His Betrayal Created A Ruthless Queen

My marriage ended the way the world found out about it: on a police report that landed on my desk. I was a prosecutor who had moved back to San Francisco to save my political marriage to tech billionaire Hilton Austin.

When I confronted him at the hotel, I found my husband on one knee, not proposing, but tenderly tying his influencer mistress' s shoe.

That night, he abandoned me on a dark highway to rush to her side, causing me to miscarry the child I was secretly carrying. At the hospital, he publicly accused me of faking the pregnancy, slapped me, and then cut my arm with a piece of broken glass.

"Now you have a reason to be in the hospital," he said coldly.

The love I' d held for him since I was sixteen didn't just fade; it was murdered. He thought he had broken me, but he only created a monster.

I used my family's power to have him thrown in jail. When he begged for a second chance, I brought in my childhood friend, Adrien, and delivered the final, killing blow.

"The baby wasn't yours," I said, my voice like ice. "It was his."

Chapter 1

My marriage ended the same way the world found out about it: on a police report that landed on my desk.

I had just transferred back to the San Francisco District Attorney's office. The official reason was a promotion, a return to the city where I' d made my name. The real reason was to salvage the cold, empty marriage I had with Hilton Austin, the tech billionaire my family had strategically paired me with two years ago.

The crisp white paper felt abnormally heavy in my hands. The case file was thin, a routine public disturbance, but the names on it made my heart clench into a tight, cold fist.

Suspect 1: Hilton Austin.

Suspect 2: Ciera Rose.

I stared at the name Ciera Rose. It was a name I knew from tabloids, from whispered gossip at charity galas, from the venomous comments on her flashy Instagram feed. She was his girlfriend, the influencer he flaunted while I, his wife, remained a carefully managed and largely invisible asset to his public profile.

My stomach churned. The morning sickness I' d been carefully hiding for weeks threatened to surge.

"Looks like a simple one, Aleta," my subordinate, Mark, said, leaning against my doorframe. He was young, ambitious, and blissfully unaware of the personal hell he had just handed me. "Hilton Austin and his flavor of the month, Ciera Rose, had a little spat at the Fairmont. Threw some champagne, broke a lamp. The hotel wants to press charges to make a point."

Mark scrolled through his phone. "The internet is already going crazy. They love these two. People are calling it a 'passionate lovers' quarrel.' Apparently, he bought out the entire top floor for her last night."

A passionate lovers' quarrel. The phrase echoed in my mind, a bitter, mocking laugh. Passion was a country Hilton and I had never visited together. Our interactions were polite, scripted, and as sterile as the prenuptial agreement that bound us.

"The hotel manager is waiting for us," I said, my voice flat and even. I stood up, the movement precise, controlled. I would not let my hands shake. I was Aleta Owen, Assistant District Attorney, daughter of Senator Owen. I was professional. I was untouchable.

I walked toward the door, my heels clicking a steady, resolute rhythm on the polished floor.

Mark followed. "Should I send a team?"

"No," I replied, my eyes fixed on the hallway ahead. "I'll handle this one myself."

The Fairmont' s presidential suite was a disaster zone. A crystal lamp lay in glittering shards on the plush carpet. A half-empty bottle of Dom Pérignon was upended in an ice bucket, its contents staining the white silk rug.

But I barely saw the mess. My eyes were locked on the scene by the floor-to-ceiling windows.

Hilton Austin, my husband, was on one knee.

He wasn't proposing. He was carefully, almost reverently, tying the satin ribbon of a ballet flat around the slender ankle of Ciera Rose. She was perched on a velvet chaise, pouting.

"There," Hilton murmured, his voice, usually so clipped and arrogant, now a low, soothing hum I had never heard before. He looked up at her, his expression one of complete, humiliating devotion. "Is that better, baby?"

The ballet flat was from a luxury brand I knew cost more than my monthly salary. He had probably bought it for her this morning, a token to appease her after their 'quarrel'.

Ciera sniffled, a calculated, delicate sound. "But you yelled at me, Hilty. My feelings are still hurt."

"I know, I'm sorry," he said, his hand still resting on her ankle. He didn't even seem to notice the police officers in the room, or me, standing in the doorway like a ghost at their private feast. "I'll do anything. Anything to make it up to you. Just tell me what you want."

My vision tunneled. The air in the room felt thick, suffocating. It was as if a black hole had opened in my chest, sucking all the light and air out of my world. This was the man I had loved since I was sixteen. The man I had sacrificed my career in D.C. for, hoping to build something real from the ashes of a political alliance.

And here he was, kneeling at the feet of another woman, begging for her forgiveness like a supplicant before a queen.

The love I had harbored for him, the stubborn, foolish hope I had clung to for years, finally shattered. It didn't fade; it died. Instantly and violently.

In its place, something cold and hard began to form.

I stepped forward, my shadow falling across them. "Mark," I said, my voice cutting through the cloying intimacy of their little drama.

Hilton finally looked up. His eyes, which had been so full of adoration for Ciera, turned to ice when they landed on me.

"Aleta. What are you doing here?"

"My job," I said coldly. I didn't look at him. I looked at Mark. "Read them their rights. Arrest them both for vandalism and public disturbance."

Mark hesitated. "Aleta, it's Hilton Austin..."

"Is Hilton Austin above the law?" I asked, my voice dangerously soft. "In my jurisdiction, no one is."

Mark swallowed hard and nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

He and another officer approached the pair.

Ciera let out a theatrical gasp. "Arrest us? Hilty, do something! I can't be arrested! My nails aren't even done!"

Hilton stood up, shielding her behind him. He looked at me, his face a mask of contempt. But he didn't argue. He knew that look in my eyes. It was the Owen look. The one that meant the argument was already over.

"Come on, Cici," he said gently, his tone a stark contrast to the venom in his eyes as he looked at me. "It's just a formality. I'll have my lawyers sort it out in an hour."

They walked out of the suite, Ciera still whining about the inconvenience, Hilton murmuring reassurances. I watched them go, my gaze lingering on Ciera's perfectly curated appearance-the baby-doll dress, the flawless makeup, the calculated vulnerability that made men like Hilton feel powerful.

A knot of ice formed in my stomach, so cold it burned. I pressed a hand to my abdomen, a reflexive, protective gesture.

I followed them to the precinct, watching through the one-way glass of the observation room as they were placed in separate interrogation rooms.

I instructed Mark, "Get a detailed statement from Ms. Rose. Every word."

I didn't need to hear Hilton's side. I knew his script. But Ciera... Ciera would be a performance.

Her voice, high and petulant, drifted through the speaker. "He's just so obsessed with me, you know? It's exhausting. Last night, he bought me a diamond necklace, just because I said I liked the way it sparkled. It was a million dollars. Can you believe it? A million dollars for a little sparkle."

She giggled. "He even got a tattoo for me. On his hip. A little rose. Isn't that cute? He says it's so I'm always with him, even when he has to go home to his boring, frigid wife."

I pressed the button to cut the audio feed.

I didn't need to hear any more.

'Boring, frigid wife.' That was me. That was Aleta Owen, a woman who had graduated top of her class at Yale Law, who had a near-perfect conviction rate, who had given up a promising federal career to come back and play the part of a supportive spouse to a man who saw her as nothing more than a political accessory.

I had tried. God, I had tried. I organized his charity events, charmed his board members, and endured his family's cold scrutiny, all for the slim hope that the boy who had once smiled at me at a debutante ball was still in there somewhere.

Now I knew. He wasn't.

Or maybe he was. But that passion, that obsessive, all-consuming devotion I had just witnessed-it was never, ever meant for me.

The last flicker of hope inside me died, and in the darkness, a cold, clear thought took root: I was done trying to save my marriage.

It was time to bury it.