All Chapters of Owned by the Wrong Man: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

Annie woke up in an unusual way.For a few seconds, she stayed still, staring at the ceiling, listening to the soft sounds outside, the wind brushing through the trees, a distant car passing, the quiet sound of a morning that felt too calm for how restless she felt inside.Her first thought was Ethan.She reached for her phone without thinking.No missed calls.No messages.Her heart sank.She sat up slowly, her injured arm resting carefully against her side.She checked the time on her phone.11am.“He would have called by now,” she whispered to herself.Annie stood and walked into the living room. Tasha was already awake, sitting on the couch with her legs pulled up, scrolling through her phone. She looked up immediately when she saw Annie’s face.“You didn’t sleep well,” Tasha said.Annie shook her head. “He hasn’t called.”Tasha sighed and placed her phone on sofa. “I noticed.” she replied.Annie sat beside her, rubbing her palms together nervously. “Something’s wrong, Tasha. I ca

“We are leaving today, Tasha. I already booked our flight.”Tasha froze mid-step, one hand still holding a folded sweater.She turned slowly, disbelief written all over her face. “Today?” she repeated. “Annie, you can’t just say that like it’s nothing.”Annie stood by the window, phone still in her hand. Outside, the morning light shined softly across the quiet street, “I can,” she said, quietly but firmly. “And I did.”Tasha dropped the sweater onto the couch. “Annie… we don’t even have an apartment anymore!”Annie turned to face her then. Her eyes were tired, but determined. “We’ll book a hotel.”Tasha stared at her for a long moment, searching her face for doubt, for hesitation. She found none. “You’re really doing this,” she said. “You’re going back without even telling Ethan.”“I can’t call him,” Annie replied. “Not like this. Every time I pick up my phone, I imagine him pretending to be okay so I won’t worry.I imagine him carrying everything alone.” Her voice cracked slightly.

“Ethan…in every rumor, there’s an atom of truth. Are you hiding something from us?” Lucas asked.Ethan froze, his hand hovering over the edge of the desk. Annie, sitting stiffly on the sofa, turned toward him, sensing the storm before it erupted. Ethan’s chest tightened, throat dry.He had rehearsed this conversation countless times in his mind, but none of the rehearsals had prepared him for the vulnerability of saying it aloud.Of admitting mistakes he had spent years burying under control, wealth, and reputation.“I…” His voice cracked before he could stop it. “Yes. I’ve been hiding something.”Annie’s eyes widened, but she didn’t speak. Lucas’s jaw tensed, arms crossed, a silent demand for the truth.Ethan took a shaky deep breath.“It’s about Clara… and Marcus.”Annie’s fingers twitched in her lap. Ethan had never wanted to see the hurt in her eyes, and yet here it was.The photos… they’re real.I was involved at the beginning. I made mistakes stupid, selfish mistakes but I st

Ethan didn’t need to be told the story had leaked. His phone had been vibrating since missed calls, emergency emails, headlines stacking faster than he could read them.What he hadn’t expected was how quickly the narrative had moved, how decisively the world had chosen its version of the truth.Lucas stood across from him in the boardroom, jacket off, tie loosened the universal signal that this wasn’t a drill.“It’s everywhere,” Lucas said. “Not just business outlets. International media picked it up overnight.”Ethan kept his eyes on the screen mounted on the wall. Red arrows. Falling numbers. The market reacting the way it always did without mercy.“How are they framing it?” he asked calmly.“As guilt,” Lucas replied. “Stepping down equals admission. They’re calling it damage control. Some are implying you resigned to protect someone.”“Clara’s part” Ethan said.“They’re using words like affair,” Lucas said softly. “And scandal.”Ethan nodded. “And they’re pushing the photos hard. T

Annie stood up in shock “What’s the result” she asked.“It’s done,” he said.Two words.The kind of voice men used when they were bracing themselves against something collapsing inside them.Annie closed her eyes.“They accepted my resignation. Permanent.”Annie sat on the edge of the bed, the phone pressed tight to her ear. “Are you okay?”Ethan took a deep breath “I will be.” he said.She knew that tone now. Ethan Gray’s version of bleeding quietly.“I’m coming over,” she said.“No.” His answer was immediate. “Stay where you are. I’ll come to you, share your location.”The line went dead before she could argue.He arrived forty minutes later.No convoy. No assistant. No security detail announcing him before he stepped through the door.Just Ethan, alone, in a dark jacket, looking like a man who had just handed back something powerful and irreversible.He did.Tasha took one look at his face and understood. She reached for her bag.“I’ll give you space,” she said softly, already movi