MARRIED BY MISTAKE

She never meant to become his wife. Aria Hale had only stepped into the marriage registry to deliver her sister's documents. Yet somehow, she walked out as the legal wife of Leon Mercer-the city's most ruthless billionaire. One signature. One mistake. One furious husband determined to make her regret it. "You trapped me," he growls, ice lacing every word. "You'll pay for this." But Aria isn't who he thinks she is. She carries secrets he could never imagine-an identity carefully hidden, a fortune he never suspected, and a strength that refuses to break under his cruelty. He assumes she's a gold-digger. She lets him believe it. When he insists she stay until the divorce is finalized, she agrees-but only because she has her own plans. And then he notices. The way she never begs. The subtle power in her laughter. The way other men glance at her... and how his chest tightens in ways he can't explain. By the time the truth comes crashing down-when he finally discovers who she really is-it's too late. Aria is gone. Now the hunter becomes the hunted. The billionaire married the wrong woman by mistake. And losing her will be his greatest regret.

Chapters

Chapter 1

It never occurred to Aria Hale that her sister's wedding day would end with her own marriage license. Pushing through the glass doors of the New York City Marriage Bureau, she held the manila envelope to her chest. Immediately, chaos erupted: clerks yelling names, couples yelling over paperwork, and phones ringing nonstop. A bride in a discolored white gown was yelling at her groom about his mother while a baby cried close to the fountain.

Aria wanted to disappear-one job. Deliver the documents. Leave. Invisible, like always. "Next!" a clerk barked, waving impatiently from behind the scratched plexiglass. Aria stepped forward. "Hi, I'm here to-" "Name?" "I'm not-" "NAME?" "Aria Hale. I'm just delivering-"Ariana Hale!" Her stomach dropped.

"No, that's my sister. I'm Aria, not-" "You responded to the name. Good enough." The clerk shoved a clipboard through the slot. "Fill this out. Your groom's already twenty minutes late. If he doesn't show in ten, you forfeit your slot."

"But I'm not getting married!" Aria's voice cracked. The clerk finally glanced up, expression neutral. "Everyone's nervous, honey. Just breathe and sign when he arrives." Aria checked her phone. Nothing. No texts. No calls. Just a curt message from her sister: ARIANA: Emergency. Can't make it. Leave the papers. Thanks! No apology. No explanation. Just an order.

She typed and erased responses she would never send while her fingers lingered over the screen. After twenty-four years of being forgotten, invisible, and cleaning up other people's messes, she was rewarded with a room full of strangers who couldn't even pronounce her name correctly. The doors burst open.

Every head turned. A man walked in like a storm given human form. Broad shoulders, dark hair, grey eyes, sharp enough to pierce steel. Leon Mercer. Billionaire. CEO. The man her sister was supposed to marry.

He stopped in front of her. "You're late." Aria opened her mouth. Closed it. Wrong person. Wrong sister. Wrong everything. "Save it. Let's get this over with." He grabbed her elbow. Warm. Firm. Unyielding. Trapped. "Wait, you don't-" "Ariana Hale and Leon Mercer!" The clerk slid the papers across. "Sign now." Her hand shook. She looked down at the certificate. Aria Hale. Not Ariana. Not her sister. Her own name.

She froze. Her heart pounded in her chest. "Sir, I think-" "Think later. Sign now."

His Patek Philippe gleamed in the overhead light as he checked his watch. Aria's mind raced. Run? Scream? Call her parents? But who would believe her? Who would take her side when she had just signed the papers herself? Her hand moved on its own. Aria Hale.

The pen scratched across the page. The clerk stamped it with a heavy thump. "Congratulations. You're married." Time slowed. Every sound dulled. Leon's grey eyes lifted to hers. Cold. Furious. Ice. "You're not Ariana." "I tried to tell you-" "You signed." He held up the certificate. "Aria Hale."

With a low voice that cut like a knife through the chaos, he said, "You trapped me.". "You will regret this every day until I am free of you. Aria had a burning throat. She was on the verge of tears, but she held back.

Not here. Not now. "I didn't trap you. You didn't even look at what you were signing." He ignored her. Shoved the certificate into his jacket. His other hand gripped her wrist-not cruel, not gentle, just possessive. "You're coming with me," he said, phone pressed to his ear. "Lawyer. Meet me now." Outside, a black Mercedes waited.

The driver already held the door. Aria's mind raced. She could run. She could scream. She could call her family-but who would listen? Who would believe her? She looked at Leon. The fury simmered beneath his controlled exterior. The man hated her. And legally, she was now his wife. The door closed.

She felt the smooth, cold leather against her back. She took a sharp breath. "Go. The harsh, blinding sunlight hit her face. She caught a glimpse of herself in the window's tint. Aria Hale. Not Ariana. Nobody's second choice. She had recently unintentionally wed a billionaire who hated her. She also didn't know how she would survive what was about to happen.

Continue to next part

On the night of their lavish tenth anniversary gala, Chloe’s world shatters when her billionaire husband, Oliver, publicly proposes to his mistress. Humiliated before the elite, Chloe realizes her years of devotion were built on lies. Fueled by betrayal, she decides to reclaim her dignity and fortune. As she navigates a high-stakes divorce against a powerful man, Chloe must rediscover her strength and find a love that is actually real.

Billionaire Modern Romance

8.5

Bearing His Heir to Destroy Him

8.5

After a night of unexpected passion, Sarah discovers she is pregnant with the child of her family's greatest rival, a cold-hearted billionaire. Driven by a desire to avenge her fallen household, she decides to use the unborn heir as a pawn in her high-stakes game of retribution. As she infiltrates his world, Sarah must balance her maternal instincts against her thirst for revenge, hoping to dismantle his empire from the inside out.

Billionaire Modern Romance

8.7

Bound By Debt: The Billionaire's Captive

8.7

On her eighteenth birthday, Elinor thought she was finally an adult. But a single text message reminded her she was just property. Boyd Walker, the ruthless billionaire who dictated her every breath, threw a contract onto her bed. He had bought her adoptive father's medical debt—one billion dollars. And she was the sole collateral. The punishment for even a hint of rebellion was catastrophic. When her disabled friend tried to check on her, Boyd had his good leg shattered in front of a live security feed just to teach her a lesson. When she fought off an entitled frat boy at school and came back with a bleeding arm, Boyd didn't comfort her. Driven by a twisted, suffocating jealousy, he held her under a freezing bath, then tied a red thread with a silver bell around her ankle. "You are a pet that needs to learn its boundaries." Every time she moved, the high-pitched ring was a humiliating reminder of her gilded cage. The billion-dollar debt was a chain she could never break, and the monster holding the leash would destroy anyone who dared to help her. Stripped of her money, her friends, and her dignity, Elinor lay completely still in the dark room for three days, refusing all food and water. If Boyd wouldn't give her freedom, she would take the only thing she had left to control—her own death.

Billionaire Modern Romance

7.9

Bound By The Legacy Pact: My Protector

7.9

The crystal chandeliers of the Plaza Hotel screamed money, framing the wedding of Chelsea Grimes and Julian Davidson as the ultimate corporate merger. But as the officiant prepared to unite two of the city's most powerful dynasties, the heavy double doors didn't just open-they exploded inward. Gideon Combs stood in the wreckage, a man in a frayed trench coat and grime-caked boots, looking like a stain on a pristine canvas. He wasn't there to object; he was there to enforce a "Legacy Pact," coldly informing the bride that her debt to a dead man hadn't been fulfilled and she didn't get to walk away. In seconds, the ballroom turned into a butchery as Gideon dismantled elite bodyguards with nothing but a broken wine bottle, eventually sending the groom flying into a tower of shattering champagne glass. When the military arrived, the room expected a firing squad, but instead, a four-star General snapped a sharp salute to the "vagrant," calling him a national asset. My family, the Singletons, saw this as a threat rather than a salvation; when I chose to stand by Gideon, my own grandmother stripped me of my keys, my cards, and my inheritance, casting me out into the pouring rain. I couldn't wrap my head around why the world's most powerful men trembled at the mention of Gideon's mentor, or what secret was etched into the black iron ring on his finger. I had traded my billionaire lifestyle for a man who looked like a drifter but fought like a god, and I had no idea if he was my protector or my ultimate ruin. As we stood on the sidewalk with nothing but twelve dollars and the clothes on our backs, Gideon's phone buzzed with a half-million-dollar bounty already active on the dark web. He didn't flinch; he just looked at the shadows closing in and whispered. "Game on."

Billionaire Modern Romance

8.4

His Ex-Wife Came Back-Stronger

8.4

"Listen, I'm tired of this marriage. We only got married because I needed a wife to secure my CEO position, and now that it's settled, you're not useful to me anymore." My husband, Dale, said to my face, nothing close to guilt flashing in his expression. And that was when I knew... I really was nothing to him. With tears in my eyes, I signed the divorce papers and left. Left his house. Left his family. Left his life. But not without a promise to myself. A promise that no matter what, I would come back. I would come back stronger. The nobody they see me as, will come back as somebody. Somebody they'd all need. ....... Chloe Dave thought life loved her when she got married to Dale Beldson, the hottest man on earth and her long crush. That was proven wrong, when what was supposed to be a happy marriage, turned to a depressing one, with a husband that rarely acknowledged her existence. Still, she held on to the hope that if he'd chosen to marry her, there'd be something in there. Some emotions in there. That died the moment his bestfriend, Nora framed her for laundry and attempted murder, and he chose to believe Nora over her. Even after all her pleas, he still refused to give heed to her. He saw her as a nobody. His family saw her as one. That was when Chloe vowed to come back and shock the world. Shock Dale Beldson, her ex-husband.

Billionaire Modern Romance

7.7

Lies, Betrayal, And The Baby I Hid Away

7.7

I stepped into our penthouse for my baby shower, caressing my eight-month bump, expecting balloons and laughter. But instead of joy, I found my husband, Michael, cradling a newborn that wasn't ours. Beside him sat his assistant, Serena, looking far too comfortable. Michael looked me dead in the eye, his expression cold and flat, and introduced the infant as his firstborn son. They didn't apologize. Instead, Serena mocked my high-risk pregnancy, calling me a mere "incubator" for the spare heir. When I demanded they leave, Serena shoved me. I hit the floor hard, screaming in agony as pain ripped through my belly. But Michael didn't help me. He stepped over my convulsing body to comfort her, accusing me of being dramatic. He walked out with his new family, leaving me bleeding alone on the nursery floor. Lying in the hospital later, I overheard Michael on the phone. He wasn't worried. He laughed, revealing his plan to use my family's connections for his IPO before divorcing me and taking full custody of my child. He didn't love me. He only wanted the heir. That was the moment the old Olivia died. I knew I had to deny him the only thing he truly wanted. I wiped my tears, touched my stomach where my son was still kicking, and made a decision that would sever us forever. I told my lawyer to deliver a simple message to Michael. "Tell him the baby didn't make it."

Billionaire Modern Romance

MARRIED BY MISTAKE

Chapter 1

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