Married To My Ex's Ruthless Uncle
My father was dying in the ICU, and our family company, the Martin Group, was on the verge of total collapse.
While I was desperately trying to sign the consent form for his life-saving surgery, my fiancé, Eston, sent me a text.
"I told you not to be stubborn. The company is mine by Friday. Beg me, and I might pay for the funeral."
He had been secretly looting my family's assets from the inside, waiting for me to break so he could steal everything. He thought I would crawl back to him in absolute despair, surrendering my father's legacy just to survive. The sheer weight of my helplessness crushed my chest as the heart monitor next to my father's bed let out a frantic, high-pitched scream.
The betrayal tore through me, but the despair quickly hardened into a cold, sharp stone.
Why should I let the man who ruined me dance on my family's grave? Why should I let him walk away with everything while I lost the only family I had left?
I wiped away my tears and blocked his number permanently.
Then, I stepped out into the freezing Manhattan rain and went straight to the top floor of the Maxwell building.
I threw my remaining shares onto the desk of Ellwood Maxwell—the apex predator of Wall Street, and Eston's untouchable, ruthless uncle.
"I want you to marry me," Ellwood said, pushing a marriage contract toward me. "That is the only way your company survives."
I picked up the pen. If Eston wanted to destroy my life, I would become his aunt and make him bow.
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Chapter 3
The interior of the stretch limousine was dead silent.
Audriana sat stiffly on the leather seat. She wore a custom black backless gown that Ellwood had sent to the penthouse. The silk felt cold against her skin. She twisted her fingers together in her lap, her breathing shallow.
Ellwood glanced at her pale knuckles. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a velvet box, and snapped it open.
He took her left hand. His grip was firm, leaving no room for argument. He slid a massive, flawless diamond ring onto her ring finger. The metal was freezing. Audriana shivered.
"Sit up straight," Ellwood ordered softly, his thumb brushing over her knuckles. "Do not show them any weakness."
The limo rolled to a stop in front of the Maxwell estate on the Upper East Side. The driver opened the door.
A blinding wall of camera flashes erupted the second the door opened. Audriana squeezed her eyes shut, her heart leaping into her throat.
Ellwood stepped out first. He turned, buttoned his suit jacket with one hand, and offered her the other. It was a pose of absolute protection.
Audriana placed her hand in his. He pulled her out of the car. The press went absolutely feral. The ruthless, untouchable Ellwood Maxwell was holding a woman's hand.
Audriana forced her facial muscles into a perfect, polite smile. She hooked her arm through his, letting him guide her up the red carpet.
Inside the grand ballroom, the air smelled of expensive perfume and old money. Eston was seated stiffly on a velvet sofa near the bar, his face pale and drawn tight with pain. His right leg was stretched out unnaturally in a heavy medical brace, a pair of aluminum crutches resting against the armrest. He was forcing a tight, agonizing smile at a group of socialites, trying desperately to pretend his shattered kneecap wasn't throbbing with every heartbeat.
The heavy mahogany doors swung open.
The loud chatter in the room died instantly. It was as if someone had pulled the plug on the audio.
Ellwood walked in with Audriana. His aura was so suffocatingly dominant that the crowd physically parted to create a path for them.
Eston turned his head. When he saw Audriana, his jaw dropped. The crystal champagne flute slipped from his fingers and shattered on the marble floor, splashing red wine all over his date's dress.
Frances Maxwell, Eston's mother, was holding court near the center of the room. Her face turned an ugly shade of purple when she saw Audriana.
Several board members hurried over, raising their glasses to Ellwood, their eyes darting to Audriana with burning curiosity.
Ellwood wrapped his arm around Audriana's waist, pulling her flush against his side. "Gentlemen," he said, his voice carrying across the silent room. "Allow me to introduce my wife, Mrs. Maxwell."
A collective gasp ripped through the ballroom. Whispers exploded like fireworks.
Frances stomped over, her heels clicking aggressively. She stopped in front of them, her chest heaving. "Is this some kind of sick joke, Ellwood?"
Ellwood looked down at her with dead eyes. "My marriage is none of your business, Frances."
Frances choked on her breath. She didn't dare yell at Ellwood, so she turned her venomous glare onto Audriana.
Audriana didn't look away. She smiled sweetly. "Good evening, sister-in-law."
Frances looked like she was going to have a stroke.
Eston finally snapped out of his shock. He pushed through the crowd, his eyes wild and bloodshot. "You gold-digging whore!" he screamed, pointing a shaking finger at Audriana. "You lied to me!"
Audriana's stomach twisted, but before she could even open her mouth, Ellwood moved.
He didn't yell. He didn't argue. He simply raised his hand and backhanded Eston across the face.
The loud smack echoed off the high ceilings. Eston spun around from the force of the blow, blood instantly dripping from his split lip.
The entire ballroom stopped breathing.
Ellwood pulled a white silk handkerchief from his pocket. He slowly wiped his knuckles. "Watch your mouth when you speak to your aunt."
Frances screamed and threw her arms around Eston, shielding him. She glared at Ellwood with pure hatred but kept her mouth firmly shut.
At the top of the grand staircase, an elegant, elderly woman appeared. Angel Maxwell, the matriarch.
The crowd parted again as a maid helped Angel down the stairs. Her sharp eyes locked onto Audriana.
Audriana's palms started to sweat. This was the real test. Ellwood's hand tightened on her waist, his thumb pressing firmly into her side.
Angel stopped in front of them. She looked Audriana up and down for ten agonizing seconds. Finally, she gave a short nod. "Since you are married, know your place and do your duty."
She didn't object. The crisis was over.
The orchestra started playing again, and the guests quickly pretended nothing had happened.
Ellwood leaned down, his lips brushing against Audriana's ear. His hot breath sent a shiver down her spine. "That 'sister-in-law' line was excellent," he whispered.
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8.6
In my past life, the Cerberus strain leaked, turning the world into a blood-soaked hell of rotting flesh and mutated monsters.
I thought my boyfriend Declan and my best friend Hailee would have my back as we fled the quarantine zone.
Instead, when the surging crowd of the infected cornered us, they didn't hesitate.
They shoved me backward into the horde just to buy themselves three seconds to run.
As I fell into the mud, I saw them fleeing without a single backward glance.
"She's dead weight anyway!" Hailee screamed.
"Just keep running, she'll distract them!" Declan yelled back.
I was torn apart, feeling the agonizing tear of rotting teeth sinking into my neck and the hot spray of my own blood.
Before the apocalypse, my greedy uncle had locked away my ten-million-dollar trust fund, leaving me with nothing but a fake boyfriend who only wanted me for my money.
Until my last breath, I couldn't understand how the people I loved most could trade my life for a head start.
Why did I blindly trust them? Why didn't I see through their perfectly choreographed lies?
Opening my eyes again, the stench of decaying flesh vanished, replaced by the sterile smell of my college dorm room.
Hailee and Declan were standing over my bed, faking tears of concern over my meningitis fever.
I was back exactly seven days before the world ended, and my spatial vault ability had come back with me.
This time, I'm extorting my uncle for every cent, hoarding the city's supplies, and leaving them all to rot.
9.3
She sells flowers. He spills blood. And he will stop at nothing to make her his. Elena Rossi has always lived quietly among roses and lilies, dreaming of love as gentle as the petals she arranges. She thought she found it in Daniel, the man she planned to marry. Until her wedding day when a dangerous stranger walked into the church and shattered everything. Adrian Volkov is a king in the underworld, a man feared for his ruthlessness and power. But to him, Elena is not just a prize. She is an obsession. A storm he cannot live without. And he will burn the world and anyone in it, to claim her. Torn from the life she knew, Elena resists him, manipulates him, and even runs from him. But Adrian is relentless. His love is dark, his touch both punishing and tender, and his obsession inescapable. When betrayal and bloodshed close in, Elena must face the truth: She doesn't just fear him. She doesn't just hate him. She loves him. Petals and Blood is a haunting, passionate tale of obsession, betrayal, and the dangerous kind of love that blooms in shadows.
9.2
She loved him until she lost herself.
Now, behind locked doors and shattered glass, she must learn to breathe again.
When she first met Lloyd, he was magnetic and intoxicating. The kind of man who turned every head when he entered a room, who spoke in promises sweet enough to taste. With him, she felt chosen, cherished, and safe.
But safety was an illusion, and love became a weapon.
And slowly, piece by piece, he dismantled her until nothing of the woman she once was remained.
Now institutionalized after a breakdown, she begins to piece together the brutal truth of what really happened in the shadows of their love story. Memories sting like open wounds: the manipulation disguised as tenderness, the apologies that blurred into threats, the desperate hope that tomorrow he'd be the man she fell for again.
Yet beneath the grief and the shame, a quiet rebellion stirs, a vow to reclaim her voice, her freedom, and her life. Because this is not just a story of how she fell apart. It is a story of how she rises.
Haunting, raw, and achingly intimate, Boys like him peels back the glittering mask of a toxic love affair to reveal the kind of darkness that hides in plain sight, and the unbreakable strength it takes to escape it.
8.7
For seven years, I was Alpha Zane’s Chosen Mate, suppressing my warrior instincts to be the docile, supportive partner he demanded.
On our seventh anniversary, while I waited by a candlelit table, I accidentally overheard his mind-link with another woman.
"Seven years is a habit, my dear, not love. She's docile, she'll understand."
He told Seraphina, his new political ally, laughing as he dismissed my entire existence.
I didn't scream or cry. I scraped the anniversary cake into the trash, drafted a formal rejection letter, and walked out of the packhouse.
But Zane didn't even notice my departure. He was so consumed by his new lover that my rejection letter was treated as garbage and tossed into the incinerator.
He paraded Seraphina around the pack, even handing my hard-earned strategic command over to her—a woman who knew absolutely nothing about war.
When my loyal subordinates protested, he violently suppressed them, declaring my absence a "childish tantrum" and framing me as the bitter obstacle to his destined romance.
He honestly thought I was just hiding in my room, waiting to beg for his charity and accept a humiliating demotion.
He had no idea that I had already crossed the border into enemy territory.
Tonight, I am attending his grand celebration.
Not as the heartbroken mate he discarded, but as the newly appointed Gamma of his deadliest rival, the Sterling Pack.
7.4
Clara Davis was trained to seduce, deceive, and destroy.
Her mission is simple: infiltrate billionaire Jeffery Rothwell's life, gain his trust, and help seize his empire in exchange for the freedom she has always craved.
But the deeper she slips into his dangerous world, the more the lines between mission and desire begin to blur. Falling for him was never part of the plan and neither was discovering that the man she was sent to manipulate may not be the real Jeffery at all.
Now trapped in a deadly web of obsession, power, and hidden identities. Clara is caught between the organization that owns her, the monster who remade her, and a love that has turned into vengeance. Clara must survive a man who sees everything, controls everything, and may be far more dangerous than the organization that created her.
Because in this game of seduction and revenge, love might be the deadliest trap of all.
9.5
"You shouldn't be here, Fiona," his deep voice rasped against her ear, his hand still pressed against the wall behind her.
"Then tell me to leave," she whispered, her lips trembling inches from his. He didn't move. He didn't breathe. And in that moment, she knew he wanted her just as much as she wanted him.
Fiona Harry has lived her whole life in a golden cage of wealth, reputation, and suffocating rules. University was supposed to be her escape, her first taste of freedom. But nothing could prepare her for the moment she came face-to-face with Professor Jalen Hart, her father's best friend. One reckless night changes everything. A drunken mistake turns into an irresistible obsession, pulling her deeper into Jalen's forbidden world. But secrets don't stay hidden forever. Between Jude, her possessive friend who knows too much, Marian, Jalen's wicked wife, and the dangerous power of desire, Fiona is about to risk not only hers and her family's reputation but her entire future.
And what happens when the truth comes out especially to Marian?