Pregnant and Abandoned, I Returned as a Hidden Heiress
They say revenge is a dish best served cold.
Mine's been chilling for five years.
The night James Reed kicked me out of his life, I was pregnant, penniless, and naive enough to believe love mattered more than money.
He taught me better. When you're bleeding out in the rain, clutching your stomach while your best friend laughs from his doorway, you learn exactly what you're worth to people like them.
Zero.
But the woman who nearly died that night? She stayed dead. The one who came back is someone else entirely.
Anna Quinn. Lost daughter of California's most powerful family. CEO of her own pharmaceutical empire. And the silent majority shareholder in James Reed's failing company.
He's about to learn what happens when you build an empire on stolen foundations. His marriage has cracks he doesn't see. And the investors keeping him afloat? They answer to me now.
He thinks he's untouchable. That my formula made him invincible.
But success built on stolen work has a way of crumbling when the original genius decides to pull the rug out.
I don't want him back.
I want him ruined.
And this time, I'm the one holding all the cards.
Chapters
Share
Chapter 4
ANNA'S POV
I was so heartbroken and needed someone to talk to. I'd tried calling Clara before, but her number hadn't gone through. I wiped my tears with the back of my hand and pulled my phone from my dress pocket to dial her number again. It rang once... twice... three times, but she didn't pick up.
It was like the day couldn't get any worse, it started raining.
The rain fell so hard it felt like the sky itself was angry at me. I sat on the cold concrete outside my parents' house, drenched from head to toe, shivering as the water soaked through my thin dress. The drops mixed with the tears on my face until I couldn't tell which was which anymore.
Everything inside me felt hollow.
James had betrayed me. Melissa had betrayed me too. My mother had thrown me out of the house. Even my younger sister was happy about my misfortune.
I stared at my phone again through the rain, the screen blurry beneath the droplets.
Maybe James would pick up. Maybe he'd still care enough to answer, maybe it was all a prank or one bit misunderstanding.
So, I pressed his number with trembling fingers and held my breath.
The line rang. Once. Twice, but he didn't pick.
I tried again, as it rang once, twice and then finally it connected.
"James," I whispered, my voice breaking.
There was silence on the other end, followed by a cold and clipped voice. "Who is this?"
My stomach twisted. I would know that voice anywhere, but it wasn't meant for me anymore. There was not an iota of warmth in it.
"It's me, Anna," I said softly. "Please... we need to talk."
And just like that, the call ended.
My heart felt like it had been ripped open again. I stared at the phone until the screen went black, my reflection faint in the glass scared me. I was a broken woman who was betrayed by the people closest to her.
But I couldn't give up. Not yet.
Maybe if I saw him face-to-face. Maybe... maybe if he knew about the baby, he wouldn't turn his back on me completely. He had to listen. He had promised me marriage. He couldn't just abandon his own child.
Hope, fragile but burning, pushed me to act. I pushed myself off the ground, my knees stiff and weak.
The cab ride to his house was endless. My palms were sweaty, my stomach knotted with fear and hope fighting inside me. When the car finally stopped outside his gate, I froze. There was a security man standing there now, tall and stern. James had a security man? Since when?
I walked up, clutching my bag. "Please, open the gate, I need to see James."
The guard looked me up and down like I was dirt. "Miss, I don't let strangers in."
"Please," I said, my voice hoarse. "Tell James I'm here. He knows me."
He didn't move. "Madam, I can't let anyone in without Mr. James's permission."
"I'm his fiancée!" I blurted out, though the words stung even as I said them. "Just tell him Anna is here. Please."
Before the guard could answer, the door swung open. While he was distracted, I quickly shoved him aside and slipped in before he could stop me.
That's when I saw him.. James.
And beside him.. Melissa.
My heart stopped. For a moment, I couldn't breathe. So it really wasn't a prank as I hoped it would be.
Melissa, my best friend since university and maybe even before that...
She stood there, her hand wrapped around his arm, her head resting lightly on his shoulder like they've always been together, maybe they have, I didn't know anymore.
James's eyes landed on me, sharp and void of emotion. "What are you doing here?"
I took a shaky step forward. "James, I need to talk to you. Please, just listen."
He frowned, his voice cold. "Say what you have to say, and leave."
I swallowed hard, my lips trembling. "I'm pregnant."
The silence that followed was deafening.
Then Melissa's laughter cut through the silence, her tone mocking.
"Oh, come on, Anna. Don't start your pathetic drama here." She looked me up and down with a sneer. "You look miserable. What makes you think anyone would believe that story?"
My voice cracked, my eyes turning to face her fully. "Melissa... how could you? You knew everything. You knew how much I loved him."
She tilted her head, feigning sympathy. "Loved, Anna. Past tense. Maybe if you weren't so naïve, you'd have realized you were never enough for him."
James said nothing. He just stood there, letting her talk trash at me.
"James," I whispered, tears mixing with the rain. "You know it's your baby. We've been together for five years. You promised me a future."
He cut me off with a sharp laugh. "I said a lot of things. That doesn't make them true."
Melissa's hand slid possessively over his chest. "You see, Anna, some of us know how to keep a man."
Her words hit harder than any slap. My knees felt weak, but I forced myself to stand tall. "You were my best friend," I said, voice trembling. "You knew everything about me. About us. And you still..."
"I still what?" she interrupted with a smirk. "Took what you couldn't keep? Don't act surprised, Anna. You always thought the world revolved around you, well it doesn't anymore."
James's face remained unreadable, his gaze cutting through me like ice. "You heard her. Leave. You don't belong here."
"I'm carrying your child!" I cried, clutching my stomach.
He scoffed, glancing at Melissa. "Maybe you should ask one of the many men you've been sleeping with. Because that child isn't mine."
The words broke something inside me. I stepped forward, desperate. "James, please, don't do this. You know me. You know I would never..."
"Enough!" he snapped, voice sharp as a whip. "From this day on, you are nothing to me. The only woman I'll ever marry and worth carrying my child is standing right beside me."
He turned to the guard. "If she ever shows up here again, throw her out."
"James, please!" I dropped to my knees, the mud soaking through my dress as I clung to his trousers. "Don't do this to me. Don't do this to our baby."
Melissa's laugh rang again, low and cruel. "Look at you, Anna. You're so pathetic."
James shoved me back, and I hit the ground hard. Pain exploded through my abdomen, and a sharp gasp tore from my lips.
Then came the warmth. I felt a warm liquid dripping from my body.
Blood.
I froze, my hands trembling as they pressed against my stomach. "No... no, no..."
Melissa stepped back in disgust. "She's bleeding on the driveway."
James's expression didn't flicker. "Get her out of here."
The guard grabbed me by the arm, dragging me across the wet concrete.
I screamed, begged, but he shoved me outside the gate and locked it with a heavy clang.
I crumpled on the ground, clutching my stomach, the blood warm against my thighs. My breaths came in shallow gasps. The world spun around me.
The world around me tilted, dimmed, and I thought... maybe this was how it ended.
But then, through the haze, a car screeched to a halt.
A black sleek car. The door flew open, and an elegant woman stepped out.
She ran toward me, her heels clicking sharply against the pavement before she dropped to her knees beside me.
Her face was pale and her eyes wide with terror.
But almost eerily, she looked just like me.. but the older version of me.
She cupped my cheek, her hands trembling.
"My daughter!" her voice broke as she knelt beside me. "Oh my God, my daughter!"
The words echoed in my fading mind, filling me with confusion.
Daughter?
You may also like
9.0
I was a wolfless Omega, forced into a humiliating contract with Alpha Declan just to keep my mother's life support running.
Four years ago, he publicly rejected me as his Fated Mate, treating me like a shameful secret.
But one night, I unlocked his tablet and discovered the sickening truth.
He already had a "Chosen Mate," Karly, and a secret daughter named Ava.
While I was fed gray nutrient paste like a stray dog, he was parading them around as his perfect family.
He even moved them into the master suite and tossed out the last wooden toy belonging to my dead son.
Worse, I found out my own stepbrother was Karly's spy, helping them keep me in the dark.
The week I was hemorrhaging in the hospital, terrified of losing my baby, Declan wasn't fighting a border war. He was buying Karly diamonds in Paris.
The week my mother suffered a massive stroke, he abandoned her to take his secret daughter skiing.
I was entirely alone, a convenient shield for his lies.
But the absolute betrayal burned away my lingering grief, leaving behind a freezing, unbreakable clarity.
I didn't just want a divorce anymore; I wanted to burn their entire world to ash.
So, I slipped a forged termination agreement into his stack of Pack contracts.
Blinded by his own arrogance, the Alpha signed my freedom without even looking.
Holding the legal key to my cage and a folder full of his treacherous secrets, I sped out of the manor and dialed an encrypted number.
"It's time. Unleash hell."
9.6
For four years, I played the perfect, naive, low-income wife to my wealthy husband Duke, completely hiding my true identity as a top-secret DARPA scientist.
On our anniversary, I discovered he was having an affair with an old-money socialite named Adelia.
He used our marital assets to buy her a half-million-dollar Birkin bag, but that wasn't the worst part.
While hiding in a parking garage, I recorded him telling his mistress that the daily prenatal vitamins he lovingly gave me were actually high-dose contraceptives.
He had secretly sterilized me to ensure I would never produce a "low-class" heir, planning to toss me aside with a tiny settlement in six months.
When I confronted him, he violently attacked me, smashed my head against a marble dresser, and locked me in our bedroom.
I thought of the four years I spent crying in doctors' offices, blaming my own body for my infertility, while he held my hand and comforted me with perfect, monstrous concern.
I didn't wait to be punished.
I climbed down the second-story balcony in the dark, leaving behind every diamond and luxury bag he had ever given me.
Sitting in the back of a taxi, I wiped the blood from my forehead and opened a secure app on my phone.
"Divorce fraud. Initiate sequence."
It was time for him to finally meet Dr. Patterson.
9.1
June woke up transmigrated into the body of a ruthless billionaire's toxic, disposable wife.
Before she could even process the massive Beverly Hills mansion, a cold system voice announced she had exactly five minutes of lifespan remaining.
To survive, she was forced to bind with the system and strictly maintain the original owner's "brainless, abusive drama queen" persona to earn hours to live.
She was forced to violently slap hot coffee out of a terrified maid's hands and physically spank her manipulative five-year-old stepson.
When she tried to escape this nightmare by throwing divorce papers at her terrifying husband, Isaac Walton, he simply ripped them to shreds.
Every time she tried to be reasonable or show a hint of kindness, the system tortured her with agonizing cardiac pain, cementing her status as the most hated monster in the family.
The most absurd part happened when she threw a hysterical, system-mandated tantrum over a gossip magazine, and Isaac's icy demeanor suddenly melted.
He gently touched her hair, offering the one thing she desperately needed.
"Stop crying. I'll handle it."
Just as a spark of hope ignited in her chest, the system's critical death warning exploded in her skull: accepting his sympathy would instantly deduct thirty days of her life.
To stay alive, June had no choice but to violently slap away the only hand reaching out to save her, forcing herself to play the greedy villain while her husband's gaze turned dangerously dark.
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."
7.6
Cassie was sold to a terrifying billionaire as a substitute bride.
To protect herself, she glued a grotesque, fake burn scar to her face.
Her adoptive family and her ex-fiancé had stolen her massive trust fund, locked her in an asylum for years, and finally threw her to the wolves. They expected the ruthless Dane Frederick to torture and kill her the moment he saw her ruined face.
At her ex's grand engagement party, her family publicly humiliated her. They mocked her cheap clothes, laughed at her scarred cheek, and even raised their hands to beat her, fully believing she was a helpless freak with no one to rely on.
"Get on your knees and apologize, and I'll write you a check so you don't starve on the streets."
But they didn't expect the billionaire to kick down the doors, wrap his coat around her, and bankrupt their entire bloodline overnight.
Yet, as Cassie stood in the dark and peeled off her fake silicone scar to reveal her flawless face, a deeper terror gripped her.
Tracing her stolen funds, she uncovered a name that made her blood run cold: The Syndicate.
It was the exact nightmare organization that had locked her in the asylum. Why were they controlling her family? And why did the billionaire look at her with such desperate, hidden nostalgia?
Cassie opened her encrypted laptop and dropped into the Dark Web.
She wasn't just a discarded bride. She was the legendary hacker "Nyx," and she was going to burn them all to the ground.
9.3
Charlene was locked in a Swiss asylum by the wealthy Gay family, force-fed antipsychotics until her hands shook violently.
Her adoptive brother, Columbus, dragged her out of the psych ward merely to parade her as a prop for the paparazzi.
He had locked her up to get a psychiatric evaluation, ensuring she was declared legally insane and unable to claim her massive trust fund.
The moment she returned to the estate, the torment worsened.
Her other brother, Antwan, kicked her to the ground and shattered her wrist on the gravel.
"You lost your legal rights, you stupid bitch," he sneered, while the staff blindly ignored her agony.
Her childhood bedroom was completely gutted and given to a distant cousin.
Worse, she discovered Columbus was secretly sleeping with Isabela—the fake heiress who had framed Charlene in the first place.
Every trace of her existence in the family was being violently scrubbed away.
She had lost her dignity, her health, and the baby the doctors claimed had died in the delivery room.
She couldn't understand why the family she loved hated her so viciously, stripping away everything she had.
That was until she saw a little boy in the hospital hallway, a perfect, miniature replica of her own face.
Clutching the gold-crested cufflink he dropped, she realized the asylum's doctor had stolen him.
Her baby was alive.
With her heart turned to stone, Charlene made a silent vow to crawl out of hell and burn the Gay family to the ground.