Too Late, I Am The Real Heiress
For eight years, I hid my identity as the sole heiress to the Stafford family fortune, playing the role of a meek, dependent girlfriend just to see if Evan could love me for who I truly was.
But today, he slid a severance check across the table and told me to pack my things.
He said his company was going bankrupt and he had no choice but to marry Piper Finch, a woman claiming to have Stafford family backing, to save his business.
"You will not survive a week out there! You cannot even afford subway fare without me!"
The next day, he paraded Piper around the office, letting her mock me before publicly firing me. His mother even threw a five million dollar check in my face, demanding I disappear so I would not ruin his marriage to the wealthy elite.
I looked at the fake heiress wearing a cheap, lab-grown diamond and felt a bitter laugh lodge in my throat.
After eight years of my devotion, he was throwing away the real Stafford princess for a pathetic fraud, utterly convinced I was just a worthless, broke burden.
Instead of begging, I ripped his check in half and walked out.
I pulled out my encrypted satellite phone and told my family to unfreeze my limitless black card.
I was done playing the helpless girlfriend. It was time to show him what real power looks like.
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Chapter 7
The air in the ballroom felt thick and suffocating. Adeline leaned slightly toward Cade, her lips brushing near his ear.
"I need to fix my lipstick," she murmured.
Cade looked down at her. His eyes darkened as he tracked the movement of her red lips. He nodded once, his hand lingering on her waist for a second longer than necessary before letting her go.
Adeline turned and walked toward the heavy oak doors leading to the corridor. Cade picked up a fresh glass of bourbon. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Evan's rigid back as the man broke away from the crowd and slipped out a side exit, following her path. Cade's jaw clenched, but he stayed planted.
Adeline pushed through the door of the women's restroom. The space was a cavern of white marble and gold fixtures. She walked to the massive mirror, unclasped her clutch, and pulled out her lipstick.
She uncapped the gold tube.
A violent crash echoed behind her. The heavy wooden door slammed open, hitting the wall stop with a sickening thud.
Evan stormed inside. He slammed the heavy door shut and pressed his entire body weight against the wood, his broad shoulders blocking the only exit. He reached up and violently smashed the electronic sensor panel with his fist, shattering the plastic casing and tearing the wires so the door could not be opened by badge swipe. Only a physical key could override it now. His eyes were bloodshot, his chest heaving under his tailored suit. He looked completely unhinged.
Adeline did not turn around. She met his eyes in the mirror and calmly raised the lipstick to her mouth, applying a fresh coat.
The dismissal snapped the last thread of Evan's sanity. He lunged across the room. He grabbed Adeline's wrist with brutal force, twisting her arm and slamming her back against the marble counter.
The lipstick dropped from her hand, snapping in two on the floor. The cold edge of the counter dug into Adeline's spine.
"How did you do it?" Evan spat, his face inches from hers, his breath smelling of sour champagne. "How did you get him into your bed? Did you get down on your knees and beg?"
Adeline let out a cold, sharp laugh. "Cade is ten times the man you are, Evan. In the boardroom, and everywhere else."
The insult hit its mark. Evan roared in anger. He let go of her wrist and grabbed the plunging neckline of her velvet dress, his knuckles brushing roughly against her skin as he tried to rip the fabric.
Adeline's eyes turned to ice. Her free hand shot out, her fingers wrapping around the heavy, solid brass soap dispenser sitting on the counter.
Without hesitating, she swung it upward in a vicious arc.
The heavy brass cracked hard against Evan's forehead.
Evan screamed. He stumbled backward, his hands flying to his face. Thick, dark blood instantly welled up between his fingers, dripping down the bridge of his nose.
Adeline did not pause. She reached into her clutch, her fingers finding the smooth glass of her phone. She pressed the side button three times in rapid succession—a shortcut she had programmed earlier, after pulling Piper's private number from the company's HR directory. A pre-written text with her GPS location shot out to Piper's phone.
Evan wiped the blood from his eyes. His face contorted into a mask of pure rage. He lowered his head and charged at her, aiming to tackle her to the floor.
The brass doorknob rattled violently.
"Evan! Open this door!" Piper's shrill voice pierced the heavy oak.
Evan froze mid-step. The rage vanished from his eyes, replaced instantly by blind panic. He looked at the locked door, then down at his bloody hands and ruined shirt.
Adeline moved fast. She reached up and violently messed up her own hair. She grabbed the fabric at her shoulder and yanked it sideways, baring her shoulder. She let her knees give out, sliding down the marble cabinet to the floor, pulling her knees to her chest.
A heavy thud shook the door. The hotel security guard had shoved a manual master key into the lock cylinder and wrenched it open. The door burst open.
Piper rushed in, followed by three other socialites and a security guard.
They stopped dead in their tracks. Evan was standing in the middle of the room, bleeding and disheveled. Adeline was huddled on the floor, trembling violently, her dress torn.
"You bastard!" Piper shrieked. She threw herself at Evan, her manicured nails digging into his face. "You were trying to sleep with her at our engagement party!"
"No! Piper, listen to me, she hit me!" Evan yelled, trying to shield his face from her blows.
Adeline buried her face in her hands, forcing out a realistic, terrified sob.
The crowd in the doorway was suddenly shoved aside with brutal force.
Cade stepped into the restroom. The temperature in the room plummeted. He took one look at Adeline on the floor, and his eyes turned murderous.
He shrugged off his custom suit jacket. He walked over to Adeline, knelt down, and wrapped the warm, heavy wool tightly around her shoulders, completely hiding her exposed skin.
Cade stood up, pulling Adeline against his side. He looked at Evan.
"My lawyers will file the bankruptcy liquidation papers for Strong Group at 8:00 AM tomorrow," Cade said. His voice was completely devoid of emotion, a death sentence delivered in a whisper.
Evan's knees buckled. He collapsed against the sink, his bloody hands gripping the porcelain as he hyperventilated. Piper continued to scream at him, the entire scene devolving into a pathetic circus.
Cade turned his back on them. He kept his arm tight around Adeline and walked her out of the restroom, the security guards parting to let them through.
They walked out of the hotel and into the cool night air.
As soon as the doors closed behind them, Adeline stopped trembling. She lifted her head from Cade's chest. The terrified victim vanished, replaced by a cold, triumphant smile.
"Pleasure doing business with you," Adeline whispered.
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8.3
Betrayed at the altar. Replaced by her own sister.
On what should have been the happiest day of her life, Amara loses everything-her fiancé, her dignity, and her future.
But that same night, a dangerous man steps out of the shadows with an offer she can't refuse.
Marriage. Power. Revenge.
Now bound to a ruthless CEO, Amara is ready to destroy everyone who betrayed her.
There's just one problem...
Her new husband knows more about her past than he should.
And the closer she gets to revenge-
the more she realizes she may have married the man who ruined her in the first place.
9.1
What would a woman do if one day she is waiting for her husband to tell him the news of her pregnancy but he comes home with another woman who is pregnant with his child?
........
Ariadne had a perfect life until her mother died in a car accident and her father remarried, bringing a stepmother and stepsister into her life. Once adored by all, Ariadne became an eyesore to everyone, including her father. Her stepmother and stepsister took everything from her.
However, she lost it when their eyes fell on Xander, the sole heir of the richest family in the country and her childhood love. When rumors of Crystal, her step sister and Xander's dating spread, Ariadne used her everything to force Xander into marrying her.
Despite pouring her heart and soul into the marriage Ariadne failed to make Xander reciprocate her feelings. Their loveless marriage came to an end when Crystal returned in their lives.
With a broken heart, Ariadne left the city with a secret and rebuild her life.
Five years later, she returned as a successful interior designer to design her ex-husband's new mansion. But this time, what she saw in Xander's eyes for herself was not hatred. It was something else.
She came face to face with the same people who had wronged her in the past. They still held resentment towards her. But this time Ariadne vowed to strike back at her bullies.
Many secrets were revealed in the process that made Xander regret his past actions. He determined to win Ariadne back.
BUT Will Ariadne be able to forget their past and get back together with Xander or She will choose someone else?
9.7
For three years, I was the dutiful wife of billionaire Ervin Valdez.
On our third wedding anniversary, he came home smelling of his mistress's perfume, pinned me down, and brutally mocked me.
His mistress, Sylvia, had even sent me a fake ultrasound report to force me out of the picture.
In Ervin's eyes, I was just a vicious, calculating liar who used a pregnancy to trap him into marriage.
He didn't care that I had actually lost that baby, nor did he know the trauma of my gambling father selling me to a dark club where I was assaulted by a stranger.
When I finally handed him the signed divorce papers, giving up all assets, and left the penthouse with nothing but an old suitcase, he just sneered.
"She is playing a game of hard to get. She won't last three days before she comes crying back."
He froze all my bank accounts, let his mistress humiliate me in public, and waited coldly for me to starve and beg.
He thought my entire existence relied on his wealth, completely confident that I would inevitably surrender to his control.
But he was wrong.
I calmly opened my old laptop, bypassed the complex encryptions, and looked at the dozens of unread emails from top-tier global brands begging for my return.
I resurrected my hidden identity as the legendary jewelry designer "R," and walked straight into the top design firm in Manhattan.
"It is time to find myself again."
9.3
For years, Gabriela believed the man beside her would be the one she grew old with. They had loved each other since they were young, but in the end, all those years meant nothing beside a younger woman's smile.
Returning from a business trip, she uncovered his betrayal with brutal clarity. Still, she did not cry or beg. She took out her phone, recorded every damning second, and filed for divorce the moment she could.
Afterward, she rebuilt her life into something brighter, richer, and stronger, even marrying a powerful tycoon. As for her ex and his shameless mistress, they could rot together.
9.7
Gemma expected the tearing agony of the bullet wound that had just ended her life.
Instead, her trembling fingers met the cool, smooth friction of heavy silk.
She stared into the mirror. Her face was flawless, completely devoid of the jagged scar that had marred her cheek for the last five years.
It was exactly ten years ago. The day of her engagement party to the ruthless billionaire, Brion Hubbard.
In her past life, her "best friend" Katelyn convinced her to run away with a scheming scumbag.
Katelyn claimed Brion was a heartless tyrant who would ruin her. Gemma had foolishly believed those fake tears.
That choice led to her family's bankruptcy, her brutal disfigurement, and ultimately, a fatal bomb explosion.
The only person who tried to save her was Brion, his blood-soaked body shielding hers from the blast.
She even realized too late that the strawberry cream cakes she always made for him were full of dairy.
He wasn't leaving to cheat on her. He was locking himself in a medical bay, fighting fatal allergic shock, just to accept a tiny scrap of her affection.
Gemma had been so incredibly blind. Why did she trust the venomous snakes who destroyed her, while hating the man who died for her?
Hearing Katelyn frantically knocking on the dressing room door, urging her to run away again, a towering hatred surged through Gemma's veins.
This time, she wasn't going to run.
She was going to expose the traitors, take back her family's wealth, and claim the tyrant for herself.
7.4
I opened the door to my penthouse, only to see my stepsister's limited-edition Louboutins discarded on the foyer rug.
Walking into the master bedroom, I caught my fiancé and my stepsister tangled naked in my bed.
When I went back to the family estate to settle the score, my father didn't even care.
Instead, he and my stepmother demanded I take my stepsister's place to save the family's reputation.
"You will marry the seventy-year-old billionaire next month. We can't ruin your sister's life," my father ordered.
Looking at their hypocritical faces, the last shred of my family affection died completely.
They really thought I would just accept being their sacrificial pawn while they stole my mother's legacy.
So, I pinned them down with a blackmail video of the affair, extorted my father for my shares, and walked out into the freezing night.
To numb the betrayal, I went to an underground club, slept with a terrifyingly powerful stranger, and left a red lipstick note on his forehead.
"Your technique sucks. Keep the change."
Then, I vanished abroad without a trace.
Five years later, I returned to New York with my three children, ready to take back everything that was mine.
But I didn't expect that the "cheap gigolo" from that night was actually Kendall James, the most ruthless corporate titan in the city.
And he had just spotted my five-year-old son—his exact miniature replica—standing right beside me.