Not a Modern Cinderella: Flash Married To A Hidden Tycoon
Ella Hart was adopted into a wealthy household, but she never lived like a daughter.
While her adoptive mother, Nora, indulged in luxury and high society, Ella was treated like little more than a servant, forced to do the hardest chores and surviving on scraps of affection.
Until the day her biological family finally found her and brought a shocking revelation.
Years ago, the Hart family had arranged a marriage alliance with the Sterling family. The bride was meant to be either Ella... or her beloved sister, Piper.
That day, the impossibly handsome man arrived in worn-out clothes. He was instantly rejected by Piper.
To escape her old life, Ella agreed without hesitation, but she would never have imagined the man in front of her was the richest CEO in the city...
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Chapter 5
After leaving the center, Ella called Tiesto. He had just finished a meeting and answered.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Mr. Sterling, I need your help with something," Ella said. "The security guard told me this morning that I need to register my bike, but I need proof that I live there, so-"
"Alright." Tiesto frowned slightly."Javi, take care of it immediately."
A second later, Ella's phone buzzed-Tiesto Sterling had added her as a contact. Moments after that, he sent over the property documents.
She hadn't expected the apartment to actually belong to him.
In the city, real estate prices were brutal. Even modest apartments could drain a family's lifetime savings. This one was ninety-nine square meters-just over a thousand square feet. Even in an average neighborhood, its value was staggering.
Ella stared at the documents, stunned.
[So this apartment is yours?] she typed. [It must have cost a fortune.]
No reply.
After a moment, she added: [You probably have a big mortgage every month, right? I can contribute to the rent if you want.]
Still nothing.
Feeling awkward, she sent one more message. "I don't earn much yet. I'll only be using one room, so I can cover part of the market rate."
Finally, a response came.
[No need.]
Even so, Ella felt uneasy. She'd planned to rent anyway, so she made a mental note to look up local prices later.
With the property documents and marriage certificate, registering her electric bike and charging station went smoothly this time.
Back at the apartment, she flipped the light switch.
Nothing happened.
The unit was pitch-dark.
A neighbor across the hall poked her head out. "Everything okay? Did your power go out?"
Ella frowned. It dawned on her that the utilities hadn't been activated yet. She messaged Tiesto for the account details and access codes. His replies were brief-impatient, even-but she didn't take it personally. She had no intention of bothering him more than necessary.
Her phone rang almost immediately.
"Make a list of everything that needs to be handled-utilities, parking, anything else," Tiesto said calmly. "Send it all at once. Don't report things piece by piece."
Even while busy, he was polite. Still, the authority in his tone made her smile wryly. If she'd done this at work, she would've been reprimanded long ago.
"Oh-okay. Sorry," she said, pulling out a notebook and carefully writing everything down.
Tiesto didn't wait. "Javi, handle it."
Javi moved fast-activating utilities, confirming parking access, and linking all fees to Tiesto's accounts.
He had witnessed Tiesto registering the marriage himself, but over the past two days it was clear the CEO wasn't entirely pleased with the arrangement. Javi didn't ask questions. He never did.
"Create a new messaging account," Tiesto added. "If she needs anything, she contacts you. You're just a friend. I'm an ordinary employee."
Tiesto's main accounts were too public-corporate posts, media appearances, constant visibility. Personal matters didn't belong there. Javi sighed. Keeping things low-key was one thing; this bordered on excessive.
Before Ella finished her list, the apartment lights flicked on.
Everything had been handled-utilities activated, parking approved, fees auto-paid. Tiesto even sent her the Wi-Fi name and password.
"For apartment-related matters, contact Javi," his message read, followed by a virtual business card.
"Got it," Ella replied, adding him.
"And don't mention our marriage to outsiders."
"Understood."
She doubted she'd need to contact Tiesto much anyway.
The next day, the building upgraded its smart meters, rendering the old access codes useless. Ella didn't have the new ones.
Tiesto didn't live there, and Javi usually handled these things-but now it fell to her. She messaged Javi directly.
"I need the updated access codes. What should I do?"
Javi was in the car with Tiesto, who was on a call with an overseas investor. He didn't interrupt. This was well within his authority.
Ella was nearby. It would be quicker to deliver them in person.
She waited by the apartment gate.
Minutes later, Javi approached. "Ms. Hart, I brought the updated access codes."
"Oh-thank you for coming all this way," Ella said, taking the envelope.
"Just doing my job," Javi replied. "Let me know if anything else comes up."
Ella glanced across the street-and froze.
"Wait... isn't that car familiar?"
Javi followed her gaze.
Tiesto's black sedan was parked nearby-far too conspicuous. If anyone recognized it, things could get messy.
"Maybe you're mistaken," Javi said smoothly, shifting to block her view.
Ella squinted again. Behind the sedan, a white SUV pulled up. A young woman inside laughed as she spoke to the driver.
Ellen. And her husband.
"Oh." Ella relaxed.
"Coffee?" Javi suggested quickly.
"No, I'll pay," Ella said. "You already went out of your way."
The distraction worked.
By the time Ella stepped out with her iced latte, the white SUV was gone. She waved goodbye to Javi, feeling oddly self-sufficient.
Tiesto's call ended moments later.
Almost unconsciously, he glanced out the window.
Across the street, Ella was laughing softly as she said goodbye to Javi. They held identical cups of iced coffee.
Something in his chest stilled.
He'd known she was beautiful from the start-but her smile now, effortless and bright, caught him completely off guard. The curve of her brows, the light in her eyes-it was disarming.
His gaze lingered.
Javi returned to the car.
The door shut.
Tiesto's eyes shifted to him-cold, sharp.
"You two seem... close," Tiesto said.
A chill ran down Javi's spine. That edge in his voice-subtle, unmistakable.
"Mr. Sterling," Javi said carefully, "the smart meter needed updating. I handled it. She thanked me with coffee."
The air only grew colder.
Tiesto said nothing.
But the tension remained.
Back at the office, Javi was unusually cautious. He'd assumed Tiesto was indifferent-that small gestures meant nothing.
He'd been wrong.
Tiesto's possessiveness had surfaced quietly, unexpectedly, over something as trivial as a cup of coffee.
Lesson learned.
No matter how insignificant it seemed, Javi would never again allow Ella to get close to Tiesto in ways that might matter.
Experience gained: +1.
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9.3
My fiancé, Chadwick Steele, always treated me like a dirty secret-the nerdy brains behind his glamorous tech empire. He flaunted his affair with his mistress, Isa, while constantly reminding me I was an embarrassment he was forced to tolerate.
That all came to a head in a crowded mall. In front of everyone, he publicly broke our engagement, choosing her over me and leaving me to her mercy.
But Isa wasn't satisfied with just winning. She had Chadwick's bodyguards pin me to the floor.
She slapped me, kicked me, and then pulled out a silver letter opener. As she carved a bloody gash across my cheek, she laughed about teaching me a permanent lesson for daring to exist in her world.
I was bleeding and broken, my spirit completely shattered. I thought it was over.
Then, a custom Rolls-Royce pulled up. My mother, Frederica Mooney-the silent titan of Silicon Valley who secretly bankrolls the entire Steele family fortune-stepped out. She took one look at my face, her eyes turning to ice, and gave me the only words I needed to hear: "I give you my full permission."
9.1
Aurora Sinclair thought she had closed the chapter on Damian Blackwood, the man she once loved, married, and walked away from. But when he unexpectedly comes back into her life, she realizes their story is far from over.
Damian is the heir to Blackwood Enterprises, a corporate empire built on deceit, betrayal, and secrets darker than Aurora ever knew. For years, he obeyed his ruthless father's every demand, even marrying someone else to keep Aurora safe. But now, he's done playing by his father's rules. He's ready to reclaim the company his late mother built, expose the crimes that destroyed his family, and protect the woman he's never stopped loving.
As old wounds reopen and dangerous enemies close in, Damian and Aurora are drawn together once more and bound by passion, loyalty, and a shared determination to end the nightmare once and for all. But with betrayal around every corner, they must face a chilling question: can they survive the past... and have a future together?
8.4
Everly spent four years playing the perfect, accommodating wife to Carson Moss, swallowing every grievance just to secure medical treatments for their sick daughter.
But at a high-society banquet she exhausted herself organizing, Carson's pregnant mistress crashed the party.
The woman shoved an ultrasound of Carson's "real heir" directly into Everly's frail grandfather's face.
The shock triggered a massive heart attack.
Carson refused to use his private helicopter to save the dying old man, choosing to protect his mistress and his company's IPO instead. Her grandfather died on the hospital table.
Instead of remorse, her mother-in-law demanded Everly publicly cover up the murder.
"You will do exactly as I say, or I will freeze every single cent of the medical trust fund paying for your crippled daughter's treatments."
When a battered Everly returned to the estate, she discovered her three-year-old daughter covered in dark bruises and pinch marks. Her in-laws were deliberately torturing her disabled child.
Everly couldn't comprehend how a family could be so utterly heartless. Her only family was murdered, her child was abused, and her husband threw a five-million-dollar check at her face as hush money.
They thought she would just break and quietly disappear.
But when a terrifyingly powerful billionaire unexpectedly blocked Carson's security team from locking her up, Everly finally saw her window.
She grabbed her sleeping daughter and ran out into the freezing storm, making a blood-bound vow to make the entire Moss family bleed.
8.3
He laid me on the sheets, climbed over me, caged me with his arms. "Last chance to run," he said, voice low."I need the money," I whispered, feeling so tiny in his arms."You're soaking," he muttered. "Virgin or not, your pussy wants this."I moaned, looking away, couldn't help it,"Eyes on me, sweetheart," he pushed his tip in slowly."Fuck," he groaned. "So tight."He fucked me like he was claiming something. "Come for me," he whispered in my ears, moving faster."Damien," I cried out his name as I came."That's it," he growled. After a long minute he pulled out slowly. "One night," he said again, almost like a reminder....weeks later, I walked through the quiet hall of my school. A massive portrait stared back at me.Damien BlackwoodPrincipal Benefactor and OwnerColumbia University.Same man who'd just taken my virginity for money. My stomach dropped. "Oh fuck... what have I done?"
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.
9.7
For three years, I was the dutiful wife of billionaire Ervin Valdez.
On our third wedding anniversary, he came home smelling of his mistress's perfume, pinned me down, and brutally mocked me.
His mistress, Sylvia, had even sent me a fake ultrasound report to force me out of the picture.
In Ervin's eyes, I was just a vicious, calculating liar who used a pregnancy to trap him into marriage.
He didn't care that I had actually lost that baby, nor did he know the trauma of my gambling father selling me to a dark club where I was assaulted by a stranger.
When I finally handed him the signed divorce papers, giving up all assets, and left the penthouse with nothing but an old suitcase, he just sneered.
"She is playing a game of hard to get. She won't last three days before she comes crying back."
He froze all my bank accounts, let his mistress humiliate me in public, and waited coldly for me to starve and beg.
He thought my entire existence relied on his wealth, completely confident that I would inevitably surrender to his control.
But he was wrong.
I calmly opened my old laptop, bypassed the complex encryptions, and looked at the dozens of unread emails from top-tier global brands begging for my return.
I resurrected my hidden identity as the legendary jewelry designer "R," and walked straight into the top design firm in Manhattan.
"It is time to find myself again."