A Ticket to Cambridge, A Goodbye to You
Daisy Swift · Completed · 8.2k Words
Introduction
Yet, the day before we were supposed to submit our applications, I overheard him and his teammates laughing heartily:
"Man, you deserve an Oscar," one of them snickered. "You actually got the Vanderbilt heiress to drop Cambridge just by playing the victim?"
"To cause a rift with my family for me, and to serve as my shield against adversity—what a foolish heiress, impossible to shake off," Carter sneered to his friends.
"Once I drag her to Princeton, I can finally date Lily without her getting in the way."
I didn't storm in.
I quietly shredded my Princeton forms and submitted my Cambridge acceptance.
Carter seemed to have forgotten one crucial detail: without my family's money, he wasn't a tragic prince. He was just a stray dog.
Chapter 1
I gave up my dream offer to Cambridge just so I could follow my heavily bullied childhood sweetheart to Princeton.
Yet, the day before we were supposed to submit our applications, I overheard him and his teammates laughing heartily:
"Man, you deserve an Oscar," one of them snickered. "You actually got the Vanderbilt heiress to drop Cambridge just by playing the victim?"
"To cause a rift with my family for me, and to serve as my shield against adversity—what a foolish heiress, impossible to shake off," Carter sneered to his friends.
"Once I drag her to Princeton, I can finally date Lily without her getting in the way."
I didn't storm in.
I quietly shredded my Princeton forms and submitted my Cambridge acceptance.
Carter seemed to have forgotten one crucial detail: without my family's money, he wasn't a tragic prince. He was just a stray dog.
.......
Exactly a month ago, Carter had told me about being bullied for the first time.
He had stood outside my apartment building, battered and bruised, claiming his teammates had locked him in the bathrooms and beat him.
Trembling with heartache, I had practically marched off to tear them apart right then and there.
But he caught my hand, his eyes as fragile as a wounded deer's. "Bella, don't. You're the Vanderbilt heir. They wouldn't dare touch you, but they'll just take it out on me ten times worse."
Since then, it had been one incident after another. Locked in the equipment room, violently beaten, his locker stuffed with trash.
Every single time, I threw myself onto the front lines to protect him.
Last week, when that bucket of paint rained down from the shelves, I threw my own body over his without a second thought.
He had leaned against my shoulder then, his voice remarkably weak: "Bella, I can't go to Cambridge. My stepbrother and the guys will just turn it into my next hell."
Looking at the boy I had grown up with, seeing the helpless flicker in his eyes, I made my decision without a shred of hesitation: I would throw away my dream offer from Cambridge to follow him to Princeton.
For that, I got into a massive, explosive fight with my family. They couldn't comprehend why I was willing to sacrifice a dream I'd held since childhood just for Carter, yet I blindly defended my choice.
"Still, she's completely devoted to you," Bryce's voice echoed again. "Aren't you terrified she'll find out the truth and dump your ass?"
"Dump me?" Carter's voice drifted out through the heavy door, pulling me back to the present.
"She went to war with her family over Princeton, practically cutting ties with them. Do you honestly think she'd ever let me go?"
"Besides," Carter added, his voice oozing with smug satisfaction, "last week by her family's pool, she was practically begging to give up her virginity to me. I was the one who played the good guy and told her to wait. As desperate and cheap as she is, there's no way she's leaving me."
Those words were like ice-forged blades, carving into my chest one agonizing syllable at a time.
I had offered him my purest, most fiercely guarded devotion, and he treated it as a trophy. As a cheap punchline to degrade me.
"Then why not just break up with her?" Bryce asked, sounding visibly confused. "Why go to all this trouble?"
"Isabella is way too stubborn," Carter explained, impatience bleeding into his tone. "If I just dump her, she'll definitely make a messy scene, and she might even cut off the funding for my tuition."
"Honestly, it's mostly because Lily gets so anxious and insecure just being around her. Lily just transferred here on a scholarship; she needs to feel safe. So, for Lily's sake, I'll just have to tolerate Bella dragging herself to Princeton for a while."
Lily Smith.
The scholarship student who had transferred here exactly a month ago, always hiding safely behind Carter's back like a startled little rabbit.
And Carter, perfectly launched his "bullied victim" persona that exact same month.
"Tossing aside a top-tier billionaire heiress for the innocent new flower. You're a legend, Carter!" his teammates jeered.
"I mean, Lily actually makes a guy want to protect her. Not like Isabella. She's so damn cold, always acting like the untouchable heiress, walking around like we all owe her money."
Amidst the mocking laughter, Carter didn't argue. He didn't tell them to shut up.
He just silently agreed.
He was actually enjoying it.
Standing there, listening to the filth spilling from that room, my heart sank into an absolute abyss. Rage, humiliation, and a suffocating grief churned violently inside me.
I wanted to kick the door wide open.
I wanted to ask him: When you watched me get covered in paint for you, did you feel even a shred of guilt? When I went to war against my family for you, did your heart soften, even for a second? What did our dozen years together mean to you?
But at the absolute tipping point, my mother's voice elegantly cut through the chaos in my mind, cool and flawlessly composed:
"Isabella, know when to fold. You can't polish a turd."
I pulled out my phone and dialed my older brother's number.
"Brother, I'll submit my Cambridge application."
My brother's barely contained shock and joy echoed through the receiver. "Bella? God, you finally woke up! This is incredible. Don't worry about a thing over there—a very good friend of mine is heading to Cambridge too. He'll look out for you."
The moment I hung up, my phone vibrated in my palm.
It was a text from Carter: [Bella, where are you? Let's fill out the Princeton applications together. Meet me at our usual spot. Love you.]
I stared at the text.
Yes, I absolutely had an application to fill out.
But it wasn't for Princeton.
Last Chapters
You Might Like 😍
The Rogue King II
Under the weight of his grief and pain, along with of the uncertainty of the new mate bond forged between Silas and Nate, Silas decides that he needs help. The weight of being Alpha that nearly just lost his pack if his little sister hadn’t been there, Silas decides to push everything away to be a better and stronger Alpha. Using magic is father gave him, Silas loses so much more than his way.
Nate, struggling with the mate bond, what the bond means for him, has continued to fight Silas, his Alpha, his best friend, and now his mate. When their fight goes too far, both Silas and Nate must deal with the consequences. It both pulls them together and tears them apart. Eventually leading to a full break in any relationship they had ever had.
On his own, Silas has to navigate through the next chapter alone. Coming to realize his actions, the consequences, and just how much it’s going to take to repair the damage he has done.
Nate, also on his own, works through what it means to step up in more ways than one. Somehow, even after her death, Aelia is still reaching out and helping Nate navigate the world on his own. He vows to grow and step up into the wolf that she knew he could be.
Book 2 in The Rogue Kings following immediately after The Rogue Kings I - Solaris' Reign. Trigger Warnings. Rated 18+.
A pack of their own
Avery and the Cursed Alpha
Then a mysterious billionaire offers her a deal that sounds too good to be true.
Alexander Ravenswood is powerful, wealthy, and feared throughout Tenebrous City. Behind his perfect public image lies a deadly secret. He is the Alpha of the Nocturne Pack, cursed by an ancient bloodline that is slowly driving him toward madness and death. His only hope lies in finding the legendary Aethon Orb—or the prophesied mate destined to save him.
When Alex discovers that Avery can draw symbols connected to the long-lost artifact, he offers her a contract she cannot refuse: become his fake fiancée for six months in exchange for enough money to erase her debts and save her home.
What begins as a business arrangement quickly becomes something far more dangerous.
As they search for the missing Orb, Avery is drawn into a hidden world of werewolves, ancient prophecies, and deadly pack rivalries. Powerful enemies want Alex's throne. A jealous Alpha heiress wants Avery gone. And a ruthless rival Alpha will stop at nothing to claim the Orb for himself.
But the greatest secret of all may be Avery herself.
Because the closer she gets to Alex, the more impossible truths begin to surface about her past, her strange abilities, and the destiny that has been waiting for her all along.
With a curse threatening Alex's life, enemies closing in from every side, and a forbidden bond growing stronger by the day, Avery must decide whether to walk away from the dangerous Alpha who needs her—or risk everything for a love written by fate itself.
In a city where secrets kill and destiny cannot be escaped, can a fake engagement become a love powerful enough to change the future?
Bound by Fate, Freed by Choice
Her escape leads her to Alpha Rowan, the commanding leader of the Blackwood Pack, who offers shelter, protection, and an unexpected chance at a new life. But Rowan’s fierce and jealous fiancée sees Lyla as a threat, and the pack’s charming Beta is drawn to her quiet strength.
As a dangerous attraction simmers between Lyla and Rowan, they begin to unravel a dark web of secrets that implicates Kaiden and threatens both their worlds.
With her hidden power awakening, Lyla must navigate treacherous loyalties, face the alpha who shattered her, and decide: Will she follow the destiny fate forced upon her, or claim the love and strength she has chosen for herself?
Vengeance of the Forsaken Luna
"Bella." Ethan's tone shifted, taking on that warning edge I knew too well. "Faye is vulnerable right now. She's terrified you'll resent her, that this will divide the pack. The last thing she wants is for this baby to come between us."
"Then you shouldn't have done it." I met his eyes squarely, letting him see the ice in mine. "Go back to your son."
"For fuck's sake." He dragged a hand through his hair. "How many times—it was artificial insemination. They used my sperm, yes, but Faye and I never—"
Bella let out a cold snort. Such brazen lies. Her mate had an affair with his brother's partner, and his entire family helped force her out with nothing, all to make way for the mistress to take her rightful position. Poor fool—he thought she was just an unwanted adopted daughter, easy to dismiss and control. He never knew the computer genius he'd been searching for was his own Luna.
Since he'd tainted himself, Bella was done. She rejected him and reclaimed what was hers, rising to the top with help from Victor, who'd been secretly in love with her for years.
When Ethan tried winning her back: "You don't want our child growing up fatherless."
Bella smiled mockingly. "The child's father isn't you."
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.
To protect what’s mine
Rise of the Banished She-Wolf
That roar stole my eighteenth birthday and shattered my world. My first shift should have been glory—blood turned blessing into shame. By dawn they'd branded me "cursed": cast out by my pack, abandoned by family, stripped of my nature. My father didn't defend me—he sent me to a forsaken island where wolfless outcasts were forged into weapons, forced to kill each other until only one could leave.
On that island I learned the darkest edges of humanity and how to bury terror in bone. Countless times I wanted to surrender—dive into the waves and never surface—but the accusing faces that haunted my dreams pushed me back toward something colder than survival: revenge. I escaped, and for three years I hid among humans, collecting secrets, learning to move like a shadow, sharpening patience into precision—becoming a blade.
Then, under a full moon, I touched a bleeding stranger—and my wolf returned with a violence that made me whole. Who was he? Why could he wake what I'd thought dead?
One thing I know: now is the time.
I have waited three years for this. I will make everyone who destroyed me pay—and take back everything that was stolen from me.
The Game of Claiming
A drunken bet becomes their private game: win the maid.
The rules?
Don’t let the others know you’re falling for her.
And never, ever let her leave.
But each brother plays differently—
The eldest buys her obedience.
The second steals her breath.
The third corners her in the dark.
The youngest ruins anyone who touches her.
Lila isn’t sure if she’s a player in their game… or the prize they’ll destroy each other to claim
Game of Destiny
When Finlay finds her, she is living among humans. He is smitten by the stubborn wolf that refuse to acknowledge his existence. She may not be his mate, but he wants her to be a part of his pack, latent wolf or not.
Amie cant resist the Alpha that comes into her life and drags her back into pack life. Not only does she find herself happier than she has been in a long time, her wolf finally comes to her. Finlay isn't her mate, but he becomes her best friend. Together with the other top wolves in the pack, they work to create the best and strongest pack.
When it's time for the pack games, the event that decides the packs rank for the coming ten year, Amie needs to face her old pack. When she sees the man that rejected her for the first time in ten years, everything she thought she knew is turned around. Amie and Finlay need to adapt to the new reality and find a way forward for their pack. But will the curve ball split them apart?
The Shattered Moon King
Lena is a survivor. For years, she has weathered the harsh, post-apocalyptic landscape by following one rule: trust no one. But when she finds an amnesiac man near death in the wilderness—a man with kind eyes and a strength that is anything but human—she makes a choice that will unravel her solitary existence.
She calls him Cain, but the shattered-moon tattoo on his back brands him as Kaelen, the long-dead Alpha of the powerful Sky-Fall pack. His return triggers a brutal civil war with the usurper who stole his throne and his fated mate. Hunted by Lycan assassins and a fanatical human commander desperate for the secrets locked in Lena's own past, their only hope lies in embracing the very power Kaelen can't remember and Lena has always feared.
As they uncover a conspiracy that threatens not just the pack, but the future of every living thing, Kaelen must fight for a kingdom he doesn't know and Lena must confront a legacy she tried to bury. In a world of broken thrones and fated bonds, they will discover that the greatest choice is not between love and duty, but between who you are told you must be, and who you choose to become.
From Substitute To Queen
Heartbroken, Sable discovered Darrell having sex with his ex in their bed, while secretly transferring hundreds of thousands to support that woman.
Even worse was overhearing Darrell laugh to his friends: "She's useful—obedient, doesn't cause trouble, handles housework, and I can fuck her whenever I need relief. She's basically a live-in maid with benefits." He made crude thrusting gestures, sending his friends into laughter.
In despair, Sable left, reclaimed her true identity, and married her childhood neighbor—Lycan King Caelan, nine years her senior and her fated mate. Now Darrell desperately tries to win her back. How will her revenge unfold?
From substitute to queen—her revenge has just begun!
