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All Chapters of You Can’t Afford Me Sweetheart : Chapter 1 - Chapter 7

7 Chapters

Chapter 1 - The Things I Recorded

Chapter 1: The Thing I RecordedThe key fought me.I twisted harder. Late for my own birthday dinner. The white dress Mom sent from the hospital was still hanging in the closet. Five minutes to change. Ten to cross town. I could still make the toast.The door gave out.I stepped inside and stopped.Laughter came from my bedroom. Low. Breathless. Then a man’s voice answered… the same voice that had said my name against my skin last week.Liam.My fingers locked on the bag strap. Logic tried to explain it away. Sophie bringing a gift. A surprise. Something that still fit the life I thought I had.The bedframe creaked.I moved down the hallway without choosing to. The bedroom door stood half open. Light from the bedside lamp cut a narrow line across the floor. Through the gap I saw the white duvet I had bought last spring, twisted off the mattress. A bare foot hung over the edge.Sophie’s blonde hair was spread across my pillow.I stood there and watched my boyfriend move inside my half-

Last Updated : 2026-10-08

Chapter 2 - The Smile That Didn’t Reach

The car arrived in under two minutes.I got in the back seat and closed the door. The driver confirmed the address of the private dining room and pulled into traffic. City lights slid across the window. I unlocked my phone.I watched the video again.This time I forced myself to see what I had missed while recording. Sophie’s thin gold bracelet caught the lamp light every time her wrist moved. The same bracelet Liam had told me looked “too much” when I tried it on months ago. His hand held her hip the way he used to hold mine—thumb pressing in, fingers spread, certain. And when she laughed at the part about the proposal, the sound was not only bright. It was relieved.I locked the phone and set it face-down on my thigh. The cost of the second viewing sat in my chest like something heavy and exact. I did not cry. I simply understood, with new clarity, that the betrayal had been comfortable for them.The car stopped. I stepped out still wearing the clothes I had left the apartment in. N

Last Updated : 2026-10-08

Chapter 3 - The Screen That Did Not Lie

The lights finished dimming.Soft music started from the speakers near the large screen. A staff member stood ready with the remote. The planned birthday montage was about to begin—the smiling photos, the old clips, the kind words my mother had asked the office to prepare.My hand was still closed around the USB drive.I stood.A few heads turned. My father looked over with a question already forming. Liam’s smile stayed in place, polite and expectant. Sophie watched me over the rim of her glass.I walked the length of the table without hurry. The staff member blinked when I reached him.“I’ll take care of it,” I said.He hesitated only a second, then stepped aside. I plugged the USB drive into the side of the screen system and selected the single file. The music cut off. The screen stayed black for half a breath.Then the video began.My bedroom filled the large screen in high definition. The white duvet. Sophie’s blonde hair across my pillow. Liam’s bare shoulder. The sound of the b

Last Updated : 2026-10-08

Chapter 4 - The Price of Fear

“Private room. Now.”My father’s voice left no space for discussion.He turned and walked toward the side door that led to the smaller dining room reserved for private conversations. Sophie moved first. Liam followed a step behind her. I walked last. The board members and family friends stayed where they were, silent, watching us leave.The private room was quieter. Thicker carpet. A single long table. No large screen. My father closed the door himself. The click of it sounded final.He did not sit.“Explain,” he said.Liam opened his mouth. Sophie spoke over him.“It’s not what you think. We’ve been careful. The pregnancy changes things, but we can still manage the optics if we move quickly.”My father looked at her.“How long?”Sophie did not pretend to misunderstand.“Twelve weeks. We confirmed it last month.”The words landed cleanly. Last month. Before tonight. Before the video. While I was still being called the future of Vale at dinners just like this one. The timeline settled

Last Updated : 2026-10-08

Chapter 5 - The Man Who Didn’t Look Away

I walked toward the lower terrace with the bank notification still lit on my phone.Music drifted up the stone steps. Voices. The soft clink of glasses. The after-party had not paused for anything that happened upstairs. People stood in small groups under the string lights, still dressed for celebration. No one looked at me twice when I crossed onto the open stones.I went straight to the bar.“A bottle,” I said.The bartender glanced at the open champagne already on ice, then at my face. He set a full bottle in front of me without comment and turned away. I took it by the neck and walked to the far edge of the terrace where the railing overlooked the street.I drank.The first swallow was cold and sharp. The second followed without pause. I was not tasting it. I was only putting distance between the private room and whatever came next. The cold emptiness my family had left in me sat heavy and quiet. I wanted something strong enough to push against it—something they would never be abl

Last Updated : 2026-10-08

Chapter 6 - The Question He Did Not Answer At First

"I need to forget someone. Can you make me forget?"The question hung between us.One of the bodyguards shifted once more. The tall man in the black suit did not look away from my face. His grey eyes held mine, steady and unreadable, while the question hung between us unanswered, dangerous, and already costing more than I could calculate.For a moment, nobody moved.The music from the terrace kept playing behind us. Glasses clinked. People laughed. But in our small corner, near the railing, the air felt still. Like the whole party had stopped breathing with us.He did not answer me immediately.He looked at my face first. Really looked. At the champagne bottle I had left on the high table. At my clothes I never changed out of. At my hands that I was trying to keep still, but were shaking a little at my sides."You are asking the wrong man," he said finally. His voice was low. Calm. Not soft."Why?" I asked. "Because you are Adrian Blackwood?""Because I do not do forgetting," he said.

Last Updated : 2026-11-11

Chapter 7 - The Man Who Refused To be Paid

Adrian woke up to an empty bed and five hundred dollars on his nightstand.He stared at it for a full minute.No woman had ever left money for him. Women left perfume. Women left numbers. Women left tears. Women begged him to stay, to call, to marry them. No one had ever paid him like he was something she had hired for the night.His jaw tightened. The arrogant smirk that usually sat on his face was gone."James," he barked.James Park entered at once, already in his black suit, earpiece in place. "Sir?""Find her." Adrian picked up the money between two fingers like it was poison. "Ava Miller. Twenty-four. Vale Enterprises. I want everything about her in one hour. Where she lives, where she goes, who she talks to. Everything.""Yes, sir."Adrian dressed in silence. His hands were steady, but his mind was not. He kept seeing her face from last night. The way she had walked up to him on the terrace, bottle in her hand, eyes full of fire and grief. The way she had said, "Can you make me

Last Updated : 2026-11-12

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