Jilted Heiress: Marrying My Mysterious Protector

I brought the original drafts of the Lloyd Center to my stepsister’s high-society pool party, hoping the gift would finally earn my family's respect. I stood on the edge of the limestone patio, clutching the leather portfolio as fifty pairs of judgmental eyes watched my every move. But the moment I handed the sketches to Corina, she retracted her hand, letting the portfolio sink into the chlorine before throwing herself into the pool with a theatrical scream. My fiancé, Julian, didn't hesitate; he shoved me aside with enough force to twist my ankle and dove in to rescue her. He surfaced with Corina in his arms, looking at me with a mask of pure disgust while the crowd whispered that I was an unstable, illegitimate intruder. My stepmother Eugenia didn't even ask for an explanation before she stepped forward and slapped me across the face, ordering me to get out before she called the police. "Sister, if you're still mad about the inheritance, just say it. Why did you push me?" "Enough! God, Aria. Your jealousy is actually sickening." I stood on shaking legs, looking at the man who had promised to know my heart for two years, only to realize he was just another wolf in the pack. The humiliation burned hotter than the sting on my face, and I realized that in their eyes, I would always be the trash they needed to take out. I yanked the diamond ring off my finger, slammed it onto a table, and walked away from my old life forever. To claim my trust fund and survive, I walked into a dive bar and offered a marriage contract to a broke, mysterious artist named Harland. I thought I was just buying a temporary shield, but I didn't realize that my "poor" new husband was actually a billionaire predator who was already planning to burn my family's empire to the ground.

Chapters

Chapter 4

The automatic doors of the supermarket slid open, unleashing a blast of conditioned air. Aria grabbed a cart, the wheels squeaking in protest. Harland walked beside her, looking around with a mix of curiosity and unease.

"Okay," Aria said, pulling out a list on her phone. "We need essentials. Rice, beans, pasta."

She steered the cart toward the discount aisle. Harland followed, his hands in his pockets.

"Why not steak?" he asked, eyeing the meat counter.

"Because steak is forty dollars a pound," Aria said, not breaking stride. "We are on a beer budget, Harland. Actually, tap water budget."

She stopped in front of the produce section. She picked up a carton of strawberries. They were bright red, plump, and perfect. She looked at the price tag. 8.99.

She sighed and put them back.

"What's wrong?" Harland asked.

"Out of season," she said. "Too expensive."

She turned to weigh a bag of potatoes. Harland watched her. He looked at the strawberries. He looked at her back.

Quickly, stealthily, he grabbed the carton and buried it under the bag of onions in the cart.

Aria turned back. "Do you eat spicy food? Chicken thighs are on sale. I can make curry."

Harland's pocket buzzed. He pulled out his phone. The screen read Silas.

"Bathroom," he muttered. "Be right back."

He walked briskly to the back of the store, near the dairy coolers. He checked to make sure no one was within earshot.

"Talk," Harland said, his voice dropping an octave, losing the casual rasp and gaining a razor-sharp edge.

"The board is panicking," Silas's voice came through the earpiece. "The rumors of your 'disappearance' are working. Stock is down three points."

"Let it drop another two," Harland said, staring at a wall of yogurt. "Then trigger the buyback. Use the shell companies in the Caymans. I want fifty-one percent by Friday."

"Understood. And the Young acquisition?"

"Hold on that," Harland said. "I'm... gathering intel."

"Harland?"

He froze. Aria was standing at the end of the aisle, holding a bag of frozen peas.

"Who are you talking to?" she asked, tilting her head. "You sounded... intense."

Harland lowered the phone. He forced his shoulders to relax. "Debt collector," he lied smoothly. "I told him to back off. I told him I'm good for it."

Aria's face softened instantly. The suspicion vanished, replaced by pity. "Oh, Harland. I'm sorry. Once the lawyers process the marriage certificate, I can help."

"Don't worry about it," he said, slipping the phone away. "Did you get the peas?"

"Yes. They were two for one."

They walked to the checkout. Aria unloaded the cart. When the cashier scanned the strawberries, Aria gasped.

"Wait, I didn't-" She looked at Harland.

He shrugged, looking at the ceiling. "Must have fallen in. Just take them."

"Harland, we can't afford-"

"I have ten bucks," he said. "My treat."

Aria looked at him, then at the strawberries. "Thank you."

They walked out to the parking lot. Harland grabbed the heavy bags before she could touch them. He lifted them like they were filled with feathers.

"You're strong for an artist," Aria observed.

"I haul my own canvases," he said. "And frames. Heavy wood."

They climbed back into the Bronco. Aria buckled her seatbelt, feeling a strange sense of contentment. It was just groceries, but it felt like a victory.

Her phone buzzed. A text from Pippa, her only friend who hadn't blocked her.

Image Attachment.

Aria opened it. It was a screenshot of a livestream. Julian and Corina were standing in front of a display of truffles, laughing.

Caption: Shopping for tonight's feast! Only the best for my love.

Aria felt her stomach turn. The contentment evaporated.

"Everything okay?" Harland asked, starting the engine.

"Just... indigestion," Aria whispered, turning the screen off.

Continue to next part

Desperate for money to save her dying father, Avery makes a risky deal with the cold billionaire Silas Thorne. In exchange for the funds, she agrees to be his for one year, living under his rules. What starts as a cold business arrangement soon blurs as intense desire takes over. As their connection deepens, Avery must navigate the dangers of Silas’s world while struggling to keep her heart safe from the man who now owns her life.

Billionaire Modern Romance

7.4

Flash Marriage To The Coldhearted Billionaire Uncle

7.4

My mother was dying and desperately needed a half-million-dollar deposit for an experimental heart surgery by tomorrow. I swallowed my pride and begged my wealthy husband, Garrick, to save her life. Instead of helping, he laughed coldly and threw a thick stack of divorce papers right in my face. "A hen that can't lay eggs gets slaughtered," he sneered, ruthlessly poking my flat stomach. He revealed that his secretary, my supposed friend Lacey, was already pregnant with his heir. To him, our three years of marriage was just a business transaction, and now that my family was bankrupt, I was nothing but damaged goods. He flicked a humiliating five-thousand-dollar check at me as his final act of charity, then locked me out of our townhouse into the freezing, pouring rain. I had spent years enduring agonizing hormone treatments for a fertility issue that wasn't even my fault, only to be discarded like trash when I needed him the most. Was my dignity, my absolute devotion, and my mother's life really worth nothing to him? Driven by pure, reckless desperation, I threw myself directly into the path of a moving Rolls-Royce Phantom on Fifth Avenue. It belonged to Holden Tillman, the ruthless patriarch of the Tillman empire—and the uncle Garrick lived in absolute terror of. I thought I was walking into my death, but instead, I became his fiancée, ready to make Garrick and Lacey pay for every tear I shed.

Billionaire Modern Romance

8.4

Gilded Cage: The CEO's Unwilling Bride

8.4

I was the "diamond" of the Sargent Foundation, a perfect orphan polished for the cameras and high-society galas. But beneath the glittering chandeliers, I was suffocating. When the pressure finally broke me and I tried to flee the Sargent Gala, I wasn't met with comfort. I was hunted down by security and dragged into a sterile, white-hot spotlight in a room I was never allowed to enter. Adrien Sargent, the cold-blooded CEO who controlled my every move, didn't want to help me. He wanted to devour me. He presented a legal cage: sign over my voting shares for his unethical hostile takeover, or he would have my only friend—the elderly butler who raised me—killed in his nursing home bed. I became a prisoner in the East Wing, stripped of my phone and watched by hidden cameras. During a midnight storm, I tried to steal a security card to escape, but Adrien caught me in his study. Reeking of whiskey and corporate rage, he didn't just stop me. He pinned me to his desk and branded my neck with a bite so deep it bruised, treating me like a thief who deserved to be claimed. The next morning, the house turned into a battlefield of lies. His PR consultant tried to claim she was the one in his bed, but Adrien found a pearl button from my pajamas under his desk. He didn't feel guilt; he felt violated. He accused me of orchestrating the entire encounter to blackmail him, his eyes filled with a terrifying, possessive fury. When his grandmother caught us, she didn't see a victim; she saw a liability. To save the family stock price, she gave us an ultimatum: marriage. "I’ll do it," I said, looking at the massive diamond ring that felt more like a shackle. Adrien thought he had finally broken me, but he didn't know about the encrypted file I just received. The corporate crisis he’s fighting was an inside job, and the trail leads straight to his own front door. I looked at my new husband on our wedding night and let my silk dress hit the floor. He thinks he’s trapped a rabbit, but I’ve just gained total access to his world. I will sleep with the enemy, learn every dark secret he’s hiding, and then I am going to burn his empire to the ground.

Billionaire Modern Romance

7.3

Married To The Thorn In My Flesh

7.3

Alexander Thorne is vice-danger wrapped in billions, immorality, and a smile that feels like sin. And unfortunately for Sophia Rose, he's the man she's been arranged to marry. Sophia may be young, spoiled, and rich, but she's done having her life dictated for her. With her father's crumbling empire and society waiting to feast on their downfall, she has only one escape left: RUN. But no one warned her that Alexander would become her weakness. She shouldn't want a man like him. She definitely shouldn't marry him. However, Alexander is so deliciously irresistible. He makes it his mission to claw his way into her heart, her thoughts, her fears. Every private moment with him leaves her breathless, wanting more, and tangled deeper in his hands. By the time Sophia realizes that he's the thorn that will ruin her life, she's far too trapped to run. ~ Content Warning: This book contains mature and sensitive themes, including sexual sins, exploitation, and manipulation, addiction, trauma, violence, and emotional struggles. These topics are portrayed with honesty and care. Characters wrestle with serious issues on their journey to healing and light. Intimate scenes are sensual but not explicit. Please, read with discernment.

Adventure Billionaire Romance

9.6

My CEO Husband Gave My Honeymoon Ticket to His Assistant

9.6

On her wedding night, a woman is devastated when her billionaire husband hands their honeymoon tickets to his female assistant instead. This blatant disregard for their marriage marks the start of a cold, neglected life. Trapped in a union defined by indifference and professional boundaries, she must navigate the pain of being second place to his career and staff. It is a story of heartbreak and the struggle for dignity in a loveless high-society marriage.

Billionaire Modern Romance

7.9

The Barren Luna's Secret: Pregnant with the Alpha's Heir

7.9

My husband, Alpha Damien, believed the Seer’s lie that I was barren and a curse to the Blackwood Pack. He spent his nights with his mistress, Victoria, while I sat alone in the cold study, hiding the swell of my belly and the future Alpha growing inside me. The night the Great Hall exploded, the truth could no longer be hidden. I collapsed on the floor, my water breaking, blood pooling beneath me amidst the choking smoke and debris. Damien saw me. He saw the agony in my eyes and the desperate plea on my lips. But when Victoria let out a theatrical scream from across the room, he made his choice. He turned his back on his pregnant mate and sprinted to save his mistress, leaving me to be consumed by the flames. I didn't die in the fire. I dragged myself out into the freezing blizzard, choosing to risk death in the snow rather than stay in a house that wanted me dead. It wasn't until weeks later that Damien tore apart the Seer’s tower and found the letter proving Victoria had paid for the fake prophecy. Shattered by the realization that he had abandoned his own son for a lie, he crossed the frozen wasteland to my father’s territory, falling to his knees in the mud to beg for my return. But he didn't find the weak, submissive wife he left behind. He found the White Wolf. I looked down at him with cold, dead eyes and whispered, "My child has my blood, and he will never know you."

Billionaire Romance Werewolf

Jilted Heiress: Marrying My Mysterious Protector

Chapter 4

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