The CEO Drove His Mute Wife Away, Now He Regrets
For three years, Adrian's heart belonged to another, and his wife Jessica-mute and unloved-endured his coldness.
Realizing she deserved better, she quietly left him, divorce papers on the table.
Adrian tore them up, accusing her of childish games, but Jessica had no interest in wasting more of her life.
After their split, her voice returned and she was suddenly surrounded by admirers.
Adrian, blinded by jealousy, begged her to come back.
Jessica only laughed, repeating his own words, saying, "Didn't you say love is the most worthless thing in the world?"
Now, she'd never look back.
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Chapter 5
Eleanor recoiled at the sight of the man's nicotine-stained teeth, years of heavy smoking etched into their yellowed surface, and a sharp scream tore from her throat as she flailed her hands wildly. "It wasn't me... it really wasn't me!"
Adrian let his eyes rest on Eleanor for a brief, unreadable second before turning away and drawing Jessica firmly into his embrace under everyone's gaze.
A smile curved his lips, pleasant on the surface yet edged with cold steel, as he said, "Are you blind? This is my future wife!"
Jessica understood that his words were meant to shield Eleanor.
Even so, she still couldn't help but feel her heart flutter.
After all, Adrian had been the one she had carried feelings for since her younger years.
Every casual gesture from him had always stirred a tempest in her heart.
While Jessica drifted into those memories, an abrupt voice cut straight through her thoughts.
"Jessica? What are you doing here?"
Eleanor had just stepped out of the club, intending to smoke in a quiet corner, when she spotted Jessica lingering by the roadside.
She strode over, glanced at Jessica, then flicked her eyes back toward the club entrance before letting out a derisive snort. "You've got a lot of nerve showing up at a place like this looking for Adrian."
With Eleanor present, Jessica had no doubt that Adrian was here as well.
She shook her head quickly and waved her hands in refusal. She then signed, "I'm not here for him. I'm here to—"
Eleanor cut her off, clearly irritated by her gestures, and fixed her with a mocking stare. Her lips curled with open disdain as she said, "Jessica, you really are something. So desperate to seduce Adrian that you even put on a uniform to grab his attention. What's next? Are you planning to crawl straight into his bed?"
Earlier, Jessica had rushed out with Lexi, and she hadn't changed out of her work uniform.
It was an ordinary outfit by any reasonable standard, yet to people like Eleanor, it was meant only to seduce.
Jessica wanted to explain, but then, she stopped herself.
If she said too much, her current job would be exposed.
Seeing Jessica frozen in place, Eleanor took it as proof that her insults had rendered her speechless. She lifted her chin haughtily, contempt etched across her features. "Give it up. Your cheap tricks will never work on Adrian. In his heart, there's only me. Even if you stripped yourself bare and crawled into his bed, he wouldn't spare you a second glance. Do you really think Adrian marrying you means he loves you?"
She let out a sharp scoff, every syllable slamming into Jessica's chest like a blunt strike. "That's absurd. The title of Mrs. Buckley only landed on you because I didn't want it at that time."
Her lips twisted cruelly as she continued, "Jessica, you're only ever good at picking up what I discard. When we were kids, you wore my castoff clothes and jewelry. Now, you're clinging to a man I abandoned before. It's honestly pathetic."
Jessica pressed her lips together, the color draining from her face, her shoulders quivering faintly under the bite of the autumn night air.
She knew Eleanor was telling the truth, and so did everyone in Krovale.
All these years, Adrian's heart had never strayed from Eleanor.
Jessica knew that had Eleanor not chosen to marry another man so early on, Adrian would never have married her.
At that moment, Lexi emerged from the club while directing others to move a cage holding the sheepdog. She instantly noticed what was happening.
She hurried over without hesitation, planting herself firmly in front of Jessica and snapping at Eleanor with open fury, "What do you think you are doing?"
Eleanor cast a glance at Lexi, noting the uniform and the dog hair clinging to her clothes, then shifted her gaze to Jessica standing behind her.
She pinched her nose theatrically and sneered, "No wonder you two are friends. People like you deserve nothing but gutter trash for company."
Lexi's expression darkened at that, and she shot back without restraint, "What makes you think you have the right to say that to us? It's freezing out here, yet you're wearing such revealing clothes. Are you just here to seduce men? How shameless!"
Never before had Eleanor been spoken to like this. Rage surged through her, her teeth grinding as she shouted, "Who do you think you are to talk to me that way? Just wait. I'll have someone deal with you."
Fear tightened around Jessica's chest as she imagined the scene spiraling further, drawing Adrian's attention and putting Lexi directly in harm's way.
She reached out, clutching Lexi's hand and shaking her head urgently. Then, she quickly signed, "Stop. Please, let's just leave."
Lexi resisted, refusing to back down. "Jessica, who is this vile woman? Why is she treating you like this?"
Jessica's fingers paused at that.
How was she supposed to explain any of this to Lexi?
Should she admit that Eleanor was not only her half-sister but also the woman her husband had loved all his life, or confess that her marriage existed only because Eleanor had abandoned her husband before?
She found it difficult to reveal any of that.
Unable to meet Lexi's gaze, Jessica lowered her head in quiet humiliation.
Seeing that, Lexi suddenly seemed to grasp the situation, whipping around to glare at Eleanor as she blurted, "So, you're the homewrecker, trying to steal Jessica's husband!"
That single accusation snapped something inside Eleanor.
She loathed being called a homewrecker more than anything.
In her mind, she was the one who had stood beside Adrian first.
If Jessica had not stubbornly clung to the title of Adrian's wife, Eleanor believed she would have married Adrian long ago.
How dare some outsider judge her like that?
Blinded by rage, Eleanor lifted her hand, aiming a slap at Lexi.
But Lexi, hot-tempered and now fully aware that Eleanor was the one wrecking Jessica's marriage, was determined to defend her friend.
"After all the shameless things you've done, you still dare try to hit me?" She caught Eleanor's wrist mid-swing and shoved her hard, sending Eleanor crashing to the ground with a dull thump.
Never in her life had Eleanor been treated this way. Humiliation burned through her as she screamed, "How dare you push me? You bitch!"
Lexi let out a cold laugh and stepped forward. She reached down, yanked Eleanor by the hair, and swung her hand twice.
Two sharp slaps rang out in quick succession.
"Not only can I push you," Lexi said, "but I can also hit you."
Eleanor was stunned, her carefully styled hair disheveled, her flawless makeup smeared, two vivid red handprints blooming across her face.
Clutching her face, she ground her teeth in hatred, glaring at Jessica and Lexi as though she wanted to rip them apart with her bare hands.
At that moment, Adrian stepped out of the club.
The instant he saw Eleanor sprawled on the ground, his expression hardened with cold anger. "What is going on here?" he asked.
The second Eleanor caught sight of him, the malice drained from her features, replaced by a fragile, pitiful look.
"Adrian, Jessica brought some vicious woman to attack me," she sobbed weakly. "I only asked whether she came looking for you, and they beat me like this."
She pointed shakily at Jessica and Lexi, tears streaming down her face. "They didn't just hit me; they even called me a homewrecker. If you hadn't come out in time, they would have beaten me to death."
Adrian's expression softened at her words, concern flickering through his eyes. "Don't be scared. I'm here now."
He did not spare Jessica a single glance. Instead, he walked over to Eleanor, carefully smoothing her tangled hair before lifting her into his arms.
Only then did he look at Jessica, his eyes stripped of warmth. "Jessica, I'll deal with you when I get back!"
Without another word, he carried Eleanor into the club, not once glancing back.
Jessica stood rooted in place, watching him disappear. The ache in her chest swelled until it felt impossible for her to breathe, yet there was nothing she could do about it.
After a long, stunned silence, Lexi finally found her voice. "Jessica... was that your husband?"
He was handsome, but he was such a jerk!
Jessica closed her eyes and nodded slowly, a single tear slipping down her cheek.
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8.6
It was my birthday, but instead of celebrating, I was bleeding on the floor of my own bedroom. My sister Serena had just smashed a champagne bottle over my legs, her eyes filled with a dark madness because our father allowed me to wear the family diamonds.
To escape her, I bolted into a pitch-black guest suite, only to be grabbed by a man who felt like a wall of solid muscle. He was drugged, unstable, and pinned me against the wall, his teeth sinking into my neck in a primal claim that left a permanent mark.
I managed to flee, but the nightmare was just beginning. My father didn't care about my injuries; he only cared that I had "insulted" the man in that room—Delos French, the most powerful CEO in New York. He threatened to stop paying for my mother’s critical care facility unless I went to Delos and begged for his forgiveness.
My brother Julian was even worse, intentionally pouring scalding coffee over my bandaged wounds just to see me flinch. They forced me into a revealing gold dress, treating me like a high-priced commodity to be sold to the highest bidder to save their failing company.
I didn't understand how the people who were supposed to love me could be more predatory than the monster in the dark. I had spent my life fixing their scandals, yet they were ready to throw me to the wolves the moment I became useful as a pawn.
But when I stood before Delos French at his gala, he didn't see a trophy. He recognized my scent, my touch, and the fire in my eyes. He trapped me in his private lounge, kneeling to clean the blood from my injured feet.
"Marry me," he whispered, his voice a low, terrifying growl. "And I will give you the power to burn your family to the ground."
I looked into the eyes of the man who had hunted me and realized he was the only one offering me a weapon to destroy the people who had broken me.
"Okay," I whispered.
7.4
For six years, I worked myself to the bone to support my "struggling artist" boyfriend, Kasen. I paid the rent on our leaky Brooklyn apartment and believed in his dream, thinking our love was real.
That all ended one rainy night when I delivered documents to an exclusive club and overheard him with his wealthy friends. Our life, he said, was just a "sociological experiment."
He wasn't poor at all. He was a trust fund heir with a fiancée in the Hamptons, waiting to close a corporate merger.
"Kaia is just a naive pet who voluntarily pays my rent," he laughed over a three-thousand-dollar glass of scotch.
He told them girls like me were so desperate we'd come crawling back for a scrap of affection. My entire world shattered.
I packed my bags and walked out that night with eighty-four dollars to my name, ready to start over. But escaping one monster only threw me to another. The next day, a predatory client tried to drug me during a business meeting.
My boss, the terrifyingly powerful CEO Camden William, intervened. But after a night of drug-induced chaos, I woke up in his bed.
He didn't offer an apology. He offered a contract. "Marry me for three years," he commanded, "and I'll give you five million dollars and make sure Kasen can never touch you again."
9.8
I sat in the VIP waiting room of the fertility clinic, clutching the report that confirmed my implantation was a success. After years of struggling, I finally had a reason to make my marriage with Garnett work.
But when I went to find him in the lounge, I heard a woman’s laughter coming from behind the door. It was his mistress, Alison. I froze as I heard Garnett’s cold, dismissive voice.
"She’s just an incubator."
"Once the heir is born, we kick her out. The trust fund only requires a legitimate heir born to my wife. It doesn't require the wife to stick around afterwards."
The betrayal went deeper than I could have imagined. I soon discovered the clinic had botched the procedure—the baby I was carrying wasn't even Garnett’s. It was donor sperm from Sterling Sharp, the most powerful tech mogul in the world.
When my in-laws forced me to move into their estate for "monitoring," I realized I was entering a cage. Garnett and his mistress were paying the family doctor to inject me with hallucinogens to mimic a mental breakdown. They planned to declare me legally incompetent and commit me to an asylum the second I gave birth.
I stood in the shadows of the East Wing, realizing my husband wasn't just stealing my child—he was trying to delete my mind. The people I called family were poisoning me daily, waiting for me to break so they could claim a legacy that wasn't even theirs.
They wanted a madwoman, so I decided to give them one. I turned the doctor into my double agent, faked every symptom of a breakdown, and began building a secret empire from the shadows. Garnett thinks he’s trapped an incubator, but he’s actually locked himself in with a nuclear weapon.
8.5
Hadley married into the Jacobson family, a ruthless Wall Street empire. Her prenuptial agreement was absolute: she wouldn't touch a penny of the family wealth until she produced an heir.
But one rainy night, she used a copied keycard to enter a secret Tribeca penthouse, only to find her husband tangled in bed with a famous actress.
When she slapped the divorce papers in front of him, Cleveland didn't apologize.
"The party who files walks away with nothing. You will die in this position."
He tore the documents to pieces. To protect his flawless public image, he forced Hadley to attend family galas, smirking coldly while his grandfather publicly humiliated her for her "barren" stomach. When Hadley finally fought back and confronted his mistress, Cleveland snapped. With a single phone call, he froze her bank accounts, revoked her access to their home, and left her stranded in a cold parking garage.
She had given up her independence for a man who treated her like a useless breeding machine. He thought he could erase three years of her life in an instant, confident that his money made him invincible.
But Cleveland didn't know she was holding the ultimate weapon to destroy his precious legacy. As he received a frantic call about his mistress and rushed to his SUV, Hadley finally screamed the agonizing secret she had hidden for years.
"I can't give you an heir! It's over!"
Watching his taillights disappear into the dark, Hadley prepared to burn his empire to the ground.
8.0
She's working tirelessly to support her family, unaware that the man she's serving as an assistant is the CEO she once saved from a minor accident. Professional boundaries blur, tension ignites, and forbidden attraction threatens everything. Can love survive when secrets are revealed, or will ambition and pride destroy them both?
8.0
I spent six years as a "shadow asset" for the Holmes family, a brilliant scholar living in a cramped Queens apartment on a secret scholarship. I was their silent investment, a ghost in their machine, until the day a fluorescent orange eviction notice appeared on my door.
The legal documents from Holmes Holdings were brutal. They were terminating my sponsorship and demanding immediate repayment of every cent of my tuition. The reason was buried in the fine print: a moral turpitude clause. I was pregnant with a Holmes heir, and in their world, that made me a liability that needed to be erased.
Ingram Holmes, the family’s cold-blooded CEO, didn't see a woman; he saw a line item on a balance sheet. He offered me a million dollars to disappear, abort the child, and sign away my existence. He had me escorted to a private clinic like a criminal, ready to finalize my erasure. But the plan shattered when his grandmother, the matriarch of the family, collapsed in a sudden cardiac arrest.
As the doctors failed, I stepped out of the shadows. I diagnosed the toxicity they couldn't see and brought her back from the brink of death. I wasn't the helpless charity case they expected. I was a genius who knew their medical secrets better than their own surgeons.
"Who are you?" Ingram growled, pinning me against a desk in his frozen office.
I didn't blink. I had just secured the family's ancient signet ring and a seat at their table. Now, I’m living in his manor, sharing his bed, and holding the keys to the vault that contains their darkest sins.
"I'm the problem you can't afford to solve," I whispered.
The game has changed. I’m no longer the asset—I’m the hunter.