THE DIVORCE GAMBIT From Dumped Wife to CEO's Forever novel Chapter 1

"Let's get divorced! I married you only to fulfill my grandfather's dying wish. The only woman I love is Sophie."

"Julian, I love you. If I lose you, I'll die."

"Then go ahead and die!"

"..."

Caitlin Kensington jolted awake, her forehead damp with cold sweat. She was gasping, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath.

The room was enormous.

Everything in it—from the gilded ceiling to the marble floors—looked like something out of a palace.

Staring at the unfamiliar surroundings, Caitlin froze for a moment. What was happening? Wasn't she… dead?

Before she could make sense of it, a torrent of memories that didn't belong to her crashed into her mind. Again and again, she saw a man's eyes filled with nothing but disgust, and a woman kneeling on the floor, begging desperately not to be abandoned.

It took nearly fifteen minutes before Caitlin could sort out what had happened.

No mistake about it.

She had come back to life.

The body she now occupied belonged to someone with the same name—Caitlin Kensington—a girl from a rural town with no family to speak of. Her parents were a mystery. As a newborn, she had been left on the side of the road and found by an old man who raised her as his own, though they shared no blood.

Six months ago, Caitlin had married into the illustrious Chandler family, one of the most powerful dynasties in Silverhaven. Overnight, the farm girl became a socialite—envied by women across the city.

But the story of how this ordinary girl married into wealth began a year earlier.

One year ago, the original Caitlin had seen Jarvis Chandler in the throes of a seizure, fallen into the river. She'd saved his life.

Jarvis was struck—partly by Caitlin's beauty, but more so by an odd sense that she would bring good fortune to whoever married her.

At the time, the Chandler Group was on the verge of financial collapse. Grateful to Caitlin for saving his life and desperate to rescue his family's empire, Jarvis insisted that his grandson, Julian Chandler, marry her—even if the entire family objected.

Against all odds, after Caitlin and Julian wed, the Chandler Group bounced back from the brink of ruin and began to thrive, growing stronger by the day.

Julian, once the laughingstock of the social set, became the city's most eligible rising star—a financial prodigy the press dubbed the "dark horse of the decade."

But if Julian had looked down on Caitlin before, now that his status soared, he had even less patience for her. She had no pedigree, no fancy education, nothing that made her worthy of him—at least in his eyes.

Without Caitlin, the Chandler family would have been just another casualty of the cutthroat business world, and Julian would never have made his name as the industry's brightest star.

The truth was, Caitlin was the real dark horse of the decade.

BAM BAM BAM—

Suddenly, a sharp knock shattered the silence.

"Caitlin. I'm warning you—killing yourself isn't the answer. This marriage ends tomorrow, like it or not. End of story!"

Julian's voice, cold and clipped, echoed through the door.

To him, the Chandler Group was back on course, his reputation was secure, and Caitlin was no longer useful. Useless things get thrown away.

From here on out, as far as Julian was concerned, he was all the Chandler Group needed.

Caitlin frowned, moving to get out of bed. She glanced down and realized she was wearing only a pale gray silk nightgown—thin enough to leave little to the imagination, her curves outlined beneath the fabric.

Well. Not a bad figure, she thought, a hint of a smile curving her lips. She rather liked it.