From The Background Wife To His Unreachable Memory
For ten quiet years, Verena carried feelings for Brayden that she never revealed, while everyone knew his heart belonged to another woman.
Three years ago, a financial crisis forced her into an arranged marriage with him to save her family's business.
During those years, his cold distance slowly wore down her devotion until nothing remained.
When news came that the woman he truly loved had returned, Verena chose to end the marriage. She walked away and cut him out of her life.
Only then did regret consume him. "Verena, come back to me."
Unfortunately, it was too late.
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Chapter 3
After saying the word "divorce" out loud, Verena expected the weight of it to tear at her, yet nothing like that came. Instead, a strange calm settled over her, leaving her unaffected.
To her, this marriage, built on nothing but family interests, should have ended long ago.
Even if it wasn't what she wanted, she knew it was time to let go.
For a brief moment, Brayden's expression stiffened.
That reaction disappeared just as quickly, returning to his usual indifference.
"So this is your latest move?" he asked, taking his time as he continued getting dressed.
He didn't take her words seriously and had no intention of believing she would actually go through with a divorce.
Since the day they married, the Hughes and Jones families had grown more intertwined, and their relationship had long stopped being about just the two of them.
On top of that, everyone in Trauhsa knew how deeply she cared for him.
In his mind, it was Verena who had pushed Mila out of the country just to secure her place as his wife.
That thought erased the trace of warmth left from their earlier closeness.
There was no way he would allow anyone to harm Mila.
To him, Verena's greatest fault was targeting Mila.
Because of that, he had spent the past three years keeping Verena at a distance, making it clear that even as his wife, she meant nothing to him.
With these thoughts in mind, Brayden was certain Verena would never actually leave him.
In his eyes, her words were nothing more than a moment of anger spilling out.
"Verena, I'm running out of patience," he said, his voice turning colder. "I won't keep putting up with this kind of behavior. What happened with Stella affected the company, and I take responsibility for that. But it's already been dealt with. She won't—"
"Mila is back, right?" Verena cut in before he could finish as she pushed herself up on the bed.
Her gaze rested on him, steady and composed. Though her face had gone pale, the anger in her eyes was impossible to miss.
"You brought Mila back, had Stella show up at the company to make things difficult for me, and even pushed me toward divorce just so I'd step aside and make room for Mila, didn't you?" she said, a trace of mockery flickering in her eyes. "Stop pretending, Brayden."
For so long, she had fooled herself into believing that if she treated him well, he might one day respond.
To match his preferences, she changed the way she dressed. Knowing his stomach wasn't strong, she even learned to cook, preparing meals that were light and nourishing for him every single day.
Meanwhile, he spent his nights out with different women, and even stayed entangled with the woman he cherished the most. His other women even dared to come straight to her, some of them using pregnancy reports as leverage to push her out.
She had reached her limit.
There was no reason to keep lying to herself anymore.
Deep down, she finally accepted the truth. Brayden had never loved her, and he never would.
All at once, the feelings she had kept buried for years broke free, and her eyes turned red.
Everything she had endured, every bit of pain and frustration, came rushing over her.
"Brayden, let's end this. Let's get a divorce. After that, we won't owe each other anything," Verena said, forcing herself to stay composed as she lifted her head and repeated it.
The feelings she once had, the admiration from when she was younger, and every effort she made during these three years—she let all of it go in that moment.
For a brief second, the air felt heavy and hard to breathe.
A dark look settled over Brayden's face as he stared at her.
"So all of this is because of Mila?" he asked.
Hearing him say Mila's name so gently made something twist inside her, but the anger outweighed everything else.
"Brayden, why don't we just speak plainly?" she said, her voice rising. "Haven't you always wanted to be with Mila? You even went against your grandfather for her, and all this time, you've treated me like I don't exist. Now I'm asking for a divorce, and isn't that exactly what you've wanted?"
After shouting, she kept her eyes locked on him, refusing to back down.
For a moment, Brayden didn't respond. Just as he was about to speak, his phone rang. Glancing at the screen, he turned away without hesitation and picked up the call. "Hey, Mila."
Moving toward the door, Brayden left as his voice gradually faded out of the room.
A bitter smile appeared on Verena's lips as she picked up her phone and dialed Jon Barnes, the Jones family's chief lawyer. "Jon, it's me. I need you to prepare a divorce agreement."
After going over the details with him, she ended the call.
She had expected this step to feel heavy. Instead, a faint sense of ease settled in.
She had planned to talk everything through with Brayden once he returned.
Yet as the minutes passed, he never came back.
It didn't take much for her to figure out why. She slipped on a coat, stepped out of the room, and looked downstairs from the corridor.
Just as she thought, the living room was silent.
He was already gone.
She didn't need to guess where he went.
There was only one place he would go.
Right then, Verena felt like a fool. She had actually believed they could sit down and talk about the divorce calmly. To him, she had never mattered.
Taking a slow breath, Verena tried to steady herself, yet the ache in her chest wouldn't fade.
Even though she was used to being ignored by him, it still hurt.
Since he had made his stance clear, she no longer had any reason to consider him.
Turning back, Verena returned to the room.
Within half an hour, she gathered the few belongings that truly belonged to her.
Not a single piece from the wardrobe went with her. Truthfully, she had never liked those clothes. She had only bought them to suit Brayden's preferences.
Now that the divorce was happening, there was no reason to keep pleasing him or anyone else.
From this moment on, she would stay true to who she really was.
Pausing at the bedroom doorway, she looked over the now-empty space and felt an unexpected sense of relief before turning away.
"Mrs. Hughes, what should I prepare for dinner tonight? And where are you heading?" Jayde asked.
After seeing Brayden rush out earlier, Jayde couldn't help but feel uneasy when Verena also started to leave.
Even though Jayde worked for Brayden, Verena realized the housekeeper had spent more time by her side than Brayden did throughout their marriage.
Because of that, Verena couldn't treat her with cold indifference.
"Jayde, don't cook for me tonight. And from now on, you won't need to prepare anything for me again," Verena said.
She didn't stay any longer after that and simply got into the car before driving off.
As the car sped away, Jayde stood there, a look of realization settling in, mixed with quiet shock and resignation.
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7.3
I found out my husband of three years had cheated on me and his mistress is the one who told me-because he didn't have the balls to do it himself.
I move out and get a new apartment, a job as a bartender, and try to move on with a broken heart. I wonder where it all went wrong, if I hadn't been enough for him, if I'd been stupid for marrying him in the first place.
I'm at work one night when he walks inside-the most beautiful man I've ever seen. He sits at the bar and a forest fire burns between us. I was depressed the moment before he entered, but the second I look at his blue eyes, I forget the dumpster fire that my life has become. I invite him back to my place and it's the most passionate night of my life. I expect to never see him again.
I just want him as an anti-depressant-but he wants me all to himself. I just got my heart ripped out of my chest so I want something easy and no-strings-attached, but he wants all the strings because he's hooked.
I don't get much of a say in the matter, and that's not surprising when I learn why-because he's the Butcher. The crime lord of all crime lords, the boss that overshadows all of Paris, that makes everyone abide by his rules-or pay.
And now I'm his.
8.3
In the fifth year of Irene Shaw's marriage to Ethan Hart, he was involved in a car accident and lost his memory.
No matter how she tried to prove that they had once loved each other, Ethan still insisted on a divorce.
His reasoning was hard to refute. "If I really loved you as much as you claim, how could I forget you?"
The childhood sweetheart who had once cut him off without hesitation had now become his sole emotional anchor.
He looked at Irene coldly. "Since you know this is a mistake, why not end it cleanly?"
The hands that had once refused to let her go now recoiled from even her lightest touch.
Disheartened and exhausted, Irene signed her name and pushed him completely out of her life.
Not long after, Ethan stopped her in the rain, his eyes red from crying.
"Irene, don't leave me. You said I'd never lose you."
As the car window slid shut, the arm around her waist tightened instinctively, and someone spoke before she could. "Drive on. Irene said she doesn't know him."
She lowered her gaze, feeling a serene detachment, "I really don't know him."
9.2
I died as the "Queen," an elite assassin who leveled criminal syndicates, only to wake up in a damp trailer smelling of rot and stale tobacco. My new body belonged to Arleen Brewer, a malnourished teenager with a failing heart and a life defined by systemic poverty.
A flickering blue light in my mind identified itself as a System, offering a devil's bargain: survive this life, and I could resurrect my dead brother, Dusty. To earn his return, I had to endure my alcoholic stepfather’s rage and a body so weak it struggled to even stand.
At my elite prep school, the rich kids treated me like a walking corpse, covering my desk in trash and mocking my heart condition. Even my fiancé, Shen Wenyu, publicly branded me as "unstable" and stood by while the school's golden boy tried to humiliate me.
They expected me to wither away, but they didn't realize a wolf was now wearing the sheep's skin. I shattered the bully’s nose with a metal tray and tore up my engagement contract in front of a stunned auditorium, only to be met with immediate threats of lawsuits and expulsion.
I didn't understand how the original Arleen survived this suffocating injustice without breaking, but as the Queen, I was ready to turn this school into a war zone.
Then Hale Clemons, the most dangerous man in the city, cornered me outside the principal's office. He saw through my mask, realizing his very presence was the only thing keeping my failing heart from stopping.
"I’m not buying your loyalty," he said, handing me a gold-embossed card. "I’m investing in a weapon."
I took the deal, ready to use his power to bring my brother back and bury everyone who ever looked down on Arleen Brewer.
8.6
I found the instruction manual for my own abandonment on a dark web forum while my husband scrubbed the scent of another woman from his skin in the bathroom.
The thread was titled "Burden Disposal Strategies."
The user, RatKing88, asked a simple question:
"How do I dump a loyal wife without triggering a war with the old guard? My parents love her more than me."
The replies were brutal. They suggested faking a dangerous mission, forcing a paper divorce for 'asset protection,' and then disappearing with the cash.
Moments later, Luca walked out of the bathroom smelling of cheap vanilla perfume and panic.
He grabbed my hands, his palms sweating, and spun a clumsy lie about a "Code Red" mission in Sicily.
"It is going to be a bloodbath, Sienna," he whispered, his eyes wide with manic energy. "We need to divorce on paper. It is the only way to protect you from the vendettas."
I felt a cold rage settle in my gut.
He wasn't a soldier going to war. He was a rat running off with his mistress and the family savings, leaving his stroke-ridden father and our daughter with nothing.
He planned to wait for his parents to die so he could return for the inheritance.
He thought I was just a naive, caged canary who would wait forever.
But he forgot that canaries are the first to smell poison in the air.
I didn't scream. I didn't expose him.
Instead, I looked him in the eye with carefully manufactured sorrow and signed the papers.
He thought he was escaping to freedom with a bag full of stolen cash.
He didn't realize he had just voluntarily abdicated his throne.
And I was going to take it.
9.4
Vera thought her life was over the moment she caught her fiancee cheating with his ex.
Broken and filled with pain, she is approached by a billionaire who presents a simple contract to her. Let's get married.
Sylas Gold is the man admired by the entire world. He is untouchable, powerful and incredibly controlled. Their marriage was supposed to be a contract. A performance. It was a way for both of them to win.
When Vera is kidnapped by a man who looks at her like she's already his, she learns the truth Sylas never told her, about his mafia empire, the blood, and the brother who was supposed to be gone.
Cassian Gold is the man who wants everything his brother has, including Vera.
Now caught between two brothers bound by hatred, power, and obsession, Vera must decide who to trust in a world where love is dangerous, loyalty is fragile, and desire might just be her downfall.
8.4
She was the daughter they lost. Now she's the daughter they're willing to sell.
Emma spent eighteen years as a forgotten girl in a forgotten village, until the day her wealthy biological family came to claim her. But her homecoming is no fairytale. Her place has already been taken by Fiona, the perfect adopted sister who sees Emma as nothing but a threat. And her parents? They didn't bring her back out of love. They brought her back to sign a contract.
Alex Hawthorne is the billionaire heir to the most powerful empire in the city, a genius reduced to a wheelchair after a mysterious accident. The world sees him as broken. His family sees him as a bargaining chip. When the Hawthornes demand a bride from the Williams family, Emma is offered up as the sacrifice.
The contract is simple: one year of marriage, and she walks away with enough money to disappear forever.
But no one knows who they're really dealing with.
They see a quiet country girl who doesn't belong. They don't know she's the secret protégé of a world-famous jewelry designer. They don't know she's the anonymous street racer who conquered every mountain road before she ever saw a city street. They don't know she entered an elite academy with the lowest score and rose to the top in a single semester because Emma never forgets anything.
And Alex? He knows none of this.
To him, she's just the contract bride. The quiet stand-in who agreed to a business transaction. He makes her a deal: play the part, and he'll sign the divorce papers when the year is up.
Until their wedding night, when he leans close with a teasing smirk and says, "If you want to give me a child in ten months, you will have to be on top."
She looks him straight in the eye, her lips curving into the faintest smile.
"Fine. But keep still, or I might accidentally tell everyone your legs work just fine."
He says nothing.
Three months later, the billionaire who once pitied his quiet bride cannot go a single day without her. Because every time he thinks he has figured her out, she surprises him all over again.
But in a world of gilded cages and hidden daggers, their marriage is built on a contract and the biggest clause hasn't been revealed yet.
He thinks he bought a pawn.
She's about to show him she's the queen.
And when the contract ends, one of them will break.