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.
Chapters
Share
Chapter 4
Lacey screamed. She scrambled backward against the headboard, pulling the white duvet up to her chin. Her eyes were wide with sheer terror.
Johan scrambled to his knees. His face drained of all color. His mouth opened and closed like a dying fish.
"Gab... Gabrielle?" Johan stammered. "What are you doing here?"
Gabrielle did not look at him. She kept her eyes locked on Lacey. Lacey shrank back, trying to make herself as small as possible behind Johan's shoulder.
"Me?" Gabrielle asked, her voice flat and devoid of any emotion. "I came to give you your birthday surprise. Are you surprised?"
She looked down at her own body, clad only in the sheer black lace. A bitter, mocking smile touched the corners of her lips.
Johan's panic shifted into defense mode. He reached out a hand toward her.
"Baby, listen to me," Johan said, his voice cracking. "It's not what it looks like. She came onto me. I told her to leave!"
He threw Lacey under the bus without a second thought. Lacey gasped, her face turning a sickly shade of gray.
Gabrielle tilted her head. She looked at Johan as if he were a stain on the rug.
"Is that right?" Gabrielle asked. "Did she also force you to say I was 'safe'? And 'ordinary'? Did she force you to say I look like an assistant?"
She repeated his exact words. Each syllable hit Johan like a physical slap to the face.
Johan flinched. He realized she had heard everything. Every single word.
He changed his tactic. He tried to look pathetic. He swung his legs over the side of the bed, ignoring his nakedness.
"Gabby, I'm so sorry," he pleaded. "I messed up. I was just stressed about the new movie. You know how I get."
Gabrielle stared at him. "Roll over and die, Johan."
She turned her back to him. She walked over to the armchair and picked up her gray skirt. She stepped into it and zipped it up. She pulled her stiff white button-down shirt over her arms and buttoned it to the collar.
As the familiar, rigid fabric settled against her skin, a profound shift occurred in her mind. For five years, she had smoothed out all her edges for this man. She had made herself invisible, swallowing her own ambition to be his stepping stone, only to be branded as 'safe' and 'ordinary'-a disposable convenience. The agonizing sorrow in her chest rapidly calcified into something cold, sharp, and unbreakable. From this moment on, she was done playing the martyr. She was going back to being Gabrielle Webb, fighting solely for herself.
She was putting her armor back on.
She picked up the heavy black glasses from the dresser and slid them onto her face. The beautiful, vulnerable woman from a moment ago vanished. The ruthless agent returned.
Johan watched her dress. The cold efficiency of her movements terrified him more than screaming would have. He had never seen her like this.
"No, wait," Johan said. He stood up and took a step toward her. "You can't just leave. We're not breaking up over this."
He reached out to grab her arm.
Gabrielle sidestepped him effortlessly. "Don't touch me."
She looked him dead in the eye.
"Johan Lee, as of this exact second, I am no longer your girlfriend," Gabrielle said.
She picked up her tote bag and slung it over her shoulder.
"And I am officially resigning as your lead agent. My lawyer will send the termination papers to your production company tomorrow morning."
Johan stopped breathing. The loss of his girlfriend was an inconvenience. The loss of his agent was a career death sentence. Gabrielle was the only reason he got the audition for his last movie.
"No!" Johan yelled, his voice shrill. "You can't do this to me! After everything we've been through!"
"Everything we've been through?" Gabrielle asked. "You're a joke."
She pulled her phone out of her pocket. She opened the video file and held the screen up to his face.
"An hour ago, TMZ contacted me," Gabrielle said. "They wanted half a million dollars for this. What do you think will happen if I just email it to them for free?"
Johan stared at the screen. He saw himself pushing Lacey against the concrete wall of the hotel parking garage. His pupils dilated in pure horror.
His career flashed before his eyes. The family-friendly brand deals. The upcoming press tour. All gone.
"Gabby, please," Johan begged, his voice broke into a pathetic whine. "Please don't do this."
Gabrielle lowered the phone and slipped it back into her pocket.
"Stay away from me," Gabrielle said. "If you ever try to contact me again, your name will be printed next to the words 'serial cheater' on every newsstand in America by sunrise."
Johan's arms fell limply to his sides. He knew she meant it.
Gabrielle turned around and walked out of the bedroom. She did not look back.
You may also like
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.