Too Late: She Chose The Billionaire Heir

"She’s just like a sister to me, Eliana. You’re being dramatic."

That was Jax’s excuse every time he chose Catalina over me for three years.

When Catalina staged a fake drowning in three feet of water, he pushed me aside to save her, telling me my life wasn't his problem.

But the breaking point came when she deliberately pushed me down a flight of stairs.

My ankle shattered on the concrete. I was lying there in agony, unable to move.

Yet, Jax didn't check on me.

He stepped over my bleeding body to scoop Catalina up because she had a minor scratch on her elbow.

He screamed at me for "hurting" her.

While I lay in the hospital alone, waiting for surgery, he was spoon-feeding her soup in her dorm, posting photos captioned "My Hero."

He thought I would always be his "Elie Bear," the doormat waiting at home to clean up his messes.

He was convinced that no matter how much he hurt me, I would never actually leave.

But he was wrong.

I didn't scream. I didn't fight.

I simply signed the withdrawal papers, blocked his number, and boarded a one-way flight to New York without saying goodbye.

Three months later, when Jax finally realized his "sister" was a nightmare and came crawling back to beg for forgiveness, he found me.

But I wasn't alone.

I was holding the hand of a billionaire heir who looked at Jax with cold, deadly eyes.

"Touch her again," my new fiancé whispered, "and I will destroy your entire family by morning."

Chapter 1

The splash shattered the curated perfection of the pool party—a violent intrusion—yet it paled in comparison to the brutality of the words that followed.

Catalina had fallen into the water. It was a performance, a clumsy pirouette of limbs that anyone with eyes could identify as staged, her gaze locked onto Jax the entire way down. But Jax didn't see the performance. He only saw the damsel.

He didn't hesitate. He didn't glance my way. He launched himself into the pool, creating a second wave that sent cold, chlorinated water slapping against my legs.

I stood frozen on the concrete, the memory of our agreement clawing at my throat. Just yesterday, he had promised me.

"If she causes one more scene, Eliana, I'm done. I promise."

He surfaced, gasping, clutching a coughing Catalina against his chest as if she were fragile porcelain. He swam her to the edge, right to my feet.

"Jax," I whispered, my voice fracturing. "You promised."

He looked up then, water dripping from his dark hair, his eyes hard and unfamiliar. He didn't see his girlfriend of three years standing there. He saw an obstacle.

"Not now, Eliana," he snapped, hoisting Catalina onto the deck. "Your life is not my problem right now."

The air left my lungs.

It wasn't just a rejection. It was an eviction notice from his life.

I stood there, shivering in the heat of the afternoon sun. My heart felt compressed by a giant, icy hand. Around us, the music kept playing, people kept laughing, but the world had gone silent for me.

I watched them. He was wrapping a towel around her, rubbing her arms, whispering things into her ear that made her sob harder into his neck. Then, she looked over his shoulder at me.

Her eyes were dry. There was no fear in them, only a cold, triumphant smirk.

I didn't scream. I didn't cry. A strange, terrifying calm washed over me—the silence of a building that had finally finished collapsing.

*Elie Bear.*

The nickname echoed in my head, a ghost from our childhood. That’s what he used to call me when he wanted me to do something.

*Trust me, Elie Bear. I know what's best.*

It was how he conditioned me. How he trained me to accept the scraps of his affection, to believe that every betrayal was just a misunderstanding, that every time he chose her, it was an exception.

He always said, "Next time will be different."

But there was no next time.

I turned. My legs felt heavy, dragging through invisible wet cement, but I moved. I walked away from the pool, away from the eyes of our friends who were pretending not to stare, away from the boy who had just told me exactly what I was worth.

I didn't go to him. I didn't offer a towel. I just kept walking until I reached the parking lot.

Driving home was a blur. I didn't feel the steering wheel under my hands. I felt... excavated. Hollow.

When I got to my room, the silence was deafening. I sat at my desk, my hands shaking as I pulled out the folder I had hidden under a stack of textbooks.

The UCLA application packet.

For months, I had hesitated. Jax wanted us to go to the local state college together. He wanted me close. He wanted his "Elie Bear" right where he could reach her.

I looked at the acceptance letter. It was a ticket to a life where I didn't have to compete for air.

Outside, the sky opened up. Rain lashed against the window, mimicking the storm that should have been raging inside me, but wasn't. I was done raging.

I picked up my phone. My fingers hovered over his name.

"I am not your Elie Bear."

I hit send.

I stared at the screen for a moment, waiting for the regret to hit. It didn't.

I put the phone down and looked at the State College enrollment form lying next to my acceptance letter. Jax thought my life was wrapped around his finger. He thought I would be there when he got home, ready to listen to his excuses, ready to believe that Catalina just slipped.

Slowly, deliberately, I tore the State form in half.

Then I tore it again. And again. Until the future he thought we were going to have was nothing but confetti on the floor.

My phone buzzed. A text from Mason, Jax's best friend.

"Jax says you're being dramatic again. He's driving Cat home. Don't wait up."

I looked at the pile of torn paper. I wasn't waiting up. I wasn't waiting at all.