All Chapters of THE BILLIONAIRE'S REGRET : Chapter 1 - Chapter 7

The last person Avah Morne expected to see at the Aurelia Grand was the man who had taught her how to survive being unwanted.Unfortunately, Calder Ives had never been a man who entered a room quietly.He stood beneath the crystal chandeliers, dressed in a black tuxedo that fit his broad shoulders perfectly, with a glass of champagne in one hand and the attention of nearly everyone around him. His dark hair was neatly styled, his expression unreadable, and his presence as commanding as the empire he had built.Avah’s fingers tightened around the stem of her glass.“Please tell me you’re looking at the dessert table,” Clove whispered beside her.“I am.”“The dessert table is behind you.”Avah turned her head.Clove sighed. “Wonderful. You’ve learned how to lie with a straight face. That’s progress.”Despite herself, Avah laughed.She wore a midnight-blue gown that followed her figure without making her feel trapped inside it. Her dark hair fell in soft waves over one shoulder, and a pa

Avah had one rule for working with Calder Ives.He was not allowed to make her regret winning.Unfortunately, the first email from his office arrived before she had finished her morning coffee.FROM: MIRA VALE — OFFICE OF CALDER IVESSUBJECT: MERIDIAN HOUSE — MANDATORY PROJECT BRIEFINGMs. Morne,Mr. Ives requests your attendance at a private briefing to discuss the shortlisted studios' expectations, project requirements, and presentation schedule.The meeting will take place in the executive conference room at Ives Holdings. Please confirm your attendance.Avah read the message twice.Then she turned her laptop toward Clove.“Tell me what you see.”Clove leaned over the desk. “An invitation.”“Try again.”“An invitation from your ex-husband's office.”“Better.”“To a private meeting.”“Excellent. And what do we call that?”Clove considered it. “A professionally inconvenient coincidence?”Avah stared at her.“Fine,” Clove said. “A potential disaster wearing a business suit.”“Thank yo

AVAHThe email on Avah Morne’s screen contained seven words that threatened to destroy her entire presentation.The structural design cannot accommodate your gallery.She read the sentence again, hoping the words might rearrange themselves into something less irritating.They did not.“Tell me you’re not about to throw that laptop through the window,” Clove said from the opposite side of the studio.Avah slowly lowered the screen.“I’m considering it.”“Good. Aim for the expensive building across the street. Maybe they’ll compensate us for emotional damage.”Despite herself, Avah laughed once before returning to the email.The message had arrived from Ives Holdings’ development team. An existing support-column restriction reportedly made the central gallery in her Meridian House proposal impractical without additional construction costs and significant delays.The problem was not merely technical.The gallery was the heart of her design.It connected the entrance to the communal space

Avah knew something was wrong when Reid Calloway called her instead of sending a message.Reid was a man who respected working hours, email trails, and the sacred right of a designer to ignore her phone while wrestling with a difficult floor plan. He did not call without a reason.She answered with her pencil still between her fingers.“Please tell me you're calling to congratulate me on making structural columns fashionable.”“I was going to congratulate you on making them functional,” Reid replied. “But now I'm curious. Have you actually made them fashionable?”“I'm considering gold leaf.”“That's terrible.”“I knew you'd understand.”His quiet laugh eased the tension in her shoulders.Then his voice changed.“Avah, have you received the corrected deadline for Meridian House?”“Yes. Mira sent it to all the shortlisted studios.”“Good. My team received the wrong date first. It cost us a chunk of our preparation time, and I wanted to be certain the correction went to everyone.”“It di