THE CEOS UNEXPECTED BRIDE SHORT STORY

Modern

Twenty minutes before the "Wedding of the Century" at The Plaza, I stood outside the Presidential Suite in a fifty-thousand-dollar Vera Wang gown. I was the girl from a West Virginia trailer park about to marry Hugh Maxwell, the golden heir to a billion-dollar defense empire. I pushed the door open only to find Hugh pinned against the bed with my own stepsister, Floy. She was wearing my bridal diamond necklace, and the sounds of their laughter scraped against my eardrums like sandpaper. I didn't scream; I listened as Hugh grunted that once the wedding was over and the trust fund unlocked, he'd dump "that hillbilly trash" on a bus back to the mountains. They weren't just cheating; they were planning to steal my family's land deeds and leave me with nothing. When I set off the sprinklers and exposed their naked bodies to the paparazzi, the Maxwell family didn't apologize. They called me a "greedy peasant" and threatened to ruin my life unless I signed a new deal to save their crashing stock. I realized then that I was never a bride to them. I was a transaction, a rounding error in a ledger to be used and discarded. They thought my poverty made me weak and my silence made me a victim. "If we don't have a marriage certificate by midnight, the bank freezes thirty percent of our liquidity," their lawyer warned. So, I gave them exactly what they wanted. I used a loophole in their hundred-year-old family covenant and married the only other direct heir available. I didn't marry Hugh. I walked into the ICU and married his uncle, Fleet Maxwell-the legendary war hero who had been in a vegetative state for months. Now, I am the matriarch of the Maxwell dynasty. I've suspended Hugh's executive powers, exiled my mother-in-law to the Swiss Alps, and taken control of the family vault. They think I'm just a gold-digger waiting for a "corpse" to die so I can collect a fifty-million-dollar widow's payout. But last night, as I lay beside my comatose husband, the man they called a vegetable gripped my hand back.

Romance

Alexander Grant, the 27-year-old CEO of Grant Enterprises, believed his life was perfect-an empire at his feet and a stunning fiancée by his side. But just 24 hours before their lavish wedding, his fiancée walked away, leaving him heartbroken and humiliated. With no other options, Alexander turned

Billionaires

Hera, a mother of one, started a new life after an overwhelming past. Her past wasn't just called a past for nothing and despite how far she tried to hide it or not let it show her in her day-to-day work, it still found a way to broadcast itself. Despite all the pressure she faced, she remained str

Werewolf

Rumor is circulating that the fiancée of **Mr. Darcy** is a young woman from the countryside, without much education and with an ordinary physique. However, during the big banquet, Clara appears and surprises everyone. "Trinity? Not at all!" "It is said that the most prominent celebrity in the cou

Adventure

18+ "My heart craves for you, like a fish on land craves water" "You can't have but for the child you carry, let's pretend like you can" Katherine, a 24-year-old college student, experiences a one-night stand with no strings attached. Little does she know that this encounter will soon turn her li

Billionaires

His soft lips pressed and nibbled down on her neck. His breathe rugged and hot against her soft skin which seems to make her melt and shudder under him. " You're mine Ruby. I don't care how long it will take for you to realise it, but you're mine...and mine alone" he said the words to her...the wor

Romance

My wedding day. Hundreds of guests, media vans outside. The Sterling family chapel, hushed, expectant. I was finally marrying Jackson Sterling, scion of a powerful political dynasty, the man I’d loved since childhood. It was meant to be my perfect happily ever after. Then he walked in. Not alone. A

Romance

Emma Livingston never thought she would end up in an arranged union. The twenty-four-year-old fashion and event planner, who just finished her master's programme, is heartbroken to learn that her father has signed her up to wed 30-year-old billionaire barrister Liam Henderson in order to pay off his

Adventure

Murder in the Graveyard

Romance

Ariana Mason lives with her Uncle and Aunt. She is a 21-year-old student who knows nothing about her actual parents. Her day starts like any other day except for one thing. Her aunt Helen sold her to a 40 years old businessman. His goons were chasing her for their boss as she was running in an aband

Romance

My wedding day was supposed to be the happiest day of my life, but I found myself tied to a chair in a dark, moldy basement, a burlap sack ripped from my head. The kidnapper held my phone, reading my fiancé Ethan Riley' s name, demanding a thirty-million-dollar ransom. Desperate, I called Ethan, bu

Romance

Astral finds herself given in marriage to a very wealthy billionaire, despite her protest. Not only that, her true and real identity was hidden. Why? She was given to just an ordinary billionaire, but to her family's greatest enemy who despised her mere existence. How come? Finding herself in a cage

Romance

I don't care if you no longer love me.All I care about is that I truly love you and all I want is for you to be mine even if you don't want me to be yours. I will win you back,Kendall. I will make you love me again. I will make you fall for me again. And this time I will never hurt you nor let y

Romance

It was my 30th birthday, and I was all set to propose to Sarah, my girlfriend of five years, at the fanciest restaurant in the city. I had the ring, the perfect table, and a future all planned out. But as I waited, she walked in, not alone, but with another man – her colleague. And then, in a devas

Romance

There's a story behind every person. There's a reason why they're the way they are. They aren't just like that because they want to. Something in the past created them, and sometimes it's impossible to fix them. Everly Adams has a different story than most teenagers would like to admit. She's stepp

Romance

Tonight was supposed to be the happiest night of my life, my engagement party to Alex Turner at the grand St. Regis ballroom. He was handsome, the heir to a fortune, and I had loved him for three years. As he reached for the ring, a woman stumbled in, disheveled and crying. "Alex!" she wailed,

Werewolf

Alpha Atticus is impersonating his late friend Duke Paul Alexander as they promised each other to take care of their beloved in case something bad happened to one of them. But the alpha didn't expect to find his fated mate to the woman betrothed to Prince Philip, the real duke's nephew. Alpha Attic

Billionaires

"Marry me, or face the consequences," he growled. Megan's nails dug into her palms, fury simmering beneath her fear. How dare he? How dare this arrogant billionaire claim a child he never wanted? "My family is bloodthirsty, Megan. They'll take the baby-with or without you." Her heart slammed agai

Literature

The Best Short Stories of 1921 and the Yearbook of the American Short Story by Various

Literature

Short Story Classics (American) Vol. 2 by Various

Billionaires

I woke up in a hospital bed after a brutal car crash. I had a powerful fiancé, Crawford Pierce, and a revolutionary project that was my life's work, set to merge our two family empires. The first words I heard were from my stepsister, Brittany, telling me she was pregnant with his child. "I'm so s