His Bet, Her Heist: A Calculated Romance

His Bet, Her Heist: A Calculated Romance

Jv Lingxian

5.0
Comment(s)
330
View
11
Chapters

I was Northwood Academy's charity case, my worn backpack and second-hand uniform screaming my poverty louder than any whisper. Living miles from this privileged world, with my disabled dad and our crushing bills, escaping was my only thought. But Jessica Thorne, the queen bee, made sure I never forgot my place. It started with the "First Annual Northwood Philanthropy Prize." My name was called, not for an award, but for public humiliation. They presented me with a massive cardboard check: "$0.00 – For Being Our Charity Case." Laughter swelled, burning my face, but I kept my expression neutral. Then, I overheard them: "The Sterling Bet." The school' s elite rich boys, led by golden boy Ethan Vanderbilt, schemed to fake a relationship with me, build me up, then publicly shatter my reputation right before the SATs, ensuring my future was ruined. My blood ran cold. This wasn't merely mockery; it was calculated sabotage, a crueler kind of war. Jessica's venomous glare confirmed she endorsed it, her bizarre comment about me being a "cheap knock-off" adding a chilling, unsettling layer to their game. Were they truly this bored and cruel? But they underestimated the girl with nothing to lose. They wanted to play? Fine. I would play too. With an icy resolve hardening my heart, I smiled, accepting Ethan's offer of "help." My goal was no longer just survival. It was a calculated heist, and their resources would be my vault. I would win.

Introduction

I was Northwood Academy's charity case, my worn backpack and second-hand uniform screaming my poverty louder than any whisper.

Living miles from this privileged world, with my disabled dad and our crushing bills, escaping was my only thought. But Jessica Thorne, the queen bee, made sure I never forgot my place.

It started with the "First Annual Northwood Philanthropy Prize."

My name was called, not for an award, but for public humiliation.

They presented me with a massive cardboard check: "$0.00 – For Being Our Charity Case."

Laughter swelled, burning my face, but I kept my expression neutral.

Then, I overheard them: "The Sterling Bet." The school' s elite rich boys, led by golden boy Ethan Vanderbilt, schemed to fake a relationship with me, build me up, then publicly shatter my reputation right before the SATs, ensuring my future was ruined.

My blood ran cold.

This wasn't merely mockery; it was calculated sabotage, a crueler kind of war. Jessica's venomous glare confirmed she endorsed it, her bizarre comment about me being a "cheap knock-off" adding a chilling, unsettling layer to their game. Were they truly this bored and cruel?

But they underestimated the girl with nothing to lose. They wanted to play? Fine. I would play too. With an icy resolve hardening my heart, I smiled, accepting Ethan's offer of "help." My goal was no longer just survival. It was a calculated heist, and their resources would be my vault. I would win.

Continue Reading

Other books by Jv Lingxian

More
The Alpha's Lost Luna: Too Late for Redemption

The Alpha's Lost Luna: Too Late for Redemption

Werewolf

5.0

For nine years, I was the "Wolfless Wonder," the shame of the Reyes Pack. I swallowed bitter suppressants every morning to hide my identity as a rare White Wolf, enduring my husband’s coldness just to stay by his side. But tonight, Alpha Dominick shattered whatever bond we had left. He walked into the Annual Gathering with his mistress, Chastity, clinging to his arm, pregnant and smug. When Chastity staged a miscarriage and blamed me, Dominick didn't ask for the truth. He dragged me to the hospital. "She needs blood," he snarled. "O-Negative. Like yours." He used the Alpha Command to force me onto the table. He watched as they drained me dry to save the woman destroying my life. "Alpha, her heart rate is dropping!" the doctor warned. "It will kill her!" Dominick didn't even flinch. "Keep going," he ordered. "Take what you need until Chastity is safe." As the machine beeped and darkness took me, the submissive wife died. I woke up in the morgue holding cell and made a choice. I signed the divorce papers, set the penthouse on fire, and vanished into the night. He thought I burned to death. He didn't know I escaped. Months later, he tracked a ghost to a vineyard in London. But he didn't find the broken girl he sacrificed. He found the White Wolf, glowing with silver magic, standing beside a new mate who actually cherished me. Dominick fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face. "Annis, come home. I command you." I looked down at him and smiled. "Your voice doesn't work on me anymore, Alpha. You killed the part of me that listened."

A Telepath's Accidental Heroism

A Telepath's Accidental Heroism

Modern

5.0

The forest' s quiet shattered as a bleeding FBI agent burst through my cabin door, collapsing at my feet. My perfectly normal afternoon nap was over, replaced by the immediate, terrifying certainty that trouble had found our isolated home. Ben Carter, handsome even as he bled out, was shot, his partner dead, and he was tangled in a massive counterfeiting ring leading straight to Senator Thompson. My stomach dropped – this was the kind of mess my sheriff dad always warned against. But then, as he gasped for help, a deeper dread set in: he heard my unspeakable thoughts. He heard everything I knew about him, about Thompson, about the danger. My father arrived, intervening with Thompson's thugs, but not before he too picked up on my mental broadcasts, his face paling as he realized the depth of the conspiracy I'd unwittingly revealed. Our quiet life was over, replaced by federal agents, corrupt senators, and a constant, terrifying loss of privacy over my own mind. How could I possibly live like this? My ability, usually just a nuisance, had now put us all in mortal danger, linking us irrevocably to a corrupt politician who wanted Ben dead. This wasn't some fantasy hero journey; it was an exhausting, terrifying invasion of my every private thought, broadcasting them to everyone around me. Yet, as Thompson' s people sped away and Ben lay bleeding on our rug, a terrifying question formed in my mind: if my thoughts were this loud, could they also be my weapon?

You'll also like

The $300 Husband Is A Zillionaire

The $300 Husband Is A Zillionaire

Nap Regazzini
5.0

I woke up in a blindingly white hotel penthouse with a throbbing headache and the taste of betrayal in my mouth. The last thing I remembered was my stepsister, Cathie, handing me a flute of champagne at the charity gala with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. Now, a tall, dangerously handsome man walked out of the bathroom with a towel around his hips. On the nightstand sat a stack of hundred-dollar bills. My stepmother had finally done it—she drugged me and staged a scandal with a hired escort to destroy my reputation and my future. "Aisha! Is it true you spent the night with a gigolo?" The shouts of a dozen reporters echoed through the heavy oak door as camera flashes exploded through the peephole. My phone lit up with messages showing my bank accounts were already frozen. My father was invoking the 'morality clause' in my mother’s trust fund, and my fiancé had already released a statement dumping me to marry my stepsister instead. I was trapped, penniless, and being hunted by the press for a scandal I hadn't even participated in. My own family had sold me out for a payday, and the man standing in front of me was the only witness who could prove I was innocent—or finish me off for good. I didn't have time to cry. According to the fine print of the trust, I had thirty days to prove my "rehabilitation" through a legal marriage or I would lose everything. I tracked the man down to a coffee shop the next morning, watching him take a thick envelope of cash from a wealthy older woman. I sat across from him and slid a napkin with a $50,000 figure written on it. "I need a husband. Legal, paper-signed, and convincing." He looked at the number, then at me, a slow, crooked smile spreading across his face. I thought I was hiring a desperate gigolo to save my inheritance. I had no idea I was actually proposing to Dominic Fields, the reclusive billionaire shark who was currently planning a hostile takeover of my father’s entire empire.

Secret Baby: The Jilted Wife's Final Goodbye

Secret Baby: The Jilted Wife's Final Goodbye

Cait
5.0

I sat on the cold tile floor of our Upper East Side penthouse, staring at the two pink lines until my vision blurred. After ten years of loving Julian Sterling and three years of a hollow marriage, I finally had the one thing that could bridge the distance between us. I was pregnant. But Julian didn't come home with flowers for our anniversary. He tossed a thick manila envelope onto the marble coffee table with a heavy thud. Fiona, the woman he'd truly loved for years, was back in New York, and he told me our "business deal" was officially over. "Sign it," He said, his voice flat and devoid of emotion. He looked at me with the cold detachment of a man selling a piece of unwanted furniture. When I hesitated, he told me to add a zero to the alimony if the money wasn't enough. I realized in that moment that if he knew about the baby, he wouldn't love me; he would simply take my child and give it to Fiona to raise. I shoved the pregnancy test into my pocket, signed the papers with a shaking hand, and lied through my teeth. When my morning sickness hit, I slumped to the floor to hide the truth. "It's just cramps," I gasped, watching him recoil as if I were contagious. To make him stay away, I invented a man named Jack-a fake boyfriend who supposedly gave me the kindness Julian never could. Suddenly, the man who wanted me gone became a monster of possessiveness. He threatened to "bury" a man who didn't exist while leaving me humiliated at his family's dinner to rush to Fiona's side. I was so broken that I even ate a cake I was deathly allergic to, then had to refuse life-saving steroids at the hospital because they would harm the fetus. Julian thinks he's stalling the divorce for two months to protect the family's reputation for his father's Jubilee. He thinks he's keeping his "property" on a short leash until the press dies down. He has no idea I'm using those sixty days to build a fortress for my child. By the time he realizes the truth, I'll be gone, and the Sterling heir will be far beyond his reach.

Revealing My Secret Identities! My Bros Are Speechless!

Revealing My Secret Identities! My Bros Are Speechless!

Zhen Xiang
5.0

For seventeen years, I was the crown jewel of the Kensington empire, the perfect daughter groomed for a royal future. Then, a cream-colored envelope landed in my lap, bearing a gold crest and a truth that turned my world into ice. The DNA test result was a cold, hard zero percent-I wasn't a Kensington. Before the ink could even dry, my parents invited my replacement, a girl named Alleen, into the drawing room and treated me like a trespasser in my own home. My mother, who once hosted galas in my honor, wouldn't even look me in the eye as she stroked Alleen's arm, whispering that she was finally "safe." My father handed me a one-million-dollar check-a mere tip for a billionaire-and told me to leave immediately to avoid tanking the company's stock price. "You're a thief! You lived my life, you spent my money, and you don't get to keep the loot!" Alleen shrieked, trying to claw the designer jacket off my shoulders while my "parents" watched with clinical detachment. I was dumped on a gritty sidewalk in Queens with nothing but three trunks and the address of a struggling laborer I was now supposed to call "Dad." I traded a marble mansion for a crumbling walk-up where the air smelled of exhaust and my new bedroom was a literal storage closet. My biological family thought I was a broken princess, and the Kensingtons thought they had successfully erased me with a payoff and a non-disclosure agreement. They had no idea that while I was hauling trunks up four flights of stairs, my secret media empire was already preparing to move against them. As I sat on a thin mattress in the dark, I opened my encrypted laptop and sent a single command that would cost my former father ten million dollars by breakfast. They thought they were throwing me to the wolves, but they forgot one thing: I'm the one who leads the pack.

Chapters
Read Now
Download Book