Rouge Silverflame

Married To My Ex-Fiancé's Silent Uncle

Ming Yue

Twenty minutes before the "Wedding of the Century" at The Plaza, I stood outside the Presidential Suite in a fifty-thousand-dollar Vera Wang gown. I was the girl from a West Virginia trailer park about to marry Hugh Maxwell, the golden heir to a billion-dollar defense empire. I pushed the door open only to find Hugh pinned against the bed with my own stepsister, Floy. She was wearing my bridal diamond necklace, and the sounds of their laughter scraped against my eardrums like sandpaper. I didn't scream; I listened as Hugh grunted that once the wedding was over and the trust fund unlocked, he'd dump "that hillbilly trash" on a bus back to the mountains. They weren't just cheating; they were planning to steal my family's land deeds and leave me with nothing. When I set off the sprinklers and exposed their naked bodies to the paparazzi, the Maxwell family didn't apologize. They called me a "greedy peasant" and threatened to ruin my life unless I signed a new deal to save their crashing stock. I realized then that I was never a bride to them. I was a transaction, a rounding error in a ledger to be used and discarded. They thought my poverty made me weak and my silence made me a victim. "If we don't have a marriage certificate by midnight, the bank freezes thirty percent of our liquidity," their lawyer warned. So, I gave them exactly what they wanted. I used a loophole in their hundred-year-old family covenant and married the only other direct heir available. I didn't marry Hugh. I walked into the ICU and married his uncle, Fleet Maxwell-the legendary war hero who had been in a vegetative state for months. Now, I am the matriarch of the Maxwell dynasty. I've suspended Hugh's executive powers, exiled my mother-in-law to the Swiss Alps, and taken control of the family vault. They think I'm just a gold-digger waiting for a "corpse" to die so I can collect a fifty-million-dollar widow's payout. But last night, as I lay beside my comatose husband, the man they called a vegetable gripped my hand back.

Modern Scheming Contract marriage Billionaires CEO Flash Marriage Revenge Age Gap

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CHAPTER ONE

Elara's POV

My heart stopped as I stared at the most handsome man I had ever seen. He was tall, muscular, and had bright blue eyes that made me weak.

"Elara, what's wrong with you?" my best friend Serenity asked, poking my shoulder.

"Huh? Oh, um, nothing," I mumbled, looking away from the man.

Serenity followed my gaze. "Wow, he's hot! But definitely an Alpha. You can tell by his power."

I sighed. "Yeah, you're right. He's probably a jerk like most Alphas."

"But you're dating a future Alpha too, remember?"

I frowned at her. "Tyler is different. He's not like them."

Serenity shrugged. "If you say so. Hey, you should go talk to that guy!"

"What? No way! I have a boyfriend, Serenity."

"I didn't say sleep with him, just flirt a little! Live a little, Elara. You're almost 18."

I watched the handsome stranger walk away, biting my lip. Maybe Serenity was right. It couldn't hurt to explore...

Curiosity got the best of me. I went to check out the other floors, secretly hoping I might run into him. Just as the elevator doors were closing, he dashed inside!

"Sorry about that," he said, grabbing my shoulders to steady himself. Then his eyes met mine and widened. "Well hello there, beautiful. I'm Luke ." He slid an arm around my waist, twirling my red hair with his other hand. I nearly melted.

"I'm Ser - I mean, Elara," I stammered. God, he was even better looking up close. The elevator dinged and I quickly pulled away, dashing down the hall before I did something I'd regret.

I turned a corner and froze. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. My boyfriend Tyler had some girl pinned against the wall, whispering in her ear as she giggled and touched his chest. Rage boiled inside me.

'How dare he cheat on us!' My wolf Davina growled in my mind. 'We're royalty! He'll pay for this!'

I spun around and stomped back to the elevator, my eyes flashing with anger. Luke was there waiting for me.

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