The Enticing CEO’s Chosen Bride

Noah had many friends, and in previous years, she used to stick close to him. Whenever Noah was roped into a new group chat, Ella was inevitably there as well.

Take, for instance, the old neighborhood crew—friends from way back when, the sort who grew up on the same block and trudged to school together. As time marched on, they’d all spun off in their own orbits, some landing in different cities, others hustling through the same ol’ town, but whenever a reunion cropped up, Ella would be there, mingling and melding with the crew as if she’d never been anything but one of the gang.

This particular group was a bit looser with their banter than most.

It was a Thursday night when Ella, fresh from a shower and cozied up in bed, noticed her phone buzzing with a barrage of messages from the gang. Amidst the chaos of notifications, her name was flashing in a bold, beckoning red.

Driven by curiosity, she tapped into the thread, only to be greeted by a chorus of congratulations for Noah.

She clicked on the message that had tagged her: [@PrincessElla, spill the beans! Who’s the lucky lady Noah’s snagged? Pics or it didn’t happen.]d2

Ella blinked in disbelief. Noah’s got a girlfriend?

Instinctively, she scrolled through the chat history and discovered that someone had shared their upcoming nuptials with a celebratory digital toast. After the initial wave of well-wishes, talk turned to the dwindling number of bachelors in the group, and naturally, all fingers pointed to Noah.

Bombarded with tags and probably fed up, Noah had blurted out a bombshell: [Not single. Don’t bother sending me wedding gifts under a hundred grand.]

[Damn!]

[Holy smokes!]

[The big shot at Visionary Productions keeping his love life under wraps?]

[Which girl has he charmed?]

[@PrincessElla, come on, give us the deets on your new auntie-in-law! Pics, please.]

The chat erupted with further tagging, congratulations, and a burning curiosity that only intensified with Ella’s cryptic response. Her fingers hovered over the screen for an eternity before she finally tapped out a message, forcing a smile through the digital divide, her fingertips trembling above the keys. [No comment, folks. But let’s just say she is quite the looker.]

Her playful deflection only stoked the group’s curiosity. In no time flat, Noah added someone new to the chat: [Any questions? Ask her yourself.]

A brief silence fell before the chat exploded again.

[Damn, the lady herself?]

[Really?]

[The Mrs.?]

[Hello everyone, I’m Rebecca.]

[Welcome to the family.]

[Pics or it didn’t happen.]

Ella quietly exited the chat, her mind replaying the image of the woman she’d seen at the mansion. Noah and Rebecca truly seemed well-matched.

The next day, Noah went public with the engagement.

story, digging into Rebecca’s background. The Mintons—owners of P City’s largest private hospital, with their

position straightaway, but she chose to start from the ground up. Her actions were beyond

she was the woman Ella had encountered that fateful night. Apparently, Noah and Rebecca had known each other for ages—a fact that had entirely escaped Ella’s

Ella with cryptic congratulations on gaining such

settled into a seat in the multimedia classroom.

at him, a wry smile playing on her lips, and nodded before diving into

“What is?”

on

pause, Paul replied, “Very

simply nodded,

a moment. “What’s on

Ella said, “I am wondering, if he is so smart, how did he never see my blatant attempts? And why did he let me

Paul furrowed his brow.

*

pick her up for a trip back to the

through the car window. She was dressed in a simple blue and white striped sundress that accentuated her delicate collarbone, adorned with a red pendant necklace that

classmates with a smile, then turned her gaze to his car.

passenger seat, the beautiful familiar face revealed by the slowly retracting car window still made her smile stiff for a moment. She instinctively looked at the driver’s seat,

her emotions, greeted Rebecca with a

returned the smile warmly. “Hi

was in, Rebecca turned around to chat. They talked about Ella’s major, her life at school, and then the conversation naturally drifted to whether Ella had

longer playing games to make Noah jealous, shook her head.

time for romance—such a wonderful age. With your smarts and looks, Ella, I

smiled modestly. “A few.” That was an

wasn’t surprised. “Then you have plenty of

studies.

in silence when he suddenly cut Rebecca off with a

you plan on

would go their separate ways. It is a

other, the girl

up in a heated debate, but then Rebecca swiftly brought

Ella took a moment

pressed into a

Noah had given his family a heads-up because they showed no

behind Rebecca, who had already looped her

a slower pace, Ella couldn’t

laughter of Jon filled her ears. “Have a seat. Make

Jon,” Rebecca said, her ease and grace clearly

a seat on the couch first. At Jon’s gesture, Rebecca settled

through the foyer into the

warm smile, gesturing

“Yep, I have.”

her to sit next to him. “I saw in the news, the engagement is set

free then, and she can even

wondering just how many times they intended to remind her