Neglected by Her CEO Husband: A Billionaire Marriage in Crisis Romance

by Riley King

For eight years, Madeline Sterling has been the perfect wife. Perfectly invisible.

She runs Damon Sterling's galas, his calendar, his family, his entire gilded life. Her husband built her an art studio as a wedding gift and never once looked at what she painted. She told herself love could be grown like a garden, if she just stayed patient. Stayed smooth. Stayed quiet.

Then he hires her. The one who got away. Maddie finds out standing behind him in front of forty cameras, smiling like the trophy she agreed to be.

And when his company catches fire and that woman whispers control your wife in his ear, her husband doesn't say a word in her defense.

So Maddie stops waiting. She packs what's hers, leaves the diamonds he never chose, and walks out of a marriage she was never really in. Paint under her nails. An ocean between them.

Will Damon realize his mistake while there's still time to save his marriage, or will the wife he neglected finally slip through his open hands?

The Unseen Wives, Book One. A standalone billionaire marriage-in-crisis romance featuring a wife who chooses herself, a husband who learns to grovel properly, no cheating, no cliffhanger, and a very hard-won happily ever after.

Genres: Second Chance, Contemporary, Romance, Harlequin

166 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 12, 2026

Reviews

[Snafuzled]

Okay… I’m admittedly in a weird place. I’m hosting a big party at my house this week. I legit have 1000 things to do and am shamelessly avoiding my responsibilities at the moment. I don’t have long to luxuriate in idleness because seriously… I have a lot to do.

So… kicking my heals…. Yeah, this sucked. I was looking for a quick gut punch. It actually DID deliver great for punches, but the redemption is lame. Boo! Hiss!

Criminy…someone kick me off my Kindle. I NEED to clean my house!!!😭😬🤬

[sznsreadings]

No point in writing a grovel type of book if she’s going to be a pathetic doormat who agrees to work on things after he cries wolf on camera. He should’ve suffered a lot more and she should’ve grown a backbone by their 2nd year of marriage. I despise that I even made it to the end chapters. That’s an hour I’ll never get back of my life.

[Mona]

Ok, wow! This was good ! It had me doing air punches and yelling out, “oh, hell no!” Angsty, ex-fiancé ow drama, neglected wife, and good writing. Totally recommend this! 3.5

[I’m a Paula too… Thompson]

Unseen Wives book 1…

No woman should ever be so easily disrespected as this one was. The MMC was a horse’s rear and had no clue about being a real man and husband. He was so clueless that he hires his ex who refused to marry him because she had a career she wanted more than him. And naturally he totally supports the ex at the expense of his wife, the FMC, who turns out to be an artist.

They’ve been married for eight years, and he’s never told her he loves her. That’s actually the saddest part of the whole thing. Did he even care until she left him? I don’t think he did…

KU and the series is currently 5 books if I recall correctly. I’m off to the next one.

ETA: I’m not correct! There are 7 books in this series…

[Jetscarbie]

2.5. The writing is not bad. I just didn’t really care for the MCs. I thought both were bland. YMMV on if you think this was emotional cheating, but IMO I’d say YES.

(Possible spoilers ahead)

Maddie and Damon have been married 7 years. Maddie gave up her art/life and she waits on Damon like his maid.
Damon was in love with this woman named Emily in college, but Emily wanted to finish her career or something. 🤷‍♀️
So Damon married Maddie. It was kind of an arrangement and Maddie knew he didn’t love her but she hoped she could *work* hard to win his affection. 🤦‍♀️

Now Damon is having some major issues with his company. At a press conference, he introduced who is going to save them all- slushy Emily. Maddie knew from the moment Damon looked at Emily, that he has NEVER looked at Maddie that way.

Let me tell ya, the emotional affair pretty much started right away. His POV would tell us he was VERY AWARE about what Emily was doing.
📍Damon started staying late at work until 12-2am with Emily.
📍 she moved her chair closer to him or would just sit beside him on his desk (hips touching)
📍 she would take her shoes off and “accidentally” rub her foot on him
📍she was always rubbing or touching him
📍she gave him a F’ing back massage 🤡
📍 they ate together all the time
📍 their conversations were not always work related
📍 he let Emily bash his wife
📍he started to talk about his marriage/problems with Emily
📍 he knew there were rumors and he did nothing to stop them
📍 he let Emily disrespect his wife at a gala. He walked away with Emily instead of his wife.
📍 even Damon’s own brother mentions the way Damon is acting towards Emily.

Now, when Emily finally laid all her cards on the table that she wanted him back, he quickly told her no. So…was he oblivious, naive, blind, or just plain dumb? Because some of his POV made it clear that he was aware and let it happen.

Anyway, this clown had zero boundaries established with Emily.

Maddie puts up with this for a while, then leaves. I think around 60% (she does have smex with him at around 53%) The gala happens where Emily disrespects her. Maddie was DONE. Sureeeee.

“You stood in a room and let your researcher humiliate your wife and then you walked off with the researcher to make a phone call. But that's the sanitized version, isn't it? Because Emily isn't just your head of Research and Development, she's your ex”

Maddie leaves behind all the expensive clothes, jewelry, cars, etc…. and leaves with the bare minimum
Wut?
WTF
Ffs
FFS this makes me rage! GIRL, TAKE ALL THE EXPENSIVE THINGS! You were married to this cardboard cutout for 7 years. You deserve all the expensive things. It is YOUR property. Ugh would people call her a gold digger if she took her stuff?

Emily is the big bad villain who caused the negative things to happen to his company. Surprise. 😉 It made no sense to me.
She wrecked the company so she could be the one to save it???

Maddie travels for months
Damon gets on national tv and admits his wrongs. Then he works on his inner self. 🤡
Maddie and Damon decide to take it slow when she moves back to town. 6 months later, she moves back in and they have smex.

I don’t exactly think Damon was the worst MMC I’ve ever read in one of these betrayal books. He never exactly crossed the line and his POV was always a little iffy (like….he never specifically said he was attracted to Emily and wanted to have smex with her) but we also didn’t get details about his alone time with Emily that much.

One thing I did like in this book was the MMC’s brother. He was not a terrible guy. I also liked the fact that everybody adored Maddie. Usually in books like this, everybody connected to the hero treats the FMC so bad.

I did like this quote

“Because the marriage didn't break the night Emily lit the match. It broke over eight years of a man not turning his head, and Emily found a marriage already full of dry tinder and did what people like her do”

[Caroline]

This was well written and entertaining. 2.5 stars rounding up as I don't want to discourage others...

because the coming rant is a me thing
...

I've read a lot of books lately where the characters are just so entitled and painfully self obsessed. Maybe I need to avoid anything with billionaire in the title. But there's this complete detachment of reality. Marriage works by communicating, calling out bad behaviour, honesty and most importantly NO GAMES. h was constantly keeping a score on H...like she was sitting around waiting for him to fail. But this is a super common trend in books now, like when you love someone you keep a tally of the ✅❌ eek

[Tmstprc]

Another ridiculous title, but a decent story.

[Kiley]

Neglected by Her CEO Husband, part of The Unseen Wives series, was about 31-year-old Madeline "Maddie" Sterling, an artist, and 31-year-old Damon Sterling, the CEO of Sterling Pharmaceuticals.

Maddie and Damon had known each other since college, and had been in an arranged marriage for 8 years, but in all that time, he had never once told her he loved her, and as the years passed, things settled into a pattern where he all but ignored her while she ran his social calendar, his personal life, and all the events for work and family. Even though he had gifted her an art studio as a wedding present, he had never once taken a look at her artwork. Weeks later, when he announced to the world that he had hired Dr. Emily Cavendash, the "woman who got away", and things started getting worse, Maddie knew their marriage was in serious trouble. He had already been staying late at work before hiring Emily, but afterward, he stayed past midnight with the other woman, going over every angle of whatever was going wrong in his company. Then he forgot their 8th anniversary.

After his company faced a major crisis that could cost Damon everything, and in front of a room full of three hundred people, including the press, the other woman told him to "control your wife, Damon. Or I'm going to have to." Maddie had enough. She turned to him and quietly said, "I kept waiting for you to take my side. I was still waiting just now. Thank you for being clear." Then she walked out, returned home, packed her things, and left.

This was actually a pretty good story. The angst, drama, and emotional rollercoaster were all present and accounted for. The contention and push-pull were at a good level without being over the top, and the fallout was actually better than I expected.

Both main characters were well-developed and mature, but the growth was sparse on the page. Anything that was done was corrected behind the scenes because of how the author had the MMC and FMC apart more than together at that point. It would have been nice if they had spent more time together to heal the relationship, but that wasn't the case. There were also too many unresolved issues where things just went away that really needed on-page attention.

I gave this a two-star rating, but it could have been higher if certain aspects of the book had been written differently.

[Traci]

Notes for me

Damon

Madeline

Met in college and their families pushed them together. Married 8 years . He’s never said he loved her.

He wanted to marry a woman named Emily. She left him to attend an out of state medical program. He grieved for weeks.

She keeps everything running smoothly. All of the family events.

Damon had an art studio built in their home. She has no time to use it. Always doing stuff for him and his family.

Company has an important medical study. A competitor is trying to ruin it. He hires his ex Emily as head of R&D. Maddie had no idea until he introduces her at the kickoff celebration. She found out with the rest of society.

Maddie noticed his expression when he saw Emily. She thought it’d be easier to love a cold hearted man. But he does feel just not for her.

He is working until midnight every night. From his POV he explains Emily sitting too close on his desk or touching his arm as how she treats everyone. Their fingers touch and they both hesitate a second too long. He has an opportunity to close the door to the possibility of something more and instead calls her by her college nickname.

Maddie pulls away. She’s fallen in love with him but knows he will end up with Emily. She quits answering his calls/texts, helps her friend with art shows and paints. He will say let’s talk about it this weekend but something at work always comes up.

Last straw at a gala Emily talks down to Maddie and pulls Damon away for a phone call. Everyone standing there saw it. All he had to do was look towards Maddie. He didn’t and he knew it was wrong when he did it.

Maddie leaves, he finds out Emily set his company up to make her look invaluable.

Damon has to prove he can be the man she deserves.

[Dewey]

I know; I surprised myself with this rating. I only give them for very good writing. Yes, these stories are all more or less the same plot. I like the ones written by this author, because the character development, writing and dialogue is very good. The author always sides with the wives but I like that we have Damian's POV too. It adds a nice balance. This turned out to be a heartfelt romance.

Here we have Maddie, married 8 years and in love with her husband. She knew she was always his 'second choice' in the marriage. She's been the perfect corporate (Stepford) wife, waiting and hoping to be seen, for him to love her. Then his first choice, Emily, comes back to work for the corporation, saves it actually (or does she?). The usual long nights working, dinners, 'accidental' touches happen. Then he betrays her at a big event and turns to Emily. Maddie knew she'd lost. So she starts reclaiming her self; starts to shed the corporate wife 'niceness'.

"I spent eight years loving him and I'm only now admitting out loud that he never loved me back."

These men are really clueless about their wives and especially the inevitable OW. He has some small inklings that things aren't right at home because Maddie simply stops being the perfect little wifey but he is baffled.

Damon has a long hard lesson ahead of him. First he has no clue where she could be because in eight years he never knew anything about her. The ending is perfect.

[Eszter]

Best to discribe this book is: one in a dozen!

Heroine: kind, in love with husband, looks after him, does everything he needs, gave up her own (talented) life for him.
Hero: workaholic, takes wife for granted and is too uncomfortable with talking things out so rather leaves it for later...

Then we get an other woman drama and the heroine snaps, leaves him (without drama, quietly but for good). He starts to see what he is missing and has people tell him that he has to do his best to grovel (not with stuff money can buy) and we start the unrealistic grovel session. The most annoying part in my oppinion. He is showing up constantly, all of a sudden does a characteristics one-eighty (not a workaholic anymore, can speak his mind and is not affraid to do the right thing and talk to his wife...) Very unrealistic!

In the meantime heroine finds herself again (talent is restored and she is wildly succesfull with it, of course!) And than after the "good" grovel from husband who expects "nothing" in return, she goes back to their previous home/life/love!

And that's the way the story/stories go!

[Margerm, Pat]

Not sure if it's AI. I don't have tells to look for but the neglected wife is one of my favourite tropes so it worked for me. The h and H have been married for eight years. There is no mention of talk or decisions about children. The H was in love with another woman in college but when she left to pursue a career in medicine, the families of the h and H proposed the idea of a marriage to unite the two families. The h loves the H and works very hard to make his life run smoothly. He takes her for granted. He hired the OW/ex to solve a problem in his company. He is under threat from a rival company. He fails to see boundaries and the h notices. The h rightly sees the problems in her marriage as extending beyond and before the return of his ex into their lives. The betrayal did not feel like a gut punch. It felt more gentle compared to other books. The h begins to choose herself and find herself and she finally leaves. They separate rather than divorce. The H learned how to grovel without using his wallet.

[Samantha Case]

Dr. Damon Sterling is a Dummy

Damon Sterling has been married to Maddie for seven years. She's the perfect socialite; well mannered, attentive, an incredible organizer, and charming. Their marriage was arranged and he's spent the entirety of it treating her like nothing more than a permanent fixture. Always there but overlooked.

Everything changes when his family's pharmaceutical company faces challenges and Damon hires a fixer for his research team. That person just happens to be his college girlfriend -- the one that got away. Cliche much? To make matters worse, he blindsides his wife with the news and proceeds to choose said OW in multiple ways.

What follows is a trial of personal and emotional hardship for both Damon and Maddie. He has to crawl and earn his way back while she finds her voice and strength yet again. Well written and engaging. A solid story overall.

[Diedre]

Loved the way this was written. Not sensational but definitely emotional. The way the heroine is described and what she went through was heart pulling. The hero was a corporate CEO who treated his wife like a thermostat. It was an arranged marriage so he basically didn't give a shit. But also didn't realize how much she did for him. Just took her for granted. Then his ex-girlfriend comes along and becomes his saving anchor in this business deal. That's who he supposedly wanted before he married his wife, but his parents didn't approve because she broke up with him to advance her career. I loved the flow of the story which brought you all the way to the end. Sometimes in a story when the grovel begins the whole vibe of the story changes. The angst is lost and then you have the reconciliation. This one was tense all the way through.

[Raffaella]

Dumb hero let himself being manipulated by ow, his ex gf from college.
His wife is sidelined and the hero publicly silences her in front of everyone favoring ow.
No, he doesn’t care for ow, he just thought she was very smart and bright and that she could save his company.
The heroine tries to warn him that he’s giving her too much credit.
In the end, after being humiliated the heroine leaves and the hero finds out that he’s been deceived by ow. Badly.
Lot of angst, remorse, and grovel.
I liked it.
He’s really stupid and everyone can see ow is a manipulative bitch, except him.
And I loved that he had to pay because of his mistake not only because the heroine left him but also because he almost destroyed his company thank to ow.
Nice reading.
Hero faithful, he loved the heroine but imo he thought she was not as smart as him. Ha!

[Paula K]

The love story of CEO Damon and his wife of 8 years, Maddie. He comes to depend on her to a point of taking advantage. It was at first a marriage of convenience and not of love. Maddie grew to love Damon. Damon loved in his own way but never got over his college girlfriend, Emily.
When business matters force Damon to work longer hours & also bring him constant contact with Emily.. Maddie is left out cold. Maddie makes the move to leave when events with Emily and Damon force his hand. Damon then realizes he needs to take a step back.. and look at what is going on in his marriage and Emily.And a twist to the story brings Damon a realization.

[Muguet]

I would’ve given it 4 stars but some inconsistencies made me to drop it to 3. Because, for the love of God, how many window drawings was she working on? And how did she shipped them accross an ocean. Furthermore the one painting she decided to take with her to her friend’s house when she left the husband how come it was at the house again and the husband studied it while she was gone and decided to buy it at the gallery showing? Who had transported it from the friend’s home to the house and back from the house to the gallery for showing? How? Are the paintings shape shifters or time travellers appeared whenever the occasion is convenient?

[Birty]

Contract marriage in crisis

Damon and Maddie marry because their parents think it’s a good idea. Eight years later and they live like FWB, and Maddie realizes she needs more. When Damon’s company has a crisis, he pushes her aside and looks to an old flame for help. Slowly Maddie finds her old self, the artist, and decides Damon and his company can take care of himself. She lets her art guide her heart and rediscovers her worth. Damon has a moment, too, and does the work. Book 1 of a good series.

[Sam]

The husband was so ass that I genuinely could not believe how easy it was for him to win the FMC back.
He literally treated her like shit for the first 70% of the book and comes back with some bullshit speeches and thats it?!? Wtf bro. I did not understand why she ever liked or loved him. Fuck this guy bro. I was waiting for the divorce but she freaking took him back wtf you idiot.
But the FMC was good and I cried a lot when she finally left him and processed her years of neglect.
So it was a good cry ig.
Fuck Damon tho.

[leila braga]

eu gostei muito do começo, tava bem engajada, sabe. dps foi cansando.

hora nenhuma me pareceu que o cara amava realmente a esposa. e os "testes" que ela fazia com ele, pelo amor de Deus. sem falar nesse papinho de "eu não mereço pedir desculpas", aí por conta disso você nunca vai pedir? a mulher que lide, mais uma vez, com a barra de superar as deficiências do cara.

enfim, foi ficando cada vez mais meh.
meh

[Faye]

Excellent , read the whole book without a break

I read the whole book without putting it down. It was really good kept me wanting to know what is going to happen love the characters Maddie, damon and the others only the start reading book 2 good thing this is my lazy day so I can get away with it.

[Carol]

Oh my ♥️

It’s heartbreaking.
Its heartwarming.
It has all the feels.
A delightful change from the usual scumbag husband with a vile mistress - although we do have an entitled villainess.
Damon and Maddie are two characters that are well drawn and fascinating to watch as their marriage crumbles and they work their way through the rubble.
Highly recommended

[Courtney]

This was honestly a lot better than I thought it was going to be. Granted I went in with low exceptions (recently read a few books that were in this vein and they were big letdowns). Could the characters have been a little more fleshed out? Sure. Was it a little short for the story itself? Sure. But all in all a decent quick read.

[Gii]

Loved this story!

This was a fabulous read for me. It had everything I love about a good book, marital drama, an ex, company sabotaging, heroine finding herself after diminishing in the relationship. A husband who learned the hard way and grovelled the best!

An epilogue into the future would have been appreciated, but the ending was heartfelt and satisfying too.

[Joan Phillips]

Typical

This is not just about men. Many women don't realize what they have in a relationship. Most relationships don't work because we as humans get complacent. Too comfortable and take the relationships for granted. Instead of not remembering what effort they put in to get that relationship at the beginning.

[Diane]

Long hard lesson

This is a story of quiet love, being taken for granted, remorse and more. It is well written and in the story telling you can hear and see the pain. The characters are flawed but real.

Neglected by her CEO husband is definitely worth thr read.

[Katie]

Satisfied

I liked how Riley King unspooled the story after the wife dumped her husband’s clueless, dumb a$$, and he finally woke up and dealt with the other woman. His grovel fit his sins and the HEA felt unrushed and earned.

[Elizabeth]

Maddie and Damon

I enjoyed this story.
It had depth. It had a good plot with very well rounded characters. You get immersed by their struggles, their moods.
I liked both Maddie and Damon's growth at the end of the story.
Recommended

[Nm]

⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌶️.5
First kiss/spicy scene: 55%

The angst was so good. This was an open door romance but it wasn't spicy. However, it wasn't really about the spice. I would reread parts of this book for the angst alone.

[Jenny Sundstrom]

Neglected by her CEO Husband

Enjoyed this book, full of drama and love and the turmoil of not seeing what is in front of you. Relationships are a lot of work and this Author has written it beautifully. Well done.