Billionaire’s First Love

Chapter Three

The house felt unusually quiet when I walked into the living room. My father was sitting in his usual chair, the late afternoon sun casting long shadows over his features. His usual unreadable expression was softened only by the faint furrow of his brow as he glanced up from the newspaper in his lap.

I stood there for a moment, silently observing him. He wasn’t the kind of man who made idle conversation. If you wanted to speak with him, you had to speak on his terms. I took a deep breath, trying to steady my nerves. This conversation had been weighing on me for weeks.

“I’m ready,” I said, forcing my voice to sound firm.

My father’s eyes flickered up, his gaze piercing. “Ready for what, Elena?”

“I’m ready to go to business school.” I answered calmly.

He didn’t respond right away. His eyes narrowed slightly, as if searching for something hidden in my words. I could feel the weight of his silence pressing down on me, but I kept my stance.

“You’ve said that before,” he said, his voice even. “And you’ve always dismissed it. What’s changed?”

I swallowed. This was the part I had been dreading. The part where I had to admit there was no grand epiphany, no sudden burst of ambition. I had simply reached a point where it felt like the right thing to do. I wasn’t sure how to explain that, especially not to him.

“I’ve thought about it. A lot,” I began, my voice softer now. “And… I’ve realized you’re right. I need this for my future.”

He studied me, his expression calm and intrusive at the same time. “You’re telling me that after all this time, you’ve changed your mind just like that?” He snapped his fingers for emphasis.

I nodded, trying to steady my racing heart. “Yes. I’ve made up my mind.”

He continued to look at me, his gaze sharp and calculating. The silence between us grew thicker. “And you’re not going to tell me why?”

The truth hovered on the tip of my tongue, but I hesitated. I could feel the weight of everything I wasn’t saying. There were so many layers to my decision, but I wasn’t ready to lay them bare. Not yet.

“I don’t think it matters,” I said finally, my voice steady. “I know what I want now.”

His eyes softened for just a moment, but then he sighed deeply. I could tell he was trying to let go of his doubts, even if he wasn’t fully convinced. “Very well. I’ll arrange it. You’ll leave next week.”

Relief flooded through me, but I kept my expression neutral. “Thank you.”

As I turned to leave, my father’s voice stopped me.

“Elena,” he said, his tone lower now, a rare note of something almost fatherly.

I paused, glancing back at him.

“I hope you know what you’re doing.”

I gave a small nod, forcing a smile. “I do.”

The week I left for business school felt surreal, like I was walking through a fog. The campus was far more expansive than I had anticipated—a sprawling maze of stone buildings and manicured lawns, buzzing with students who seemed to have their futures planned out with perfect precision. I couldn’t help but feel out of place, like an outsider looking in.

For the first few weeks, I kept to myself, my nose buried in textbooks, avoiding any distractions. I wasn’t here to make friends or socialize—I had a singular goal, and nothing was going to stand in my way.

That is, until I met Sandra.

It happened one evening when I was studying late in the library. The rows of books surrounding me felt suffocating, but the silence was even worse. I was lost in thought when I suddenly heard a voice, light and teasing.

“You’re hoarding all the good finance books.”

I looked up, startled, to see a woman standing in front of me, her curly hair bouncing with every movement. She wore a mischievous smile, and in her hands, she carried a coffee cup and a stack of textbooks that seemed too heavy for someone so small.

I raised an eyebrow, trying to mask my annoyance. “I wasn’t aware there was a book shortage.”

She laughed, completely unbothered by my sarcasm. “There’s not, but you could share, you know. We’re all in this together.”

Sandra had a way of cutting through my walls with her easy charm. She didn’t take offense, and she certainly wasn’t intimidated by my sharp edges. Over the next few weeks, she became a constant presence in my life. We studied together, grabbed meals between classes, and talked about everything from business strategies to the parts of our past we didn’t often share.

One evening, as we sat on the floor surrounded by notes and textbooks, she looked up from her papers and grinned at me. “You know, Elena,” she said, her voice light, “you’re going to be at the top of the class. No question about it.”

I chuckled, shaking my head. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

But Sandra’s prediction turned out to be spot-on. At the end of the program, I stood on the stage as the best business scholar of the year. The applause was deafening, and for a moment, I allowed myself to soak it all in. The hard work, the sleepless nights, the sacrifices—it was all worth it.

But as I glanced around the room, I felt a pang in my chest. My father hadn’t come.

He had sent a brief email, congratulating me, but it was devoid of warmth. He had used business as his excuse for not attending, but I didn’t care much because I’m so proud of myself and how far I’ve come. I studied so hard and this victory was mine.

When I returned home, I didn’t want any fanfare or attention. I simply wanted to get to work, to prove myself in ways that mattered to me. I started taking charge of smaller projects at my father’s company, quietly managing parts of the business without drawing attention to myself.

But while I was diving into the intricacies of the company, Derek’s life was falling apart.

Vanessa had left him. No warning, no explanation. She had met someone wealthier, and just like that, Derek was no longer in her plans. I could see the toll it was taking on him. He didn’t speak about it, but the signs were clear—his usual charm had been replaced by a cold, almost detached demeanor.

“I don’t believe in love anymore,” Derek told a colleague one afternoon, his voice flat, his expression distant. “Women only want one thing: money.”

It was painful to watch, knowing that Vanessa had walked away from him after ruining our relationship and he stupidly believed and let her brainwash him into thinking I was cheating on with a sugar daddy and i couldn’t really careless about him or Vanessa right now. I just want to focus on improving myself and my father’s company.

It was a Thursday morning when his phone buzzed on his desk. His stomach tightened when he saw the caller ID—his mother.

He hesitated but then answered, his voice steady despite the nerves crawling up his spine. “Mother.”

“Derek,” came the cool, controlled voice on the other end. “I’ve returned. We need to talk.”

His mother had been absent for years, leaving him to run the company alone. Now, after all this time, she was back. Derek could feel the weight of her return in every word she spoke.

“I wasn’t expecting this,” Derek said, his voice tight, fighting against the rising anger.

“You’ll understand soon enough,” she replied before hanging up abruptly.

Derek stared at his phone, the buzzing sound of the call cutting off echoing in his ears. The calm he had found in her absence was slipping away, replaced by uncertainty and a sense of impending change.

Our lives were about to collide in ways none of us could have predicted. I had returned home, quietly working at the company, trying to find my place in the world. Derek, wounded by Vanessa’s betrayal, was left to pick up the pieces of his broken heart, while the return of his mother loomed over him like a dark cloud.

Meanwhile, Vanessa continued her life, blissfully unaware of the empire she had walked away from, and I couldn’t help but wonder—what kind of a person Vanessa is and what does she gain from lying and manipulating people into doing her biddings and I hope one day she’d finally reap what she sow.