Too Late For My CEOs Regret

One Night With My Billionaire Boss

Nathaniel Stone

I woke up on silk sheets that smelled of expensive cedar and cold sandalwood, a world away from my cramped apartment in Brooklyn. Beside me lay Ezra Gardner-my boss, the billionaire CEO of Gardner Holdings, and the man who could end my career with a snap of his fingers. He didn't offer an apology for the night before; instead, he looked at me with terrifying clarity and proposed a cold, calculated business arrangement. "Marriage. It stabilizes the board and solves the PR crisis before it begins." He dressed me in archival Chanel and sent me home in his Maybach, but my life was already falling apart. My boyfriend, Irving, claimed he had passed out early, yet his location data placed him at my best friend's apartment until three in the morning. When I tried to run, I realized Ezra was already ten steps ahead, tracking my movements and uncovering the secret I'd spent twenty years hiding: my connection to the powerful Senator Grimes. I was trapped between a CEO who treated me like a line item on a quarterly report and a boyfriend who had been using me while sleeping with my closest friend. I felt like a pawn in a game I didn't understand, wondering why a man like Ezra would walk up forty flights of stairs on a broken leg just to make sure I was safe. "Showtime, Mrs. Gardner." Standing on the red carpet in a gown that cost more than my life, I watched my cheating ex-boyfriend's face turn pale as Ezra claimed me in front of the world. I wasn't just an assistant anymore; I was a weapon, and it was time to burn their world down.

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My childhood best friend and I made a pact: Stanford first, then the world.

But an hour before the deadline, he gave it all up for another girl.

He chose to stay at the local state university, for Anisa, a girl who seemed so helpless.

He arrogantly assumed I would give up my future to follow him.

He didn't know, in that moment, he was the one I was letting go.

I vanished from his world. He thought I was overreacting, that I'd come around in a few days.

But when I boarded that plane to California, I wasn't just leaving him behind. I was choosing myself, for the first time.

Chapter 1

My finger hovered over the "submit" button, trembling slightly. Not from fear of the future, but from the sting of betrayal, a wound barely an hour old.

"He backed out, didn't he?" Lily's voice on the phone held a weary understanding. She knew us too well.

I didn't need to answer.

"He just told you, just like that? No discussion?" Anger started to creep into her tone.

I closed my eyes.

Jonah's confident smile flashed in my mind. The smile he'd used to deliver the news, as if he were doing us both a favor.

"He said Anisa needs him."

"Of course, she does." Lily sighed. "So, what about you? You gonna follow him to State? Give up Stanford for..." She trailed off, unable to articulate the feeling of downgrade.

My thumb, driven by a morbid curiosity, scrolled mindlessly through social media.

And there it was.

Anisa, face shyly tucked behind Jonah's shoulder. The caption read, "Found strength when I least expected it."

My chest tightened, like a cold steel band squeezing the air out of my lungs.

"No," I said. "I'm not following him anywhere."

My gaze fixed on the cursor blinking next to the "submit" button.

"I'm only responsible for my own life, Lily," I said.

The clock in the corner of my screen ticked down, merciless. The final deadline for Stanford's application was now.

"Good," Lily said, a note of fierce resolve in her voice. "Because I'm already planning our trip to California. Claire, you're going to love it there."

A knock at the door startled me.

I looked up. It was him. Jonah, one arm casually draped over Anisa's shoulder.

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