I received a call from the executor of the Arthur Kensington estate. I wasn't a nobody; I was the long-lost biological daughter and sole heir to a five-billion-dollar fortune.
While Foster was busy planning my replacement, I was accessing the Kensington Trust. I didn't scream, and I didn't cry. I simply bought a fifty-million-dollar mansion and hired a team of forensic accountants to dismantle the Baird Group from the inside out. I crushed my old phone under my designer heel and looked at my new security detail.
"Let's get to work," I said.
7.1
Aria comes home expecting to make things right with her longtime boyfriend but instead she gets into the wedding arrangements of her stepsister- the groom being her ex. A single agonizing night brings her into the hands of a stranger and she wakes up hoping that she will forget all.
Until she goes to a job interview and discovers that the CEO is the man she slept with. Damon. Her uncle, an older and powerful person and the ex of her boyfriend.
He hires her.
He wants her.
And he will not allow her to walk away.
Their clandestine office affair becomes a scandal that everybody is talking about. Aria attempts to be tough, yet her family is attempting to manipulate her, Damon does not want to give up, and her past is ready to destroy everything.
She begins to trust him just in time to be betrayed by the missing ex of Damon which also happens to look like Aria. The truth breaks her. The pregnancy, the heartbreak, the loss, the sickness... she believes that her story is finished.
Until Damon returns to her life in a manner that she could never imagine- taking everything to rescue her.
Now Aria has to choose whether she can love the man who replaced her once... or leave before she is hurt again.
A Christmas wedding.
A stolen company.
The second opportunity that she did not expect.
And one last turn that alters all.
9.7
Elena Whitmore always knew falling for her brother's best friend was a mistake. But one stolen night with Grayson Hale changed everything, and cost her more than she ever imagined.
When he vanished without a word, she buried the past and built a life no one could touch. A life that included a daughter Grayson has never known.
Five years later, he's back. Wealthier. Colder. Determined to uncover why she disappeared, and why she's engaged to a man she doesn't love.
As old sparks ignite and buried truths begin to surface, Elena must decide if protecting her secrets is worth sacrificing the only man she ever loved.