PRICED BY MY BILLIONAIRE NEMESIS

Chapter 7 Aftermath

Word Count: 1115 | Released on: 05/01/2026

for a second.

tion and contempt. "Or do we draw the line here," he asks, "after mi

alternative is walking out without the money and without any way to fix the mess that keeps my pa

, revealing a sliver of skin and the edge of his collarbone. My throat tightens. I move to the

simply lets me undo him, one small plastic circle at a time, as if thi

o keep going. The shirt hangs a little looser around his frame, open enough to show the faint lin

or the ne

h," he

mid-movement, hovering just above the fabric. I look

r. It is pure disgust, deep and unfiltered, directed as much at him

s. His voice is low and precise. "You will

if the buttons themselves have scalded me. The fabric hangs partly open, the undone buttons a

ivot might as well be a slap. "Leave," he says. Hi

moment in which I could still claim some sort of moral high ground by refusing. The problem with moral h

lt. I know better than to stay and try to salvage anything from this wreckage. There is nothing here for me but a chec

floor even though I am trying not to make a sound. The door handle is cool under my

.. I hesitate fo

walking away like this feels like

the doo

ithout lo

my p

floor, crumpled beside whatever re

t, less hostile but more hollow. I pull the door shut behind me, and the soft cl

ll button and stare straight ahead at the far wall, refusing to look back over my shoulder. I know if I do, I will imagine him standing the

ck at me again, but this time I barely recognize the woman staring back. Her lipstick is smudged at the corner of her mouth where she bi

indifferent. Adrian's signature curls across the bottom in decisive strok

enerous enough to give him that satisfaction. My reflection swallows hard at me from the mirror, and for on

, because it does. It will keep certain doors from closing and cert

ow, heavy realization settles over me like ash. Whatever this night was suppos

aling me in with my reflection again,

e the

ever-never-f

e Adrian Steele isn't

Chapter End

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PRICED BY MY BILLIONAIRE NEMESIS

Author Banas Romance

“Eight years ago, Lena Hale was a second-year university student who trusted the wrong moment with her entire life. Adrian Vale was in his final year-brilliant, disciplined, already learning how to rule rather than feel. To Lena, he was safety. To Adrian, she was the one weakness he allowed himself. Until one night destroyed everything. Adrian saw her in a position he could not forgive. Something that looked deliberate. Something that felt like betrayal carved into his bones. He didn't ask for the truth. She never got the chance to give it. They separated broken, bleeding, and unfinished-and the damage followed them for eight years. When they meet again, there is no tenderness left. Lena is older now. Quieter. Cornered by debt that doesn't negotiate and men who collect pain instead of money. Survival forces her into one final humiliation-standing in for her best friend on a single escort assignment. One night. One paycheck. One way to keep breathing. She never expects Adrian to be the man watching. Adrian Vale is no longer capable of doubt. He is a billionaire built on precision, control, and a resentment he never questioned. Power has stripped him of mercy. When he sees Lena again-dressed for another man, standing exactly where he believes she chose to stand-his judgment finalizes. She betrayed him once. Now she's proving it. He doesn't ask questions. He doesn't want explanations. He wants confirmation-and control. Money becomes a weapon. Silence becomes obedience. And Lena learns just how expensive survival can be. But Adrian's empire is cracking. His mother is dying, and her deal is brutal in its simplicity: marriage in echange for another round of chemo. What begins as punishment becomes proximity. What begins as resentment mutates into obsession. And beneath Adrian's certainty lurks a truth so corrosive it could dismantle everything he built. This is not a love story. It is not forgiveness. It is power colliding with memory. Control strangling truth. And two people bound together by a lie that refuses to stay buried. Because some love stories don't burn slowly. They detonate. And when the truth comes out... nothing survives intact.”