The Billionaire’s Undoing

The Devil You Invite

Unknown POV

When I first met Vanessa, she was full of fire. Sharp suits, sharper tongue, ambition that could cut through glass. I couldn’t believe a woman like that would look at me twice. Don’t get me wrong - I’ve got money, but not Daniel Lawson money. Not the kind that that gets your name splashed across magazines or whispered at investor dinners.

Still, she wanted me. At least I thought she did. For a year, I thought we were exclusive. I thought maybe I’d gotten lucky, that the kind of hunger she had matched mine in all the right ways. Then the Don sent me straight.

The Don - nobody in this world calls him anything else. Don Romano is the shadow that makes men tremble, the one whose nod builds empires, and whose silence buries them. Nobody outside the family knows Ava and Ethan Hale are his children. Their mother, Alessandra, fled to America years ago with them, changed their names, tried to build a life without him. By the time he found them, Alessandra was dead.

Ethan welcomed him in slowly, carefully - blood recognizing blood, even if trust took time. But Ava? Ava never met him. Ethan said it wasn’t the right time, not with the way Daniel and his family treated her, not with the humiliation she endured daily. The Don respected that, but he still watched her. He always watched.

And because he watched her, he watched Vanessa too.

The day he told me Vanessa was stepping out on me with Daniel Lawson, it was like someone had kicked the floor out from under me. That was when Vanessa stop being my girlfriend and became my job. A year into our relationship, I became her shadow, her leash. She thought she had me wrapped around her finger, that I’d do anything for her because I was so hooked on her beauty. Stupid woman. My job was simple: stay close, gather information, and keep Ava safe.

When Vanessa called me yesterday, panicked after her meeting with Ava, I knew we were at the escalation point. She was unraveling, and unraveling people make mistakes. Mistakes I could use.

Now here I am, on my way to her house. I hate this place. Too flashy, too gaudy. Gold-plated fixtures and glass walls screaming money without class. The kind of house that tries to convince the world you’ve made it, even if it rots underneath.

She opens the door before I can knock, eyes darting like a cornered animal. “What took you so long?”

“I got here at the time you asked,” I tell her flatly. “I do have a job.”

She scoffs and waves me inside like I belong to her.

“What was so important you had to drag me over here?” I ask, dropping onto her overstuffed sofa.

She paces, arms crossed tight, nails digging into her skin. “I met with Ava yesterday. She said she has proof. Proof Daniel wasn’t the only one I was sleeping with.”

I keep my face still, but inside I laugh. Of course Ava said that. Of course she has something - the sort of scrap that ends up in the Don’s ledger because hands like mine pass things along - but that’s not the sort of detail you hand a panicking woman. Bluff or not, it hit the nerve.

“Proof?” I echo, letting a smile twitch at my mouth. “And how exactly would she have that? Has she been watching you?”

Vanessa freezes. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

I lean back. “Then think. You only told her about you and Daniel a week ago. If she was really watching, she’d know about me too. But she doesn’t. We haven’t seen each other in weeks - I’ve been on assignment. So unless there’s someone else, she’s bluffing. She wanted to rattle you. Looks like it worked.”

Her shoulders loosen, the panic melted just enough for pride to creep back in. “You’re right. I should’ve thought about that. She’s bluffing. That bitch..” she stops, eyes narrowing, voice sharpening, like broken glass. “But it doesn’t matter. Bluff or not, she needs to be gone. Silenced. This is destroying everything I’ve built, and I won’t let her ruin my reputation any further.”

I study her, let the silence stretch, then lean forward. “Gone how, Vanessa? Do you want her scared off? Bruised? Shamed in the press?”

Her eyes snapped to mine, steady. “No. That’s not enough.”

“Then what?” I press, voice low. “You’re talking about crossing a line you don’t come back from. Do you have the stomach for that?”

She doesn’t flinch. Her lips curl into a cruel smile. “I want her taken. I don’t care what happens after - trafficked, imprisoned, killed - it doesn’t matter. As long as she’s out of my way for good.”

I tilt my head, watching her closely. “You understand what you’re asking. Once this starts, there’s no undoing it. No control over where she ends up.”

Her chin lifts higher, defiant. “I don’t care. Just make it happen.”

For a second, I almost admire her nerve. She has no idea the devil she just invited to dinner.

“Give me some time to formulate a plan,” I say, standing.

She nods, satisfied, already imagining a world without Ava Hale in it.

I step out of that gaudy palace and into the sunlight. The air feels cleaner once her perfume is gone. Sliding into my car, I pull out my phone and dial.

“Don,” I say when the line clicks.

“Speak.”

“I have information,” I tell him. “Vanessa Caldwell wants Ava gone. Taken. Permanently.”

The line goes quiet, the weight of his silence, heavier than any threat.

“I’ll bring you everything,” I add.

The call ends without a word.

I sit there, staring at the house in the rearview mirror, and for the first time in a long time, I almost pity Vanessa. She thinks she’s playing games with Queens and Kings. But she just set herself on a collision course with the Don.

And me?

I’ll keep doing my job. Watching. Waiting. Keeping Ava safe.