Novel & Cerita Second Choice Wife

“Very much alive, actually.” I blinked, thrown off. “Then… why are you here?” His answer came like a slap. “Because I want to make you my second wife.” For a moment, I genuinely thought I’d misheard him. My brows knit tightly together as I searched his expression for any sign of humor—some smirk or twitch of amusement that would tell me this was just a horribly distasteful joke. But there was none. Second wife. My stomach twisted, and something hot and ugly burned in my chest. This was what the elders were pushing me toward? This was what my life had come to? Not just being handed off like some diplomatic token—but handed off as someone’s afterthought?

” “I’ve always wanted to be your husband. Your one and only man but since someone else beat me to it, can I be your…can I be your number two then? I could be your second…man.” I could tell that wasn’t easy for him to say. Why would anyone want to be a second choice to a person? Did he need me that much?

Three years together. Lucian proposed seventy-seven times. Aurelia said no every single time. The entire family called her ungrateful. How dare she reject the Underboss? But Aurelia knew the truth. Lucian never wanted to marry her in the first place. The first three times, she said yes. She took the ring with tears in her eyes. Each time, his face turned to ice. "A proper woman doesn't give in so easily," he scoffed. She took the hint. She handed the ring back and said no. Only then did his warm smile return. Then came year three. Aurelia overheard that line between him and Bianca, her adopted sister—intimate, sick, and unmistakable. It hit her like a bullet. Lucian never loved her. Not for

Aaron demanded, his voice growing more insistent. “What do you mean? What exactly am I supposed to stop?” Irina asked calmly. “Divorce Elijah,” Aaron demanded again without hesitation. Irina slowly shook her head. “No, Aaron. You’re right. I did love you very much all this time. But I also realized that you wanted Lilian just as badly. You can’t have both of us. That’s why I chose to marry your brother,” she said confidently. “No, Irina. Divorce Elijah, and you can become my wife too,” Aaron said arrogantly, as though the offer itself were some kind of privilege. Irina let out a soft laugh at his words. “Why should I become your second wife when I can be a queen beside Elijah?”

"What rules?" Victor held up one finger. "Rule number one: Discretion in public. As of next Saturday, you are my wife. When we leave these gates, you will play the role of a devoted, flawless bride. You smile for the cameras, you attend the galas, and you keep your mouth shut about how this marriage came to be. If the press asks, we fell in love. If my associates ask, you worship the ground I walk on. Any slip, any rumor, any subtle act of rebellion in front of an audience, and the contract is breached."

For six years, everyone in the Vistari family had known the rule: if shots rang out, get me out first. My boyfriend, Leon Vistari, was the head of the family. He'd given that order himself. But at a party held for his ex, Catherine Ricci, the champagne tower collapsed. Glass shattered. Every bodyguard rushed past me to shield her and get her to the emergency exit. The crowd knocked me down. My right hand landed on broken glass. Leon arrived, made sure Catherine was safe, then finally looked down and noticed me sitting in a pool of my own blood. "Catherine has been through a shooting before. Sounds like that make her freeze up." "The doctor said if the cuts had been any deeper, I might never

My name is Lila but for five years, my husband called me Claire. He said it was a pet name and that if I really loved him, I’d accept it. So I gave up my dream. I served his family. I waited for him to love me back. Then one night he touched me for the first time, whispering “Claire” the whole time. I thought he had finally let me in. The next day, he introduced me to the real Claire. I was never his wife. I was a placeholder. Now I have one month to leave him, take my name back, and accept a $10 million inheritance, on one condition: marry a stranger.

There has always been an expiration date attached to my marriage. Four years. That was what Damien had offered. Four years as his wife, four years of appearances and four years of pretending then we would part ways. It was simple, clean and professional, at least, that had been the plan. The problem was that somewhere between the wedding and the fourth anniversary, I had made the mistake of falling in love with my husband. It was a terrible mistake, a hopeless mistake and a mistake I had never regretted. I laughed softly at myself. The woman standing outside a fertility clinic smiling at traffic probably looked slightly insane.

She wanted to be chosen. “Then tell me the truth,” she said, and the charm in her palm pressed harder, as if it sensed she was about to walk into danger. “If I accept second wife, what happens to me when the heir is born? Does she rule? Does she command? Do I just… stand there and smile while my place shrinks until I can’t breathe?” Rowan’s silence stretched, and in it she heard the soft scrape of someone’s sandals far away, the distant echo of voices from the bonding grounds. No one was near enough to intervene. That made this moment feel privately lethal.

"Why? You don't want us to be friends?" "I don’t want to!" My forehead creased. "But why?!" I ask him a bit confuse. "Your my wife Mara. I don't want to be friends with you. I want more than that!" I suddenly felt my heart beat faster. "But we've tried that before. And look where it lead us." "Mara... wife..." he pleaded. I disagree. "No Maru. I don't want to go back to that process again. Now there is no other value in my life but Baby Tanya. "