Adira's POV
London.
Ten years ago, I was a scared fifteen-year-old girl who hid behind her books and her best friend. Today, I walked into the glass-walled boardroom of The Study Spot Group my company, my empire and every head turned.
Once, I used to pray someone would notice me. Now, people fell silent when I entered.
"Good morning, Ms. Williams," my assistant said, sliding a tablet into my hand.
I nodded. "Morning. Let's begin."
Around me, investors, directors, and partners from across Europe leaned forward. They wanted to hear the woman who had built a simple café idea into a multi-million-pound chain across London, Manchester, and Birmingham with whispers of expansion into Paris and Lagos.
The presentation flowed out of me with ease. Numbers, growth charts, strategy. But it wasn't just about money. It was about the vision. About creating spaces where ambition could thrive. I watched hardened business tycoons nod along, impressed.
When I finished, the room broke into applause.
I stood there, shoulders squared, smile calm, and for a moment, I let myself feel it. I had done it. I had become the woman I used to dream of strong, respected, untouchable.
But outside of boardrooms, life wasn't as polished.
I still went home to quiet apartments, still woke some nights with the echo of Ashley's insults or my mother's slap. Ashley herself had drifted back into my orbit now and then — always trying, always failing to keep up. My parents boasted about me publicly but remained strangers privately.
And sometimes, when I was alone, I thought of him.
Jayden.
The boy who had once told me he'd find me when the time was right. The boy whose eyes had burned with a promise in a hotel lobby years ago.
I shook the thought away and signed the last set of papers. Dreams were for children. I didn't have time for them anymore.
I was Adira Williams CEO of a multi-million-pounds company.
And nothing, not even the ghosts of my past, could touch me now.