Loving My Billionaire Stepson
SYNOPSIS:
Before meeting Elliot Winter, Michelle's life was a routine of beatings from her drunk dad and juggling part-time jobs. He was handsome, loaded, and had a smile that could melt ice.
There was also a twenty-year age gap between them, Michelle didn't care because their relationship was the only ray of sunshine in her rather bleak world. And when he popped the question she was more than happy to say yes. Michelle thought she had found her happily ever after, but she couldn't have been more wrong. With each year that passed Elliot became more of a stranger and less of the man she had fallen for, neglecting her and looking the other way when his mother treated her poorly, that was until the day their 5th anniversary rolled around, she caught him in bed with her sister.
Her love is replaced by hate, a swooning affection now burning rage. Well, two could play that game. That night, she dials her stepson's number with a single text that will change their lives forever.
'I need you tonight'
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Chapter 5
Michelle's Pov
Hayden, my stepson, was perfectly still for far too long. He must be really upset that after going through all the trouble of making me this meal the only thing I could do was refuse to reciprocate his efforts, the words were already out the only thing I could do now was apologize and hope he accepted it and let me eat.
"I'm sorry, Hayden...I didn't–"
"Just eat,"
I think he's annoyed with me, but at least he's letting me eat.
I forgot all shame for a second and started wolfing down the food.
His eyes were burning down the side of my face but my mouth was moving and I didn't want to stop nor did my chopsticks which he had laid beside the plate of food. All the flavors exploded in my mouth sending the right signals to my brain, it's tasted so good that I moaned with relish.
"Hmg" Hayden grunted, suddenly turning around while taking deep breaths. I flushed, he must have figured out how hungry I was.
The truth was, for the past several weeks, Beatrice had taken it upon herself to harshly police every single thing I ate, scrutinizing my diet with relentless criticism.
"This is exactly why you're fat like a pig and can't get pregnant, it's because of all this nonsense that you're inhaling into your body. I won't look away anymore," she had always complained that I ate too much and I could be more slim, more slender. I always knew I was on the chubbier side, it was an insecurity that I had battled and temporarily won in the past. That was until my mother-in-law showed up and started planting those uprooted insecurities again.
Before she wouldn't dare say such words to me, at least not without heavily sugar coating it.
Back then when Elliot still cared about me he would immediately shut his mother down no matter how sugar-coated her words were. He wouldn't tolerate any disrespect towards me.
Now..
I had tried to push those awful thoughts away, and while I was eating and quenching my hunger for the first time in weeks I was able to distract myself but as soon as the plate was empty my eyes were filled with tears.
"I'm sorry," I apologized to Hayden.
"Don't apologize," he said taking the plates away and taking care of them in the sink.
"Why did you come?" I asked, so many things confused me right now, and at the forefront of them was his sudden hospitality. From what I knew, he didn't like me one bit. In fact, the first night we met he was just staring at me like they snuck me into the planet, and when he was not staring he was shooting daggers with his eyes.
I could already guess what he was thinking.
There was a strong chance he assumed I was nothing more than a shallow gold digger, clinging to his father's wealth and status, and that my presence in their lives had little to do with love and everything to do with money.
But the truth back then was that I loved Elliot.
And that's exactly why his betrayal cuts so deep.
While I still stayed under my father's roof working multiple jobs, there was something that kept me going even before I met Elliot.
My dream of go to college.
My major would be in Engineering.
I was a straight-A student, already scouting around for scholarships.
Then I fell in love and that dream went down the pipeline.
Now I regret it deeply.
"Your father...has another woman," I said quietly, I don't know why I confessed something so humiliating to him maybe because it was burning me from inside and I needed a way to let it out before I exploded so I just told him.
Hayden kept washing the dishes without pause and replied; "I already knew,"
His reply struck me with the force of a slap, sharp and stinging. Heart pounding, I pushed myself off the barstool and deliberately approached him, each step heavier than the last.
"Why didn't you tell me anything?" The question shot out like an accusation, ".. if I knew..."
"If you knew... What would you have done?" He faced me after putting the dishes aside.
"You have already been tolerating so much from Elliot I assumed that this was just another thing you had to learn to put up with as well,"
Shame overwhelmed me then came this undescribable urge to defend that man.
"I haven't spoken to him yet, I left before he could say anything... Maybe this was just a one-time thing and–"
"See? This is exactly what I meant..."
He leaned in closer and before I knew it my back was pressed against the counter and he hovered over me like it was a dark tower.
"He's not even said anything yet, and here you're building up a case in your mind to defend him. Gosh, I'm really trying to help you, but if I'm being honest you're not making it easy,"
He placed his hands at my sides, effectively trapping me between his rippling muscles as he leaned closer enough that his musk swam unfiltered into my nostrils and his heated breath brushed at my neck.
Goosebumps ran across my whole body as I rubbed my thighs together.
"Step back, please .." I was supposed to yell but instead it came out as a whisper, my breathing became uneven.
He was about to do just that, then I remembered Elliot and Natasha laughing and giggling together, disregarding my feelings...the sadness gave way to the anger.
I had to get back at him.
No matter what other way I felt, I'd show him that it took two to tango.
I grabbed Hayden by the collar of his shirt, pulling him down. I stopped when our lips were a millimetre apart, heated breaths intermingling. His eyes flashed with a look I didn't recognize, I got cold feet and was ready to pull away when he grabbed me by my waist, lifting me for his lips to embrace mine.
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9.3
My husband, Deegan, plunged a needle into my heavily pregnant belly. He said it was a mild sedative to "slow things down." The truth was a brutal betrayal.
His brother's widow, Karmen, was also due, and her son had to be born first to secure the family inheritance. He was sacrificing our child for money.
He locked me in a panic room, leaving me to suffer through agonizing contractions alone.
His sister found me, not to help, but to kick me and let her venomous snake sink its fangs into my arm.
As I lay bleeding out, my baby dying inside me, he had all the life-saving medical equipment moved to Karmen's private clinic, leaving me with nothing.
He called me a manipulative actress, a gold-digger trying to steal the inheritance. The man who swore to protect me left me to die on a cold floor, choosing a birthright over his own child.
But I didn't die. My billionaire father saved me, and I was reborn from the ashes of my grief. Years later, when Deegan stormed into my boardroom, convinced he could drag his "dead" wife home, I looked at the pathetic man he'd become. I slowly pulled the wedding ring from my finger and let it fall to the floor.
"The woman who loved you died that night."
7.9
Jace Maddox is a billionaire tech CEO known for his cold heart and strict routines. Behind closed doors, he's a man haunted by betrayal, grief, and secrets too heavy to share.
River Hale is an ex-military bodyguard with nothing left to lose. Disgraced and angry, he's hired to protect the one man he can't stand, Jace Maddox.
When a dangerous scandal threatens to destroy Jace's empire, the only way to survive is a fake relationship. A staged romance to control the media.
But fake feelings start to feel real.
As secrets unravel and enemies close in, both men must face their pasts, and the truth about what they've come to mean to each other.
8.8
After years trapped under the cruelty of her stepfather's control, Isabella knew the rules of surviving in a world ruled by men like Marco Deluca - never be noticed, never be wanted. But when she becomes a witness to something she was never meant to see, Vincenzo spares her life for reasons he doesn't understand.
Drawn to her quiet strength and fearless gaze, he finds himself willing to burn his empire to keep her safe. But loving him means stepping into a world that destroys everything it touches... and she might be the only thing he can't afford to lose.
9.0
I married the CEO of the powerful Powers Corporation, and everyone saw me as the perfect trophy wife. They assumed my days were filled with nothing but shopping on Fifth Avenue.
But this prestigious family was a house of cards. My husband's siblings were spoiled, useless children threatening to bring the entire empire down with their stupidity.
His brother, Braden, was a parasite who mistook his trust fund for "freedom." His sister, Chelsea, was a brainless socialite being used as a pawn in a public scandal by a con artist.
Even the family's ruthless Chief of Staff, a man meant to be their shield, looked at me with utter contempt, viewing me as just another problem to be managed.
They all saw a fragile doll. They had no idea that their weakness was an insult to the family name, and I was not going to stand for it.
It was time to discipline the children. The first lesson began at 3,000 feet, when I kicked my brother-in-law out of a plane mid-flight. His rehabilitation—and my takeover of this family—had just begun.
9.0
Once a pampered princess, Alaina now clutched a deactivated American Express card, staring out at Central Park. Her family’s fortune was gone, her life, over.
Her family's Hamptons estate, a four-generation legacy, was seized by Dyer Capital. The name hit her: Hardin Dyer, the poor boy she’d once scorned, had returned.
Hardin marched in, serving a divorce agreement. He'd orchestrated her family's downfall for revenge, giving her 24 hours to vacate his property. Penniless, her father faced prison, needing $50 million. Her mother forced her to beg Hardin, who sneered, offering the money for her body. Alaina ripped up the contract.
Hours later, her father had a heart attack. Desperate, she became "Lexi," a club girl enduring humiliation. In the Viper Room, Hardin's lackeys demanded she lick whiskey off his shoe for $10,000. Hardin watched. Outside, her brother Ashton's hand was threatened for a $3 million debt. Spirit shattered, Alaina returned, knelt on broken glass, offering to sign. But Hardin declared her family "dead," offering $10 million for her body, commanding her to use her mouth.
In a furious act of defiance, Alaina threw whiskey in his face, snatched the check, and fled. Yet, when he finally took her, a searing, foreign pain and blood on the sheets revealed a shocking truth: he had never touched her three years ago. Why had he let her believe such a monstrous lie?
7.6
I was the ultimate trophy wife, a polished ornament in Francisco Zimmerman’s billionaire empire. For three years, I perfected the "Zimmerman Wife Smile," playing the role of the devoted partner while smoothing the Egyptian cotton of his shirts.
The illusion shattered when I stood outside his study and heard him laughing with his mistress, Annalise.
"She’s just a vase that only knows how to smile," Francisco’s voice was cold, devoid of any warmth. "As long as I pay the maintenance fees on time, she stays obedient."
I walked out that night with nothing but a canvas bag and the clothes on my back. But Francisco wasn't finished with his "asset." He froze my bank accounts and used his massive influence to blacklist me from every interior design firm in New York. He tracked my phone, watching me struggle from the shadows, waiting for me to starve so I would crawl back to his mansion.
He even showed up at the dive bar where I was playing piano for rent money, mocking my desperation.
"You have technique, but no heart," he sneered, tossing a silver coin into my tip jar as if I were a beggar. "You're hollow, Iris. Just like your pride."
I couldn't believe this was the same man whose life I had saved during a bloody night in Macau. To him, I wasn't a wife; I was a stock price that needed stabilizing. The more I fought for my independence, the tighter he pulled the net, determined to break my spirit until I had no choice but to return to his gilded cage.
Then, the morning sickness hit. I realized I wasn't just carrying my own life anymore—I was carrying his heir. If Francisco found out, he would never let us go; he would turn my child into another "performance bonus" for his brand.
Looking at the sonogram, I knew a divorce would never be enough to escape a man who thought he owned the world.
"I'm not going back," I whispered, staring at his yacht moored in the harbor. "To save this baby, Iris Potter has to die."