Drugged, Jilted, Now A Billionaire's Wife

the altar for another woman, a manipu

a divorce but delivered the final, cruel blow th

ed a proxy marriage with a comose billion

pte

Hollow

ay wasn't at the altar. It was on the hospital

t monitor beside me. The last thing I remembered was the pristine white of my Vera Wang gown p

er's phone

y' flashing in stark, angry letters. He was the CEO of our tech company, a man used t

he'd said, his

. We'd been here before. This same emergency, this same woman

years ago-a failure I had pulled him out of, piece by painful piece. She was a master manipulator, a cuckoo in our

he'd said, his eyes avoiding mine. "It'

eticulously manicured nails dug into the fine fabric of his

ee: a fragile victim he was duty-bou

slap in the face. The charisma he showed the worl

gged, my voice cracking. "Just ten minutes. Let's say our vo

r made, a final, desperate grasp at the

with impatience. Annoyance. He pried

, the heel of my Jimmy Choo catching on the edge of the plush rug. The world tilted, a dizzying spiral of white silk and sha

, no

as my window to the world. A news anchor was breathlessl

chyron read, "after successfully talking down a

of Kimberley Riley. She was nestled against his chest, her face buried in his neck, her sobs wrac

her s

man he'd left uncon

ral Park, the diamond on my finger catching the afternoon sun. "Estella Holloway," he'd sworn, his voice thick

as a bitter ac

se, standing up to the bullies who tormented me for my braces and thic

York with me, because my mother was sick and I couldn't leave. "You'

y my hospital bed for a week straight, reading to me, holding

He'd thrown himself over me, shielding me with his own body as metal and sparks rained down. He'd walked away with a gash on his back that required thi

I held him through night terrors, managed our finances, and single-handedly kept our new com

headquarters. "We did it, Stel," he'd said, his eyes shining with unshed tears. "I swear to you, from this day fo

song. The vows he'd written himself, which he'd read to me a hundred times, e

up to his. He wiped away her tears with his thumb, hi

nal struggles, suffers from a severe form of abandonment anxiety, triggered by high-stress situations. Her love for Mr.

t like it was being squeezed in a vise, eac

o my room

e looked exhausted, but the relief on his face was palpable.

s voice raspy. "I'm

n afterthought, a

m, laced with a terrible, misplaced guilt. "The doctors... they've given her a month. A

terminal illness

, his voice dropping to a nea

hout any physical impact. The words h

nt me a temporary

r whom I had sacrificed everything. The beeping of the heart moni

can't sleep unless I'm on the phone with him," she'd purr, her eyes glittering with malice. I'd told myself I was being paranoid. I

my face, "we'll get married again. I swear. Nothing will change. My heart is

but they were hollow, meaningless ech

ense it had become a void, a black

elf say, my voice a

't expected this... this utter capitulation. He didn't understand that he

ed out a folded document. A divorce agre

, his relief making him seem small

ng the papers on the bedside table,

. It was my father. I let it ring, but it immediately

You let that man publicly humiliate our family? I told you your only job was to sec

ategic asset. A tool for merging the Holloway f

ve in me for Jasper suddenly materialized for this m

my voice eerily steady.

oolish girl, do you have any i

t hi

ing root in the barren wasteland of my heart

s rage. And in that silence, I made a new vow. Not to a m