From Widow to His World: Claimed by the CEO
Five years ago, I, Claire Parker, ran away for love with Daniel Carter, the broke boy everyone looked down on. But on the very day we were supposed to leave together, he abandoned me.
Overnight, I became the laughingstock of the entire city and was forced into a marriage alliance with a terminally ill man, Ryan Cooper.
Five years later, my husband died, the marriage arrangement fell apart, and the Cooper family threw me out without a shred of mercy.
Meanwhile, Daniel, the man everyone once sneered at, returned home in glory and became the hottest rising name in the business world.
And somehow, he ended up becoming my boss.
I wanted nothing to do with him, yet he kept closing in on me, cornering me with sarcasm sharp enough to draw blood.
Then one day, Daniel caught me on a date with another man.
His eyes reddened instantly as he pinned me against the wall. "Claire... are you abandoning me again?"
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Chapter 5
The dinner event was held at a private club in the city center.
The moment we walked in, nearly every gaze in the room landed on Daniel.
A few people immediately approached with wine glasses in hand, smiling eagerly.
Daniel remained indifferent, replying only occasionally, yet even that was enough to leave the others visibly flattered.
Clearly, his status in this circle carried far more weight than I had imagined.
Standing beside him, I naturally became the subject of everyone's scrutiny as well.
I kept a polite smile on my face while silently cursing him several times in my head.
Just then, a middle-aged man hurried over and whispered something into his ear.
Daniel frowned slightly before turning to me. "Wait here for me for a bit."
Without thinking, I asked, "Will it take long?"
He glanced at me as though surprised by the question. After a brief pause, he answered, "Not long."
With that, he left with the man.
Just as I was about to sit down and rest for a moment, a sharp female voice sounded behind me.
"I thought I was seeing things. Turns out it really is you."
I turned around.
Ryan's sister, Grace Cooper, stood a short distance away with a wine glass in hand, the mockery in her eyes completely undisguised.
I looked at her calmly. "Do you need something?"
"Need something?" Grace repeated as if she had heard a joke, walking closer with her glass.
"My brother's only been dead a few days, and you're already clinging to another man." She sneered. "Claire, you really have no shame."
Her voice was loud enough that several nearby guests instinctively turned to look.
"Ms. Cooper," I replied without even lifting my eyes, "didn't the Cooper family already cut ties with me?"
Grace's expression stiffened slightly.
I looked straight at her and continued word by word, "Back then, your mother was so terrified I'd touch the Cooper family's inheritance that she could hardly wait to throw me out that very day. Since all of you were so eager to distance yourselves from me, who I spend time with now has nothing to do with you."
The smile on Grace's face began to crack.
"You..."
"You came here tonight just to watch me embarrass myself, didn't you?" I curled my lips faintly. "Too bad. You're going to leave disappointed."
Before she could say anything else, I noticed the hand holding her wine glass lift slightly.
So the instant the red wine came flying toward me, I had already stepped aside.
The wine only brushed past the edge of my dress before splashing all over Grace's own skirt and shoes instead.
Several startled gasps immediately broke out around us.
Grace looked down at the mess covering her clothes, her face turning bright red.
"What are you so smug about?" She glared at me viciously, hatred filling her eyes. "You're the one who killed my brother! You cheating little bitch!"
Seeing that I stayed silent, Grace seemed to regain some confidence and opened her mouth to continue.
A cold, low voice cut through the air.
"Are you done?"
Everyone turned toward the voice.
At some point, Daniel had returned.
He stood a few steps away, his expression terrifyingly cold.
His gaze swept over me from head to toe, and only then did his expression ease slightly.
Grace's face turned ashen slightly, but she still forced herself to speak. "Mr. Carter, this is a matter within the Cooper family. It has nothing to do with you."
Daniel cut her off, his eyes falling to the hem of my dress. "That glass of wine stained her gown. Pay for it."
The moment those words fell, the entire room went silent.
Grace glared at me as though she wanted to tear me apart on the spot.
Everyone knew that going against Daniel would only humiliate her further.
In the end, she gritted her teeth, pulled a card from her purse, and practically threw it into the waiter's hand. "I'll pay for it!"
After saying that, she turned and stormed away, fury radiating from her retreating figure.
For the rest of the evening, I could barely remember how I made it through the dinner at all.
The only thing echoing in my mind was Daniel's cold command from earlier. "Pay for it."
Was he standing up for me?
Why?
By the time we finally left the club, the cool night wind eased the heaviness in my chest a little.
Daniel opened the car door for me. "Get in."
I did not refuse this time and bent down to get into the car.
The car pulled away from the club as rows of city lights slid backward outside the window.
I originally thought he would drive me to the address I had given him the other day, so I closed my eyes to rest.
But when I opened my eyes again, I suddenly realized something was wrong.
The intersection ahead and the twenty-four-hour convenience store by the street were sights far too familiar to me.
My back instantly stiffened, and I sat upright.
"You..."
Daniel's expression did not change. His eyes remained on the road ahead. "What is it?"
"Why did you drive here?" My voice tightened immediately.
The car came to a smooth stop downstairs.
Daniel finally turned to look at me. "Claire."
My breathing faltered.
"Why?"
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7.0
Eight years ago, Alaina forced herself to say the most vicious, heartless things to break up with her fiercely loyal college boyfriend, protecting him from his billionaire family's wrath.
Now, she is a top maxillofacial surgeon, and Jarred Mcknight has returned as the ruthless CEO of Wall Street's most powerful corporation.
Their worlds collide in the ER, but Jarred isn't alone. He is accompanying his rumored heiress fiancée.
His eyes are pure ice. He treats Alaina with a suffocating, clinical detachment, fiercely protecting the heiress from Alaina's medical examination. The professional slap in the face shatters Alaina's heart all over again.
Later, at an exclusive restaurant, Jarred catches Alaina on a miserable, forced blind date. Still believing she left him for money and status, he publicly mocks her for working herself to the bone just to climb the ladder.
Her sleazy date, humiliated by the billionaire's sheer dominance, turns his bruised ego on Alaina. On the dark street outside, the lawyer aggressively grabs her arm, trying to force himself on her.
Alaina thought Jarred despised her. She thought he had completely moved on, leaving her to drown in the memories of the future they never had.
But why did Jarred suddenly explode from the shadows like a lethal predator, brutally snapping the lawyer's wrist just for touching her?
Pinning her trapped against the cold brick wall, Jarred's dark eyes burn with a terrifying, unhinged possessiveness.
"Is this the kind of garbage you date now?"
The eight years of separation mean nothing. The billionaire hasn't let her go, and this time, there is no escape.
9.0
My fiancé, Connor, and I had a one-year pact. I'd work undercover as a junior developer in the company we co-founded, while he, the CEO, built our empire.
The pact ended the day he ordered me to apologize to the woman who was systematically destroying my life.
It happened during his most important investor pitch. He was on video call when he demanded I publicly humiliate myself for his "special guest," Jaden. This was after she'd already scalded my hand with hot coffee and faced zero consequences.
He chose her. In front of everyone, he chose a manipulative bully over our company's integrity, our employees' dignity, and me, his fiancée.
His eyes on the screen demanded my submission.
"Apologize to Jaden. Now."
I took a step forward, held up my burned hand for the camera, and made a call of my own.
"Dad," I said, my voice dangerously quiet. "It's time to dissolve the partnership."
8.8
Kaia was diagnosed with late-stage bone cancer, with only three months left to live.
She wanted to give up her family's entire trust fund just to have Gerrit play the role of a loving husband for her final days.
But before she could show him the biopsy report, he looked at her with absolute disgust, declaring that their three-year marriage made him physically sick.
He only loved Seraphina.
To force Kaia out, Seraphina constantly framed her. When Seraphina faked a fall, Gerrit pushed Kaia so hard she tore her waist open on a glass table.
When Kaia writhed in agonizing pain from her failing organs, he stood over her coldly, mocking her pathetic acting.
Even when Gerrit finally discovered Seraphina had hired a fake stalker and maliciously burned Kaia's skin with boiling tea, he still chose to protect his mistress.
"I already signed the divorce papers with Kaia. We are going to bury this story temporarily to protect the company."
Hearing those words from behind the wall, the last shred of hope in Kaia's chest completely died.
She had endured his cruelty for three years, only to realize his bias for another woman defied all logic and morality.
Lying in the bathtub, coughing up mouthfuls of dark blood that turned the water crimson, Kaia picked up her phone and dialed her lawyer.
"Julian, initiate the final plan."
Since Gerrit despised her existence, she would make sure he never found her body.
7.3
Eloise was the untouchable Brandt family heiress, just one audition away from landing a lead movie role and escaping her golden cage.
But overnight, her family's empire completely collapsed.
With her father dying of heart failure, her mother forced her to beg the only man who could save them: Christian Clarke.
Christian was the ruthless billionaire who had publicly humiliated Eloise in college, ripping up her love letter in front of a laughing crowd.
Now, he tossed a fifty-million-dollar acquisition contract on the table.
"What exactly is the Brandt heiress putting up for sale today?"
To secure her father's medical care, Eloise was forced to sign a suffocating marriage contract, selling herself as a corporate tax shield.
He moved her into his freezing penthouse and treated her like a purchased asset. He mocked her attempts to cook him dinner, yet pinned her against the wall with punishing, possessive kisses whenever she tried to pull away.
Eloise's pride was entirely shattered.
She didn't understand why he was doing this. If he hated her so much and only wanted revenge, why did his touch carry such an agonizing, desperate heat?
Determined to survive, she went to her final audition and miraculously won the lead role, crying tears of joy because she had finally earned something on her own.
She had no idea that the cold-blooded monster sleeping beside her had just secretly threatened to destroy all of Hollywood to give it to her.
8.6
Marrying Theron Draix in a few days was a life long dream come true.
For seventeen years, I'd loved him, revolving my life around him, and in just three days, we should be married.
"Let's break up. I won't be attending the wedding," he said.
My life shattered in that instant.
Finding out he was in love with my adopted sister was worse. They had played me and controlled my emotions.
At the end, Mireya had killed me.
If I was given a second chance, I would never love Theron and never trust Mireya.
7.6
Overnight, Ella lost her family, her home, and her entire life. Discarded by the foster system, she was left shivering in the freezing mud outside her ruined estate.
That was when Javier Shepherd appeared. The terrifyingly cold, powerful billionaire pulled her from the dirt, threw her into a massive glass penthouse, handed her an unlimited black card, and vanished overseas, leaving her in the hands of a cruel caretaker.
The caretaker treated Ella like garbage, feeding her cheap, processed meals while using the black card to buy designer bags. The toxic food triggered a severe allergic reaction. Ella collapsed in the dark hallway, her throat swelling shut, gasping for air while the caretaker locked the door and turned up the TV. She almost died on that cold hardwood floor.
When Javier found out, he ruthlessly destroyed the caretaker and sent her to prison. He guarded Ella's hospital bed with terrifying intensity and even moved into her apartment to stop her panic attacks. Yet, when Ella finally broke down crying over her dead parents, his eyes turned to ice.
"Losing emotional control over a juvenile past is an inefficient waste of energy."
He sneered, treating her grief like a bad financial investment. Ella was completely bewildered. Why did this dangerous man protect her so fiercely, yet hate her past so deeply?
It wasn't until his cousin visited the hospital that the cruel truth was revealed. Javier wasn't saving her out of kindness. He had been obsessed with Ella's mother—his family's adopted daughter who ran away years ago. To him, Ella wasn't a person to be loved. She was just a replacement asset, a ghost of the woman he never got over.