MARRIED BY MISTAKE

MARRIED BY MISTAKE

Nicolet Hale

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She never meant to become his wife. Aria Hale had only stepped into the marriage registry to deliver her sister's documents. Yet somehow, she walked out as the legal wife of Leon Mercer-the city's most ruthless billionaire. One signature. One mistake. One furious husband determined to make her regret it. "You trapped me," he growls, ice lacing every word. "You'll pay for this." But Aria isn't who he thinks she is. She carries secrets he could never imagine-an identity carefully hidden, a fortune he never suspected, and a strength that refuses to break under his cruelty. He assumes she's a gold-digger. She lets him believe it. When he insists she stay until the divorce is finalized, she agrees-but only because she has her own plans. And then he notices. The way she never begs. The subtle power in her laughter. The way other men glance at her... and how his chest tightens in ways he can't explain. By the time the truth comes crashing down-when he finally discovers who she really is-it's too late. Aria is gone. Now the hunter becomes the hunted. The billionaire married the wrong woman by mistake. And losing her will be his greatest regret.

MARRIED BY MISTAKE Chapter 1 The Accidental Bride

It never occurred to Aria Hale that her sister's wedding day would end with her own marriage license. Pushing through the glass doors of the New York City Marriage Bureau, she held the manila envelope to her chest. Immediately, chaos erupted: clerks yelling names, couples yelling over paperwork, and phones ringing nonstop. A bride in a discolored white gown was yelling at her groom about his mother while a baby cried close to the fountain.

Aria wanted to disappear-one job. Deliver the documents. Leave. Invisible, like always. "Next!" a clerk barked, waving impatiently from behind the scratched plexiglass. Aria stepped forward. "Hi, I'm here to-" "Name?" "I'm not-" "NAME?" "Aria Hale. I'm just delivering-"Ariana Hale!" Her stomach dropped.

"No, that's my sister. I'm Aria, not-" "You responded to the name. Good enough." The clerk shoved a clipboard through the slot. "Fill this out. Your groom's already twenty minutes late. If he doesn't show in ten, you forfeit your slot."

"But I'm not getting married!" Aria's voice cracked. The clerk finally glanced up, expression neutral. "Everyone's nervous, honey. Just breathe and sign when he arrives." Aria checked her phone. Nothing. No texts. No calls. Just a curt message from her sister: ARIANA: Emergency. Can't make it. Leave the papers. Thanks! No apology. No explanation. Just an order.

She typed and erased responses she would never send while her fingers lingered over the screen. After twenty-four years of being forgotten, invisible, and cleaning up other people's messes, she was rewarded with a room full of strangers who couldn't even pronounce her name correctly. The doors burst open.

Every head turned. A man walked in like a storm given human form. Broad shoulders, dark hair, grey eyes, sharp enough to pierce steel. Leon Mercer. Billionaire. CEO. The man her sister was supposed to marry.

He stopped in front of her. "You're late." Aria opened her mouth. Closed it. Wrong person. Wrong sister. Wrong everything. "Save it. Let's get this over with." He grabbed her elbow. Warm. Firm. Unyielding. Trapped. "Wait, you don't-" "Ariana Hale and Leon Mercer!" The clerk slid the papers across. "Sign now." Her hand shook. She looked down at the certificate. Aria Hale. Not Ariana. Not her sister. Her own name.

She froze. Her heart pounded in her chest. "Sir, I think-" "Think later. Sign now."

His Patek Philippe gleamed in the overhead light as he checked his watch. Aria's mind raced. Run? Scream? Call her parents? But who would believe her? Who would take her side when she had just signed the papers herself? Her hand moved on its own. Aria Hale.

The pen scratched across the page. The clerk stamped it with a heavy thump. "Congratulations. You're married." Time slowed. Every sound dulled. Leon's grey eyes lifted to hers. Cold. Furious. Ice. "You're not Ariana." "I tried to tell you-" "You signed." He held up the certificate. "Aria Hale."

With a low voice that cut like a knife through the chaos, he said, "You trapped me.". "You will regret this every day until I am free of you. Aria had a burning throat. She was on the verge of tears, but she held back.

Not here. Not now. "I didn't trap you. You didn't even look at what you were signing." He ignored her. Shoved the certificate into his jacket. His other hand gripped her wrist-not cruel, not gentle, just possessive. "You're coming with me," he said, phone pressed to his ear. "Lawyer. Meet me now." Outside, a black Mercedes waited.

The driver already held the door. Aria's mind raced. She could run. She could scream. She could call her family-but who would listen? Who would believe her? She looked at Leon. The fury simmered beneath his controlled exterior. The man hated her. And legally, she was now his wife. The door closed.

She felt the smooth, cold leather against her back. She took a sharp breath. "Go. The harsh, blinding sunlight hit her face. She caught a glimpse of herself in the window's tint. Aria Hale. Not Ariana. Nobody's second choice. She had recently unintentionally wed a billionaire who hated her. She also didn't know how she would survive what was about to happen.

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The Billionaire's Cold And Bitter Betrayal

The Billionaire's Cold And Bitter Betrayal

Clara Bennett
5.0

I had just survived a private jet crash, my body a map of violet bruises and my lungs still burning from the smoke. I woke up in a sterile hospital room, gasping for my husband's name, only to realize I was completely alone. While I was bleeding in a ditch, my husband, Adam, was on the news smiling at a ribbon-cutting ceremony. When I tracked him down at the hospital's VIP wing, I didn't find a grieving husband. I found him tenderly cradling his ex-girlfriend, Casie, in his arms, his face lit with a protective warmth he had never shown me as he carried her into the maternity ward. The betrayal went deeper than I could have imagined. Adam admitted the affair started on our third anniversary-the night he claimed he was stuck in London for a merger. Back at the manor, his mother had already filled our planned nursery with pink boutique bags for Casie's "little princess." When I demanded a divorce, Adam didn't flinch. He sneered that I was "gutter trash" from a foster home and that I'd be begging on the streets within a week. To trap me, he froze my bank accounts, cancelled my flight, and even called the police to report me for "theft" of company property. I realized then that I wasn't his partner; I was a charity case he had plucked from obscurity to manage his life. To the Hortons, I was just a servant who happened to sleep in the master bedroom, a "resilient" woman meant to endure his abuse in silence while the whole world laughed at the joke that was my marriage. Adam thought stripping me of his money would make me crawl back to him. He was wrong. I walked into his executive suite during his biggest deal of the year and poured a mug of sludge over his original ten-million-dollar contracts. Then, right in front of his board and his mistress, I stripped off every designer thread he had ever paid for until I was standing in nothing but my own silk camisole. "You can keep the clothes, Adam. They're as hollow as you are." I grabbed my passport, turned my back on his billions, and walked out of that glass tower barefoot, bleeding, and finally free.

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MARRIED BY MISTAKE MARRIED BY MISTAKE Nicolet Hale Romance
“She never meant to become his wife. Aria Hale had only stepped into the marriage registry to deliver her sister's documents. Yet somehow, she walked out as the legal wife of Leon Mercer-the city's most ruthless billionaire. One signature. One mistake. One furious husband determined to make her regret it. "You trapped me," he growls, ice lacing every word. "You'll pay for this." But Aria isn't who he thinks she is. She carries secrets he could never imagine-an identity carefully hidden, a fortune he never suspected, and a strength that refuses to break under his cruelty. He assumes she's a gold-digger. She lets him believe it. When he insists she stay until the divorce is finalized, she agrees-but only because she has her own plans. And then he notices. The way she never begs. The subtle power in her laughter. The way other men glance at her... and how his chest tightens in ways he can't explain. By the time the truth comes crashing down-when he finally discovers who she really is-it's too late. Aria is gone. Now the hunter becomes the hunted. The billionaire married the wrong woman by mistake. And losing her will be his greatest regret.”
1

Chapter 1 The Accidental Bride

26/12/2025

2

Chapter 2 The Contract

26/12/2025

3

Chapter 3 The Penthouse

26/12/2025

4

Chapter 4 The Agreement

26/12/2025

5

Chapter 5 The Grandmother

26/12/2025

6

Chapter 6 The Inspection

26/12/2025

7

Chapter 7 The Gala

26/12/2025

8

Chapter 8 The Truth

26/12/2025

9

Chapter 9 The Reckoning

26/12/2025

10

Chapter 10 The Honeymoon

26/12/2025

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Chapter 11 The Secret

26/12/2025

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Chapter 12 The Letter

12/01/2026

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Chapter 13 The Aftermath

13/01/2026

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Chapter 14 The First Day

14/01/2026

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Chapter 15 The Interview

14/01/2026

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Chapter 16 The Exchange

15/01/2026

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Chapter 17 The Fallout

15/01/2026

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Chapter 18 The merger

16/01/2026

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Chapter 19 The Architect

17/01/2026

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Chapter 20 The Puppet Master

18/01/2026

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Chapter 21 The Betrayal

20/01/2026

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Chapter 22 The Revelation

20/01/2026

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Chapter 23 The Final Game

21/01/2026

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Chapter 24 The Final Game PART 2

22/01/2026

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Chapter 25 THE FINAL GAME PART 3

24/01/2026

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Chapter 26 Ten Years Later

25/01/2026

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Chapter 27 FINAL CHAPTER

25/01/2026

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Chapter 28 Twenty-Eight Years Later

26/01/2026

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Chapter 29 The Interview

27/01/2026

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Chapter 30 The Test

28/01/2026

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Chapter 31 The Crisis

29/01/2026

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Chapter 32 The Boundary

30/01/2026

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Chapter 33 The Confession

31/01/2026

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Chapter 34 The Coffee Date

01/02/2026

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Chapter 35 The Photograph

03/02/2026

36

Chapter 36 The Father

04/02/2026

37

Chapter 37 The Fashion Show

05/02/2026

38

Chapter 38 The Second Date

09/02/2026

39

Chapter 39 The Disclosure

10/02/2026

40

Chapter 40 The Disclosure II

12/02/2026