Ella and the Billionaire's Ball

She wasn’t invited to the ball. He made sure she got in anyway. Now, someone wants her out—for good.

ELLA

I’m just the janitor.

Invisible. Overlooked. And just fine with that—especially with the way my family fell apart.

But then I meet Hawk Danielson—CEO of Ever After Sweets and the kind of man who shouldn’t even notice me.

Until . . . he does.

One smile, one conversation, and suddenly, I’m not invisible anymore. He sees me. Really sees me.

And that might be the scariest thing of all.

HAWK

Ella’s kind, sharp, and nothing like the woman the rumors make her out to be.

So when someone starts framing her—accusing her of stealing from the company she helps keep spotless—I know something’s off. She’s being targeted. But why?

I don’t care what it takes.

I’ll clear her name. Find the truth—

And make sure she knows she’s never invisible to me.

If you like closed-door, suspenseful romance with slow-burn chemistry and powerful men facing the fallout of their pasts, you’ll devour the witty banter, emotional twists, and fairytale feel of this absorbing series.

Dive into ELLA AND THE BILLIONAIRE’S BALL, a Cinderella retelling by Catelyn Meadows.

Chapter One
Ella

I had to draw the line somewhere.

Don’t get me wrong, I was happy for my newfound cousin. Ever since Gabby had contacted me several months ago, she and I had hit it off and become fast friends.

Of course, I wanted to be a bridesmaid at her wedding. I’d wear the shoes, the dress—but flying to Montana with the groom’s best friend?

A man who not only owned the building I cleaned, but who Gabby and Adrian had been trying to set me up with?

That was going too far.

“I don’t know, Gabby,” I said, sinking back on my couch and staring at the leaves rustling outside my window. Living on the second floor of this apartment complex gave me a direct view of Vermont’s flaming fall foliage.

“Is it flying you don’t like?”

“I’ve never been on a plane,” I said.

If that was the excuse I needed to get out of this, so be it.

“Then you’re going to love it, especially in something like this. It’s so fast—”

“I’m not in a hurry. Addie and I will leave in plenty of time. I love road trips.”

“—and maybe you two will hit it off.”

There it was. I’d asked her—I didn’t know how many times—to leave it alone. To her credit, Gabby hadn’t mentioned setting me up with Hawk Danielson again since I’d met her and her fiancé in person for the first time back in June.

But I’d known she wouldn’t give up that easily.

“I clean his office,” I said, fingering the edge of the gray couch’s armrest. “I know the details and contents of his garbage can and closet more intimately than any person rightly should.”

“Ew,” Gabby said.

“My point exactly.” It wasn’t that I’d found anything questionable in either case, but still. “He’s no harmless, down-to-earth do-gooder.”

He couldn’t be. Not like I wanted to find.

I’d been in plenty of botched relationships—and not just romantic ones, either. The situation with my family right now was anyone’s nightmare.

If I ever let myself get close to a man, I had to be sure he was the kind of guy who wouldn’t tear my heart out at the first sign of drama.

“Being rich doesn’t mean he’s not a good guy,” Gabby argued. “Look at Adrian. Hawk is his best friend, and I can vouch for his taste. Why not give him a chance?”

“No,” I said.

“Come on, he’s handsome, suave, a little silly—”

I hadn’t expected that adjective. “Silly?”

“I mean, he’s flirty.”

“Just what I’m looking for,” I said, hoping she heard my sarcasm. “Silly and flirty.”

How did he ever get to be the CEO of a successful candy company?

For some reason, Willie Wonka came to mind. I wondered if Hawk Danielson went around breaking into song and quoting random poetry no one knew, or if he had a handful of orange-skinned minions who caused disaster and berated children for their shortcomings.

At least he didn’t look like Gene Wilder. I didn’t consider myself a shallow person, but maybe I was.

I knew for a fact Hawk Danielson was eye candy of the highest caliber. He was blond and tall with swagger. If that combination wasn’t enough to steam my blood, I didn’t know what was.

All the more reason to keep my distance.

Men who looked like that couldn’t be trusted. He had all the right things about him, which could only mean there was something else wrong with him, something I couldn’t see, and I didn’t want to find out what that was.

“Addie and I are driving,” I said, looking at my suitcase sitting near the TV as though it agreed with me.

“I’ve made that trip before,” Gabby said. “It’s a long one.”

“We’ll keep each other company. We’ll listen to audiobooks and eat snacks. It’ll go by in no time. In fact, I’m all packed and ready to go as soon as Addie gets here.”

My cousin Adelie lived in a house across town with her sister. She was currently a nursing student at the University of Vermont.

When Gabby had first reached out to tell me we were related and asked if I was interested in getting to know her, it had taken me a few days before I decided to reply.

She had reached out to Addie as well, but as far as I knew, Addie hadn’t responded to Gabby at all until she and Adrian had flown out here to meet us five months ago.

From the prolonged pause on the other end of the line, I could tell Gabby was pouting.

“Why don’t you want to meet him? You’ve never told me. You should give Hawk a chance.”

Really? She was still trying to push this?