Beranda / Romance / TOO RICH TO BE MINE. / Reasons to Return.

Share

Reasons to Return.

Penulis: Muriel
last update Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-06-13 14:52:56

The next morning, Catherine sat in the back seat of a black Rolls-Royce Phantom, one perfectly manicured hand gripping a travel mug of green juice, the other scrolling her phone.

Messages, meeting invites, and one stern text from her mother blinked on the screen:

Catherine, your father expects you at the board brunch. No excuses this time. Wear white. Bring your polish, not your pout.

She rolled her eyes and dropped the phone into her Hermès bag.

Yesterday’s grime-streaked garage should’ve been forgotten by now. Elijah’s smirk, his voice, the oil-smudged shirt clinging to his back—none of it belonged in her world.

And yet, when she looked out the window, watching rows of glittering Fifth Avenue boutiques blur past, he was still there. In the back of her mind. Like he’d carved out a space without asking.

Why?

He wasn’t rich. Wasn’t powerful. Wasn’t anyone.

At least, not on paper.

But he looked at her like he wasn’t afraid of her last name. He spoke to her like she was just a girl with a broken car—not a name on a million-dollar trust.

That made him dangerous.

And thrilling.

And impossible to stop thinking about.

The brunch was as unbearable as ever.

Thirty women, four pastel suits per table, one crisp air kiss at a time. Her father, Jonathan Smith, sat at the head of the table, flanked by men with polished shoes and gold pens clipped to their inner pockets. Every word at the table sounded like a business deal in disguise.

Catherine listened to a woman brag about her daughter’s engagement to a royal-adjacent banker, all while tasting none of the food on her plate. It all tasted like obligation.

After an hour of nodding and smiling, she excused herself and walked onto the rooftop terrace.

The sky was bright. Birds circled the skyline. Somewhere in the distance, construction clanged.

She reached for her phone, opened the car service app—then hesitated.

Her Bentley was still at Blakes Auto.

She should call to have it delivered. She shouldn’t go back there herself.

But she didn’t close the app.

She didn’t make the call either.

An hour later, Catherine was standing in front of the garage again—this time in flats and sunglasses, a loose sweater hiding her designer blouse like she was in disguise.

Elijah was under the hood of a Jeep when she walked in. Grease streaked his wrist, and a smudge of black dust darkened the side of his jaw.

He didn’t look up right away. “Back for round two?”

“I came for my car.”

“Of course you did.”

He stood up straight, brushing his hands on a towel. “Battery’s replaced. Alternator too. You’re good to go.”

“Great,” she said, but didn’t move. “How much do I owe you?”

He told her the price. She blinked.

“That’s… cheap.”

He shrugged. “I’m not trying to impress you.”

“Maybe you should,” she teased.

He looked at her then. Long and slow, like he was reading something beneath her skin.

“I thought you were gone for good,” he said.

“Why?”

“Girls like you don’t usually come back.”

She tilted her head. “Maybe I’m not the kind of girl you think I am.”

“Maybe not.”

Silence.

She stepped closer, dropping her keys into her bag with a soft clink. “So what’s your story, Elijah?”

He wiped sweat from his neck, then tossed the rag aside. “No story. Just a guy who fixes engines and doesn’t believe in fairy tales.”

“You don’t seem like a guy who belongs in a garage.”

“You don’t seem like a girl who gets her hands dirty,” he said, glancing at her diamond bracelet.

“I could surprise you.”

He gave her a crooked smile. “I bet you could.”

The tension between them simmered, heavy and electric.

Before she could say something she’d regret, a loud honk interrupted them. A black town car pulled up across the street.

Her father’s car.

Catherine turned pale. “Shit.”

Elijah raised an eyebrow. “That your driver?”

She hesitated. “No. My father’s.”

“Does he know you’re here?”

“No. And he can’t.”

“Then go,” he said, voice steady.

She nodded and backed toward the side door. “Can I come back?”

He paused, then said quietly:

“I’m not going anywhere.”

Catherine slipped out the back door of the garage, heart racing. Her father’s car idled across the street, the tinted windows like black mirrors, hiding the man inside who’d ground her decisions down to checklists and duty.

She didn’t breathe until she was around the block.

Inside the garage, Elijah stood still, wiping his hands slowly. He watched her retreating figure through the grease-smeared side window.

She wasn’t supposed to come back.

They never did.

But she had.

He let out a slow breath and reached for the mini fridge. Not for a drink—he rarely kept more than old water bottles inside—but for what was taped to the inside wall.

A photograph.

He peeled it off the metal carefully. Edges frayed, colors faded, but the people in the photo looked sharp. Clean-cut. Cold.

A man in a tailored suit stood in the center, his arm around a younger version of Elijah.

Elijah was smiling. Barely. Dressed in Armani. Eyes sharper. Shoulders tense. Like he knew even then the world he was born into wasn’t the one he wanted.

He stared at it for a long moment.

Then carefully folded it, tucking it into the back pocket of his jeans.

The garage phone rang once. He didn’t move to answer.

Instead, he whispered under his breath, like confessing something to no one.

“She’s the last person who should know.”

Lanjutkan membaca buku ini secara gratis
Pindai kode untuk mengunduh Aplikasi

Bab terbaru

  • TOO RICH TO BE MINE.   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

  • TOO RICH TO BE MINE.   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.

  • TOO RICH TO BE MINE.   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

  • TOO RICH TO BE MINE.   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

  • TOO RICH TO BE MINE.   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,

  • TOO RICH TO BE MINE.   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

Bab Lainnya
Jelajahi dan baca novel bagus secara gratis
Akses gratis ke berbagai novel bagus di aplikasi GoodNovel. Unduh buku yang kamu suka dan baca di mana saja & kapan saja.
Baca buku gratis di Aplikasi
Pindai kode untuk membaca di Aplikasi
DMCA.com Protection Status