Too Late For My CEO's Regret

I was just another invisible marketing clerk at the Jennings Group, a single mother counting pennies to pay for my daughter’s medical bills. Then the glass doors of the executive elevator opened, and the new CEO walked in. It was Bridger Jennings, the man who had shattered my world five years ago and left me to pick up the pieces alone. He wasn't the boy I once loved; he was a ruthless tycoon who looked through me with a gaze of total, crushing indifference. The torment started immediately. Bridger targeted me in front of the department, cutting the late-night transportation I relied on and mocking my "supportive husband"—a man who didn't even exist. When he spotted a red smudge of paint on my neck, he mistook it for a love bite from a rival. His jealousy turned into a weapon, and he buried me under a mountain of impossible work, sneering that I should let my husband provide for me instead. I stayed up until dawn to finish the task, only to realize someone had sabotaged my files to ensure my termination. My manager threatened to fire me on the spot, and Bridger stood by with a cold smile, waiting for me to crawl and beg for mercy. I couldn't understand why he was so obsessed with destroying the life I had built from the ashes of our breakup. Did he still care enough to hate me, or was he just trying to prove I was nothing more than a smudge on the glass of his empire? Slumping against my desk, I finally found the digital footprint of the person who tampered with my work. Bridger thinks he has me cornered, but he doesn't know I'm the secret artist he's been desperately trying to hire—or that he's the father of the child he's punishing me for. The war has just begun.

Chapters

Chapter 4

It was lunchtime, but Gracia was still at her desk. She had a sandwich wrapped in foil, but she hadn't opened it.

Her personal phone buzzed on the desk.

Birdie Calling.

Gracia grabbed it instantly. She looked around. The office was mostly empty, just a few people eating salads at their desks with headphones on.

She answered. "Hey, baby."

"Mommy," Birdie's voice was small and wet. "My tummy hurts. Like the bad hurt."

Gracia's heart stopped. "The bad hurt" meant the cramps that sometimes preceded a seizure.

"Where is Grandma?" Gracia asked, keeping her voice low and calm.

"She went to the pharmacy. She said to wait. But it hurts now."

Gracia checked the time. 12:15 PM. If she left now, she could be there in forty minutes. But she had a meeting with Brenda at 1:00 PM. If she missed it, she was out.

She heard the heavy thud of footsteps on the carpet behind her. A group of people. Men.

She glanced over her shoulder. It was Bridger. He was walking with the CFO and two other suits, heading toward the conference room at the end of the hall. He was ten feet away.

Panic spiked in her chest. If Birdie kept talking, if she mentioned anything specific...

Gracia had to control the narrative. She had to make Birdie sound like a normal child with a normal, present father.

She raised her voice slightly, pitching it so it would carry just enough.

"It's okay, sweetie," she said into the phone. "Don't be scared. Let Daddy come get you, okay?"

On the other end of the line, there was silence. Birdie was confused.

"Daddy?" Birdie whispered.

Gracia saw Bridger's step falter. Just for a fraction of a second. His back stiffened.

He slowed down, his head turning slightly toward her cubicle. His eyes were narrowed, scanning her.

"Yes," Gracia continued, her hand sweating against the plastic phone case. "Daddy is right near the house. I'm calling him right now on the other line. He'll take you to the doctor."

She was acting for an audience of one.

Bridger stopped completely. The CFO stopped with him, looking confused.

Bridger stared at Gracia's back. She could feel his gaze burning through her cheap blazer.

"Okay, Mommy," Birdie said, sounding small and scared but trusting.

"Be a brave girl. Daddy is coming."

Gracia hung up. Her heart was hammering so hard she thought it might bruise her ribs.

She didn't turn around. She stared at her black computer screen, waiting.

Bridger stood there for another five seconds. He was dissecting the conversation. Daddy. So the husband was around. He was involved. He was the one who picked up the sick kid.

A surge of irrational, hot jealousy flooded his veins. He hated this imaginary man. He hated that Gracia relied on him.

"Jennings?" the CFO asked.

Bridger snapped out of it. His face hardened into a mask of stone.

"Let's go," he growled.

He walked past her cubicle without another glance, but the air around him felt turbulent.

Gracia slumped in her chair. She immediately texted her mother: Emergency. Go home now. Birdie is in pain.

She waited until the three dots turned into On my way.

Ten minutes later, an email hit the general inbox.

From: HR General.

Subject: Policy Reminder - Personal Calls.

Effective immediately, all personal calls must be taken outside of the work area. Family matters should not interfere with core business hours. We are a place of business, not a daycare coordination center.

Gracia read the email. Her hands curled into fists.

It was petty. It was cruel. And it was directly aimed at her.

She looked toward the glass office at the end of the hall. Bridger was in there. She couldn't see him, but she knew he had dictated this.

He was punishing her for being a mother. He was punishing her for having a "husband."

Gracia swallowed the lump in her throat. Fine, she thought. You want a war? I can take it. As long as you never find out that you're the Daddy I was talking about.

Continue to next part

I woke up gasping for air, expecting the cold concrete of a prison cell, but my fingers sank into the plush leather of a luxury Lincoln. I was twenty-four again, wearing the silver silk dress from the night my life was systematically destroyed. Beside me sat my cousin Catrina, the woman whose carefully crafted lies had orchestrated my ruin and sent me to a penitentiary for five years. In my first life, this was the night the dominoes fell. Catrina stole my jewelry to paint me as mentally unstable, and by morning, I was stripped of my medical license and labeled a criminal. My mother’s family, the Montgomerys, stood by and watched as my father’s company was devoured by wolves, treating my existence like a "liability" that needed to be managed. I still felt the phantom tremors in my hands from prison fights and the stinging betrayal of being discarded by the people I called family. I had lived through five years of absolute hell, a former surgeon rotting in a cell while the people who framed me toasted to their success at galas I was no longer invited to. "Don't be selfish, Dawn," Catrina whispered, reaching for the necklace that would later be used as evidence against me. "Let the jewelry shine on someone who actually matters." She thought I was still the fragile victim she could manipulate, but she didn't realize I had returned from the grave with the cold, clinical calculation of a fixer. Instead of walking into her trap at the gala, I forced the car onto a dark service road and dragged a dying billionaire, Jennings Stafford, from the wreckage of a burning SUV. He was the only man powerful enough to destroy my enemies, and as I stitched his wounds with stolen supplies, I didn't ask for a thank you. I looked him dead in the eye and proposed a contract that would set the world on fire. "I want a strategic marriage. You get a harmless wife with a legacy name to calm your board, and I get immunity from everyone who ever touched me." The bill for my five years in prison had finally come due, and I was here to collect.

Billionaire Modern Romance

8.4

Discarded Bride: The True Heiress Returns

8.4

For twenty years, I lived as the adopted daughter of the wealthy Hill family. But today, they forced me to sign a severance agreement and kicked me out so their precious biological daughter, Malia, could marry my fiancé. To ruin me completely, they framed me for stealing Malia's engagement bracelet, threatening me with prison. I calmly exposed the "sapphire" as cheap glass, then rolled up my sleeves to show the reporters my scarred, punctured arms. For two decades, I wasn't a daughter. I was Malia's living blood and bone marrow bank. They drained my health to keep her alive, even ordering doctors to ignore my failing organs just so she could attend a gala. "Take this million dollars and shut your mouth," my adoptive father sneered, throwing a check at my feet. My ex-fiancé looked at me with disgust, and Malia screamed that I was a crazy, vindictive liar. They had stolen my life and my health, yet they still looked down on me like I was garbage. I ripped the check into pieces and threw it in their faces. Just as they ordered the butler to drag me out, a group of men in black suits shattered the chaos. The heir of the untouchable Montgomery dynasty stepped through the door, ignoring the Hills' fawning, and handed me a DNA report. I wasn't a disposable blood bag. I was the long-lost true heiress of old New York money. And now, I was going to take back everything they stole from me.

Billionaire Modern Romance

7.5

From Gilded Cage To Unchained Queen

7.5

To save my dying father, I made a deal with the billionaire Christopher Kirkland. I became his secret, a bird in a gilded cage he paraded around when it suited him. But I was just a pawn in his twisted game to win back his ex-girlfriend. He proved it when he publicly outbid me for my own mother's heirloom necklace, only to gift it to her right in front of me. Then he threw me out of the penthouse. My few cherished belongings-my books, a photo of my parents-were tossed out. "Chaney doesn't like clutter," he told me, erasing my entire existence for her. A text on his phone confirmed the brutal truth. "Our little game is working perfectly," she'd written. "She's completely fooled." Years later, after she betrayed him and his empire nearly crumbled, he came back begging. He thought he could buy my forgiveness. He was about to learn that my freedom had no price tag.

Billionaire Modern Mystery

8.1

Getting A Mom: Baby Sitting His Daughter

8.1

Desperate for a way out of rejection and poverty, Pearl Augustine accepts a nanny job with an outrageous salary-working for billionaire Ace Warren. What she doesn't expect is his daughter. Mia Warren is spoiled, sharp-tongued, and feared by everyone in the mansion. Behind her cruelty is a lonely child longing for a mother. As Pearl becomes the only one who can reach her, walls begin to fall-especially those around Ace, a grieving man hiding behind wealth and control. What started as "just a job" quickly turns into something dangerous: attachment. Sometimes, healing begins where you least expect it.

Billionaire Modern Romance

9.1

Hate You as much as I Love You

9.1

What would a woman do if one day she is waiting for her husband to tell him the news of her pregnancy but he comes home with another woman who is pregnant with his child? ........ Ariadne had a perfect life until her mother died in a car accident and her father remarried, bringing a stepmother and stepsister into her life. Once adored by all, Ariadne became an eyesore to everyone, including her father. Her stepmother and stepsister took everything from her. However, she lost it when their eyes fell on Xander, the sole heir of the richest family in the country and her childhood love. When rumors of Crystal, her step sister and Xander's dating spread, Ariadne used her everything to force Xander into marrying her. Despite pouring her heart and soul into the marriage Ariadne failed to make Xander reciprocate her feelings. Their loveless marriage came to an end when Crystal returned in their lives. With a broken heart, Ariadne left the city with a secret and rebuild her life. Five years later, she returned as a successful interior designer to design her ex-husband's new mansion. But this time, what she saw in Xander's eyes for herself was not hatred. It was something else. She came face to face with the same people who had wronged her in the past. They still held resentment towards her. But this time Ariadne vowed to strike back at her bullies. Many secrets were revealed in the process that made Xander regret his past actions. He determined to win Ariadne back. BUT Will Ariadne be able to forget their past and get back together with Xander or She will choose someone else?

Billionaire Modern Romance

7.3

Second Chance: Reborn as the Villainess

7.3

Betrayed by the man she loved. Katrina Donovan's death was supposed to be the end. Instead, when Katrina opens her eyes, she isn't in heaven-She's in Rachel Sterling's body. The very woman who stole her lover, harvested her heart. The villain everyone hates. Now trapped in the life of her enemy, Katrina must pretend to be the spoiled, manipulative heiress while hiding the truth that would destroy them all. Worse-Owen Blake, the cold and powerful billionaire adopted son of the Sterling family, watches her every move. He despises "Rachel", believes she destroyed the only innocent girl he ever cared about. He doesn't know the girl he mourns... is standing right in front of him. With hatred burning in her veins, Katrina swears she will not waste this second chance. She will expose the lies. Reclaim what was stolen. Make every person who carved out her heart beg for mercy. But revenge is dangerous-Especially when the only man who might uncover the truth is the one who wants her dead.

Billionaire Fantasy Romance

Too Late For My CEO's Regret

Chapter 4

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