Revenge of the billionaire's lover

My billionaire fiancé put a bullet in my chest and left me to die.But hold on…let me take you back to when love still felt safe, when I couldn't see Adrian for who he truly was.Champagne fizzed on my tongue and Adrian's fingers traced lazy circles on my bare shoulder. We were tangled in his king-sized bed, my bridesmaid dress somewhere on the floor next to his undone bow tie."You've got that wrinkle again," he murmured against my neck. "Right…… here."His thumb pressed gently between my brows and I brushed his hand away, laughing. "Three years together and you still study my face like you're cramming for an exam.""Thats because… every time I look at you, I find something new. Like right now, there's this tiny gold fleck in your left eye. I swear it wasn't there yesterday."Oh..this man,noticing gold fleck like it's some buried treasure."And there it is again," he teased. "That off-key humming you do when you're drunk and happy.""I do not hum off-key."“Baby you do,remember our se

Beep. Beep. Beep.The sound pulled me out of nothing, somewhere between sleep and death where the world had no shape. Bright and cruel white everywhere. The room felt weird, like it was moving, and I didn't know which way was up.The pain in my chest felt so intense that every breath felt like my last.I tried to move but my body refused. Tubes curled around my arms and machines sang their endless digital song. A plastic mask pressed against my face and I was trapped inside myself."Aurora?"A woman's voice pulled me back,soft and professional. "Can you hear me? You're in the hospital. You're safe now."Safe?that word would have made me laugh if only I had the strength to.And then the memory hit.Adrian, the gun, that look in his eyes just before everything went dark."She's waking up more," the nurse said"Aurora, you've been unconscious for three days. You're at Mercy General. You're going to be okay."Three days gone while I was lying here clawing for every breath, and Adrian was p

The key turning in the safe house lock sounded like a coffin closing. Aurora’s coffin.Marcus pushed open the door to what looked like a crime scene. Wallpaper peeling like old scabs and the carpet smelled like other people’s sadness.“Sorry,” Marcus said. “It’s not much."I stepped inside, each movement sending fire through my chest. The old me would’ve cried but the new me smiled.“It’s perfect.”Those six weeks in the hospital felt like a lifetime. Learning to walk again when every step reminded me of the night Adrian shot me. Physical therapy sessions where I would grip the parallel bars and force my legs to move, even when my body screamed no. The nurses were nice enough, but they didn't understand. They saw a woman recovering from a random attack. They had no idea I was learning how to become someone else entirely.The worst part wasn't even the physical pain. It was waking up every morning and forgetting, just for a second, that my old life was over. I'd reach for my phone to t

Monday morning came too fast and too slow.I stood outside Thorne Industries at 7:45 AM, staring up at the building. Glass panels reflected clouds. My stomach twisted, but I pushed the feeling down. Deep breath. Shoulders back.The revolving door spun me into the lobby. Marble floors. High ceilings. People everywhere—suits, briefcases, everyone moving fast. A man bumped past me without apologizing. A woman shouted into her phone about quarterly reports.Nobody looked at me twice.I walked to the elevator bank and pressed the button. The doors opened immediately. Three people filed in behind me. I pressed forty-two.The elevator climbed. My reflection stared back from the steel walls. Charcoal dress. Hair pulled back tight. Silver watch. I looked like everyone else here.Good.The doors opened on the executive floor.Silence hit me first. No buzzing phones. No shouting. Just thick carpet and glass walls and that sterile smell of expensive air freshers.Patricia appeared from around a

Five weeks in, something shifted.It started small. Adrian asking if I'd eaten lunch. Commenting on the weather. Little things that didn't mean anything except they did.Then one Thursday afternoon, his door stayed open.I looked up from my computer. He sat at his desk, staring at his screen, rubbing his temple. That gesture. The one that meant stress.I waited. Watched.He didn't close the door.At 4:30, he called out. "Reina. Do you have a minute?"I grabbed my tablet. Walked to his office."Close the door."I did. Sat across from him.He leaned back in his chair. Looked tired. More tired than I'd seen him. "The Hartford merger. What do you think?"I blinked. "You're asking my opinion?""You sit outside my office. You hear every call, read every email. You probably know this deal better than half the board. So yes. What do you think?"I set down my tablet. Chose my words carefully. "Hartford's numbers look good on paper. But their leadership team has high turnover. Three executives