From Jilted Bride To Ruthless CEO

s supposed to marry my childhood sweetheart, Jake. My father had

him kissing Djuna-the fragile orphan my fathe

me to make me think I was losing my mind. At a public auction, Jake froze my accounts and bought a fam

to turn me into a mindles

rty, I didn't break. Instead, I smiled. Because I had my own recordings, an

pte

d shattered into a million irreparable pieces. It was a truth delivered with the cold precision of a su

ifth birthday gala was just weeks away. The air hummed with the promise of a future I had always envisioned – a life

lar empire, rarely showed softness. But for me, his only daughter, it softened. He saw in Jake the successor

with destiny, with power, with a love story straight out of a classic novel.

that always preceded him. He walked into the study, his hand reaching for mine. His touch

e one I had chosen for him years ago. It was a crisp, almost metallic f

jasmine mingled with something musky and cheap, clung

as colder than I intended. It surprised e

on. "Perfume? What are you talking about, Jocelyn? I just came from a mee

too close, too intimate to be an accidental brush-off. It was the scent of a pro

us, thick and suffocating.

said, his eyes darting away. "I'll see you

dening my spine. I knew this estate like the back of my hand. I knew it

navigate the shadows of the Cruz empire, now served a purpose I never imagined. I slipped t

ever be burned into my memory, scorching aw

his hands tangled in her long, dark hair. Djuna Stein. The fragile, innocent orphan m

s were on his chest, not pushing him away, but pulling him closer. The sweet, musky pe

ked from my lungs. My vision blurred, tears stinging my ey

alked, one foot in front of the other, through the opu

eart of Cruz Holdings, where all major decisio

ou've seen a ghost." He saw the cold re

ite the earthquake raging inside me. "

lking about? The merger with the Zamoras depends

d, my gaze unwavering. "Just not wit

to Zamora? The Blackstone heir? Jocelyn, you can't be se

hing we planned was a lie." A bitter laugh escaped my lips. "

a always seemed to be around, her feigned helplessness drawing male attention. I had br

heard the echo of a sneering voice, a voice from th

es, her charities. While Djuna... she knows how to keep

ghing at me, all of them. Jake, Djuna, his circle of so-called "brothers." They saw me a

ative victim, clinging to him like a vine. They weren't just lovers; they were co-conspi

th her, a perverse sense of "family" forged in their shared orphan past.

as dead. But my mind was cl