The Billionaires Taboo

Chapter 4

DELANEY:

If the gala had been a dream, then the days after felt like a storm I couldn’t escape.

Everywhere I turned, I felt him. Derek Wright.

Even when he wasn’t there, he haunted me. The way his voice softened when he said my name. The way his gaze made me feel like more than just the daughter of a scandal, more than just a girl barely keeping her life stitched together.

But reality was cruel. I didn’t belong in his world. I never would.

I reminded myself of that fact every morning as I tied my apron at the café, every night as I locked the door of my tiny apartment. Still, I caught myself looking over my shoulder, half-expecting him to appear again.

And sometimes, he did.

A flash of a car I swore was his. A silhouette lingering too long on the street across from the café. Always near enough to make me feel seen, but never close enough to reach.

It should’ve unsettled me. Maybe it did. But beneath the fear was something worse— something reckless.

I wanted him to keep coming back.

I hated myself for that.

DEREK:

The more I told myself to stop, the deeper I sank.

I’d always prided myself on control. In the Wright empire, discipline wasn’t optional, it was survival. Every move— calculated. Every decision weighed.

But with Delaney, control dissolved.

I found myself driving past her café without meaning to. Checking the time and realizing an hour had vanished while I thought about her. Ignoring calls from investors, my mother, even my own staff.

It was madness.

And yet, it was the first thing that felt real in years.

Still, I knew it couldn’t last.

Because Evelyn Wright had eyes everywhere.

And she’d already started to notice.

EVELYN WRIGHT:

It wasn’t in my nature to ignore warning signs.

I had built this family’s fortune on vigilance, on seeing threats before they fully emerged and cutting them off at the root.

And now, my son was a threat.

At the gala, I saw it. The way his gaze had strayed, distracted, unfocused. The way he’d slipped away, ignoring the carefully curated guest list I’d assembled for him.

And when I traced his steps, I saw her.

The girl.

Delaney Miller.

I hadn’t recognized her at first. A slip of a girl, forgettable in the dim light of the corridor. But her eyes, nervous and guarded, had tugged at a memory.

So I made a call.

And now, the file lay open on my desk.

Daughter of Charles Miller, disgraced businessman whose fall had been plastered across tabloids for months. His “charity” scams. His debts. His sudden death.

And the daughter left behind to carry the stain.

Perfect.

Exactly the kind of girl who thought she could worm her way into a world she didn’t belong.

Not on my watch.

If Delaney Miller thought she could capture my son’s attention, she was sorely mistaken.

Because no matter how distracted Derek became, he was still a Wright.

And Wrights did not fall for nobodies.

DELANEY:

I should’ve noticed the shift sooner.

The customers at the café, the way some of them lingered too long, whispering. The way Sophie tilted her head when she saw me on my phone, asking questions she never used to ask.

But I brushed it off. I was used to whispers. Used to being watched. My father’s scandal had made sure of that.

What I wasn’t used to was the sharp-eyed woman who walked in one afternoon, dressed in an expensive suit that didn’t belong anywhere near our cracked tile floors.

She ordered tea. Black, no sugar.

And when I brought it to her table, she smiled without smiling.

“You’re Delaney Miller, aren’t you?”

The tray nearly slipped from my hands. “sorry?”

Her eyes glittered. “Don’t play dumb. I knew your father.”

Ice crept through my veins. “Then you know he’s—”

“Dead. Yes.” She took a slow sip of her tea, watching me over the rim of her cup. “But his reputation isn’t.”

I didn’t know what to say. My throat tightened, words tangling into silence.

The woman leaned closer. “Stay away from Derek.”

The name hit me like a slap. My pulse roared in my ears.

“I—I don’t…”

“Oh, don’t insult me,” she said smoothly. “I see the way he looks at you. It won’t end well, my dear. Not for him, and certainly not for you.”

She rose gracefully, smoothing her jacket. Her perfume lingered in the air, sharp and suffocating.

Then she was gone.

But the chill she left behind stayed.

DEREK:

By the time I heard about it, it was too late.

My mother had gone to see Delaney.

I found out from one of the drivers, who mentioned her car pulling up outside a run-down café. My chest tightened with rage, fear and guilt all at once.

I should’ve anticipated this. Evelyn Wright didn’t sit idle. She struck first.

And if she had spoken to Delaney, if she had used her venom— then everything I’d tried to protect was already unraveling.

I left the office without explanation, ignoring my assistant’s protests.

I had to see her.

DELANEY:

I told myself not to wait for him.

After Evelyn Wright left, I wanted to crawl into myself and disappear. Her words echoed in my head like poison: Stay away from Derek.

It was ridiculous. We weren’t anything. Not really. Just glances, moments, near-encounters that meant too much to me and probably nothing to him.

And yet, the warning rattled me to the core.

Because if his mother had noticed, then maybe it wasn’t nothing after all.

The thought terrified me more than it thrilled me.

That night, when the knock came at my door, I knew who it was before I opened it.

And my heart still betrayed me.

Derek stood there, shadows carving sharp lines across his face. His jaw was tense, his eyes burning with something between anger and desperation.

“What did she say to you?” he asked.

The words rushed out, low and raw.

I swallowed hard. “She told me to stay away from you.”

Silence pulsed between us.

His fists clenched at his sides. “I’m sorry.”

“Why?” My voice cracked. “Why me? Why would she even care? We’re nothing, Derek. Nothing.”

The way his gaze darkened told me I was wrong.

“We’re not nothing,” he said quietly.

And before I could stop myself, I believed him.

DEREK:

When I saw the hurt in her eyes, the way she tried to shrink under the weight of my mother’s cruelty, i felt broken.

I couldn’t stand it.

I stepped closer, close enough to feel the tremble in her breath.

“She doesn’t get to decide this,” I said. “Not this.”

Delaney shook her head, tears brimming. “You don’t understand. People like me…we don’t get happy endings with people like you.”

My chest ached. “Maybe not. But I don’t care.”

The words were reckless, but they were the truest thing I’d ever said.

I didn’t care about the rules. About pedigree. About the Wright legacy my mother worshipped like a religion.

I cared about the girl standing in front of me, shaking under the weight of her past, and yet still strong enough to meet my gaze.

I reached for her hand. She didn’t pull away.

And in that fragile silence, I knew, I was never letting her go.

EVELYN WRIGHT:

The report arrived two days later.

Photographs of son, standing outside her apartment. His hand holding hers.

Proof.

I didn’t smile. Not yet. But satisfaction simmered beneath my ribs.

Because now, I had what I needed.

Not just whispers, not just suspicion, I had evidence.

And evidence to be used as leverage.

Delaney Miller thought she’d caught my son’s eye.

But she was nothing more than a distraction.

And I would remind both of them exactly how dangerous distractions could be.

DELANEY:

When Derek left that night, part of me wanted to beg him to stay.

But another part—the part that remembered Evelyn Wright’s eyes, sharp and merciless, knew better.

I wasn’t safe. Not with him. Not without him.

The weight of it pressed on me, I could barely breathe.

But then my phone buzzed.

A message.

From an unknown number.

“Careful, little Miller. You don’t know what you’re playing with.”

Blood drained from my face.

Because whoever it was— his mother, or someone worse..I knew for certain.

This wasn’t just attraction.

This was war.