Keep Your Tragic Romance, I'll Take the Billions
Daisy Swift · Completed · 7.3k Words
Introduction
I was just about to stop him when his inner voice suddenly exploded in my head: 'I actually got reborn?'
'Last time, I listened to Maeve and stayed for the competition, securing my spot at Stanford. But Sloane went to Malibu alone to shoot her video and fell off a cliff!"
'Even though I pushed Maeve off a roof to avenge her, I still lost the love of my life.'
'This time, I'm not losing Sloane. If Maeve dares to stop me again, I'll make her pay with her life all over again!'
My blood ran cold, and the words of persuasion died in my throat.
If he wanted his tragic romance so badly, he could have it.
Chapter 1
Minutes before the Stanford Hackathon began, my childhood friend decided to bail to help his girlfriend shoot a TikTok video.
I was just about to stop him when his inner voice suddenly exploded in my head: 'I actually got reborn?'
'Last time, I listened to Maeve and stayed for the competition, securing my spot at Stanford. But Sloane went to Malibu alone to shoot her video and fell off a cliff!"
'Even though I pushed Maeve off a roof to avenge her, I still lost the love of my life.'
'This time, I'm not losing Sloane. If Maeve dares to stop me again, I'll make her pay with her life all over again!'
My blood ran cold, and the words of persuasion died in my throat.
If he wanted his tragic romance so badly, he could have it.
......
Ten minutes before the hackathon doors locked.
I ran through my final checklist: student ID, team registration code, GitHub main branch, and the demo script.
First place meant a full ride and a guaranteed acceptance letter to Stanford. This was the very ticket Kaelen had sworn he would do anything to get.
Right now, though, he was staring dead at his phone.
The screen lit up. He snatched it, pressing it to his ear. "Sloane, don't cry. I'm on my way."
"The hackathon? That's nothing compared to your video. I'll be there in fifteen."
He hung up, shoved his laptop into his backpack, and turned to leave.
"Kaelen." I reached out on instinct to grab his strap.
Right before my fingertips brushed the nylon, a voice, dripping with disgust, exploded in my head.
'Holy shit... I actually got reborn? I'm back to this exact day?'
'Last time, I listened to Maeve's bullshit and stayed for the competition. Sure, I got the offer. But Sloane went to Malibu alone to shoot her video and fell off a cliff!'
'I pushed Maeve off a roof to avenge her, but I still lost the love of my life.'
'This time, I'm not losing Sloane. If this bitch tries to stop me again, I'll make her pay with her life all over again!'
My hand froze mid-air. It was Kaelen's inner voice.
My blood ran cold.
The childhood friend I had known for ten years, standing right in front of me, had murdered me in a past life.
The words of persuasion died in my throat.
Kaelen glared at me, his eyes full of hostility. "Let me guess, you're going to give me some grand lecture to try and make me stay?"
I just stated the facts. "She can shoot a video anytime. But we have less than ten minutes before the clock starts. If you leave now, your entire year of prep goes down the drain."
Kaelen sneered, not bothering to reply.
His thoughts seeped into my brain again.
'Stupid woman. It's pathetic she didn't get reborn. Only I hold the script to the future.'
'What's a piece of paper from Stanford worth anyway? Cash is king. I'll go save Sloane, turn the video into a viral hit, and cash in. Then I'll go all-in on Doge, sweep up Yuga Labs NFTs, and seed that AI startup. I'll be Silicon Valley's youngest billionaire in no time!'
What made me physically sick wasn't just knowing he had killed me.
It was realizing that the guy I grew up with was, at his core, a profoundly selfish, soulless scumbag.
I saw right through him now.
If he wanted his tragic romance so badly, he could have it.
Kaelen scoffed. "It's just a hackathon. It's pointless."
He walked out the door without looking back.
Around the staging area, several elite coders stared at him like he was insane. This was Stanford's most ruthless hackathon. Win or lose, just finishing the sprint was enough to gold-plate a resume.
"Go ahead. Good luck," I murmured as the door swung shut. I exhaled, feeling oddly relieved.
My biggest liability had just eliminated himself. He took his love and left me with the victory, plus the cheat codes to the future. I just hoped he wouldn't regret it.
Six hours later.
I ran the entire codebase solo. The moment my pitch ended and the top score flashed across the main screen, the partner from Sequoia Capital led the standing ovation.
My mentor walked up to the stage. He glanced at the full-ride commitment letter, then frowned. "Maeve, where is Kaelen?"
"He left ten minutes before kickoff," I replied flatly. "Went to Malibu to help his girlfriend shoot a TikTok."
That night, back home, I drafted a high-yield options spreadsheet based entirely on the intel I'd pulled from Kaelen's internal monologue.
At the dinner table, I slid the Stanford direct admission offer over to my parents.
"Mom, Dad," I said, slicing into my steak. "I'd like to cash in on that reward you promised."
My dad beamed with pride. "Of course. Ten wishes, even. Are we talking a new car, or a vacation?"
"I want to leverage our idle funds," I said, meeting his eyes. "I want to combine my living allowance with the prize money and put it into a short-term investment."
They agreed without hesitation. I was an only child, and with a Stanford championship backing my judgment, they trusted my financial moves implicitly. Their only condition was not to touch anything illegal.
My first tranches of seed capital were ready to deploy.
I had just stepped out of the shower when a massive crash rattled the walls from Kaelen's house next door, followed instantly by the sharp shattering of glass.
I walked to the window and peeled back a slat of the blinds.
Their living room was lit up. Kaelen's mother was slumped on the floor, trembling, while his dad stood over her, his face dark with rage.
"How could you walk out ten minutes before a competition!" his father roared. "What do you think your future is? A joke?"
Kaelen stood amidst the wreckage, looking defiant. "Degrees are useless pieces of paper! I'm about to make you enough money to buy ten Stanfords!"
"Was it Sloane? Did that TikTok gold-digger put you up to this?" his mother shrieked. "Why does she get to drag you down with her!"
Last Chapters
You Might Like 😍
Bride To The Werewolf King
Filled, Owned, and Fucked by My Best Friend’s Father
He was supposed to be off-limits. Untouchable. The kind of man you only fantasize about when you’re alone in the dark with your hand between your thighs.
But the night I caught him eating another woman alive by the pool, I couldn’t look away.
And he knew it.
The moment his dark eyes locked on mine through the glass, I became prey. His filthy smirk promised one thing—he saw me touching myself to him, and he wasn’t about to let me forget it.
Now, every time I’m in his house, I can’t breathe without thinking of his mouth between my legs.
I left my cheating boyfriend behind, only to fall into something even more dangerous:
a man who could ruin me, break me, and make me beg for his cock while his own daughter sleeps in the next room.
He’s too old. Too powerful. Too forbidden.
But Gianni doesn’t ask—he takes.
And I don’t want him to stop.
Luna On The Run- I stole The Alpha's Sons
But Axton is more than just a rival, he's her fated mate. And he's been searching for her not for love, but for revenge and a chance to destroy her father's pack. The next morning, Elena rejects him, walking away before he can trap her in his ruthless schemes.
But Axton does not take rejection lightly, and his retaliation is brutal: a leaked video, a ruined reputation, and a family that turns their backs on her drive her to flee the city in disgrace.
But when Elena disappears, she takes something Alpha Axton never planned to lose - his sons. Now, he'll stop at nothing to get them back. He wants his heirs, he wants his mate, and Elena will learn that no one runs from the Alpha.
The Mafia King's Unknown Doctor Wife
Ex-Wife, Current Wife
For three years, she lived in the shadow of a loveless marriage. She was the woman everyone loved to hate, the one who supposedly "stole" him from his first love. She endured his cold indifference, raised their son—who struggles with a speech impediment—in silence, and traded her own brilliant career for the thankless role of a trophy wife.
But when his long-lost love returns, she is unceremoniously pushed aside to make room for the "real" family.
Enough was enough.
After he publicly humiliates her and chooses the mistress’s daughter over his own son during a birthday party, something inside her finally snaps. She doesn't just want out of the marriage; she wants her life back. With a secret talent for design and a newfound resolve, she walks away from the gilded cage of his estate.
But as she rises from the ashes of her failed marriage to reclaim her status as a top-tier designer, he realizes the woman he treated as a disposable pawn was the only one who truly held his world together.
Now, the woman who once begged for his attention is no longer looking back. Will he be able to earn her forgiveness, or is he finally too late?
Tempted By The Enemy
She escapes to Preston Island to attend the wedding without informing him only to collide with Lucas’s hot, fiery and arrogant brother, the twenty-three-year-old, Nicholas Donnelly. Sparks immediately fly between them but Alyssa refuses to acknowledge them fearing her brother's wrath.
The wedding is over and Alyssa tries hard to forget the mysterious Nicholas Donnelly but can he forget her? Can he ignore the attraction he feels for her, feelings that have resurfaced after ten years?
What will Allyssa do when she is stalked by the man who has been invading her dreams since the day she met him? What will she do when she is whisked away to a deserted island by the unpredictable Nicholas Donnelly? Can she tame her heart or surrender to sinful temptations? Read to find out!
Part of the Temptation Series. Can be read as a standalone.
Let Them Kneel
Cast out by her pack. Forgotten by the Lycans.
She lived among humans—quiet, invisible, tucked away in a town no one looked at twice.
But when her first heat comes without warning, everything changes.
Her body ignites. Her instincts scream. And something primal stirs beneath her skin—
summoning a big, bad Alpha who knows exactly how to quench her fire.
When he claims her, it’s ecstasy and ruin.
For the first time, she believes she’s been accepted.
Seen.
Chosen.
Until he leaves her the next morning—
like a secret never to be spoken.
But Kaelani is not what they thought.
Not wolfless. Not weak.
There is something ancient inside her. Something powerful. And it’s waking.
And when it does—
they’ll all remember the girl they tried to erase.
Especially him.
She’ll be the dream he keeps chasing… the one thing that ever made him feel alive.
Because secrets never stay buried.
And neither do dreams.
The Family Books 1-3 (A Mafia romance)
The saint to my sinner. with her innocent eyes and devilish curves.
A Madonna that was meant to be admired but never touched.
Until someone took that innocence from her.
She left.
The darkness in my heart was finally complete.
I avenged her, I killed for her, but she never came back.
Until I saw her again. An angel dancing around a pole for money.
She didn’t know I owned that club. She didn’t know I was watching.
This time I won’t let her escape.
I will make her back into the girl I knew.
Whether she likes it or not.
2/ Judge and Jury- I can’t stop watching her.
I’m not even sure I want to.
Taylor Lawson, blonde, beautiful, and totally oblivious to how much dangers she’s in.
She’s also the one juror in my upcoming murder trial that hasn’t been bought.
The one who can put me behind bars for a very long time.
I know I should execute her.
After all that’s what I do.
I am the Judge.
I eliminate threats to The Family.
And Taylor is a threat.
But I don’t want to kill her.
Possessing her, making her love me seems like a much better plan for this particular Juror.
3/ Rags and Ritches-
The Lycan Kings and the White Wolf.
Letters to a Dark Prince
Thrown into Isteros Academy—a world of old money, blood money, and cruel social games—she's an outsider by birth and an afterthought by design. Her sister Solyn is the school's untouchable queen and Mara is her favorite target.
Everyone expects Atreus to treat his fiancée’s scholarship sister like everyone else does—as if she doesn’t matter.
Instead, his dorm room sits directly across from hers, close enough that she can see his light go out at night. Some nights, he climbs the old maintenance trellis just to check on her. He teaches her chess. He shows up exactly when something's gone wrong—and never once asks to be thanked for it.
"Don't fall in love with one piece," he warns her, over a board neither of them treats like a game anymore. "It punishes the person who only sees half of it."
Mara doesn't understand why the boy who's supposed to make her life harder keeps quietly making it easier—not until she realizes the anonymous stranger she's been writing to every week already has a name.
His.
He doesn't know he's writing to her, either.
By the time they find out, it's too late to stop what's already happening. Far too dangerous for anyone to find out.
In an empty studio, in the middle of a rainstorm, she asks him: 'Am I the kind of girl who kisses a boy engaged to my sister?'
He doesn't answer.
So she asks: 'What are we?’
He told her not to fall in love with one piece.
She fell anyway.
And he was never far behind.
The Billionaire's Surrogate's Secret
“Who said that’s still fucking true? We stopped being just man and surrogate the first time our eyes met.” He walked towards me, boring into my eyes with those eyes of his. “I fucking want you, Vanessa.”
My heart stuttered.
This could not be real.
“But the rules—“
“I made them. I can destroy them. I already destroyed them when I kissed you.” He was dangerously close now, but all I kept getting was danger signals combined with the panic, alarm, lust and above all, the guilt.
It was killing me.
Vanessa Sterling who never liked men because of what her father did to her mother ended up having a drunken one night stand with a stranger and that might end up changing her life forever.
Rodri Darnell who doesn’t want to get married or have kids but is forced to give his father a grand child, decided to use a surrogate.
Vanessa Sterling was supposed to be an ordinary surrogate to Rodri Darnell of the Dolphin Emirates, but he fell in love with her.
Their only problem will be Vanessa's secret.
Tango 2 the Alpha's Heart
My gaze snapped to his. He was smiling, causing my heart to skip a painful beat. Before I could respond, the music began, and my body instinctively reacted to the sweet melody.
I found myself molded to Lex's will, my feet irresistibly following the dance steps.
The crowd gasped as Lex pulled me into a more intimate position, his hands roaming over my body in a seductive manner.
The experience was both terrifying and magical, allowing me to feel every longing emotion through the dance.
I soon found myself lost in his arms.
When the music finally stopped, my arms were wrapped around his neck, his hands resting on my back, our noses almost touching. He gazed deeply into my eyes.
The ballroom fell silent.
Was he about to kiss me?
Lilly’s life was never easy; she lost her memory and family in a blazing fire. Angelica found and took her in—only to make her a slave to the household.
Years of torment and abuse left Lilly weak, vulnerable, and believing she was without a wolf, but that didn't mean that all hope was lost.
At night, in her dreams, he would patiently wait for her—the man who brought sunshine into her darkest moments.
They would dance the night away, but as dawn approached, he would vanish into the morning sun.
Lilly had given up hope of finding a mate, having a family, and leading a normal life.
But things are about to drastically change for her...
Secrets, lies, betrayal... and a baby on the way.
What if Lilly wasn't wolf-less? What if it was all a lie?
What if she had a living family? Would she stay and bond with them or make a run for freedom?
