The Invisible Wife's Billionaire Revenge

heavy, but it felt like she was hold

hite marble countertops, the chrome fixtures, and the terrifying starkness of the letterhead from the specialist's of

nal Functio

evels: Criti

required for defi

cation of prog

hat if she parsed the grammar, the meaning would change. It didn't. The numbers

ection in the expansive mirror. The woman staring back was beautiful in the way a porcelain doll is beautiful-perfect, pale, and entirely hollow. Her skin had an unnatural translucence, the kind that a

as fa

blanket, suffocating and cold. She was twenty-five years old, the wife of Sebastian Vanderbi

ps echoed fro

dwood floor was distinct-measured, confident, rhythmic. It

on a razor's edge, held together by the fragile tension of silence and unspoken resentments. If Sebastian knew she was sick-weak, d

case. She refused to be anothe

der the vanity for "sensitive documents." The machine whirred to life, a grinding mechanical jaw that chewed up her s

er, then turned on the tap. She splashed freezing water onto her face, gasping as

e mirror. It was a muscle memory, a reflex honed over three years of ga

o the empty room. Her voic

out into

ackdrop of diamonds and steel that suited him perfectly. He looked exhausted. The lines around his eyes

," Catherine said,

. "The merger talks stalled.

at her. He never really looked at her anymore. To him, she was part of the furniture-

she lifted it. She poured two fingers of his favorite single malt whi

said, extend

was ice cold. He flinched, a microscopic reaction, but Catherine felt it like a slap. He pu

ed, his thumb scrol

n in her lower back was throbbing, a dull, constant ache that she had been p

Just a

an," she

t look u

about the trust f

d the phone, his eyes cold and impatient. "How much is it this time, Cathe

h. He thought her only purpose in this room was

ser. She needed him to see her. "The board... they'v

he room shifted, becoming sha

t her ribs. "The clause in the pre-nup. The grandfather's trust. It requires

er. She felt time slipping away like sand through an hourglass. She wanted to leave something behind. A part of her that woul

dry, humorless laugh. "You want a child? Now? In the middl

esperation creeping into her tone. "It would show s

set the whiskey glass down on the nightstand with a loud clack. He t

't get greedy. You have the lifestyle, you hav

m her face. Greedy. He thought she

whispered, her voice tr

thing flicker in his eyes. Confusion? Guilt? But before

Ring

e chime. It was a specific,

one. It was the one assig

e CEO shattered, replaced by raw, unadulterated panic. He s

less, urgent. "Breathe. Tell m

his knuckles turning white

phone down and sit on the floor.

ing with a frantic energy that Cathe

s arm. "Where are you going? It's our anniversa

as a foreign object. He shook her off, eff

an said, his voice tight. "She's alone

id, the words tearing out of her

voice echoing off the high ceilings. "Stop being so

heard his heavy footsteps running down the hall, then the slam of the heavy front

back in, loud

l. Today was the anniversary of the day the

es. Catherine collapsed onto the expensive Persian rug, clutching her

to save a woman who wa

oor, her body waging a silent war