The CEO Beautiful Regret
He didn’t just buy my company. He bought me in marriage. And he’s been orchestrating my downfall from the very beginning.
I was the golden girl of the Sterling empire until my father and my backstabbing ex-fiancé stripped me of my legacy, threw me to the wolves, and left me with nothing. Broken and looking for a single night of oblivion, I walked into a secluded hotel lounge and fell into the arms of a cold, mesmerizing stranger. A man who possessed a lethal charm and eyes like a winter storm.
The next morning, he was gone.
Twenty-four hours later, he walked into my father's boardroom.
Julian Vance. The ruthless, multi-billionaire acquisitions tycoon who just hostilely took over my family's firm. He’s cold, calculating, and three steps ahead of everyone else in the city. And before the ink on the merger can even dry, he announces our sudden engagement on live television to force my hand.
I thought I was playing a dangerous game of fake marriage to get revenge on the family that ruined me. I thought I could use Julian's massive empire as a shield to take back what’s mine.
But I was wrong.
Julian didn't find me in that lounge by accident. He knew exactly who I was. He knew exactly what my ex did to me. And as a dark, international conspiracy closes in around us, I'm forced to realize that the man sharing my bed isn't just protecting me from the monsters out to destroy me...
He might be the most dangerous monster of them all.
Read
Chapter: Chapter 8 : The Price of Treason*Vivienne*The door of the Maybach slammed shut with a heavy, pressurized thud, cutting off the sounds of the chaotic city street and Marcus’s stunned silence.Julian didn't say a word as the car tore away from the curb. He sat in the dimmed light of the leather interior, his chest rising and falling in slow, controlled breaths. The raw, predatory fury he had just shown on the sidewalk was locked back behind his billionaire mask, but the temperature inside the vehicle felt below freezing.I stared down at the sleek, encrypted burner phone resting in my lap. My hands were shaking slightly, but I forced my fingers to press the screen.The file loaded instantly. It wasn't just a life insurance policy. It was a digital trail of breadcrumbs. There were signed bank transfers from an offshore shell company based in the Cayman Islands, heavily linked to my ex-fiancé, Marcus. But as my eyes scrolled further down the encrypted ledger, the breath caught completely in my throat.The offshore acco
Last Updated: 2026-07-10
Chapter: Chapter 7: The Blind Side*Vivienne*The Maybach pulled up to the curb of my apartment complex. I didn't say goodbye to Julian. I snatched the encrypted burner phone, slid it into my clutch, and stepped out into the night, my heels clicking fiercely against the pavement until I was safely inside my building.When I walked through my front door, the exhaustion hit me like a physical wall."Vivienne? Thank god," my younger sister, Clara, breathed, instantly jumping up from the sofa. My mother sat beside her, her eyes red-rimmed and anxious. They had clearly been watching the live-streamed updates from the gala."I'm fine," I lied, tossing my clutch onto the console table.Clara gasped, rushing forward to catch my forearm. "You're not fine. Look at your wrist."The dark, purple handprint left by our father was already blooming violently against my pale skin. As mirrored in the emotional weight of my mother, who instantly looked away, wringing her hands. “You shouldn’t have provoked him, Vivienne. You know how he g
Last Updated: 2026-07-09
Chapter: Chapter 6:The Illusion of Safety*Vivienne *"You knew who I was," I whispered, the cold night air suddenly feeling sharp against my bare skin. "The lounge. The drink. The penthouse. It was all a setup."Julian’s expression remained perfectly unreadable, a masterpiece of corporate calm. "Let's call it an aligned acquisition, Vivienne. I needed a foothold to completely dismantle your father's political leverage in this city, and you needed a way out from under his heel. I simply provided the match. You brought the gasoline."Before I could demand more answers, the balcony doors swung open. Julian stepped past me with an effortless, predatory grace, returning to the ballroom to handle the circling pack of journalists and investors.He left me alone in the shadows, but I wasn't alone for long.Arthur Sterling stepped onto the terrace, his face contorted in a mask of pure, unbridled rage. The aristocratic composure he usually wore like armor was entirely gone. As noted in the family dynamic, he looked at me not as a daug
Last Updated: 2026-06-20
Chapter: Chapter 5:The Master Strategy*Vivienne *The room erupted into a deafening chorus of gasps, whispered rumors, and the sudden, blinding flash of smartphone cameras.My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird. I stared at Julian, my breath utterly suspended. He hadn't told me he was going to do this. I hadn't signed the contract. I hadn't given him an answer. He had just weaponized high society to force my hand in front of the entire city. Denying it now wouldn't just tank his merger—it would make me a laughingstock and destroy my professional credibility.He had trapped me perfectly."A... a wedding?" my father stammered, his usual booming corporate voice reduced to a panicked whisper. His knuckles turned white around his champagne glass."Next week," Julian confirmed smoothly, his arm still wrapped possessively around my waist. The warmth of his hand through the silk of my dress was a constant, distracting reminder of the power he held. "We wanted to keep it private, Arthur, but given your sudden conce
Last Updated: 2026-06-20
Chapter: Chapter 4:The Pride of Compliance"Vivienne *I stared at the leather-bound contract on the glass desk, the words Clause 14: Marital Alliance burning into my retina."You're insane," I breathed, the words slipping out before I could stop them. "You want me to marry you? For a corporate merger? This isn't the nineteenth century, Julian.""No. It’s the twenty-first century, where a PR crisis can erase three billion dollars in market cap overnight," Julian replied smoothly. He didn't blink. He didn't look angry. He just looked like a man calculating a spreadsheet.He reached into his breast pocket, pulled out a sleek, obsidian fountain pen, and slid it across the glass until it tapped against the folder. "Your father wants to use our weekend to prove I lack executive judgment, thereby forcing the board to restructure the acquisition in his favor. If we are married, the narrative changes entirely. It wasn't a reckless fling with a subordinate design director. It was a private, long-standing relationship culminating in a m
Last Updated: 2026-06-20
Chapter: Chapter 3:The Golden HandcuffsVivienne The silence in the amphitheater was deafening.For a fraction of a second, the room spun. My lungs begged for air. But as I stared at Julian Vance at the sharp, predatory tilt of his head and the effortless power he radiated—the panic in my chest hardened into pure, unadulterated fury. He expected me to crumble. He expected me to stutter, apologize, or flee the room.I refused to give him the satisfaction.Clutching the edges of the podium, I forced my voice to remain smooth, projecting a calm I didn't feel. "As I was saying..."For the next twenty minutes, I delivered the pitch of my life. I didn't look at Julian. I focused on the other board members, laying out a flawless, aggressive strategy for the international design division. I spoke with precision, backed by data, channeling every ounce of my anger into absolute competence.When I finished, a few board members nodded in approval. Julian, however, merely tapped his gold fountain pen against the desk."An ambitious str
Last Updated: 2026-06-19
LOGIN
