Betrayed, I Become The CEO'S Contracted Bride

For three years, I was the unrecognized genius bleeding for Marcus’s empire. On the night he was crowned the city's youngest billionaire tycoon, I stood in the shadows, waiting for the proposal he promised. Instead, I watched him pull my treacherous step-sister onto the stage, sliding a six-carat diamond onto her finger while presenting my life’s work as their joint masterpiece.

When I confronted him, his sneer was dripping with disgust: 'You belong hidden in a sterile lab, Elara. She belongs in the spotlight. Know your place.'

​Stripped of my legacy, my reputation, and my dignity, I was discarded in the freezing rain. That was where the bulletproof Maybach found me.

​Alexander Thorne. The ruthless tyrant of the business world. An apex predator who viewed human emotion as a disease—and the only man with the power to crush Marcus overnight.

He rolled down the window, his gaze lethal.

'I need a brilliant doctor to keep my sister breathing, and a wife who knows how to submit in public. You need a weapon. Get in.'

The contract was absolute: Two years of marriage, total obedience before the cameras, and absolute silence regarding his family. In exchange, he would grant me the unimaginable wealth and power to destroy the parasites who ruined me.

​Marcus thought he had buried a pathetic, obedient lab rat. Alexander thought he had bought a desperate, easily controlled doctor. As I signed the marriage certificate and became the untouchable Mrs. Thorne, they both failed to realize one fatal truth.

I didn't just want my research back. I was going to burn their empire to the ground.

The Grand Ballroom at the Celestine Hotel was packed wall to wall with the best minds in pharmaceutical research. Crystal chandeliers hung from the vaulted ceiling, casting warm light across round tables draped in white linen. Elara Vance sat at table twelve, her hands folded in her lap beneath the tablecloth where no one could see them shake.

She wore a silk emerald dress that she had bought three weeks ago specifically for tonight.

Tonight, when they would announce the lead scientist behind the Aethelgard Formula. Tonight, when three years of her life would finally mean something.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the MC said from the stage, his voice booming through the sound system. "It is my distinct honor to present this year's Golden Gala Award for Excellence in Pharmaceutical Innovation."

Elara's heart hammered against her ribs. She gripped the edge of the table.

"The lead scientist behind the groundbreaking Aethelgard Formula, which promises to revolutionize the treatment of degenerative neural conditions, is..." He paused for effect. The room held its breath.

Elara leaned forward.

"Dr. Isabella Cross!"

The words hit her like a physical blow. She sat frozen in her chair as applause erupted around her. The world tilted sideways. Her vision blurred at the edges.

No.

That wasn't right.

The people at her table were clapping around her but the sound felt distant, muffled, like she was underwater.

Dr. Isabella Cross