The Bride He Wanted Was Never My Sister
Mirabella spent her entire life in her sister's shadow, serving as the family fixer who cleans up every disaster left behind by her golden sister, the perfect sister and the one who got the guy she had always crushed on. When her sister absconds on her wedding day to avoid an arranged marriage with Theodore Hartley, a calculated logistics billionaire with a soft spot to her and her family, the family’s survival depends on one final sacrifice. Mirabella is convinced by her parents to step into the veil, expecting a furious groom who will demand an annulment only to discover that Theo has been waiting for her all along.
The wedding is a trap, meticulously orchestrated by a man who didn't just buy a wife, but claimed the woman he has obsessed over from the sidelines for years. As Mirabella is swept into the opulent, suffocating world of Theo’s museum-like estate, she realizes her life is no longer her own. Every gesture of his affection is a calculated move to bind her closer, and every secret she uncovers about his business threatens the fragile peace she’s trying to maintain. Trapped between a debt she cannot pay and an undeniable, terrifying attraction to the man who stole her identity, Mirabella must decide if she will continue to be the fixer for everyone else’s mistakes or finally break the chains of the man who owns her heart and her future, take back her life and love her the right way
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Chapter: 70: How to set things right Theo I looked from her to the easel, every fiber of my being wanted me to hide again, assume ignorance and remain angry, to shut down anything that would trigger a memory but my cowardice made me alike with my father, the only difference was that I didn't light the fire. I took in the content on the canvas, line by line and the more I looked, the blurrer my vision became as realization dawned on me. I numbly moved forward, my fingers touched the canvas lightly, what this piece was about, what my mother had obsessed about during her last moments, the one piece my father could not touch and standing there staring at it, incomplete yet I understood immediately why it was spared. It was spared because I was my mother's last piece. My tears dropped freely now, a mix of nostalgia and grief tightened my chest. I groaned out, leaning slightly, holding on to the easel for support, the pain of loss carve
Last Updated: 2026-09-05
Chapter: 69: Take one lookTheo It was my turn to stand up and storm off but she shocked me with how swift she moved, keeping me in place, her small hands gripping my arms, fingers digging into my flesh. “Hear me out first.” She urged softly. But I didn't want to, just the mere thought of it made my skin crawl. “Bella you have no business doing that. You have no business with the charity. That charity is dead.” Gall spilled over my tongue. “Perhaps your mother wanted you to keep it alive even in her absence.” I jammed my teeth together. “And you know that how? Is that what someone else told you, or did you hear it from my mother?” Her hands moved up and down the length of my arm, the calmness it brought me threatened my resolve. She glanced at the easel then back at me “When I received that portrait, I knew you had to see it for yourself.” She smiled at my rigid face. God. Whenever she smiled at me, trumpets went off and she doesn't smile at me often , not like I deserved it. “In fact,” s
Last Updated: 2026-09-04
Chapter: 68: Protect meBellaThe air in the music room turned instantly suffocating. The ticking of the grandfather clock in the corner sounded deafeningly loud, each second striking like a hammer against my temples. My head spun.I jerked to my feet, driven by the instinctual urge to run, to hide the cracked, broken pieces of myself from his sharp eyes as I always did. That horror was mine to carry alone. Having him openly strip away my defenses and ask about the one topic no one else spoke about was terrifying.I barely made it past the wooden bench before his hand clamped around my wrist once more."Bella,"I turned back, my vision already blurring with hot, unshed tears.With a sudden, firm tug, Theo pulled me backward. The sheer force of his movement landed me with a sharp gasp directly on his lap, my body flushed against his chest. His arms wrapped around my waist sturdy, locking me in place.His eyes swept over my face, searching every inch. "I want to be better for you, Mirabella," he gritted out, h
Last Updated: 2026-09-04
Chapter: 67: Maybe I didBella An odd memory startled me out of sleep, pulling me back to reality alongside the sunlight filtering through the sheer curtains. I sat up immediately, my heart thumping a heavy rhythm against my ribs.The fog in my head pieced into recognizable figures in my head.Theo.A hand— his hand, holding mine. A comforting warmth pressed along my side throughout the night. I squinted around the room, sorting through the fragments pouring into my mind. All I knew for sure was that I had been completely knocked out and that I had somehow allowed myself willingly climb into his bed.Wait. Wait. Wait. Rewind.A wave of realization hit me. How on earth did I allow myself get comfortable enough to sleep beside him?Last night rolled through my head like a film rewind. Clearer, vivid. Theo was the one who had put me to sleep, tucked me in, and held me. He held my me? Laid beside me?I jerked, casting a look at the other side of his bed. It was empty, the sheets where he had laid barely wr
Last Updated: 2026-09-03
Chapter: 66: Stay PutTheoShe lifted the corners of her lips but her smile trembled. “It's nothing” she said and made an attempt to side step.I drew her back to me and she clasped against my chest. My perfect fit."It's not nothing, Cherie." I had no control of the way my voice dropped when it came to my wife but seeing her shaken up made a thousand dreadful thoughts run wild in my head. "That's a mark on you, Bella. Someone touched you.""Theo—"I tilted her jaw upwards. "Who?” That was all I could trust myself to say.She stepped back, putting deliberate space between us and something about the way her eyes dropped unsettled me."I'm not telling you." She said firmly. "I'm not telling you who, and I'm not telling you why, because the second I do, this stops being about what happened to me and starts being about what you're going to do about it. And I have had enough, Theo.” The pain in her voice tore at my heart. “...of men deciding what to do about me without asking first.""I'm your husband." It cam
Last Updated: 2026-08-22
Chapter: 65: Sacrifice Mirabella"What about my marriage?" My voice came out hollow, my cheek still stinging from the slap. "Sit down, Mirabella.""I'll stand." He didn't argue, dropping into the armchair, elbows on his knees, studying me like I was some failed investment. "Zoya Voss came to see me. A few weeks back.""Zoya?" The floor tilted slightly. "Why would she come to you?""Apparently a lot of people are concerned for you. She was concerned for you.” He flashed a smile. My stomach twisted.“She implied there were things about the Hartleys we should have made sure you understood before the wedding." His jaw tightened. "I didn't like being lectured by a stranger about my own daughter, but she wasn't wrong that you deserved to hear it eventually. She made it plain she'd tell you herself if we didn't."I swallowed the boulder sitting on my throat. "Tell me what, exactly?""The company faced trouble last year. Somet
Last Updated: 2026-08-19
Chapter: CHAPTER 10: NoelleNoelle I parked where a car wasn't supposed to be parked and where someone's father probably mowed every two days, mostly because I couldn't quite find wherever cars were actually supposed to be parked, and sat there for a solid thirty seconds gripping the wheel.I breathed out, slowly.Fine. Okay. In. Ring. Out. That was the plan. Not complicated. Or just drop it at the door as earlier discussed.I got out before I could think myself out of it, ring clutched in my fist like it might make a break for it, and walked up to a front door that was easily twice my height, dark wood with iron detailing that matched the gate, because apparently even the door needed to remind you this wasn't a place that did anything halfway.The suited men all watched me and I felt like an ant under a microscope. I half expected one of them to tackle me to the ground but nope, they all just stared at me while some looked away as though I was not a worthwhile use of their time.The walk up alone took longer t
Last Updated: 2026-07-09
Chapter: Chapter 9Noelle The GPS took me down roads that got me progressively less convinced of it ever leading to an office space.First it was the highway, easy. Then it narrowed into a two-lane road with actual trees crowding above it, the further I drove the more I left behind possible locations for an office, my GPS was leading me to one of the porshest residential areas. The tall trees blocked out the sun in patches so the whole drive strobed between light-dark-light-dark until you feel a a little dizzy. Then the houses started spacing out, further and further apart, until there weren't houses at all, no businesses at all, just long stretches of stone wall half-swallowed by ivy, the stonewall game way to a much more modern outlook."Your destination is on the left," my GPS announced, entirely too casual for what I was looking at.I slowed the car to a stop in front of a set of iron gates taller than my apartment building.No buzzer intercom with a company directory, no little sign that read Mil
Last Updated: 2026-07-06
Chapter: Chapter 8: Unfortunate LuckNoelle I sat in my car outside the pawn shop for a full ten minutes before I trusted myself to drive.More than the shop itself, the words of the grumpy man kept looping, an ugly little chorus I couldn't shake. I'd worn, slept while wearing, showered next to, brushed my teeth beside, a ring worth more than my entire apartment building, probably, and I hadn't even had the decency to be nervous about it until now.Classic Noelle always landing herself in trouble.Okay. Fine. New plan. I couldn't sell it, wouldn't sell it, didn't even want it, not really. I wanted my dignity back and Clayton's smug face wiped permanently from existence, and this ring wasn't going to get me either of those things. It was only ever going to get me deeper into whatever this was. Talking about Clayton, I imagined he was all cozied up with his new found love while I had to worry about being arrested for a jewelry heist I had nothing to do with.Clayton was an asshole and I'd been unable to shake off the b
Last Updated: 2026-07-06
Chapter: Chapter 7: Go and CashNoelle Gold and Cash sat wedged between a laundromat and a vape shop, its sign missing the LD in gold so it read GO AND CASH in flickering yellow letters, lopsided, felt about right for where my life currently was. I'd changed out of yesterday's shirt, at least. I showered, swallowed more water than I thought a human stomach could hold, hoping that the nauseating feeling would be drowned out, but bad idea because now my stomach made a sound when I moved too fast. My most nondescript hoodie was the outfit for the day, better to blend in while I attempted to offload evidence of my own personal crime scene. Because that's what this was, wasn't it. A crime scene. Exhibit A: one engagement ring, obtained under false pretenses, currently residing on the ring finger of a woman who had absolutely no business wearing it. Had Emeric stolen it? Or was it a mistake? Exhibit A? Nahhh, more like the victim in all this. A typical example of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The
Last Updated: 2026-07-04
Chapter: Chapter 6: DiamondNoelleMy head was doing something it had never done before, something between a marching band rehearsal and an incessant bass drop that never fully died out. I opened one eye and immediately regretted the decision. Sunlight, unbothered by my pounding brain, poured through a gap in my curtains personally gloating.I groaned into my pillow. My mouth tasted like stale scotch, metal and something much more bitter.Betrayal.Right.Bits and pieces came back to me in the worst possible order.Clayton's stupid, happy face. Vivian's red nails. A wine glass shattering. My own voice, loud and unhinged, telling an entire restaurant that my ex-best friend knew nothing about being a decent human being.And then, green eyes. A ring. A kiss that tasted like coconut and made my toes curl in a way three years with Clayton never managed.I sat up too fast, and my stomach whooshed violently in disagreement with the motion."Okay," I whispered to no one, "okay, okay, okay."My hand went instincti
Last Updated: 2026-07-03
Chapter: Just Not YetEMERIC She was looking around the bar while the server poured us our drink, she ordered the strongest scotch in the house and I had a bourbon.I didn't stop her from ordering high content alcohol, I would want to feel nothing but numbness at this time if I was in her shoesI felt like I understood her on a different level.The disappointment, the feeling of not being enough and taken for granted, you could just feel your self worth depreciating.I knew it all too well.I took a sip from my drink. “Are you looking for something?”She was stunned and blinked at me.“You keep looking around and I wonder what for”“No… no” She shook her head, “it's just been a long day.”She was thinking about it, it seemed so.I inched closer to her and our knees touched, she leaned in to sip her drink from the glass, rounding her lips over the rim of the glass and throwing it all back in one gulp. She cleared her throat afterwards.I corked my head, a light bulb had come on. “Tell me about your day.”
Last Updated: 2025-03-26
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