The Billionaire Meets The Fierce Lawyer
His Unwanted Wife, The Hidden Genius
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.
Marrying the Billionaire Lawyer
Since the beginning, Rayyan Malik had firmly locked his heart on Mayza Safeeya. The only woman he had loved since sitting in junior high school. Separated by more than a decade from his first love, it didn't make the man give up on searching for the whereabouts of his beloved. Until one time, the p
The heartless Billionaire Lawyer
Loving a man who doesn’t want to marry you is the most painful thing in the world. He is the devil who can kill you and throw you out like a piece of garbage. Hearing the news of Hunter’s marriage left Adeline devastated. Until one night, Adeline had made the mistake of delivering herself to a man
BOUND BY THE BILLIONAIRE LAWYER.
Sophie thought her freedom began with her divorce. Instead, it spiraled into a nightmare when her ex-husband was found dead a week later, and all fingers pointed to her. With no one willing to defend her, she turns to her friend, Lucas Carter who gets Drake to fight her case.Drake Hazelwood. Known f
A Lawyer for the CEO
Cassandra and Tiffany have been friends since they were children and only one thing has managed to separate them: Tiffany's marriage to Noah Abrantes the most unpleasant CEO Cassandra has ever met. But when Tiffany decides to get divorced, Cassandra offers to be her lawyer and fight for her interes
Trapped By The Ruthless Billionaire Lawyer
My brother Leo was thrown into a jail cell for defending his fiancée from a brutal assault by a billionaire heir. To save him, I gathered all the evidence and went to the police, but the heir's cousin, Damien Kensington—the most ruthless and powerful attorney in Manhattan—crushed my case in exactly
Chasing The Fierce Heiress
He stole her first kiss on their first encounter, and she accused him of being perverted and arrogant. Her straightforward personality hooked his interest despite the danger ahead. He announced a surrogacy competition to draw her towards him. She left no option but to join the competition only to
The Fierce Wife
I was inside my car, driving as usual.But of course,Some enemies were following me.I'm not scared of anything,Even if it's death.What I'm afraid of,Is leaving something behind, Something.. Special. *Car crashed*" Sh*t! Sh*t!!! "" Call an ambulance immediately!!! "" Okay! Okay! Help!! "" I said call
The Fierce Ex Wife
Celeste Sterling was once the picture of the perfect wife-until her husband, Damien Blackwood, shattered her heart with infidelity. Four years after their bitter divorce, Celeste returns to New York, stronger, smarter, and determined to take back what's rightfully hers, the Blackwood Group, the comp
More than meets the eyes
When Clarissa Dawne meets Damon Smith, the most feared and ruthless alpha of all, sparks fly, but what follows is far from love at first sight. For Clarissa is the daughter of a hunter who tracks down werewolves, vampires, witches, and wizards for experiments. For Damon and Derek Smith, twin alphas
Trapped with the Lawyer
Trapped series - Episode II: Trapped with the Lawyer. It all starts on that fateful night, when Ella, who is the dear sister of Samuel’s best buddy, sneaks into the hotel where the drunken Samuel resides and gets pregnant… “I don’t want a divorce! I don’t want a divorce! I did no such thing!”
The Lawyer Who Disappeared
My life was a gilded cage, bought and paid for. Ethan Vance, the man who saved my mother's life, owned me. I was his successful lawyer, his beautiful lover, his "investment." Then, his college sweetheart, Chloe Davenport, returned to New York. The termination letter came first, cold and imperson
The Alpha's Fierce Luna Kyra
Kyra Ashwood has never lost a fight in her life. Abandoned as a newborn on Imperial Pride territory and raised by the Alpha and Luna themselves, she clawed her way to becoming the first female warrior in the country - undefeated, respected, and utterly uninterested in romance. When a rival warrior
The Jilted Lover's Fierce Comeback
The crisp Stanford acceptance letter felt like a cruel joke in my hands, a ghost from a life that ended in betrayal. I stared through it, past the promises, seeing Chloe and Brooke' s smiles, and the sterile white of the hospital room where my grandmother lay still. I remembered the twisted metal,
The Fierce Consort, The Alpha Prince Surrenders
I was a twenty-first-century tactical officer-top of my class, sharp as a blade, trained to survive anything. Until I died. And woke up in a world of wolves, as the most pathetic excuse for an Omega they'd ever seen. No wolf. No status. Betrayed by my own sister, drugged, and handed over to a thug
MY LAWYER
Zack and Sophia are like cat and mouse, they just can't stand each. Eventually, they fell in love but kept pretending. Sophia admirer Zack, turns out to be a famous billionaire, whose got a female bestie Angelina and Simon, his male best friend. Sophia so full of troubles and causes some for hers
A Philadelphia Lawyer in the London Courts
A Philadelphia Lawyer in the London Courts by Thomas Leaming
Fake Dating The Tycoon Lawyer
It's a blind date. Neither of them wanted to be paired. She agrees to it so she can keep her secret from her family. He agrees to it to fulfill his grandmother's dying wish. They are just pretending; a scripted act. That's what they tell themselves. But they soon begin to forget their lines in t
His Unwanted Wife, The Unbeatable Lawyer
For three years, I was the perfect Mafia wife. I ensured my husband Jared's suits were impeccable and his public image flawless. I even sat at tables with Russian killers and calmly translated the order to execute a man who betrayed our Family. My value was my composure and my loyalty. The moment a
CEO fierce
shook her head. "They're here and they've come with a settlement proposal for you." Them? - I raised my eyebrow, frowning. - The prosecutor's office? - Almost. - He shrugged, making a chill run through my veins and make me shiver. - Maristela... - I began to ponder, full of fears, but she interrupte
