0
FOLLOW
1K
READ
revenge
HE
friends to lovers
kickass heroine
powerful
boss
bxg
no-couple
city
enimies to lovers
selfish
civilian
like
For nine years, Rose Whitehead gave everything to the man she loved: her money, her love, her silence.And in return? Public humiliation. Dumped like she was nothing. Branded a nobody. A gold-digger. A woman who sold herself just to survive but what no one knows…Is that Rose isn’t just a “college dropout.” She’s the hidden force behind empires. The unseen hand that builds fortunes… and destroys them. The very companies that now worship her ex-fiancé? They exist because of her.The same night she’s cast aside, fate throws her into the path of Rex Bastian, the ruthless billionaire CEO who almost lost everything… until Rose saves him with a single warning, now he wants her as his wife, as his partner, as his greatest risk but Rose isn’t interested in love. Not anymore. She wants control.She wants justice and she wants every single person who looked down on her to regret it because when the truth finally comes out. When the world discovers who Rose Whitehead really isThere won’t be apologies.Only consequences and by then…It’ll be far too late.
Chapter One: The Girl they shouldn’t have touched
Rose POV
I’ve learned something about people.
They don’t respect what they don’t understand.
And they never understand what they can’t see.
That’s why I make sure I’m invisible.
The wheels under my skates scrape lightly against the road as I glide past honking cars and irritated drivers. Someone yells at me. Another curses. A woman clutches her bag tighter as I pass like I’m some kind of threat.
I don’t slow down.
I don’t look back.
The city is loud, restless, impatient. Perfect for disappearing in plain sight.
My hoodie is oversized, sleeves pulled down just enough to hide my hands. No jewelry. No makeup. No trace of the life I actually live.
If anyone looked at me right now, they’d see exactly what I want them to see.
A nobody.
A girl who didn’t make it.
A mistake.
And honestly?
That’s easier.
Because when people think you’re nothing…
They show you exactly who they are.
I take a sharp turn between two cars without hesitation.
And slam straight into a third.
The impact jerks me forward. My balance wavers. I don’t fall.
The sound does the damage — sharp, metallic, loud enough to pull eyes from every direction.
Great.
I straighten slowly and look at the car.
Black. Polished. The kind of expensive that doesn’t need a logo.
There’s a scratch near the front. Barely visible. A whisper of damage.
I already know this isn’t going to end quietly.
The driver’s door swings open hard.
“What the hell is wrong with you?!”
He storms toward me, eyes sweeping the car like I’ve destroyed something irreplaceable. His anger is already decided. I’m already guilty.
“Do you have any idea how much this car costs?”
I don’t answer.
He steps closer. “You can’t afford to breathe near it.”
Still nothing.
That’s when it comes.
“Get off the road, you bitch.”
There it is.
I tilt my head slightly and study him. The anger isn’t really about the car. People like him need someone beneath them. Today, I’m the easiest option.
“Apologize,” he demands.
I almost laugh.
Almost.
Then the back door opens.
Quietly. No drama. No announcement.
But everything shifts, the way a room shifts when the temperature drops.
I already know who it is before I look.
Still, I do.
Mr. Egan steps out like the chaos around him is beneath his notice. Suit flawless. Expression unreadable. He takes in the scene in exactly one second.
Our eyes meet.
Recognition — quick, controlled, buried.
The driver doesn’t catch it.
“M-Mr. Egan.
Egan doesn’t look at him.
Smack.
The sound cuts through the street noise like a blade. The driver stumbles, hand flying to his cheek, too stunned to speak.
“Do you know who she is?” Egan asks. Quiet. Final.
“She’s just….”
“Apologize.”
“I’m sorry.” The driver turns to me fast, tripping over the words. “I didn’t mean…”
“You’re right,” I say calmly. “You didn’t mean it.”
Relief crosses his face too quickly.
“That’s the problem,” I add.
It disappears.
Egan steps toward me. His whole manner changes not dramatically, just precisely.
“Madam. I apologize.”
“Train your people better.”
“I will.”
A pause. The kind that means business.
“Did you finish what I asked?”
“Yes,” he says immediately. “Everything is in place.”
“There’s something else.”
I look at him. “Say it.”
“Mr. Campbell.” A brief hesitation. “Your fiancé. He’s signed with Melbourne Group. Tonight is their onboarding banquet. They’re introducing him as the world’s youngest app developer.”
For a moment..
Just a moment…
The city goes quiet.
Of course it’s tonight.
I exhale slowly, and put everything back in order before I speak again.
“Prepare two gifts,” I say. “Something they won’t forget.”
“Right away.”
“Egan.”
“Yes?”
“Make sure they never forget tonight.”
He holds my gaze for exactly a beat too long.
Then he nods, gets back into the car, and it pulls away without a sound.
Gone.
And just like that, I’m alone again.
A girl in the street.
Like nothing happened.
Twenty minutes later, a car pulls up.
This one isn’t trying to be quiet about it.
Sleek. Dark. Built to be noticed and fully aware of that.
I don’t move.
The door opens. The man who steps out carries himself the way very few people actually can — like the ground belongs to him and everyone else is a guest on it.
“Miss.”
I turn.
“Rex Bastian.” He says it the way people say things they expect to land. “CEO of Melbourne Group. Eighth richest man in this city.”
I blink once.
“So you’re the CEO of Melbourne Group?”
Something flickers behind his eyes. “I am.”
“What a coincidence,” I say.
He studies me. “Introduce yourself.”
I shrug. “Rose Whitehead. College dropout. Worked overseas. No assets. No car.” I glance down at my skates. “Clearly.”
He doesn’t react to any of it.
“None of that matters,” he says. “Let’s get married.”
The words land like he’s proposing a business lunch.
“…What?”
“Contract marriage,” he continues, unbothered. “Fifteen thousand a month. Five years. One million at the end. We already discussed the terms.”
“You have the wrong person.”
“I don’t think so.”
“I’m engaged.”
That one stops him.
A pause. Genuine this time.
“…You are?”
“Yes.”
He exhales once through his nose. “My mistake.”
His phone rings. He answers it immediately, turning slightly not enough to dismiss me, just enough to handle it.
“Where is she?” he says into the phone.
“Sir.” The voice on the other end is already fraying at the edges. “Our energy stock just took a hit from foreign capital. We’ve lost hundreds of millions in the last thirty minutes.”
Rex goes still.
“What?”
“We need to pull out now.”
“The head of Mitchy Corporation just landed in the U.S.,” Rex cuts in, his voice dropping to something controlled and cold. “We secure their investment or we lose everything. Sell. Minimize the losses.”
“Don’t.”
The word is out of my mouth before I decide to say it.
Rex turns slowly.
The phone is still at his ear. His eyes are on me.
“What did you say?”
“Don’t sell.”
The city keeps moving around us. Neither of us does.
“And why,” he says carefully, “would I take advice from you?”
I hold his gaze.
“You have about twenty minutes.”
“For what?”
“For everything to change.”
Silence.
For the first time since he stepped out of that car, he’s actually still.
“I can’t marry you,” I say. “But I can help you.”
His jaw tightens. His eyes don’t leave mine.
“…Who are you?”
I smile.
Not warmly.
Not softly.
The kind of smile that knows something.
“You’ll find out.”
I turn and skate away past the noise, past the traffic, past him standing there with his phone in his hand and a question he can’t answer.
Behind me:
A man with everything.
And twenty minutes to decide whether to trust a stranger with none of it.
Dreame-Editor's pick
Claimed by my Brother’s Best Friends
read
815.2K
Secretly Rejected My Alpha Mate
read
35.3K
The Lone Alpha
read
125.3K
His Unavailable Wife: Sir, You've Lost Me
read
10.1K
The Luna He Rejected (Extended version)
read
610.5K
Bad Boy Biker
read
8.6K
The CEO'S Plaything
read
19.1K
