The Billionaire's Cruelest Lesson

the amnesiac tech billionaire, Hudson Scott. He fell in love with me, and when his memory r

came back. In his place was a possessive monster who saw me as a poss

d I'd glared at her, he dragged me to a derelict warehouse. My si

a lie. The man who once worked odd jobs to buy her medicine was

lames erupted, his men dragged my mother to safety. "See what happens

hat hellhole, I made a call to

your help. I ne

d would be the one

pte

d I, Aleen Anthony, was

social ladder, a Cinderell

an who held the city's economy in the palm of his h

beautif

She nurses him back to health in her small, working-class town. They fall in love, a

en. He had nothing but the

but my ailing

ch other's

for billion-dollar deals, getting calloused from manual labor. He'

e day of the crash,

ed dead, reappeared. They were even more stunned when he, against his family' s furi

ld my hand and told the world, "Aleen is my wife. My

a fai

moment his eyes, once so gentle, loo

ho would peel oranges for me, died t

pathologically possessive stranger who s

e becam

ve, self-proclaimed performance artist w

n the punis

," he' d say, his voice a low growl. And for

ger had tearfully told him that I' d "glared" at h

ice trembling as he dragged me from

e through the doors of a derelict warehouse on the outskirts o

knew this place. He'd

the main room, and

he room. Her face was pale with terror, her weak lungs

ar more terrifying than his anger. He walked over to my mother, a l

towards him, falling to my knees.

nreadable. "I'll ask you one more time

face. I grabbed his pant leg, my whole body shaking.

he said, his voice dropping to a whisper. "Or I'll

oney to buy her medicine was now threatening to

dea of me, the simple girl who saved him, his poss

first time he' d locked me in the closet. He had

You don't get to leave. Ever. Ginger is just for

hoice. I w

is thumb hovering ove

ou

dizzy. My mother was weeping sil

hr

rom my throat. "I admit it! I told her to s

as dark, his eyes boring into me. He s

bbing my hair and forcing

d froze

ame erupted, and he tossed it towa

N

ening. Flames shot up towards the ceiling, engu

my soul. I crawled towards the inferno, my hands

e. My vision blurred through a thick curtai

ushed in with fire extinguishers, followed by Ginger Nas

ut the fir

I sa

ughing and gasping, but alive. One of the guards had untied h

ick, twisted performan

f horror. I started to laugh. A broken, hyste

down. He wiped a tear from my chee

t of tenderness. "This is what happens when you're not a go

r mother and go home. I expect you to ha

ger, who shot me a triumpha

inally move. I crawled to my mother, helping he

ole. Once outside in the cold night air, I pulled

. A number I hadn'

cracking. "It's Aleen. I need y

skyline, at the gleaming

would burn it a