The Substitute Wife's Silent Scream

ate daughter forced to marry the billionaire Fle

is cruelty and control. Then,

. As I struggled for air, I watched Fletche

ged me to a hospital to "get rid of the

t, and Fletcher had me whipped

could break and repair as he pleased. I was nothing more

. As they dragged me away, I saw him comforting her, his back turned to me. This was my chance. I broke f

pte

ow against the silence of the mansion. I slipped out of the master bedroom, my fe

nsive cologne thick in the air. My hand trembled as I retrieved

he number

up on the

ispered, my

in my swirling fear. It was a voice I'd known my whole li

the words rushing out. "He... it'

sterile office, his face serious. Evan, who had built an elite security

t it's extreme, Kiara. You know that, right? Fak

I don't want to come back. The

any price. To escape this gilded cage, I wo

"That's our window. I'll have everyth

epeated. It felt

he promised. "I

ashed over me. Hope was a dangerous thing in

its hiding place, my fingers brushing against

eave, and my

me. He was dressed in a perfectly tailored black su

w long he'd been

voice was soft, almost gentle, which was

g for a lie. My heart hammered against my

, trying to keep my voice st

oward me. His eyes, the color of cold steel, scanned my fac

, but my legs wouldn

e continued, his voice dropping lower. "W

the floor. It was the only answer that ev

the heat coming off his body. He lifted a hand an

see," he

cheek, a small, dark mark he'd left there two n

ted form of care, a reminder that he was the source of

ight. Giving him the satisfac

d me back against the bookshelf, the hard spines of th

y jaw flared. I couldn't fight him, not

and slid down my templ

mouth next to my ear. "Don't ever lie to me again. And don't think fo

mething. The panic was a living th

essive. He looked me over, a slow, app

linn is coming home tomorrow. I expe

beloved daughter of the Norton dynas

was forced

y tiny apartment and told me I wasn't just Kiara, an orphan and a struggling artist. I wa

shame to be hidden away

the arranged marriage to tech billionaire Fletcher Dillon. A marri

me. The spare par

ng eyes. "You will marry him in her place," he'd said. It wasn't a re

ad hoped. Hoped for a fami

contempt, such undisguised disgust. I was not the prize he had been promise