The Billionaire's Revenge Fiancée

Chapter 5

Olive

Two weeks later.

I sat in my office, reviewing spreadsheets. Looking at the state of our annual revenue and knowing that Atlas was the cause of the depressing results, I wanted to slap him all over again.

“El, what about the Japanese collaborators? Are they still willing to make the trip?” I asked, rubbing my temples.

“Yes. Mr. Yamato will be coming in a few days. I’ve already started to make arrangements,” she replied across from me.

I nodded, exhaling a quiet breath.

This was our last chance.

Mr. Yamato was a Japanese pottery artist who had proposed a limited collaboration with Bel Wines to design a unique label for the opening of his new gallery in the state. His family was a household name in the art industry, and a collaboration with him would give us a huge marketing boost.

When the offer first came through, I had been in disbelief. If this was a hit, the board would stop breathing down my neck and finally give me the recognition I deserved.

“Olive… have you seen the news?” Elowen asked suddenly, her voice dropping. She was staring wide-eyed at her tablet.

I frowned. “What news?”

She glanced at me, uncertainty flickering through her eyes.

“The Beaumont Group just announced a partnership.”

My stomach tightened.

Bitterly, I asked, “Let me guess. With Atlas?”

There was a pause.

“No. Thorne Enterprises.”

I froze.

“…What?”

Elowen slowly turned her screen toward me. “Thorne Enterprises. Beaumont just signed with Ethan.”

I shot to my feet so quickly that my chair rolled backward.

Beaumont had signed with my boyfriend’s company? How was that even possible? Ethan would have told me. He knew how much I had fought for that deal.

“No, that’s not possible.” I searched my laptop.

But the article was already everywhere.

{BEAUMONT GROUP SIGNS TWENTY-MILLION-DOLLAR PARTNERSHIP WITH THORNE ENTERPRISES.}

The headline glared back at me. There was a photograph of Mr. Beaumont shaking Ethan’s hand — the same man who had rejected my company two weeks ago. The exact same deal I had accused Atlas of stealing from me.

Ethan and I hadn’t spoken much after the party. Could he have managed to steal Beaumont from Atlas and not told me about it?

I instantly called him. He didn’t answer, and the call went straight to voicemail.

“Ethan,” I said, keeping my voice as steady as I could manage. “What is going on? The press is reporting that you signed with Beaumont. Call me the second you get this.”

I ended the call and pressed a hand over my chest, trying to slow my racing pulse.

“Olive, if the board sees this news before you have answers, they’ll lose their minds,” Elowen warned softly. “You need to figure out what happened before this gets out of control.”

She was right.

This was the exact deal I had accused Atlas of stealing and humiliated him over. If it turned out I was wrong…

A cold shiver ran down my spine. The press and the board would dismantle me alive.

‘No. Ethan couldn’t have betrayed me like that. There has to be an explanation.’

I grabbed my bag. “Elowen, clear my afternoon schedule. I’m going to get to the bottom of this.”

On the drive over, I called Ethan’s office, but his assistant curtly informed me he wasn't in. Desperate, I drove straight to his apartment complex.

I punched in the door code, our anniversary date, and let myself into his dimly lit foyer.

“Ethan?” I called out.

The apartment was dead silent. I turned to leave, assuming he was out, when a faint sound drifted from the hallway leading to his private study. It was a woman’s voice.

I stopped, my heart beating strangely as I moved closer.

The voices grew clearer. The door to his study was cracked open just an inch.

“Babe… do you like this?”

Through the narrow opening, the sight I saw struck me like a punch, knocking the air from me.

Sophia, stark naked, was straddling Ethan on his leather desk chair, her head thrown back as she rode him.

Ethan’s hands were clamped firmly onto her waist, his body moving with hers as the wet, rhythmic sound of skin slapping echoed in the room.

“Yes, baby… you feel so good,” Ethan groaned, his fingers digging into her hips.

“You sound starved,” Sophia panted, tossing her hair back. “Does Olive not f**k you like I do?”

“I’ll pick your p***y over hers any day.”

A wave of intense nausea hit me so hard I thought I was going to throw up right there. Disgust and fury surged through my veins.

I shoved the door open and both of them flinched.

When Ethan’s eyes landed on me, he shoved Sophia off his lap so fast she fell to the floor.

“Olive!” he panicked, scrambling backward as he pulled up his trousers. “Olive, wait—I swear it’s not what it looks like!”

My gaze fell on Sophia, who was scrambling to pull a discarded button-down shirt over her bare chest, completely unable to look me in the eye.

“How could you?” My eyes moved between them. “I trusted you.”

“I can explain.” Ethan took a frantic step toward me, but I recoiled instantly, my skin crawling at the thought of him touching me.

“What’s there to explain? That you’ve been f*****g my best friend behind my back?” I spat. “Since when has this been happening? How long?”

They both went silent, and suddenly, everything clicked. Two weeks ago, Clara had told me she had seen them together at the mall. The next day, Ethan had taken me out on a dinner date, and I had forgotten all about the allegation. He had always treated me so sweetly. Who knew he was f*****g my friend on the side?

He had been playing me all along.

Their sudden closeness. The whispered discussions. The way they sometimes looked at each other when they thought I wasn’t paying attention.

“You’ve been busy for months, Olive. I just needed some release. It meant nothing.”

Sophia stepped forward. “Actually, it’s about time she knew. Olive, I didn’t want you to find out this way, but Ethan and I have feelings for each other.”

Ethan’s head snapped toward her, his eyes wide with disbelief. “What are you talking about? We agreed this was just a casual thing.”

“But you said countless times you preferred me more than her. You just said so a second ago.” She argued, tearing up.

“Sophia, it was a spur-of-the-moment thing, nothing more.”

Sophia bit her lip, looking on hurt by his rejection while Ethan turned to me, pleading.

“I love you, Olive. Just give me another chance. It was just sex.”

I balled my hands into tight fists, my fingernails digging so hard into my palms He had just trashed me a minute ago, and he had the audacity to confess his love to me. How shameless could he be?

“My deal with Beaumont. You’re the one who stole it, weren’t you? You sabotaged my company.” My voice cold.

I was praying he would deny it. I was praying I wouldn’t have to bear the truth of the man I trusted betraying me.

But after a while, he answered.

“Don’t put it like that, Olive. Your wine company wasn’t doing well.”

My heart dropped.

“Ethan didn’t want to hurt you,” Sophia spoke up.

I whipped my head toward her. “You knew?”

“You were going to lose everything anyway, and Ethan badly needed the deal.”

I felt like I had been punched.

She wiped her tears. “We only wanted Beaumont to reconsider.”

“Only?” I stepped closer. “You forged financial documents to destroy me.”

“I didn’t destroy anything,” Ethan said. “I created an opportunity for myself.”

He ran a hand through his hair. “The Beaumont deal was never going to stay with you forever. I knew that. Your company is a lost cause. But can’t you see? Now that my company is stabilized, I can support you. You don’t have to stress yourself playing CEO anymore.”

I stared at them both, standing side by side, without remorse for what they had done to me. Something inside me shattered.

Ethan had sabotaged me so Beaumont would walk away from my company. Then he had swooped in with his own company while Sophia knew about it.

And somehow, they had made me believe Atlas was responsible. My best friend had helped him.

“You watched me slap Atlas and make a fool of myself. You deceived me.”

“It’s not my fault you stormed in there like a madwoman,” Ethan responded.

A cold, dark stillness settled deep within my chest, burning away the sorrow and leaving only pure, unadulterated rage.

“I’ll make you pay for this,” I said, looking each of them dead in the eye. “Both of you. I’ll make you regret this.”

“Olive, wait—“

Ethan made a move to chase after me, but Sophia grabbed his wrist. “Let me talk to her,” she urged, hurrying out into the corridor after me.

She caught up just as I reached the elevator, blocking my path.

“Get the hell out of my face, you traitorous b***h,” I snapped.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you, Livvy.”

“Really?” I let out a dry laugh. “Did you think I’d offer my congratulations after catching you f*****g my boyfriend? You were the only friend I had left. Why would you do this to me? I thought you were different.”

Sophia’s delicate facade suddenly cracked. Her back straightened, and her expression turned bitter and resentful.

“This is the thing about you, Olive. Always playing the victim.”

“What?”

“Yes, even when we were kids, you always loved the attention, didn’t you? The mighty Bellini princess.” She sneered. “If you had ever paid an ounce of attention to anyone other than yourself, you would have realized I loved Ethan first. I loved him from the moment I saw him in college. He was my friend first, but you swooped in and stole him from me.”

I couldn’t believe my ears.

Sophia had been friends with Ethan, but she had been talking to two other guys back then. She had introduced us at a party. How was I supposed to know she loved him? She had even organized a dinner when Ethan confessed to me.

“I didn’t steal anything from you. You should have told me if you liked him.” I said flatly.

“Nobody wanted to offend you back then, and my mother wanted me to be on your good side for our family’s sake, so I left him. But your family isn't untouchable anymore, Olive. You don't get everything anymore. I just took back what was mine.”

I shook my head, feeling pity for the woman standing in front of me. Whatever friendship we had shared was a lie built on resentment.

“Keep him, then,” I said. “Take him. But tell me, Sophia, aren't you even a little embarrassed? He just called you a quick release and begged me for a second chance right in front of you. You're fighting over a man who denies your existence the moment things get uncomfortable.”

Sophia’s face drained of color.

I hit the elevator button, brushing past her shoulder as the doors slid open.

“He loves me. He was just saying that to make you feel better.” She yelled after me, her voice desperate as I stepped inside.

I looked at her one last time as the heavy metallic doors began to close.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, Sophia.”

The doors shut tight.

And as the elevator started descending, I leaned back against the mirrored wall and finally allowed the heavy, painful tears to fall.