All Chapters of CEO's Regret - Losing Valentina: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

68 Chapters

Chapter 11 - The Straw that Broke the Camel's Back

Two Years Earlier - Wednesday, March 4th 2024 ValentinaThe walls of the Penthouse felt like they were closing in. The enormous marble and aluminium space became a luxury prison. Empty. Silent. Mocking. Claustrophobic. Three days had passed. Nashian never called. He never messaged. He just let the gaping wound he had inflicted fester. I wrapped my arms around myself. Nash wouldn't be here until Friday. He had his own life. His own schedule. His own world. The thought had never bothered me before. Not really. I understood he was busy. Important. Powerful. Men like Nashian Blackthorpe didn't live ordinary lives. But today with nothing but my thoughts for company, Livvy's words wouldn't leave me alone. Monday. Wednesday. Friday. Different women. Different lovers. Different contracted arrangements. Dropped and replaced as soon as he lost interest. I thought about the original contract. Where he had offered me Friday nights at a luxury hotel. I had rejected that much to his surpri

Chapter 12 - The Friday Girl

Two Years Earlier - Wednesday, March 4th 2024Valentina I remember seeing the empty desk of his PA and walking toward his office. I heard the sounds before I even reached the partially closed office door, with the COO metal plate. Moans. Low. Wet. The sound of skin slapping together. Everything in me screamed..."Walk away...you don't need to see this." But I didn't heed it...because I owed it to myself...to prove that the last twelve months meant something.I silently pushed the heavy door just a bit wider...still hidden but able to see inside and my heart broke...shattered...Nash was braced over his desk, pants at his ankles, shirt open, head thrown back, pounding into someone that isn't me. Under him, a woman I didn’t recognise. She was blonde. Busty. Long legs wrapped around his waist. Her dress shoved up over her hips. His hand twisted in her hair exactly the way it used to be in mine.The woman bucks with every forceful thrust, eyes glazed with pleasure and moans softly. Low.

Chapter 13 - The Bird in the Gilded Cage

Two Years Earlier - Wednesday, March 4th 2024 Valentina The apartment was silent when I returned. Not peaceful. Not comforting. Silent in the way abandoned churches were silent. The kind of silence that pressed against your chest and reminded you exactly how alone you were. I locked the door behind me and stood there for a long moment. Listening. Nothing. No footsteps. No low rumble of Nash's voice on a conference call. No distant sounds of traffic in this steel and glass cage. No indication that another human being existed in the three-thousand-square-foot penthouse. I suddenly hated it. Hated the expensive marble. Hated the floor-to-ceiling windows. Hated the designer furniture. Hated the emptiness. The whole place felt like a monument to my stupidity. My purse slipped from my shoulder and landed on the sofa with a dull thud. And then the tears came again. Fresh. Hot. Humiliating. I sank onto the edge of my bed and covered my face. "God..." The word came out broken. Shatter

Chapter 14 - You Are the Strongest Person I Know

Two Years Earlier - Wednesday, March 4th 2024 Valentina No…there was no shame in falling in love with the wrong man. The shame would be in having that knowledge and ignoring it. Wallowing in misery. In letting it define me, and allowing it to shape me into the woman he wanted, not the one I actually was. Nashian had trained me to his taste. Moulded into his ideal fucktoy. Defined the parameters of our relationship. And then placed me in this gilded cage. A pretty bird in a pretty setting. But a cage, no matter how expensive, how fancy, would still be a cage and never be a home. The tears slowed. Then slowed some more. Until only a few remained. I wiped them away and inhaled deeply. Okay. Better. You can do this. Think. Plan. Move. The way I always had. The way every child learnt to do when the adults responsible for them failed to do so. Survive first. Cry later. Tomorrow I would go to the bank. I would separate every financial tie linking me to Nash. Every single one. The

Chapter 15 - The Early Morning Call

Two years ago - Thursday, March 5th 2024 ValentinaI was up and ready, armed with my to do list by seven in the morning.I downed a cup of coffee for some caffeine courage before dialling Maddie.The phone rings three times before she picks up. “Valentina? Baby, it’s barely seven thirthy.” Madeline’s voice is soft with sleep, but already cut with worry. “You never call this early. Not unless somethings wrong. Talk to me sweetheart.”The moment she answered, I almost lost my nerve. “Hi Maddie. Sorry to call so early.”"Valentina?" she asked warmly. "Sweetheart, are you alright?"I closed my eyes. That one word. Sweetheart. It had always been that way with Maddie. No matter how old I got. She always sounded like a mother checking on her child.And God help me, after the week I'd had, I desperately needed that. I press my forehead against the cold Uber window. Manhattan is still gray and quiet. “Nothing is wrong Maddie. I'm fine, I promise. I just… I needed to hear your voice.”There

Chapter 16 - The Farewell Dinner

Two Years Earlier - Wednesday, March 4th 2024Valentina Dinner felt strangely normal at first. LReminiscent of the ones we had shared so many times before. Mark telling stories. Livvy interrupting. Ethan smiling beneath the long suffering sigh and rolling his eyes.Maddie trying unsuccessfully to keep order. The familiar chaos wrapped around me like a blanket. For a little while, I forgot my heart was broken. Then eventually the conversation shifted.The room grew quieter. Everyone looked at me. Waiting. For why they had all been summoned. I set my fork down carefully. "By now you all know that I am going away for a bit." I paused as they all gave me their attention. "The relationship I was in..." I began softly. Livvy's eyes immediately met mine. The only person at the table who knew anything. I offered her a tiny smile before continuing. "It didn't work out. We were both in different places."The words hurt. Even now. "I wanted more." My voice wavered slightly. "He didn't."Silen

Chapter 17 - Family is Not Always Blood

Two years ago – Thursday March 5th 2024 Valentina Dinner was concluded with Maddie’s famous peach cobbler. And I took that opportunity to give everyone their gifts. You would think it was Christmas morning the way Livvie and Ethan tore into their gifts. “I love having a rich friend.” Livvy declared, showing off her LV bag proudly. I shook my head at her antics, while everyone laughed. Later, while everyone cleaned up, Livvy cornered me in the kitchen. The moment we were alone her expression changed. The concern she'd been hiding all evening surfaced immediately. "Val." I looked away. She gently grabbed my chin. "No. Don’t hide from me." My eyes met hers. And that was all it took. Tears instantly filled them. "Oh honey." She pulled me into a hug. I held on desperately. "I can see the dark circles. You look like a racoon with a spiral perm" I laughed weakly. "Liv—" "And you've lost weight." I didn't answer. Because she was right. I have had zero appetite since the week-end. "

Chapter 18 - Leaving the House of Heartbreak

Two Years Earlier - Friday, March 6th 2024ValentinaHeartbreak is quieter than people think.It isn't always screaming matches and shattered glass and dramatic goodbyes. Sometimes it's standing alone in a luxury penthouse overlooking Manhattan while rain crawls down the windows...trying not to break apart as you pack your life into two suitcases.The suitcases looks too small for everything I’m leaving behind.I folded another sweater mechanically before placing it into the open suitcase on my bed. My bed in my allocated room. Not ours. Never oursI zip it closed anyway. The sound is final. A full stop at the end of a sentence I spent twelve months trying to rewrite.This penthouse. God I hated it. A few million dollars worth of glass and marble and city lights, and it never once felt like home. Home was supposed to be where you smell cookies in the oven. Where you had mismatched cushions. Where your toothbrush stayed on the counter. Where someone knew what you ate for breakfast on

Chapter 19 - The Beginning of the End Part 1

2 years ago - Friday 6th March 2024 Nash The week from hell was finally over. Financial year-end always brought chaos. Auditors. Board reviews. Compliance meetings. Department reports. More meetings. Then meetings about the meetings. By 5pm Friday evening, I was mentally exhausted and thoroughly sick of everyone in my orbit. The only upside? It was Friday. Knock off time. Just past five. Almost time to go to Valentina. For the first time all day, I found myself relaxing as I stepped out of the boardroom and headed toward my office. A faint smile tugged at my mouth. Valentina always had that effect on me. She soothed something restless inside me. The constant pressure. The noise. The endless demands. Other women could provide distraction. Temporary relief. But it was never the same. Never enough. Never satisfying. The realization irritated me. I didn't like needing anything. Or anyone. Yet somehow that tiny, curly-haired woman had become the one thing I genuinely looked forw

Chapter 20 - The Beginning of the End Part 2

2 years ago - Friday 6th March 2024 NashI unlocked my phone and sent her a quick message. *Will be there at 6. Be ready.* Simple. Direct. The way things worked best between us so there were no misunderstandings. I slipped the phone back into my pocket and entered my office. Immediately notifications began flooding the screen. Emails. Messages. Calendar updates. And one bank notification? I frowned. Then stopped walking. What the fucking hell was this? I looked again. Three hundred thousand dollars had been deposited into one of my personal accounts. The sender reference made me freeze. VA Rossi. Valentina??? My frown deepened. That didn't make sense. I hit the intercom. "Devon." He answered immediately. "Yes Nash?" "My office now." Thirty seconds later my assistant stepped inside. Devon had worked for me long enough to recognize when something had my attention. "You needed me Nash?" I turned the phone around. "Look at this." His eyes scanned the notification. Then his b

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