The Billionaires Taboo

Chapter 3

DELANEY:

Sleep was supposed to wash the night away, just as I’d planned.

But when I closed my eyes, I didn’t see darkness. I saw him. Derek Wright. The way he said my name like it mattered, like I mattered. The way his gaze burned through every layer I’d built to keep myself invisible.

It was foolish. Dangerous. A mistake I couldn’t afford to make.

Still, I carried it with me into the morning, like a secret hidden under my skin.

By the time I walked into the café where I worked mornings, my body ached from exhaustion, but my mind wouldn’t stop replaying the corridor at the gala- the hush, the heat, the way his presence filled every inch of air.

Sophie was already behind the counter, tying her apron. She looked up, grinning like she’d been waiting to pounce.

“Sooo,” she said. “Tell me everything.”

“There’s nothing to tell.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t lie to me. You disappeared for ten minutes last night and came back looking like you’d seen a ghost or..maybe kissed one.”

Heat crept up my neck. “It wasn’t like that.”

“Uh-huh. Then why are you blushing?” She smirked, pouring coffee into a paper cup. “Was it Derek Wright? Because I swear he couldn’t take his eyes off you.”

My heart jolted. “Sophie.”

She waggled her brows. “What? The man is practically a Greek god in Armani. Don’t tell me you’re immune.”

I wanted to be. God, I needed to be. But Sophie’s words only made my chest ache with the truth I couldn’t say.

I wasn’t immune. Not even close.

And that terrified me.

DEREK:

My mother’s lectures hadn’t changed in thirty-four years.

That morning, she was at it again, seated at the head of the Wright family breakfast table like a queen holding court. The marble floors gleamed beneath the soft light of the chandeliers, but the air was heavy, suffocating.

“You embarrassed me last night,” she said, her knife slicing into a croissant with precision. “The investors asked me why you were sneaking around instead of speaking with them. Do you know how that makes us look?”

I kept my expression unreadable, the way I’d learned to survive her disapproval. “I spoke with everyone that mattered.”

“That’s not the point. Your role is to be visible, polished, engaged. A leader. Not to—” she stopped, her gaze narrowing as if remembering something “wander into the servants’ hallways.”

My jaw clenched. So she had noticed.

“I was getting air.”

Her lips curved into a smile that wasn’t a smile at all. “Of course you were.”

For years, Evelyn Wright had manipulated me with the same arsenal: guilt, control, expectation. And usually, it worked. But today, her words slid off me like water. Because all I could think about was her.

Delaney.

The girl who shouldn’t matter.

The girl I couldn’t stop thinking about.

DELANEY:

The café was slow mid-morning, which gave me too much time to think. I frothed milk for cappuccinos, wiped down counters, refilled the pastry case, all while Derek Wright’s voice rang in my head.

“Delaney.”

I shook myself, scolding silently. This was madness. He wasn’t just out of my league— he was in another universe entirely.

“Table three,” Sophie called, sliding two steaming mugs onto a tray.

I carried them out, forcing myself to focus. But when I glanced toward the window, my breath caught.

Because standing across the street, his hands in his pockets, was Derek Wright.

Watching me.

My heart slammed against my ribs. For a moment, I thought I was imagining him, a ghost conjured by lack of sleep and too much hope. But then he moved, his gaze locking on mine.

The world narrowed until it was just us— the glass between us, the distance, the invisible line we weren’t supposed to cross.

And yet I wanted to.

So badly.

DEREK:

I didn’t know why I was there.

Or maybe I did, and I just couldn’t admit it.

After the gala, after my mother’s barbed reminders of who I was supposed to be, I should’ve buried the thought of her.

But I hadn’t. I’d thought about her all night. And this morning, I’d found myself here, standing across from a little café I’d never noticed before, waiting for a glimpse of her.

And when she appeared, balancing a tray, light streaming across her face, I knew I was lost.

She saw me.

For one suspended heartbeat, she froze, as if unsure whether to run or to stay. Her lips parted slightly, her chest rising with a sharp breath, and I felt something I hadn’t felt in years— alive.

I raised a hand, the smallest gesture. Her fingers tightened around the tray, and she shook her head slightly, with eyes wide.

No.

The message was clear.

And still, I couldn’t leave.

DELANEY:

By the time he disappeared, swallowed back into the city, I could hardly breathe. My hands trembled so badly Sophie noticed.

“What’s wrong with you?” she asked

“Nothing,” I lied, retreating behind the counter.

But inside, everything was wrong.

Because Derek Wright hadn’t just looked at me again, he’d sought me out

And if Mrs. Wright ever discovered that, I was done for.

DEREK:

By evening, I couldn’t deny it anymore.

I was unraveling.

At the office, I stared at spreadsheets without seeing them. In meetings, I nodded through conversations I couldn’t remember. My team exchanged worried glances, but no one dared to ask.

They wouldn’t understand anyway.

How could I explain that one girl, a girl with no wealth, no pedigree, no place in my world had consumed me completely?

How could I explain that she made me want something I couldn’t name, something I wasn’t supposed to want?

And worst of all, how could I explain that for the first time, I didn’t care what my mother wanted?

DELANEY:

That night, as I walked home under flickering streetlights, I hugged my jacket tighter against the cold.

I should’ve been relieved to be off work. Instead, my chest ached with a restless energy I couldn’t shake.

Halfway down the block, I heard footsteps behind me.

I spun, with my heart in my throat.

And there he was.

Derek Wright.

“Don’t do that,” I whispered, panic threading my voice. “You can’t follow me.”

His expression softened, but his voice was steady. “I had to see you.”

My breath caught. The street was quiet, the city humming in the distance, and yet it felt like we were the only two people alive.

“You shouldn’t be here,” I said. “If anyone saw—”

“No one saw,” he cut in. “Delaney, I just… I can’t stop thinking about you.”

My knees wobbled. No one had ever said that to me. No one had ever looked at me like I was worth remembering.

“I’m nobody,” I whispered.

His eyes burned into mine. “Not to me.”

And just like that, my world tilted.

DEREK:

When she looked at me like that…like she wanted to believe me but was terrified to, it broke something in me.

I wanted to promise her safety, to swear I’d shield her from my mother, from the press, from the brutal spotlight of my world.

But I couldn’t. Not yet.

All I could do was tell the truth.

“You make me feel alive, Delaney,” I said softly. “For the first time in years.”

She shook her head, tears brightening her eyes. “This isn’t a fairytale. You’re Derek Wright. I’m just—”

“You’re not just anything.”

Silence stretched, fragile and trembling. Then headlights swept across us as a car turned the corner, breaking the spell.

Delaney stepped back, clutching her jacket tighter. “I can’t do this.”

“Delaney—”

But she was already walking away, her figure dissolving into the shadows.

I stood frozen, watching her go, every instinct in me screaming to follow.

But I didn’t.

Not yet.

Because for the first time in my life, I realized what it meant to want something I couldn’t control.

And I wasn’t going to stop until she was mine.

DELANEY:

Back in my apartment, I pressed my back to the door, trembling.

He’d followed me. He’d said things no one had ever said before.

And the worst part?

I believed him.

That scared me more than anything else.

Because Derek Wright wasn’t a dream I could hold onto. He was like fire, and if I got too close, I’d burn.

But even as I whispered to myself to forget him, I knew the truth.

I was already burning.