My Husband's Secret Public Wife
For eight years, I was the perfect, understanding wife. My husband, Gavin, insisted his company retreats were strictly for employees. No spouses allowed. I never questioned it, believing I was supporting his demanding career.
Then I saw a photo from his last ski trip to Aspen. All his colleagues were there, smiling beside their wives. And in the center stood Gavin, his arm wrapped possessively around another woman. She was wearing my blue silk dress-the one he swore I must have lost at the dry cleaners.
My world didn't just crack; it shattered. I discovered that for our entire marriage, he had been living a double life. This woman, Chanelle, wasn't just his mistress. She was his public wife.
She was the one who went on lavish trips to Hawaii and Europe. She was the one introduced to his colleagues and clients. She was even listed as his emergency contact-his spouse-in the official company directory.
I wasn't just the wife he cheated on. I was the wife he completely erased.
But my heartbreak quickly hardened into cold resolve. He was expecting tears and a quiet breakdown. He wasn't expecting me to show up at his company's annual awards gala, marriage certificate in hand, ready to introduce myself to the world he' d hidden from me.
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Chapter 3
Eliza POV:
I called in sick the next morning. My head throbbed, but it wasn't from a headache. It was from the weight of everything I'd uncovered.
I told Gavin I had a client meeting. He didn' t question it. He just kissed my forehead, told me to feel better, and left for work.
I drove straight to his office building. The gleaming glass tower loomed over me. This was his world. A world I was never allowed to enter.
I waited in the lobby, my heart pounding. I texted Jamie Mason. My old college friend. She worked in HR for Gavin' s company.
Hey, Jamie. Free for coffee? I' m in the area.
Her reply was instant. Eliza! What a surprise! Of course! Give me 10.
Ten minutes later, Jamie appeared, her face lighting up when she saw me. "Eliza! It's been too long!" She hugged me tight. "What brings you to this neck of the woods?"
"Just... running some errands," I said, forcing a smile. "Thought I' d swing by and catch up."
We walked to a coffee shop nearby, the air buzzing with the morning rush. Jamie ordered us lattes.
"So, how's Gavin?" Jamie asked, stirring her coffee. "Still the charming workaholic?" She chuckled. "You two are still the picture of stability, aren't you?"
I nodded, a bitter taste in my mouth. "Something like that," I said, trying to keep my voice even. "He's... Gavin."
I took a deep breath. This was it. "Jamie," I began, trying to sound casual, "I had a quick question about company policy. Just out of curiosity."
Jamie raised an eyebrow. "Sure, what's up?"
"Gavin always says spouses aren't allowed at corporate retreats. Or most company events, for that matter," I said, watching her face carefully. "Is that really true?"
Jamie frowned. "What? No, that's not right at all. In fact, it's the opposite. Spouses are almost always invited. Especially to the bigger events, like the annual gala or the Aspen ski trip."
My world tilted again. "He said... there was a very strict policy against it," I whispered, my voice barely steady.
Jamie's expression changed. Her eyes narrowed, a flicker of concern in them. "Eliza, that's absolutely not true. It's never been true. We actively encourage family attendance at most social functions."
My hands started to tremble. The coffee cup clattered against the saucer. "Are you... are you sure?"
"One hundred percent," Jamie said, her voice firm. "I work in HR, remember? I draft those policies. Spouses are welcome. Always have been."
I felt a cold dread spread through my chest. My mind raced, trying to find an explanation for Gavin. Any explanation. "Maybe... maybe he just meant it was too much hassle for him. Or he thought I wouldn't enjoy it."
Jamie leaned forward, her gaze piercing. "Eliza, what's going on? Has Gavin been telling you something else?"
"No! No, everything's fine," I said quickly, perhaps too quickly. "Just... curious. You know how it is."
Jamie sighed. Her eyes held a knowing sadness. "Eliza, I'm your friend. You can tell me anything." She paused, then took a deep breath. "Look, I've always felt a bit... uneasy about something. But it wasn't my place to say anything."
My heart pounded. "About what?"
She hesitated. "Gavin... he never comes alone."
My breath hitched. "What do you mean?"
"At every event, every retreat, every company dinner," Jamie explained, her voice low. "He brings someone. A woman."
My body started to shake uncontrollably. "A woman?"
"Yes," Jamie confirmed. "We all just assumed she was you. For years, we thought that was Eliza. His wife."
The shame was a physical blow. "Who... who is she?"
"Chanelle Bryant," Jamie said, her voice soft with pity. "She owns Bryant Solutions. They're a big client of ours. A key partner."
Chanelle. The name I' d seen in the company press release. The name in Gavin' s messages.
"How long... how long has he been bringing her?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.
Jamie hesitated again. "Eliza... ever since he joined the company. Eight years ago."
Eight years. The exact length of my marriage.
He didn't just meet her after we got married. He brought her to events as his wife for our entire marriage.
"Does he... does he always introduce her as his wife?" I asked, the words feeling like shards of glass in my throat.
Jamie nodded slowly. "Yes. Every time. We always thought you were incredibly private, Eliza. Or maybe just changed your name after marriage. He always introduced her as 'my wife, Chanelle.'"
My public wife. While I was his hidden shame.
Eight years. Eight years of being erased. Eight years of being a secret.
Jamie reached across the table, taking my trembling hand. "I'm so sorry, Eliza. I really am. I never knew."
"It's not your fault, Jamie," I said, pulling my hand away. My vision blurred with tears. "You couldn't have known."
I stood up, pushing my chair back. "Thank you, Jamie. Thank you for telling me." I turned and ran, the tears finally breaking free. I ran out of the coffee shop, ignoring Jamie's calls, ignoring the stares.
Eight years. Eight years of my life. Wasted.
I had been so naive. So trusting.
He had a whole other life. A public life. A glamorous life with Chanelle. While I was at home, raising our daughter, building a life around his lies.
She was his wife. To everyone. The beautiful, successful wife he proudly brought to every event.
And I? I was just the other woman. The hidden wife. The secret he kept in the shadows.
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7.9
Love was never supposed to hurt this much.
Lia thought life would be simple-finish school, protect the people she loves, and keep her heart safe. But everything changes when two very different boys step into her world.
Jaden is steady, patient, and quietly devoted. The one who understands her silences and stands by her even when she pushes him away.
Adrian is intense, unpredictable, and impossible to ignore. The one who sees the parts of Lia she tries so hard to hide.
Caught between comfort and chaos, loyalty and desire, Lia finds herself trapped in a love triangle she never meant to create. Every moment with them pulls her heart in two different directions.
But love isn't the only thing at stake.
As emotions grow stronger, jealousy rises, and secrets begin to surface, the fragile bond between the three of them starts to crack. One wrong choice could shatter friendships, destroy trust, and leave hearts broken beyond repair.
Because sometimes, loving two people doesn't just hurt.
It changes everything.
8.5
Everyone knew Caroline loved Jacob, the frail man in a wheelchair, even giving up her chance at marrying into wealth for him.
She devoted everything to his recovery, enduring hardship and humiliation to help him stand again.
When he finally recovered, they were praised as perfect together-until danger came.
Faced with saving her or her sister, Jacob chose the latter without hesitation. Only in her final moments did Caroline realize his heart was never hers.
Reborn, she made a different choice, choosing power over love.
When Jacob later begged, she looked down coldly. "I have no interest in men who can't stand on their own."
9.4
Ever since she could remember, Maya Connors has always been the smart, shy girl that sat at the back of the classroom. She tackled every task with a boundless zest, except when it came to boys and relationships. Being eighteen and never once had a boyfriend, she was adamant that it would stay the same until she graduated.
But sometimes, you have to expect the unexpected - such as falling for Ethan Morrison, a boy who was way too handsome and way too out of her league.
Despite coming from very different social circles, a school trip to Europe was all it took as to her dismay, she found him incredibly charming.
But when Maya ventures out of her shell and falls too deep, she realizes that it's too late to go back. With her heart laying on the line, she's about to face a whirlwind of emotions, drama, and secrets.
9.6
For a decade, I was the perfect wife to tech mogul Carson Jarvis. I cleaned up every scandal and endured every affair, trapped by my father's "poison pill" inheritance clause that would leave me with nothing if I divorced him.
His latest mistress was pregnant, but that wasn't what finally broke me. It was when he shut down our mansion's power grid for their tryst-and turned off my grandmother's life support.
He murdered her.
At a charity auction days later, he paraded his new love while she announced her pregnancy. When I confronted her for stealing my money, Carson watched as his guards broke my arm, leaving me bleeding on the floor while he comforted her.
He thought I was his unbreakable wife, a possession with nowhere else to go. He expected me to clean up this mess, just like all the others.
He was wrong. As I watched him shield her during the chaos of an explosion I secretly arranged, I knew my old life was over.
Tonight, the world would learn of my death. And with it, Carson Jarvis would lose everything.
7.3
"This... this is wrong," she stuttered, trying not to meet his eyes. "You're my stepfather. Let's forget it ever happened."
"How can I forget it happened, Nicole?" He questioned, gripping her chin. "When the image of you whimpering for more replays in my head every fucking night?"
When one night of desperation turns into Nicole ending up in bed with a nameless stranger, she's almost shocked to death when she moves in with her mother's new husband to see that the nameless stranger is her new stepfather.
Tristan Michelson has always been in control of his emotions, but he can barely control himself when he realizes the masked stripper is his new stepdaughter.
8.6
Genevieve was heavily pregnant, holding the legal papers that would transfer her massive family trust fund to her loving husband, Clinton.
But as she approached his study, she heard a familiar giggle. Through the cracked door, she saw her cousin Carolynn sitting on his desk, her skirt hiked up, while Clinton smirked and poured bourbon.
"Once she signs those papers, we don't need her anymore," Clinton laughed coldly. "The kidnapping is staged for tomorrow. She and the brat disappear permanently."
Genevieve gasped, and he spotted her. When she frantically tried to run, her trusted housekeeper blocked the stairs. Clinton dragged her back, beat her mercilessly, and locked her in a freezing, underground cellar.
Denied any medical help, she endured agonizing hours of labor alone in the dark, only to deliver a stillborn child. Clinton then walked in, ruthlessly tossed her dead baby's tiny body into a pile of dirty rags, and brutally strangled her.
As her lungs burned and the world faded to black, her heart shattered into a million jagged pieces. She had given him everything. How could they be so monstrous as to murder her and her innocent child just for money?
Opening her eyes again, the freezing cellar was gone.
She was standing in an emerald silk gown at an elite charity gala—the exact night their original kidnapping plot began, a month before she even announced her pregnancy.
This time, the naive socialite was dead, and she was going to make them pay in blood.