Rejected by My Family, Loved by My CEO

Later, when the urgency had passed and the night felt softer, I lay curled against him, my head on his chest. His breathing was slow now, steady, and the faint scent of his cologne clung to the sheets.

“Anna,” he murmured, my name rolling off his lips like it belonged there.

My breath caught as he brushed my hair from my face, his thumb grazing my cheek in a way that made my heart ache. There were times he could be cold, sharp even… but here, in the quiet of our room, he was warm. Tender just like a little baby.

“I can’t cope seeing you without being able to touch or talk to you at work. I missed you,” he said simply. No grand speeches. Just the truth.

My lips curved into a small smile. “You saw me at breakfast.”

“Yes, I saw you almost every hour, but I can’t even talk to you. I always see you, but I must avoid you. Don’t you know how torturing it could be to see you and I can’t talk?”

“I’m sorry, babe,” I said as I drew his head close to me. He rested his head on my chest, and before I knew it, he was already asleep. That is Jake for you one minute he is talking, the next he is asleep.

I gently rested his head on the bed, covered him with the duvet. I take care of him like my baby, because why not? Why won’t I cherish him, because he cherishes me.

I ran my fingers over his hair, the way I used to when nights felt endless and the world beyond us didn’t matter. My heart swelled with the same reckless certainty I’d felt that night in Paris — the night he’d asked me to make forever with him.

The memory came without warning.

How he knelt down under the stars in Paris that night after my graduation, asking me the most graceful and beautiful words of my life.

“Annabel, I don’t want to spend the rest of my life waiting for timing to be perfect. I want you. Now. And always.”

“Annabel, will you marry me? Will you be mine forever? Come home with me, Annabel. Let’s make this forever.”

I said yes before my brain even caught up.

Of course, who wouldn’t want to? He is a caring, handsome, loving, rich and good man.

He travelled here to Paris for my graduation, leaving behind all what he was doing when my family wouldn’t even do that, so why wouldn’t I want to marry him?

“Yes,” I said out loud. “After I round things up here, I’ll go home, tell my family, and then… we’ll get married.”

He hugged and kissed me like I’d just given him the world. And maybe I had.

No fancy proposal, just the stars and moon being our witness.

The next day, I rounded up all things in Paris and we flew back to our home country. My heart had been light. I didn’t even care that no one from my family had come to my graduation.

I was too busy dreaming about the future. My future with the love of my life. At that moment, all I cared and could think of was my future with him.

I’d gone straight to my parents’ estate, my smile so wide it hurt. I’d imagined my mother squealing with excitement, my brothers teasing me about becoming a bride, my father… well, maybe even he would be happy for me since he doesn’t think of me as one of the family before. At least maybe he would be happy I’m finally leaving.

I went straight into the Walter big and mighty estate. I was too eager to even take my bag upstairs, I just handed it over to the maid.

Everyone was sitting and waiting for me in the sitting room.

Whether he likes me or not, I’m still one of the Walters and I left home for Paris for over five years now. I left since I was 18 years old, now I’m 21 years old.

I greeted everyone, hugged them. After some minutes of family reunion, I told them I had something to say.

Then I began explaining what I had to tell them.

My mother sat across the table.

Two of my brothers that were at home, Damon and Zayden, they were the ones at home at that moment. Others were either gone for business meetings or out for something related to business.

Timothy Walter, my father owner of the Walter Group, a dynasty built on steel, oil, and old money listened to me in silence. Then I began talking about Jake’s proposal, about how much I loved him, his business, how much he cared for me and how he travelled to Paris leaving everything behind for my graduation. He watched me in silence, then his face hardened like stone.

“No,” he said finally. The word was cold. It sounded final.

I blinked. “No? Dad, Jake has a business, he is…” I said, trying to explain he is rich and not just any person.

“I know who he is,” he cut in. “And that’s the problem.”

My heart stuttered. Why, Dad? Why? I love him.

“He owns hotels, Annabel. Hotels,” he said, spitting the word like it was dirt in his mouth. “Our business is oil and steel. Real legacy industries. Didn’t you get it? The Walter family specializes in oil money, not just some little business like hotelling. He has nothing to offer the Walter Group. No business value. No strategic advantage. You can’t marry someone that would have no value to the Walter Group. Anything you do, before you put yourself first, you must put the Walters and the Walter Group first. You are the daughter of Walter, not just any person.”

He paused and continued.

“Therefore, you will marry the son of an oil magnate — someone who can actually contribute to this family’s empire. You will marry the son of the Hale family. Let that sink in your head.”

For a moment, I couldn’t even breathe.

Now they think of me as one of the Walters, when all he did since I was a child was not even look at my side. He doesn’t even care how I survive. He won’t stop reminding me how useless female children are, and because of that pressure, I left this country immediately after high school. He didn’t even call me in all my years there until I graduated. Now he wants me to marry for the sake of the Walters’ business.

“You want me to marry for business? Dad, I’m not…” He didn’t even let me land before he cut in.

“You are a Walter,” he snapped. “And that means your marriage is not just yours to decide.”

Something inside me cracked, and I voiced out what I hadn’t dared to say in all my twenty-three years. “All my life, I’ve been invisible to this family,” I said, my voice shaking. “You didn’t come to my graduation. You didn’t even call. I don’t matter to you, not like your precious sons. And now you suddenly care because you want to sell me off like a business deal?”

Paaaaaaa!

The slap came so fast my cheek burned before I realised what had happened.

“You will do as I say. Do you think all your years abroad could make you have an opinion in this house?” he hissed.

I looked to my mother. She stayed silent. My brothers didn’t even look up from their phones.

That night, I ran to my room, locked the door, and cried until there was nothing left.

⸻

The sound of Jake’s soft, steady snoring pulled me back to the present. I blinked at the ceiling, my chest tight from the memory.

Turning, I studied him in the dim light — the man who, despite everything, I had chosen. The man who had chosen me right back.

I smiled faintly and tucked myself closer to him, pressing my forehead against his shoulder.

“No matter how perfect, handsome, rich, or cold-boss you are,” I whispered, “you still can’t stop snoring.”

And maybe that was exactly what I loved most he was mine, flaws and all.