The CEO's Unwanted Wife Strikes Back

From the back cover

For three years, I endured a freezing, arranged marriage with Julian Carlisle-Vance, foolishly hoping my childhood crush would eventually warm his heart.

But the moment his "friend" Seraphina called about a minor wrist ache, he abandoned me in our bed, rushing to her side and publicly flaunting his devotion online.

When I finally handed him the divorce papers, willing to walk away with absolutely nothing, he refused to sign.

Instead, he blackmailed me. He blocked the settlement for my younger brother's impending assault charges, using his freedom as leverage to force me into a sick ultimatum.

"The marriage stays on paper, but in private, you will be my mistress."

He wanted to strip me of my dignity, keeping me as a secret plaything while my own father conspired with Seraphina, putting my late mother's precious jadeite necklace up for auction just to punish my disobedience.

Julian even twisted a moment of my vulnerability, accusing me of secretly loving his dead brother, using that paranoid delusion as an excuse to ruthlessly degrade me.

I didn't understand why the man I loved hated me so much, or why my own family would sell my mother's soul to the highest bidder just to keep me leashed to a psychopath.

But when I saw my mother's necklace headlining the Sotheby's VIP preview, the suffocating despair inside me finally burned away into a cold, clear rage.

I wiped my tears and calmly began planning my appearance at the auction. They thought the necklace was a chain to bind me, but I was going to make it my weapon.