A Contract Marriage With My Boss
His Unwanted Wife, The Hidden Genius
I flew back to New York on my twenty-fifth birthday, carrying vintage gold cufflinks I spent weeks finding for my billionaire husband, Declan. But when I walked into our townhouse, I found him throwing a massive victory party with Sloane, a glamorous socialite, standing by his side as the proud hostess. "Don't cause a scene. Go upstairs." Declan coldly dismissed me in front of his guests. Even Poppy, the rookie player whose shattered ankle I had painstakingly rebuilt, rolled her eyes and ignored me to suck up to Sloane. Hiding in the shadows, I heard the maids gossiping that everyone thought Sloane was the future Mrs. Hartford. To make matters worse, I discovered Sloane had stolen my anonymous, groundbreaking medical algorithm and was planning to present it as her own. First my husband, then the girl I mentored like family, and now the scientific foundation I had built with my own hands. Declan even texted me to cancel our birthday breakfast without a single apology, treating me like an annoying afterthought. My tears vanished, replaced by a freezing clarity. I signed the divorce papers, leaving them on his desk with zero demands for his money. Then I packed my bags, booked a one-way ticket to Boston, and prepared to destroy them on the global stage.
Chapter 1
Aurelia Vance POV:
I had been married to Declan Hartford for three years.
Today was my twenty-fifth birthday, and I had flown back from Boston in secret, hoping for one quiet evening with my husband.
I'd spent a week carefully picking out a pair of gold cufflinks as a gift for my husband.
But the laughter spilling from the front door told me I was already too late: the woman who had taken my place at his side was already inside.
The heavy oak door swung open before I reached the porch. Three young players from the New York Titans, Declan's NHL franchise, stumbled out with crystal tumblers of scotch, laughing loudly. They barely glanced at me as they passed.
I stepped into the grand foyer. The heat hit me instantly,expensive champagne, roasted tenderloin, cigar smoke.
Dozens of people filled the double parlor: executives, scouts, wives in designer dresses.
In the center stood Declan, tall and broad in a bespoke charcoal suit. Beside him, laughing into his ear, was Sloane Whitfield, her backless silver dress catching the chandelier light. Her hand rested on his forearm like she belonged there.
Before I could take another breath, a blur of blonde hair darted past my elbow.
"Sloane!" Poppy Delacroix cried, throwing her arms around Sloane's slender waist. "You were completely right about the catering! This is literally the best victory party the team has ever had!"
Poppy is fourteen, a junior elite forward prospect.
I scouted her two years ago from a crumbling youth league, back when she was at her lowest.
Her parents had once shown me great kindness, and I knew they had already passed away, leaving her all alone in the world.
Declan and I adopted her together.
I rebuilt her shattered ankle with a custom rehabilitation plan.
I had always loved and cared for her as both a mother and a sister.
Now, she did not even glance in my direction.
Declan turned his head, his gaze sweeping over the crowd until his eyes locked onto mine. The easy grin on his sharp jaw vanished instantly. His brows drew together in a hard, irritated line.
He excused himself from Sloane, cutting through the throng of players with long, impatient strides.
"Aurelia," Declan said, stopping two feet in front of me. His voice carried zero warmth. "What are you doing here?"
My throat felt like sandpaper.
"I took the four o'clock flight from Boston," I whispered, clutching the strap of my bag until my knuckles turned white. "It is my birthday, Declan. I thought we could—"
"We are celebrating the division win," he cut in, his tone sharp enough to draw blood. "The board is here. The sponsors are here. Sloane spent four consecutive days coordinating this event so the organization could project stability."
He did not look at me. His gaze slid past my shoulder to the bar, like I was a waitress who had wandered into the wrong room.
"Don't cause a scene," he added quietly. "Go upstairs."
A soft, mocking murmur rippled through a cluster of players' wives standing near the grand staircase. Two women with platinum blowouts exchanged knowing glances over their flutes of Dom Pérignon.
"I didn't know," I said, my voice barely audible over the swelling music. "I am sorry."
I turned toward the staircase, my legs trembling beneath my wool trousers.
Near the landing, Poppy was adjusting her designer jacket in the hallway mirror.
"Poppy," I said softly, pausing beside her. "How is your ankle feeling after Thursday's third period? Did you complete the isometric sequence I sent?"
Poppy rolled her eyes, sighing loudly as she pulled out her phone.
"Aurelia, please, not right now," she muttered without looking at me. "Sloane is introducing me to a marketing director from one of our partners. I don't have time for your spreadsheets."
The dismissive edge in her voice hit me harder than Declan's coldness. I had stayed up until three in the morning reviewing her biomechanical scans while she was recovering from surgery, and now I was just an annoyance in the way of her social ascent.
I walked up the rest of the stairs and entered the primary suite—the massive, sterile bedroom allocated to me under our prenuptial agreement.
I sat on the edge of the mattress and pulled out the velvet box. The gold cufflinks gleamed under the bedside lamp, cold and useless.
Downstairs, cheers erupted. The sound vibrated through the floorboards.
I walked to the French doors overlooking the rear garden. Down on the illuminated patio, Sloane was directing two servers by an ice sculpture. Declan stood beside her, his head bent down as he listened to her speak, his hand casually brushing the small of her back.
They looked like the couple the city expected them to be.
My phone buzzed in my coat pocket. I pulled it out, hoping against hope.
It was an email notification.
"Happy Birthday, Aurelia. Remember that true science requires patience and solitude. You are meant for greater arenas than New York boardrooms. -Dr. Edmund Sterling."
My mentor at Harvard was the only person in the world who had remembered.
I typed a brief "Thank you, Professor" and shut off the screen.
Hours passed. The bass eventually quieted, replaced by the occasional clatter of glassware and slamming car doors. My throat burned with thirst.
At two in the morning, I padded downstairs in my stocking feet to fetch a glass of water from the butler's pantry.
As I rounded the corner near the service hallway, the voices of two newly hired catering maids stopped me dead in my tracks.
"Miss Whitfield is stunning," the first girl whispered, scraping dessert plates into a bin. "Mr. Hartford's girlfriend carries herself like royalty."
"A girlfriend?" the other asked, pausing. "But isn't Mr. Hartford rumored to be married? Is it inappropriate to be this close with Whitfield?"
"Married?Where did that come from? Even if there was one, they must have split long ago. I've worked three events here this month, and Miss Whitfield is the only woman hosting by his side. Everyone knows she's the future Mrs. Hartford."
I shrank back into the cold shadow of the archway, my blood turning to ice.
In the home where I held a legal marriage certificate, my presence had already been wiped clean.
A Contract Marriage With My Boss!
Serena has to accept her greedy father and evil stepmother's arrangement to marry a dying man, Matthew Harrington, in order to save her seriously ill grandmother. Everyone laughed at Serena, ridiculing her for becoming a widow at such a young age. But it didn't occur to those foolish people that aft
A Contract Marriage With My Boss
A marriage bound by a contract, and she obliged to accept it. He was her boss, and she was his secretary. She gave him everything he wanted, but her love was neglected, but when she decided to leave, he offered her a contract marriage to make her stay. But, someone occupied his heart, and he couldn
Contract Marriage With My Billionaire Boss
"We're friends," I said. Aaron smirked. "No, we're not." His hand slid to my waist, pulling me closer. "Friends don't kiss like this." And when he did-hard, claiming-I felt the lie unravel. "Or think about each other like this?" His voice dropped, dangerous. "Stop pretending, Venus. I feel it every
The Contract Marriage with my Arrogant Boss
In the corporate world, where everyone must struggle to be the best, Rachel Rodriguez is faced with the harsh reality of being a secretary for her new ruthless and inconsiderate billionaire boss, Oliver Harrington. The working relationship is one that transcends lust, luxury, and mysterious affairs
A Contract Marriage with My Professor
"Whether you like it or not, I'm going to marry you, Jillian," Sir Zach told me. His face was dead serious, as if he had already made up his mind. "What do you mean, marry me? Hey! Just because you're rich doesn't mean you can do whatever you want! There is no reason for me to marry someone like y
A Contract Marriage With My Nemesis
My fiancé always told me he loved me. But not long after our engagement, I woke up suffocating in the dark. He was pressing a pillow over my face, his eyes cold and dead, while my half-sister stood by watching with fake pity. They had orchestrated everything just to steal my trust fund. It all st
Marriage Contract with a Stripper
When billionaire tech mogul Alexander Grayson needs a wife to secure a life-changing business deal, he never expected to find the perfect candidate in a place like Club Eclipse-a high-end nightclub with a reputation for danger and allure. Olivia Monroe, a fiercely independent stripper with a heart o
Contracted Marriage with my Boss
How does it feel to have a drunkard as a father? Who snatches every dime you earn same as your mother? This is so for Vivian, a poor yet strong girl. Her father is a drunkard while her poor mother keeps the family going with the little earnings from her restaurant. And also sponsors her last child t
Marriage contract with a Paralytic
My name is Helen Fonseca, I am a young girl of the lower-middle class, recently graduated from high school and with the dream of studying nursing, but, my world changes radically when because of a serious illness in my mother, my father forces me to marry a man in a wheelchair; I do not know who he
Contract Marriage With A Baggage
Kiana's life became the true definition of chaos when she entered a contract marriage with the famous billionaire, Pierce Woods... It was a mutually beneficial contract but Kiana soon realized that she signed away her freedom and peace of mind. Kiana lost more than she could count within a short pe
Contract Marriage with Lucifer
"You have ten seconds to take your hand off my ass before I break your fingers."Jenny fired. "Feisty, I like that" Leonard Smith is a Billionaire Heir, spoilt right from childhood. He had Jenny, a crazy young lady... loose her job. Leo is locked out of his father's wealth until he gets married, h
Contract With My Billionaire Playboy Boss
"Come closer" Thomas said as he sat on his chair, his erect rod staring directly at me. I crawled on all fours to meet him and placed my hands in his thighs. "You know what to do, now get to work." I nodded my head like an obedient servant to her master and claimed him in my mouth. Mirabel Brook's
CONTRACT MARRIAGE WITH MY BILLIONAIRE EX
Synopsis Onika Orion, a self-made publicist and artist, is stunned when Nathan McAlison, the billionaire who broke her heart seven years ago, reappears in her life. Nathan, under pressure from his company's board to marry or lose his job, turns to Onika for help. Onika is deeply wounded by their p
Contract Marriage With My Billionaire-Ex
Arabella Carver always has things under control but finds out she isn't as lucky when everything comes crashing down. She is betrayed by her boyfriend, on the brink of eviction, and with her mother's life hanging by a thread, she's desperate for help. But as she tries to get the help she needs, only
Contract Marriage With My Secret Zillionaire Husband
My family went bankrupt overnight, leaving me to face a mountain of predatory debt. Instead of standing by my side, my billionaire fiancé's mother threw a five-million-dollar check on the marble table, demanding I take the money and disappear from her son's life forever. Meanwhile, my former socia
Contract Marriage with My Sassy Secretary
"Is it because of that ugly thing of a girl that you are pushing me away" Ava queried. "A single more bad word about her and I will hand your tooth over to you, she is mine..., ... and so is he mine" Kim said on entering the room" I swear I will make you pay, husband snatcher!" Ava shouted and left.
Contract Marriage With My Billionaire Wife
Nathalie Lancaster married mysterious Lucas to inherit her rightful wealth. Whereas Lucas Petrakis, the bad boy yet doting husband has only one aim now. He wants her heart and desires to claim Nathalie's body! "Where did he touch you? I want a truthful answer, Nathalie. Did he touch you here?" Luca
Marriage contract with my best friend
In a job interview at the museum, fate sets up an exciting twist in Ava's life. Amid uncertainties and apprehensions, an unexpected encounter brings forth a unique and transformative love. Overcoming challenges and disappointments, she discovers an extraordinary companion: her best friend and ex-bro
The Contract Marriage With My Professor
"Oh Vakla, are you ready? In fairness, your marriage is social even if it's only contractual... And... Guess what, I saw Professor Harris earlier at the hotel, he's handsome, who would have thought You're going to marry a famous Professor in our school and he's rich, that's why the wedding is so spe
Contract Marriage with My Billionaire Friend
Ailee offered a contract marriage to her best friend, Jason, when her fiancé left her for strange reasons, exactly one week before her wedding. Jason, who couldn't bear to see his friend's heart broken, voluntarily accepted the contract offered by Ailee. Even though the groom changed, Ailee's family
