Drugged, Jilted, Now A Billionaire's Wife

the altar for another woman, a manipu

ed a divorce but personally injected me with

d a proxy marriage with a comatose billion

pte

Hollow

ay wasn't at the altar. It was on the hospital

t monitor beside me. The last thing I remembered was the pristine white of my Vera Wang gown p

r' s phone

ey' flashing in stark, angry letters. He was the CEO of our tech company, a man used

he' d said, hi

s. We' d been here before. This same emergency, this same woman

years ago-a failure I had pulled him out of, piece by painful piece. She was a master manipulator, a cuckoo in our

he' d said, his eyes avoiding mine. "It'

meticulously manicured nails dug into the fine fabric of his

ee: a fragile victim he was duty-bou

a slap in the face. The charisma he showed the worl

gged, my voice cracking. "Just ten minutes. Let' s say our vo

r made, a final, desperate grasp at the

with impatience. Annoyance. He pried

backward, the heel of my Jimmy Choo catching on the edge of the plush rug. The world tilted, a dizzying spiral of wh

dark

as my window to the world. A news anchor was breathlessl

e chyron read, "after successfully talking down

of Kimberley Riley. She was nestled against his chest, her face buried in his neck, her sobs wrac

her s

oman he' d left bl

l Park, the diamond on my finger catching the afternoon sun. "Estella Holloway," he' d sworn, his voice thick

as a bitter ac

, standing up to the bullies who tormented me for my braces and thick gl

rk with me, because my mother was sick and I couldn' t leave. "You' r

by my hospital bed for a week straight, reading to me, holdi

e' d thrown himself over me, shielding me with his own body as metal and sparks rained down. He' d walked away with a gash on his back that required thi

I held him through night terrors, managed our finances, and single-handedly kept our new com

headquarters. "We did it, Stel," he' d said, his eyes shining with unshed tears. "I swear to you, from this day fo

song. The vows he' d written himself, which he' d read to me a hundred times, e

up to his. He wiped away her tears with his thumb, h

al struggles, suffers from a severe form of abandonment anxiety, triggered by high-stress situations. Her love for Mr. Sull

t like it was being squeezed in a vise, eac

o my room

e looked exhausted, but the relief on his face was palpable.

is voice raspy. "I'

n afterthought, a

m, laced with a terrible, misplaced guilt. "The doctors... they' ve given her a month. A

terminal illness

d, his voice dropping to a nea

hout any physical impact. The words h

ant me a temporary

r whom I had sacrificed everything. The beeping of the heart moni

' t sleep unless I' m on the phone with him," she' d purr, her eyes glittering with malice. I' d told myself I was being paranoid. I' d

n my face, "we' ll get married again. I swear. Nothing will change. My heart is

but they were hollow, meaningless ech

ense it had become a void, a black

self say, my voice a

' t expected this... this utter capitulation. He didn' t understand that h

ed out a folded document. A divorce agre

d, his relief making him seem small an

ng the papers on the bedside table,

. It was my father. I let it ring, but it immediately

? You let that man publicly humiliate our family? I told you your only job was to sec

tegic asset. A tool for merging the Holloway fam

ve in me for Jasper suddenly materialized for this m

, my voice eerily steady.

foolish girl, do you have any id

t hi

king root in the barren wasteland of my heart

s rage. And in that silence, I made a new vow. Not to a m

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