Too Late: She Chose The Billionaire Heir

"She’s just like a sister to me, Eliana. You’re being dramatic." That was Jax’s excuse every time he chose Catalina over me for three years. When Catalina staged a fake drowning in three feet of water, he pushed me aside to save her, telling me my life wasn't his problem. But the breaking point came when she deliberately pushed me down a flight of stairs. My ankle shattered on the concrete. I was lying there in agony, unable to move. Yet, Jax didn't check on me. He stepped over my bleeding body to scoop Catalina up because she had a minor scratch on her elbow. He screamed at me for "hurting" her. While I lay in the hospital alone, waiting for surgery, he was spoon-feeding her soup in her dorm, posting photos captioned "My Hero." He thought I would always be his "Elie Bear," the doormat waiting at home to clean up his messes. He was convinced that no matter how much he hurt me, I would never actually leave. But he was wrong. I didn't scream. I didn't fight. I simply signed the withdrawal papers, blocked his number, and boarded a one-way flight to New York without saying goodbye. Three months later, when Jax finally realized his "sister" was a nightmare and came crawling back to beg for forgiveness, he found me. But I wasn't alone. I was holding the hand of a billionaire heir who looked at Jax with cold, deadly eyes. "Touch her again," my new fiancé whispered, "and I will destroy your entire family by morning."

Chapters

Chapter 8

The text came at 8:00 PM.

*Come downstairs. Please. - Jax*

I shouldn't have gone. My flight was in twelve hours, and I should have been sleeping, or at least pretending to. But some part of me—the part that still remembered the ache of being sixteen and desperately in love—needed to see the end.

I pulled on a coat and walked down to the courtyard.

It was dark, but the pavement glowed, illuminated by hundreds of tea lights arranged in a massive heart shape. Soft music drifted from a Bluetooth speaker—our song. The one we danced to at prom.

Jax was standing in the center of the heart, holding a single red rose. I noticed immediately that he wasn't wearing his sling. He must have discarded it for the aesthetic, enduring the throb of his injury just to sell the scene.

"Eliana," he said, his voice thick with rehearsed emotion. "I know things have been rough. I know I messed up. But I want to remind you of how we started."

He took a step forward. "Do you remember? The park? The rain? You said you wanted a fairy tale."

I stood just outside the circle of candles. I felt like an audience member at a play I had seen too many times.

"Jax," I started.

*BOOM.*

A firework exploded overhead. Then another. Red and gold sparks showered the night sky, lighting up the dorm windows like strobe lights. Students were looking out, cheering.

It was grand. It was expensive. It was perfect.

And it felt completely wrong.

"Did you like it?"

The voice didn't come from Jax.

Catalina stepped out from behind a large oak tree. She was holding a tablet, her thumb hovering over the volume control. She walked right into the candlelight, standing next to Jax as if taking her curtain call.

"I picked the fireworks," she beamed, looking at me. "Gold is your favorite color, right? And I told Jax he had to ditch the sling. It ruins the aesthetic."

My stomach dropped through the floor.

Jax looked at her, then at me. "Cat helped me set it up. She wanted it to be perfect for you, El."

"I planned the whole thing," Catalina corrected him, linking her arm through his. "He was going to just buy chocolates. Boring. I told him, 'No, Eliana needs a show.'"

She looked at me with a predator's grin. "You're welcome."

I looked at Jax. He wasn't embarrassed. He was grateful. He looked at Catalina with awe, thankful that she had stage-managed his romance for him.

"See?" Jax said to me, his eyes wide and earnest. "We both care about you."

The realization hit me like a physical blow. There was no us. There was never an us. There was only Jax and Catalina, and I was the audience they performed for.

"It's beautiful," I said. My voice was hollow.

"I knew you'd love it!" Catalina clapped. "Now, give her the rose, Jax. Kiss her. The lighting is perfect right now."

She was directing him. *Action.*

Jax stepped forward, extending the rose. "I love you, Elie Bear."

I looked at the rose. Then I looked up, seeing the invisible puppet strings attached to his limbs, leading straight to Catalina’s hands.

"Thank you for the show," I said.

I turned around and walked back into the building.

"Eliana?" Jax called out. "Where are you going? We haven't cut the cake!"

I didn't stop. I walked up the stairs, the sound of their confusion fading behind me.

I didn't pack the rose. I didn't pack the memory. I left them both burning on the pavement.

Continue to next part

After climbing 15,000 feet to secure a cure for Seth Gibson’s supposed paralysis, Nevaeh returns injured only to overhear a devastating truth. Seth’s condition was a fabrication, the final stage of a sadistic game to punish her for past grievances against his friend. Realizing her devotion was met with cold calculation, Nevaeh feels a sudden sense of liberation. She decides to end their toxic connection by calling Seth’s uncle with a shocking proposal of marriage.

Action Adventure Billionaire Modern Mystery Romance

7.4

Bound by Fate to the Billionaire

7.4

Forced into an unwanted marriage, quiet schoolteacher Delina Brooks is bound to Andrew Kingsley.He is a ruthless billionaire musician, cold and arrogant, and he hates Delina from the moment they wed. But Andrew's world is not just his own. His glamorous ex-girlfriend, Camilla Laurent, and his manipulative sister, Veronica, are determined to destroy Delina-and reclaim Andrew for themselves. Surrounded by lies, secrets, and relentless enemies, Delina must fight for her dignity, her family, and her future. As fate twists and turns, one question remains: Will the woman he despised become the only one he can't live without?

Action Billionaire Modern

8.9

He Was Mine Only After I Died

8.9

Married to Don Marcello Marchetti, the protagonist lives in the shadow of his doted-on adopted sister, Letizia. After Letizia sabotages her car brakes, a horrific high-speed crash leaves her trapped and bleeding. In the emergency room, Marcello defends the hacker’s actions as a simple mistake. When Letizia calls with a minor crisis, he abandons his wife, mistakenly signing for the wrong blood type. Crushed by his betrayal, she chooses to let the fatal transfusion proceed.

Action Mafia Modern Mystery Romance

7.3

His Betrayal Forged My Ruthless Soul

7.3

Seven years ago, my fiancé, Don Dante Moretti, sent me to prison to take the fall for my adopted sister, Chiara. He called it a gift-a way to protect me from a worse fate. Today, he picked me up from prison only to abandon me at my family's estate. His reason? Chiara was having another one of her "episodes." My parents then informed me I'd be staying in the third-floor storage room, so as not to disturb the fragile girl who stole my life. They celebrated her "recovery" with a lavish dinner party, while I was treated like a ghost. When I refused to join, my mother hissed that I was ungrateful, and my father called me jealous. They assumed I couldn't understand their venomous whispers. But prison was my university. I learned Spanish. I understood every word. It was then I realized I wasn't just a sacrifice; I was disposable. The love I once felt for all of them had turned to ash. That night, in the dusty storage room, I logged onto an encrypted channel I'd set up years ago. A single message was waiting: "The offer stands. Do you accept?" My hands, scarred and steady, typed back, "I accept."

Action Modern Romance

8.1

Marrying The Crippled Billionaire For Revenge

8.1

I was the top trauma surgeon at the city’s busiest hospital until my family decided I was nothing more than a disposal fee. I stood in my father’s mahogany-lined study, staring at a two-hundred-thousand-dollar check that was meant to buy my silence and my dignity. "Sign the confession, Aurelia," my father demanded, the silver cigar cutter snapping with a violent finality. They wanted me to take the fall for a medical error I never committed, all to protect my sister Dominique’s image before her high-profile merger with the Blackburn family. When I refused to sign my life away, the betrayal turned lethal. My sister planted a priceless sapphire heirloom in my bag and called the security team to search me in front of my ex-fiancé. My mother watched with cold indifference as I was branded a thief, and my father threatened to pull the plug on my grandmother’s nursing home payments by noon if I didn't vanish. I was thrown out into a freezing rainstorm with a revoked medical license, a battered suitcase, and exactly forty-two dollars to my name. Even the man I once loved looked at me with pity, believing I had stooped to grand larceny because I was jealous of my sister’s success. I stood at a bus stop, shivering and broken, wondering how my own blood could trade my truth for a corporate PR stunt. They had taken my career, my home, and my reputation, leaving me with nothing but the clothes on my back and a burning need for justice. Desperate to protect my grandmother, I sought out the one man they all feared: Avery Blackburn, the "monster" CEO rumored to be a brain-damaged vegetable. But the man I found in the shadows of the VIP wing wasn't a victim; he was a wolf waiting for the right moment to strike. "I need a shield, and you need a wife," he rasped, sliding a titanium card across the desk. I didn't hesitate to sign the marriage certificate. The Blanchards think they’ve discarded a liability, but they’re about to find out what happens when you give a desperate surgeon a billionaire’s scalpel.

Action Billionaire Modern

9.6

Promises in the Grave

9.6

After Maverick Lowe abandoned his bride to save another woman, her life spiraled into public disgrace. She eventually found peace and motherhood with Alfred Hawkins, her devoted childhood friend. However, their domestic bliss is shattered when she discovers Alfred’s horrific secret. To save his former flame's dying daughter, Alfred intends to orchestrate a fatal accident for his own child, Ruby, ensuring her heart is harvested for a transplant. Now, she must face a deadly betrayal.

Action Mafia Modern Mystery Romance

Too Late: She Chose The Billionaire Heir

Chapter 8

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