The Mistaken Muse: Claimed by the CEO

My husband is filthy rich, but I do not love him.

Back in college, Dominic Sinclair pulled out all the stops to pursue my roommate, Natalie. Designer gifts piled up. He even made a massive spectacle of delivering nine thousand roses right outside our dorm building.

The rest of us reaped the benefits. We hauled armfuls of flowers upstairs like we were emptying out a botanical garden.

Natalie was the only one who remained stone-faced. She warned Dominic to never come looking for her again.

"He has money. He has the looks. You really don't want him?" I asked, adjusting the cooling sheet mask on my face. I could not wrap my head around it.

She had a face that could stop traffic, yet she spent every day hanging around a broke upperclassman working part-time.

"Pass. He is just a stiff corporate suit. If you want him so badly, you go after him," Natalie scoffed.

I rested my chin in my hand. I gave it a second of thought. I nodded. "Sure. I will do it."

Chapter 1

Natalie lost the color in her face. She kept her mouth shut. I finished my face mask, washed up, and went downstairs.

"She has a boyfriend." I held up my umbrella. Dominic was standing outside our dorm building, staring up at our window like a lost puppy. I could not hold back the comment.

He froze. He pushed his gold-rimmed glasses up his nose. "I am sorry. I had no idea."

Did Natalie seriously not tell him?

He lowered his head. He looked defeated. He moved to toss the black roses in his hand into a nearby trash can.

I stood under my umbrella, watching the rain hit the petals. It felt like a waste. Black roses. I liked those.

"Wait. Do not throw them away. Give them to me."

He looked down at the soaked flowers. A self-deprecating smile touched his lips. He handed the bouquet over. "Okay."

Rain had soaked through his white dress shirt. The wet fabric clung to him, hinting at the abs underneath. Clean-cut. Well-mannered.

Fit. Tall. Obedient. Most importantly, rich.

Honestly, he was exactly my type.

"Hey," I called out.

He turned around, looking confused.

"I do not have a boyfriend. Pursue me instead." I reached out and held my umbrella over his head. I am not bad looking.

I sleep early and wake up early. I run four miles every morning, eat organic salads for dinner, and do a face mask every day.

Way more guys chased me than Natalie, but I rejected all of them.

He took off his glasses. He stared at me in silence. Time seemed to stretch on forever. Long enough for his assistant to rush over with an umbrella.

Long enough for his car to pull up right to the curb. "Okay."

He took down my number and left. I turned and went back upstairs.

I had looked up Dominic's background. He started his own company right out of college, and it was expanding fast. Once he went back to inherit Sinclair Group, he would be loaded.

That was why I could not understand Natalie. Maybe because my parents constantly fought over money until they divorced. That made wealth the absolute top requirement on my dating list.

With money, you never had to scream at each other about making ends meet.

I walked into the dorm. Natalie stared at the roses in my arms. Her face looked awful.

"You do not have to stress anymore. He will not bother you again," I said, putting the flowers down and drying my hair with a towel.

I thought she would be relieved. Instead, her expression turned downright ugly.

"You are such a bitch."

Excuse me?

The words left her mouth. Her voice was not loud, but it cut through the room. The entire dorm fell dead silent.

My hands stopped moving. The wet towel slipped from my grip. It hit the floor, splashing water across the tiles. I never liked getting physical.

But right then, I raised my hand and slapped her hard across the face.

Chapter 2

Neither of us usually lost our temper. But that day, her eyes held something dark. Something pushed to the breaking point.

I could not read it. I did not care to try.

The other girls in the dorm freaked out. Some pulled us apart. Some called me out of line. Others pointed out her raging hypocrisy.

I genuinely did not get it. She called his attention a nuisance. She explicitly said she wanted nothing to do with him. So how did me stepping in turn into stealing?

She moved out of the dorm that same day. We practically never spoke again. It did not bother me.

People whispered that I lacked morals. Others blamed Natalie. I still could not understand the logic. She rejected his pursuit.

I accepted it. Why the anger?

Be mad all you want. But calling me names? I do not tolerate that.

Word got around about her and her boyfriend. People called them a perfect match. Idiots on campus Reddit even started to ship them.

Meanwhile, I spent more time with Dominic. He never showed much emotion. But his manners were flawless. His restraint made him the hottest topic on campus Reddit.

Rumors about us spread like a wildfire. I paid them no mind. I knew exactly what I wanted from day one.

On our wedding day, Dominic worked until the absolute last second. He showed up in a perfectly tailored suit. He stood in front of me like a flawless, freshly calibrated machine.

The wedding was massive. I did not even recognize a third of the names on the guest list. I smiled perfectly. I carried myself with grace.

Every camera captured a flawless bride. I had no idea how he convinced his parents to accept me.

This was no high-society marriage of convenience. We did not come from the same social circle. But his parents were highly educated, refined people.

They did not look down on me like I expected. They offered genuine blessings.

"Support each other. Build a good marriage and a good life," they told us.

Married life suited me. Dominic had serious money.

How much? His companies spanned the globe. We traveled by private jet. He signed contracts worth hundreds of millions.

Marrying him was the smartest move I ever made.

Romance was lost on him. He did not understand me. He never wrote love letters.

Late-night phone calls just to say he missed me never happened. On Valentine's Day, he simply had his PA send me flowers.

He was a stiff corporate suit. Cold. Disciplined. Boring.

Maybe he had burned through all his passion chasing Natalie.

Being with him felt like marrying a money-printing machine.

"Your husband is gone again? What is the point of all that money if he never comes home? You must be so lonely."

Courtney and I grew up together. We drifted a bit after the wedding. She came over and immediately started pitying me. She thought my husband neglected me.

I brushed it off. I took her on a trip on the private jet.

How could I be lonely? The world is massive. I thanked my lucky stars my husband worked so hard. His money funded my ability to see it all.

Anywhere on the globe, at any time, I commanded top-tier luxury. Lonely? Not a chance.

Courtney looked uncomfortable. She shook her head.

"I still think a couple needs to be together. That is what matters. Even if you are struggling to make ends meet, being together makes it worth it."

I stared at her. I simply could not understand it. It shocked me.

Someone else actually shared Natalie's idiotic mindset.

Chapter 3

Still, her words dragged my mood down. Maybe in their eyes, I was the freak?

"I think you have changed. You are not the Madeline I grew up with"

Courtney flushed under my stare. She dropped that line and stormed out.

She was right. I had changed.

At first, I took her on trips. I covered every single expense. I handed her my supplementary cards for spa treatments. But she always acted embarrassed.

She demanded I calculate every penny, refusing to take advantage of me.

I told her not to worry about it countless times. Dominic even stepped in, asking her to keep me company and offering to reimburse everything. She still refused.

When my PA showed her the discounted bills, her face twisted at the sheer cost. She demanded physical receipts.

She threw passive-aggressive hints that my PA was trying to scam her.

Over time, I stopped inviting her out. My social circle shifted after the wedding.

Staying busy became my default. Aside from traveling to unwind, I enrolled in classes. Floral design, French, financial management. I studied relentlessly.

Not for fun. I did it so if things went south, I would not walk away empty-handed.

I heard Natalie broke up with her broke upperclassman. She even landed a job at one of Sinclair Group's subsidiaries.

If Dominic ever decided to rekindle things with his first love, the one that got away, and demanded a divorce, I refused to be caught off guard.

Taking half his assets was unrealistic. But I planned to take as much as legally possible.

Once I got the money, I needed to know how to manage it. So yes, I kept busy.

I had just gotten back from Japan when Courtney showed up unannounced.

"Madeline, the one that got away is back! Your first love is back! He is so rich now!"

She was practically buzzing with excitement, implying that since I married Dominic for his money, I could just divorce him and marry Zachary.

"He has not dated anyone else all these years. He still has feelings for you!"

As luck would have it, Dominic flew back that exact same day.

He heard every single word.

He stood in the entryway. His suit looked pristine. A completely blank expression locked down his features. Not a single ripple of emotion showed in his eyes.

Courtney turned around. All the blood drained from her face. She jumped up, laughing nervously.

"Dominic you are back. I was just joking. Madeline would not actually"

"I did not take it seriously." His voice was perfectly even. He walked in, suit jacket still buttoned, holding a gift box from his business trip.

"I did not give it a second thought either." He looked down and placed the box right in front of me.

"You said you wanted the Hokkaido mille crepe. I brought it."

I stared at the box. My fingers stayed perfectly still.

My PA reported my itinerary to him. He knew I was flying back today. He must have made a special trip home just for this. I knew how packed his schedule was.

Breaking away could not have been easy.

"Thank you."

He gave a low hum of acknowledgment. He turned around and walked upstairs.

Sitting on the couch, I stared at the flawless crepe cake. Suddenly, the thought of taking a single bite turned to ash in my mouth.

Courtney had bolted long ago. She never expected Dominic to come home early. She definitely did not expect him to be anything but a negligent, wooden husband.

I knew the truth, though. I knew he treated me well.

But his kind of well was not romantic. It was not passionate. It lacked that heart-racing spark. It was too flat.

He was just like me. We were both intensely disciplined. Two people that similar rarely created fireworks.

Chapter 4

Our only real point of compatibility was physical. Under those tailored suits, he had the carved abs of a top-tier model. At night, he was terrifyingly relentless.

Even in our most intimate moments, he controlled the pacing with strict discipline. I could never find a single flaw. The thought of eventually parting ways actually left a hollow ache in my chest.

I brushed off Courtney's ridiculous claims. Rich? Could he even compare to Dominic?

Her so-called one that got away, Zachary, was nothing but a relentless college stalker. I rejected him.

He turned around and told everyone we were dating. When he kept harassing me, I finally told him straight to his face that I would only marry into money.

Rumors are hard to kill. Somehow, the narrative flipped, painting him as the great lost love of my life. Pathetic.

But the very next day, Zachary actually reached out. The text was carefully crafted to sound restrained.

[Zachary: Maddie, it is Zachary. Can we meet? I have something to tell you.]

That disgusting nickname. I left him on read.

Still, a ripple of unease spread through me. Not out of lingering love. He was a ticking time bomb.

If I did not defuse him, he would become the spark that blew up my marriage and my entire life. If the media caught wind of some fabricated unresolved old flame drama, it would be a fatal blow.

I am not some lovesick fool. I know exactly what is at stake. If I want to keep my current life, I cannot afford a single mistake.

Until Dominic brings up divorce himself, I am staying right where I am.

I agreed to the meeting. Courtney was there too. They ordered drinks. Zachary nursed his glass.

I hesitated for a second before taking a sip. Honestly, the liquor was cheap trash. It could not hold a candle to the worst bottle in Dominic's cellar.

I took one taste and pushed the glass away. But cheap alcohol hits hard. Just that tiny sip sent the room spinning. My vision blurred.

Their faces doubled and overlapped.

I slumped against the table. Voices drifted through the heavy fog in my head.

"Babe, you cannot actually touch her. We agreed on just a photo. I will get insanely jealous if you cross the line."

It was Courtney. Her voice sounded whiny and forcefully sweet. Who was she calling babe? Why was she using that nauseating tone?

"Do not worry, babe. Just a quick photo and video. Once we have this leverage, Sinclair Group will have no choice but to sign the contract."

Zachary?

My spinning brain nearly flatlined.

Courtney and Zachary?

I pressed the emergency speed dial on my phone. Just as Zachary's filthy hand reached for me, the bodyguards Dominic assigned to me kicked the door open.

"Maddie, are you alright?"

The security team swarmed the room. They pinned Courtney and Zachary in place and locked down the entire restaurant.

"What are you doing? I am Madeline's best friend! We grew up together! Let me go!"

Courtney panicked. She had been to my house a few times. She saw the staff.

But she never realized I traveled with a full security detail.

Then again, I never realized my so-called best friend would conspire with an outsider to destroy me.

What was she even after? I did not understand. If she needed a business deal, she just had to ask.

I would have helped her. Why go to such twisted lengths to frame me?

"Hey, take it easy. Madeline went to college with us. We were just catching up, and she had a bit too much to drink.

"It is a misunderstanding. Just a misunderstanding." Zachary started to panic too. He tried to maintain a calm facade, but his voice shook violently.

The head bodyguard pulled the restaurant's security footage. He copied the files right in front of their terrified faces.

My head spun out of control. My body felt weightless as everything faded to black.

Chapter 5

I opened my eyes. Dominic held me against his chest. He looked completely exhausted.

Dark circles bruised the skin under his eyes, like he had stayed awake all night.

"Dominic" My voice trembled.

"The glasses went to the lab," he said, his voice dangerously low. "They will go to prison."

I stared at him in a daze. A sudden tremor hit my chest.

When Dominic got ruthless, he was terrifying.

I had never seen his emotions bleed through like this.

The ever-polite Dominic ripped off his tie. He shredded his gentlemanly mask, exposing something dark and unhinged underneath.

"Dominic?" Was this really my restrained, steady corporate suit of a husband? I murmured his name.

I had no idea what nerve I struck. But it ended with me crying.

He kept me awake the entire night. By morning, I could barely move.

Was he out of his mind?

Did he hear about Natalie and feel a sudden surge of old passion?

I guessed right.

Natalie got transferred to the main office