CEO's Runaway Lover: My Cold Ex Begs For My Love Again
Four years ago, Madelynn accepted money from Caiden's family and vanished. She thought it was for the best-he would remain the untouchable heir while she faced her tough life alone.
When they met again, Caiden humiliated her in public, yet appeared when she was cornered by a difficult client, pulling her back into his life.
He forced her to stay as his lover, using her mother's medical bills as leverage, whispering, "What you owe me... you'll repay the same way."
Madelynn believed he despised her. Only after the accident, when he ran toward her before the explosion, did she understand-he never let go.
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Chapter 2
Madelynn's mother, Ellie Douglas, had been hospitalized for nearly three weeks this time.
By the time Madelynn pushed open the door that night, it was already close to ten. Ellie was still awake, leaning comfortably against the headboard, eyes glued to some dating show. A pile of pistachio shells littered the blanket around her.
"Why are you here this late?" Ellie glanced at the clock before turning to Madelynn. "Don't you have work in the morning?"
Madelynn didn't answer right away. She set a thermos down on the table and began cleaning up the mess on the bed. "You shouldn't be eating so many of these," she said. "They're not good for your throat."
Ellie shrugged, unconcerned. "Then bring me some lemon honey water tomorrow. That'll fix it."
Her eyes remained on Madelynn, her gaze sharpening as she took in her daughter's tired face. "You look worn out. Rough day at work?"
"No."
Ellie tilted her head. "Trouble with someone at the office?"
Madelynn replied, "Nothing like that."
A knowing look crept into Ellie's eyes. "Then you must have crossed paths with someone you didn't want to."
Madelynn's hands stilled at that.
Ellie lowered the TV volume with a quiet sigh. "Four years has passed," she murmured. "And every time you make that face, I know exactly why."
She knew the whole story of what had happened between Madelynn and Caiden four years ago.
"Mom, don't read into things," Madelynn said, though her tone lacked conviction.
Ellie arched an eyebrow. "Read into things? Just look at yourself. Your expression has given you away."
She paused for a second. Then, her voice softened. "Maybe I've been burdening you all these years."
Madelynn tossed the last of the shells into the bin, her tone turning flat. "If you keep saying things like that, I won't come tomorrow."
"Alright, I'll stop," Ellie said quickly, patting the space beside her. "Come sit for a while."
After a brief hesitation, Madelynn sat down. Ellie reached out and took her hands.
Ellie's fingers were thin and slightly misshapen from age, yet the warmth in her palms hadn't faded.
After a moment, she spoke again, more carefully this time. "How is he now?"
Madelynn's gaze dropped. "He's doing well," she said. Then, after a pause, added quietly, "Wealthier than before."
Ellie studied her in silence, her expression unreadable. She said after a long while, "Yet you are still wearing the same coat from years ago."
Madelynn had no answer.
"It hurts to see you like this," Ellie continued gently. "When you were with him, at least you didn't have to worry about money. But after the two of you separated... you've been living like this ever since."
"I'm really fine," Madelynn replied.
"Fine?" Ellie's tone sharpened slightly. "I saw your medical report. Stomach ulcer, low blood pressure, anemia... Joyce told me everything. She even said you're the one who should be in a hospital bed."
Madelynn fell silent.
Ellie squeezed her hands lightly, as if steadying herself before speaking again. "Actually... back then, someone from the Dawson family came to see me."
Madelynn's head lifted abruptly, her eyes widening in surprise.
"It happened during your third year at university," Ellie began slowly. "Your grandmother was in critical condition. You stayed at the hospital for a full week; your phone was turned off the entire time. During that period, a woman came to see me. She introduced herself as Caiden's mother. She said she would cover all the medical expenses on one condition. That you leave him."
Madelynn felt her chest tighten, her voice barely steady. "Why didn't you tell me back then?"
Ellie gave a bitter smile. "And what would that have changed? So you could confront the Dawson family? At the time, your grandmother needed surgery immediately, and we had no way to afford it. Your father was gone, and I... I couldn't carry everything on my own."
Her eyes turned red with tears. "If there's anyone I've wronged the most in this life, it's you."
Madelynn tightened her hold on Ellie's hands.
Memories surfaced unbidden—Caiden's expression from that year. The coldness, resentment, and disappointment on his face.
She hadn't tried to explain.
She couldn't.
What was she supposed to say? That his family had paid her off to walk away from him?
The sum had gone straight into the hospital, buying her grandmother two more years to live.
Even now, she couldn't decide whether that decision had been right.
All she knew was that she never wanted to see that look in Caiden's eyes again.
The next morning, Madelynn went to work. She stepped into the elevator and found Abby already inside.
Abby stood there in towering heels, dressed to impress, her presence announced by the overpowering scent of perfume. A brand-new designer tote hung from her arm, one Madelynn had noticed in a boutique before. It cost more than half a year's rent for someone like Madelynn.
Without even looking at Madelynn, Abby spoke while checking her reflection in the mirrored doors. "I heard you got rejected by the Dawson Group on the spot yesterday. That must've been embarrassing."
Madelynn remained silent.
Abby smirked faintly. "Honestly, I'm not surprised. People like you rely on appearances to get ahead. Once that doesn't work, there's nothing left but humiliation."
The elevator doors slid open.
Madelynn stepped out, her tone calm but cutting. "Instead of worrying about me, maybe focus on your own work. Your team has ranked last for three months straight, hasn't it?"
Abby's expression stiffened instantly, her face turning dark.
Later that morning, Madelynn was called into Danny's office.
The moment the door closed behind her, Danny sighed heavily. "Madelynn, how long have you been working under me now?"
"Four years," Madelynn replied.
"Four years," Danny repeated, shaking his head. "You've always been reliable—capable, steady, and good with clients. I've considered promoting you more than once. But what happened yesterday—"
"Mr. Willis, I'll take full responsibility for that," Madelynn interjected before he could continue.
Danny waved a hand, dismissing the idea. "No need for that. I know exactly what kind of person Louis is."
He paused, then added more seriously, "The real issue is that the Dawson Group still expects an explanation."
Madelynn didn't respond.
Danny opened a drawer, took out an envelope, and slid it across the desk toward her.
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8.0
Elva used a spare key card to quietly enter the hotel penthouse, only to find her boyfriend of two years panting heavily on the king-sized bed with her own cousin.
Instead of showing remorse, her cousin shamelessly mocked her background, while her ex aggressively lunged at her to destroy the photographic evidence she had just captured.
"You think you can just walk away? Warren already made the deal. By next week, you're being shipped off to marry that fifty-two-year-old crippled freak from the Ramirez family!"
Her ex spat the words to threaten her, and the nightmare only escalated when Elva returned to her uncle's estate, where Warren confirmed he was indeed selling her off for a business connection.
Her family eagerly joined the abuse, threatening to permanently freeze her late mother's trust fund and even plotting to secretly drug her morning milk so she couldn't fight back when the groom's family arrived.
They looked at her like a pathetic, orphaned burden they could bleed dry, fully expecting her to drop to her knees, cry, and accept her miserable fate without a single word of defiance.
But they had no idea that just hours ago, Elva had already signed a marriage certificate with Bronson Ramirez, the undisputed billionaire king of the dynasty, and she was stepping into the living room ready to watch their greedy world burn.
8.7
Brought back from a humble life in Montana, Nora found out she was the true biological heiress of the ultra-wealthy Beaumont family.
But her biological parents didn't love her; they loved the fake daughter, Olivia, much more.
The moment she arrived, her father pushed an engagement termination agreement across his massive desk, forcing her to give up her wealthy fiancé so Olivia could have him.
Her mother looked at her with pure disdain.
"You should know your place. Don't reach for things that were never meant for you."
To break her spirit, they moved her into a cramped, dusty servant's room. They even ordered the butler to feed her cold kitchen scraps and gristle.
They wanted to humiliate her, to make her feel like a piece of trash rather than a daughter.
They expected her to cry, to beg, and to be absolutely crushed by the realization that her own flesh and blood saw her only as a liability to their reputation.
They thought the country girl would easily fold under their united front of cruelty.
But Nora felt no sting of betrayal, only the calculating clarity of a chess player.
She calmly signed the paper, pulled out the Beaumont family trust rules, and looked them dead in the eye.
"Since I am the legal heir, I demand what belongs to me. I'm taking the master bedroom."
9.3
My father ordered me to marry into the cursed Vaughn family.
Their heirs were rumored to die young from a mysterious genetic agony. My sister Kayden laughed, saying she wasn't going to waste her youth planning a funeral. So, I became the sacrificial lamb.
When I refused, my father slammed his hand on the table and threatened to throw my dead mother's ashes into the city dump.
"You are a struggling actress with no money and no power. You have no choice," he told me coldly.
To make matters worse, my own agent drugged my drink at a business dinner, trying to sell my body to a sleazy investor just to secure project funding.
I was completely cornered, suffocating under the weight of their cruelty. I couldn't understand how my own flesh and blood could be so vicious, treating me like a worthless pawn to be traded and discarded.
But none of them knew that while escaping the drug-laced dinner, I crashed directly into the terrifying Vaughn heir, Algot.
When his glowing crimson eyes locked onto me during a violent episode of his cursed pain, we discovered an impossible truth: my physical touch was the only cure for his agony.
Looking at the dark bruises he accidentally left on my neck, I chose not to run. Instead, I pulled out the private business card he gave me and dialed his number.
"You need me," I whispered to the dangerous billionaire. "And I am going to use you to destroy them all."
8.9
For three years, Alana acted as the sole tactical brain for the Dawnbreaker squad, keeping them alive despite being labeled a useless "Dud" Conduit.
But right before the crucial Ascension Trials, squad leader Cash handed her a corporate sponsorship contract. The condition? She had to become the "private companion" to a greasy corporate heir just so the squad could get high-tier gear.
When she refused, the teammates she had bled for unanimously voted to kick her out.
"You're just window dressing, a liability."
They revoked her safehouse access, burned her belongings, and the academy advisor even tried to force her into a state-sanctioned breeding program. They left her to freeze in the slums, betting she would desperately crawl into the rich man's bed.
What they didn't know was that her inability to summon an Eidolon wasn't a lack of talent. Her teammate Dallin had been secretly sabotaging her rituals for years, crippling her potential just to keep her chained as their free tactician.
Stripped of everything and pushed to the absolute brink, Alana's despair morphed into a deadly resolve.
Using a million-credit black market loan and a forbidden blood matrix, she forcibly anchored an Apex-Tier cosmic wolf disguised as a harmless silver pup.
When her ex-squad tried to publicly humiliate her and burn her new "pet" alive in the cafeteria, a flash of silver light severed Dallin's hand instantly.
Looking at her screaming former teammates, Alana finally smiled.
7.9
On my wedding day, my fiancé Connor received an urgent phone call.
He told me a D-list actress had broken her leg on set, then abandoned me right at the altar.
In my past life, I cried until my throat bled, begging him not to leave.
But my tears only brought endless humiliation. My mother and adopted sister mocked me, framed me, and forged my signature to steal my multi-million dollar trust fund.
They kicked me out of the family estate without a single dime.
I ended up freezing to death in the minus-twenty-degree New York blizzard, listening to my mother's voicemail telling me to die in the street as long as I didn't bleed on her carpets.
Until my last breath, I couldn't understand why my own blood relatives hated me so much, yet treated an adopted daughter like a precious princess.
The only person who showed me any mercy—draping his wool coat over my frozen corpse and giving me a proper burial—was Connor's ruthless, untouchable uncle, Harding Snow.
Opening my eyes again, I was back in the bridal suite, right as Connor was rushing out the door.
This time, I didn't shed a single tear.
I let him run to his actress, then walked straight into the VIP room to face the most feared billionaire on Wall Street.
"The wedding proceeds as planned, but the groom's name changes to yours."
9.3
For five years, I was Ashton Miller's invisible partner, his loyal fiancée, pouring my life into building his empire from the shadows. Tonight, the Bronze Deer exhibition, my masterpiece, was finally opening at the Met, a testament to our shared future.
Then, Bianca, a third-tier actress, stepped into the spotlight in *my* custom Vera Wang wedding dress. My blood ran cold as Ashton's arm circled her waist, his whispered words promising to make her the "new queen of the city."
Five years of trust and sacrifice crumbled. I was a blood bag, drained and discarded. When I publicly exposed their lies, Ashton cornered me backstage, his face twisted in fury, threatening to ruin me, to blacklist me forever. I ripped off his engagement ring, tossing it at his chest. "We're done," I said, walking out as his enraged screams echoed.
The man whose empire I secretly built called me a parasite, his mistress feigning tears, painting me as delusional. My guilt vanished, replaced by freezing, absolute hatred for the man who twisted reality to erase my existence.
Standing in the New York rain, I finally pulled out the military-grade encrypted phone hidden for five years. The line clicked open instantly, a low, gravelly voice asking, "Is it you?" Before I could answer, Archer's voice hardened: "Give me the location. I'll be there in ten minutes. Who touched you? I want his life."