Dumped Then Claimed By A Billionaire (Nerissa and Owen) novel Chapter 1

Chapter 1 Time Travel

“We’re getting a divorce.”

“I married you to fulfill my grandfather’s dying wish. Audrey is the only one I truly love.”

“Owen, I love you. Losing you will kill me.”

“Fine, then just don’t die on me.”

Nerissa Jamison suddenly jolted awake, sweat beading across her forehead. She was gasping for breath.

The room was huge, decorated in lavish, palatial style, rich and extravagant.

Staring around at the unfamiliar surroundings, Nerissa froze for a moment. ‘What’s going on? I remember I died,’ she wondered.

At the same time, a flood of new memories poured into her mind.

She saw a man glaring at a woman with utter disgust as the woman collapsed to the floor, begging him not to divorce her.

After about ten minutes, Nerissa finally pieced together her situation.

Clearly, she had traveled through time.

The girl in the memories was also named Nerissa. She was born in the slums with no notable background, and her parents were unknown.

Right after birth, she was abandoned by the roadside in a village. An elderly local found her and raised her.

Six months ago, this ordinary village girl married into the Calloway family in Aosthorne. From there, she climbed the social ladder to become a wealthy wife envied by all.

All of this was thanks to something that happened a year ago.

A year ago, Griffin suddenly suffered a seizure and fell into the water while struggling. Nerissa happened to be nearby and saved him.

When they met for the first time, Griffin was deeply impressed by Nerissa. For one, she was beautiful. But more importantly, he believed Nerissa brought good luck.

At the time, Calloway Group was facing an unprecedented financial crisis.

To repay Nerissa for saving him and to save the nearly bankrupt company, Griffin ignored opposition and insisted that his grandson, Owen Calloway, marry Nerissa.

After Nerissa and Owen married, Calloway Group, on the brink of collapse, suddenly secured several large orders and not only survived but thrived day by day.

Owen was hailed by the media as a rare dark horse in finance, a rising star who went from a ridiculed, fallen blue blood to the strongest newcomer in the industry.

Owen always looked down on his slum-born wife. As his status grew, his contempt for Nerissa only deepened.

Proud of being the golden boy, Owen believed Nerissa, who had no prestigious background or good education, was completely unworthy of him.

Because of this, even though their marriage license had been registered for six months, they never lived together, let alone slept together.

One month ago, Griffin died suddenly of a heart attack. At that moment, Owen’s first crush, Audrey Pierce, returned from overseas to attend the funeral. To reunite with Audrey, Owen asked for a divorce and abandoned Nerissa.

Owen had married Nerissa only to use her, but Nerissa had given him her genuine love. She loved Owen deeply and was willing to give everything for him. To avoid the divorce, she even collapsed on the ground begging Audrey to stop pursuing Owen.

But Audrey sneered, “In love, the mistress is the one who isn’t loved.”

With no help from Audrey, Nerissa threatened Owen, “If you insist on divorcing me, I’ll kill myself.”

Owen, however, didn’t care at all. His voice was cold and ruthless. “Fine, then just don’t die on me.”

Having lost all hope, Nerissa swallowed an entire bottle of sleeping pills.

But Owen forgot one thing.

Nerissa not only brought good luck, but she also possessed astonishing business talent. Before Griffin died, Nerissa had only studied for two months, yet she surpassed decades of Griffin’s experience.

Calloway Group’s turnaround against all odds was entirely due to Nerissa quietly working behind Owen’s back. But to protect Owen’s pride, Nerissa never took credit in public.

Just a week ago, Nerissa stayed up all night revising a bidding proposal for Owen to submit to Stratford Group.

Without Nerissa’s efforts, Calloway Group would have long been a casualty in the corporate war, and Owen wouldn’t have had a chance to become the rare dark horse of the decade in business.

To be precise, Nerissa was the real dark horse.

At that moment, a rapid knock sounded at the door.

“Nerissa, I’m warning you. Death won’t solve anything. As long as tomorrow isn’t the end of the world, we will get divorced,” Owen shouted from outside.

Right now, Calloway Group was back on track, and Owen had been hailed by the media as a once-in-a-decade dark horse. To him, Nerissa no longer offered anything of value.

Naturally, he wanted to get rid of this burden who could no longer contribute to his success. From now on, as long as he was around, the steady growth of Calloway Group was guaranteed.

Evelyn did not believe Nerissa truly had any business talent. To her, Nerissa was the least useful member of the Calloway family, so she fully supported Owen’s decision to divorce.

In Evelyn’s mind, only Audrey, who came from a prestigious family and had a great reputation, was worthy to be Owen’s wife.

Nerissa was no match for Audrey.

“Sign it,” Nerissa said, ignoring the contempt in Evelyn’s eyes as she walked straight up to Owen and threw the divorce papers onto the table.

Owen looked up at the heavily made-up woman and felt nothing but disgust. Then he stood, grabbing her wrist tightly, and asked angrily, “Nerissa, what exactly are you trying to do?”

Nerissa shook off his hand and glared at him with a hint of agitation in her eyes. Her voice rose. “You want a divorce, right? I’ve already signed.”

‘What? She agreed to the divorce and has already signed.’ Owen was momentarily stunned.

At the same time, the others in the living room doubted their ears.

They had expected Nerissa to throw a tantrum, cry, or threaten suicide like usual. But now, she was calmly urging Owen to sign the divorce papers.

It was so out of character.

‘Nerissa’s just a poor girl from the slums. If she divorces, she’ll lose all the wealth and luxury she’s enjoying now. Would she really give that up? Would she really abandon Owen and go back to having nothing?’ they thought.

Even Owen was taken aback.

‘Nerissa loves me to her core, to the point of losing herself. She’d even kill herself to avoid divorce. How could she possibly agree so easily? Something’s wrong with this divorce agreement,’ he thought.

Owen picked up the papers and scrutinized them carefully.

But after checking twice, he found nothing unusual.

And Nerissa had indeed signed.

‘How is this possible?’ Owen wondered.

He tilted his head toward Nerissa, frowning with impatience shining in his eyes. “Nerissa, what new trick are you playing now?”

‘I’ve really had enough of Nerissa. I don’t have time to play these mind games,’ Owen thought.