The CEO's Runaway Wife and Secret Heir

The CEO's Runaway Wife and Secret Heir

Qian Mo Mo

5.0
Comment(s)
View
150
Chapters

I was Hart Whitney's "contract wife" for three years before I vanished, taking nothing but a secret and a scar that would never heal. Now, the billionaire CEO had tracked me down to a rainy suburb in Seattle, ready to drag me back to New York just to get the signature he needed to unlock his family trust. But when he stormed into my small house, he didn't just find a runaway employee; he found a three-year-old boy with his exact gray eyes and a nervous habit of spinning a pen that was a mirror image of his own. "He's not yours," I lied, clutching my son to my chest as Hart looked at him with cold, cynical disbelief. He forced us onto his private jet, treating me like a corporate thief and my son like a scandalous mistake. In New York, his socialite fiancée, Isadora, tried to poison my son with a "gift" of hazelnut chocolate and publicly humiliated me by exposing the jagged burn scar on my back-the very scar I earned saving Hart's life in a fire three years ago, a heroic act Isadora had stolen credit for. I couldn't understand how a man so brilliant could be so blind. He believed a faked DNA test over the evidence of his own eyes. He let his fiancée torment the woman who had bled for him and the child who shared his soul, all while I sat in the corner of his office, invisible and broken. It wasn't until my son lay dying in a hospital bed, needing a blood transfusion so rare it only ran in the Whitney family, that the truth finally broke through Hart's icy exterior. As Hart watched his own blood flow into our son's veins, he finally realized he hadn't been hunting a traitor-he had been destroying the only people who ever truly loved him.

Chapter 1 1

Rain lashed against the floor-to-ceiling windows of the boardroom, blurring the New York skyline into a smear of gray and charcoal. Inside, the air was so thin it felt recycled.

Hart Whitney sat at the head of the mahogany table. He didn't speak. He just tapped his index finger against the polished wood. Tap. Tap. Tap. The sound was a metronome for the anxiety in the room.

"Look at this, Hart." Felix England stood up. He didn't just place the report on the table; he slammed it. The paper slid across the surface, stopping inches from Hart's hand. "The stock is down twelve percent. Twelve."

Hart stopped tapping. He looked at the red arrow on the page, then up at his cousin. Felix was sweating. A bead of perspiration rolled down his temple, betraying his bravado.

"The Grandmother's Trust is locked," Felix continued, his voice rising. "You're the CEO, but you're a CEO with hands tied behind his back. The bylaws are clear. You need a legitimate heir, or you need a wife's signature to unlock the capital. You have neither."

The board members shifted in their leather chairs. The leather creaked. It was the sound of loyalty breaking.

"You have thirty days," Hart said. His voice was low, devoid of inflection. It wasn't a question.

"Excuse me?" Felix blinked.

"The annual Gala is in thirty days. I will have the signature by then." Hart stood up. He buttoned his suit jacket. The movement was precise, final. "Meeting adjourned."

He walked out before anyone could object. The heavy oak doors closed behind him, muffling the sudden eruption of whispers.

Hart walked straight to his office. He loosened his tie, the silk feeling like a noose. Xavier, his executive assistant, was already there, holding a tablet. Xavier looked pale.

"Did you find her?" Hart asked. He walked to the wet bar and poured a glass of water. His throat felt like sandpaper.

"It wasn't easy," Xavier said. "She's a ghost, Hart. No credit cards. No social media. No employment records under her name for three years. Camisha Tran ceased to exist the day she left this building."

Hart took a sip of water. He remembered Camisha. Quiet. Efficient. She wore oversized blazers and glasses that kept sliding down her nose. He remembered the startling intelligence in her eyes when she thought no one was looking, a razor-sharp mind hidden behind a mousy facade. She was a transactional necessity, a signature on a marriage license to appease a board requirement. Then the contract expired, and she vanished.

He didn't care about her. He cared that she had violated the Non-Disclosure Agreement. She had taken files. Data. Leverage.

"But?" Hart prompted.

"But everyone makes a mistake eventually." Xavier tapped the tablet. "Yesterday, for exactly four minutes, a secure offshore account was accessed from a residential IP address in Seattle. It was a massive transfer. To a pediatric specialist."

"Pediatric?" Hart frowned. "She's sick?"

"Unclear. But we have the address."

The door to his office swung open. Isadora Roth walked in. She was wearing a dress that cost more than most people's cars. She held a small, velvet box.

"Hart, darling." She walked over, her heels clicking on the marble. She reached out, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Hart flinched. He took a subtle step back. He hated being touched. "Isadora. I'm busy."

"I heard about the board meeting." She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "My father is willing to inject capital. The Roth family stands with you. All you have to do is... formalize us."

She meant marriage.

Hart looked at her. He owed her. Three years ago, during the blackout that nearly tanked his company and sent him to federal prison, Isadora had saved him. She had claimed to have scrubbed the servers. She had saved his legacy.

But looking at her now, he felt nothing but a cold detachment.

"I don't need your father's money," Hart said. "I need Camisha's signature."

Isadora's jaw tightened. For a second, the mask slipped. "She's a thief, Hart. Why chase a thief when you have a savior right here?"

"Because the thief has my property." Hart looked at Xavier. "Prep the jet. We leave in an hour."

"I'm coming with you," Isadora said.

"No." Hart turned to the window. The rain was falling harder now. "This is cleanup. You don't do cleanup."

He stared at the city lights. He was going to find Camisha Tran. And he was going to ruin her.

Seattle was drowning in rain.

It was a different kind of rain than New York. It was heavy, relentless, soaking into the bones of the small suburban house.

Inside, it was warm. Camisha Tran sat on the edge of a twin bed. The room was dimly lit by a nightlight shaped like a rocket ship.

"Read it again, Mommy," a small voice whispered.

Leo was curled under the duvet. He had gray eyes. Hart's eyes.

"One last time," Camisha whispered back. She brushed the dark hair off his forehead. He felt warm. Too warm.

She finished the story and closed the book. Her phone buzzed on the nightstand. A notification: Transfer Complete. It was the last of her savings, sent to the specialist in Switzerland for the new trial drug.

She let out a breath she felt like she'd been holding for three years. They were safe. She was Mia now. Just a single mom working freelance accounting.

Ding-dong.

The doorbell cut through the silence like a gunshot.

Camisha froze. Her heart hammered against her ribs. It was 11:00 PM. No one came at 11:00 PM.

She stood up, her legs feeling heavy. She walked out of the bedroom, closing the door softly until it clicked. She moved through the dark living room to the front door.

She looked through the peephole.

Her blood ran cold.

Standing on her porch, water dripping from a black trench coat, was Hart Whitney. His face was a mask of fury. He wasn't looking at the door; he was looking through it.

He found her.

Continue Reading

Other books by Qian Mo Mo

More
The Discarded Husband's Spectacular Comeback

The Discarded Husband's Spectacular Comeback

Modern

5.0

I spent three hours searing the perfect wagyu steak and chilling a bottle of 1996 Dom Pérignon for our anniversary. My wife, Evelin, texted me saying she was stuck in a late board meeting. "Don't wait up." But a bank alert on my phone told a different story: a $5,600 charge at a VIP lounge in the Meatpacking District. When I tracked her down, I didn't find her in a boardroom; I found her sitting on my business partner's lap, laughing as he fed her chocolate-covered strawberries. When I confronted them, Evelin didn't even look guilty. She called me hysterical and a "prude" for interrupting their night. Hank mocked me to my face, calling me a pathetic "trophy husband" who was probably home ironing napkins while they were out having real fun. When I finally snapped and defended my dignity, my own wife slapped me across the face and had her security throw me out like trash. "You are nothing without the Carney name. You're a stray I picked up." By the time I hit the sidewalk, she had frozen all our joint accounts and blacklisted my name from every major firm in the city. I had spent ten years managing her family's billions and fixing the books her lover messed up, only to be left with ten dollars in my pocket and a suitcase full of dusty law books. She thinks I'm a broken man who will come crawling back to beg for mercy just to afford a meal. I realized then that our marriage was just a corpse I'd been dragging around, and she was the monster who had killed it years ago. I felt the sting of her slap and the weight of her betrayal, wondering how I could have been so blind to the person I shared a bed with. Standing in a cramped apartment in Queens, I blocked her number and called a "shark" lawyer I hadn't spoken to since law school. "I'm the biggest shark in the tank, Dom. Let her try to ruin you." Evelin thinks she took everything, but she forgot one thing: I'm the one who knows exactly where the bodies are buried in her family's ledgers. The war has just begun.

One Hundred Pranks, One True End

One Hundred Pranks, One True End

Romance

5.0

For two years, I lived a fairy tale with Liam Hayes, the tech mogul. He' d lost his memory in a terrible accident, but he remembered me, or so he said. I, a struggling artist, bought into his relentless passion. We were building a life, a family even. I held a positive pregnancy test, ready to share our news. Then, I heard my college rival, Chloe Jenkins, speak from his office, her voice like sugar-coated poison. "Two whole years. Ninety-nine times. You promised." My blood ran cold as Liam's sharp, cynical laugh filled the room. This wasn't the gentle man I knew. He confirmed it. My entire relationship had been a cruel game, a "prank" designed to make me look like a fool. They mocked my ruined artworks, my canceled shows, every humiliation I' d endured. Liam had been there each time, comforting me with fake sympathy, while secretly logging his "pranks." Chloe purred, "One hundred pranks, one hundred proofs of your love for me." Liam' s reply, dripping with adoration, shattered me: "She was just a means to an end. A pawn." The pregnancy test in my pocket felt like a block of ice. My love, our life, our future baby-all a sick joke. My fairy tale was a cage, my prince a monster. He wanted one hundred pranks, a century of my pain. When I found his hidden sketchbook, full of intimate drawings of me and a receipt for an engagement ring, a dangerous hope flickered. Had he felt something real? But that hope died when I called a women's clinic. This child was conceived in deceit, an extension of his game. I refused to bring a child into this twisted world. At a yacht party, after my procedure, Liam's friends, at Chloe's urging, forced me to eat poisoned oysters, designed to induce a miscarriage. They knew. "He didn't want a child with her tying him down," Chloe hissed. "He was just waiting for the right moment for the problem to go away. I just provided the opportunity." I bled, the pain excruciating, as Liam, seeing me, yelled for a helicopter. Chloe, cold and final, drilled into my fading consciousness: "Don't you dare forget who you're doing all this for. You love me. Remember?" Liam' s strained reply: "I know, Chloe. I... I know." How could he? How could the man who held me at night, whispering endearments, be the same man who orchestrated my destruction? Why him? Why me? Ava Miller died that day. But Elise Vance was born, and she was coming for them.

You'll also like

I Slapped My Fiancé-Then Married His Billionaire Nemesis

I Slapped My Fiancé-Then Married His Billionaire Nemesis

Jessica C. Dolan
4.9

Being second best is practically in my DNA. My sister got the love, the attention, the spotlight. And now, even her damn fiancé. Technically, Rhys Granger was my fiancé now-billionaire, devastatingly hot, and a walking Wall Street wet dream. My parents shoved me into the engagement after Catherine disappeared, and honestly? I didn't mind. I'd crushed on Rhys for years. This was my chance, right? My turn to be the chosen one? Wrong. One night, he slapped me. Over a mug. A stupid, chipped, ugly mug my sister gave him years ago. That's when it hit me-he didn't love me. He didn't even see me. I was just a warm-bodied placeholder for the woman he actually wanted. And apparently, I wasn't even worth as much as a glorified coffee cup. So I slapped him right back, dumped his ass, and prepared for disaster-my parents losing their minds, Rhys throwing a billionaire tantrum, his terrifying family plotting my untimely demise. Obviously, I needed alcohol. A lot of alcohol. Enter him. Tall, dangerous, unfairly hot. The kind of man who makes you want to sin just by existing. I'd met him only once before, and that night, he just happened to be at the same bar as my drunk, self-pitying self. So I did the only logical thing: I dragged him into a hotel room and ripped off his clothes. It was reckless. It was stupid. It was completely ill-advised. But it was also: Best. Sex. Of. My. Life. And, as it turned out, the best decision I'd ever made. Because my one-night stand isn't just some random guy. He's richer than Rhys, more powerful than my entire family, and definitely more dangerous than I should be playing with. And now, he's not letting me go.

My Alpha's Heartless Contract Wife

My Alpha's Heartless Contract Wife

Rabbit
5.0

"Anya, a 'wolfless' in a world of powerful werewolves, was invisible, drowning her sorrows and desperately lonely. One drunken text, a desperate cry for attention, accidentally reached the Alpha, pulling her into his terrifying orbit. Now, she's trapped, a pawn in his game, forced to warm his bed while he waits for his true mate, her heart breaking with every stolen moment. As a 'wolfless' in the Blackwood Pack, Anya felt like an outsider, always yearning for a connection. One night, in a drunken haze, a misdirected text meant for her best friend landed in Alpha Declan Blackwood's inbox: ""Send me something hot."" Minutes later, the most powerful, terrifying man in the Pack stood at her door, claiming her with a possessive kiss that ignited a dangerous, unwanted fire. The next morning, his cold indifference shattered her world. Publicly humiliated and instantly fired, Anya became a pariah. Her dying mother's urgent need for a million-dollar heart transplant left her with an impossible choice: accept the Alpha's cold, transactional marriage proposal or watch her mother die. She became his ""placeholder"" wife, a contract, not a partner, all while battling a confusing attraction to the man who treated her as property. Why did he demand her, only to remind her constantly of her worthlessness, especially when everyone knew he waited for his true mate? Her world crumbled when she overheard Declan tell his returning ""true mate,"" Kristin Larsen, that Anya was ""just a substitute."" Despite the crushing betrayal and a strange, unyielding pull, Anya, fueled by her mother's desperate need, vowed to survive this gilded cage and reclaim her life before she lost herself completely."

Chapters
Read Now
Download Book