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 6
Jayden clicked his tongue in irritation. "If I'm not mistaken, this makes the second time we've been beaten by K. The first time, we managed to intercept one of their critical data packets, and in retaliation, they wiped out our entire company network for a whole week. Darren must've had insane luck to recruit someone that skilled. Honestly, it's such a waste of talent. K would have been far better off working with us instead."
Matthew let out a derisive snort. "And what makes you so sure you know who's actually in charge?"
"What?" Jayden's face turned solemn. "Are you saying K is the one in charge?"
"Who can say?"
At daybreak the following morning, the first light began to spread.
After getting dressed and ready, Cathleen came downstairs and was surprised to see Matthew seated on the couch.
She stopped in her tracks. When had he returned the night before? She hadn't heard him come in at all.
Matthew looked worn out. Because of his long-term insomnia, he depended on medication to get even an hour or two of sleep each night. That morning, just as he had finally drifted off, a call from his grandfather abruptly woke him.
His grandfather had phoned to tell him that Cathleen needed to go to the university to finalize her enrollment and insisted that he take her there.
When Matthew noticed Cathleen coming down the stairs, he rose to his feet. "Let's go."
Cathleen was confused. "Go where?"
Matthew's brow furrowed. "Don't pretend you don't know. Didn't you call my grandfather and get him to order me to take you to campus?"
Cathleen didn't know what to say. When had she ever asked his grandfather to intervene? Besides, she hadn't even had breakfast yet.
"It's still early," Cathleen replied, turning toward the kitchen. "I'll leave after I eat."
Matthew's expression hardened. "I don't have time to sit around waiting for you."
Cathleen tied on an apron, took out ingredients from the refrigerator, and paid no attention to Matthew, who remained standing in the living room.
A trace of frost flickered across Matthew's eyes. In the past, people either went out of their way to please him or tried to keep their distance. Everyone wanted his approval, yet at the same time, they feared him.
Cathleen was the exception. To her, he wasn't someone intimidating; he might as well not have existed.
Oblivious to Matthew's thoughts, Cathleen focused entirely on making her breakfast.
She prepared a simple plate of scrambled eggs with toast. Since Matthew hadn't asked for any, she only made enough for herself.
Then, despite the cold, piercing look Matthew directed at her, she ate at an even, unhurried pace.
By the time they finally got into the car, thirty minutes had gone by.
The back seat was roomy enough to accommodate three people, yet Matthew occupied most of it. He radiated an intense, stifling presence, his entire manner distant and unapproachable.
Cathleen sat close to the door, her back straight and posture composed.
Outside the window, the early morning haze was slowly clearing, revealing crowded streets packed with cars and people, a sharp contrast to the stillness and isolation of the mountain villa.
Cathleen had stayed up later than usual the night before and felt the lack of rest. Knowing the drive to the university would take some time, she closed her eyes, hoping to get a bit of sleep.
She had always been highly perceptive, so the moment she sensed someone leaning against her, her eyes flew open.
She wasn't sure when the car had come to a stop. Noticing she was awake, the driver quickly raised a finger to his lips and whispered, "Ma'am, please let him rest a little longer."
Unaccustomed to being addressed that way, Cathleen instinctively rubbed her ear, feeling awkward. Physical closeness, especially of that kind, had never sat well with her.
She hesitated briefly, but ultimately resisted the urge to pull away.
Matthew's head was only lightly resting on her shoulder. However, given his height and the way she was pressed against the door, it gave the impression that she was tucked into his arms.
They remained like that for roughly a minute before Matthew stirred. His arm moved on instinct, wrapping around her and drawing her completely against him. Still asleep, he moved so that his head settled naturally in the curve of her neck.
His warm breath brushed against her ear, bringing their faces just inches apart. From that distance, she could clearly make out the sharp lines of his profile.
Even while asleep, he carried an air of authority. The slight crease in his brow and the firm set of his jaw made it obvious he wasn't someone to take lightly.
The moment didn't last long, though. Not long after Cathleen woke, Matthew began to wake as well.
She quickly slipped out of his arms, pushed the door open, and stepped out of the car in one smooth motion.
Matthew's eyes turned icy, his eyes already sharp and alert, with no trace of grogginess.
The temperature inside the car seemed to plummet instantly.
The driver swallowed hard, then asked cautiously, "Sir, should I drive in?"
Matthew cast a brief look at Cathleen, who was standing near the university gate, and replied curtly, "No. Head back to the office."
When Cathleen turned around, the car was already pulling away at speed, leaving exhaust trailing behind it.
"Cathleen!" someone called out from a distance.
Cathleen immediately recognized the voice; it was Ashley.
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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."