Lahat ng Kabanata ng Rejected By The Alpha Billionaire : Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 5

Aria’s POV"You have five minutes, Miss Blackwood. Don't waste them."That was the first thing Damien Cross said to me.Not good morning. Not welcome. Five minutes, as though three years of my life could be compressed into a countdown.I smoothed my blazer with trembling hands and walked to the front of the boardroom. Twelve people sat around the mahogany table, all of them in suits that cost more than my rent. I was wearing my best outfit — a navy blazer I'd bought from a clearance rack two winters ago and pressed so many times the fabric was starting to thin at the elbows.I didn't belong here. Every face in that room told me so.But I had my designs. And my designs were brilliant. I knew that much.I set up my laptop, connected it to the projector, and pulled up the first slide. Cross Tower. Three years of calculations, revisions, sleepless nights, and skipped meals. I had poured everything into this proposal, because if Cross Industries accepted it, my career would finally begin.

Aria’s POV"You're doing it again," Lucas said."Doing what?""Staring at nothing like it owes you an apology."I pulled my eyes away from the window and looked at him across the kitchen counter. He was leaning against it with his arms crossed, watching me the way he always did — steady, unhurried, like he had all the time in the world and planned to use most of it making sure I was okay.Three years ago, I wouldn't have known what to do with that kind of loyalty.Three years ago, I had nothing.The night I walked out of Cross Industries, I took the bus to my apartment, packed one bag, and left. I didn't cry until I was on a midnight train heading south with no destination decided. Then I cried for four hours straight, silent, with my forehead against the cold window, while my wolf sat broken and still inside me like a candle that had been snuffed out mid-flame.The pain of the rejection had been physical. That was the part no one told you. It wasn't grief the way humans described gri

Aria’s POV "You don't have to do this tonight," Lucas said."I know.""We can leave. Make him sweat another six months. The contracts are already —""Lucas." I straightened my clutch under my arm and looked at him. "I'm not doing this for the contracts."He studied me for a moment, then nodded once and stepped aside.The hotel had a private terrace off the east corridor, accessible through a side door most guests didn't notice. I had scoped it out before the event because I had learned in the last three years that walking into any room without an exit plan was a habit I could no longer afford. I pushed the door open and stepped out into the cool night air and waited.He came two minutes later.Damien Cross looked exactly like I had spent three years training myself not to think about. Tall, dark, jaw set the way it always was when he was controlling something he didn't want to show. He stopped a few feet away and the broken bond stirred in my chest immediately, dull and aching, like