Trapped By My Ruthless Billionaire Ex
Five years ago, I ruined my own reputation and pretended to sell myself to a wealthy old man, all to protect my boyfriend Declan's future.
Now, he is a ruthless billionaire who controls half of Manhattan, and we unexpectedly reunited at our best friends' wedding rehearsal.
But he didn't know the truth. He looked at my cheap, frayed dress with absolute disgust and allowed the wealthy guests to brutally humiliate me.
"Where is that rich old man you left Declan for? Did he finally kick you to the curb?"
Declan just watched me with dead eyes, watching me squirm while I secretly suffered from severe physical withdrawals. He even cornered me in a freezing alley, kissing me violently before threatening to make me wish I was dead if I didn't get out of his city.
Meanwhile, my real life was a living hell. My father was dying in the ICU, his life support about to be cut off by noon, and a ruthless gang was extorting me for three million dollars over a murder my father was framed for.
I bought Declan his billionaire throne with my blood, my health, and my future. I swallowed dry pills just to survive the day. Why did my ultimate sacrifice only bring me endless torment and his absolute hatred?
Realizing that staying in his orbit would only lead to my death, I borrowed money from a dangerous loan shark to save my father, sent a final email resigning from the bridal party, and completely vanished from Declan's life.
Chapters
Share
Chapter 2
Annette swallowed hard. The back of her throat tasted like copper.
"I don't have any contact with him anymore," Annette said. Her voice was stiff and hollow.
Across the table, Declan's eyes darkened into a storm. His large hand wrapped around his whiskey glass. His knuckles turned stark white. The thick crystal groaned under the immense pressure of his grip.
Leo stood up quickly, his chair scraping loudly against the floor.
"Alright, the tension is killing my appetite," Leo announced, clapping his hands. "Everyone move to the VIP lounge. We're playing Truth or Dare."
Annette immediately pushed her chair back.
"I should go," Annette said, grabbing her purse. "I have court files to review for tomorrow."
She turned to walk away.
Ciera shifted her weight and subtly stuck out her stiletto.
Annette's foot caught on the sharp heel. She lost her balance completely. She pitched forward, her hip slamming violently into the solid mahogany back of a chair.
A sharp, breathless gasp ripped from Annette's throat.
Declan's body reacted before his brain did. He lunged forward, his chest hitting the edge of the table. But he caught himself just as fast. He froze, his jaw clenching so hard it looked like the bone might snap. He forced himself to sit back down, his face a mask of stone.
Clara rushed over and grabbed Annette's arm.
"Are you okay? Come on, just sit for one game," Clara begged, pulling her toward the sunken circular sofas in the VIP area.
Annette was too dizzy from the pain in her hip to fight back. She let Clara drag her to the edge of the leather couch.
Declan took the center seat. He sat with his legs spread, his arms resting on the back of the sofa. He looked like a king presiding over an execution.
Leo placed an empty champagne bottle on the glass coffee table. He spun it hard.
The glass scraped against the table with a high-pitched shriek.
The bottle slowed. The green glass neck pointed directly at Annette's chest.
The groomsmen cheered.
Ciera leaned forward, her eyes gleaming with malice. "I'll ask."
Ciera smiled. "Truth. Did you already blow through all the cash you got for selling your soul?"
Annette's breathing turned shallow and erratic. Her fingers gripped the edge of the leather cushion so tightly her joints ached.
She looked at Declan. He was staring at her, his face completely devoid of any human empathy.
"Dare," Annette whispered.
Ciera's smile widened into a smirk. She pointed a manicured finger at the center of the table.
"Drink the penalty cup. All of it. No stopping."
Sitting in the middle of the table was a massive pint glass. It was filled with a dark, foul-smelling mixture of vodka, gin, rum, tequila, and whiskey.
Annette stared at the brown liquid. Her heart hammered against her ribs.
If she drank that, the chemical collision with her fragile physical state would send her into a severe, potentially fatal, physical shock.
She couldn't move her arms. She was paralyzed.
"Ten, nine, eight..." the groomsmen started counting down, slamming their hands on the table.
The noise pounded inside Annette's skull. The pressure was suffocating.
She closed her eyes. She reached her trembling hand out toward the glass.
Suddenly, a large, warm hand shot out and snatched the heavy glass right out from under her fingers.
Annette's eyes snapped open.
Declan brought the penalty cup to his lips. He tilted his head back and swallowed the massive amount of mixed liquor in three heavy, continuous gulps.
He slammed the empty glass back onto the table. He didn't even cough. He just wiped a drop of liquor from his bottom lip, his brow furrowing slightly at the burn.
The entire lounge went completely silent.
Ciera's face flushed dark red. Her nails dug into her own thighs.
Annette stared at Declan, her chest heaving. A tiny, pathetic spark of hope ignited in her chest. Her heart fluttered. He still cared. He just protected her.
Declan slowly turned his head to look at her.
"Don't look at me like that," Declan said. His voice was absolute ice. "I just think this game is boring. I didn't want to waste my night watching you play the victim."
The spark in Annette's chest was instantly crushed. A massive wave of humiliation crashed over her, drowning her completely.
Leo awkwardly spun the bottle again.
It spun fast and stopped. It pointed directly at Declan.
A bridesmaid, heavily flushed from the wine, giggled. "Dare! I dare you to kiss the woman in this room you want to kiss the most."
The air in the room vanished.
Every single pair of eyes darted between Ciera and Annette.
Ciera sat up perfectly straight. She pushed her shoulders back, her eyes shining with anticipation.
Declan didn't move. He slowly dragged his gaze across the room.
His eyes landed on Annette's pale, terrified face.
He stared at her. One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.
Annette stopped breathing. She felt like a prisoner standing on the gallows, waiting for the lever to be pulled.
Declan's eyes turned dead. He looked away from her.
"Not interested," Declan said flatly.
He reached across the table, picked up a bottle of straight whiskey, and poured himself a penalty shot. He swallowed the burning liquid without a flinch.
He would rather drink pure fire than touch her.
The realization sliced through Annette's chest like a serrated knife. Her psychological defenses shattered into a million pieces.
You may also like
7.4
Four years ago, to protect the man I loved from losing his billionaire empire, I drugged his drink, told him I only used him for his money, and vanished.
Now, at a high-society gala, Callum Wyatt is back. He isn't just a CEO anymore; he's a ruthless predator, and the second his eyes lock onto me, I know I am his prey.
When my wealthy half-sister publicly humiliated me, calling me the cheap bastard child of a homewrecker, Callum stepped out of the shadows. He nearly snapped her wrist in half and declared to New York's elite that anyone who touched me would be dismantled.
In the back of his Maybach, he pinned my arms above my head, his eyes burning with psychotic obsession.
"If you run again, Aubrey, I will burn your entire world to the ground just to keep you."
My heart bled. I had spent four grueling years tearing myself apart to keep him out of my messy, blood-soaked revenge against the family that watched my mother die.
But his terrifying protection only made my biological father's family target me harder, using their massive capital to buy out my movie set and crush my acting career.
They thought I would cower.
But as I walked onto the soundstage, facing the heiress trying to steal my role, I took off my sunglasses. I wasn't running anymore; it was time to make them pay.
9.3
My father ordered me to marry into the cursed Vaughn family.
Their heirs were rumored to die young from a mysterious genetic agony. My sister Kayden laughed, saying she wasn't going to waste her youth planning a funeral. So, I became the sacrificial lamb.
When I refused, my father slammed his hand on the table and threatened to throw my dead mother's ashes into the city dump.
"You are a struggling actress with no money and no power. You have no choice," he told me coldly.
To make matters worse, my own agent drugged my drink at a business dinner, trying to sell my body to a sleazy investor just to secure project funding.
I was completely cornered, suffocating under the weight of their cruelty. I couldn't understand how my own flesh and blood could be so vicious, treating me like a worthless pawn to be traded and discarded.
But none of them knew that while escaping the drug-laced dinner, I crashed directly into the terrifying Vaughn heir, Algot.
When his glowing crimson eyes locked onto me during a violent episode of his cursed pain, we discovered an impossible truth: my physical touch was the only cure for his agony.
Looking at the dark bruises he accidentally left on my neck, I chose not to run. Instead, I pulled out the private business card he gave me and dialed his number.
"You need me," I whispered to the dangerous billionaire. "And I am going to use you to destroy them all."
7.4
Clara Davis was trained to seduce, deceive, and destroy.
Her mission is simple: infiltrate billionaire Jeffery Rothwell's life, gain his trust, and help seize his empire in exchange for the freedom she has always craved.
But the deeper she slips into his dangerous world, the more the lines between mission and desire begin to blur. Falling for him was never part of the plan and neither was discovering that the man she was sent to manipulate may not be the real Jeffery at all.
Now trapped in a deadly web of obsession, power, and hidden identities. Clara is caught between the organization that owns her, the monster who remade her, and a love that has turned into vengeance. Clara must survive a man who sees everything, controls everything, and may be far more dangerous than the organization that created her.
Because in this game of seduction and revenge, love might be the deadliest trap of all.
8.3
Half a month into our cold war, I, Claire Parker, found an abortion procedure slip tucked inside Daniel Carter's suit pocket.
The patient's name belonged to the fragile little childhood sweetheart he had always protected so fiercely-Sophie Bennett.
I folded the paper calmly and slipped it back where I had found it.
Daniel noticed the movement immediately. His eyes flicked toward me through the rearview mirror, resignation coloring his voice.
"What are you overthinking now? Sophie was just keeping a friend company at the hospital. She accidentally left it there."
I turned toward the window and said nothing.
This was Sophie declaring war on me, yet the man who could crush competitors without mercy in the business world believed her completely.
The silence inside the car grew suffocating until Daniel finally stopped outside an upscale jewelry boutique.
He reached over and ruffled my hair with easy familiarity, his tone indulgent and affectionate.
"Come on. Pick out a ring. Your birthday's next month anyway, so we might as well register our marriage too."
I bit down hard on my lip as tears fell soundlessly onto the back of my hand.
What he still didn't know was that I wouldn't live long enough to see next month.
8.2
For three years, I scrubbed tables as a "wolfless runt," hiding my identity as the Lycan King's daughter.
It was a test for my fiancé, Alpha Connor. I wanted to see if he loved the girl, or just the crown.
He failed spectacularly tonight.
His mistress, Jaden, deliberately knocked a tray of drinks onto me during the dinner rush.
The liquid wasn't alcohol. It was concentrated silver.
My flesh hissed and bubbled as the poison ate through my skin, blocking any ability to heal.
I fell to the floor, clutching my melting hand, while Jaden faked tears and claimed I attacked her.
When Connor finally answered the video call, he saw my mangled hand. He smelled the burning flesh. He knew it was silver.
But he didn't help me.
He looked at his watch, annoyed that I was interrupting his business meeting with investors.
"Apologize to Jaden," he ordered, using his Alpha Command to crush me into submission.
"On your knees. Now."
The pain was blinding, but the betrayal cut deeper. He was forcing his Fated Mate to bow to the woman who tried to maim her.
My knees bent under the pressure, but my Royal blood refused to break.
I looked straight into the camera lens.
"No," I whispered.
I reached into my apron, bypassing the notepad, and pulled out a black satellite phone I hadn't touched in years.
"Code Black," I said to the King on the other end. "Send the Guard."
Connor thought he was disciplining a waitress.
He didn't know he just declared war on the Royal Family.
9.8
Three women, three brothers, a single, crumpled dollar bill.
Alina's world shatters the moment she's auctioned off-and claimed by the powerful Hawthorne brothers.
Thrown into Adrian Hawthorne's cold, dangerous world, she becomes his to control... his to protect... and, terrifyingly, his to desire. He's ruthless, possessive, and hiding secrets that could destroy them both. But the deeper she falls into his world, the harder it becomes to tell if she's his prisoner-or something far more dangerous.
Because the Hawthorne brothers don't just take.
They keep.
Viviane has spent her life surviving, so when Julian Hawthorne "buys" her freedom, she knows better than to trust it. Men like him don't save people-they collect them. But Julian isn't as simple as he pretends to be, and the deeper she's pulled into his world, the more dangerous it becomes to walk away.
Especially when she realizes she might be the only thing he's ever been willing to fight for.
Lena doesn't belong to anyone-and she intends to keep it that way. Brilliant, guarded, and hiding more than anyone suspects, she enters Lucien Hawthorne's world on her own terms. But Lucien doesn't play fair, and he doesn't let go.
When her past comes crashing back, Lena is forced to face the one thing she's been running from: trusting someone who could destroy her... or save her.
Three women. Three choices.Stay. Fight.
Or burn it all down.
Because being sold was only the beginning.