Million Dollar Hush Money: I Want Divorce

The silence in Sterling Manor wasn't empty; it was heavy, pressing against my eardrums like deep water. I sat on the edge of the oversized velvet sofa, waiting for my husband to return from a "merger closing" that I knew was actually a hotel room. At 2:00 AM, a notification glowed on his forgotten work tablet: "You left your tie on my nightstand. I'll keep it safe for next time. - S." When Ethan finally walked in, he didn't look at me. He just smelled like Serena's signature sandalwood perfume and expensive scotch. He didn't apologize for the infidelity; instead, he transferred a million dollars into my spousal account and told me to go buy some jewelry to keep my mouth shut. I realized then that I wasn't a wife; I was an expensive placeholder. I left my ten-carat diamond ring on the foyer table and walked out into the freezing rain with nothing but a canvas duffel bag. But Ethan wasn't about to let his "ornament" escape so easily. He froze my credit cards, revoked my trust access, and used his billion-dollar influence to blacklist me from every architecture firm in New York City. He even tracked me down to a restaurant where I was playing piano for tips, throwing a stack of hundreds at me in front of his mistress. When I still refused to crawl back to the manor, he played his final, cruelest card. He leaned in and whispered that if I didn't return to his bed, he would stop protecting my brother from a prison sentence he had manufactured himself. I stood there shivering, realizing that every "favor" he'd ever done for my family was actually a shackle. He thought he could buy my soul, my talent, and my silence by holding the people I loved hostage. How could the man I once loved turn into a monster who viewed my life as nothing more than a line item on a balance sheet? I looked him straight in the eye, my voice as cold as the winter air outside. "Make the call, Ethan. Send him to jail. I'd rather visit my brother through plexiglass than spend another night sleeping next to you." I'm done being a victim. I've just walked into the offices of Azure Architects, the only firm in the city Ethan can't bully. I'm not just going to finish my degree; I'm going to help his biggest rival burn his empire to the ground.

Chapters

Chapter 6

Lily's hand shot out. Her fingers brushed the cold, crisp bills, but instead of taking them, she shoved them.

The money scattered off the piano, fluttering to the floor like dead leaves.

"I don't want your money," she said. Her voice was muffled by the mask, but the tone was unmistakable.

Ethan stopped. He turned around slowly, his brow furrowed in confusion. "Excuse me?"

"I said," Lily stood up, the piano bench screeching against the floorboards, "keep your charity."

Serena was watching from the booth, a smirk playing on her lips. She wanted this. She wanted the scene.

"Pick it up," Ethan said, his voice dropping to that dangerous, quiet level. "You're making a scene."

"Am I?" Lily reached up behind her head. She pulled off the glasses. She unhooked the mask.

She let it fall.

Ethan's eyes went wide. His pupils dilated, swallowing the grey irises. He looked at her face-pale, devoid of makeup, eyes burning with a fire he had never seen before-and he took a step back. The recognition hit him like a physical blow.

"Lily?" The word was a breath, a question.

The restaurant fell silent. Diners turned in their seats.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Ethan hissed, stepping closer to block her from view. "Dressed like... this? Playing for tips? Are you trying to humiliate me?"

"I'm working, Ethan," Lily said, her voice clear and carrying. "It's called earning a living. You froze my cards, remember?"

"I froze them so you would come home! Not so you could cosplay as a servant in my favorite restaurant!" His face flushed with anger. "Get your coat. We're leaving."

He reached for her arm.

Lily stepped back. "Don't touch me."

"Lily, stop this madness. You're my wife."

"I am your employee," she corrected. "Or I was. Until I quit."

Serena appeared at Ethan's elbow. "Oh my god, Lily! Is that you?" Her acting was Oscar-worthy. She covered her mouth with a manicured hand. "I didn't recognize you in those... rags. Ethan, don't be mad at her. She's obviously desperate."

Serena opened her clutch. She pulled out a checkbook. "Here," she said, scribbling quickly. She tore off a check. "Five thousand. That should cover a hotel and some new clothes. Please, stop embarrassing Ethan."

She held the check out to Lily.

Lily looked at the paper. Then at Serena's face. The malice in Serena's eyes was shining bright and clear.

Lily took the check.

Serena smiled triumphantly.

Lily ripped the check in half. Then in quarters. She threw the pieces into the air. They rained down on the bodice of the midnight blue dress.

"You can buy his time, Serena," Lily said, her voice shaking with adrenaline. "You can buy his bed. You can even wear my dress. But you can't buy me."

Serena let out a dramatic gasp, stepping back as if slapped. "Ethan! She's crazy!"

"That's enough!" Ethan roared. He stepped between them, shielding Serena. He looked at Lily with pure disgust. "You have lost your mind. Look at yourself. You're pathetic."

Pierre, the manager, rushed over, sweating profusely. "Miss! You are fired! Get out! Immediately!"

"I'm leaving," Lily said. She grabbed her purse from under the piano.

She walked past Ethan. He didn't try to stop her this time. He was too busy brushing the confetti of the check off Serena's shoulder.

Lily walked out of the warm restaurant and into the biting cold of the New York night. The snow was falling harder now, thick flakes that stuck to her eyelashes.

She stood on the sidewalk, her chest heaving. She had no job. No coat. No husband.

She started to laugh. It was a broken, jagged sound.

Behind her, the restaurant door banged open.

"Lily!"

Ethan strode out into the snow, ignoring the valet who ran toward him. He looked furious. He looked terrifying.

He marched toward her, closing the distance in three long strides.

Continue to next part

I smoothed down the front of my dress for the fifth time, checking my reflection in the hallway mirror. One year. Three hundred and sixty-five days of marriage to a man who still felt like a stranger in our bed. The dining room glowed with candlelight, casting shadows across the intimate table I'd spent hours preparing. Jasper's favorite wine breathed in crystal glasses, and the beef Wellington sat perfectly golden on fine china—his favorite, not mine. Nothing about this marriage had been about what I wanted. "Mrs. Spencer?" Our housekeeper appeared in the doorway, her expression carefully neutral. "The dinner will get cold." "He'll be here," I said, more to convince myself than her. "He promised." At eight-thirty, the front door finally opened.

Billionaire Modern Romance

8.6

Bound by Vows: Ruthless Desires.

8.6

"Y–You're a sick bastard" He laughed softly, grip loosening from my hand slightly and with eyes will fixed on me, cleaned the spittle slowly with his other hand and licked it. I gulped, a weird heat blooming at the sight of this. Seriously? I bit the bottom of my lips. There's no way I'm getting excited from this... "Delicious" he mused "Let's have you spit on something else with that cute mouth" ___ Alessia Ferraro, tossed as a sacrifice into a marriage with Mafia Lord, Cesare Marchetti in an attempt to save her family must figure out a way to clear her father's name and satisfy this craving Monster. Cold, dominant and possessive, Cesare hates the fact that he's been forced into a marriage with the daughter of a traitor based on a vow his father made. He vows to break her, but she refuses to bow... even as his touch awakens some cravings beyond her control. Will this fire of passion ignite something else, or will the dangers lurking the Shadows fuels it to burn them and leave them dead in their ashes?

Action Modern Romance

7.6

Delicious Reptilian Meat

7.6

Have you ever eaten "Reptilian" meat? My grandfather said he had. Creatures that looked exactly like us on the outside, but were fundamentally different on the inside. Extremely dangerous, yet incredibly delicious. Before he died, my grandfather left behind a notebook. The first page read: "Reptilian look exactly like humans, but human instinct can tell them apart." The moment my cousin Braden returned for my grandfather's funeral, my gut told me: he wasn't human!

Action Horror Modern Sci-Fi

9.5

He Gave Our Baby Away

9.5

At our engagement party, everything spiraled out of control because Rayne Russell, Axl Lane's childhood friend, and I wore the same Victorian-style dress. Axl publicly tore my dress to shreds and pushed me into the fountain. "You've got a heart of stone. I've agreed to marry you, yet you still want to humiliate Rayne," he said. Climbing out of the fountain, drenched, I watched Axl signal to the group of hooligans outside the door. "They're yours now. Have fun, do whatever you want." Surrounded by the thugs, I begged Axl for mercy, but he only shielded Rayne's eyes, saying, "Don't look, it's not worth it." A week later, he finally remembered me and came with chocolates in hand: "As long as you stop causing trouble, we can still have our wedding." I looked at him, expressionless: "But Axl, I don't want to marry you anymore." He seemed surprised by my words, and seeing that I had no intention of taking the chocolates, he thrust them into my arms. "Still upset? I only meant to scare you that day. Those guys wouldn't dare touch anyone associated with me." "Besides, this whole mess is your fault.

Billionaire Modern Romance

9.0

My Brother's Best Friend's One-Night Rule

9.0

The moment she swiped her keycard and the door clicked open, she was hauled inside by a pair of strong arms. Before she could even gasp, his mouth crashed against hers in a searing, hungry kiss. Finally, after four years of agonizing silence—four years of pining since she was eighteen—she was finally with him. The man who had been her silent obsession, her brother’s best friend, was finally hers. They lost themselves in a feverish blur of skin and shadows, a desperate release of all the tension she had carried for years. But the afterglow didn't last long. As she lay there, breathless and whispering about a "next time," the air in the room suddenly turned frigid. He pulled away, his expression hardening into an impenetrable mask. He didn't just want her to stop talking; he wanted her gone. Standing by the bed, he coldly laid out his three unbreakable rules: No sleepovers. No woman ever spends the night in his bed. No repeats. He never touches the same woman twice. Complete secrecy. No one—absolutely no one—can ever find out. That included her older brother, his best friend. The realization hit her like a physical blow. To him, this wasn't a dream come true; it was a mistake he wanted to erase. Overwhelmed by a wave of shame and heartbreak, she realized he wasn't the hero of her story—he was just a jerk. Tears blurring her vision, she scrambled for her clothes and bolted from the room, leaving her four-year crush behind in the wreckage of his rules.

Modern Romance Young Adult

8.2

My Husband and My Son Fed My Birthday Cake to the Maid

8.2

I baked my own birthday cake at six in the morning. I iced it at lunch. I wrote my own name in buttercream because no one else would. When I came home, the maid was carrying it to the trash. My husband's college ex sat in my chair. My son called her Mommy Vivian and said I chew too loud. I carried him for nine months. I almost lost him in my sixth. I have a scar across my abdomen that Adrian has not looked at in three years. My seven-year-old son told me tonight to eat in the kitchen with the help. The next morning, he cut the protection cord I sewed into his shirt the night he was born. He gave the silk to her. She wore it as earrings at breakfast. On Saturday, the Hart family assigned me the servant's table. They will kneel. They will beg. I will not turn back.

Modern Mystery Romance

Million Dollar Hush Money: I Want Divorce

Chapter 6

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