Masuk"I spent two years becoming his perfect shadow. Now, I'm going to watch him kneel, beg, and realize too late that the wife he threw away was the greatest mistake of his life." Leila Stonne was the invisible wife. Quiet. Loyal. Submissive. She survived her forced marriage to corporate tyrant Karl Hawthorne by clinging to a desperate hope: If I become extraordinary enough, he will finally love me. By day, she stayed hidden. By night, she poured her architectural genius into a masterpiece design meant to finally make him proud of her. But on their second anniversary, the illusion shatters. Karl walks into her studio, ignores the cold dinner she prepared, and drops divorce papers over her life’s work. He is marrying Natalia Scott, a glittering, hyper-wealthy celebrity heiress. Discarded and humiliated, Leila signs the papers and disappears. She walks away with zero dollars, completely stripping his billionaire surname from her identity. But she carries a secret that will bring his empire to its knees: She is pregnant with his child. Months later, the world changes overnight. Leila wins a prestigious global architecture prize, claiming a five-hundred-million-dollar award. The quiet woman Karl threw away as "obsolete" is suddenly a global phenomenon. And the first person to claim her is Karl's dangerous older brother, George Hawthorne. George saw the queen Karl was too blind to value. Now, Karl realizes his fatal mistake. He wants his wife back. He wants his child back. He wants another chance. But by the time he finally learns to kneel… Leila no longer remembers how to forgive.
Lihat lebih banyakLEILAThe email arrived just after breakfast, a formal request from the Sovereign Apex Prize committee to confirm my attendance at the grand finale. The text was short, asking for a final verification before they locked the presenter list for the evening panels.I typed my reply in under a minute, my fingers heavy against the keyboard. Confirmed.Three days remained.George's name lit up my phone more times than I could count over those three days, calls followed by text messages I didn't open. Doreen called twice, then stopped trying. I let all of it go unanswered, the phone face down on the small table near the bed.I didn't have room for either of them right now, and I couldn't risk the distraction of their voices breaking through the walls.The constant vibration against the wood table became a background hum to my panic. ...
GEORGEThe call came in just after nine. I stood behind my black desk, looking out at the morning sun hitting the glass towers across the street, the phone heavy against my palm."He's improving, Sir," the attending physician said, his voice coming through the line clear and steady. "Still critical, but stable in a way he wasn't a month ago. I think a video call would do him good, if you're able.""Set it up," I said, my voice dropping. "Now, if you can."I sat down, my eyes fixed on the blank monitor as the system processed the secure link to the hospital in New Delhi. A few minutes later, Theodore's face filled the screen, thinner than I remembered, lines worn deep into his skin, with medical tubes running along his left arm. But his eyes found the camera lens and held there, steady and clear."George," he said, his voice thin but present through the speaker. 
LEILAThe clerk's eyes dropped to her screen, then back up, careful and rehearsed. "I'm not able to say more than that, Ms. Stonne. I'm sorry. It's a decision from management, not something I have the authority to explain."I stood there a moment longer, waiting for something more, some explanation that would make sense of any of it. Nothing came. The lobby behind her was quiet, the carpet clean, the white walls throwing back the harsh morning light. I didn't have the strength left to push. I picked up my bags, turned toward the exit, and walked back out into the gray morning light. The next place I tried didn't even let me finish giving my name before the answer came back the same way. The woman at the counter gave me a small shake of her head, her smile tight. No explanation. No room available.A third stop, further out, gave me the same quiet refusal, delivered with the same careful, rehearsed discomfort I was starting to recognize. The man behind the desk wouldn't meet my eyes a
KARLThe coffee on my desk had gone cold an hour ago. I hadn't touched it since my assistant set it down, the brown liquid sitting still beneath the bright office lights.I stood by the grand glass windows, my hands shoved deep into my pockets as I looked out at the morning traffic on the boulevard below. My tie was already loose at my throat, my collar unbuttoned, the pressure of the board's ultimatum sitting like a physical weight behind my ribs.My assistant knocked once and stepped halfway through the door, holding a gold card in her hand. "Mr. Hawthorne, the Sovereign Apex Prize committee sent an invitation for the grand finale. Four days from now. They'd like confirmation by end of day.""Accept it," I said, not looking up from the glass window."I'll handle it," she said, closing the door behind her.I barely registered the word
EVELINA Dominic.For a second, I thought it would be Julian. Or Theodore. Or nobody.Hotel hallways were always full of people coming and going. Most of the time, nobody looked twice at you.But Dominic was walking toward me. His hands were in his pockets, his expression flat and unreadable. He st
EVELINA The door opened.Aria Vance walked in with one hand resting lightly on Julian’s arm. She glanced around the table easily, already smiling before anyone spoke.Julian looked across the room. His eyes passed over me without stopping before settling on his parents.“Dad. Mum.” A beat. “ This
EVELINA The corridor felt different when I stepped out of Dr. Yuen’s office.People were moving faster. Reception staff straightened behind their desks. Nurses glanced toward the entrance like they were expecting someone important.A name passed quietly through the hallway. “Aria Vance.”I kept wa
EVELINA The notification was still on my screen when I woke up.CONGRATULATIONS. YOU HAVE QUALIFIED FOR THE APEX URBAN PRIZE. Final submission window: 7 days.I stared at it through a few hours of broken sleep and the dull ache climbing up the back of my neck.Outside the studio windows, the sky h












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