One Reckless Night With Mr. CEO
One reckless night. One stranger's bed.
One marriage certificate she never meant to sign.
Tessa Hayes only wanted to forget her cheating ex for a few hours. Instead, she wakes up hungover, sore, and tied by law to Owen Carter - the cold, infuriatingly gorgeous billionaire CEO every woman wants but none can tame.
Owen doesn't want an annulment. He wants a wife.
For one year, Tessa will play the role: smile for the cameras, survive his controlling family, and help him secure the biggest deal of his career. In return, he'll give her more than she ever dreamed of.
But fake kisses spark real flames.
And when jealous exes, a ruthless rival, and a leaked marriage contract threaten to expose their secret, Tessa realizes she's in, deeper than she ever planned.
Because falling for her accidental husband? That was never part of the deal.
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Chapter 6
This new life Owen had given to me barely three weeks after our public proposal felt less like a dream and more like a gilded cage, and we hadn't even gotten married yet.
"The silk you're holding is Italian Tessa. You have to remove it immediately after dinner and have it cleaned overnight. And girl please, try not to stain it."
Sana, my fairy godmother turned personal assistant instructed as she applied makeup to her face over the video call.
I stared at the cloth in my hand, and then slowly to the rack of designer dresses, shoes and coats that cost way more than my annual salary, filling my spare closet.
"This isn't me girl. I'm a marketing manager, I have no idea on how to be a socialite."
"You will be Mrs Carter soon, you've got to learn how to fit in," Sana corrected me sharply.
" Your image is critical to the merger, you have to embrace it."
Tonight I would be meeting Evelyn Carter, Owen's mother who is apparently old money, stern, and very observing.
"I heard she analyses every detail, from your appearance, to your posture, to the placement of your silverware." Sana said as if she read my mind.
A knot tightened in my stomach.
"Am I expected to perform for his mother?"
"You are expected to be the perfect, unsuspecting bride who tamed the untameable CEO.
Be charming, resilient, and girl please..for the love of the Carter legacy do not mention your career pitch unless she asked first."
"Fine."
"That's my girl. Goodluck."
I hung up the call feeling a surge of resentment.
What had I gotten myself into?
I had agreed to this stupid contract because I cornered myself trying to wipe the smug look off Clarissa's face at the cafe when she rubbed her wedding plans with Austin in my face, not to become a puppet for Owen's controlling family.
~~~~~~
Exactly at six, a gleaming black Rolls-Royce pulled up outside my modest apartment building.
Owen himself stepped out, a rare sight that instantly drew the attention of the neighbours around.
He looked impossibly tall and dominant in his dark blue suit, radiating a Carter's aura of untouchable wealth.
"Are you ready for your first test Tessa?"
He asked, his hazel eyes calmly accessing my appearance as I walked down from my porch towards him.
"As ready as I'll ever be to audition for the role of your compliant wife," I retorted meeting his gaze.
He didn't smile, but a slight tension eased around his jaw.
"Defiance suits you. Keep that fire, but I suggest you direct it away from my mother. It's for the cameras and the contract, remember?"
He placed a hand lightly on the small of my back to guide me to the side of the car.
The touch was brief, yet an undeniable spark travelled up my spine. It was the same electric current I remembered from when we first kissed at the club.
"Just stick close to me," he murmured, leaning a little too close to me.
"It's easier for both of us if they think I'm possessive."
As the car pulled away from the front of my apartment, I glanced through the side window.
Owen's hand now firmly placed on my right hand. But every now and then, his thumb moved just slightly, tracing a lazy circle on my skin.
I realized his touch was doing more than just putting on a show, it was a calculated, private claim that had nothing to do with cameras, and it made my heart race.
What was he playing at? I wondered. He was the one who insisted on boundaries.
Soon, we pulled up to the enormous, classical Carter estate.
It was intimidating, freezing, and felt like I had time travelled. As we stepped out, Owen paused, looking down at me with an expression I couldn't decipher.
"Breathe Tessa." He said, his voice filled with amusement.
It was then I realized I had been holding my breath since we got here.
Rolling my eyes, I finally released the air in my lungs. I was anxious, and the night hadn't even started.
"Remember your role," he commanded, raising my chin slightly, his eyes locking mine.
"Don't let them break you."
And with that, he squeezed my hand, pulled me forward, and led me into the lioness's den where the elegant figure of Evelyn Carter was waiting in the foyer.
Noticing our presence, she turned slowly to face us, and for a moment her gaze was chillingly fixed on me.
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9.2
Rebirth with a Twist.
Fawn Jones doesn't get a chance to resolve the issues with her marriage. No, she gets murdered in her own bathtub. Drowned by the husband she hated after he had moved his mistress into their bed, Fawn's last lucid thought is a promise before death. "I will not stay weak. I will make you pay. If not in this life, then the next." Then she wakes up. Different room. Different body. Different life. Cassandra Huntington – rich, infamous, beautiful in a way Fawn never had been. Cassie had been in a coma for six months after a car crash. Her billionaire husband, Blake, had just signed the paperwork to turn off her life support when she suddenly started breathing on her own. Now everyone thinks Fawn is Cassandra. The media calls it a miracle. Blake calls it complicated. The woman wearing his wife's face is softer, sharper, funnier... and so tempting he hates himself for wanting her. Fawn calls it an opportunity for revenge. Her killers are still out there. Her old body is in the ground under a lie. And the only weapons she has now are Cassandra's money, Cassandra's reputation... and Cassandra's husband. So, she plays the role. Learns to walk in six-inch heels. Smiles for the cameras. Seduces a man who once couldn't stand his wife and now can't seem to stay away from her. While she quietly buys into the company that ruined her old life. While she gets close enough to the man who killed her to watch him crack. They drowned the wrong woman. Now she's awake. And she's not done.
7.1
Princess Aurelia Blackwood has spent her entire life learning how to obey.
As the sole heir to a modern royal dynasty, her future has already been written, strategic alliances, a public marriage, and a crown that allows no room for personal desire. Love is a luxury she was never meant to claim.
Everything changes the day she meets Dr. Elara Voss, the academy's newest senior lecturer.
Calm, brilliant, and devastatingly attractive, Elara represents everything Aurelia should avoid. Their connection is immediate, unsettling, and impossible to ignore. What begins as restrained conversation and stolen glances soon deepens into something far more dangerous, an emotional bond that threatens duty, reputation, and the crown itself.
The age gap, the hierarchy, and the rules of the monarchy stand firmly between them. When their forbidden relationship is exposed, Aurelia is forced to choose between the life she was born to live and the woman she was never meant to love.
Because some hearts are not meant to be ruled.
Some crowns are meant to be rewritten.
And some love stories are worth breaking tradition for.
7.1
I was the top commander of a black-ops military program. After slaughtering my way through a hellish mission, I reached the extraction helicopter, trusting my second-in-command to watch my back.
But the moment our hands locked, he didn't pull me up. Instead, he plunged a syringe of lethal neurotoxin directly into my neck.
He aimed his gun at my chest, coldly stating that I was too dangerous to live. My lungs stopped, and I died in a pool of my own blood. But the endless blackness suddenly shattered. My consciousness violently forced its way into a new, broken shell. I woke up in a freezing alley, soaked in muddy rain.
This body belonged to seventeen-year-old Eliza Wyatt. A massive wave of foreign memories crashed into my brain. Her own younger sister had just stood at the top of the stairs with a mocking smile, watching street thugs beat Eliza to death.
"Take good care of the Wyatt family's eldest daughter. Tonight is the night she finally disappears."
The endless humiliation, the cold stares of her family, and the brutal betrayal by her own blood flashed before my eyes. Why was this fragile girl treated like garbage and pushed to her death by the very people who should have protected her?
I looked down at my pale, trembling hands. The top commander was dead, but in this bleeding shell, Eliza Wyatt was very much alive. I picked up a switchblade from the bloody puddle and stood up in the storm. It was time to hunt.
7.0
Eleanore thought her fiancé, Johan, was her only salvation after her family went bankrupt.
But at a high-society gala, he handed her a drugged glass of water. As the unnatural heat burned through her veins, the horrific truth hit her. Johan had isolated her and controlled her finances, all while secretly getting engaged to a wealthy heiress. He drugged Eleanore to ruin her completely, planning to lock her away as his helpless, secret mistress.
Desperate and losing her mind to the drug, Eleanore fled down the hallway. With Johan and his bodyguards hunting her, she stumbled into the dark presidential suite.
But she wasn't alone. Sitting on the leather sofa was Alexander Briggs—the most feared corporate raider on Wall Street, and Johan's exiled brother.
Outside the door, Johan was screaming, ready to drag her back to hell.
"I can be your antidote. But it's going to cost you."
The ruthless billionaire looked at her trembling body with cold calculation. He offered her a staggering deal: a three-month fake marriage to destroy Johan's empire, and in return, absolute protection and her father's massive debts paid in full.
She couldn't understand why the most powerful predator in New York would use a ruined girl as his weapon, but she knew she would rather die than let Johan touch her again.
When Johan finally broke down the door to claim his prey, Alexander calmly pulled Eleanore into his arms.
"Watch your mouth. You are speaking to my future wife."
9.4
Ashley gave Nicolas ten years of love and five years of loyalty as his perfect housewife, only to be repaid with betrayal, humiliation, and death at the hands of him and his mistress.
After being reborn, she vowed to make them pay.
She tore apart the mistress, kicked her useless husband aside, and returned as the heiress of a top-tier family.
Surrounded by billions, luxury, and a parade of elite bachelors, Ashley became the woman everyone wanted-including a cold, powerful tycoon.
When Nicolas came begging for forgiveness, she smiled coldly. "Fuck off! My man is worth a hundred of you."
8.3
Five years ago, a silver bullet meant for Alpha Liam shattered my spine. I took the shot to save him, and in exchange, my inner wolf went silent. I became a ghost in my own pack—the barren Luna.
But gratitude has an expiration date. Liam brought Sarah home, claiming she was just a "designated breeder" for the heir I couldn't provide.
It was a lie. When Sarah faked a fall, Liam didn't defend me. To appease the Elders, he ordered me to be whipped with silver lashes.
He watched from the balcony as I bled.
Later, on the day he marked her, he drained my rare blood to save her from a "miscarriage," then handed me a one-way ticket to Paris.
"It's for your safety," he said, exiling me to make room for his new family.
I looked at the man I sacrificed everything for. He didn't see a wife; he saw a resource to be used and discarded. He thought he could break me and send me away quietly.
So, I gave him exactly what he wanted: a dead Luna.
I didn't board the plane to Paris. Instead, I let him watch the news report that Flight 815 had crashed into the Atlantic with no survivors.
While he went mad with grief, realizing Sarah was a fraud, I was in the North, unlocking the White Wolf he thought was gone forever.
When we met again, I wasn't his broken wife. I was holding another Alpha's hand.
"Liam Vance," I smiled, my eyes glowing white. "I reject you."