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
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A PRINCESS IN DISGUISE; BOUND TO THE ENEMY KING
I fell to my knees, the cold marble digging into my skin. I had studied for years in the flickering candlelight, memorizing every herb and poison to pass the healer's exam. I wanted freedom. I wanted to save my mother from the servant's quarters. I placed second. I thought I had won my life back.
But the King didn't give me a badge of honor. He gave me a death sentence.
"Raven Thorne shall be wed to the King of Grok," he announced, his voice echoing in the silent hall. Princess Ellie, the woman who had tormented me for years, slapped her hands over her mouth to hide her cruel laughter. She was supposed to marry the Beast. Now, I was the lamb being sent to the slaughter in her place.
They say King Liam drinks the blood of his enemies. They say he is more monster than man. And now, I have to walk into his bedroom, wearing the Princess's silk gown, and pray he doesn't tear me apart.
I looked at the King, tears streaming down my face. "I'll do it," I whispered, my voice trembling. "But my mother must be safe."
I sold my body and soul to a monster to save her. But when the carriage door opened and I finally looked into the Beast's golden eyes, I realized the terrifying truth...
He wasn't a stranger. He was the man I met in the woods.
First Taste in a Century
But Lysander’s arrival spells disaster. In a clumsy accident, he doesn't just ruin dinner; he obliterates her state-of-the-art scientific instruments. With her life’s work destroyed and her synthetic supply cut off, the scent of his living blood overwhelms her engineered senses. Forced to break a century-long abstinence, she takes what she needs, only to find herself addicted not just to his taste, but to the man himself.
Using the equipment as a flimsy excuse to lure him back, Vivienne battles a terrifying new obsession. She craves his body despite believing he’s taken, despising her own weakness. Meanwhile, Lysander’s initial terror curdles into a forbidden fascination. Can a relationship survive when one person feels everything, and the other only hungers?
Accidentally Crossing the Tycoon
Four years ago, the Bailey family faced a devastating financial crisis.
Just when bankruptcy seemed inevitable, a mysterious benefactor emerged, offering salvation with one condition: a contract marriage.
Rumors swirled about this enigmatic man—whispers claimed he was hideously ugly and too ashamed to show his face, possibly harboring dark, twisted obsessions.
Without hesitation, the Baileys sacrificed me to protect their precious biological daughter, forcing me to take her place as a pawn in this cold, calculated arrangement.
Luckily, in those four years, the mysterious husband never asked to meet in person.
Now, in the final year of our arrangement, the husband I've never met is demanding we meet face to face.
But disaster struck the night before my return—drunk and disoriented, I stumbled into the wrong hotel room and ended up sleeping with the legendary financial mogul, Caspar Thornton.
What the hell am I supposed to do now?
Mated to Her Alpha Instructor
Weeks later, our new Alpha combat instructor walks in. Regis. The guy from the woods. His eyes lock on mine, and I know he recognizes me. Then the secret I've been hiding hits me like a punch: I'm pregnant.
He has an offer that binds us tighter than ever. Protection… or a cage? Whispers turn ugly, darkness closes in. Why am I the one without a wolf? Is he my salvation… or will he drag me to ruin?
Bella and Her Beast
.
Locked in her frozen tower, Bella dreamed of warmth, of touch, of freedom and of love. Cursed with the power of ice and snow, she’s spent her life alone. A secret they tried to protect the world from. Her only escape comes in the form of the books she reads. Stories of heat, desire, and the kind of love that could melt even her frostbitten heart.
Damien is the Beast. A dragon King with a temper forged in flame and a soul hollowed by duty. The world fears him. The people call him a monster. But beneath the scales and the rage lies a man who has never been touched by love.
When frost meets fire, the world shatters. She was never meant to leave her tower. He was never meant to find her. But destiny doesn’t bow to kings or care for cages and now the question burns through them both: Can Bella have her Beast? Or will the girl of snow melt in the heat of his desire?
.
"I’m keeping her."
"What?"
Before I can react, he scoops her up. Her small body fits easily in the cradle of his talons. For a split second, she looks startled, but not afraid. Her hand rests against one scaled finger, and she stares up at him with that same curious wonder, as though she’s already forgotten she was ever meant to fear me.
"Put her down," I try to command, panic threading through my thoughts. "You’ll hurt her."
"She’s ours," the beast insists, possessive and fierce. "Our snowflake."
The Spy Who Left
"I still can't believe she actually did it. Aria Hart, filing for divorce. Who saw that coming?"
"How long do we think it'll take before she comes crawling back?" Another voice joins the conversation.
"Three days," Victoria declares. "Five at most. She has no money, no skills, no family. Where's she going to go?"
When Aria Chen divorced billionaire Leon Hart, New York's elite sneered, betting she'd crawl back within days. She never did.
Three years later, the world is rocked when Dr. Aria Vale, CEO of a revolutionary cybersecurity empire, steps into the spotlight. The mysterious genius who built a billion-dollar company from nothing is none other than Leon's discarded wife, the woman everyone thought was just a pretty ornament.
Now, every powerful man wants the queen Leon threw away a renowned scientist seeking partnership, a financial titan proposing an empire, and an actor offering devotion. Each sees the brilliance Leon ignored.
Then Leon discovers the truth: Aria's sacrifices, her secret double life, and the daughter she's been raising without him. For the first time, the man who once took her for granted must fight for her love. But can he compete with men who valued her from the beginning?
A story of love, betrayal, and power where the king must kneel before the queen who never needed saving.
Human Capture (Up North #2)
Raised in a starving settlement choked by a vast, unforgiving forest, Lara learned early that survival has a price. To keep her family alive, she became a master hunter—agile, silent, and deadly with an array of mismatched blades. But the forest has eyes, and one evening, the shadows dragged her away.
Nine months later, Lara breaks free from a concrete dungeon, only to find herself stranded in the lawless, rogue-infested wilds of Avers Land alongside four captured werewolf girls. Seeking refuge in the neighboring territory of Illyen, she expects to find a way back to her human life. Instead, she is brought face-to-face with Alpha Rowan, the terrifying, ruthless ruler of the frozen North.
One look into Lara’s eyes, and the Alpha’s world shatters. His eyes turn an absolute shade of black. The bond is undeniable. She is his fated mate.
But a human cannot survive the brutal political landscape of the North, and Rowan openly rejects the bond, dragging her onto a warship bound for a kingdom that views her as a fragile liability. Trapped between a mate who refuses to love her and a court of monsters waiting for her to break, Lara must use every hunter's instinct she possesses. Because in the realm of wolves, a human must either grow claws of her own—or perish in the snow.
Reborn: My Biased Brothers Beg Me To Come Back
She genuinely took in Regina, the butler's daughter, only to be constantly manipulated by this cunning and manipulative woman.
Regina gradually stole the love from her three brothers.
Arabella was forced to give Regina blood transfusions time and again, her weight plummeting to a mere eighty-eight pounds.
Ultimately, under the relentless pressure from her brothers, she jumped out of a window in despair and died. Her last words were,
"What about Regina's blood transfusions?"
When she opened her eyes again, Arabella found herself reborn three years earlier—the very day Regina appeared at her doorstep crying, begging for help.
Looking at the pitiful, tearful girl before her, Arabella smiled.
No more soft-heartedness.
No more groveling.
Instead, she "kindly" arranged for Regina to move into the servants' quarters, to earn her own living through honest labor.
Faced with her brothers who sided with her, she no longer bothered to please them.
And towards her former fiancé, Theodore, whom she had once fawned over, she remained cold, distant, and indifferent.
Moreover, in this life, they would discover that her identity was far more than just the eldest daughter of the Oberon family.
Tango with the Alpha's Heart
“He met her at the Alpha training camp,” he said. “She is a perfect suitor for him. It snowed last night, indicating that his wolf is happy with his choice.”
My heart sank, and tears made their way down my cheeks.
Alexander took my innocence last night, and now he is taking that thing in his office as his Luna.
Emily became the laughingstock of the pack on her 18th birthday and never expected the Alpha's son to be her mate.
After a night of passionate love, Emily finds out that her mate has taken a chosen mate. Heartbroken and humiliated, she disappears from the pack.
Now, five years later, Emily is a respected high-ranking warrior in King Alpha’s army.
When her best friend invites her to a night of music and laughter, she never expects to run into her mate.
Will her mate figure out it is her?
Will he chase after her, and most of all, will Emily be able to keep her secrets safe?
Twin Prince Alphas Student Mate
As her 18th birthday approaches, her brothers warn her about the powerful pull she might feel toward dominant wolves. But it's not just any wolves they need to worry about—it's her teachers. Cameron and Samuel are more than just older, wiser, and off-limits; they might just be her fated mates.
While navigating complex relationships, academic pressures, and the normal trials of young adult life, an unexpected threat jeopardizes the academy. Explosions rock their world, forcing Lyla and her love interests into a chaotic swirl of heroism, heartbreak, and hard choices.
Will Lyla follow her heart and let destiny lead the way, or will the very rules that bind their world tear them apart? Amidst turmoil and taboo, Lyla must make choices that could forever change the course of her life and the lives of those she holds dear.
Discover a story where love isn't just complicated—it's forbidden, ageless, and defies all rules. In a world of supernatural beings and extraordinary stakes, will Lyla's love life be another casualty, or her saving grace?
The Ice Between Us.
Then comes Jax Miller.
Jax is a hotheaded rookie with a lightning-fast puck and a reputation for burning bridges. He doesn't follow playbooks, he doesn't respect authority, and he’s determined to melt Julian’s icy composure. When a viral video of their on-ice collision threatens to bankrupt the program, Coach Clain delivers an ultimatum that feels like a death sentence: they must live together in a cramped, two-bed dorm for the duration of the season.
Forced to navigate the high-stakes world of sports fame, "forbidden" locker-room tension, and the mysterious blackmailer who caught their first mistake on camera, Julian and Jax must decide what’s more dangerous: losing their careers, or losing themselves to the person they were supposed to hate.
The Princess's Revenge
Alpha Logan is an illegitimate son whose mother disappeared when he was 10 years old. He grew up suffering from humiliation and lacking maternal love.
Alpha Logan saves Valencia at Marcus's funeral, which seems to be destined by fate—part of the Moon Goddess's grand plan.
As Valencia accidentally discovers prophecies in Logan's mother's diary that seem to be related to her, the truth gradually surfaces. Valencia appears to be merely a tool in a princess's revenge plot. How will Logan and Valencia navigate their path amid the national war and pack politics?
