THE BILLIONAIRE'S BETRAYAL: Married To My Ex's Brother
"I GAVE HIM MY LOYALTY. HE LEFT ME TO ROT."
He promised to save her. Instead, he let her take the fall. River was his loyal PA, his fiancée, his secret keeper. But when the crimes Rowan Kane committed came to light, it was she who took the fall and he left her behind bars to rot. The day she walks free, she's in labor with his child. And just two days later, she receives the final blow: He's marrying her best friend. Betrayed. Alone. Furious.
River vows revenge. But fate sends her someone unexpected: Killian Kane, her ex's older brother-once discarded, now powerful and hell-bent on reclaiming what was stolen from him. Including revenge. Including her. He offers River a contract marriage: two years of pretending, plotting, and rising to the top together. But in the shadows of vengeance, something real begins to bloom. Love wasn't part of the plan. But neither was war. Will revenge bring them the justice they crave or awaken a passion neither of them is ready for?
Chapters
Share
Chapter 3
River's POV
As soon as I moved back and opened my mouth to scream for help, his hand shot forward again and covered it tightly, silencing me before any sound could leave my lips.
"I swear I'm not here to hurt you." He said.
I struggled hard, hitting and twisting my body, trying to get free, but his grip was too strong. He was much bigger than me, and even though I fought with everything I had, it felt like trying to fight a wall.
My chest burned from the effort, and my heart was beating so fast it felt like it would break out of my body. I should have trusted my gut. Something about him had felt off from the beginning.
And now here he was, in my home, in the middle of the night, holding me like this. His eyes were too calm for someone who just broke into a woman's house.
"Be silent, River," he whispered into my ear, his voice low but firm. "I'll only let you go if you don't shout." I nodded slowly, fear tightening around my throat like a rope.
He waited for a moment, then finally let me go. I stepped back quickly, coughing as I tried to catch my breath. The way he'd held me had made it hard to breathe, and my chest ached with every breath I pulled in.
"What are you doing here?" I said, my voice hoarse. "We need to leave now, River. I think someone is after your life," he said, his words barely louder than a whisper.
I stared at him in disbelief. "Why should I believe you?" I asked, my voice sharp with anger and fear.
"You broke into my house. How do you even know where I live? Did you follow me?" He looked frustrated but tried to stay calm.
"I'll explain everything later. There's no time right now."
"Well, I'm not going anywhere with you," I snapped. My whole body was shaking, not just from fear but from how wrong all of this felt. He was saying all the right words, but everything he was doing screamed danger.
"What if you are the one behind it all?" I said, taking another step back. He opened his mouth, but he stuttered, "Me... why would I...?" His voice trailed off, and for a second, something like guilt flashed across his face.
But then he stepped forward again and said, "Please, just trust me. We need to go now." Before I could respond, the sound of glass shattering exploded through the house.
I froze in place, my heart leaping to my throat. It came from the living room. Someone had broken in. "What's happening?" I asked, my voice trembling, the panic fully sinking into my bones now.
Killian's eyes widened, and this time there was no calm in them. Only urgency. "They're here," he said. "We need to leave now, River. Now." He didn't wait for me to respond.
He ran past me into the room and reached for my baby, wrapping her in a blanket and holding her carefully. Immediately I entered, I locked the room door.
I hesitated only for a second, then grabbed the bag I had packed earlier, my hands fumbling with the straps as the sound of hurried footsteps echoed from the hallway. I followed Killian to the bedroom window.
He pushed it open and helped me climb out first. I could barely breathe, my hands shaking so badly I almost dropped the bag. He handed the baby to me once he was out too, and without looking back, we ran into the streets to his car.
I didn't know who was chasing us. I didn't even know if I could trust the man beside me. I just knew one thing for sure-someone wanted me dead. Killian drove so fast I could barely think straight.
And then all of a sudden he noticed the men were already following us. The tyres screeched as he turned from one street to another, trying to lose the car chasing us.
I sat in the back seat, holding my baby so tight against my chest that I was afraid I might wake her, but somehow, she stayed asleep through it all. My thoughts were all over the place.
Who were those men? What did they want from me? And why was this stranger-this man I barely knew...risking so much to help me?
We kept driving, and the city lights slowly faded behind us until all I could see were trees and darkness. After what felt like forever, Killian looked into the rearview mirror, then finally let out a long breath.
"Finally," he muttered like he'd been holding it in for miles. I looked behind us too. The road was empty. No headlights, no sign of the car that had been chasing us. He didn't say much after that.
We drove a little farther, then turned off onto a dirt path deep in the woods. A small cabin came into view, hidden between tall trees. It looked like something from an old movie-quiet, far from everything. It felt like a hideout.
Killian got out of the car and opened my door. I stepped out slowly, my legs still weak, and followed him inside. The place was simple, dusty, and cold, but it was safe...or at least I hoped it was.
I sat down on the sofa while he locked the door behind us. My baby was still asleep in my arms, peaceful in a way that made me wish I could be too. I didn't even know what to say to Killian.
He had saved me again. And all I had done was accuse him, doubt him, and push him away. I felt so guilty. But why was he helping me? How did he know I was in danger?
I opened my mouth to speak, but he beat me to it. "Oh-you go first," he said, noticing I was about to talk. "No, you go," I replied, too tired to argue.
"We'll be leaving for New York first thing in the morning," he said, like it was already decided.
"We?" I asked, confused. "Why us?"
"You were already planning to leave, right?" he said. "Well, I've booked a flight for both of us. I'm the only one who can keep you safe right now." I stared at him, not even bothering to hide my confusion.
"I don't understand anything you've been saying. Who are you, really? And why are you helping me?"
"You really want to know?" He asked, with this strange look in his eyes, almost like he was mocking me.
"Yes," I said and nodded. "I want to know." He leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms.
"Well, like, you know, I'm Killian. But what you don't know is my full name...killian Kane. I'm the first son of the Kane's family, the real heir to the Chitox company. I'm also Rowan's elder brother."
My whole body went still.
I froze, unable to even blink. Rowan? No. That couldn't be true. I dated Rowan for years. I knew everything about him...or I thought I did. He never once mentioned a brother.
Not even by accident. Had he been hiding him from me this whole time? But before I could ask, Killian continued. "I know you're wondering why I'm helping you. So I'll tell you."
"I used to be a drug addict. My father locked me away in rehab for years, said I was a disgrace and made sure I couldn't come back. That's how Rowan took everything. But he's not clean either."
"I've been gathering proof for years. He's been running illegal businesses behind the company's name. And now I have one shot to expose him and take back what's mine. But I need a wife to do that. That's where you come in."
"A wife?" I said, shocked. "There's no way I'm marrying my ex's brother." He held his hands up, like he expected me to say that.
"Calm down. I'm not asking for love. My father's will states that I have to settle down and have a family before I can take over. So I'm offering a contract marriage. Two years."
"I will protect you and your baby. I will help you get revenge. When it's over, we go our separate ways."
"Why me?" I know he could get any woman he wanted. "You know everything about Rowan and the company, and you're already tied to him in the media. If we do this, we both win." He replied.
"And who sent those men?" I asked, even though deep down, I already knew the answer.
"Rowan", he said. Just that one word. And suddenly, it was too much. The tears came fast. I didn't try to stop them. I had trusted Rowan. I gave him everything.
And now... now he wanted me dead. Because I knew too much. "I know about the prison," Killian said gently. "I know he set you up. I know what he did. But this is your chance to fight back."
I wiped my face with my sleeve, trying to steady my breath. "Can I think about it? I'm really exhausted."
He nodded. "Fine. But we don't have much time."
Then he led me down a short hallway and showed me a small room with a bed. I walked in and sat down, too tired to even undress. I heard him go back to the living room and shut the door behind him.
I placed my baby on the bed and lay beside her, finally letting my body rest. Sleep took me fast...I didn't even have the strength to think, because deep down, I already knew what I wanted.
When I woke, the cabin was quiet. I stepped into the living room and saw Killian sitting there, like he hadn't moved all night.
"Good morning, River," he said.
"Good morning," I replied, my voice calm. And then I looked him straight in the eye. "When are we getting married?"
He smiled. "When we get to New York",
"Then let's go. I'm ready to burn it all down."
You may also like
9.2
After catching my fiancé cheating with my adoptive sister, I broke off our engagement on the spot.
In retaliation, my abusive adoptive parents sold me to Kaelen Knight, the Lycan King, to clear our pack's debts.
He was rumored to be a ruthless, reclusive monster who had been horribly crippled in a fire centuries ago.
To ensure my absolute ruin, my sister planted fake love letters to my ex in my luggage and anonymously destroyed my university scholarship, cutting off my only escape route to the human world.
"A wolfless whore. You planned to drug me," Kaelen sneered, looking at the fake evidence with absolute disgust.
Believing I was a spy, my new husband had his guards throw me into the freezing woods with the Dire Wolves, leaving me to survive the night alone.
I was just a broken, wolfless Omega, entirely at the mercy of a cruel, powerless Lycan and a family that wanted me dead.
But I was wrong about him being powerless.
One night, I accidentally saw him rise from his wheelchair, his tall frame radiating an overwhelming, lethal aura.
He wasn't crippled at all.
The secret I thought was my shield was actually a loaded gun pointed at my head. Trapped with a terrifying predator, I had to stop playing the victim and fight for my life.
8.1
My husband, Alpha Kaeden, once looked at me with adoration. But after he brought Clemmie home, his eyes turned cold, glazed over by the "herbal tea" she fed him.
Now, I lay chained to a steel table in the dungeon, the smell of my own burning flesh filling the air.
Kaeden stood over me, indifferent to my screams. He ordered the guards to electrocute me through silver cuffs—the poison of our kind—even though he knew I was carrying his pup.
But torture wasn't the end goal. I froze when I heard the doctor’s question.
"The transplant carries risks, Alpha. Taking a heart from a living donor..."
Clemmie didn't just want my husband; she wanted my heart to cure her "sickness" and steal my White Wolf power.
I waited for Kaeden to refuse. Instead, he rubbed his temples and delivered my death sentence.
"Harvest the heart. Dispose of the rest."
"And the fetus?" the doctor asked.
"Incinerate it."
Those words killed me faster than the silver. I died on the operating table that night, my heart flatlining for three minutes to stage my death.
Kaeden thinks I am ash in a jar. He thinks he saved his mistress.
But when I opened my eyes in the safe house, they weren't brown anymore. They were glowing silver.
Beside me, my daughter slept, alive and radiating ancient power.
The weak Luna is dead. The White Wolf has risen.
And I am going home to take back my pack.
8.9
I lay on a mildewed mattress in a run-down motel, my body trembling from withdrawal. Once the most feared "Gossip Queen" in Hollywood, I was now a forty-three-year-old ghost staring at a cracked mirror, waiting for the end.
The door clicked open, and Brittany Potts stepped in, looking immaculate in a beige trench coat that cost more than my life. She didn't come to help; she tossed a waiver of marital assets onto my bed and handed me a cup of coffee laced with something that smelled like bitter almonds.
She laughed, telling me my husband, Bennet, was already in the Bahamas celebrating my death. I froze when I saw the sapphire pendant around her neck—my mother’s necklace, which had vanished the day she died. As the poison began to burn through my chest, Brittany leaned in and whispered her final secret: she was the one who cut the brake lines on the car that killed my father when we were teenagers.
My entire life had been a lie. The pills, the scandal, the bankruptcy—it was all a masterpiece of betrayal orchestrated by the two people I trusted most. I died on that filthy floor, suffocating on my own rage and the taste of chemicals, praying for a single chance to make them pay.
But when I opened my eyes, the pain was gone. I was sitting in my old bedroom, the morning sun shining on a calendar that read September 15, 2024. My mother’s voice, warm and alive, called me for breakfast from downstairs. I was eighteen again, back in my senior year at Crestview Academy, and the monsters who destroyed me were still pretending to be my friends. This time, I’m the one who holds the shears.
9.5
Seven words
9.5
Mara Vance never expected her life to shatter in an instant. But one late-night message-seven careless words never meant for her-exposes the truth her fiancé thought he'd buried.
"She won't suspect anything tonight."
Betrayal should have broken her.
Instead, it sharpened her.
While Marcus scrambles to keep his perfect image intact, Mara begins a quiet, calculated unraveling of everything he cherishes. Not loud. Not messy. No screaming, no scenes. Just a slow, elegant destruction designed to make him question his reputation... his future... and eventually, his sanity.
As old loyalties shift and hidden secrets crawl into the light, Mara discovers that revenge isn't a moment-it's a strategy. And the sweetest payback is the kind no one sees coming until it's far too late.
Seven words ended her trust.
Now seven thousand unspoken plans will end his world.
A tense, intoxicating story of love turned weapon-where the real damage is done in silence.
9.4
I was standing in the center of the gallery, holding a glass of expensive champagne, when the screens behind me flickered and my life ended.
It was supposed to be an art unveiling, but the monitors shifted to fake footage of me handing evidence to the FBI.
My fiancé, Ethan, looked at me like I was a sick dog that needed to be put down.
My father slapped me across the face in front of everyone, disowning me to save his own skin.
That was when Luca Vitti, the city’s most dangerous man, stepped in.
He cleared the room and took my hand.
I thought he was saving me.
I didn't realize he was just collecting a new pet.
I was locked in his estate, isolated and terrified.
Then, my healthy mother suddenly "died" of pneumonia in a Vitti clinic.
Days later, I saw Luca’s frail stepsister, Clara, breathing easily for the first time in her life.
She had my mother’s lungs.
I became nothing more than a breeding vessel.
When I fell pregnant, I overheard Luca and Ethan planning my death.
"Once the kid is cut out, she's a loose end," Luca had said.
They were going to kill me and give my son to the woman who stole my mother's breath.
I couldn't let that happen.
So, I staged a tragedy.
I induced labor in secret, hid my living son, and placed a fake corpse in the crib with a note: The Vitti Legacy.
I escaped while they mourned.
Five years later, Luca finally found the doctor’s confession.
He learned that Clara had orchestrated everything.
He opened the velvet box I left behind and realized it was empty.
Now, he knows I didn't kill his son.
I saved him from becoming a monster like his father.
7.7
"There's no way to kill Alpha Penking."
"Maybe there's one, make sure he has absolute power, never bows to anyone but will crawl to her feet each time she wants it."
Amelia's first life ended when she was ten-when the most notorious Alpha in New York took everything her father owned and killed him.
As if that wasn't enough, he coerced her father into selling his only daughter before death claimed him.
Fifteen years later, Amelia survives as a prostitute, her past buried beneath layers of control, routine, and silence. She lives for two things only: keeping her younger brother alive and nursing the revenge that never died. Every alpha is just a body. Every night is calculated. Her life is controlled-until the night she sleeps with him.
The same man who ruined her life.
Alpha Penking-feared, untouchable, merciless-without her knowing who he truly is.
Yet, her world shatters again.
Because Penking knows her.
Because he watched her grow in the shadows.
Because he knows her real name.
Because he is the one who ruined her and owned her.
Because he serves her a contract that doesn't ask-it commands.
A contract where she belongs to him.
For months.
For life.
No bargain.
No gain.
Trapped between hatred and a bond she never consented to, Amelia begins counting the only freedom she has left-ten ways to kill Alpha Penking. But revenge grows complicated when obsession turns mutual, when power bleeds into possession, and when an impossible consequence binds them forever.
Because the man she plans to kill now owns her body...
And the child growing inside her might decide who survives.