His Kept Secret Seven Years as the Billionaire's Hidden Lover

Julian Sterling kept a canary with a death wish.

Every year, in a desperate bid for status, she reinvented her methods, staging elaborate suicides to force his hand.

The first year, claiming life had hit rock bottom, she staged a leap from a building.

The second, lamenting that she was adrift in the wind, she feigned a hanging.

The third, declaring she would simply go with the flow, she pretended to drown in the river.

By the seventh year, the theatrics came to an abrupt halt.

Julian Sterling tucked the duvet around the young girl beside him before finally casting a casual glance my way.

"You know how it is," he said, voice devoid of guilt. "Someone slipped me an aphrodisiac. This young lady was kind enough to help."

He paused, eyes narrowing. "Be good. Put the pills down. It's just a title, Bella. Does it really matter that much?"

My vision blurred, heat stinging my eyes. It felt like my heart was being unraveled, fiber by fiber. "She's only eighteen! Julian, you're disgusting."

A cigarette dangled from his lips, his smile loose and careless. "And you aren't? You slept with me when you were eighteen too."

I couldn't find the words to refute him. Before I could formulate a retort, the male escort he'd summoned hoisted me over his shoulder.

Julian delivered a sharp, patronizing pat to my behind. "Gender equality, Bella. Go enjoy yourself."

Humiliation clawed at my chest. My mysophobia flared, every pore screaming against the stranger's touch.

I bit my lip until I tasted iron, my fists raining solid thuds against the escort's back.

He hissed and set me down, feigning innocence. "Miss Cox, I'm just following orders."

I shoved a wad of cash into his hand, raising my voice to ensure the occupants of the room heard every word.

"Go on then. Julian might be disgusting, but I have standards. Unlike him, I'm picky. I mind the filth, and I'm terrified of catching diseases."

As the words left my mouth, I realized how ridiculous they sounded.

Who was I kidding? How could she have a disease? She was the heiress of the Fox family, one of Harbor City's four great elites.

For seven years, I was the only one by Julian's side. Today, she became the second.

And the moment she appeared, she became the one Julian decided to marry.

The man took the money, thanking me profusely before scurrying away.

The confrontation I expected never came.

Instead, coquettish laughter drifted through the crack in the door.

Right. Why would a Harbor City heiress deign to bicker with a canary like me?

Julian knew me too well. He had left the door ajar on purpose, a vicious tactic to humiliate methe thief who had stolen seven years of his life.

My knuckles turned white as I gripped the doorframe, torn between dignity and desperation.

Courage and greed waged war in my heart.

Tears blurred my vision, heavy drops smashing against the floorboards. I fled, pressing my back against the corridor wall, gasping for air as my mind went blank.

My body curled inward, trembling from a cold that came from within.

Seven years of theatrics, seven years of threatening death, and I still hadn't secured the status I craved. She had simply crooked a finger and won it all.

Julian, when you marry heris it calculation, or love?

Before I could spiral further, my phone lit up. A message from Julian.

"Bella, bring condoms. Ultra-thin. I can't wait any longer."

A massive bank transfer followed immediately after.

It took a few breaths for the reality to sink in.

My mind screamed no, but my body moved on autopilot.

Maybe I thought there was still a chance. Maybe I wanted to prove he couldn't break me.

Regardless, I needed the money. I needed to protect myself.

Minutes later, I handed over the box of condoms. I even thoughtfully included a pack of emergency contraceptives.

"Non-toxic. No side effects."

The girl froze for a second before taking them, revealing cute canine teeth in a smile.

"Thank you."

I scoffed internally. A rich heiress really was magnanimousor perhaps just oblivious.

Julian tapped the stopwatch without looking up. "Three minutes and twenty-seven seconds. You serve others faster than you shop for yourself, Bella."

Sensing the tension, the young girl covered Julian's mouth with her hand.

"Bella. That's a very pretty name."

"Julian and I will have a marriage in name only. Do you mind staying on as his mistress?"

I froze. I hadn't expected Elisa to be so casual about sharing her husband. The answer lodged in my throata jagged lump I could neither spit out nor swallow.

Julian caught her arm, his grip firm. "The Sterling family needs this alliance, and Elisa accepts the arrangement." His gaze flicked to me, cold and heavy. "Be sensible."

The warning was clear.

I lowered my eyes. My sockets felt dry and bruised, aching from tears I could no longer shed.

The path is laid out right in front of you, Bella Cox. What right do you have to be dissatisfied?

Being a well-paid canary was safer than being Mrs. Sterlinga title that came with an expiration date. I knew the logic. I knew the rules.

But I wasn't willing.

I couldn't stomach the thought of watching my lover belong to someone else while she enjoyed the respect and status I could never touch. A mistress and a wife lived in two different worlds. One word from the wife, and the mistress would have to cough up everything she'd ever been given.

While my mind waged war against my heart, Elisa's pleasant voice drifted from above. She patted my shoulder gently.

"It's okay. There's plenty of time. Think it over."

She turned and reached for a small bottle of pills on the table. Before she could open it, Julian intercepted her hand.

"You don't need to take that."

Astonishment flashed across Elisa's face. Before she could respond, Julian scooped her into his arms, shielding her from my view.

"I'll take her home first," he threw over his shoulder, his voice devoid of warmth. "We'll talk later."

He carried her out, leaving me alone in the silence.

It was just a small detailstopping her from taking medicinebut his attitude stabbed harder than any insult.

I collapsed onto the floor, gasping like a fish thrown onto dry land.

For seven years, Julian had never once let me skip a dose.

There was one time I'd tried to refuse. He frowned, his pitch-black eyes filled with displeasure. "I don't want children yet. You know that. The family puts enough pressure on me as it isa child would only be a weakness. Be a good girl."

Whether it was family pressure, his foul mood, or simply wanting to delay my cycle for his own convenience, he always had an excuse. He forced the pills on me, time after time.

I took them until my body broke. I took them until I could no longer carry a child.

But Elisa? She didn't even need to swallow a single pill.

The contrast was a physical paina sour ache spreading through my chest. I dug my nails into my palms until the urge to scream subsided.

My phone buzzed on the floor beside me. A message from Julian.

[Wash up and wait for me.]

I stared at the screen. Julian, a man with insatiable stamina, had actually held back with Elisa. Was he afraid of hurting her? Or was he coming back to coax me into submission again with his twisted logic?

I let out a hollow laugh. It seemed that in front of Julian, all my anger was expected to vanish the moment he touched me.

But a canary has no right to say no.

I dragged my exhausted body toward the bathroom. Steam filled the small space, blurring my vision and pulling me back into memories I'd tried to keep buried.

I was eighteen that year. We met at a club.

A clumsy waiter bumped into me, sending red wine splashing onto a bespoke suit. Within seconds, a group of wealthy heirs had cornered me against the wall.

"Is this the new way to seduce people? Bit outdated, isn't it?"

"Throwing herself at us and still pretending to be some pure little flower."

The insults poured over me, mixing with alcohol and cheap cologne. They trampled my dignity, tossing cash at my face before rough hands yanked at my collar.

"Had enough?"

The voice cut through the noise like a blade. Julian appeared, looking like a dark god descending into hell. His polished leather shoes stopped inches from mine.

"The Sterling family is blacklisting all of you. Permanently." His tone was bored but dangerous. "Men of such low character aren't worthy of doing business with me."

The crowd scattered. He reached out a hand, but instead of taking it, I looked up and rested my chin gently in his palm.

"Please," I whispered, desperate to escape my poverty and humiliation. "Cherish me."

He frowned, studying me.

I held up my resume, hands trembling. "I'm clean. If you need it, I can provide a physical examination report."

"A top-tier university student, reducing herself to this?"

The contempt in his voice stung like a lash. I bit my lower lip, shame burning so hot I couldn't find the words to defend myself.

Yet in my scramble to stand, I stumbled. My teeth grazed his fingertip, drawing blood. In that split second, the mask of the ascetic, untouchable Julian Sterling shattered. The beast beneath was exposed.

He didn't push me away. He picked me up.

For seven days, I didn't leave his villa. I had fallen from grace, but I had caught a lifeline. I clung to Julian Sterling, the most powerful man in Harbor City, to survive.

Cold fingertips trailed up my spine, snapping me back to the present. Julian pressed his chest against my back, his breath hot against my ear. "Been waiting anxiously?"

He didn't wait for an answer. "Bella, you're a smart woman. Between a title and me... you know which holds more value, right?"

I turned, my gaze crashing into eyes so deep they could bewitch a soul.

The pure, restrained Julian of the past was gone. In his place stood a cold, calculating businessman.

"Julian," I said, my voice icy, "do you think I'm that cheap?"

He raised a brow, feigning ignorance, and casually adjusted the silver frames perched on his noseframes that held no lenses, a mere prop for his deceptive persona.

"I never said that. And I never thought it."

As the words fell, he removed the glasses and captured my lips. His hand gathered my hair at the nape of my neck, stroking it rhythmically, as if soothing a temperamental cat.

A metallic taste bloomed between our mouths. He had bitten me. He pulled back slightly, his thumb brushing the corner of his own lips where I had retaliated.

His smile didn't reach his eyes. "My Bella has claws."

He shifted, and a velvet box appeared. He opened it, revealing a diamond the size of a pigeon's egg shimmering under the dim lights.

"Is it enough? Hmm?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but his index finger pressed against my lips, silencing me.

"Anything you want, Bella. Except the title of Mrs. Sterling."

I narrowed my eyes, studying the man beside my pillow. I looked for a trace of a joke, a hint of irony.

There was none. Only the steely determination to win.

He was certain I would compromise. He believed that, just like every other time I tested his limits over the years, he simply had to coax me, and I would fold.

"Tell me, Julian," I whispered, "is being a kept man thrilling for you?"

The humor in his eyes vanished. His gaze darkened. He reached out and pinched my cheek, his voice devoid of emotion.

"Bella, sometimes a woman can be too smart for her own good. Especially a canary."

He leaned in closer. "The little tricks you used to seduce me seven years ago won't work anymore. Right now, I prefer obedience."

I forced a mischievous smile, aiming my words like daggers at his chest. "It seems you're satisfied with me, but Elisa isn't willing to acknowledge you publicly, is she?"

His jaw tightened. I pressed on.

"What a pity. We're actually the same, you and I. You knew Elisa had a fianc, yet you deliberately drugged heror perhaps pretended you were the one druggedjust to compromise her. You forced a scandal to make the marriage inevitable."

I laughed softly. "When it comes to dirty tactics, I should be the one admiring you. Was it a long-term play for the family merger? Or, as you claim, were you simply 'taking responsibility' for her?"

He let out a soundless laugh. His hand clamped around my throat, tightening just enough to warn me, before releasing me as I gasped for air.

"What am I going to do with you?"

It sounded like indulgence, yet it carried a heavy note of helplessness.

The conversation ended there, replaced by fierce, demanding possession. I found it suffocating. I reached out and handed him the foil packet from the nightstand.

"Julian... I hurt."

Not just my body. My heart, too.

His eyes were rimmed with red, his breathing ragged. He answered incoherently, but his hands obeyed my request.

As I lay there, I couldn't help but think: if not for our disparate backgrounds, we would be the most perfect soulmates in the world. Our minds matched. Our bodies matched.

But after that day, the relationship between the three of us reached a fragile, subtle balance.

I stopped asking for love. I only asked for money.

Julian and Elisa continued their public performance, playing the part of the engaged couple when the occasion called for it. But I could see the shift.

Julian had truly taken Elisa to heart.

He began to care about her moodsher joys, her anger, her sorrows. He no longer treated her as a naive little rabbit, easy to control.

He memorized her cycle. He orchestrated elaborate holiday surprises for her. He even abandoned me when I was seriously ill just to go read her bedtime stories.

His obsession grew dark. He began to covet another man's woman in earnest, taking out his twisted frustrations on her photograph in the dead of night.

But no matter what he did, he couldn't change the Fox family's arrangements, nor could he sway Elisa's heart, which had already tilted toward another.

Julian Sterling buried his face in the hollow of my neck, his body trembling. Hot tears soaked into my skin.

"She's getting married," he choked out.

I sat there like a dutiful wife, soothing a husband who was grieving another woman. My hand moved mechanically through the hair at his nape while my other arm held him close.

"It's okay," I whispered, the words tasting like ash. "You still have me."

He let out a muffled sound, keeping his head low. The heat of his tears betrayed his devastation, yet his voice remained stubbornly hard.

"Bella, don't be stupid. It's just a wedding. I'm not sad at all."

I didn't reply. I simply rested my chin on top of his head, offering silent company to a man whose heart was breaking for someone else.

Rumor had it the Stephens family had spared no expense for the wedding of the century. Driven by masochistic curiosity, I opened the livestream on my phone. I wanted to see what had reduced the formidable Julian Sterling to tears.

My finger tapped the screen.

The venue was empty. Not a soul in sight.

A headline was already climbing the trending searches: Harbor City's Lord Nine Abandons Bride for Mystery First Love.

My gaze darted between the chaotic news feed and the man weeping in my arms. Ethan Stephens had left Elisa at the altar.

The next second, the weight on my shoulder vanished. Julian lifted his head. His eyes were red-rimmed but burned with sudden intensity.

"Are you willing to marry me?"

The question hung in the air. This was the status I had waited seven years for. It had finally fallen from the sky, landing right in my lap.

But looking at him now, I found I didn't want it anymore.

Before I could answer, a ringtone sliced through the tension. Julian answered on speakerphone without hesitation.

"Julian... it hurts."

Three words. That was all it took to hook his soul. He bolted from the couch with such frantic urgency that he didn't even notice where he stepped.

His shoe crushed down on my handthe same hand I had burned simmering soup for him.

He didn't look back.

As the door slammed, the bandage loosened. Blood seeped through the gauze, flowing from my fingertips into my palm in a thin, continuous stream. It reminded me of the love I had tried so hard to keep.

The tighter I held on, the faster it slipped away.

My heart had gone numb long ago. I calmly retrieved the first aid kit and redressed the wound. As I worked, I did a mental tally of my assets.

I was short one million dollars.

Once I secured thatthe termination fee Julian owed me for seven years of serviceI could finally afford my exit.

I understood the destructive power of a "white moonlight"the one that got away. Elisa's fianc hadn't married her because of his obsession with his first love. And Julian? I had seen the look in his eyes when he spoke of her. I knew how this story ended.

I should have prepared my escape route sooner.

I took a deep breath, determined to salvage whatever dignity I had left. Even if Elisa eventually accepted me as a sister-wife or whatever arrangement they concocted, I couldn't accept that version of myself.

I began to pack.

In this sprawling villa, my existence was reduced to half a suitcase. I couldn't even fill it. As a canary kept in a gilded cage, I knew the rules: gifts from the master were to be returned. To avoid future entanglements, I left behind everything he had bought me, including the watch I had gifted him.

When the room was stripped of my presence, I sat down and drafted a termination agreement.

I sent a text: Where are you? We need to talk.

Julian's reply was swiftlikely a reflex to brush me offbut then he sent a follow-up voice note, his tone hushed. He told me to come to the hospital.

Ever the thoughtful partner, I bought a fruit basket on the way.

When I arrived at the ward, Julian was sitting by the bedside, peeling an apple. His movements were clumsy; I noticed several bandages on his fingers, likely cuts from the paring knife.

"The child you miscarried was mine," Julian said, his voice low and urgent. "What I mean is... if he won't marry you, pick someone else. Pick me."

He brought a slice of apple to Elisa's lips with painstaking care. His eyes held no lust, only a desperate, humble plea.

Watching them, I felt a sudden surge of relief. I was lucky. I knew my place.

I lowered my gaze and smoothed the creases of the agreement in my hand. Just get the signature. There's nothing to be afraid of, Bella. You are about to start a new life.

Elisa spotted me first. She offered a weak wave.

I forced my legs to move. But before I could set the fruit basket down, my grip failed. The basket hit the floor, apples rolling across the sterile tiles.

Julian frowned. He turned to me, his eyes cold and sharp as bladesprojecting all the humiliation of being rejected by Elisa directly onto me.

"I arranged for male models to entertain you," he snapped. "Can you stop clinging to me for five minutes?"