Transmigrated As The Tragic Heiress: The CEO’s Second Chance

Mia’s POV

“What the actual fuck?!”

I slammed my hand against the table, standing up with curses tumbling past my lips.

“Mia is there a problem?” A voice called out and I glanced around to see familiar confused faces. 

My eyes widened remembering where I was. The cafeteria at work. I muttered a quick apology to the staring faces around me, sitting back down slowly, shame covering me like a blanket. 

Biting my lower lip, I slammed the paperback shut and glared down at the cover title: Life Ain’t Roses. 

Good God knows how much I hated this damn book. I swore on my pregnant sister life that I despised everything about this story. 

But somehow, this pull, this shitty pull, always found a way to drag me back under its spell. I rolled my eyes and shoved another spoonful of food into my mouth.

“Horrible scene?” a feminine voice asked from across the table. I glanced up to see a cheerful, smiling face looking back at me.

I huffed out a frustrated sound and let out a sharp tssk. “I swear the entire novel is horrible.” I rolled my eyes again, glaring down at the printed pages.

“And you’re still reading it? Is it really that fucked up?” She leaned in with a curious grin. “It has a happy ending, right? Let me see.” She reached out to grab it, but I slapped her hand away. 

“It’s not a happy ending, and get your own copy! No way in hell I’m letting you take mine,” I retorted.

She only chuckled, withdrawing her hand without an argument. I shoved another spoonful of food into my mouth, but before I could chew, my phone beeped on the table. 

I checked the caller ID, and a deep frown instantly tugged at my forehead. Now what the hell does he want?

I swiped green and brought the phone to my ear, remaining completely silent to let the quiet hang heavy between us. 

But I was dead wrong to think I could set the pace.

“Get your ass down to my office in two minutes, Carter!” Brandon Knight’s voice boomed through the speaker. 

“I’m eating. It’s my—”

“In two minutes, Carter, or kiss this job goodbye!” he barked, cutting me off before the line abruptly went dead.

I lowered the phone and stared blankly at the dark screen. What the actual fuck? I can’t even have a single moment of peace anymore?

Suppressing a groan, I stood up, cleared my half-eaten lunch, cleaned up my space, and marched out of the cafeteria.

When I reached his office door, I paused to smooth down my clothes, took a breath, and knocked. His gruff voice called out from inside, telling me to enter. 

Licking my lower lips, I stepped through the doorway. “You called for me?” I asked, keeping my gaze fixed to the floor.

“I said two minutes, didn't I?”

I let out a slow breath, still refusing to look up at him. “The cafeteria is five minutes away, sir.”

“You—” He cut himself off mid-sentence.

I caught the odd break in his voice and instinctively glanced up. His eyes were bloodshot, and he was noticeably gasping for air, clutching the edge of his desk.

Now what the fuck is wrong with him?

“Sir, is—”

“You don’t speak unless you’re spoken to!” he snapped, his harsh gaze locking onto mine.

I frowned, the sudden outburst setting off a flare of temper inside me. “You’re fucking gasping for air, Brandon!” I shot back, catching him off guard as his eyebrows shot up.

I took in a sharp, furious breath and shut my eyes tight, desperately trying to calm my racing nerves. Satan only knew how badly I wanted to strangle this man.

Opening my eyes, I let my gaze fall on him again. “You clearly don’t look okay, Mr. Knight. Is there a problem?” I asked, forcing my voice to sound as calm and subtle as possible.

“Get out,” he rasped, loosening his tie with trembling fingers. 

The veins in his neck were bulging, and as he tried walking over to his leather chair, his knees nearly buckled. He barely managed to catch himself against the mahogany desk.

“Brandon, are you okay?” I rushed over and reached out, grabbing his arm to steady him. 

He looked up, our gazes locking in an instant, and my breath hitched in my throat. It had been years. Years since I had been this close to him, feeling the warmth of his skin. 

My eyes flickered down to his full lips before I swallowed hard and looked back into his eyes. They were deeply bloodshot, and slick beads of sweat were pouring down his temples.

“Are you good?” I asked gently, trying to guide him into his chair.

Without warning, he violently yanked his arm away from my grip, shoving me backward. “Out of my office, Carter!”

That was it. 

That was the absolute last straw for my patience.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” I screamed out in pure frustration. “Why are you always such a massive mess?!”

His eyebrows raised slightly, but he kept his stoic, unreadable expression locked on me.

“Don’t give me that look! You wanna fire me? Then just fucking do it already!” I shouted, my voice echoing off the high office walls.

I knew I would regret this whole outburst tomorrow. Hell, I knew I’d be regretting this in a few hours. But this ex-boyfriend of mine was just so beyond fucked up!

“You know what?” I took a step closer to him while he just stared, his face a pale, stoic mask despite the bloodshot eyes. “You’re a closed-off asshole who doesn’t give a single fuck about the people around you! You go through shit, and the very next thing you do is cut everyone off. You are a deeply petty human being!” I spat out.

“Mia...” he drawled out weakly, reaching a hand toward me.

“Don’t!” I glared at him, taking a quick step backward out of his reach. “You don’t like people caring about you, right? Then just clear your damn face off this planet!”

His eyes widened slightly at the harshness of my words. “Mia, you...”

“You want to know why I broke up with you years ago?” I demanded, tears suddenly burning behind my eyelids. “Because you’re fucked up! I couldn’t afford to spend the rest of my life dealing with someone like you! Tell me why the hell—”

I paused, forcefully sniffing back the tears that threatened to spill over. I huffed out a breath and squared my shoulders, staring at his quiet, motionless figure. 

“I hate you. I fucking hate you, Brandon Knight!” I declared.

Without giving him a single chance to reply, I turned on my heel and made a beeline for the door. Not like he would have said anything anyway. 

That was always the most hurtful part, he would just lock eyes with me in silence, and if I stayed a second longer, I knew I’d end up crying and making a total mess of myself. 

It was better to just leave.

Reaching the door, I paused with my hand on the handle and glanced back over my shoulder.  “I quit. You don’t have to go through the stress of firing me yourself.”

I opened the door, walked straight down the hallway to my desk, and pulled an empty cardboard box from underneath. 

I began aggressively throwing my personal belongings into it. As the first tears finally spilled over my lashes, I wiped them away violently with the back of my sleeve.

Just then, my phone beeped with an incoming call. I checked the caller ID. Lucien? I swiped green, my brow furrowing in confusion. “Is there—”

“You need to come down to the hospital right now, Mia!” his panicked voice cut through before I could finish.

“Hospital? What for?”

“She... Leah is in labor... I—I don’t know what to do...” he stuttered erratically.

“The same hospital as usual, right?” I asked, ditching the box, grabbing my handbag, and sprinting out of my office.

Once outside the office building, I rushed down to the curb, desperately searching the road for a taxi since I’d left my car at home that morning.

“Mia?!!” a voice suddenly screamed behind me. I spun around to see Brandon sprinting toward me like crazy, his face pale with horror.

Right at that exact second, a blaring air horn echoed through the street. I whipped my head to the side just in time to see a massive truck driving directly toward me. 

My eyes stretched wide. Before I could move, a heavy hand grabbed mine, and just then the truck slammed into us, sending both of our bodies flying through the air.

My body crashed hard onto the cold asphalt, and blood immediately spilled from my lips. A heavy, suffocating numbness spread through my limbs.

Through my blurry, drowsy vision, I locked eyes with a figure lying on the ground a few feet away from me. Brandon. 

He was soaked in blood, staring right back at me. I opened my mouth to say his name, but no sound came out.

My eyelids grew heavy, and I instinctively closed my eyes, drifting away into total darkness.