The Billionaire's Doll: Her Secret Escape
I was just a placeholder, a warm body in silk sheets to keep the bed from getting cold while my billionaire "owner," Garrick Head, dreamt of another man’s wife. To the world, I was Ever Wells, the lucky girl he’d plucked from obscurity, but in reality, I was a doll on a 145-day contract, counting every second until I could disappear.
Everything shattered when a burner phone buzzed in my hand with a message that turned my blood to ice: "I know your secret, Everly."
My real name was the one thing I had buried to protect my four-year-old son, Leo, who was hidden in a cramped apartment in Queens. Just as the blackmailer closed in, Leo’s asthma flared into a life-threatening fever, and the medication he needed cost thousands I didn't have. When I tried to siphon money to save him, Garrick sensed my desperation and froze my credit cards, mocking my "poverty" and demanding I crawl back to his bed to earn his favor.
The nightmare intensified at a high-society gala when Clarence Frazier, a dangerous ghost from my past, cornered me. He mouthed my real name in front of the cameras, his eyes promising to tear my fake life apart. Garrick’s possessiveness turned violent as he broke a man’s jaw for insulting me, yet in the same breath, he reminded me I was nothing but a "rented whore" he’d bought off a shelf.
I had to smile while he kissed me and detach my mind while he touched me, all while siphoning pennies into a hidden account. He thought he could finalize my imprisonment with a twenty-million-dollar apartment on Central Park West, calling it a gift when it was really just a heavier lock on my golden cage.
"I don't want to save the world," I whispered to the empty, marble penthouse after he fell asleep. "I just want to save my son."
With a predator from my past watching my every move and a master who treated me like a pet, I realized I couldn't wait for my contract to end. I had to run tonight, or Leo and I would both die in this cage.
Chapters
Share
Chapter 8
Spencer lay in the dirt, clutching his face, making a high-pitched keening noise.
"My nose! You broke my nose!"
Garrick didn't move to hit him again. He simply adjusted his cuffs, staring down at Spencer with eyes devoid of humanity.
"Say her name again," Garrick said, his voice a quiet, lethal drone. "Say one word about her, Spencer, and I will dismantle your father's company brick by brick. By tomorrow morning, your family will be destitute, and you will be in a cell. Do not test me."
Spencer went pale beneath the blood. He knew Garrick wasn't bluffing.
Ever stood there, trembling. Not from fear of Spencer anymore, but from fear of Garrick. The violence was so raw, so easily accessed.
Garrick turned to Ever, his expression hardening. He grabbed her wrist.
"We're leaving."
He dragged her to the car. He didn't open the door for her this time. He shoved her in.
"Are you stupid?" he yelled as the driver pulled away. "He had a crop! He could have blinded you!"
"He was hurting her!" Ever yelled back, rubbing her wrist. "I couldn't just watch!"
"She is paid to be there!" Garrick roared. "She knows the deal! It's a transaction, Ever! Just like you!"
The words hung in the air.
Just like you.
Ever went cold. All the fight drained out of her.
"Right," Ever whispered. "I forgot. I'm just an asset."
Garrick stopped. He looked at Ever, realizing what he had said. Regret flashed in his eyes, but his pride wouldn't let him apologize.
They rode the rest of the way in silence.
Back at the apartment, the fight continued.
"You don't speak to men like Spencer," Garrick lectured, pacing the living room. "You don't challenge them. It puts you in danger."
"So I should just stand there and look pretty?" Ever asked quietly.
"Yes! That is your job!"
"I'm a canary," Ever said, her voice devoid of emotion. "Canaries don't speak. They just sing and die."
Garrick stared at her. He hated it when she went numb. He wanted the fire. He wanted the passion, even if it was anger.
He spun around and swept a Ming vase off the console table.
SMASH.
Porcelain shards exploded across the floor.
Ever didn't flinch. She just looked at the pieces.
"Clean it up," Garrick said, breathing hard. "And don't leave this apartment until I tell you."
He stormed into his study and slammed the door.
Ever knelt on the floor. She picked up a shard of blue and white porcelain. It was sharp. She pressed her thumb against the edge until a bead of blood welled up.
Leo.
If Garrick could do this to his best friend... what would he do to Clarence? What would he do to her son if he found out?
Ever cleaned the floor in silence.
Late that night, Ever lay in the guest room. She could hear Garrick pacing in the hallway. He stopped outside her door. She saw the shadow of his feet under the crack.
He stood there for five minutes. He wanted to come in. He wanted to apologize, or maybe just claim her again.
Ever held her breath, clutching the burner phone under the covers.
Google Flights: New York to Zurich.
His shadow moved away. He didn't come in.
You may also like
9.5
The disgraced daughter of the Patton family is back from the countryside.At the news, everyone spurned her with contempt!
A good-for-nothing young lady, a crude village wench, a vicious devil...
Until one day--The world-famous life-saving medical sovereign is her.The enigmatic top forensic specialist is her.The grandmaster hacker hunted across the globe is also her.
One hidden identity of the young miss came to light after another.Shocked and dumbfounded, the crowd fell to their knees to beg for forgiveness.
In an instant, Evie was cornered by the mysterious powerhouse.Hartwell's voice lured and mesmerized:"Darling, you have countless secret identities. Would you mind taking on one more, being my wife!"
7.8
Anna Williams never imagined her life would collide with Alexander Knight-the cold, ruthless CEO feared across industries. When fate pushes her into his path, she discovers that power and wealth come with dangerous chains. Bound by a contract she can't escape, Anna must navigate his world of secrets, betrayal, and a passion that burns hotter than she ever dreamed. But behind his icy exterior lies a man scarred by trust and haunted by loss.
Will she be able to melt the billionaire's heart, or will she remain just another possession... claimed by the CEO?
9.5
Blaire's mother gave her a ruthless ultimatum: find a husband today, or never call her mother again.
Desperate to escape the suffocating control and disastrous blind dates, Blaire agreed to a fake marriage with a stranger she met through an old woman.
She thought she was marrying a dirt-poor salesman drowning in mortgage debt.
They lived in a rundown Queens apartment and split the living expenses fifty-fifty.
He drove a sputtering Toyota Camry, established extreme territorial rules, and treated her like a gold-digging biohazard.
When she accidentally tripped and spilled hot soup on him, he didn't help her up, instead accusing her of using pathetic tricks to seduce him.
Her own mother even crashed their apartment, ruthlessly mocking his pathetic financial state and calling him a total loser.
Blaire endured his coldness and extreme germaphobia, genuinely pitying him for his stressful, low-paying job.
She refunded his money and defended his dignity, refusing to take advantage of a struggling man.
But she couldn't understand why this supposedly broke guy possessed such a lethal, commanding aura, or why an incredibly expensive cashmere blanket mysteriously appeared on her when she was freezing on the couch.
Until her brother called with a shocking warning.
"Blaire, the name on your marriage certificate belongs to the notoriously secretive billionaire CEO of New York's top financial syndicate!"
Blaire laughed out loud, completely unaware that behind the bedroom door, her "broke" husband was frantically ordering his PR team to bury his true identity.
9.0
I was the poor girl from Appalachia the wealthy Copeland family adopted out of "charity," bringing me to a life of New York luxury I could never have imagined.
But it was all a lie. I wasn't their daughter. I was a living, breathing blood bank for their precious child, Bridgette, whose life had been secretly saved by my bone marrow.
Once I was no longer useful, they decided to throw me away. On the night of Bridgette's lavish engagement party, she and her fiancé framed me. They drugged my water, lured me to a hotel suite, and tore my designer gown to stage a scene.
Her fiancé stood over me, his face twisted in disgust. "Did you really think spreading your legs would make me forget where you came from? You're just a trashy hillbilly."
Outside on Fifth Avenue, my adoptive parents screamed at me in front of the press, calling me a disgrace. My sister wept, accusing me of trying to destroy her perfect life out of jealousy.
They expected me to crumble, to become the pathetic scandal they could discard like garbage. They thought they were dealing with a scared, helpless girl from the mountains.
But they made a fatal mistake. The soul of that poor girl was already gone. And I, the top-tier operative known as Glacier, had just woken up in her body.
7.7
For three years, I was the unpaid maid, cook, and accountant for my boyfriend Kieran's family. His mother, Jeanie, never let me forget my place. "You're not legally family," she'd say, whenever I asked for basic respect.
Then I found the messages on his phone. He and Jeanie were arranging his engagement to Carolina Farley, a wealthy heiress. They called me a placeholder—someone who was just "around" until a better option came along.
Jeanie sat me down and told me it was time to leave, confident I had nowhere else to go.
She was wrong.
While they slept, I earned my CPA license. While they spent, I saved every dollar. While they dismissed me as "just the girlfriend," I bought my own condo.
When Kieran finally came crawling back, begging for another chance, I had one thing to say:
"I'm already married. To a man who didn't need three years to know my worth."
He thought I'd wait forever.
He thought wrong.
7.5
Elena Vale's life is carefully controlled, molded by strict family expectations and an arranged marriage she never wanted. But the night before her wedding, a shocking betrayal turns her world upside down. One scandalous mistake leaves her publicly humiliated, her engagement broken, and her future uncertain.
Just when all hope seems lost, Adrian Blackwood, a powerful and enigmatic billionaire, offers her a lifeline: a contract marriage. Thrust into a world of wealth, power, and danger, Elena must navigate his dominance, protect her independence, and confront those who seek to destroy her.
As tension and attraction build between them, Elena discovers her own strength and resilience, while Adrian reveals sides of himself he has long kept hidden. Together, they face betrayal, ambition, and jealousy, learning that love can emerge from the most unexpected circumstances.
In the end, Elena claims her dignity, her future, and a love forged on her own terms.