The Unwanted Heiress: A Billion-Dollar Reckoning

The Unwanted Heiress: A Billion-Dollar Reckoning

Gavin

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The day of my SATs, my first step toward freedom, began with a slap. Our Texas ranch was a river of mud, and the testing center was twenty miles away. My father, a self-made oil tycoon, didn' t even look up as I begged for fifty dollars. "Fifty dollars? Do you think money grows on trees, Gabrielle?" he sneered. Then came the slap, hard and fast, echoing through our cavernous living room. "Lazy and entitled," he spat, stealing the seventeen dollars I' d painstakingly saved. He kicked me out into the storm, telling me not to return until I'd learned the value of a dollar. My brother, Andrew, stood by, his face a mask of indifference. My mother was upstairs, oblivious, probably admiring a new diamond. As I trudged through the mud, a news report on our giant billboard flashed. It showed my family smiling on a stage, celebrating a one-million-dollar donation to an arts program in honor of my adopted sister, Molly. Her achievement? A C+ in art. They had just slapped me and thrown me out for a fifty-dollar ride to the most important exam of my life. The image of their smiling faces burned into my mind, washing away the tears I didn' t even realize I was crying. Defeated, I reached the testing center, only to find the doors locked. I tore my soggy admission ticket into tiny pieces, letting the rain carry them away. Something inside me broke. Or maybe, it finally healed.

Introduction

The day of my SATs, my first step toward freedom, began with a slap.

Our Texas ranch was a river of mud, and the testing center was twenty miles away.

My father, a self-made oil tycoon, didn' t even look up as I begged for fifty dollars.

"Fifty dollars? Do you think money grows on trees, Gabrielle?" he sneered.

Then came the slap, hard and fast, echoing through our cavernous living room.

"Lazy and entitled," he spat, stealing the seventeen dollars I' d painstakingly saved.

He kicked me out into the storm, telling me not to return until I'd learned the value of a dollar.

My brother, Andrew, stood by, his face a mask of indifference.

My mother was upstairs, oblivious, probably admiring a new diamond.

As I trudged through the mud, a news report on our giant billboard flashed.

It showed my family smiling on a stage, celebrating a one-million-dollar donation to an arts program in honor of my adopted sister, Molly.

Her achievement? A C+ in art.

They had just slapped me and thrown me out for a fifty-dollar ride to the most important exam of my life.

The image of their smiling faces burned into my mind, washing away the tears I didn' t even realize I was crying.

Defeated, I reached the testing center, only to find the doors locked.

I tore my soggy admission ticket into tiny pieces, letting the rain carry them away.

Something inside me broke. Or maybe, it finally healed.

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My world revolved around Jax Harding, my older brother's captivating rockstar friend. From sixteen, I adored him; at eighteen, I clung to his casual promise: "When you're 22, maybe I'll settle down." That offhand comment became my life's beacon, guiding every choice, meticulously planning my twenty-second birthday as our destiny. But on that pivotal day in a Lower East Side bar, clutching my gift, my dream exploded. I overheard Jax' s cold voice: "Can't believe Savvy's showing up. She' s still hung up on that stupid thing I said." Then the crushing plot: "We' re gonna tell Savvy I' m engaged to Chloe, maybe even hint she' s pregnant. That should scare her off." My gift, my future, slipped from my numb fingers. I fled into the cold New York rain, devastated by betrayal. Later, Jax introduced Chloe as his "fiancée" while his bandmates mocked my "adorable crush"-he did nothing. As an art installation fell, he saved Chloe, abandoning me to severe injury. In the hospital, he came for "damage control," then shockingly shoved me into a fountain, leaving me to bleed, calling me a "jealous psycho." How could the man I loved, who once saved me, become this cruel and publicly humiliate me? Why was my devotion seen as an annoyance to be brutally extinguished with lies and assault? Was I just a problem, my loyalty met with hatred? I would not be his victim. Injured and betrayed, I made an unshakeable vow: I was done. I blocked his number and everyone connected to him, severing ties. This was not an escape; this was my rebirth. Florence awaited, a new life on my terms, unburdened by broken promises.

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