The Replaced Bride’s Fortune
As the adopted child of the Steward family, I was the glass child, the last child, the black sheep, the ignored. I wasn’t wanted, I was chosen.
Chosen to become the one to uphold their ‘social standings’. They had no care for me, they picked me, they saw the quiet, bullied girl in the orphanage who was constantly picked on but couldn’t fight back.
And they decided that I was the perfect choice, to be the poster child that cleaned their poorly received social standings.
Now, I’ve been promised to the devil CEO in place of my runaway older sister who decided to run merely days before her engagement ceremony.
Adrian was no sweetheart, he was cold and standoffish. Not a man of many words but a man with a commanding presence.
I thought I would forever be miserable in the marriage but luck shined on me because my new husband wasn’t what the media and the rumor made him to be. He may very well be my fortune.
But my happiness has never been guaranteed, just when I thought I could finally be happy, secrets, snakes and unfolded memories threaten to ruin it.
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Chapter: Chapter 83Adrian’s POVI smiled, the small tilt in my lips I managed couldn’t be further from how I was feeling at the weight of her question.But I pushed it back. It was now or never. I had to sound as convincing as possible or it was game over.In my slacks though, the pocket where my hands were fitted, it was sleek with cold sweat, the same kind that also smothered the back of my neck. “It’s just an old box I found, Brianna.” I met her gaze. “Doesn’t really mean anything. What do you mean it feels familiar?” I frowned. The lie slipped through my teeth without a second thought.She frowned down at it, thumb brushing the rusted edge. “I don’t know. It just… feels weird. Like I’ve seen it before.”“Maybe in passing?” I offered, genuinely like I didn’t know the truth. “You’ve been around the house. Could’ve caught a glimpse.”“No.” Her eyes flicked up, sharper now. “I haven’t. You locked the drawer it was in. Why keep it so well if you wanted me to find it? If you wanted to give it to me?”Oka
Last Updated: 2026-08-13
Chapter: Chapter 81Adrian’s POV“Trust you?” She scoffed, then let out a dark chuckle. “‘Trust’ and ‘you’ do not belong in the same sentence, Adrian.”Okay. That was expected but I still needed to explain things. I shuffled a bit closer. “Bria… please. Mi amor, please, can you let me explain?”She crossed her arms. “Please, I’d want nothing more than for you to explain! Explain why I’m seeing my childhood pictures here, kept and locked away like some sort of stalker locker.”“Bri… please.” I tried again. “My love? That’s not…”“Don’t call me that,” she spat, even lower but no less mad. “Don’t even call me that. Don’t call me anything.”She continued, her eyes rimmed red, nose flared like she was about to explode from anger. “You’ve been stalking me? You knew me, since before now, and acted like you were meeting me for the first time?”I shook my head, my arm outstretched to meet hers. She stepped back. “My love, I was not stalking you. I would never do that.”She tilted her head. “Then why do you have
Last Updated: 2026-08-12
Chapter: 81Adrian’s POV Fucking bloody hell! Those were my first thoughts once I caught sight of Brianna sitting slack on the sofa in the corner of the closet. My smile was wiped smooth, immediately dropping into a frown faster than the speed of light. I had searched the whole house for her and only just found her here but one look at the scene and I knew something was super wrong. I caught a glimpse of a rusty blue box. One that was familiar. Too familiar. I remembered what the content of that box was and my breath quickened. She didn’t look up at me even as I announced my presence. Her full attention was with the open box and its content. I moved closer, quiet, measured, around the table like the smallest thing could scare her off. It probably would. “Bri?” I dropped the Herrera bag I’d brought back gently on the closet counter. My gaze stayed on her. Hers stayed with the box, on her shaky hands gripping tightly at a picture. The box was a third party I didn’t welcome. Fuck. It w
Last Updated: 2026-08-11
Chapter: Chapter 80Brianna’s POV I needed to keep things interesting. I was prepared physically, the lingerie was a perfect fit. I was also prepared mentally. I wanted nothing more than to feel his warm gaze on my skin.But I needed more to take his breath away. I wanted to do a bit more. It would truly be a shame if he saw me and wasn’t impressed.A small voice nudged at the back of my mind.What if he didn’t even come tonight?All of this would have been a complete waste. But also his loss.I gave myself another once-over. I looked… good. I felt good. Anxious, stiff with anticipation, but still good.The lace clung snugly to my skin, brushing against all the places that tilted me towards the edge. I roamed restlessly, already feeling the warmth building beneath my skin.I needed Adrian badly. I couldn’t wait for his hands and expert fingers to trace heat across my skin.Shaking the thought away didn’t work, so I took a deep, calming breath and put on the outer linen robe that came with the lingerie.
Last Updated: 2026-08-10
Chapter: Chapter 79Brianna’s POVAfter three days, I was just about ready to call him to come back home. Home. Yes, because this place was now my home, he was slowly becoming my home and he wasn’t here and I missed him terribly.The rest of the days fell into the same routine. It was boring but I had filled my days and waited like a war soldier's wife. I read a lot of books in the library, ate so much, I almost threw up.Idleness was never a good thing.The countdown had started. Two more days until he got back and I sure as hell could not wait.One evening, I finally had enough. I was too bored and painfully idle. I picked up my phone and just before I hit the dial, his call came in.I picked it immediately, my lips curving into a grin.“Woah, were you waiting on my call?” He said with a chuckle.I rolled my eyes inwardly, embarrassed to have been caught that way. “No, I was just on my phone and you interrupted. I picked up as soon as I saw it.“Okay, mi amor. If you say so.” He mused. I scrunched
Last Updated: 2026-08-09
Chapter: Chapter 78Brianna’s POV Adrian had been gone on his trip for barely a day now, and I was already starting to have withdrawals. The house felt cold without him in it. It was quiet, save for the staff who moved silently around the house, tidying up and cooking. Everything suddenly lost its appeal. I couldn’t find anything to watch on the television. No one to talk to, no one to tease me or follow me around. I had led a very quiet life once before. I never had friends, but I filled my days, made do with myself and my thoughts. This was the life I expected coming here at first but this was not the life Adrian had introduced me to so the mundanity of it all bothered me. After experiencing the world of Adrian, I found myself missing the bickering, the noise, the way he stuck to my hip with his needy eyes. “Ahhh.” I sighed, slumping into the corner sofa in the library. The book I’d picked up to read was still in the prologue, and I couldn’t get past it even after an hour of staring at the page
Last Updated: 2026-08-08
Awakened for Revenge-Flash marriage to my ex fiancés nemesis
Ariana Croft gave up everything for the man she loved — her career, her family, her friends. In return, he planned her murder.
When she overhears her fiancé Matt plotting her “accident” with her own sister, Ariana runs straight into the crash that was supposed to kill her. She survives. But someone else was there that night, someone who pulled her from the wreckage and has been watching over her ever since.
Zane Lockwood isn’t a stranger. He’s Matt’s stepbrother — cold, calculating, and carrying a decade of his own reasons to want Matt destroyed. When Ariana wakes to find her fiancé and sister locked in an embrace at her hospital bedside, she doesn’t just end her engagement. She makes an enemy.
Zane has a better offer: marry him instead.
It starts as a strategy — his resources, her knowledge, a shared hunger for revenge. But as the truth about her sister’s real identity, Matt’s role in a decade-old death, and the depth of Zane’s feelings all come to light, Ariana realizes the marriage meant to destroy her enemies might be the very thing that saves her.
Revenge was supposed to be the plan. Falling for the man sworn to help her get it was never part of the deal.
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Chapter: Chapter 12Zane’s POV The flight back to Manhattan felt longer than it actually was. The first few hours was me thinking about the fact that she had agreed to my proposal. I didn’t dare to hope that she would but just before I got on the plane, her call came in. Probably the best news I had heard in so long. She had agreed and over the phone she sounded prettt resolute. She stated her terms and made it clear it was mutually beneficial. That was a mutual understanding but I knew it went farther than that. Time will definitely tell. But for now, I relished in the fact that she agreed which only meant that I was several steps ahead. Closer to destroying Matt. I couldn’t wait to see the look on his face when the announcement dropped. The smile that curled on my face at the thought was simply involuntary but accurate. He might convince himself I was doing it out of spite. Let him. What he didn’t know was that I knew the truth. I knew about his mother. I knew about the schemes she had set in
Last Updated: 2026-08-11
Chapter: Chapter 11Ariana’s POV“Lockwood.” He said, like he was testing the name in his mouth. The familiar name finally sank and he sat up straight. Spine straightened, his eyes sharp with crinkles at the corners.“Lockwood?” He thundered. “As in Matt Lockwood?”I sighed then shook my head before he lost his. “Relax father, it is obviously not Matt Lockwood.”He cut in sharply, his forehead etched with wrinkles. “So what? His father now?”“What in the—,” I chortled, disbelief coursing through me at my father’s words. He sure knew how to keep me gagged. “Dad!”“I wouldn’t doubt it. I mean, leaving the stupid illegitimate son for the chairman himself.” He shrugged. “Controversial, but impressive too. Isn’t he like 60 years or something? Should I be worried?”I was speechless. I knew he had a twisted sense of humor but this was dragging it.“Dad!” I cried, holding my hands up. “Stop, please.” I took a deep breath. “First of all, no. I am not going for his father. You’re also pushing sixty, you’re not on
Last Updated: 2026-08-10
Chapter: Chapter 10Ariana’s POVWith the proposal with Zane finally settled, I finally made it downstairs. Father was sprawled, cross legged on the sofa, his head behind a magazine.“You’re here.” He said simply without even looking in my direction.I trudged forward to his left side, taking a seat on the sofa. “Hello to you too.” I deadpanned.He glimpsed at my frame then, his brow raised in question.I shook my head, eyes turned to slit. I let out a forced smile. “How could you not check up on me even once? That is so terrible. Your own daughter.”“Don’t be dramatic, Ari. I came to check on you during the time you were there.”“What if I had died?” I gasped, feigning hurt. “What if I don’t make it?”“But you’re here, aren’t you?”“You are so not fun!” I rolled my eyes, slumping in my seat.“I didn’t build all this by being fun.” He mused, his glasses reflecting the muted reading lamp beside him. I took risks, showed up, made changes, connections and contracts that got us all…”Here we go. “Yeah, I kno
Last Updated: 2026-08-09
Chapter: Final duskAriana’s POV After sitting for a bit with Maria, I finally headed up to my room. Father wasn’t downstairs, and I learned from Maria that he was in his home office. He was probably barking out orders as usual. He was not familiar with the word ‘rest’. He always had to be involved, informed, and in order. I respected him for it but also recognized how exhausting it was. The inside of my room brought back immediate nostalgia. It was clean and pristine, almost like I’d never left. Not a speck of dust anywhere. Everything was placed exactly where I had left them and I couldn’t be more grateful. My eccentric detailing and decor still mapped the walls, and it brought a smile to my face, calm to the storm brewing in me. With a sigh, I gently peeled off my clothes and headed for the bathroom, clad in nothing but my pure cotton towel. My body care products lined the sink perfectly. I could not have been more grateful. I could sense my mother’s hands in this. “God bless you, mum,” I chan
Last Updated: 2026-08-08
Chapter: Home sweet homeAriana’s POVThe muted voice of the pilot bounced off the sides of my ears as I peered down through the window of my seat.I was discharged after two days, assigned proper monitoring. My mother came along, making sure everything was checked out before my discharge.Father could not fly over due to work so here I was in our private plane, heading back home from the city I’d once built my life and hopes in.The place I had dreamed of building my own family, with Matt.The thought of him left a bitter taste in my mouth. All I could think of was how to ruin him, how to destroy him as brutally as he did me.Hence, why my mind drifted to the pair of green grey eyes and his absurd proposal. One that weighed heavily in my mind as time passed. I knew the answer was to say no. That should be the right answer, the only answer, the logical one.It would be extremely foolish of me to put my trust in another Lockwood brother but nothing about him reminded me of his dumb brother. His eyes, althoug
Last Updated: 2026-08-07
Chapter: The proposal“Marry me instead.”The moment the words left my mouth, I realized it probably wasn’t the smartest move.Her horrified look also solidified my training and I silently cursed myself inwardly. She looked like she had seen a ghost or heard one. Her small bruised hand that was still clutched tightly around my wrist loosened immediately, but didn’t drop just yet.Her mouth slacked slightly, her face of nothing but pure adorable shock. Her hazel eyes widened at the weight of my words and I had to clear my throat, biting back something between a laugh and regret.As the silence pressed in, my nerves followed suit and I started to regret my decision. Not about asking her to marry me, but asking her to marry me right here and right now.Was it the best timing? No. I knew that much. Sitting there, stitches littering her face, and body, lines drawn into her arms and I’d just handed her a proposal like it was nothing.Not while she was still in a hospital bed, still grieving the fiancé she’d al
Last Updated: 2026-08-06
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