THE BILLIONAIRE'S BETRAYED BRIDE

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Once I finally settled down, wiping my face with the back of my hand, my best friend sat across from me on the floor, waiting.

"Okay," she said gently. "Talk to me. What happened?"

So I told her everything. The grocery store. The old woman who'd fallen and broken her leg. The ambulance ride, the hospital, the tea invitation that followed. The storm that trapped me at the estate overnight. I even told her about the wine cellar, my face burning the whole time, though I left out the alley completely. That part still felt like mine alone to carry.

She listened quietly, her expression growing more serious with every part of the story, until she finally spoke again.

"Wait." She held up a hand. "The family name. What was it again?"

"Hayes."

She pulled out her phone without another word and opened Naver, typing the name in slowly, like she wanted to be sure of it before she said anything else.

"Valeria." She turned the screen toward me. "Do you know who this is?"

"What are you talking about?"

"The Hayes family. A&H Group." She scrolled down the search results. "They're the second wealthiest family in the country. It's been in the news for years, especially after his father passed."

I looked at the screen. Photo after photo, article after article. The estate I'd stayed in, labeled and described like something out of a documentary. And in one photo, standing near the entrance in a dark suit — Alexander.

"You don't mean it," I said quietly.

"I do." She kept scrolling, more carefully now. "Alexander Hayes. He's the CEO."

I sat there in complete disbelief, staring at his face in headlines I'd never once thought to look for myself.

"I feel like such a fool," I said, covering my face with both hands. "I had no idea. This whole time."

"How would you have known? You don't exactly follow business news."

"I've been buried in law school for three years. I barely know who runs the country, let alone which family owns half of it."

She let out a small, tired laugh and nudged my shoulder gently. "Fair enough. Still. This is a lot."

I groaned quietly and dropped my head onto my knees again, the shame from earlier settling back into my chest, tangled now with this new, dizzying weight.

"The money," I said finally, lifting my head. "He sent me fifty million won. I don't know what to do with it. I almost sent it back."

"Don't send it back." Her voice was steady, careful, none of the loud reaction from before. "Your father needs the medication. This isn't the moment to be proud."

"It feels wrong. Like he's paying me for—"

"It doesn't matter how it feels right now." She held my gaze. "You can sort out what it means later. Right now, use it. Take care of your father first."

I sat with that for a long moment, and slowly, I knew she was right.

I called my mother back and told her I was sending the money right away. A few minutes later, she called again, her voice thick with relief.

"Valeria, I just saw it come through. Where did you get such a large amount?"

I hesitated only a second. "It's my savings, Mom. I've been putting a little aside for a while."

It wasn't the truth, but it wasn't a conversation I knew how to have with her, not yet, maybe not for a long time.

"Thank you," she said quietly, and I could hear her voice catch, though this time it sounded like relief instead of fear. "Thank you, Valeria."

"Just take care of Dad," I said. "That's all that matters right now."

After we hung up, I sat there on my living room floor with my best friend beside me, the weight in my chest a quiet, complicated mix of relief and shame I still didn't know how to untangle.

"Whatever happens next," she said after a while, her voice low, "I'm here. You know that, right?"

"I know," I said, leaning my head against her shoulder.

I didn't know yet how I was supposed to face Alexander again after any of this. But for the first time since waking up that morning, I let myself breathe.