LOGINJerome Lin, only child of beauty mogul Miranda Lin, has lived his life beneath the weight of legacy. As managing director of LinĆ©a Cosmetics, he has everything,wealth, power, and a love he thought would last forever. Until he discovers that his girlfriend is secretly involved with Akihiko Tanaka, the man his mother is determined to marry for influence. His trust shattered, Jerome confronts Miranda, only to be dismissed as collateral damage. She marries the man anyway. When Akihikoās enigmatic son Collins returns to Japan to inherit the Tanaka empire, the two men meet and instantly clash. Their parents expect them to cooperate. Instead, they glare, argue, clash, and burn with a tension neither can explain. But beneath that friction lies something magnetic. Something dangerous. Forced to attend dinners, business meetings, and social events together, hatred turns into curiosity⦠then slow, forbidden attraction. Their first intimate moment is discovered, and their parents explode into rage, threatening to disown them both. Jerome and Collins choose each other anyway, leading to the bitter collapse of their parentsā marriage. Finally free to be together, they begin planning a future,until Collinsās ex arrives claiming she has his child. Jerome breaks apart, terrified of losing everything again. A DNA test reveals the truth: the child is not Collinsās. His ex fabricated everything to claw her way back into his life. With the truth unveiled, Jerome and Collins reunite stronger than before. Their parents move onā¦Miranda marrying a rising politician, and Akihiko marrying Jeromeās ex. Meanwhile, Jerome and Collins build an empire of their own, built on love, forgiveness, and the fire that first brought them together. A love story born from hate. A romance they were never meant to have. A destiny they chose anyway.
View MoreAt six forty-five in the morning, the headquarters of LinƩa Cosmetics stood like a polished monument against the Tokyo skyline,forty-two floors of glass and pale stone reflecting a city that never truly slept.
Jerome Lin preferred it this way.
Before the assistants arrived.
Before the board members rehearsed their compliments.
Before the building filled with perfume and ambition.
The lobby doors parted at his approach.
āGood morning, Mr. Lin,ā the security director said immediately, bowing just enough to be respectful without appearing outdated.
Jerome inclined his head once. Efficient. Controlled. āMorning.ā
His shoes struck the marble in steady rhythm as he crossed the vast atrium. The faint scent of jasmine,the brandās newest luxury line hung in the air, subtle and expensive. Digital screens along the walls looped campaign footage of luminous models under golden light.
His motherās empire.
His inheritance.
His cage.
The elevator doors opened before he reached them.
No one else entered.
They never did.
As managing director at twenty-seven, Jerome was both anomaly and inevitability. The only child of Miranda Lin, founder of LinƩa Cosmetics, he had been raised not for childhood but for succession. Elite boarding schools. Finance internships at eighteen. Boardroom observation by twenty-one. Decision-making authority by twenty-five.
At twenty-seven, he signed contracts that moved markets.
The elevator hummed upward.
Jerome adjusted the cuff of his charcoal suit, watching the numbers climb. His reflection stared back at him in the mirrored wall,sharp jawline, dark eyes steady, posture immaculate. People often described him as elegant. Composed. Untouchable.
They mistook restraint for indifference.
The doors opened onto the executive floor.
His assistant, Ms. Kuroda, was already waiting with a tablet in hand. āGood morning, Mr. Lin. The European distributors moved up their call to eight. The legal team is reviewing the Osaka acquisition terms. And the Tanaka Group sent revised projections late last night.ā
Tanaka Group.
Jeromeās expression did not change.
āIāll review them,ā he said. āPush the legal meeting to ten. And have Finance send me the updated risk exposure sheet.ā
āYes, sir.ā
He walked past the floor-to-ceiling windows lining the corridor. The city below looked small from this height orderly, distant, controllable.
Inside the boardroom, twelve seats circled a long glass table. By eight sharp, every one of them was occupied.
Conversations died when Jerome entered.
He did not rush.
He took his seat at the head of the table,his motherās former seat without theatrics.
āLetās begin.ā
The European distributor appeared on screen, all nervous smiles and diplomatic enthusiasm. Jerome listened without interruption for seven full minutes, fingers lightly steepled, gaze unwavering.
When the man finished, Jerome spoke calmly.
āYour logistics cost increase isnāt from fuel,ā he said. āItās from inefficient warehousing in Lyon. You renewed the wrong lease.ā
The distributor blinked. āI...ā
āYou have three weeks to restructure,ā Jerome continued. āWeāll absorb partial cost temporarily. After that, the margin returns to baseline.ā
Silence.
Agreement.
Fear.
Respect.
The call ended with gratitude.
The marketing director attempted to soften the room with a joke. No one laughed until Jeromeās lips twitched faintly in approval.
He hated that.
Hated how power worked like that.
The meeting moved on to Osaka. Then investor relations. Then a compliance audit. Jerome cut through inefficiencies with surgical precision, never raising his voice, never repeating himself.
By nine thirty, decisions had been made that would ripple through factories, offices, and lives across three continents.
And yet,
When the room emptied, it felt unbearably quiet.
Jerome remained seated.
He stared at the empty chairs.
They listened to me, he thought.
But none of them know me.
A soft knock interrupted him.
Ms. Kuroda stepped in. āYour mother called. Sheād like dinner tonight.ā
Of course she would.
Jerome stood smoothly. āWhere?ā
āAt the penthouse.ā
Her penthouse.
āVery well.ā
When she left, Jerome walked to the window.
Tokyo shimmered under morning light. Cars moved like disciplined veins through concrete arteries. Somewhere in the distance, a helicopter cut across the sky.
He pressed his palm lightly against the glass.
Cool. Solid. Unyielding.
His phone vibrated.
Vanessa.
A small, almost imperceptible shift softened his features.
He answered. āYouāre up early.ā
āI wanted to hear your voice before you buried yourself in meetings,ā she replied warmly.
He leaned slightly against the window frame. āYou make it sound like I enjoy that.ā
āDonāt you?ā
A pause.
āSometimes.ā
Her laughter flowed easily through the speaker. āDinner tonight?ā
He hesitated.
āMy mother already claimed me.ā
āAh.ā A subtle note he couldnāt quite name threaded through her tone. āThe engagement?ā
āYes.ā
āYouāll be fine,ā she said gently. āYou always are.ā
Always.
He didnāt know if that was comfort or accusation.
āIāll come by after,ā he told her. āIf itās late.ā
āIāll be waiting.ā
When the call ended, the silence returnedāthicker now.
Jeromeās gaze drifted to his reflection in the glass.
From this angle, the city merged with him skyscrapers cutting through his silhouette, lights threading through his shoulders. He looked like he belonged to it.
Untouchable.
Replaceable.
A sudden thought surfaced, uninvited:
If I disappeared tomorrow, would anything collapse?
The company would endure. The board would adapt. His mother would reposition. Investors would pivot.
Even Vanessa⦠would she grieve, or simply adjust?
He exhaled slowly.
This is weakness, he told himself.
He had been trained better than this.
His phone buzzed again,an internal memo notification.
Subject: Tanaka Group ā Revised Joint Venture Terms.
Jerome opened the attachment.
The projections were aggressive. Too aggressive. Risk-heavy, front-loaded, structured in a way that would advantage Tanaka long-term while presenting short-term gains for LinƩa.
Strategic.
Predatory.
He scrolled to the signature at the bottom.
Akihiko Tanaka.
Jeromeās jaw tightened slightly.
His mother believed this marriage was alignment. Expansion. Security.
But something about the man unsettled him.
The numbers were clean.
Too clean.
Jerome closed the file and straightened.
He would not be blindsided.
Not in business.
Not in family.
Not in love.
He picked up his jacket and stepped back into the corridor. Staff members moved aside instinctively as he passed.
āSchedule a full risk audit on Tanakaās overseas holdings,ā he instructed Ms. Kuroda without breaking stride. āQuietly.ā
āYes, Mr. Lin.ā
The elevator doors opened once more.
As he descended toward the ground floor, the glass walls reflected him from every angle.
Perfect posture.
Perfect composure.
Perfect heir.
And somewhere beneath all that polish is.
A crack.
So thin no one else could see it.
But he felt it.
And for the first time that morning, the heir of an empire wondered whether he was standing inside something magnificent,
Or something fragile enough to shatter.
Vanessa made it to her apartment before the breakdown hit.She'd held herself together through the subway ride, through the elevator up to her floor, through unlocking her door with shaking hands. But once inside, alone, the facade shattered.She sat on the floor leaning on her door and she remembered all the memories she had with Jerome,the promise they made to each other,the way he looked at her like his life depends on her,the way he smile at her...All the good times were gone. Those loving looks on his face each time he looks at her were now replaced with hate and disgust.It was as if karma played a fast one on her.She cheated with the father and he now has the son,she hated how she felt...Hated Akihito for using her,Hated Collins for being with Jerome,Hated Jerome for not waiting for her to apologize before replacing her with someone who's meant to become his enemy." He said he love me,why
Jerome was reviewing quarterly reports when his assistant buzzed with unusual hesitation."Mr. Lui, m's Vanessa is here to see you. She doesn't have an appointment but says it's personal."Jerome felt irritation spike through him."Tell her I'm busy.""She says she'll wait.""Tell her I'll be busy indefinitely."There was a pause. Then: "She's quite insistent, sir."Jerome considered having security remove her but that felt excessive. Better to deal with this directly, make it clear she wasn't welcome, and move on."Fine. Five minutes."Vanessa entered his office like she owned it, wearing a dress that was professional but just revealing enough to be strategic. Her hair was perfect, her makeup flawless, her smile bright and completely fake."Thank you for seeing me," she said."You have five minutes. What do you want?""To apologize. Properly. Without your fiancé watching every w
The board meeting had gone better than expected. Keiko had formally approved the expansion of compliance oversight, giving Collins and Jerome the authority they'd been fighting for. As they left the conference room, Collins felt something like triumph settling in his chest."Lunch?" Jerome suggested. "To celebrate not getting fired?""That's a low bar for celebration.""I have low standards. You knew this about me."They chose a restaurant in Shibuya,upscale but not ostentatious, the kind of place where business deals happened over expensive sushi. The hostess led them to a table near the window, sunlight streaming through glass and casting patterns on white tablecloths.Collins was reviewing the menu when Jerome went completely still across from him."What's wrong?" Collins asked."Don't turn around. Vanessa is here."Collins turned around immediately, because he was contrary like that. Two tables away sat a woma
The board members looked like they'd dressed for a funeral,dark suits, grim expressions, the kind of corporate solemnity that preceded executions. Keiko sui sat at Akihito's right hand, her laptop open and expression unreadable. The others were arranged like a tribunal, their positions at the table a careful hierarchy of power and alliance.Akihito sat at the head, looking older than Collins had ever seen him. Tired. The weight of fifteen years of misplaced trust visible in the lines around his eyes."Sit," Keiko said, gesturing to two chairs placed deliberately across from the main table. Separate. Isolated.Collins and Jerome sat, the symbolism not lost on either of them."Let's begin," Akihito said, his voice carrying the authority of someone who'd been waiting for this moment. "Yesterday's press conference was... dramatic. Effective, perhaps, in exposing Takeshi's crimes. But catastrophic for this company's reputation and stock price."
The name glowing on Jerome's laptop screen belonged to someone Collins had known his entire life.Takeshi Yamamoto. His father's right-hand man. Chief Operating Officer of Tanaka Corp for fifteen years. The man who had taught Collins how to read quarterly reports, who had attended his university gr
They ended up at Jerome's apartment, surrounded by laptops and printed photographs, trying to piece together who was orchestrating their destruction."The letter to your father," Jerome said, reviewing the copy Collins had photographed before they left. "It's written like someone who knows corporat
The mansion felt different when they returned,like a stage set where someone had moved all the props slightly to the left. Collins couldn't pinpoint what had changed, but his instincts screamed danger.Jerome felt it too. "Something's wrong."They found Akihito in his study, Miranda beside him, both
Jerome stood frozen at his table, his shoulders rigid. Collins wanted to go to him, wanted to close the distance between them, but he forced himself to wait.After a moment, Jerome walked out of the cafƩ. Collins followed at a distance, tracking him through the crowded Shibuya streets until they re
Welcome to GoodNovel world of fiction. If you like this novel, or you are an idealist hoping to explore a perfect world, and also want to become an original novel author online to increase income, you can join our family to read or create various types of books, such as romance novel, epic reading, werewolf novel, fantasy novel, history novel and so on. If you are a reader, high quality novels can be selected here. If you are an author, you can obtain more inspiration from others to create more brilliant works, what's more, your works on our platform will catch more attention and win more admiration from readers.
reviews