Get the APP hot

A Villain For The Ruthless Billionaire

His Unwanted Wife, The Hidden Genius

His Unwanted Wife, The Hidden Genius

Modern

4.5

I flew back to New York on my twenty-fifth birthday, carrying vintage gold cufflinks I spent weeks finding for my billionaire husband, Declan. But when I walked into our townhouse, I found him throwing a massive victory party with Sloane, a glamorous socialite, standing by his side as the proud hostess. "Don't cause a scene. Go upstairs." Declan coldly dismissed me in front of his guests. Even Poppy, the rookie player whose shattered ankle I had painstakingly rebuilt, rolled her eyes and ignored me to suck up to Sloane. Hiding in the shadows, I heard the maids gossiping that everyone thought Sloane was the future Mrs. Hartford. To make matters worse, I discovered Sloane had stolen my anonymous, groundbreaking medical algorithm and was planning to present it as her own. First my husband, then the girl I mentored like family, and now the scientific foundation I had built with my own hands. Declan even texted me to cancel our birthday breakfast without a single apology, treating me like an annoying afterthought. My tears vanished, replaced by a freezing clarity. I signed the divorce papers, leaving them on his desk with zero demands for his money. Then I packed my bags, booked a one-way ticket to Boston, and prepared to destroy them on the global stage.

Chapter 1

Aurelia Vance POV:

I had been married to Declan Hartford for three years.

Today was my twenty-fifth birthday, and I had flown back from Boston in secret, hoping for one quiet evening with my husband.

I'd spent a week carefully picking out a pair of gold cufflinks as a gift for my husband.

But the laughter spilling from the front door told me I was already too late: the woman who had taken my place at his side was already inside.

The heavy oak door swung open before I reached the porch. Three young players from the New York Titans, Declan's NHL franchise, stumbled out with crystal tumblers of scotch, laughing loudly. They barely glanced at me as they passed.

I stepped into the grand foyer. The heat hit me instantly,expensive champagne, roasted tenderloin, cigar smoke.

Dozens of people filled the double parlor: executives, scouts, wives in designer dresses.

In the center stood Declan, tall and broad in a bespoke charcoal suit. Beside him, laughing into his ear, was Sloane Whitfield, her backless silver dress catching the chandelier light. Her hand rested on his forearm like she belonged there.

Before I could take another breath, a blur of blonde hair darted past my elbow.

"Sloane!" Poppy Delacroix cried, throwing her arms around Sloane's slender waist. "You were completely right about the catering! This is literally the best victory party the team has ever had!"

Poppy is fourteen, a junior elite forward prospect.

I scouted her two years ago from a crumbling youth league, back when she was at her lowest.

Her parents had once shown me great kindness, and I knew they had already passed away, leaving her all alone in the world.

Declan and I adopted her together.

I rebuilt her shattered ankle with a custom rehabilitation plan.

I had always loved and cared for her as both a mother and a sister.

Now, she did not even glance in my direction.

Declan turned his head, his gaze sweeping over the crowd until his eyes locked onto mine. The easy grin on his sharp jaw vanished instantly. His brows drew together in a hard, irritated line.

He excused himself from Sloane, cutting through the throng of players with long, impatient strides.

"Aurelia," Declan said, stopping two feet in front of me. His voice carried zero warmth. "What are you doing here?"

My throat felt like sandpaper.

"I took the four o'clock flight from Boston," I whispered, clutching the strap of my bag until my knuckles turned white. "It is my birthday, Declan. I thought we could—"

"We are celebrating the division win," he cut in, his tone sharp enough to draw blood. "The board is here. The sponsors are here. Sloane spent four consecutive days coordinating this event so the organization could project stability."

He did not look at me. His gaze slid past my shoulder to the bar, like I was a waitress who had wandered into the wrong room.

"Don't cause a scene," he added quietly. "Go upstairs."

A soft, mocking murmur rippled through a cluster of players' wives standing near the grand staircase. Two women with platinum blowouts exchanged knowing glances over their flutes of Dom Pérignon.

"I didn't know," I said, my voice barely audible over the swelling music. "I am sorry."

I turned toward the staircase, my legs trembling beneath my wool trousers.

Near the landing, Poppy was adjusting her designer jacket in the hallway mirror.

"Poppy," I said softly, pausing beside her. "How is your ankle feeling after Thursday's third period? Did you complete the isometric sequence I sent?"

Poppy rolled her eyes, sighing loudly as she pulled out her phone.

"Aurelia, please, not right now," she muttered without looking at me. "Sloane is introducing me to a marketing director from one of our partners. I don't have time for your spreadsheets."

The dismissive edge in her voice hit me harder than Declan's coldness. I had stayed up until three in the morning reviewing her biomechanical scans while she was recovering from surgery, and now I was just an annoyance in the way of her social ascent.

I walked up the rest of the stairs and entered the primary suite—the massive, sterile bedroom allocated to me under our prenuptial agreement.

I sat on the edge of the mattress and pulled out the velvet box. The gold cufflinks gleamed under the bedside lamp, cold and useless.

Downstairs, cheers erupted. The sound vibrated through the floorboards.

I walked to the French doors overlooking the rear garden. Down on the illuminated patio, Sloane was directing two servers by an ice sculpture. Declan stood beside her, his head bent down as he listened to her speak, his hand casually brushing the small of her back.

They looked like the couple the city expected them to be.

My phone buzzed in my coat pocket. I pulled it out, hoping against hope.

It was an email notification.

"Happy Birthday, Aurelia. Remember that true science requires patience and solitude. You are meant for greater arenas than New York boardrooms. -Dr. Edmund Sterling."

My mentor at Harvard was the only person in the world who had remembered.

I typed a brief "Thank you, Professor" and shut off the screen.

Hours passed. The bass eventually quieted, replaced by the occasional clatter of glassware and slamming car doors. My throat burned with thirst.

At two in the morning, I padded downstairs in my stocking feet to fetch a glass of water from the butler's pantry.

As I rounded the corner near the service hallway, the voices of two newly hired catering maids stopped me dead in my tracks.

"Miss Whitfield is stunning," the first girl whispered, scraping dessert plates into a bin. "Mr. Hartford's girlfriend carries herself like royalty."

"A girlfriend?" the other asked, pausing. "But isn't Mr. Hartford rumored to be married? Is it inappropriate to be this close with Whitfield?"

"Married?Where did that come from? Even if there was one, they must have split long ago. I've worked three events here this month, and Miss Whitfield is the only woman hosting by his side. Everyone knows she's the future Mrs. Hartford."

I shrank back into the cold shadow of the archway, my blood turning to ice.

In the home where I held a legal marriage certificate, my presence had already been wiped clean.

Continue Reading
A Villain For The Ruthless Billionaire

A Villain For The Ruthless Billionaire

Billionaires

5.0

A Villian For The Ruthless Billionaire Hot Billionaire Series #4 They call her wicked, but she just wanted to be loved. Framed up and hated, she ran away. Not knowing the disaster she will face, can the villain in disguise make the billionaire fall in love?

A Dollar Tip For The Ruthless Billionaire

A Dollar Tip For The Ruthless Billionaire

Billionaires

5.0

I was the legitimate daughter of the Gray family, surviving by acting like a timid, freckled outcast to appease my stepmother and my fiancé, Victor Sinclair. But at the charity gala, the two people I was supposed to trust the most drugged my champagne. They paid thugs to ruin my innocence, all just

The Unexpected Surrogate for the Ruthless Billionaire

The Unexpected Surrogate for the Ruthless Billionaire

Billionaires

4.4

"I loved you, Isabelle, but not anymore. Allison here is carrying my child," Morris said, his tone firm and unyielding. *** After four years of marriage without a kid, Isabelle finally took in but through IVF. On reaching her friend's apartment to break the good news, she bumped into her husband a

Reluctant Bride for the Ruthless Billionaire

Reluctant Bride for the Ruthless Billionaire

Billionaires

4.0

VIRGIN BRIDE FOR THE RUTHLESS BILLIONAIRE 18+ "Your body is mine, your soul is mine, you are mine, I have waited for this moment all these years and now that you are mine, there is nothing you can do about it" He said with his hands pulling at my pant as we wrestled in his king sized bed. "In your

Falling for the Ruthless Billionaire Don

Falling for the Ruthless Billionaire Don

Billionaires

5.0

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to....."he cut me off again, "just shut up and get out, " he said through his gritted teeth to show he was angry. Tears were already in the corner of my eyes threatening to fall. I held them in. My mind is always in chaos whenever someone raises their voice at me. It

A Bodyguard For The Billionaire

A Bodyguard For The Billionaire

Billionaires

5.0

Born and bred in Naples, Italy, the full-blooded twenty five year old American Maya Creighton lost both her parents who had traveled to Italy for a job that cost them their lives. Running away from the orphanage she hated, she adapted to the streets, having minimal access to education and a wider on

A Wife for the Billionaire

A Wife for the Billionaire

Romance

5.0

-WARNING - ADULT AND MATURED SCENES WERE DEPICTED IN THIS BOOK In the game of love, these two players don't intend to win. A Dual POV tale between Richard Wellington, the billionaire born with a weak heart that he shields from love for fear of heartbreak and Sofia Blake (Reed), a fashion enthusia

A Nanny for the Billionaire

A Nanny for the Billionaire

Romance

5.0

The beautiful Ashley Olden takes up a job as a nanny for a billionaire she can't stand, Henry Allen. Things turn around when she uncovers the secret about his unfaithful wife. Soon feelings begin to spark when he divorces his wife and Ashley begins to find the job of caring for Asher twice as hard.

A BABY FOR THE BILLIONAIRE

A BABY FOR THE BILLIONAIRE

Romance

5.0

After discovering He has a child with a Waitress as a result of their one- night- stand in the Hotel she worked in, Ken fell in Love with her. For that, he broke up with his girlfriend who never has his time but that didn't go well with her. Maya tried everything she Could to get Ken back in to h

The Villain

The Villain

Fantasy

5.0

She died due to overworking as a popular web writer, she never thought she could die like that in an appropriate state. But they did say, if only you could be given another chance to live again and alas, she was reicarnated as a child! She is not just merely a baby, but the youngest and only princes

A Bride for The Billionaire

A Bride for The Billionaire

Billionaires

5.0

Andrew Jonas is the sole heir to one of the most successful shopping mall networks in Kingstone, Jonas Shopping Center. A workaholic, as cold as the walls of Berlin, and considers love to be just a normal chemical reaction, much like anger and hunger. Who would have thought that an Annual General Me

A Toy For The Ruthless Mafia Lord

A Toy For The Ruthless Mafia Lord

Mafia

5.0

"Please, give me your word." She pleaded, sobbing uncomfortably. "Give me your word that I'd be set free after this contract!!" But a sinister grin spread across his lips. *.. In a bid to pay her step father's debt, Katherine found her fate intertwined with Lucifer Cain, the most ruthless mafia

A Wife For The Ruthless Ceo

A Wife For The Ruthless Ceo

Romance

5.0

Evelyn Carter never wanted to marry Liam Harrington, but her parents gave her no choice. The marriage wasn't about love-it was a business deal. Liam is cold, distant, and impossible to understand, and Evelyn knows one thing for sure: she hates him. Liam feels the same way about Evelyn. He didn't w

Loving The Ruthless Billionaire

Loving The Ruthless Billionaire

Romance

4.8

Alex Tristan is known as the leader of a wealthy popular band. He was everything a lady could ask for- cute face and so much money in his pocket. He was the country's biggest idol. But unfortunately, Alex wasn't the happy type as he lived a very secluded life. He resented girls a lot; never wants

Taming The Ruthless Billionaire

Taming The Ruthless Billionaire

Billionaires

5.0

"Taming the Ruthless Billionaire" unfolds as a modern romantic drama set against the high-stakes world of Manhattan's corporate elite. The story traces the journey of Maya Rivers, a young woman whose resolve and vulnerability are tested when she steps into the orbit of Adrian King, a billionaire CEO

The Ruthless Billionaire Love

The Ruthless Billionaire Love

Romance

5.0

A loud bang echoed against the door. My heart pounded as I recognized the voice that followed-it was my husband who despised me more than anything. Is here to torment me again, forcing me to sign a divorce papers willingly which I refuse and becouse of this, he vows to torture me till death. -----

A Contract with the Ruthless Mafia Billionaire

A Contract with the Ruthless Mafia Billionaire

Mafia

5.0

Lia Morgan is barely holding her life together until her brother steals from the wrong man. Kade Valen isn't just a billionaire CEO, he's the cold and ruthless head of the Crimson Circle, a secret crime empire that buries its enemies without a trace. And now, he owns her brother's fate. To save h

A Marriage Contract With The Ruthless Billionaire

A Marriage Contract With The Ruthless Billionaire

Romance

5.0

Vivienne's life crumbles after her family's business goes bankrupt, leaving her with debts she can't repay and a sick mother who needs constant care. When all doors close, a cold and calculated offer comes from Damian Volkov - a powerful, mysterious billionaire known for his ruthless tactics in busi

A Surrogate For Billionaire

A Surrogate For Billionaire

Romance

4.8

I knew this day would come soon but I’m not ready yet, I’m just scared. I couldn’t even see anything because my eyes were covered with a long black satin and also my hands were tied up. The most scary thing is it’s raining and thundering heavily. After some time I heard someone’s footsteps coming t

A SON FOR A BILLIONAIRE

A SON FOR A BILLIONAIRE

Romance

4.9

Ivy Rivera, eighteen years old was known to be the girl from the wrong side of the river. Everyone in Winslow, Arizona, a small town where she grew up looked down on her and she was labeled a jinx. Ivy Rivera life changed after spending a whole night with a stranger who showed her love and attentio

MoboReader