The Lost Heiress Returned: Stay With Me, My Two-Faced Goddess
Following twenty years away from home, Cathleen returned expecting family, but all she received was contempt.
Her parents sneered, "You may share our blood, but someone as exceptional as your sister is the only one fit to be our daughter."
Her brother scoffed, "Ashley is my only sister. Get out of here, you country bumpkin!"
Her so-called sister put on a sugary smile. "You won't mind if I borrow your fiancé, will you?"
Cathleen stayed unshaken and walked into a contract marriage with Matthew, who believed he had married a useless woman.
Then her masks fell one by one-divine doctor, underground boxing queen, elite hacker, phantom racer, AI genius, and powerful heiress. Even the comics his sister adored, and the only voice that could ever lull him to sleep, belonged to her.
Matthew pinned her wrists down, his dark gaze locking onto her. "Just how many secrets are you keeping from me?"
Cathleen flipped his hold, her smile calm. "The contract ends tomorrow. Remember to get the divorce."
He grinned, "Absolutely not. Not now, not ever."
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Chapter 5
The man inside the room was Matthew.
He was tall and long-limbed, and even stretched out across the king-sized bed, he somehow made it seem too small.
His features were striking, and even in sleep, there was still something imposing about him.
Cathleen couldn't quite figure out how anyone could still be sleeping after ten in the morning.
She lingered at the doorway, uncertain whether she should knock and wake him, when an icy, irritated voice suddenly rang out. "Get out!"
Cathleen lifted her eyes and met a pair of cold, dangerous-looking ones.
Attractive people really did have their advantages. Both he and Kevan were unpleasant when they first woke up, but Matthew was far easier to look at.
Too bad his temper was awful, and hers wasn't exactly gentle either.
Cathleen stepped back twice, then slammed the door so hard it felt as if the whole house rattled.
Matthew had just risen from bed when the explosive bang caught him off guard, making him lose his balance for a second.
He steadied himself and stood there in stunned silence.
He couldn't believe she actually had the nerve to slam the door on him.
If the door hadn't been built so solidly, she might have shattered it.
A short while later, Matthew came downstairs with a dark expression carved across his handsome face.
He had been forced into marrying Cathleen, so naturally he had no good opinion of her. In his eyes, Oqruron was filled with women who fantasized about changing their status through marriage, foolishly thinking that winning over his grandfather would somehow secure them a place beside him. The idea was ridiculous.
Dark shadows sat heavily beneath Matthew's eyes, making it obvious he hadn't slept well.
He dropped onto the couch, crossed one leg over the other, and carried himself with dominance.
He fixed Cathleen with a stare for two seconds, then looked away and spoke in a slow, measured tone. "I don't care what tricks you used to win my grandfather over, but hear me clearly: don't start imagining anything between us. I'm marrying you only because it's what he wanted. You'd better know your place. Don't ask for things you have no right to ask for, and don't interfere in matters that don't involve you."
Cathleen watched his attractive lips move while he spoke, then gave a nod. "So what you're saying is we each live our own lives and stay out of each other's business?"
"Exactly."
"And what about the physical side of marriage?"
Matthew's brows drew together at once, his eyes turning sharp.
She really wanted to sleep with him? The thought made him scoff inwardly.
He swept his eyes over her from head to toe before saying with a cold smirk, "I'm not interested in a kid."
Cathleen's expression didn't change as she answered evenly, "I'm not interested in an old man either."
Matthew's face darkened on the spot. He sprang to his feet, looking as though he couldn't tolerate sharing the same room with her for even another second.
Cathleen, however, remained unfazed. Once Matthew stormed out, she started unpacking her things.
She hadn't brought much with her, only a few sets of clothes and a wooden box. She carefully tucked the box into the far back corner of the closet, then draped some old clothes over it to keep it hidden.
Her ring suddenly vibrated. Lowering her eyes, she twisted it on her finger. Instantly, a holographic screen appeared before her, showing a message from Miaburgh.
"Hey, K. I've got some bad news. Darren's in trouble. An organization from South Arland just attacked our headquarters network using some kind of advanced technology. We've never encountered anything like this before. Every system is down, the command center can't send orders, and all communication channels are being jammed. We need your help."
Cathleen's brows knit faintly as she grasped how serious the matter was. Without hesitation, she took the ring apart and quickly reassembled it into another form.
Her fingers moved rapidly across the holographic keyboard, while streams of intricate code flooded the display.
Only after the sun had gone down did she slide the ring back onto her finger. She rolled her sore neck, and right then, her stomach let out a loud growl.
Starving, Cathleen headed downstairs to look for something to eat.
It was already six in the evening, and Matthew still hadn't come back. In the huge, silent house, the only sound was the echo of her footsteps.
Inside the top-floor office of Spencer Group, Matthew stood before the wide windows, his tall frame rigid.
Jayden Evans, Matthew's friend, spoke from the other end of the call. "We were seconds away from pulling it off, and then someone appeared out of nowhere and ruined everything. They stopped Rylie's team in the middle of the attack and broke through our network security. Now our systems are down too. And get this: it was only one person."
Matthew's expression sharpened. "You're saying one person took down Rylie's entire team alone?"
"It's worse than that. Do you know what's on my computer screen right now?"
"What?"
"I'll share you a photo."
A notification sounded on Matthew's phone. He opened his chat with Jayden, and his face immediately turned grim.
The large monitor was completely black, except for the bright red word displayed boldly in the center—loser.
Signed beneath it was the codename K.
Matthew scowled seeing that it was K again.
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9.3
Alyssa Gregory slept with Benton Steele, a recently disgraced and bankrupt heir, just to humiliate him.
She threw a massive check at his bare chest, treating the former prince of Wall Street like a cheap escort.
But Benton didn't take the charity.
Instead, he manipulated her anger, tricking her into signing an ironclad contract that surrendered absolute control of her entire trust fund to him.
When her abusive mother found out she had funded a penniless outcast, she slapped Alyssa across the face.
Her mother froze all her bank accounts, locked her inside her bedroom, and arranged to sell her off to a degenerate politician.
Desperate to escape, Alyssa climbed down her balcony, falling fifteen feet and shattering her ankle on the stones below.
Stripped of her money and freedom, she dragged her broken body to a VIP club just to publicly declare that Benton belonged to her.
She thought she was the boss, playing a rebellious game with a broken man.
But when Benton effortlessly carried her away from the club and locked her inside his rundown apartment, the terrifying calculation in his dark eyes shattered her illusion.
How could a man stripped of his entire empire still radiate such suffocating, violent power?
"You bought me," Benton whispered, his massive frame trapping her against the sofa. "That means I have to take care of you."
Physically trapped and completely broke, Alyssa stared into his consuming eyes, her mind racing to find a way to turn the tables.
9.7
Eliana Rivera is the firstborn daughter of business tycoon Cassian Rivera. When her father's company falls into debt, he marries her off to the arrogant and ruthless billionaire, Alexander Grayson, as part of a business contract and under the threat of blackmail.
Alexander, the billionaire CEO, never planned to marry, but the pressure of blackmail forces him into a union with a woman he barely knows. Although Eliana doesn't see Alexander as her ideal partner, she agrees to the marriage out of a sense of duty.
Once engaged, however, he barely acknowledges her presence and harbours disdain for her because of her father's actions and their relationship. But as they navigate their newfound relationship, the unexpected desire for each other's touch ignites-a twist neither of them planned, leading them toward an unforeseen love.
8.7
Five years ago, I was the invisible scholarship charity case at an elite Manhattan prep school, trying to survive in a sea of trust-fund babies.
Arlo Hammond, the untouchable billionaire heir, made sure to completely dismantle my soul.
When his wealthy friends asked if he noticed me, his mocking laughter echoed down the hallway.
"Are you out of your mind? You seriously think I'd be interested in a boring little nerd like her?"
But the moment we were alone, he would corner me in dark alleys, pinning my wrists against brick walls with terrifying, possessive jealousy if my phone even buzzed. He played his twisted games until I was left standing in the rain with my shattered dignity.
Now, I am an Assistant District Attorney. I spent years burying those memories under mountains of legal files.
But tonight, he returned.
When we crossed paths at an exclusive club, he looked at me with the cool detachment he'd give a piece of furniture. In front of a crowd of elites, he coldly declared:
"We have absolutely nothing to do with each other anymore."
Then he walked away to pick up a supermodel, leaving me trembling from the sheer humiliation.
I didn't understand. If I was so worthless to him, why did he still have my birthday tattooed in dark ink on his wrist? Why did he look at me with such raw, painful vulnerability in the shadows?
I stared at my pale reflection in the mirror and made a silent vow.
I am not that pathetic seventeen-year-old anymore, and I will prove to him that I am completely, entirely over him.
9.1
For three years, June played the perfect, submissive wife to billionaire Augustus Pruitt, hoping a child would finally warm his cold heart and secure their marriage.
But when she cautiously suggested they have a baby, he looked at her with pure, unfiltered disgust.
"A woman who schemes her way into a marriage doesn't get to carry my blood."
He sneered, leaving immediately to lavish his mistress with diamonds. The nightmare only escalated from there. Augustus bought the one painting June desperately wanted—a piece she had secretly created herself—just to gift it to his mistress. He publicly outbid June at the gallery, mocking her lack of wealth, and left her to collapse in the freezing rain. When the storm gave her a severe 104-degree fever and she nearly died on their staircase, he didn't even stay by her hospital bed. Instead, he sent an assistant with a box of jewelry to buy her silence, then forced her to attend a family dinner where his mother and sister viciously mocked her barren womb and background.
Looking at Augustus, who sat there casually cutting his steak while his family tore her apart, the last flicker of hope in June's chest sputtered and died.
She finally understood that her three years of bleeding devotion were nothing but a pathetic joke to them.
She dropped her silverware, the sharp clatter silencing the entire room. She wasn't going to be their punching bag anymore. It was time to finalize the divorce papers, reclaim her hidden identity as the world-renowned artist 'mr.sun', and make them all regret it.
8.8
On the eve of my glamorous Waldorf Astoria wedding, I went to the penthouse to surprise my fiancé, Hugh, wearing my late mother's heirloom pearls.
Instead, I heard my stepsister's familiar laugh and caught them tangled together on the sofa.
Through the cracked door, I heard Hugh slur that he was only marrying me for my family's financial backing.
"As soon as I secure my inheritance, she's the first thing I'm getting rid of," he promised her.
Floy giggled and asked for my mother's pearl necklace, my only legacy. Hugh agreed without hesitation, mocking my dead mother's naivety and my desperate dreams of building a family.
Every sweet word he had ever said was a lie, a knife he had been patiently sliding between my ribs for years. They planned to strip me of everything the moment I signed the prenup.
I didn't cry or scream. The crushing weight of their betrayal hollowed me out, leaving behind a terrifying, absolute calm.
Why should I be the one to lose everything while they stole my future and insulted my mother's memory?
I calmly walked down the hall, set the prenuptial agreement on fire, and vanished into the rainy night.
If Hugh wanted to play dirty for the Maxwell empire, I would play for keeps.
Using a forgotten, century-old family covenant, I was going to marry Hugh's uncle-the comatose, paralyzed war hero, Fleet Maxwell.
I would return not as a naive bride, but as their worst nightmare: his aunt, and the new lady of the house.
8.2
My ex-boyfriend of three years, Axel, married a perfect wealthy heiress.
I attended his wedding, not to mourn our relationship, but because he had spent the last three years bleeding me dry.
He left me with absolutely nothing but a final notice from the hospital for my dying brother's life support.
Instead of feeling guilty, Axel cornered me in the church hallway, crushing my wrist.
"I'll set you up with an apartment. You won't have to work another day in your life."
He thought he could buy my silence with spare change, while leaving my seventeen-year-old brother, Julian, to die when his treatments were cut off the very next day.
When I refused to be his dirty little secret, Axel used his power to utterly destroy my acting career.
He had my talent agency terminate my contract under a fake morals clause, publicly humiliated me on set, and blacklisted me across the entire industry.
I was shoved out into the freezing rain, left with a torn dress and absolutely no way to pay the five hundred thousand dollar medical bill.
He actually believed he could step on my brother's dying body to build his own fake empire.
He thought I was just a weak, pathetic victim who would eventually crawl back to him on my knees.
But he forgot about the one monster he was absolutely terrified of: his legitimate, ruthless billionaire half-brother, Jace Bauer.
Looking at the three positive pregnancy tests hidden in my drawer, I stepped right in front of Jace's armored Maybach.
"Marry me, and I'll give you the heir you need to secure your empire."