He married me to ruin my husband
ContemporaryFast-Paced PlotThird-Person POVCEOGoodgirlProtectiveContract MarriageDivorceBetrayal
He didn't reach for her or attempt to apologize. He picked his wine back up, and that, more than anything he was about to say, told her exactly how this conversation was going to go.
"It's not what you think," he said.
"You have a son. What exactly am I supposed to think that isn't that??!"
***
Ivy Sinclair gave her husband five years of loyalty. He gave her a second family he never mentioned to her
The proof is undeniable: a hospital bracelet, a son who isn't hers. Adrian Vance doesn't even bother denying it. He just reminds her she can't leave because her father's company owes his family too much.
Then Xavier Cross walks back into her life.
The man she was supposed to marry before her father sold her to Adrian.
Now the most powerful rival Adrian has and the only man with enough leverage to burn Adrian's empire to the ground.
Ivy agrees to marry him before he finishes asking.
Adrian never imagined the day he'd watch Ivy stand across from him in a courtroom that would end everything he built.
Now she wore another man's ring, commanded a board he no longer controlled, and stood in the ruins of his empire without once looking back at what she'd left behind.
But contracts aren't the only thing that get signed in the dark. The man rebuilding her life might be the one thing she never planned to keep.
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Chapter: Chapter 7***She didn't tell Xavier about Boston.She needed to know who'd talked to Adrian before she even handed him one more thing to use against her, but an honest part of her knew it was because she wasn't ready to watch Xavier’s face while she explained it.Instead, she showed up at his office Thursday afternoon, the day of the board call, because he had asked her to be there, and because she meant what she had told him in his office that first day. “ I want to be in the room for it, not read about it after.”Theo let her in without announcing her, which she took as a small sign of how quickly she'd already stopped being treated like a guest in this building. Xavier was standing at the conference room's glass wall, adjusting his cufflinks, while watching the city below."You don't have to say anything," he said to her, not turning around. "Just sit and watch. This part's mine, okay??"You have nothing to worry about. I know how to sit quietly while ‘men’ convince themselves they're in
最終更新日: 2026-07-24
Chapter: Chapter 6The box sat on the table for a full ten seconds before Xavier opened it.Inside was a ring Ivy recognized—antique gold, an emerald-cut diamond, a setting that had gone out of fashion a decade ago."You kept it," she said."You know this ring?""I chose this ring eleven years ago in a shop on Erie Street, before my father called your father and ended what we had over the phone like he was cancelling a dinner reservation.""I never returned it anyway." Xavier's jaw tightened. "Told the jeweler I'd changed my mind about the setting, but I never went back.""Why keep it? You could've sold it, thrown it out, or given it to someone else."He didn't answer that question either. Instead, he took the ring out of the box and held it up between them. "This has to go on before the announcement drops tomorrow."Ivy looked at the ring, then at him, understanding this wasn't really a request; she held out her hand.He slid it onto her finger himself, slower than the moment called for. The ring slid
最終更新日: 2026-07-24
Chapter: Chapter 5Ivy dialled the number the next day. Denise had phoned that morning; Adrian's lawyers were calling the frozen accounts a ‘precautionary measure pending audit’, language vague enough to stall in court for months.Xavier's office took up the top three floors of a glass tower on the river. His assistant, Theo, walked her straight to a private office with a skyline view."You came," Xavier said."I said I would.""People say that and still don't keep to terms." He sat once she did. "Can I get you anything?""An explanation. You already told me what you want. Skip the rest and give me terms.""Fine." He folded his hands. "I need your shares in Vance Enterprises. Full transfer once we're married, so I can move on Adrian's board without three years of proxy fights. In exchange, I clear your father's company of any dependency on Vance financing within the month. I cover your legal fees, and Adrian never touches you financially again.""And what do you get out of it beyond the shares?" Ivy kep
最終更新日: 2026-07-21
Chapter: Chapter 4She didn't want to go. Two days after her accounts froze, with Denise still working through emergency motions that moved slower than Ivy's patience could stand, Adrian informed her over breakfast that the Whitfield Foundation gala was Friday, and that she'd be attending as his wife, the same as every year."People will ask questions if you're not there," he said, not looking up from his coffee, as though the last week hadn't happened at all. "Let's not give anyone a reason to speculate.”She'd almost said no. But Denise's voice was still in her head, calm and professional, warning her not to give Adrian anything to use against her in the divorce filing they hadn't submitted yet. “Play the part a little longer. Just until we have leverage of our own…”So Friday came, and Ivy stood in front of her mirror in the dark green dress Adrian had always liked. She smiled at exactly the right moments, and she let him rest his hand at the small of her back for the cameras at the entrance like not
最終更新日: 2026-07-21
Chapter: Chapter 3***Her father's office still smelled the way it always had, leather and old coffee.Richard Sinclair stood by the window when she walked in. He already looked like he was expecting to lose an argument."Ivy." He didn't move to hug her. Sit down.""I'd rather stand."He nodded slowly, like he'd expected that too, and turned back to the window instead of facing her directly. "How much do you already know?""I know Adrian has a son with another woman and that he has been lying to me all these years." Ivy kept her voice level. "And I know you told him not to tell me, or you knew and said nothing, or some version of both, because I called you and you didn't even sound surprised."Her father was quiet for a while. When he finally turned around, he looked older than she remembered."It's complicated, Ivy.""Don't do that, Dad." Her voice cracked slightly."Don't do this thing where you make this sound like a business decision. I need you to just tell me the truth. All of it."Her father sat
最終更新日: 2026-07-21
Chapter: Chapter 2She almost made it through dinner before she broke her own rule.The plan had seemed so clear before now, sitting alone in the kitchen with the bracelet in her pocket. ‘Watch him and let him lie. See exactly how good he'd be at it.’But then, he was home, humming under his breath while he loosened his tie. He poured himself a glass of the wine she had bought for the Hendersons' dinner they never attended, looking so entirely at ease in his own life that she simply stopped being willing to wait."How was your previous Singapore trip?" she asked."Good. Marcus even wants another round of revisions on the Meridian contract, so I'll probably be buried in that all week." He took a sip of wine, not really looking at her, as usual."And you? How was your week?""Quiet, nothing much." Ivy set her own glass of wine down without touching it. "I found your other phone."Adrian didn't move for a second. She saw it, a small hitch, like a skipped frame in a film. Then he set his glass down slowly,
最終更新日: 2026-07-21
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