My Secret Husband Went Live

Preston, the city's most untouchable billionaire heir, dropped a late-night post: [Got bored. Decided to give my wife a brand-new husband.]

Attached was a photo of his newly dyed platinum-blonde hair.

The very next day, the trending actress Aubrey posted a picture of her golden retriever: [Like father, like son. Matching hair colors! Haha.]

The internet lost its collective mind, swooning over how incredibly sweet they were together.

I planted my bare foot squarely against his sculpted chest, stopping him from crawling onto the mattress.

"Go sleep in the guest room! Just looking at that stupid dog fur of yours pisses me off!"

Chapter 1

My manager couldn't stand watching my career flatline anymore.

Overnight, he shoved me into the season's hottest celebrity pet reality show.

The trending It-girl, Aubrey, and I were both guest stars for this episode.

The moment we stepped onto the set, the live stream chat exploded.

The reason was simple: the contrast between our dogs.

She walked in holding the leash of an expensive, champion-bloodline golden retriever, while a mixed-breed rescue dog I'd brought home from the shelter lay at my feet.

[Lmao, who even adopts street mutts anymore?]

[Does a trash dog from the shelter even deserve to be on TV?]

[Pets really do match their owners. Aubrey's golden is gorgeous!]

[Of course it has the same hair color as Preston! Haha.]

[Wait, what matching hair color?]

Watching the live comments flood the screen, the host feigned curiosity.

"Aubrey, you made a post right before the show. What's this about a father-son matching hair color?"

Aubrey bit her lower lip, dramatically tucking a strand of hair behind her ear before letting out a soft laugh.

"It's nothing, really. Just a certain someone insisting on dyeing his hair to match Winston."

The host crouched down and gave the golden retriever a pat.

"We all know Winston here, but who is this 'certain someone'?"

She dodged the camera's focus, her cheeks flushing red as she covered her mouth.

"That I can't say."

Aubrey didn't have to say it.

The live chat had already figured it out.

The production crew even projected a screenshot onto the massive studio monitorit was the late-night post from Preston, the untouchable billionaire heir.

[Preston [Verified]: Got bored. Decided to give my wife a brand-new husband.]

The attached photo showed his newly dyed platinum-blonde hair.

It was a notoriously difficult color to pull off, but paired with Preston's brutally handsome face, it didn't look out of place at all.

If anything, it only amplified his raw, untamed edge.

The live chat instantly lost its mind.

[Holy shit! Look at that face!]

[Way hotter than any of these Hollywood idols. Why doesn't he just debut?]

[It really is the exact same color as Winston!]

[He's so obsessed with her! He literally dyed his hair to match her dog!]

[Hahaha I can't even imagine how much he spoils Aubrey in private!]

The host teased, "So this 'certain someone' is it Preston?"

Before Aubrey could answer, the rescue dog by my feet let out an excited bark, his tail wagging furiously.

I rubbed his ears to calm him down, suppressing a massive eye roll.

It was entirely my fault.

I yelled "Preston! Preston!" so much at home that now, Chewy practically lost his mind whenever he heard the name.

[What's wrong with that dog? Why is it barking?]

[If you're bringing a dog on TV, train it first! I hate loud mutts.]

[Why did it react to Preston's name?]

[Sloane totally trained it to do that. She's desperately trying to leech off his clout.]

[So pathetic. Instead of working on her acting, she pulls these cheap stunts!]

The host shot a glance my way. "Is everything okay with your dog?"

"He's fine."

Under my touch, Chewy had already settled down, but the live chat simply refused to let the single bark go.

Aubrey offered a sickly sweet smile.

"Did your dog miss out on obedience school when he was a puppy? Our Winston spent months at a premium training camp. He has perfect manners now and never barks out of turn."

"Mine doesn't bark out of turn either," I stated flatly. "That was just an accident."

"Oh? What kind of accident?"

I bit my tongue, swallowing the urge to snap: The kind of accident where he thought his daddy just walked in.

To the internet, Preston was the untouchable billionaire heir, and I was just some D-list actress clawing her way through Hollywood.

Two people from different worlds.

Except we grew up together, and we were already legally married.

Chapter 2

Keeping our marriage a secret was my idea in the first place.

Mainly because Preston was so damn embarrassing.

Take the hair-dyeing incident, for example.

The only reason he bleached his hair was because I'd recently obsessed over a K-pop idol with that exact shade.

He refused to let me look at other men.

So, he went and dyed his hair, strutting around me all day competing for attention, claiming he was giving me a "brand-new husband."

Just thinking about the tight muscles beneath his dress shirts and his relentless demands made my knees weak.

The feverish memory of him pinning me against the floor-to-ceiling windows last night was still playing on a loop in my head.

With a husband this ridiculously possessive, I kept him hidden away, terrified anyone would find out.

Who would have thought someone else would actually be desperate enough to fake a connection with him.

The production crew started rolling the video clips.

They were short montages of our dogs at home, requested before the broadcast so the audience could quickly warm up to the pets.

My manager handled editing my video.

While everyone's attention was glued to Aubrey's clip, I quickly texted my manager: [You didn't expose Preston, right?]

My manager flashed me an "OK" hand sign from off-camera. [Don't worry.]

Only then did I relax and turn my focus to Aubrey's video.

Without a doubt, Winston was a well-behaved and smart dog.

But the calculated manipulation in Aubrey's video was off the charts.

The camera casually panned across the coffee table, capturing a carelessly tossed luxury watchthe exact model Preston owned.

The lens swept over the dining table, revealing the vintage Macallan whiskey and Herms plates that Preston had once posted on his social media.

Not to mention the throw pillows on the couch, the double pillows on the bed, and the grand finale: Winston trotting over with a custom tiethe exact same design Preston wore.

Everything was a metaphor.

Everything was a calculated implication.

The live chat was losing its mind.

[Holy shit! Everything matches Preston! Every single item looks so familiar!]

[That suit leg Winston is rubbing against that has to be Preston's leg, right?]

[Ahhhh! Our Aubrey is marrying into billions!]

[These are common luxury items. Anyone with money can buy them. It doesn't mean it's actually Preston.]

[Father-son matching hair colors, honey. Wake up.]

Amidst the celebratory atmosphere, the production crew started playing my dog's video.

Two seconds in, my stomach dropped.

The video didn't explicitly expose Preston.

In fact, many of the clips were just casual videos I had sent my manager.

But it was way too identical to Aubrey's video!

Chewy shook a toy in his mouth across the living room while the camera panned past Preston's Italian leather dress shoes.

Chewy did parkour across the couch, and the lens caught the private vineyard deeds and out-of-print vinyl records hanging on the wallthe exact ones Preston had shown off online.

Even when Chewy was sleeping soundly in my arms, the edge of the frame caught Preston's hand wearing his signature watch.

His voice rang out at the very end of the video.

"Be good. Don't wake Mommy. Come to Daddy."

The video ended.

The live chat went dead silent before an overwhelming avalanche of mockery flooded the screen.

[Not gonna lie, Sloane is so desperate for clout.]

[This is hilarious! Does Sloane actually think editing a video like this will make us believe she's sleeping with Preston?]

[Lmao this is absurd!]

[If Aubrey's video hadn't played first, I might have actually fallen for it.]

[Just saying that guy's voice at the end sounded exactly like him]

[I'm calling it right now. Impossible! A billionaire heir like him would never adopt a street mutt!]

[What's your problem with rescue mutts?]

[Nothing's wrong with them, they're just ugly!]

Amidst the screen full of ridicule, Aubrey let out a soft laugh.

"Sloane's video is certainly interesting."

Chapter 3

I narrowed my eyes. "What exactly are you implying?"

"Isn't it obvious?" She put on a perfectly innocent face.

"Aren't you just desperately trying to trick everyone into thinking you're sleeping with the CEO?"

The audacity of this bitch.

She was the one aggressively leeching off his clout.

She was the one putting on a delusional show, yet my attempt to lay low was suddenly being twisted into some pathetic grab for attention.

I snapped up straight, my hands gripping the leash so tightly my knuckles turned white.

To hell with keeping our marriage under the radar.

To hell with him being a walking embarrassment.

I took a hard step forward, holding her gaze without a flinch.

"That's exactly what your little video was trying to do, wasn't it?"

"But Preston and I are already" She trailed off, dropping her gaze in a calculated display of shyness.

"I don't think I owe you an explanation about my relationship with him, do I?"

I drew in a slow breath, my voice dropping to a dead-even tone.

"I actually think you should explain. Considering I am Preston's legally wedded wife."

The live stream chat instantly blew up.

[Holy shit! Did I hear that right? What did Sloane just say she was to Preston?]

[Wife?? WIFE!!]

[I don't buy it. If she's really his wife, why didn't she say anything before?]

[This girl is just pulling lies out of thin air!]

[But she doesn't look like she's lying]

[Use your brain. A top billionaire marrying a D-list actress? Impossible.]

[Aubrey is an actress too!]

[Our Aubrey is sweet, generous, and cute. Anyone would want to marry her.]

Over the chaotic flood of comments, Aubrey let out a light laugh.

"Lying comes with a price, you know."

I crossed my arms over my chest, not blinking once. "Right back at you."

A smug smile played on her lips. "You claim to be Preston's wife. Let's see the proof."

For a moment, all eyes in the studio landed on me.

I pulled out my phone with a blank face, my thumb smoothly swiping the screen to open the gallery.

Blame my usual paranoiathere wasn't a single photo of me and Preston in my standard camera roll.

I had no choice but to tap into my locked private folder.

It was packed with pictures of us.

Some were even highly explicit photos taken in the heat of the moment on a private beach in the Maldives.

If I flashed any of those, the entire live stream would be instantly banned for violating guidelines.

I felt a rush of heat scorch my cheeks.

I scrolled until I found a few PG-13 but undeniably intimate photos to prove our relationship, handing my phone to the production crew to project.

The moment the photos hit the giant screen, the chat boiled over again.

[Holy fuck! It really is Sloane! That really is Preston!]

[Sloane is eating good!]

[Wait, if Sloane is actually the billionaire's wife, does that mean Aubrey has been lying this whole time?]

[Father-son matching hair colors, my ass. So embarrassing!]

[The clout-chaser loves calling others clout-chasers.]

[Off topic Preston looks so damn good in these pics. What exactly was happening right before they took this?]

[It could be photoshopped! Editing is so advanced now, you can even fake videos.]

[Sloane is obviously a delusional fangirl. Scary!]

[Right back at Aubrey's fans!]

[I'm not judging until we have the full story. I believe in Aubrey unconditionally.]

Amidst the chaos, Aubrey calmly pulled out her own phone.

She tapped away on the screen for a moment before lifting her gaze to meet mine, the provocation clear in her eyes.

"But I have photos just like these too."

Chapter 4

The live chat exploded the second Aubrey dropped her photos on the screen.

[Holy shit! What the hell is going on?]

[Is Preston cheating?]

[Isn't it obvious? Someone's definitely lying!]

[I believed Sloane at first, but now I don't think Aubrey has any reason to lie.]

[Sloane has some serious nerve, actually photoshopping pictures like that]

[Why isn't anyone saying Aubrey is the one with nerve?]

[Some people will do literally anything for clout. Makes me sick.]

I didn't have the time to care about the internet picking sides.

I stared wide-eyed at every single photo Aubrey had projected.

Every single one was Preston.

But something about every picture felt incredibly off.

Looking closer, it was his eyes.

Even though Preston was an insatiable wolf in bed with me, to the rest of the world, he was a ruthless tyrant who could decide a conglomerate's life or death in a single minute, his eyes always as cold as ice.

But the man in these photos lacked that suffocating aura.

I suspected the guy in the pictures wasn't actually Preston.

But he looked way too much like him.

As for the possibility of him cheating or two-timing?

The thought never even crossed my mind.

To put it bluntly. Preston's possessiveness bordered on psychotic.

Every night, he locked me tightly in his arms, exhausting me until I couldn't even lift a finger.

I was always the one begging him to go sleep on the couch.

Where would he even find the energy to look for someone else?

I shifted my gaze to Aubrey. "Are these photos real?"

She lifted her chin confidently. "One hundred percent genuine."

Now this was getting interesting.

The husband I lived with day and night, the Preston I grew up with I obviously trusted him, and I knew for a fact he was the untouchable billionaire heir everyone talked about.

So where exactly was Aubrey getting her confidence from?

The host was clearly thrown off by the chaotic back-and-forth.

He quickly suggested, "Why don't we invite CEO Preston over? He can join in on making a lavish feast for the dogs!"

That was when I remembered I was actually on a pet reality show.

The original schedule was to play the pet clips, play some interactive games to win ingredients, and then cook a giant meal for the dogs.

Now, it looked like the host wanted to skip the games entirely.

The live chat totally agreed, chiming in aggressively.

[Yes! Bring Preston here! We'll find out who the fake is immediately!]

[Ahhh am I finally going to see the actual billionaire heir live?]

[I bet someone is too scared to do it.]

[Sloane seems pretty bold to me, considering she dared to photoshop pics like that.]

[Waiting for that bitch Sloane to get a reality check!]

[Waiting for Aubrey to get exposed!]

[Hahaha I have a feeling this is about to get really good!]

Aubrey shot me a sickeningly sweet smile.

"Well? Do you have the guts to call him and ask him to come over?"

Who exactly was the one lacking guts here?

I was getting more and more curious about where Aubrey's blind confidence was coming from.

I suppressed the absurdity of the situation. "Of course."

"Just so you don't say I'm bullying you," Aubrey waved her phone in the air. "I'll make the call first."

As she dialed the number, the entire studio fell dead silent.

Maybe it was the heavy atmosphere, but my palms actually started to sweat.

I knew it wasn't him.

I knew there was zero chance it was Prestonbut a tiny knot of panic tightened in my chest at the thought of hearing his voice come through that speaker.

Finally, the call connected.

A deep, pleasant male voice echoed through the entire studio.

"Did you miss me, baby