My Husband Auctioned Me Off to Keep His Affair AliveChapter 1
Three years into becoming Mrs. Matteo Grant, I still sometimes said it like I was testing if it was real.
That morning, I stood in front of the mirror while sunlight spilled across the bedroom floor and whispered softly, almost like a prayer, “Happy anniversary, love… happy anniversary to us.” My hand drifted down to my stomach, resting there protectively. Barely six weeks along, so small no one would notice—but to me, it felt like my whole world had just started beating inside me.
I had been waiting for this day for weeks.
Matteo and I were never supposed to be a love story. We began as rivals—two powerful companies forced into an arranged marriage neither of us agreed to. He was sharp-edged, intimidating, always in control in a way that made people step back without realizing it.
And I… I refused to step back.
I met his arrogance head-on with my own stubborn pride. We clashed constantly—over business deals, over board decisions, even over trivial things like what we had for dinner. It should have broken us apart.
Instead, somewhere in all that chaos, I fell for him.
And I truly believed he had fallen too.
There were moments that fooled me into hoping. He’d appear beside me during late nights in the office with a cup of coffee I didn’t ask for. He’d drape his jacket over my shoulders when I fell asleep at my desk, pretending he didn’t notice how exhausted I was. Small things. Quiet things. The kind of gestures that slowly convinced me we were becoming something real.
So I planned today carefully.
His favorite dishes were already set on the dining table. I had a small gift box wrapped neatly—inside was a silver keychain engraved with the words Dad-to-be. I even lit candles I had saved since our honeymoon, thinking tonight would be the moment everything changed.
When he called and said plans had shifted, I didn’t argue.
“I’ve arranged something else,” Matteo said over the phone. His tone was calm as always—too calm, like glass hiding something dangerous beneath it.
So I changed into a cream dress, wore diamond earrings he once said suited me, and carried hope like it was something fragile I had to protect.
But the moment the car stopped in front of an unfamiliar building, that hope wavered.