The billionaire's discarded bride
Celia Rowan was never the daughter her parents loved.
When the Rowan family company faces collapse, they force her to marry billionaire heir Adrian Lancaster in her younger sister’s place. On her wedding night, Adrian is too drunk to notice the switch. He calls out her sister’s name while taking her innocence, and by morning everyone believes the same lie that Celia trapped her way into a marriage meant for someone else.
Branded a gold-digger by one family and a spare by the other, Celia lives for a year as an invisible wife in the Lancaster mansion. But when a final humiliation shatters the last hope in her heart, she leaves with nothing.
Soon after, she discovers she is pregnant with twins.
Six years later, Celia returns as the CEO of a luxury jewelry company, powerful enough to buy the very city that once looked down on her. She has come back for business, for divorce, and for closure. She has not come back for love.
But Adrian Lancaster is no longer the same cold man who let her suffer in silence. Their children carry his face. Her sister still wants to destroy her. And the marriage that began as a lie may become the one bond neither of them can cut cleanly.
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Chapter: Chapter 13 'Celia': The Green-eyed monsterThe office remained painfully silent long after Vanessa left.I kept my eyes on the documents scattered across Adrian's desk not daring to look up.And for some reason the whole desk was blurry. All I could think about was the way she had kissed his cheek.The way she had walked into his office without knocking.The way she had looked completely at home beside him.As if she belonged in his world perfectly well. Elegant, confident, absolutely stunning, the kind of beauty that makes one absolutely run mad. Women like Vanessa Hart didn't hesitate.Women like me did. "Celia."His voice broke through my thoughts.I looked up more quickly than I should. "What?""You've been staring at the same page for five minutes.""Oh."Heat crept into my cheeks."I was thinking.""I noticed."There was something strange in his tone.Almost amused.Embarrassingly, that only made me blush harder."I should go."I stood so quickly that my chair scraped loudly against the floor."I haven't finished."
Last Updated: 2026-06-30
Chapter: Chapter 12 : Celia 'The Woman in Red'For the next three days, I avoided Adrian Lancaster.Not because I wanted to.Nor because I was angry.Not because of anything he had done.I avoided him because I had finally become honest with myself.And the truth was humiliating.I was falling in love with my husband.The realization followed me everywhere.Into the kitchen, the garden, Eleanor's sitting room and even my dreamsEvery glance from him lingered too long.Every small kindness felt too important.Every conversation replayed in my head long after it ended.It was ridiculous.This marriage had begun with a lie.A mistake.A substitution.Adrian still believed I had stolen my sister's place.He still looked at me with suspicion sometimes.Yet my heart had chosen the worst possible moment to betray me.I hated it.Absolutely hated it."You're organizing that jewelry box upside down."I blinked.Across from me, Eleanor looked amused.I looked down.She was right.The earrings I had been sorting were now mixed again.Wonderf
Last Updated: 2026-06-18
Chapter: Chapter 11 : Celia 'The First Crack'The moment Adrian asked me what happened, the entire room went silent.For a second, I genuinely thought I had misheard him.Because in twenty-four years, nobody had ever asked for my version first.Not when Sienna broke Mother's favorite vase and blamed me.Not when Father accused me of losing an important contract.Not even on my wedding day.Everyone always decided I was guilty before I opened my mouth.Yet Adrian was looking at me now.Waiting for MY answer.The realization hit me so unexpectedly that my chest tightened."What happened?"His voice was calm.Controlled.But his eyes never left mine.Around us, the tension became unbearable.I could practically feel Sienna staring at me.Panicking.The way she always did whenever things stopped going according to plan."I didn't push her."My voice sounded strange to my own ears.Quiet but steady."I wasn't even near the staircase."Sienna immediately gasped.As though I'd slapped her."Celia!"Tears filled her eyes instantly.How c
Last Updated: 2026-06-18
Chapter: Chapter 10 : Celia 'The Fall'I knew that smile.I had spent my entire life learning what it meant.To everyone else, Sienna Rowan looked beautiful, sweet, delicate and innocent, like she could never hurt a fly.The kind of woman people instinctively wanted to protect.To me, that smile was a warning.A storm cloud.A lit match dropped into dry grass.Trouble.And somehow, she always managed to make it everyone else's fault."Celia."Her voice was warm.Too warm."I've been looking everywhere for you."I resisted the urge to laugh.Nobody looked for me.Not unless they wanted something.Eleanor seemed to notice my expression because she suddenly became very interested in a jewelry box.Traitor."I was helping Eleanor."Sienna's gaze shifted toward the emerald brooch resting on the table.Something flashed in her eyes.Gone so quickly I almost missed it.Then she smiled."Of course you were."The room suddenly felt smaller.Adrian was still standing beside me.Not close enough to touch.Close enough to matter.And
Last Updated: 2026-06-18
Chapter: Chapter 9 'Celia': The wrong kind of hopeI didn't answer immediately, The question caught me off guard that I wasn't sure on what to say. So the question just hung between us.Why did you agree to marry me?A year ago, I would have answered without hesitation.Because my family forced me.Because I had no choice.Because saying no had never changed anything.But standing in the kitchen at one in the morning, looking at Adrian across the counter, those answers suddenly felt incomplete.Not wrong.Just incomplete.Because somewhere along the way, things had changed.Or maybe I had.I looked away at first."My family needed the Lancaster deal."His gaze remained on me."That's all?"I swallowed hard.The answer should have been yes.Instead, something inside me tightened.Because that wasn't all.There had been another reason,A very stupid and childish one at thatOne I had never admitted to anyone.Not even myself.Before the wedding, before the deception, before everything went wrongI had seen Adrian Lancaster exactly twi
Last Updated: 2026-06-18
Chapter: Chapter 8 'Celia' : After MidnightI should have left.The sensible thing would have been to finish my tea, say goodnight, and return to my room.But I stayed instead, Maybe because the kitchen felt different from the rest of the mansion.Or maybe because Adrian felt different tonight.I wasn't sure which possibility unsettled me more.The silence stretched between us.It wasn't awkward or comfortable, Just... strange.The kind of silence that made me aware of every little thing.The ticking clock above the stove, The warmth of the teacup in my hands, The way Adrian's sleeves were rolled to his elbows, The way his dark hair had fallen slightly out of place.I quickly looked away.What was wrong with me?"You seem surprised."His voice startled me.I blinked."What?""That I defended you today."Straight to the point.Of course, he would be.I stared into my tea."I didn't say that.""You didn't have to."The honesty of the observation caught me off guard.For a moment, neither of us spoke.Then I sighed."Maybe I
Last Updated: 2026-06-15
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