Married In Name Only Novel by Blake Stone _ Novel




Married In Name Only Chapter 01

My husband Sebastian Sterling blamed me for breaking his rule—
for loving him. How ridiculous.
He dumped me on the outskirts of the city and watched with cold indifference as I was kidnapped and dragged deep into the mountains.
The day I walked back to the villa, barefoot and covered in filth, he frowned, his expression turning icy. "If you've learned your lesson, clean yourself up and go pick up Julian Sterling. He misses you."
Sebastian and I were married on paper only.
I didn't move. Instead, I took out the long-expired marriage agreement and handed it to him, my demeanor calm but exhausted.
"I won't be going."
"The agreement has expired, so the marriage is automatically void. I am no longer his mother."
Sebastian paused slightly, his brow furrowing.
"Eleanor Vance, are you still making a scene?
I told you, I don't like your underhanded tricks and schemes!"
"I'm not making a scene. I'm serious."
I gazed at him in silence, my eyes utterly devoid of light.
During those days I was kidnapped, I realized something: if I am cast aside by Sebastian, the man holds the sky of Kingston in his hands, then this noble title of "Mrs. Sterling" means absolutely nothing.
"Mr. Sterling, when you have time, let's go get the divorce certificate."
After saying that, I tried to walk away in my exhaustion. But having not had a drop of water in days, and with my calves beaten to the point of deformity, my legs gave out. I collapsed right at Sebastian's feet.
"Hah." Sebastian snapped out of his daze and let out a light scoff.
"Eleanor, do you take me for a fool who can't see through your little 'hard to get' game?"
"So you were kidnapped for a few days. So what?
Who in Kingston doesn't know you are Mrs. Sterling?
Who would dare actually touch you?"
He glanced at me indifferently, then casually summoned a few maids to take me into the bathroom and scrub me clean.
When I came out, my eyes were void of emotion. I was wearing a sexy black slip dress the maids had deliberately put on me. Because I had lost so much weight, the straps were slipping off my shoulders.
Sebastian's face darkened the moment he saw me. He strode over and wrapped his suit jacket tightly around me.
"Have you lost your mind?
You just suffered through all that, and now you dress like this?
You are going to pick up Julian, not to sell your body!"
At those last words, my whole body began to tremble. I looked at him with eyes full of terror, uncontrollable tears crashing down.
Because Sebastian had refused to be threatened by the kidnappers—even telling them to torture me however they liked, that even if they killed me, they wouldn't get a single cent—the enraged criminals had nearly sold me off to the biggest brothel in East Asia.
It wasn't that I hadn't tried to call for help. Every time Sebastian answered the phone, I screamed and begged him with everything I had. But he remained cold and heartless, even mocking me.
"You aren't working with the kidnappers, are you?
Eleanor, don't bother trying to prove your place in my heart. Even if you die, it has nothing to do with me."
That one sentence pushed me into absolute danger. The furious kidnappers lashed me hundreds of times. It was also in that moment that every last shred of hope I held for him withered away.
When we picked up Julian, I was curled up in the corner of the car seat, drifting in and out of consciousness, my body burning like a furnace.
Sebastian turned his head and froze when he saw me. Panic washed over his face as he reached out to touch my forehead, a trace of heartache visible in his eyes.
"Why didn't you say you had a fever?"
"Mommy Eleanor, is this that new 'frail beauty' makeup trend?
You do it even better than the influencers!"
Two voices rang out simultaneously. Driven by a primal instinct to survive, I clutched Sebastian's sleeve, my voice raspy as I begged him to take me to the hospital.
But Julian looked utterly innocent, holding a hot water bottle he had pulled from nowhere, though his tone carried a distinct malice. "Mom, Dad, are you two role-playing or something?
Am I... maybe a little in the way here?"
Sebastian's expression shifted again and again, before finally turning cold beneath my hopeful gaze.
"Drive home. If you like faking illness, then keep faking it. I'm not buying it."
By the time we arrived home, I had absolutely no strength left. Someone half-dragged, half-hauled me out of the car, and my legs gave way, causing me to collapse onto the steps.

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