THE BILLIONAIRE'S HIRED EX-WIFE IS A SKILLED DOCTOR

As the morning sun cast its golden rays through the open windows of the Howard mansion, a lady made her way down the stairs in elegant steps with her face beaming radiantly. Dressed in a flowing, silk gown of the softest ivory, she looked simple, but effortlessly beautiful as she glided across the polished marble floor noiselessly.

'Smile, Stacy. Smile and radiate brightly. No one can see you break,' she told herself inwardly as she breathed in and out several times.

"Irina, how are you feeling today?" She asked as soon as she sighted the head maid walking towards her, in the usual white tailored shirt over a black flare skirt that every maid working in the mansion wore.

"Great, Mrs. Howard. Thank you so much. My legs are so much better now," she bowed deeply and thanked the lady profusely, feeling so much gratitude that she could be so much cared for by the madam of the house. She always thought Stacy was too gracious and too perfect, because she had never seen a wealthy lady that was beautiful and equally humble as her.

"It is my pleasure. Can you please call the decoration team? We have to change the concept for the living room," she asked the lady, who was ready to do everything to make her satisfied.

"Right on it!" Irina answered, and walked away immediately to get the job started.

"I have everything in order, Mrs. Howard. Please, you need not be bothered," Edward, the head butler, rushed over to her side to tell her, when he noticed that she was trying to supervise the job they were doing. She was always working and trying to put everything in order, even if she was the wife of their billionaire boss.

"I can also help too. Doing nothing bores me," she replied with a gracious smile, and walked away quickly to check if the servant was bringing in the right flowers, so that the rigid man would not try to convince her further.

"Please put this here," Her delicate fingers pointed to the precise placement of fragrant floral arrangements to be made by the maids, as the scent of roses, lilacs, and marigolds enveloped the air with a beautiful fragrance that emanated of romance and celebration.

"A few extra strawberry toppings on the cake, please. Carlton loves them," she speculated as the maids decorated the huge cake on the dining table. She would always do anything for him.

Every detail going on in the mansion hall was meticulously attended to by her, from the sumptuous feast's arrangement on the banquet table to the placement of the finest crystal goblets, and adorning the tables with fine linens and delicate china. Nothing escaped her discerning eye, because she strived for perfection in every aspect of the celebration.

And maybe it wasn't because she wanted to be so detailed. She wanted something that would distract her till evening, when her husband, Carlton Howard, would return home to her. She was preparing a feast to celebrate the anniversary of the second year of their marriage.

Stacy knew he might not like the idea of the celebration, but she wanted to at least do something to make things more lively between them, so that he would know that she valued the essence of their marriage. She knew that they would always be distant, even if she tried so hard to act like it was fine. The true fact that he wasn't in love with her was obvious. It was undeniable.

However, she could not let the maids see the evidence of how badly she was suffocating in fear that she would be disappointed by the time he returned. She always heard them gossiping and speculating about the kind of marriage she and Carlton had. It was already bad enough that they didn't share the same bedroom.

"Doesn't it seem weird? Madam seems to do everything for the master, and he does not object, but they are not affectionate towards one another. Their marriage is too stiff," one said.

"Maybe they are not the type to display publicly. They seem fine though. You know that is how rich people do. They act like they are immune to emotions," another muttered.

"Madam is not like that though. She seems very perfect for a rich lady. I expected her to be angry and spiteful when I first came here," the first one mentioned.

"That is the problem. You can never figure out what she is thinking. Worse, she is always smiling."

"It is to hide her pain. She is not happy. You can see that her happiness is not genuine because it never reflects in her eyes," the last person's words broke her heart, and she gasped when she heard it because it was true.

'How could she be happy?'

Stacy could remember more clearly than any other day, when she heard that Carlton was dating some hot girl from Harvard during his final year in school. She bawled out her eyes that day, and it broke her heart so much. Although no one in her family would have known how much the news affected her.

She had been the regular teenager who didn't care too much about things, but they would never have an idea that she had always had a crush on her elder brother's friend.

Carlton Howard was from a wealthy home, and the third-generational inheritor of his father's and grandfather's wealth as the only son. He was so charming, good looking, intelligent and almost perfect in all his doings, that it was hard for him to not be loved everywhere he went. It was natural that Stacy could not help but fall for him.

However, even if he had not been so nice to other girls, he was kind to her and treated her with priority and care. She was the sister of his only friend, so it was only natural that she would enjoy those priorities. But she wanted more.

He was four years older, and was planning to get out of university by the time she was just in high school, but she didn't care. Even if he was ten years older or more, she wouldn't have cared. Still, she wanted him for herself.

But, the shock that he opened his heart and started dating a lady at his school choked her. She didn't expect it because he had always been cold other girls except her. It had fueled her hope fiercely.

And when she saw the lady's picture and came to know about her achievements at a young age, Stacy felt more dejected than ever. She was in no way compared to Marilyn Gray even if she tried so hard.

Days turned to weeks, weeks to months and months to years, and she could not just move on. Carlton was still dating his sweetheart, and she was drowning in forlorn while getting prepared for her college entrance examinations. She had started to lose hope already.

Even if she had tried to get into Harvard to show him that she was capable and good enough for him, she could not because she wasn't even in her right state to study efficiently. Her puppy love had taken too much of her head.

By the time Carlton was taking charge of his life as a hot, young CEO who would inherit his family's billion fortune, she was struggling with how to pass her anatomy tests for her first year examinations. They were in different worlds, moving at different speeds and times. It took her a long time to realize it.

"Hey, pumpkin. Carlton might be getting married," Were her brother's exact words to her two years ago, and she almost lost her mind. She could barely write her last paper for the third year out of exhaustion the thoughts gave her. It broke her so much.

"Mrs. Howard. Everything is set," Irina called from where Stacy was sitting, while brooding deeply on the balcony of the house. She was so lost in thoughts, and did not even realize that the maid had called her many times before speaking louder.

"Thank you. I will come and check it out," Stacy turned to tell the lady with a bright, unfaltering smile, and sighed wearily before she stood up from where she was sitting after Irina left.

She had been trying to reach Carlton since she woke earlier in the morning, but he was not picking up his calls. He came home very late the previous night when she had slept, and left home even before she woke up. It had been the same routine for a few days.

Lazily, she made her way up the stairs without even caring to check out the work that had been done, and entered her room with a heavy heart as she slammed the door.

'The party was useless if Carlton was not there to celebrate with her.'

Perfunctorily, Stacy stepped out of her clothes and entered the bathroom to take her bath. She sat in the bathtub and slouched languidly on it, as she began to think of what she could do to impress Carlton. She wanted him to love and care for her genuinely.

Still deep in her thoughts, she was jolted back by the notification that beeped on her phone from the bathroom, as she rushed out hurriedly after barely wrapping a towel around her body. Thinking it was her husband that finally replied to her text, she grabbed the phone and swiped the screen to the message icon. It was really him.

Her eyes widened and unblinkingly stared at her phone with her mouth wide open, as blood drained from her face, leaving her as pale as bleak when she read the contents of the text over and over again.

"Let's get a divorce."

"Where have you been all day?" Stacy asked anxiously, as soon as she became aware that Carlton had entered the house already.

When he entered, he hadn't noticed that a figure was sitting down on the stairs until she rose, and he began to perceive her scent the more she moved closer.

She smiled softly at him as if she hadn't spent the last few hours staring at the message on her phone, wanting to believe that it wasn't what she had read. That it was a mistake.

"Why are you sitting there, and not sleeping in your room?" Carlton's hoarse but calm voice asked as he stood at the end of the stairs, and his eyes trailed to the Rolex which was clasped around his wrist to check what time it was.

"I was bothered. I have been calling you endlessly. You didn't reply to my texts either," Stacy lamented with bitterness, as she got to where he was standing.

"You should have known I was busy," he reminded her, in case she had forgotten that he was a serious business man, who had companies to oversee and manage effectively.

However, he was more surprised that she was not talking about the message he sent earlier, and that she seemed so indifferent. Like she had seen nothing.

"You could have texted. I was worried all day," she mentioned with deep sadness in her voice, with tears almost rolling down her cheeks. All her efforts for the day had gone to waste.

"Did you not see my text?" he questioned, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

He knew he had sent it to the right number. Why was she feigning ignorance?'

"No I didn't and that is why I'm feeling so bad right now," she mumbled, as she collected the briefcase that his assistant, James, was holding and followed behind him immediately.

Though they slept in different rooms, she knew the nook and crannies of his room, and always did everything to make him look perfect.

From laying out the perfect set of ties, socks, and tones of suit she felt would go for the day, to making sure that every newly ordered custom suit was brought in by her. Replacing all of his deodorant and accessories was part of her job too, because she knew exactly what his taste was like. And she never got it wrong.

"You did not remember that yesterday was our marriage anniversary, right?" Stacy asked him instantly as she followed him into his room, and helped him to bring a neat bathrobe so that he could get prepared to bathe. She made sure he never had to use an unfresh one.

"Does it matter?" He reacted frivolously as he pulled off his shirt, and she swallowed hard.

It stung her heart instantly to hear he took what she said with levity, because she knew that he probably did not remember. That was even if he remembered that they were still married.

"I even prepared a feast for our anniversary. All the food must have been wasted by now," she shook her head sadly.

Carlton's footsteps halted abruptly and he gritted his teeth when he heard her say that, as he turned to her with anger flashing his eyes, "Why are you taking this marriage seriously when, deep down, you know that it is a sham marriage? Just why?!" He asked her impatiently like he had been waiting desperately for the perfect time.

He was sick of her giving unnecessary irrelevance to their fake marriage every time.

"And why are you acting like you didn't see my message?!" he demanded angrily, already irritated.

"Wh...wh...at?" Stacy, who was taken by shock with the way he asked, stuttered fearfully as she saw a glint of anger in his eyes.

Her mind flashed back to how they got married narrowly, when he had announced to everyone that he was getting married to his girlfriend. To how they were fake.

Carlton had never really been the marriage type, and was not keen on it until his grandfather clamored the same clauses to his ears all the time after he started working for the company.

"You will get to control all these assets as your own, only when you get married. Then, I am sure that you can manage everything in your life with both family and work. I will not let you be like your father."

Truly, his father, Philip, had lived recklessly when it came to handling women in his life, and it had cost him a lot of things including, his business investment ideas that got stolen in one of his escapades. It was a never ending battle.

For Carlton, his girlfriend, Marilyn Gray, became his only option for marriage so that he could get it over with and give her a lot of comfort with his wealth as his wife. However, Marilyn had many ambitions. She liked everything Carlton had to offer her, but she didn't like the idea of marriage.

But, when she heard the benefits that Carlton was going to receive after the marriage, she agreed to get married to him in the most secretive way.

On the day of the wedding in court, Marilyn was nowhere to be found, and her phone was unreachable. She dropped a note to Carlton through a delivery man, stating that she was sorry and didn't think she could commit to such a long-term relationship as a marriage.

He was heartbroken because he lost his beloved girlfriend just like that, and couldn't back down, when he was just a step from gaining control over his family fortune.

Stacy, on the other hand, had chased after her elder brother desperately so that she would be able to contact Carlton and ask about his wedding.

She left school from Chicago without telling anyone, and journeyed to secretly be present at his court wedding in place of her brother, who was not able to attend because of an investor meeting for his start-up company on the same day.

With a twist in fate, Stacy convinced Carlton to be the stand-in bride for him after she realized that he was in a dilemma, and registered as his bride at court so that he could send the proof to his grandfather. A follow-up visit to the old man in Seattle confirmed their marriage, and a mansion feast sealed their fake marriage, all without Stacy's family knowledge. She wanted it that way.

That guilt had always suffocated Carlton, even if he had control over the Howard billion future. He wanted freedom from her.

"You know that this marriage is based on conditions and a contract, right? That we are free of each other, and can do anything desired by just staying as a married couple on paper for the meantime. Why are you always taking it so seriously?" He asked her again with deep frustration.

"Does it matter that our marriage was not planned? What matters is that we are now married as a husband and wife," she refuted strongly to his face, with her eyes twitching in a struggle to stop the tears that were about to roll down her cheeks.

'She didn't come this far, and sacrificed so many things for a marriage that was still fake to him.'

"The fact remains that we are in a fake marriage. Do you not understand?!" He reminded her again if she had forgotten, and gotten too attached to what was not even real.

"I don't want to understand anything," she replied softly to him, deeply hurt that he still saw their marriage as something unimportant, "I don't want to," she repeated.

"I have been thinking about it, Stacy. It is time to end this fake marriage," Carlton finally let the cat out of the bag.

Stacy's heart pounded in her chest immediately she heard what Carlton said, as different kinds of emotions swirled within her in reaction to the shock of his words.

Her eyes searched his face desperately seeking any signs of warmness that would contradict his words, but his face was impassively serious. Her breath hung in the air due to shock.

"What?" She struggled to find her voice, when she realized that her husband was not joking with his words. She had always dreaded the day she would hear him say that.

"I am glad that I can finally bring it up to your face after contemplating for a while, and I have the divorce papers ready with me now," he mentioned, and walked to his briefcase to bring the papers immediately.

Stacy's hands trembled as she took the file that he stretched to her from him, as she struggled with the heavy tears that had weighed down in her chest. Her throat was dry and painful, as it felt like she was going to choke if she didn't let down her tears that continually succumbed to throat swelling.

"No, I can't, Carlton," she struggled to say.

"Why can you not?" Carlton asked as he tried not to get angry, because he really could not understand why she was trying to cling on to something that did not exist.

"I just can't," she struggled to swallow her tears, as she shut her eyes tight to prevent them from falling, "Why do you suddenly want to break off the marriage when we have been living fine. Is there anything I have done wrong?!" She wanted to know, "Then I can just do better."

"No, Stacy. It is me. I am tired and sick of us and this marriage, and I want to break it off," he said, and collected the file from her hastily as he tore it open, "Take the papers and sign them. My lawyer would process it and we could go our separate ways. You will be given alimony too. And if you want a subsidiary company too, it is fine. I am willing to give all."

"I am sure you are just saying all this out of anger or stress. We can sleep over it today and speak tomorrow," she turned away from him with more tears streaming down, and proceeded to leave the room. She was not ready to listen to him.

"No, I am not saying this out of anger, Stacy. Just sign these papers and we will go our separate ways," Carlton warned calmly when he saw that she was about to leave.

"I will never sign this!" Stacy raised her voice with bitterness, louder than she had ever done in the years of being married to him. She could never!

Carlton's words echoed in Stacy's ears as she sat cold in her bathtub shivering badly, submerging her head in the tub of water like it would take away her pain and wipe away her reality.

Her heart viciously ached with so much pain that it threatened to suffocate her, and she sobbed incessantly because she just couldn't understand why he suddenly wanted a divorce.

The hurtful words, "We should go our separate ways," haunted her throughout the night so much that she couldn't sleep.

Her mind traveled back to the message she had received on her phone again and again, as she froze the more she remembered how his cruel words had set her off into an explosive state.

'Why? Why did he want a divorce now? Was Carlton seeing another lady? Was that why he wanted a divorce?' her head conjured different kinds of thoughts and scenarios, as she cried harder the more the thoughts came to her mind.

But then again, Stacy tried to encourage herself that Carlton wasn't someone like that. Though he didn't love her, he had never had eyes for other women either. She wanted to believe that she was just overthinking it.

'But still, he was asking for a divorce!' her head reminded her and her breath became shallow and erratic again, as she struggled to swallow the tears that were provoked by her thoughts again. Her chest tightened and constricted in pain, as she hit it hard to stop it from hurting.

She cried the entire night and managed to stand up from her bed the next day with a puffy face, as she stood in front of the mirror to examine the damage her excessive crying had done to her face.

'How would the maids not gossip again now, when she had cried her eyes out now?' Stacy worried as she pressed her red cheeks with her hand. She couldn't let them see any flaw in her.

She dressed up in a gorgeous gown like any other day, and wore the perfect make-up which concealed the bags under her eyes. Stepping out of her room, her lips stretched into a huge smile as she sauntered to his room, which was at the other side of the large hallway that led to their room.

Disappointment glinted in her eyes when she realized that he had left home so early, without eating breakfast after she opened his door. She hesitated for a few minutes before going downstairs, in fear of what the maids might gossip about after observing like spies.

She couldn't make them see that she was breaking, and that there was a crack somewhere in her marriage. However, the untouched anniversary food and cake already gave room for them to talk.

"Breath, Stacy. They cannot see you break," she whispered to herself, as she walked to the kitchen to choose the food that would be prepared for Carlton by the chefs, with extra care put into the preparation of each meal.

She ordered the food be packed and delivered to his office an hour later, with a handwritten note from her attached to it; Have a great day ahead.

'She had to act like nothing had happened between them the previous day. She had to. For her peace of mind.'

With nothing much to do, Stacy remained indoors all day extremely bored and more tired than usual. She was trying hard not to think or cry, and sat down at the mansion library reading random books. But it was extremely hard because it was hard for her not to think about what ensued between her and Carlton.

His phone remained unreachable after she tried calling him several times again, and ended up leaving a few texts for him. He didn't reply to her messages even if it showed that he was active, and she felt like she was losing her mind in fear that he might be ghosting her.

Suddenly, she remembered a way to get out of her pain.

A black luxury car glided to a graceful halt in front of a huge building, as the chauffeur alighted and scurried to open the door to the back seat. Stacy stepped out of the car in a luxurious red dress that accentuated her sexy body, as it shimmered under the lights in accordance to her diamond-encrusted heels.

Every eye around her turned, transfixed by her presence, and they wondered who she was to step out of such a luxurious car because her face was not familiar. She had been invited as a guest by a friend she made from a bakery class she once attended, and was honoring the event invitation for the first time. She needed her sanity back.

Stacy gracefully made her way into the building, even if she was not sure what she was going to do there or what a charity event was all about. Seeing a different world from the one she had been living in for years made her awed, because of the number of A-list socialites, and elites that she recognized who were present. It was a world of opulence and grandeur.

'Breathe, Stacy. No one knows you here,' she told herself repeatedly, in order to get rid of her extreme anxiety.

Silently and sophisticatedly, she moved through the crowd and stood alone, while observing everyone and everything around her. She was very conscious of everything unfolding before her eyes and people around, because she had not been to such events before.

Though she had married a billionaire and lived a luxurious life in her two years of marriage, she had always enjoyed simple things that revolved around only her and Carlton. She had never had the chance to explore outside of her marriage, because no one knew that she was married to someone like him. They had never made public appearances either. And she was satisfied with all that, so far he was with her. She truly was.

However, she probably was starting to regret that she had been too enclosed. Her life might not have been so boring and pathetic if she had friends, and took advantage of her social position to get rid of her pain.

"Oh dear! I am so glad to see you. I thought you would not make it here," Evelyn, the beautiful lady who invited her, caught sight of her and scurried to meet her immediately.

"Thank you for inviting me," Stacy smiled shyly and modestly as she heaved a sigh of relief to finally see the only person she knew amongst everyone. She didn't know how she managed to gain the attention of a lady like Evelyn from a mere cooking class, whose father owned many major companies in the city. She was a luxury herself.

"Come meet my friends. I told them about you already," Evelyn grabbed her arm along with her as they sauntered to the other side of the room. The young, beautiful heiress had a natural liking for Stacy, even if she was not interested in a friendship that would warrant questions she could not answer and expose her private life.

In a few minutes after exchanging pleasantries with the three high-class ladies she was introduced to, they could not help but admire and feel intimidated by her gorgeousness.

"Dear me! Is this not the new Hamilton Hamish design? These earrings cost a fortune!" Natalie, one of the ladies, noticed and could not hide her outburst, as her eyes scanned across every part of the new lady that had just been introduced to them.

"Really? The ones that don't come in pairs and cost twice the amount to get the other?" Jasmine, a young, well-accomplished lawyer, cut in surprisingly as she tried to take a closer look at it, which made Stacy stiffen. She wasn't used to that kind of closeness from people.

"Fuck, yes," Natalie affirmed astonishingly while wondering if she was indeed seeing the limited edition jewelry, as her eyes trailed down to value the price of everything that Stacy was putting on.

"Damn. I recognize these heels. They were auctioned in Paris two months ago, and my dad desperately tried to get one for me to no avail. Only two pairs were sold out for a freaking outrageous amount!" Khloe, the third lady blurted out with a deep gasp, with her eyes glistening greedily at her heels. She was determined not to get along with Stacy because she looked way out of her class, and pretended not to hear her friends talking about the earrings.

Stacy just stood there as she watched the lady value the prices of the things she was wearing, without knowing what she could say as a reply to sound humble enough. Though they were all ladies of high class, they could help but comment on Stacy's luxurious and impeccable taste.

"You are so beautiful. Who is your dad? What school did you attend? Have we met before?" Jasmine rushed her question, suddenly having the urge to become friends with her. She speculated that Stacy had to be from an influential and extremely wealthy family, which was well-affiliated enough to get all those limited edition accessories for her.

'She was the wife of Carlton Howard. It was only natural if all those things came easily to her,' Stacy thought to herself, 'But how would she tell these ladies in the room that her father wasn't as rich as they thought?'

"Thank you," She replied with a modest smile, as she tried to think of what she would give as an answer to who her Dad was. Her head swore in happiness because it had been a while since she had been complemented by someone, and it suddenly boosted her self-esteem, which had been sinking for months.

"Are you new to town? How come I have never seen you before?" Khloe, who was still swelling with jealousy asked rigidly, unable to stand the fact that she was nowhere compared to Stacy.

"Isn't that Marilyn Gray?" Jasmine suddenly announced as her eyes darted to the other side of the room, and recognized someone familiar.

'Marilyn?' Stacy's brain remembered the name immediately.

"Marilyn Gray is at this charity event? I thought she had been out of the country now for a long time," Natalie asked incredulously, as her eyes darted to the direction Jasmine was looking.

"It is really her," Evelyn cut in as she joined the conversation, with irritation lacing her eyes, "Marilyn is so affiliated with a lot of people. Imagine, she could even hold a conversation with someone like Carlton Howard," she added.

'Carlton's ex-girlfriend was back?!' Stacy panicked inwardly, as her eyes traced along the movements of the gorgeous lady that was standing at the other side of the room with a charming smile.

Even from that distance, the aura of the lady she had always felt inferior to, bashed her and sucked out the confidence that the ladies around her had elevated just a few minutes ago.

'She didn't know she was back in the city.'

Still thinking of how she could act indifferent to Marilyn's sudden presence, Stacy sighted her husband from nowhere as he made his way into the event.

There were hushed tones of people around in awe when they saw him, speculating about what had changed, because he was not the type to attend such events. And he was walking in her direction.

'Carlton was at an event with his ex-girlfriend present too?!'