The Stoic Nurse's Obsession: My Secret Queen

At St. Jude’s Prep, I was the "scholarship waste" in a sea of navy blue blazers and old money. I purposely handed in a blank placement exam, accepting a spot in the remedial track just to gain access to the school's high-speed server backbone. While my teachers mocked my "inevitable failure," I was secretly fighting a digital war. I intercepted a high-level breach by the notorious hacker Black Eagle, bricking his hardware and neutralizing the threat before he could touch the school’s financial records. But at home, the victory tasted like ash. My socialite mother, Inger, called me a "useless stain" and a "waste of space" over a dinner of roast beef and expensive wine. My stepsister Erika mocked my lack of talent, never realizing that the "freak" she despised had just earned a $50,000 bounty for a single hour of work. I lived as a ghost, hiding my genius behind a frayed gray hoodie and a mask of indifference. I thought I was invisible, but the school nurse, Fielding Pickett, saw through my cover, tracing my pulse and my code with predatory precision. "Nice code, Ruiz," he whispered, a warning that my sanctuary was crumbling. The pressure finally broke me. I collapsed in the infirmary with a 103-degree fever, my secret identity hanging by a thread. As I lay half-conscious on the cot, the IT administrator burst in, screaming that the Dark Web had just put a million-dollar bounty on the head of a hacker named "Q." Fielding leaned over me, his eyes dark and knowing, as the world outside began hunting for my life. "I've got you, Q," he whispered, just as the darkness took me.

Chapters

Chapter 6

The dining room was a study in tension. The chandelier was too bright. The silverware clinked too loudly against the china.

Aunt Nora was trying. She was fluttering around, serving roast beef, smiling too much.

So, Dallas, Nora said, her voice high and brittle. How is the first week?

Fine, Dallas said. She focused on cutting her meat. Precision cuts. One inch by one inch.

Inger took a sip of red wine. Fine? I heard you got a zero on your placement exam. A zero, Dallas. Do you know how hard it is to get a zero? You have to actively try to be that stupid.

Erika was sitting across from Dallas. She was smiling into her water glass.

Maybe she just froze, Erika said sweetly. It happens to people who aren't... prepared.

Mason, Nora's son, was sitting next to Dallas. He was twelve, a quiet kid with glasses. He kicked Dallas gently under the table. A signal of solidarity.

I didn't freeze, Dallas said without looking up.

Then what? Inger snapped. You're just lazy? You're trying to embarrass me? The Bentleys paid for your tuition, Dallas. Do you have any idea what that cost?

I didn't ask you to, Dallas said.

Inger slammed her wine glass down. Wine sloshed over the rim, staining the white tablecloth red like blood.

Ungrateful, Inger hissed. You are exactly like your father. Useless. A waste of space.

The air left the room.

Nora gasped. Inger!

Dallas stopped cutting. Her knife screeched against the plate.

She looked up. Her eyes were dark, bottomless pits.

My father, Dallas said, her voice dangerously low, was a kind man.

He was a drunk! Inger shouted. And he died broke! Just like you will!

Erika chimed in. Mom, don't upset yourself. Dallas can always go to community college. They have... vocational programs.

Miley, Nora's daughter, giggled. Like plumbing?

Dallas looked at them. The perfect family. The perfect facade.

She felt a burning in her chest. It wasn't tears. It was fire.

She stood up. Her chair scraped back.

I'm not hungry, Dallas said.

Sit down! Inger commanded.

No, Dallas said.

She walked out of the dining room. She grabbed her backpack from the hall.

Nora ran after her. Dallas! Wait!

She caught Dallas on the porch. Nora's eyes were wet. She shoved a roll of cash into Dallas's hand.

Take this, Nora whispered. Please. Buy yourself something nice. Don't listen to her.

Dallas looked at the money. It was a few hundred dollars. Pity money.

I don't need it, Aunt Nora, Dallas said. She tried to give it back.

Take it! Nora insisted, shoving it into Dallas's pocket.

Dallas let her. She hugged her aunt briefly. A stiff, awkward embrace.

She walked down the driveway into the dark.

Once she was around the corner, she reached into the hidden lining of her backpack and pulled out a cheap, battered burner phone. She powered it on.

A single encrypted text message waited for her.

Notification: Escrow Release Authorized. Balance Update: +$50,000.00.

It was the payment for the Black Eagle defense. A bounty from the underground.

Dallas touched the crumpled bills in her pocket from her aunt. Then she looked at the number on her screen.

She laughed. It was a dry, humorless sound. She popped the battery out of the burner phone and shoved it back into the hidden lining.

Continue to next part

I was tracing the gold paint on my own tombstone when a hand tapped me on the shoulder. It was Clayton. The same man who, five years ago, had left me bleeding out in a ditch because he didn't want to be late for my sister's engagement party. "Die quietly, Ivy," he had said over the phone before hanging up. Now, standing over my grave, he dropped his cheap plastic flowers in shock. "Ivy? You're... we buried you." They hadn't buried me. They had buried an empty box to save face, mourning a "troubled" daughter they had actually discarded like broken trash the moment I became a liability. Clayton's shock quickly turned to that familiar, arrogant anger. He accused me of faking my death for attention. He told me I was sick for putting the family through such pain. He even reached out to grab my arm, intending to drag me back to my father to apologize. "You're coming with me," he spat. "You owe us an explanation." But he made a fatal mistake. He thought he was talking to Ivy Dillard, the soft girl who cried when she skinned her knees. He didn't notice the town car waiting at the curb, or the man stepping out of it. Before Clayton's fingers could graze my coat, a hand made of steel caught his wrist. Collin Richardson, the most feared Capo in Chicago, stepped between us. "Touch my wife again," Collin whispered, his voice promising violence. "And you lose the hand." I smiled at the terror draining the color from Clayton's face. I didn't come back from the dead to explain myself. I came back to bury them.

Mafia Modern Romance

8.8

Billionaire's Runaway Bride

8.8

Aimee had been married to the president of the Carter Group, Penn, for three years, and finally ended up with divorce. 6 years after the divorce, she turned into a world-famous incense maker and returned with her two children. Countless people scrambled to marry her, and Penn was also attracted by her.A battle of lover purchasing began

Billionaire Modern Romance

7.4

Go to Hell, Ex! I Deserve Someone Better than You

7.4

Briony was devastated when her boyfriend proposed to her best friend in front of her. Not only was she betrayed, but she was also publicly humiliated. Five years later, she became popular after writing her heartbreaking love story into a novel. Her ex-boyfriend was offended. When he condemned her, she swore she would have nothing to do with him anymore. Unfortunately, fate had other plans. Briony accidentally hit a child with her car, who turned out to be the son of Alexander, her ex-boyfriend! As punishment, she was forced to be his nanny until his cast arm healed. What would happen next? Could she endure the torture from the ex who secretly still wanted her?

Modern Romance

7.5

His Ex-Luna Has A Son

7.5

WARNING: This book contains mature content, explicit scenes, and dark themes. Reader discretion is advised. "Maybe... maybe I don't ever want to be anyone's wife again." Betrayed. Banished. Broken. For eight years, Selena was the devoted Luna of the Knightstorm Pack, until her alpha husband branded her a whore, stripped her of their children, and cast her out. Years later, she's risen from the ashes as a renowned artist, fiercely independent and done with men forever. But when her ex-husband discovers the devastating truth, that a cruel scheme made him punish the wrong woman, he will stop at nothing to win her back. His reckless, alcoholic brother has always wanted her too. And then there's the powerful alpha trapped in a loveless open marriage, willing to burn down his twenty-year union the moment he scents his second-chance mate in Selena. Three alphas. One woman who swore she would never belong to anyone again. As old wounds resurface and new desires ignite, Selena must fight not only for her stolen children, but for the heart she thought was dead. Who will claim the broken Luna... and will she ever let any of them in?

Modern Romance Werewolf

7.6

LOVE IN CONTRACT

7.6

I thought one picture was harmless,something that could pass without consequences. I never imagined it would ruin his image,threaten his company or put my family in danger. I made a mistake and somehow,he bacame the only person that could protect us. The contract we signed was supposed to be simple,temporary and emotionless but nothing stayed that way. But living together changed things and getting used to his presence became a routine. The lines we promised not to cross slowly began to blur.

Modern Romance

9.2

SURROGATE FOR MY SISTER'S HUSBAND

9.2

When her sister proves unable to conceive, a young woman is pressured into a clandestine arrangement to serve as a surrogate for her powerful billionaire brother-in-law. What begins as a cold, contractual obligation soon spirals into a web of forbidden desire and complex emotions. As the pregnancy progresses, the boundaries between family loyalty and secret passion blur, threatening to shatter their lives and expose a scandalous truth.

Billionaire Modern Romance

The Stoic Nurse's Obsession: My Secret Queen

Chapter 6

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