“That child is mine. And so are you,” he commanded, his viper-green eyes pinning her in place.

Grace couldn’t believe that he—Carlos Benjamin, her new CEO and eight years her junior—was the father of her unborn baby.

“You can go back to that deadbeat you call a husband, or you can come with me and have everything.”

=====

For the last five years of her marriage, Grace Preston, 32, believed she was broken. She couldn’t have a child, and her deadbeat husband, Charles, never let her forget it, calling her useless while she worked tirelessly to fund his failed acting career. He didn’t just break her spirit; he shattered her trust by cheating on her with her own sister.

Heartbroken, Grace fled to her office late one night, seeking solace at the bottom of a bottle. She wasn’t alone. A beautiful, blond-haired man was there, nursing his own wounds.

He never told her his name, but he offered her a night of oblivion. Fueled by whiskey and a desperate need for revenge, she gave in to her darkest desires, pulling the willing stranger into her web.

In her drunken haze, she thought, “If my husband can have his fun, then so can I.”

She never worried about protection, convinced she was barren. Until a month later, when a positive pregnancy test trembled in her hands. Grace Preston, the ‘barren’ wife, was pregnant.

In a single night, the stranger gave her what Charles couldn’t in five years.
Now Carlos has made his claim, pulling her into a world of immense power and lethal secrets. Will Grace escape her toxic marriage only to be trapped in this captivating young billionaire’s golden cage? Or is trading one prison for another a mistake that will cost her more than just her heart?


I was absorbed in reading a manuscript in my apartment when I heard Charles's phone ring from the next room. Since the pregnancy check-up recently, Carlos had insisted I work from home because it would be less exhausting for me. Since we'd been living separately, Charles had been staying at a nearby place, but today he'd stopped by to collect some of his things.


"Charles? Are you there?" I could hear Angela's voice through the thin walls as the call connected.


I heard Charles silently curse but force himself to respond with reluctance, "H—Hey, Mom, what's going on?"


"Thank goodness you picked up. I've been worried sick since you haven't reached out," Angela's voice carried clearly. "What's the matter, sweetheart? You haven't contacted me in quite a while. Are you having trouble at work?"


Chapter 184 - Chapter 184 A Lie of Ruin