The Rejected Billionaire Bride

Odette’s Point Of View.

I am Odette Langford, daughter of the most powerful business tycoon in the city.

In my twenty-six years on earth, I have been trained to be tough, just like my father.

Today, my father sent for me and as I walked down the hallway, I wonder what might be the reason behind his impromptu call.

I never liked my father’s study.

It was a place where people went in with their own ideas and left agreeing to his. A room filled with the scent of aged whiskey, expensive cigars, and the suffocating presence of absolute authority.

The walls were lined with books he never read, decorative pieces meant to intimidate, and a single large window overlooking the vast city skyline. Everything about this room screamed power and control. But tonight, he would not control me.

I walked in and stood before his massive oak desk, my arms crossed tightly over my chest, my nails digging into my skin as I tried to contain the rage boiling beneath the surface.

Graham Langford sat behind his desk like a king on his throne. Tall and broad-shouldered, with sharp gray eyes that saw everyone as a pawn and a presence that commanded submission, my father was a man who always got what he wanted.

His black tailored suit was immaculate, his silver cufflinks gleaming under the dim golden light. He looked every bit the untouchable mogul he had built himself to be. And right now, he was looking at me as if I were his next business deal to finalize.

"You will marry Callum Hayes," he announced, his voice calm, calculated.

The words landed like a slap.

For a moment, I thought I had misheard him. But when he continued reading through the papers on his desk as if he had just announced the weather, something inside me snapped.

"Excuse me?" My voice came out sharper than I intended.

"You heard me," he repeated, not even looking up. "The wedding is already in discussion. Hayes Industries is under silent attack, their stock is plummeting, and Callum needs a strong, stable partner to solidify his position. This union will be mutually beneficial."

Mutually beneficial.

As if I were some asset to be traded.

I let out a sharp, humorless laugh. "Beneficial? For whom? Because it sure as hell isn’t for me."

My father finally lifted his gaze, his cold gray eyes locking onto mine with the same indifference he used on his business competitors. "You are my daughter, Odette. Your duty is to uphold this family’s name. You will marry Callum, and that is final."

I could feel the blood pounding in my ears. The nerve of this man.

"I am not some chess piece for you to move around," I snapped.

"You are whatever I need you to be," he corrected smoothly.

I gritted my teeth so hard my jaw ached.

"No," I said firmly. "Absolutely not."

His gaze darkened. "You’re being emotional, that’s beneath you."

I took a step closer, hands braced on his desk as I leaned in. "You want me to marry the man who publicly humiliated me? Who broke off our engagement in front of the entire world and left me to be mocked, gossiped about, and treated like a discarded toy?"

"Callum made a mistake," he said dismissively. "And now, he’s willing to correct it."

I scoffed, "Oh, how noble of him," I sneered, my voice dripping with sarcasm. "Forgive me if I don’t feel honored."

His fingers steepled together as he regarded me. "This is not about honor, Odette. This is about power, and I will not let you throw yours away over some petty grudge."

"Grudge?" I echoed, feeling my anger rise to dangerous levels. "He destroyed my reputation. Do you have any idea what it was like to have my name dragged through the mud? To be humiliated on every social platform, to have every reporter ask me how it feels to be Callum Hayes’ rejected bride?"

"Yes," my father said without hesitation. "And yet, you survived."

I let out a shaky breath, my hands trembling from how tightly I was clenching my fists.

He wasn’t listening, of course he wasn’t.

To him, emotions were just inconveniences, things to be ignored and pushed aside.

"Find someone else to sell off," I said, my voice low, threatening. "Because I will never marry Callum Hayes."

The moment the words left my lips, I saw something change in his expression. The calculated businessman vanished, and in his place was something colder.

"Then be prepared to lose everything."

The room felt smaller, as if the walls had just closed in on me.

I swallowed. "What?"

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk. "Your accounts, your company shares, your position in Langford Enterprises. Your inheritance, all of it." His voice was even, too calm, as if he were discussing the weather. But then came the final blow. "Including your mother’s foundation."

My heart stopped, he wouldn’t do that.

"You wouldn’t dare," I whispered.

His lips curled slightly, a smirk, a victorious one. "The Langford Foundation was my wife’s passion project," he said smoothly. "But you? You are nothing without me, Odette, without this family’s name. I can strip you of everything, and the world will watch as you fade into irrelevance."

I felt like I had been punched in the stomach.

The Langford Foundation was my mother’s legacy. The one thing I had fought to keep alive after her death, and he was threatening to take it away. This wasn’t a request. It was blackmail.

"You are a monster," I whispered, my throat tight with fury.

He merely lifted his glass of whiskey, taking a slow sip. "I’m a businessman."

Silence filled the room, thick and suffocating. I wanted to throw something, scream, fight back with everything I had. But no matter how much I clawed for a way out, I couldn’t see one, because if I refused, my mother’s life’s work would be erased.

I was trapped.

My father must have seen the resignation in my eyes because his smirk widened ever so slightly.

"Good girl," he said.

I clenched my fists, nails digging into my palms.

How dare he?

I forced my spine straight, tilting my chin up, swallowing the rage and helplessness clawing at my chest.

"Fine," I said coldly, each word like a blade slicing through me. "I’ll marry Callum."

He gave a satisfied nod, like a king granting mercy to a subject. "I knew you’d see reason."

I turned on my heel and walked out before my anger consumed me.

My heart was racing as I couldn't believe what I just agreed on.

Cullum? That arrogant jerk!

Oh goodness Odette! What's happening?

My head was spinning as I walked into my room and shut the door, memories of the night Cullum rejected and humiliated me five years ago began to resurface.

"Argh!" I screamed in anger as I picked up a vase and tossed it to the wall and I watched it break into pieces.

That night, as I sat in my room, staring at the framed photo of my mother, my chest ached.

I had spent my entire life refusing to be controlled.

But tonight, I had lost, and I hated it.

My fingers brushed over the glass, over the image of the woman who had been everything to me.

"I may be walking into this marriage," I whispered, my voice filled with quiet fury, "but I will not come out of it a victim, never!"

Callum’s Point Of View.

Power was everything.

It built empires, crushed enemies, and ensured that no one had the strength to challenge you.

I had spent my entire life constructing an empire that could not be touched, yet now, someone was trying to ruin it.

I stared out at the sprawling skyline of the city from my penthouse, the glass walls reflecting a man who was always in control.

Tall, composed, dressed in a perfectly tailored charcoal suit that fit like a second skin. Nothing about me was out of place. But beneath the surface, something simmered. Hayes Industries was under quiet attack.

The signs were subtle, stock fluctuations, investors pulling back at just the right moments, whispers of a hostile takeover.

Whoever was behind it was patient, careful, smart, but not smart enough. I wasn’t a man who let things slide. The moment I found out who was behind it, I would burn their empire to the ground.

A quiet sigh from behind me broke