All Chapters of The CEO Wife On Paper : Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

The bedroom door slammed shut, the sound echoing once before silence swallowed it whole.Clara stood with her back pressed against the door, her chest rising and falling in uneven breaths, her hands shaking so badly she had to clench them into fists just to still them.She squeezed her eyes shut. *Maybe if I count to ten,* some small, foolish part of her thought, *everything I heard downstairs will have unhappened by the time I open them again.* She counted — a childhood habit, useless now — and made it only to three before giving up.She opened her eyes. Nothing had changed.Her family had agreed to marry her to Gregory Blackwood. The debt would disappear. And she was the price they'd paid it with.A broken laugh escaped her. "So this is what I'm worth."Her knees gave out before she reached the bed properly, and she sank onto the edge of the mattress, staring blankly at the floor. The room that had always comforted her suddenly felt like it belonged to someone else.Three slow knock

The house was asleep. Or it pretended to be.Clara stood motionless beside her bedroom window, listening, as the grandfather clock downstairs chimed three times. Three o'clock. She'd been awake for hours already, afraid even a single sound would give her away too soon.Slowly, she zipped her worn backpack shut. Inside were only the things she truly needed: a change of clothes, the little cash she'd quietly saved from tutoring and part-time shifts nobody in this house had ever asked about, her identification card. Nothing else — she'd told herself that for a week now, every time she'd been tempted to pack one more thing she didn't need.She let herself look around the room one last time. Her eyes caught on the water stain near the ceiling, shaped a little like a rabbit if you squinted — the one she used to point out to her mother when she was small, back before this room belonged to anyone else's version of her life.She reached for the framed photograph on her nightstand and traced he

The courthouse buzzed with quiet activity. Couples walked in hand in hand, some smiling nervously, others laughing as they teased each other. Family members waited outside with flowers and cameras, ready to celebrate.Leo Blackwood stood apart from all of it.Dressed in a perfectly tailored black suit, both hands tucked into his trouser pockets, he watched the crowd with the same calm, unreadable gaze he brought to everything.Beside him, Daniel checked his watch. "She should be here any minute, sir."Leo didn't respond.Daniel opened the leather folder one last time, more out of habit than necessity. "Her name is Clara Hart. She confirmed a few minutes ago that she's on her way.""Go," Leo said. "Finalize things with the registrar. We'll proceed once you're back."Daniel gave a short nod and hurried inside, leaving Leo alone at the entrance.Silence settled around him. He watched people pass through the glass doors — some flushed with excitement, some visibly nervous, all of them chas

The taxi eased to a stop at the base of the courthouse steps.Daniel got out first, circling around to open the rear door before Clara could reach for the handle herself. He held it, giving her room, the way a man does when he's been taught manners but has nowhere warm left to put them.Clara adjusted the strap of her backpack and pressed her hand flat against the outside of it, feeling the stiff edge of the envelope through the canvas. The marriage certificate. Still warm, somehow, like paper could hold heat from the moment it was signed.An hour ago she'd had a life she recognized. Now she had this — a folded piece of paper and a stranger's name next to hers.She slid into the back seat without a word.The door shut with a soft, final thud.Outside, Leo hadn't moved. He stood at the top of the steps with his hands in his trouser pockets, his black suit jacket catching the wind coming off the street, watching the taxi like a man confirming something he already knew would happen.He d

One month later.Saturday morning sun found the folding table in the corner of Clara's apartment. The place had filled in slowly — a potted plant on the windowsill, a throw blanket draped over the couch, a second mug drying by the sink, groceries crowding a cabinet that used to hold nothing.Clara made coffee, sat down with her laptop, and pulled up her email before she'd even finished the first sip.Indeed Job Alert — New jobs matching your profile.She scrolled, half-interested, until one listing stopped her thumb.Blackwood Group — Executive Administrative Assistant — Ravencrest, New York.She read the description twice. The salary line got a second, longer look. Her finger hovered over the button.Save Job."I'll think about it," she said, to no one, and closed the laptop.She rinsed her mug, changed into her café uniform, and locked the door behind her without another glance at the screen still glowing faintly through the laptop's shut lid.The bell chimed as she walked into Mimi