I Signed With The Wrong Husband Novel by Daisy Shaw

I Signed With The Wrong Husband Chapter 01

When I was fifteen, I walked in on my father having an affair. He looked at me coldly and said, “Hattie, your mother doesn’t need to know about this. If she finds out, she’ll be the only one who gets hurt.”

I didn’t believe him. Through tears, I told my mother everything.

That same night, she jumped from a building.

Lost in despair, I decided to end my own life.

But Sylvester Payne showed up just in time and saved me.

Afterward, everyone blamed me for my mother’s death.

Sylvester told them all to shut up.

Over the next seven years, he put me back together, piece by piece. Thanks to him, I became that carefree heiress again.

I even started writing a love story about us online, which soon gathered a devoted readership.

I thought that happiness would last forever.

Then came Miranda Johnston—an obsessive fan who became infatuated with the male lead of my novel.

She spent a fortune to track down Sylvester in real life and pursued him with relentless determination.

Yet no matter what she tried, he remained unmoved.

I was confident he would never be drawn to someone so unhinged.

But when I posted in my novel that Sylvester and I were about to marry, Miranda uploaded photos of her slit wrists.

That day, for the first time, Sylvester left me behind. As he rushed out, he said, “Hattie, if we get married now, Miranda might die. Maybe we should wait.”

I endured the heartache and waited for him—again and again.

Until the ninety-ninth time, when Sylvester abandoned me once more because Miranda was threatening suicide again.

I’d had enough. I went straight to City Hall with my best male friend, ready to marry him instead.

But to my utter shock, the clerk informed me I had already been married two months earlier—to a man named Liam Spencer.

***

I slammed my ID card onto the City Hall counter. “Get me a marriage license. Now! I have to get married today!”

My friend tugged urgently at my sleeve. “Marriage is a serious thing. However upset you are, you can’t just marry anyone recklessly.”

But I was beyond reason, too furious to listen.

Then the clerk looked up and said, “I’m sorry, Ms. Meskill. You’re already married. You can’t register again.”

The words hit, cold and sharp. I went still, every vein turning to ice. “What did you say? I’m married? How is that possible?”

“See here?” The clerk pointed at the screen. He explained patiently. “The system shows you registered your marriage with a Liam Spencer two months ago.”

Stunned, I stumbled back, nearly losing my balance.

Liam Spencer… Wasn’t that the autistic bodyguard from Miranda’s family?

Leaving my bewildered friend behind, I grabbed my ID and headed straight for Sylvester’s company.

I had to get answers.

But at his office, his secretary told me he’d gone to the hospital.

When I arrived, I was stopped at the entrance.

“I’m sorry. Mr. Payne’s orders—no one enters without his permission.”

Just then, the elevator doors opened, and Sylvester stepped out, holding a woman in his arms.

Miranda, in a hospital gown, leaned weakly against him, her face pale. She murmured, her voice barely a whisper, “Syl, I’m too heavy… You should put me down…”

“Not at all,” he replied, his voice unbelievably tender. “I’m only worried I might lose my grip on you—or that I’ll hold you too tight and hurt you.”

The scene twisted like a blade in my heart, leaving a suffocating pain.

Sylvester walked out after settling Miranda into her room. He didn’t see me in the corner.

His business partner clapped him on the shoulder and teased him, “Don’t tell me you’ve actually fallen for Miranda. To calm her down, you went so far as to marry Ms. Meskill off to Miranda’s autistic bodyguard.

“You know how Ms. Meskill feels about betrayal, after what happened with her mother. Aren’t you afraid she’ll leave you if she finds out?”

Sylvester rubbed the bridge of his nose, weariness in his eyes. “If I didn’t agree, Mira would have killed herself. My hands are tied.

“Besides, Hattie won’t find out. No one is to tell her, understand?

“Once I get things settled and send Mira away, I’ll arrange a fake license for Hattie.

“She’s madly in love with me—she could never leave me.”

Hidden in the shadows, I listened to his calm, brutal planning, feeling the blood freeze in my veins.

Face streaked with cold tears, I stumbled out of the hospital.

Sylvester was gravely mistaken.

In this world, no one was truly indispensable.

I took out my phone and asked my assistant to find Liam’s number.

I remembered Miranda once posting on Instagram about hiring an autistic bodyguard, with a photo of a young man’s back.

When I got the number, I called him immediately. “This is Henrietta Meskill. Since we’re already registered, I wonder if you’d be interested in having a wedding with me.”

From the background noise, he seemed to be at the airport. “OK. But my family lives out of town. I need to go back and prepare a wedding gift for you. Can you give me three days?”

Strangely, his voice was deep, fluent, and pleasant—nothing like what I’d expect from someone autistic.

“Deal,” I said. “Come marry me in three days.”

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