The Billionaires Taboo

Chapter 2

DELANEY:

If I’d learned one thing in life, it was this: attention was dangerous.

It made people curious. It made them ask questions I didn’t want to answer.

And yet Derek Wright’s attention felt like a spotlight I couldn’t escape, no matter how far I tried to step back into the shadows. Even now, as I slipped through the ballroom balancing a tray of empty glasses, I could feel it, like the heat of a fire even when you’re standing at the edge of the flames.

“Delaney,” Sophie hissed when I nearly walked into a pillar. She caught the tray before it tipped. “Get your head in the game, baby girl. If Mrs. Wright catches you zoning out, you’re done. No explanation, No second chances.”

Mrs. Wright. Evelyn Wright. The kind of woman who didn’t need to raise her voice to make a room freeze. One sharp glance and people crumbled. I’d seen her fire a caterer once for serving wine at the wrong temperature.

And she was here tonight, gliding through the gala in an emerald gown that probably cost more than my apartment’s yearly rent. I didn’t need Sophie to remind me that catching her attention in the wrong way would be the end of me.

“Sorry,” I whispered, steadying my tray.

Sophie leaned closer, whispering with a mischievous grin. “Unless, of course, your head is in the game because a certain billionaire looked at you like you were dessert…. Yummm.”

I elbowed her gently, face burning. “Girl, Shut up.”

But she wasn’t wrong. I felt it. That moment when Derek Wright had looked at me as if I were the only one in the room. The memory clung to me like perfume, sweet and impossible to ignore.

And that terrified me.

Because if Mrs. Wright noticed, if anyone noticed, it would ruin me.

DEREK:

I wasn’t supposed to be watching her.

Every instinct I’d sharpened over the years told me to focus on the investors waiting for me near the auction tables, on the journalists sniffing around for quotes, even on my mother’s hawk-like gaze measuring my every move.

But none of them mattered. Not tonight.

Not when she was here.

The girl with the wide eyes and trembling hands who carried herself like she didn’t belong in this world, even though she walked with more grace than half the guests dripping in diamonds.

My eyes kept finding her no matter how many times I forced myself to look away. She was everywhere and nowhere at once, slipping through the crowd like a shadow. Invisible to everyone. Everyone except me.

“Derek.” My mother’s voice coiled around me again. She appeared at my side, her perfume sharp and cold. “Have you spoken to the chairman of the investment committee yet? Or are you too busy wandering?”

“I’ll speak to him.”

“You’ll speak to him now.” Her hand brushed against my sleeve in what looked like maternal affection to outsiders but was really a command. “We can’t afford distractions.”

Distractions.

Her eyes narrowed, and for a brief, sharp second, I wondered if she’d noticed where my gaze had gone moments earlier. If she’d seen the way I’d watched the server no one else saw.

I forced my face back into the mask she expected—the polite, controlled smile of Derek Wright, heir to an empire. “Of course.”

But even as I followed her toward the committee chairman, I knew the truth.

It was already too late.

The distraction had a name.

And I wasn’t going to let her go.

DELANEY:

By midnight, my feet ached in my black flats, and my cheeks hurt from the polite smile I’d worn for hours. The gala was winding down, guests drifting toward the doors, laughter softening as the champagne buzz began to fade.

Relieved, Almost done. Just a little longer and I could go home, I’ll sink into my tiny bed, and pretend tonight had never happened. Pretend Derek Wright’s eyes hadn’t found mine. Pretend my heart hadn’t betrayed me by wanting something it had no right to want.

I carried my last tray of empty glasses toward the kitchen, ducking behind a curtain that separated the staff area from the ballroom. Out of sight, I exhaled, shoulders sagging.

And then I heard it.

A voice. Low. Familiar.

“Leaving so soon?”

I froze, tray clutched to my chest, pulse spiking.

When I turned, he was there. Derek Wright. Standing in the narrow corridor, as if the universe had dropped him into the one place I thought I could breathe again.

DEREK:

I didn’t plan it. Not exactly.

But when I saw her disappear behind the curtain, my legs moved before my mind caught up. I followed her, ignoring the voice in my head reminding me how dangerous this was.

And there she was, caught in the dim light of the staff corridor, clutching a tray like a shield.

Up close, she was even more striking. Not in the obvious way the women in this world tried to be- painted lips, glittering gowns, rehearsed laughs. She was raw, unpolished. Her beauty whispered instead of shouted.

“Leaving so soon?” I asked, though the truth was I just needed her to speak. To hear her voice again.

She blinked, stunned, as if she couldn’t quite believe I was real.

“I—uh—I was just taking these back,” she stammered, holding up the tray. Her voice was soft, like a secret not meant for this world.

I should’ve walked away. Let her go.

But I didn’t.

Instead, I stepped closer.

“What’s your name?”

DELANEY:

Panic gripped me. He wanted my name. Derek Wright wanted my name.

I should’ve lied. Said something forgettable. But the truth slipped out before I could stop it.

“Delaney.”

His lips curved around the sound of it, low and deliberate. “Delaney.”

I swallowed hard, wishing my knees would stop trembling. “I… I should get back to work.”

“Of course.” He didn’t move, though. His eyes held mine, and for a terrifying, breathtaking moment, I felt like I was standing on the edge of something I couldn’t name.

Then a voice sliced through the air.

“Derek.”

Mrs. Wright.

I nearly dropped the tray.

She appeared at the end of the corridor, her expression unreadable, though her eyes flicked over me with a sharpness that made my blood run cold.

“What are you doing back here?” she asked him, her tone smooth but laced with steel.

I shrank into myself, desperate to disappear.

Derek’s jaw tightened. “Just getting some air.”

Her gaze lingered on me for one long, suffocating second. Then she turned back to him, her smile tight. “The investors are waiting.”

And just like that, the moment shattered.

DEREK:

I should’ve said something. Should’ve pushed back, told my mother she didn’t own me, that she didn’t control every second of my life.

But years of training won out. I gave her the answer she wanted, let her pull me away.

Still, as we walked back into the glittering ballroom, I couldn’t shake it.

Her name.

Delaney.

It rolled in my mind, like a promise..one I had no right to make.

And for the first time in years, I realized I wanted something that had nothing to do with power, or money, or control.

Something I shouldn’t want.

But already did.

DELANEY:

By the time the last glass was washed and the kitchen lights dimmed, I could still feel his gaze. Still hear my name on his lips.

Delaney.

I tried to push it away as I walked home through the quiet city streets, exhaustion weighing me down. I told myself it was nothing. Just a mistake. Just a look.

But deep down, I knew better.

Because Derek Wright had seen me.

And I wasn’t sure my world would ever be the same again.