Rejected by My Alpha Now He Replaced Me with a Copycat Luna novel Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I met Ronan my junior year of college.

He was a year ahead, same program, and everyone knew his name.

Smart, ambitious, already talking about starting his own company before he even graduated.

When he finally did it, I was the first person he hired.

Back then, Fenrir Core was nothing—just an idea and a lot of late nights.

Now it’s one of the biggest tech firms on the East Territory.

But in the beginning?

It was just us two, grinding it out.

Ronan had impossible standards.

He was the guy everyone wanted to work for, and when he posted openings, applications flooded in.

Hundreds of them.

“But he picked me,” I said quietly, exhaling smoke toward the ceiling.

“He was cocky as hell back then. Thought he was smarter than everyone in the room. I was his last interview that day.”

Neither of us expected it to go anywhere.

I thought he was an arrogant ass. He probably thought I was just another applicant who didn’t get it.

“But we ended up talking all night. By the time the sun came up, he stuck his hand out and said, ‘You’re in.'”

“We wanted the same things. Had the same drive. Ronan was hungry for success,” I said, tapping ash into the tray.

“And so was I.”

In those early days, Ronan and I lived in the same crappy off-campus apartment.

We pitched to clients together. Hunted down investors together. Pulled all-nighters writing code and building prototypes.

He taught me everything—how to read a room, how to negotiate, how to close a deal without showing your hand.

On my twenty-second birthday, we were up all night working.

Dawn hit, and he leaned against the window, lighting a cigarette.

“He looked over at me,” I said, drawing in slowly, “and asked if I’d ever smoked before.”

I tried. Choked immediately. Eyes watering, coughing like an idiot.

Ronan laughed, pulled me in, and kissed me.

When he pulled back, he asked if I wanted to bond with him.

The needle stopped. Milo glanced up.

“Shouldn’t he have asked you to date him first?”

I smiled faintly, like I was watching someone else’s life play out.

“Probably.”

“I said yes. And that same day, we landed our first major investor.”

“Everyone thought he was crazy in love. With everything tied up like that, there was no clean way out of the bond.”

“I thought so too.”

The cigarette was half-gone. I stubbed it out.

“But then, first year we were bonded, he personally hired Elise as our brand ambassador.”

I’d asked him why. She was a nobody. Small-time actress with barely any credits.

“Don’t you think,” Ronan said, pointing at her headshot, “she looks like you did in college?”

“Maybe seventy percent,” he’d added with a grin.

“But way less sharp. Sweet, though. Harmless.”

“Elise blew up fast,” Milo said, pulling me back. “She was everywhere by nineteen, right?”

“Yeah.” I nodded slowly. “Within a year of signing with us, she was a household name.”

“The night she won her first major award was Ronan’s twenty-fifth birthday. We were supposed to have dinner.”

“I waited two hours. He never showed. Phone off. Couldn’t reach him through the bond either.”

“Then, around eight that night, a story broke: ‘Rising Star Elise Beaumont Caught Kissing Mystery Man.'”

“I clicked on it,” I said, meeting Milo’s eyes with a faint, bitter smile.

“And the mystery man was my mate. Ronan Hale.”