Jilted Heiress: Her Billion-Dollar Payback

wedding was a merger in disguise-a deal where my

intern. He declared he was choosing "love over money," paint

m my office building, live-streaming to the wor

th their final demand: twenty percent of my co

ite fond of it

gency board meeting called to

aeda. Just accept

hear. "Actually, Drew," I said, as federal agent

pte

Reynol

logical fear of germs, drink from his young intern' s glass, I k

leman, my fiancé, would normally refuse to enter without a hazmat suit. He claimed to have severe mysophobia, a condition that made him flinch

d by his jeering, half-drunk friends. And he was laug

innocent blue eyes and a cascade of blonde hair that seemed to catch the cheap neon lights and turn them into a ha

He reached out, took the half-empty glass of what looked like

t single point of contact: his lips on the rim of her glass. A glass she had just been dr

y chest. This wasn' t a careless mistake. This was a statement. This was

od time with a pretty girl. They saw what they wanted to see. They didn't see the COO of Coleman Industries, a man whose family business was tee

ence unannounced. I had flown to Vegas to surprise him, a

, and his fingers brushed against hers. He leaned in again, his lips close to her ear, and whate

ou

because they knew who I was, but because of the aura I projected. In Silicon Val

ale, the color of old paper. "Jaeda," he stammered, scrambling to

e eyes wide with a perfectly fei

't look at Cassidy. She was a symptom, not the disease. My eyes were

e. His friends sh

ike," he started, the classic, p

n, who once had a panic attack because a waiter handed you a me

truck him. "It was a joke.

" I gestured towards Cassidy. "Her

s granite, to Cassidy's, which was now trembling with manufactured tears. H

pleaded, his voice a whisper.

later," I sai

pany, his resentment of my power, his desire to have the benefits of my fortune without the burden of my control. He wan

hoice. He just sto

de it f

away without a backward glance. I heard him call my

no texts. Utter radio silence. I knew he was calculating, weighing his options. Th

what I was supposed to believe was remorse. "Jaeda, I am so sorry. I was

him. Hope is a stu

d with the most powerful people in tech and finance. It was the merger of the year. I sa

riest began to speak. "We

ping him. A nervous rippl

filled with love. They were fille

by the microphone, echoing through t

arted to move from the fron

thought I could marry for money, for business. But my heart won't let me. I'm in lo

he back of the church. The g

in a simple white dress, tears streami

voice ringing with false righteousnes

wards her. As he passed the pews, he was no longer a weak man betraying his fiancée;

washed over me. The whispers, the stares, the pitying lo

onately outside the church, was the lead story on every gossip site. The caption, posted from Drew's own acco

asting with the opulent, empty cathedral in the background. "Somet

ain. The cold, controlling busine

n food untouched, the string quartet silent. My phone buzz

isen in anticipation of the merger, h

t cut through the fo

is game? You want t

i

ade a call not to my publi

oice devoid of all e

sorry. I saw the n

associated with Coleman Industries' supply chain. Every single one. Then, I want you to start sho

silence on the oth

... that's a dec

e city lights, my reflection a cold silh

ned was a chilling, crystalline resolve. Drew Coleman had tried to humilia

d just become my most

ith detached precision. I saw a comment from a mutual friend, a te

d lunch with last week: "So happy f

my abuser. They were appla

flawless, 20-carat stone from Sri Lanka. Drew had made a grand show of presenting it to me, kneeling in a field of la

bought it. I had. The funds were quietly transferred from one of my private acc

pale with concern. "Jaeda, the markets are reacting. Coleman Industrie

id, my voice flat. "I w

ptics..." she began

s company's assets for pennies on the dollar at a bankruptcy auction," I stated, turning to face her. "Do not

arrative!" she protested. "The

alien on my face. "Good," I said. "Let them. A m

again. It was

Jaeda? Can't you just le

my breath away for a second. He humiliates me on a glob

ss the screen, my re

happiness. This is ab

n I blocked Cassidy's. Th

nd I had no intentio