All Chapters of The Boy I Swore to hate: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

"You were supposed to be gone."The words slipped from Amelia’s lips before she could stop them. They sounded hollow in the cavernous boardroom, barely more than a breathless whisper, but in the dead silence of the penthouse suite, they might as well have been a gunshot.Adrian Blackwood didn’t flinch. He didn’t even blink. He set his tablet flat on the mahogany table and folded his hands, watching her with a terrifying, predatory calm."And yet, here I am," he replied. His voice was entirely different from the mocking teenage sneer she remembered. It was deeper, richer, and layered with the absolute authority of a man who owned everything he looked at—including her.Panic, sharp and cold, flooded Amelia’s veins. Her fingers tightened around her dark green folder so hard her nails dug into the leather. She fought the urge to take a step back toward the door."No", she told herself frantically. "Do not let him see you sweat."She had spent seven years scrubbing the mud of the Blackwood

"Tear it down. Every single wall. Now."The deafening crunch of a sledgehammer violently shattering drywall echoed through the hollowed-out warehouse of the Waterfront District. Plaster rained down, and a thick cloud of white dust billowed into the freezing morning air.Amelia froze just inside the entrance, her coffee slipping from her hand and splattering across the concrete floor.It was 6:05 AM. The site was supposed to be empty except for the two of them. Instead, a full demolition crew was actively destroying the scaled mock-up of the central atrium—a physical model it had taken her team three weeks to build.Standing amidst the debris, looking entirely untouched by the dust in a tailored charcoal overcoat and leather gloves, was Adrian."Stop!" Amelia screamed, sprinting across the uneven floorboards, ignoring the danger in her high-heeled boots. "Stop the crew right now!"The foreman lowered his sledgehammer, looking nervously between Amelia and the billionaire who was signing

"Mother," Adrian said, his voice dropping an octave as he stepped smoothly in front of Amelia. The subtle shift in his posture was instantaneous—a shield built from broad shoulders and tailored wool. "What are you doing here? You were supposed to be at the country club until evening."Victoria Blackwood slowly descended the marble steps, her heels clicking rhythmically against the stone. She ignored her son entirely, her sharp blue eyes pinned to Amelia with the cold detachment of a scientist examining a specimen beneath a microscope."I live here, darling," Victoria said smoothly, stopping two steps above them so she could look down at Amelia. "Unlike some people, who seem to have forgotten their place."Amelia felt the blood rush to her face, a familiar, humiliating heat that threatened to consume her. But as she looked up at the woman who had spent years treating her mother like dirt, something inside her snapped into place. She was no longer a frightened child hiding in the estate

"Give it to me, Amelia."Adrian’s voice was no longer a soft, ragged murmur. It was the sharp, commanding bark of a CEO managing a catastrophic corporate leak. His hand shot out, his long fingers clamping tightly around the edge of the red folder."Get your hands off it!" Amelia screamed, ripping the file backward with so much force the heavy cardstock tore slightly in his grip.She scrambled backward along the narrow upper gallery, putting the heavy wooden reading pedestal between them. Her chest heaved, her heart thrashing against her ribs so violently she thought it might shatter them. She clutched the file to her chest like a shield, her eyes wide and wild."Amelia, you do not know what you are looking at," Adrian warned. He took a slow, deliberate step toward her, holding his hands up as if trying to calm a cornered animal. The color had completely drained from his face, leaving his eyes a stark, terrifying silver. "That is a classified personnel document. Hand it to me.""It’s a