All Chapters of The Billionaire Celebrity I Couldn't Have: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

The sound of a car engine rolled into the driveway. Mira peeked through the curtain in her room and her stomach tightened.John.Even from upstairs she could see the shining of his black car, spotless like it had just left the showroom. The door opened, and there he was tall, broad shoulders, his hair combed neatly. He wore a clean white shirt, tucked in, the sleeves rolled at his elbows. He carried himself like someone who belonged to money.Mira stepped back quickly, her heart racing. She didn’t want to see him. She didn’t want him to see her. But downstairs, she already heard Tina’s voice, high and sweet.“John Johnny! What a surprise!”Her stepsister’s laughter floated through the house, followed by the click of her heels as she ran to the door. Mira pressed her lips together. Tina never missed a chance when John came around.She forced herself to walk downstairs slowly, hoping to escape notice. But Rosey’s sharp eyes caught her immediately.“There you are,” Rosey said, her s

Morning crept into the house quietly, as if it were afraid to be noticed. Mira woke before the alarm, her body already trained and use to rise early. The thin curtains barely blocked the pale sunlight, and the air in her small room felt cold against her skin. She lay still for a moment, staring at the cracked ceiling, counting the lines, pretending she was somewhere else. Somewhere far away. Somewhere she belonged. Then the truth settled back on her chest. She pushed herself up slowly. Her room was small and almost forgotten by the rest of the house. A narrow bed with a faded blanket. A wooden table with one uneven leg. A tiny mirror with a crack running through it, splitting her reflection in two. Behind the door, carefully hidden where no one could see, was her most treasured possession. De.King’s poster. Her lips softened as her eyes traced his face. Sharp jawline. Calm, unreadable eyes. A smile that belonged to another world. “Good morning,” she whispered softly. She rea

Mira sat alone in the velvet booth, her fingers curled tightly around the edge of the table. The music pulsed softly through the bar, but it couldn’t quiet the noise in her chest. Laughter rose and fell around her—easy, careless laughter from people who belonged here. People who wore confidence like perfume. She didn’t. She shifted uncomfortably, smoothing the blue dress Tina had forced her into. It felt strange on her body, like it belonged to someone braver. Someone bolder. Tina her stepsister has just left her to be with her friends. Her eyes lifted without permission trying to find her sister when she came across, And then she saw him. Derick Lingard. De.King. He sat in the VIP section like the world had been built around him one arm resting lazily on the leather chair, a glass of whiskey in his hand, smoke curling slowly from between his fingers. The lights above caught the sharp line of his jaw, the cold blue of his eyes. He wasn’t smiling. Yet the space around him

The night air outside the Cluster Hotel was cool, sharp against Mira’s heated skin.She leaned lightly against the glass wall near the entrance, breathing in slowly, trying to steady the spinning in her head. The city lights blurred, stretching like melted gold across her vision.“I told you Tina, I just needed air,” she murmured.Tina stood beside her, arms folded, watching her reflection in the glass.“You’ll be fine in a minute,” Tina said calmly. “This place can be overwhelming your first time.”Mira nodded, though her thoughts felt loose, drifting. Her body felt light, like she wasn’t fully inside herself anymore.Inside the bar, Derick watched through the glass doors.She shouldn’t look like that.Not here.Not with people who smiled too easily.He straightened, slipping his jacket fully onto his shoulders. His presence alone shifted the room—security moved without being told, people stepped aside instinctively.“Jerry,” he said again, low. “I’m stepping out.”Jerry stiffened.

The drive back to the Lingard estate was silent.Derick sat in the backseat of the black car, one arm resting against the door, the city lights sliding past the tinted window like distant stars. Traffic parted easily for them. New City always made way for the Lingard name.Yet his thoughts were not on business, not on sponsors, not on the next concert.They were on a girl with trembling hands and honest eyes.You shouldn’t stay much longer.He had meant it.Places like the Cluster swallowed people like her whole.The gates of the Lingard estate opened silently, the black car gliding in like it owned the night.The city lights faded behind them, replaced by long stretches of quiet road and manicured hedges trimmed to perfection. This side of New City didn’t sleep—it waited.He loosened his cufflinks slowly, his movements precise, controlled.Control had always been his armor.“Sir,” Jerry spoke from the front seat, careful not to sound intrusive. “Security reports no issues after yo