No Second Chance For Us

For five years, I was tech billionaire Alden Maxwell' s secret. A pretty accessory on his arm, a deal I made to save my father' s life. I played my part, quietly planning my escape for the day our contract ended.

But then his first love, Amanda, came back.

At a lavish auction, he spent ten million dollars to outbid me for my own mother' s heirloom bangle, only to place it on Amanda' s wrist, calling it a "token of his undying affection."

Later, he told me I was just practice. A "little bird" he could use to learn how to be gentle before he went back to his true love.

That' s when the last of my foolish hope died. I was never a person to him, just a transaction he could buy and discard.

So I disappeared. I took a five-year, off-grid research position and cut all ties. When he finally tracked me down, begging me to name my price, I faced him through the sterile glass of the facility and gave him my final answer.

"We' re done."

Chapter 1

Hope POV:

The world always saw me as Alden Maxwell' s pretty little accessory, a silent trophy adorning his arm. They whispered about the designer clothes, the glittering jewels, the extravagant lifestyle. They saw the gilded cage, but never the bars-or the price I paid to live inside it. I knew what I was to him, and what our arrangement was. It had a shelf life, a clear end date. Five years. That was the deal. Enough time to secure my father' s life, enough time to graduate, enough time for me to disappear.

I played my part well. At lavish galas, I' d offer a soft smile, nod demurely at his cutting remarks, and pretend I didn' t feel the sting. In his private spaces, I' d soothe his restless nights, listen to his endless ambition, and swallow the bitter taste of knowing my intimacy was just another service rendered. He saw my compliance as devotion, my silence as loyalty. He never doubted for a second that I would remain by his side, a beautiful fixture in his perfectly curated life. His arrogance was a shield, protecting him from the truth: I was already plotting my escape.

"She' s a sweet girl, Alden," a socialite slurred one night, her eyes heavy with champagne and malice. "So utterly devoted. You' ve truly tamed her, haven' t you?"

Alden chuckled, a low, dismissive sound. "Hope understands her place." He didn' t even glance at me as he said it, his gaze fixed on the crowd, already searching for his next conquest. The words were a public humiliation, a blaring siren informing everyone that I was merely property, not a person. My heart constricted, but my smile remained fixed. It always did.

They didn' t know I had already signed the secure five-year contract with the NIH research project. They didn' t know I' d been quietly severing