The Billionaire's Switch:He Married the True Heiress Instead

The day I was supposed to bring Gladys Pruitt home to meet my parents, she vanished again. All she left me was a message.

You humiliated Derek in front of everyone at the company gala last week. He's had a nervous breakdown because of you. I'm taking him to the Maldives to recover. Have a million-dollar bonus ready and a personal apology for him. Otherwise, I'm not meeting your family.

I stared at the message for a long moment, my expression calm.

Behind me, my security team was already prepared to intercept her at the airport and drag her back, then watch me forgive her all over again.

My assistant tested the waters carefully.

"Mr. Barnes, should we have the airport team move in?"

I shook my head.

Fifteen times. That was how many times this had happened. Everyone in our circles knew it: Asher Barnes was Gladys Pruitt's dog, summoned and dismissed at her pleasure.

But now, I was done.

My gaze shifted to the woman Gladys had always dismissed as the "country bumpkin trying to take her place"the Pruitts' real daughter. I spoke.

"Come home with me to meet my family. I'll offer a five-hundred-million-dollar bride price and make you the sole heir to the Pruitt name. Will you accept?"

The moment the words left my mouth, Ada Young's eyes glistened with tears.

Before she could answer, the Pruitt parents cut in, their voices laced with panic.

"That's out of the question!"

"Ada just came back from the countryside. She doesn't know anythingshe hasn't even learned proper etiquette yet. How could she possibly become a Barnes daughter-in-law?"

"Exactly. Gladys is just being childish. When she comes back, we'll talk some sense into her."

"We'll bring the whole family to your grandfather's door and apologize in person!"

Even her own biological brother, Jordan Pruitt, turned and warned her through gritted teeth.

"Ada. Don't push your luck."

"You're nothing but a pawn Mr. Barnes is using to provoke Gladys into coming home faster. Don't go reaching for things that were never meant for you."

But Ada, who had always been timid, ignored Jordan this time. When she looked at me, there was something new in her eyes. Resolve.

I raised a hand, cutting Jordan off, my voice cold.

"Enough. I've heard these same excuses fifteen times. I'm sick of them."

"Gladys made a fool of my family fifteen times for the sake of Derek Voss. That tells me she doesn't care about this engagement, and she doesn't care about the bond between our families."

I turned to the Pruitt parents. There was no room for negotiation in my tone.

"If she doesn't want to marry in, the Barnes family won't force her."

"Transfer the Pruitt heir title to the real Pruitt daughter today, and I'll still be a Pruitt son-in-law."

Faced with the crushing gap in power between our two families, Paul Pruitt and Rose Pruitt didn't dare object. A contract was drawn up on the spot. They signed.

I brought Ada back to the Barnes estate to meet the elders, and the wedding date was set immediately.

One week later, Gladys came back with Derek Voss in tow.

She stormed into the conference room, her face twisted with fury.

"Asher Barnes, have you lost your mind? What right do you have to force my parents into making me marry you?"

"And where's Derek's million-dollar bonus? Where's his apology? You think I'd marry you after this? In your dreams!"

I finished signing the last document in front of me, then slowly lifted my head to meet Gladys's furious glare.

Standing behind her, as always, was the low-level clerk Derek Voss.

Right on cue, Derek spoke up, his voice dripping with wounded innocence.

"Miss Pruitt, please, don't do this on my account. I'm just a nobody. I've never brought any real value to the company. I'd never dare ask for a bonus or an apology from Mr. Barnes. Please don't fight because of me."

He turned to me, his expression a perfect mask of humility and restraint.

"Mr. Barnes, I know my place. Miss Pruitt only speaks up for me because she feels sorry for a small-town kid trying to make it. You two are a perfect match. Don't let someone like me come between you."

Every word was calculated retreat disguised as surrender, but his eyes told a different story. Behind that mask of innocence was naked provocation.

Two weeks ago. The company gala.

Year-end bonuses at the company had always been tied strictly to performance, ranging anywhere from tens of thousands to over a million dollars.

And Derek Voss, in his two years with the firm, had racked up more disasters than anyone could count.

The worst had happened just last month. Through sheer carelessness, he'd left a decimal point off a critical financial report, costing the company a staggering eighty million dollars in losses.

When Gladys found out, she'd pleaded on his behalf, her voice soft and coaxing, even squeezing out a few tears.

I'd gone soft. In the end, I only docked a month of his salary and let the matter drop.

Because of that, based on his annual performance review, his year-end bonus came out to a token six thousand dollars.

He threw the money on the floor right then and there. In front of every employee and executive in the room, he pointed at me and shouted.

"Mr. Barnes, I already stopped contacting Miss Pruitt like you demanded. Why are you still humiliating me at an event like this?"

"Don't think that just because you have power and a fat wallet, you can trample all over my dignity!"

I was so furious I laughed. I had security escort him out of the venue on the spot.

I also told him that if taking money from the Barnes Group felt like humiliation, he was welcome to resign. You don't eat someone's cooking and then complain their hands are dirty. That's not how the world works.

That day, Gladys had been in the audience too, but surprisingly, she didn't leap to his defense the way she always did. She didn't even spare a glance at Derek as he was dragged out.

A pitiful illusion flickered to life in my chest. I thought she'd finally seen through certain people, that maybe she was coming around.

I didn't expect that just a few days later, when I showed up at the Pruitt residence as promised to take her to meet the elders at the family estate, she'd already gone out with Derek to "clear her head." And then she had the nerve to make those outrageous demands.

If I hadn't made a snap decision and switched who I was bringing home, I'd probably be a laughingstock all over again by now.

Murmurs rippled through the conference room.

"So that's why he called an emergency meeting? Transferring shares just to grovel to that pretty boy."

"Has Mr. Barnes lost his mind? That Derek guy cost the company eighty million last month and he still hasn't been fired? Now we're supposed to reward him?"

"It's all because of Miss Pruitt's influence. If you ask me, these past few years Mr. Barnes has been at her beck and call. The second she doesn't need him, he's nowhere to be found, like a..."

The sentence trailed off, but everyone in the room knew exactly how it ended.

My grip tightened around the pen in my hand. The cold in my chest sank deeper.

Over the past three years, Gladys's stunts could fill an entire book.

She'd used a dare as an excuse to make me dance at a bar.

She'd told everyone she was happily single.

The worst time, she'd called claiming someone was harassing her at a club. I'd rushed over so fast I nearly got into a car accident. When I arrived, I found her playing a drinking game with her friends. I was the punchline.

Every single time, looking at her pouting face as she batted her eyes and apologized, I forced myself to believe the same thing.

This is the last time. She's just been spoiled. She isn't bad at heart. Just a little too used to getting her way.

The moment Gladys heard me mention transferring shares, a smug, knowing look spread across her face.

"Asher, so you want to use shares to apologize to Derek? To buy my forgiveness?"

"You're that terrified I'll call off the engagement and make you and the Barnes family a joke?"

"Then transfer fifty percent of your shares to Derek right now, and throw another gala to publicly apologize to him."

"Do those two things, and I'll consider forgiving you. I might even agree to marry you."

I set the pen down and let out a cold laugh.

"When did I ever say I was giving him a single share?"

Gladys froze for a moment, a flash of exasperation crossing her face, tinged with anger.

"Asher! Are you done with this little tantrum?!"

"You think playing hard to get is going to scare me?"

"What if I decide I'm done too? What if I never marry you?!"

I looked at her, my tone flat.

"You stood me up fifteen times for Derek Voss. What makes you think I'd still want you?"

"The woman I'm marrying is someone else entirely. And the shares will go to my future wife."

I paused.

"All of them. Not half. Every last one."

"Someone else?"

Gladys laughed like she'd just heard the most ridiculous joke of the century. The sound was sharp, dripping with mockery.

"Asher, if you're going to put on an act, at least commit to it."

"You say you won't marry me, but then why did you send a five-hundred-million-dollar betrothal gift to my family? Why did you have a custom wedding gown made?"

"Besides, I'm the only daughter in the Pruitt family. Unless you're planning to marry my brother?"

A ripple of stifled laughter went through the room, people pressing hands to their mouths.

It seemed the Pruitts had enough sense not to tell her that my fiance had been changed to Ada.

When I said nothing, Gladys settled into the seat beside me. Her tone softened considerably.

"Asher, I know I was wrong for not coming home with you to meet your family those times. I made you lose face in front of all of Havenport."

"And I understand. You're the man who runs the Barnes Group. Asking someone like you to apologize to a low-level employee like Derek... that was asking too much. It wounded your pride."

She leaned closer, dropping her voice.

"But I promise you, Derek and I are just soulmates. You're the only one in my heart."

"Just transfer the shares to him. Give him the respect and compensation he deserves. After we're married, I'll settle down. I'll be the kind of Mrs. Barnes who makes you proud, who makes the entire Barnes family proud."

I listened to this brazen, absurd speech of hers and spoke, my voice cold as steel.

"Gladys, is this how the Pruitt family raises their daughters?"

"Do you even know how to spell the word 'shameless'?"

Gladys's expression darkened instantly. She grabbed my hand, her grip tight.

"Asher! How dare you talk to me like that?! Who do you think you are?!"

Derek stepped forward, patting Gladys gently on the back. His voice came out hoarse.

"Miss Pruitt, forget it. This is all my fault."

"I'll resign right now. I'll leave Havenport."

He turned on his heel, heading for the office door without hesitation.

"What are you talking about?! I'm not letting you leave!"

Gladys flung my hand away and blocked Derek's path.

Then she turned back to me, something almost playful in her eyes.

"Asher, are you scared?"

"Scared that once Derek has shares, once he has a real platform and resources, his talent and ability will let him rise to the top? That he'll surpass you? Replace you?"

A mocking smile curled at her lips.

"Relax. After we're married, you can just send him to one of the overseas branches."

I raised my head and stared at Gladys the way someone might stare at a person who'd lost all grip on reality. The last shred of my patience evaporated.

"Gladys, Derek Voss hasn't brought a single dollar of value to this company. All he's done is rack up losses. And you have the nerve to stand here demanding I hand him shares and a cushy overseas post?"

"Let me make this clear. This is the Barnes Group. Not the Pruitt household."

Gladys let out a cold laugh. The look she gave me now carried open disgust.

"So that's your final answer. No apology. No compensation. Nothing. Is that right?"

I turned my back to her. My voice was flat.

"I think I've made myself perfectly clear."

The next second, Gladys slapped a stack of documents onto the table.

The moment I saw those reports, my pupils contracted. My fists clenched before I could stop them.

Gladys watched the color drain from my face, and a triumphant smile spread across hers.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm guessing none of you know this yet. Your fearless, all-powerful Mr. Barnes here? The man who seems so invincible?" She paused, savoring the moment. "He's actually completely impotent."

"That is the real reason I've been stalling. The real reason I refused to marry him."

She swept her gaze across the room, her voice dripping with equal parts pity and contempt.

"Let me ask you all something. If you were a woman, could you stand it? Sharing a bed every single night with a man who is, in every sense of the word, useless? Could you endure a lifetime of being married to a corpse?"

Silence swallowed the conference room whole.

Her words hit like a bolt of lightning. My entire body trembled. My stomach churned violently, nausea clawing its way up my throat.

I had principles. Before marriage, I would never lay a hand on the woman I loved.

A year ago, Gladys had attended a party. The crowd there was a cesspool of shady characters, the kind of people who'd resort to any filthy trick in the book.

She'd always resented me for keeping tabs on her and never let me tag along. But that time, she'd done a complete one-eighty, wheedling and coaxing until I agreed to go with her.

That night, I drank something that had been spiked.

Through the haze, I realized someone was undoing my buttons.

Three men. Stubble on their chins. Hands on my clothes.

My body was dead weight. I couldn't fight back.

At the very last second, the door was kicked open.

Gladys stormed in with a team of bodyguards and subdued the three men in moments.

She threw herself at my side, clutching me, sobbing so hard she could barely breathe.

"Asher! Asher, are you okay? I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. I did this to you!"

"We've been together three years and you've never once touched me. I kept wondering if maybe you had some kind of problem, or... or if you just didn't like women at all!"

"I lost my mind. I came up with this idiotic plan to have someone test you."

"But I never thought they'd actually go through with it..."

At the hospital, the doctor said the drugs had been too potent. There could be lasting consequences for the rest of my life.

Gladys knelt beside the hospital bed, gripping my hand, weeping until her voice broke. She swore to me over and over again.

"Asher, don't worry."

"No matter what the results say, I will never leave you."

"You're the only one for me. For the rest of my life."

In that moment, looking at her swollen, bloodshot eyes and tear-streaked face, even as my body screamed with pain and the humiliation threatened to crush me, I softened again.

I even convinced myself that what she'd done came from a place of insecurity. That she cared too much. That her love made her desperate.

After that, she did seem genuinely remorseful for a long time.

She stopped going out to parties. She was careful around me, attentive, always asking how I was feeling.

I even believed that the incident had brought us closer.

But before long, my test results came back.

Physically, there was nothing wrong. The damage was psychological.

If I couldn't overcome it, I might never be able to be intimate with anyone for the rest of my life.

Shortly after that, Gladys arranged for Derek Voss, a broke college graduate she'd been sponsoring, to be placed inside Barnes Group.

And now, today, the very thing she'd done to me had become her weapon. Her excuse not to marry me. Her ammunition to humiliate me in front of everyone.

Whispers erupted around the table. Every last one of them mocking me. Pitying her.

What none of them knew was that my psychological condition had already healed completely. It had resolved itself the day I set a wedding date with Ada.

I just hadn't told anyone. Especially not Gladys.

I looked at her, my gaze steady.

"Gladys, do you have any idea what the consequences are for spreading false claims in public?"

She jabbed a finger at the report on the table, her eyes brimming with arrogance and disgust.

"Whether it's false or not, you know the truth better than anyone."

"If it were me, I would never marry a man who's lost his most basic function. A waste of space."

"If you're going to force me into this marriage, at least give me an outlet. I don't want anything else. I just want Derek."

Then she looked at me, her tone dripping with condescension, as though she were doing me a favor.

"Don't worry. I won't completely disregard the years we've spent together. Let's put it this way: I'll show up to the wedding on time."

"After that, we each do our own thing. No interference."

With that, she took Derek's arm and walked out.

When the meeting ended, I drove straight back to the Barnes estate.

If Gladys had the nerve to humiliate me like that, then the Pruitt family could kiss their name goodbye.