When A-list actress Ruby Calloway’s private account was hacked, hundreds of love letters she’d written spilled onto the internet and went viral overnight.
She wrote: The man I once loved with everything I had ended up as somebody else’s husband.
The comments were a flood of heartbreak and sympathy: “God, is this what a tragic love story actually looks like?”
“She’s so devoted. My heart breaks for her.”
Without thinking, I typed:
“How does someone manage to make falling for another woman’s husband sound so innocent?”
I forgot to switch to my burner account.
A minute later, my husband Nathan’s name lit up my phone.
“Evelyn, delete that comment. Ruby’s in a bad place right now. Your words are going to cause her problems she doesn’t need.”
I sat frozen for a moment. Then I laughed.
So it turned out that in this three-person arrangement, the odd one out had been me all along—the wife.
The Contract Wife Chapter 12 I saw him again a year later. At a large charity auction gala in New York. I was there representing Sinclair Capital. As I stepped into the room, I saw him across the crowd. He was in a wheelchair. Still in a well-cut custom suit, but noticeably thinner, the line
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The Contract Wife Chapter 11 I severed every remaining connection with Nathan. I moved. Changed my number. Instructed the front desk not to accept a single item forwarded under any name connected to the Ashford family. I imagine he finally understood: my refusal had no crack in it, nowhere to lever open. Bit by bit,
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The Contract Wife Chapter 10 After that, Nathan launched into something close to obsession. At first it was calls and texts, daily, unceasing. Short. Just small, ordinary concerns. I didn’t answer. Didn’t reply. Eventually I blocked him entirely. Then he began sending things to my office. Desserts I liked. Freshly ground coffee. Cut flowers. Every
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The Contract Wife Chapter 09 Nathan found me the day I was preparing to fly back to Zurich. He hadn’t called ahead. He was simply there, in the lobby of my apartment building, his suit as crisp as ever, though the shadows under his eyes were deep and dark. God knows how long he’d been
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The Contract Wife Chapter 08 Nathan Ashford spent that entire month in the air. New York. Chicago. London. Hong Kong. Tokyo. Meetings, negotiations, business dinners. He crammed his schedule so full there was no room for a single unoccupied second. During that month, Ruby reached out many times. She called, her voice soft, laced with
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The Contract Wife Chapter 07 I knew who it was. But I wasn’t going to answer. I switched the phone off. By the time I turned it back on, over ten hours had passed. The plane had landed in Zurich. The cool night air, laced with an unfamiliar language, hit me the moment I stepped
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The Contract Wife Chapter 06 Early the next morning, my lawyer and Ashford Holdings’ PR team issued a joint statement. The language was official and restrained: “The two parties have decided to end their marriage due to irreconcilable differences. Divorce proceedings began several months ago and have been amicable. We ask that the media and
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The Contract Wife Chapter 05 Surprise flashed across his face. But he nodded. “Yes. I can have my lawyer redraft the asset division tonight.” I looked at him. And suddenly I remembered all those nights over the past three years. The warmth of his chest when he held me as I slept. The way, in
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The Contract Wife Chapter 04 That weekend, Nathan had a gathering with friends. Traffic held me up. I was running late. Before I pushed open the door to the private room, I could hear laughter and voices through the wood. “Seriously, Nathan—if it hadn’t been for Sinclair Capital, wouldn’t you have married Ruby by now?”
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The Contract Wife Chapter 03 The next evening, Nathan flew in from Los Angeles. I was waiting for him in the living room. Before he could raise his arms in that habitual gesture of pulling me in for a hug, I slid a document across the table between us. “What’s this?” He blinked, momentarily thrown,
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