The Mute Heiress: My Ruthless Husband's Prize

I thought I was living the dream as the wife of a billionaire, until my husband came home at 2 A.M. reeking of expensive Scotch and "Midnight Rose"—the signature perfume of his ex-lover, Lucinda. While I spent my nights alone in the nursery with our sick twins, William was out in the city, making it clear to everyone that our marriage was nothing more than a cold, calculated business merger. When I finally confronted him with the evidence of his infidelity, he didn’t offer an apology. He simply looked at me with disgust and told me I was a "liability" who should stay home and play the part of the perfect mother while he lived his real life with someone else. The humiliation reached its peak at the hospital when his grandfather suffered a massive heart attack. William showed up with Lucinda on his arm, comforting her in front of the entire Sterling clan while his mother publicly mocked me for being a useless gold-digger. Even after William tried to force himself on me in a drunken rage the night before, he had the audacity to treat his mistress like the grieving wife while I was pushed into the shadows. I felt something inside me finally snap. The man I loved had turned into a monster who saw me as an acquisition rather than a human being. I was ready to sign the divorce papers and disappear with nothing but my pride, just to escape the suffocating weight of his indifference. But then, the dying patriarch called me to his bedside and handed me a sword: five percent of the company’s voting shares and a three-month ultimatum. I’m not running away anymore. I’ve decided to stay for ninety days, but not to save a dead marriage. I’m staying to become the one thing William Sterling never saw coming—his most dangerous nightmare.

The world knew me as Dr. Brenna Mann, the neurosurgeon with hands insured for millions. My husband, Davis, was a powerful lawyer, and our life was perfect-until he shattered it. He protected his secret lover, Kiley, after she killed my mother in a hit-and-run. Then, to silence me, he had his family' s dogs maul my hand, ending my career forever. He didn't stop there. He fabricated a video that drove my innocent sister to suicide, then held her fate over my head to force me to save his lover's mother. He took everything-my mother, my hand, my career, and my sister. The man I had vowed to love was a monster wearing my husband's skin. He thought he had broken me, leaving me kneeling in public humiliation. He was wrong. He had only created a monster of his own, one with a brilliant mind and a billionaire's backing, ready to burn his world to the ground.

I was New York's "wild child" artist, sold by my father into a marriage with the powerful Camden Winters. It was a cold transaction-my freedom for a life-saving drug from my family's company. But the drug wasn't for him. It was for Brianne, his fragile childhood sweetheart, the "unforgettable love" he swore to me on our wedding day didn't exist. When we both ended up critically injured in the hospital, the doctors asked my husband who to save first. He didn't hesitate. "Save Brianne." He chose to let his own wife die. After all the lies and betrayals, I finally understood I was just a tool. My heart turned to stone. So I divorced him and vanished. But he hunted me down, destroyed the new life I had built, and dragged me back, discovering I was pregnant with his child. He thought he had me trapped forever. He was wrong. I made him a promise, and then I broke it, leaving him with nothing but the ashes of his obsession.

I flew to Las Vegas to surprise my boyfriend of seven years with a proposal, only to overhear him celebrating his new marriage to his intern, Cortney. He had won a poker game and gotten a free marriage certificate as a prize. "What about Amelia?" his friend asked. "Amelia's fine," he scoffed. "She's so devoted, she'd wait another seven years for me if I asked." His words shattered me. I resigned from the company we built together, AG Designs, and left. But Cortney wasn't done. She framed me for leaking company secrets, a lie Gabe instantly believed. He dragged me back to our home, his eyes filled with a rage I'd never seen. "You scheming bitch!" he roared, his hand closing around my throat. "You want to destroy everything I built?!" He beat me with a steel-tipped whip until I was barely conscious, leaving me bleeding and broken. He thought he had crushed me, that I would crawl back. But as I lay there, the pain forged my broken heart into something cold and hard. I escaped, not to run, but to prepare. Now, with the help of a powerful ally, I'm back. And I will make Gabe Carrillo pay for every scar, every tear, and every betrayal. He took my love and my life's work; I'm coming back to take his entire empire.

"Ava, I only see you as a friend." Ethan's quiet words in the noisy bar landed like a ton of bricks, shattering my decade-long crush into a million pieces. I had just poured out years of hidden feelings, only to be met with those five simple words. It was a clear, brutal end to a love story I had directed, starred in, and watched all by myself. He finally looked at me, his expression full of a pity I didn' t want. "You' re my best friend, Ava. I don' t want to lose that." That phrase, 'best friend' , felt like a curse, a box he put me in, safe from my affections. For years, I had held onto fleeting moments, replaying them like favorite movie scenes, only to realize they were just casual gestures from a friend. My entire devotion had unknowingly sabotaged any other chance at a relationship. I was his sun, but he saw me as just another planet in a predictable orbit. The realization was liberating and devastating all at once. Driven by a desperate need to numb the ache, I found myself in a dark bar, downing tequila shots. It was there, amidst the haze, that Liam Walker, my deceased best friend Lily' s younger brother, found me. He saw through my pain, calling Ethan an idiot for not seeing my brilliance, a compliment that pierced through my drunken despair. He saw me not just as a friend, but as someone brilliant. His fierce kindness was too much, leading to a messy, desperate kiss that I instantly regretted upon waking. The guilt, tied to Lily' s memory, was a heavy weight. I believed I had crossed an irreversible line with the boy I'd practically watched grow up. My panic reached a peak when Ethan called, only for Liam to answer and coldly declare, "She was a little busy crying her eyes out after you broke her heart. You' re a bit late with the concern." He hung up, leaving me with a terrifying but thrilling jolt of electricity. Before I could process it, I sent Liam away, convinced I was just like Ethan, careless with others' hearts. But watching Ethan with his new girlfriend, Sarah, and realizing he had let my unrequited love fester out of fear, shattered my remaining illusions. Why did he never love me, even for a second? Why did he let me waste all those years? The bitter truth solidified: he was a coward, too afraid of real loss to embrace something real. And in that moment, I resolved to reclaim my life, to shed the heavy coat of unrequited love, and for the first time, choose myself.

The new car gleamed in the executive parking spot, a silver dagger twisting in my gut. It was a gift from Chloe, my fiancée and CEO, to Liam, her new executive assistant. My project budget, for the core technology I built, was slashed again, a cold financial slap in the face. Then, in front of the entire company, Chloe announced my salary cut, while Liam smirked beside her, wearing a new designer watch that matched his car. The humiliation was a physical blow, public and intentional. I looked at Chloe, searching for the woman I loved, the partner I trusted, but found only a stranger. I resigned on the spot, the words a liberating exhale after ten years of pouring my life into Apex Innovations. The next day, Chloe kissed Liam right in front of me, but the part of me that would have shattered was already gone. I flinched from her touch when she tried to placate me, a physical rejection that finally broke her composure. She fumed, threatening to abandon me, but I felt nothing. Then, Liam, her new executive, chillingly outlined his plan to dismantle my life' s work for profit, and she agreed. My lawyer informed me about the power of attorney, a relic of our past trust, that I might use to sell our joint home. I heard him conspire to cannibalize my project, and witnessed her trust him blindly. Later, she signed the house away, giving me full control of our assets, all because of Liam's fabricated emergency. It was clear then: my loyalty hadn't been seen as strength, but as a weakness to exploit. After she tried to blacklist me from the entire industry, I stood across from Chloe and Liam, who offered me a menial job in the company I co-founded, as an act of charity. I realized this wasn't just a breakup; it was a war, and I was finally ready to fight back.

Five years into marriage, Hannah caught Vincent slipping into a hotel with his first love-the woman he never forgot. The sight told her everything-he'd married her only for her resemblance to his true love. Hurt, she conned him into signing the divorce papers and, a month later, said, "Vincent, I'm done. May you two stay chained together." Red-eyed, he hugged her. "You came after me first." Her firm soon rocketed toward an IPO. At the launch, Vincent watched her clasp another man's hand. In the fitting room, he cornered her, tears burning in his eyes. "Is he really that perfect? Hannah, I'm sorry... marry me again."

Zane and I were together for ten years. When he had no one, I stayed by his side, supporting his hockey career while believing at the end of all our struggles, I'll be his wife and the only one at his side. But after six years of dating, and four years of being his fiancée, not only did he leave me, but seven months later I receive an invitation... to his wedding! If that isn't bad enough, the month long wedding cruise is for couples only and requires a plus one. If Zane thinks breaking my heart left me too miserable to move on, he thought wrong! Not only did it make me stronger.. it made me strong enough to move on with his favourite bad boy hockey player, Liam Calloway.

In their previous lives, Gracie married Theo. Outwardly, they were the perfect academic couple, but privately, she became nothing more than a stepping stone for his ambition, and met a tragic end. Her younger sister Ellie wed Brayden, only to be abandoned for his true love, left alone and disgraced. This time, both sisters were reborn. Ellie rushed to marry Theo, chasing the success Gracie once had-unaware she was repeating the same heartbreak. Gracie instead entered a contract marriage with Brayden. But when danger struck, he defended her fiercely. Could fate finally rewrite their tragic endings?

Her sister is marrying her ex. So she brings her best friend as her fake fiancé. What could possibly go wrong? Savannah Hart thought she was over Dean Archer-until her sister, Chloe announces she's marrying him. The same man Savannah never stopped loving. The man who left her heartbroken... and now belongs to her sister. A weeklong wedding in New Hope. One mansion full of guests. And a very bitter maid of honor. To survive it, Savannah brings a date-her charming, clean-cut best friend, Roman Blackwood. The one man who's always had her back. He owes her a favor, and pretending to be her fiancé? Easy. Until fake kisses start to feel real. Now Savannah's torn between keeping up the act... or risking everything for the one man she was never supposed to fall for.

Luna has tried her best to make her forced marriage to Xen work for the sake of their child. But with Riley and Sophia- Xen's ex-girlfriend and her son in the picture. She fights a losing battle. Ollie, Xen's son is neglected by his father for a very long time and he is also suffering from a mysterious sickness that's draining his life force. When his last wish to have his dad come to his 5th birthday party is dashed by his failure to show up, Ollie dies in an accident after seeing his father celebrate Riley's birthday with Sophia and it's displayed on the big advertising boards that fill the city. Ollie dies and Luna follows after, unable to bear the grief, dying in her mate's hands cursing him and begging for a second chance to save her son. Luna gets the opportunity and is woken up in the past, exactly one year to the day Sophia and Riley show up. But this time around, Luna is willing to get rid of everyone and anyone even her mate if he steps in her way to save her son.

Serena Vance, an unloved wife, clutched a custom-made red velvet cake to her chest, enduring the cold rain outside an exclusive Upper East Side club. She hoped this small gesture for her husband, Julian, would bridge the growing chasm between them on their third anniversary. But as she neared the VIP suite, her world shattered. Julian's cold, detached voice sliced through the laughter, revealing he considered her nothing more than a "signature on a piece of paper" for a trust fund, mocking her changed appearance and respecting only another woman, Elena. The indifference in his tone was a physical blow, a brutal severance, not heartbreak. She gently placed the forgotten cake on the floor, leaving her wedding ring and a diamond necklace as she prepared to abandon a marriage built on lies. Her old life, once a prison of quiet suffering and constant humiliation, now lay in ruins around her. Three years of trying to be seen, to be loved, were erased by a few cruel words. Why had she clung to a man who saw her as a clause in a will, a "creature," not a wife? The shame and rage hardened her heart, freezing her tears. Returning to an empty penthouse, she packed a single battered suitcase, leaving behind every symbol of her failed marriage. With a burner phone, she dialed a number she hadn't touched in a decade, whispering, "Godfather, I'm ready to come home."