Adrian Cole had been called many things in the media: The Young Shark of Wall Street. The Golden Billionaire. The Man Who Turned Everything He Touched Into Gold.
But no one really knew the man beneath the glossy magazine covers — the man who woke up in cold silence inside a penthouse that stretched across three floors, the man whose only genuine friend was his housekeeper, and the man who, for the first time in his life, realized wealth could buy everything except the one thing his heart was starving for.
Love.
At thirty-two, Adrian had built an empire of tech, finance, and luxury holdings. He flew private, owned islands, and had people competing for his approval. But every woman he had dated either wanted his money, his name, or a chance to appear on magazine covers.
None wanted him.
So when his PR team suggested he host a Love Quest — a nationwide contest to find "his true soulmate" — Adrian laughed at first. It sounded ridiculous and even embarrassing. But that night, he found himself staring at the moon through the penthouse glass walls, wondering:
What if… this time… someone truly genuine walks in?
He signed the agreement the next morning.
The Love Quest would be open to ten women.
They would live for one month on his private estate.
They would complete challenges.
They would have interviews, dinners, and events.
It sounded like madness, even to him.
But loneliness makes fools of everyone — even billionaires.
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CHAPTER TWO — THE GIRL WHO DESPISED HIM
Elena Brooks hated billionaires.
Not mildly. Not casually.
She loathed everything they represented — greed, exploitation, and the power to crush small people under their designer shoes.
Her anger had a reason: Adrian Cole's corporation had bought the publishing house where she worked, and within three months, dozens of her colleagues had been fired. She had expected to lose her job too — but Adrian's team had kept her on, probably because her editor swore she was "the best investigative researcher she'd seen in a decade."
Regardless, Elena wanted nothing to do with Adrian Cole or his empire.
So when her roommate dared her to apply for the billionaire's ridiculous Love Quest as a joke, Elena submitted the form purely to prove a point:
"There is no way a man like him wants a woman who will argue with him every day."
Except… she got selected.
And after arguing with herself for two straight nights, she decided to go.
Not for love.
Not for money.
Not for glamour.
She went because she wanted Adrian Cole to see that not every woman in the world swooned at his feet. Someone needed to show him he wasn't a god.
Someone needed to be the thorn in his perfect life.
And Elena Brooks was excellent at being a thorn.
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