I Was the Wrong Girl in His Bed, Now I Own His Empire Chapter 03

I Was the Wrong Girl in His Bed, Now I Own His Empire Chapter 03

“So what’s Bryson trying to do here? Cast you on the couch?”

Vera drove with one hand while flipping over the black-and-gold card in the other.

The neon lights outside the window blurred past rapidly, but the longer she stared at the card, the stranger her expression became.

“Wait… this isn’t some kind of room key, is it?”

Room key.

The words pierced straight through me like a needle.

Almost instantly, my mind flashed back to that night six years ago.

The top-floor penthouse.

Rain crashing violently against the windows outside.

Bryson gripping my waist, pinning me against the freezing glass.

His burning breath brushed against my ear, low and dangerous, while I drowned myself in that mistake like I’d lost my mind.

I’d thought I would never remember that night again for the rest of my life.

Yet after all these years, the thing Bryson handed me…

was still a “room key.”

I lowered my eyes, suppressing the emotions surging wildly in my chest.

“That doesn’t make sense though.” Vera frowned suddenly. “Bryson Ventresca is famous for not touching women.”

“Last year, an international award-winning actress tried getting close to him. The next day, all her resources disappeared. Rumor says the Ventresca family personally blacklisted her.”

“And a few influencers who tried sleeping their way to the top got erased from the industry completely.”

The more she talked, the more absurd it sounded to her.

“So why the hell did he give you a card?”

Vera suddenly turned toward me sharply.

“Tell me honestly. Did something happen between you two before?”

I tugged at the corner of my lips into a smile so forced even I could feel it.

“How’s that possible? You’ve seen my old pictures before I debuted.” I laughed lightly. “I was fat as hell. A guy like Bryson would never look twice at someone like me.”

Apparently, the excuse was convincing enough.

Vera nodded thoughtfully.

“True. Back then, you really were the type to disappear in a crowd. Who would’ve thought you’d lose the weight and end up looking this good on camera?”

I smiled absentmindedly.

But she was wrong.

Back then, I wasn’t unnoticed. If anything, I was infamous.

For two entire years, my name had been tied to Bryson Ventresca’s.

To the point where he’d once hated me for it.

In the fall of sophomore year, Bryson transferred from New York to Boston.

On the very first day he arrived on campus, the entire school exploded.

Rumor had it Bryson’s father managed the Ventresca family’s underground trade routes in Europe, while his mother came from an old-money European dynasty.

A real mafia prince.

There was even a rumor floating around campus that on Bryson’s eighteenth birthday, his coming-of-age gift had been a Beretta that had actually been fired before.

Nobody knew whether it was true.

But nobody dared mess with him either.

That part was definitely real.

Bryson was always surrounded by bodyguards in black suits. Even the principal treated him with extreme courtesy.

And Bryson himself was even more dazzling than the rumors.

One casual shot on the ice rink was enough to make the entire arena scream.

It was like he’d been born to stand in the center of attention.

Like most girls, I fell for Bryson the very first time I saw him.

But back then, because of long-term hormone medication, my weight had climbed to over one hundred and fifty pounds.

Other girls could stand by the rink and scream his name without shame.

Meanwhile, I only dared sit hidden in the corner of the stands, secretly watching the boy on the ice who shone so brightly it almost hurt to look at him.

Other girls stuffed love letters into his locker.

I didn’t even dare get close.

Every time he walked past my seat, I only lowered my head and stole glances at his back from the corner of my eye.

Then I quietly poured all those hidden feelings into my diary.

Originally, it had only been a silent crush nobody knew about.

Quiet.

Pathetic.

But beautiful enough.

Until that afternoon.

The second I walked into the cafeteria, loud laughter exploded inside.

“Bryson, I don’t even know why I like you this much…”

“I’ve never even spoken to you before. I only dared look at you secretly…”

My footsteps froze instantly.

A group of boys crowded around the back tables, and the one leading them, the same guy who always loved bullying me, was holding my diary while reading it out loud in an exaggerated voice.

“Holy shit, Jasmine, you’ve got guts. You seriously had a crush on Bryson?”

The cafeteria burst into laughter.

My face turned deathly pale.

I rushed forward trying to snatch the diary back, but the guy only grinned and held it higher above my reach.

Then, the next second, he tossed the diary straight onto Bryson’s table.

“Bryson, interview time. How’s it feel getting crushed on by a fat girl?”

The cafeteria instantly went silent.

Every eye landed on Bryson.

I bit my lip so hard it almost bled. Tears already burned in my eyes.

Bryson sat at the very back row.

After a few seconds of silence, he set down his burger, picked up the diary, and walked toward me.

At that moment, my heart nearly stopped beating.

Bryson stopped in front of me.

He lowered his eyes to look at me. There wasn’t much emotion in those dark eyes.

“Thank you,” he said quietly. “But don’t write anymore after this.”

In that instant, it felt like my self-respect had been ripped apart in public.

Shaking, I took the diary back from him.

My throat felt completely blocked.

“Okay… I understand.”

The tears finally spilled over. I lowered my head and shoved the diary into my backpack.

But just then, Bryson suddenly spoke again behind me.

“And one more thing.”

I looked up blankly.

“Didn’t you write in your diary that you’d never spoken to me before?”

He looked at me, the corner of his lips lifting ever so slightly.

“Well.”

“Now you have.”