
TOO RICH TO BE MINE.
Catherine Smith was born into untouchable wealth, a girl with everything except the freedom to love by choice and not demand. When she falls for Elijah Blakes, the quiet, kind man who works at the repair shop, she thinks she’s found the one thing money can’t afford: real love. But Elijah is hiding a secret. He’s not poor. He’s not powerless. He’s the estranged heir of a rival empire— and he’s been pretending to be someone else to keep her close. When her powerful parents discover their forbidden relationship, they break them off mercilessly. Catherine is forced to marry into a loveless engagement. Elijah, heartbroken, disappears and marries someone else. Years later, fate brings them back together. He’s colder now. Married. Untouchable. But the fire between them never died. And now, with everything to lose and nothing left to hide, the only question left is: Will she risk everything again for a man who lied to win her heart or—will love truly the only thing they can’t afford?
Basahin
Chapter: The Lie Between His Lips. Catherine hadn’t cried when she left Elijah’s suite.Not on the ride home.Not when she walked past James and her parents like they were air.Not even when her mother called after her with a sharp, “You missed your future this morning.”But now, alone in her room with the door locked and her phone facedown, the silence was too heavy to carry.She sank onto her bed, knees curled, the city lights painting her ceiling with flickers of silver and gold. They looked like stars — and she hated them for it.Because Elijah had once told her she made the stars feel close.And now?Now, even his name was a lie.⸻He said he was Elijah Carsen.Not Elijah Miles Blakes.He’d told her about the girl he was supposed to marry — how it was a family decision he didn’t want. He even said he left that life behind. It was emotional. Vulnerable. Honest enough to hurt — but vague enough to control the damage.She had looked into his eyes that night and believed him. Held his secrets like fragile glass and pr
Huling Na-update: 2025-07-11
Chapter: Diamonds in Cages. The silence in her parents’ penthouse was never just silence.It was performance. It was tension dressed in crystal and marble. And as Catherine walked in—coat still clinging to her skin like memory—she could feel it all pressing down on her.Her mother was waiting in the living room. Perfectly still. Not a hair out of place.“You’re late,” she said, not looking up from her tablet. “And you missed brunch with the Carters.”Catherine didn’t respond. She walked past her, toward the hallway. But before she could escape, her father’s voice called out from the dining room.“Catherine. Sit.”She froze.The chair was already pulled out for her, like this was a board meeting she hadn’t asked to attend. James was sitting at the head of the table, dressed in a pale grey suit and a half-smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.“Lovely to see you,” he said casually, swirling wine in a glass like he lived there.Catherine sat. Slowly. Her heart hadn’t stopped thudding since she left Elijah’s place.
Huling Na-update: 2025-07-11
Chapter: What He Left Behind. “Were you ever going to tell me you were supposed to marry her?”Her voice cracked just slightly at the end, but she stood tall in his suite, bathed in the golden hush of the early morning sun. Catherine looked like a question he didn’t deserve to answer — elegant, wounded, and furious in the kind of quiet way that made it worse.Elijah didn’t move. Didn’t speak.The question sliced through him with surgical precision.“I need the truth,” she added, her voice low now. “Not the gentle version. Not the one you tell yourself to sleep better at night.”He finally looked at her. “I didn’t sleep at all.”“Then start talking.”He let out a breath and sat down slowly, resting his elbows on his knees. The rich silence between them stretched — tense, loaded, raw.“You want the truth?” he murmured. “Fine.”She crossed her arms but said nothing.“I was supposed to marry her. Years ago. My name was printed on gold-foil invitations before I ever had the chance to speak up. I was born into it. Groom
Huling Na-update: 2025-07-11
Chapter: Names That Don’t Belong to Him. The ride home was a blur. Catherine couldn’t remember the roads she took, or how many red lights she might’ve run. Her hands stayed clenched around the wheel, knuckles white, jaw locked so tight it ached.She had said she needed more than love.She just hadn’t expected less than truth.By the time she reached the quiet luxury of her family’s penthouse, morning light was already spilling across the horizon. The city was waking. She was unraveling.She dropped her heels by the door and headed straight for the living room, tossing her coat aside and reaching for her laptop. She didn’t know what she was looking for exactly—only that she couldn’t sit still, not when her head was screaming with questions.What did Elijah mean by “the board”?Who was he talking to?And who the hell was he supposed to marry?She started with what she knew.Blake Holdings.She typed the name into the private database her father paid ridiculous money to maintain access to. It didn’t take long to find the busine
Huling Na-update: 2025-07-11
Chapter: Morning With A Stranger? Catherine woke up to warmth— Elijah’s arm draped strongly around her waist, paying close attention to his heartbeat, the morning sun spilling across tangled sheets that smelled like sweat, skin, love and sin.For a moment, time froze, along side her body. She didn’t move, she didn’t want to. This felt like peace. Like a Future. Like maybe love could survive being lied to. But then she blinked herself into reality and remembered everything. James’s mouth on her neck. The sound of Elijah’s voice breaking. Talia’s eyes flashing like warning lights in the dark. She turned slowly, careful not to wake him. But he was already awake, watching her.“You always look like that in the morning?” He asked quietly, his voice a bit raspy. She blinked. “Like what?”“Like you’re planning your escape.”Catherine sat up, pulling the blanket to her chest. “Should I be?”He flinched at that — the kind of flinch a man makes when he knows he still owes the truth.“I didn’t expect last night to happen,
Huling Na-update: 2025-07-11
Chapter: Sheets of Forgiveness.Catherine didn’t sleep.Not really.She closed her eyes, but her body pulsed with guilt—and longing. The guilt belonged to James. The longing? That part hadn’t moved. It was still tethered to Elijah.It wasn’t just what happened.It was how she let it.How she’d wanted to forget.But Elijah’s voice, his eyes, the way he said her name—none of it left her. Not even in the arms of someone else.She sat on her balcony as the sun cracked open the sky. The cool breeze kissed her bare shoulders. She hadn’t changed from the dress she wore last night. A shameful echo of all the ways she’d tried to erase him.The gate buzzed.Her heart jumped.She didn’t check. She didn’t have to.She opened the door before he could knock.Elijah stood there, face shadowed, eyes bloodshot.They stared at each other.No words. Just… gravity.He stepped inside. She didn’t stop him.“I saw you,” he said finally. “Last night.”Catherine swallowed, her chest tightening. “I know.”He looked like it physically pained
Huling Na-update: 2025-06-16