CEO's Regret - Losing Valentina
The most dangerous mistake a powerful man can make… is breaking the woman he cannot live without.
Nash Blackthorpe is a billionaire playboy. As COO of Midas Media, he expands his father's empire on pure ambition, to prove himself against his half brother and inherit the CEO position.
From early on women were just a commodity, his pleasures bought and paid for. He didn't entertain a relationship, all his liaisons were contracted.
Then came Valentina...the anomaly...the only woman who didn't accept the contract he offered but negotiated.
For one year, the arrangement was perfect, he came to her every weekend and their chemistry, the heat and hunger between them was off the charts.
But then she did what every woman did, she over reached. Said she wanted more...and Nashian had one way of dealing with that...shut it down immediately.
He was Nashian Blackthorpe - she was nobody. An orphan, living in a Penthouse he paid the rent on, receiving a generous monthly stipend for services rendered...she needed him...he called the shots.
But his mistake was thinking that Valentina was like all his previous contracted lovers...because Valentina never wanted money or status...she had just wanted him.
So she didn't wait to be rejected or replaced...she left him.
And no woman has Ever left Nash and only then did he realise what he had actually lost.
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Chapter: Chapter 63 - The Rejected Ultimatum Part 1NashThursday - 31 March 2025 - Midas Media Head OfficeThe ambush came after a board meeting that had dragged on for nearly three hours.Father had attended in person, which usually meant everyone walked on eggshells until he left. By the time the meeting finally adjourned, most of the executives had fled the building as though escaping a natural disaster.Mason and I had retreated to my office. His feet were propped shamelessly on my desk while I loosened my tie, already looking forward to blowing off steam at the gym before grabbing dinner.“Leg day?” Mason asked.I grimaced. “I think you just enjoy watching me suffer.”“I won't deny it’s one of life’s simple pleasures.” he grinned.I snorted. “You're a fucking undercover sadist.”The knock never came. The office door simply swung open. Both of us looked up. Father.I frowned. We’d assumed he’d gone home an hour ago. It was already close to six.He stepped inside, his gaze immediately landing on Mason’s polished shoes resting comf
Last Updated: 2026-07-27
Chapter: Chapter 62 - I'd Like to Give it a ChanceValentinaSunday - 08th February 2026 - BellaDonna Change RoomI hurried back behind the changing room curtain, my face still burning.The moment the sheer teddy slipped from my shoulders, I pressed both palms against my cheeks, willing the heat to disappear.It didn’t. My heart was still racing.The kiss...The way Ethan had held me. My face flamed hotter. The way I had kissed him back...I stared at my reflection in the mirror, barely recognising the woman looking back at me. “God...how am I going to face Ethan?“Would everything be awkward now? Had we crossed a line we could never uncross? What if I’d ruined the second most important friendship of my life?I was halfway dressed when the curtain was yanked aside. “Valentina Aurora Rossi!” Livvy ducked inside, pulling it firmly closed behind her before planting both hands on her hips.“What the hell was that?” she whisper yelled.I froze. “Wh...What?”She stared at me dramatically. “Don't give me that. You two practically set the studi
Last Updated: 2026-07-26
Chapter: Chapter 61 - The Cantankerous Elevator Part 3November 2023 - Pearsons PublishingNash"I've been wondering... if I asked to kiss you right now, what would you say?" I murmured.Valentina froze, a deep, crimson blush creeping up her neck and flooding her cheeks. She looked startled, almost offended, but her eyes didn't move from mine. "You... you would be disappointed," she whispered, her voice barely audible. I arched a brow, leaning in. "And why is that?" "Because I... I wouldn't be very good at it," she admitted, her gaze dropping to my tie. "I don't really know how." She looked mortified. "I've never kissed anyone before."Something primitive unfurled inside me. Mine. The thought arrived so suddenly it startled even me. I lowered my forehead to hers. A surge of heat flared in my gut. How the fuck could this gorgeous girl not have been kissed before? Where all the men she knew blind or gay?But that anomaly fell to the wayside because I was ridiculously pleased at the thought. The admission of her innocence was more e
Last Updated: 2026-07-25
Chapter: Chapter 60 - The Cantankerous Elevator Part 2NashNovember 2023 - Pearsons PublishingThat Wednesday morning, little did I know that this was the day that would change the shared elevator rides from entertainment and harmless fantasising to something else.I had barely stepped into the executive reception area when I spotted her standing alone beside the private elevator, a slim little figure clutching a leather portfolio against her chest.No Livvy. That immediately caught my attention. A slow grin tugged at my mouth. "Morning, Valentina."She looked up, surprise flickering across those impossible green eyes before they dropped again. "M-Morning, Mr Blackthorpe."I walked up beside her. "Well...this is new." I looked around theatrically. "Where's your bodyguard? Did you ditch your chaperone?"A small nervous smile tugged at her lips. "Livvy had to go to campus first. She needed to hand in coursework.""So..." I smiled, lowering my voice. "We're all alone." Her blush arrived instantly. God...the things it did to me.The elevato
Last Updated: 2026-07-25
Chapter: Chapter 59 - The Cantankerous Elevator Part 123 March 2025 – Pearsons Publishing Nash We stood outside the executive reception area waiting for the private elevator, and forthe first time in years, I couldn't get out of this time in years, I couldn't get out of this building fast enough. Funny how a place could remember things long after people were gone. My mind drifted back to the three months Valentina had interned here. To the first time we had ended up alone in this very executive elevator becuase of Livvy's shenanigans. But something about her captured me from that very first meeting, and I found myself telling her as she exited that I would keep holding the elevator for them. After that, it somehow became a routine neither of us acknowledged. On some mornings I'd deliberately slow my pace, knowing she’d be arriving any minute with Livvy. Other days she'd already be waiting outsidethe lift, tucked safely behind her best friend as if Livvy were some kind of human shield. The other staff stared. Some whispered. Oth
Last Updated: 2026-07-24
Chapter: Chapter 58 - Porno or Photoshoot? Part 2Sunday 8th February 2026 – Casa Belladonna AtalierEthanThe photographer barely lowered the camera before issuing another instruction. "Now Bellina turn toward him." Valentina did, slowly. Her curls brushed my forearm. "Eyes on each other."The moment our gazes met, her green eyes locked onto me and she forgot about everyone else. So did I."Wonderful..." Matteo whispered. "The chemistry..." He looked positively delighted. "It practically vibrates."The photographer laughed. "I've photographed married couples and lovers with less tension than you two."Livvy, watching with Rhys in her arms, winked at me with an all-too-knowing grin. "This photoshoot should be PG – for goodness sake, there’s a baby here.”Valentina's blush deepened. I leaned closer. "Ignore her. She wishes it was her and that pretty boy.” I said smiling at her. Val blinked and then gave a small nervous giggle before nodding. The photographer caught the exchange. "Don't move!" The shutter fired rapidly. "That tender e
Last Updated: 2026-07-23
Chapter: Chapter 147 - My Daughter is Coming HomeDentonWe were going to miss our flight.And heads would roll if that happened. Too much preparation had gone into planning this exit.I should never have approved the little get together. Nadia was already giving me *that* look while I checked my watch for the fourth time in under two minutes.Remi should have been here already.The final boarding call echoed again through the terminal and I exhaled sharply, irritation and tension winding tighter in my chest.And then—“Move!”Remi came hurtling through the boarding gate like a man being actively hunted, weaving through travellers with a contrite grin plastered across his face.I stared at him flatly. He bent over slightly, catching his breath. “Sorry?” he said panting.Nadia snorted softly beside me and then relented with a grin of her own when the handsome little shit gave her the puppy dog eyes. Sucker...I thought.I gave him a low growl of displeasure as I handed him his boarding pass without comment and we immediately headed thro
Last Updated: 2026-07-21
Chapter: Chapter 146 - To Rise from the AshesMariaI stared at my phone, willing it to ring. I had to work. It just had to.Because I was counting on something no one else could see. Something intangible. That strange invisible thread that bound those two siblings not even related by blood together in ways logic could not define.Too many clues, too many things that separately meant nothing, not unless you looked close enough. And my instincts screamed that they were linked, I just needed the final piece to confirm what I had pieced together.And deep in my heart…I knew what I had seen. The belt, the shoes, the stolen blood, the medical report. Too many pieces of a difficult puzzle, I just needed one last piece…My phone buzzed suddenly in my hand…”Mason…” I greeted, unable to hide the nerves in my shaky voice.He laughed…”No…no…no…ladies first.” He said. “We had cleared Denton of any involvement in Arianna’s disappearance. You yourself confronted him and he denied it. So how???” he asked completely stumped.I shook my head. Ty
Last Updated: 2026-07-20
Chapter: Chapter 145 - Scars from the PastLiamI watched my brother race across the tile floor and disappear through the International boarding gate.Toward a future neither of us fully understood yet.He looked lighter now. Different from the other day at the hospital when his shoulders were tight beneath the weight of grief and exhaustion.Different from the service for Arianna when he had remained closed off and aloof refusing to even speak.For a second, I just stood there. Watching him depart. Then the crowd swallowed him whole and I could no longer see him.My chest tightened again but I forced myself to move, adjusting the strap of the backpack slung over my shoulder as I headed toward my own terminal.My flight was domestic. I was flying back home to Chicago. Back to war. Back to enemies. Back to traitors that wore the faces of allies. Back to men who thought I was weak enough to grab my crown while I mourned.The backpack on my shoulder carried the small silver urn containing my sister’s ashes. Or rather what I had b
Last Updated: 2026-07-19
Chapter: Chapter 144 - The Final Boarding CallRemiIt still didn’t feel real.Today, I was leaving my country of birth and stepping into an entirely new life.And somewhere in all this grief and destruction, I couldn’t stop wondering if this tragedy was meant to happen and somehow been the thing that brought two broken families back together again.I had to hold onto that as nothing else would be palatable especially where Arianna was concerned.On the positive side, I had my big brother back. We had never been this close before. Maria checked on me constantly like I was one of her own. And Denton and Nadia…they had somehow become the aunt and uncle we had never really had.Life was strange like that. Cruel but strange. Liam was flying back to Chicago today. Before my flight departed for Heathrow he wanted to see me. Said one last drink between brothers. Something inside me warmed at that.Denton had finally approved it after doing what I was beginning to suspect was a full MI6 level security sweep of JFK. I grinned at that.“W
Last Updated: 2026-07-18
Chapter: Chapter 143 - Breakfast Before World DominationLiam I hadn’t slept. Not really.Every time I closed my eyes, I saw that room again. That cold steel table. Arianna’s bruised face. And then the service, those frozen images of her. And something kept niggling…worrying at the back of my mind but remaining just out of grasp.But somewhere in the early hours of the morning, while the mansion was completely silent around me, something had clicked into place.And once it did…Everything changed. So when I walked into the breakfast room that morning, I wasn’t hollow anymore. I was focused. Sharp. Dangerous.First, I needed to get rid of the cancerous tumour that was currently within my house, sitting on my throne as if he already owned it. As soon as that traitorous bastard was erased, then I could concentrate on the second order of business. The temptation was there to act now, but I had learnt the hard way. I would not jeopardise my family, not while a threat still loomed.Maria and Luigi were already there at the long breakfast table
Last Updated: 2026-07-14
Chapter: Chapter 142 - My Lips Are SealedMasonThe service had been beautiful. But to me it seemed unreal, especially when her blue eyes danced from that picture, too beautiful, too alive, too young for her to be reduced to ashes in silver urns.I stood near the back of the room nursing a whiskey I hadn’t touched, trying to process everything while soft piano music drifted through the formal lounge.Everywhere I looked there were photographs of her. Laughing. Riding bikes. Playing piano. In the garden. A teenager with too much life in her eyes. And every single picture made the guilt sit heavier in my chest.I remembered seeing her at the club for the first time. Then Poker Night. The way she had charmed every asshole in the room within twenty minutes flat.I swallowed hard. Could I have saved her? The thought had been eating at me for days now. If I hadn’t been away…If I had trusted my instincts the night I came to Luca and shared everything I had found.If I had insisted we find Adriano that night instead of waiting…Would
Last Updated: 2026-07-13
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