Rejected By My Ex, I Married A Hidden Billionaire

Chapter 18 The Inside Man

The wall clock in the study ticked past two in the morning, the only sounds in the quiet room the scratch of Ethan’s pen on paper and the faint, steady hum of the air conditioning. Six of our 48 hours were already gone, and we still had nothing. The desk was buried under mountains of financial reports, access logs, and project files, every line scoured for a c***k in Liam’s plan, every lead fizzling out into nothing.

Ethan hunched over the desk, his tie hanging loose around his neck, his dress shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, heavy dark shadows under his blue eyes. He’d barely spoken in hours, only barking sharp orders to his assistant between sips of cold coffee, his jaw locked tight with unrelenting tension. I set a fresh mug of hot coffee down in front of him, my hand brushing his shoulder, and he leaned into the touch like it was the only thing holding him together.

“You need to sleep,” I said quietly, brushing the hair off his forehead. “You can’t fix this if you run yourself into the ground.”

He looked up at me, his eyes softening for the first time all night. “I can’t close my eyes until I know you’re safe,” he said, his voice rough with exhaustion. “If Liam takes this company down, you’re next. I won’t let that happen.”

Before I could finish my reply, his phone blared to life on the desk, his assistant’s name flashing across the screen. Ethan hit speaker, that cold, sharp CEO mask sliding back into place in an instant—but what his assistant said froze both of us solid.

They’d pulled the full system access logs from the past three months. Only one person besides Ethan had the high-level security clearance to access the encrypted financial files and the waterfront development plans: Carl Carter, the company’s head of finance. He’d logged into the system after hours dozens of times in those three months, every single time when Ethan was out of the office. Worse, his personal bank account had received a $500,000 wire transfer from an anonymous overseas account the day after Liam was fired.

“Carl’s the inside man,” Ethan breathed, slamming his hand down on the desk. “He’s the one who gave Liam everything.”

We’d barely processed the words when my phone buzzed, a text from an unknown number lighting up the screen. It was from Carl.

I have all the proof you need that Liam forged the documents. Meet me alone at the old waterfront warehouse at the docks, 4 a.m. No security, no cops. Only Ethan can come with you. If anyone else shows up, I burn the evidence.

Ethan’s face went pale the second he read it. “It’s a trap,” he said immediately. “We can’t go.”

I laced my fingers through his, my voice steady. “It’s the only lead we have. We don’t have a choice.”

The clock ticked over to 3 a.m. We had an hour to get to the docks. 42 hours left on the clock. And we had no idea if we were walking into proof that would save us, or a trap that would finish us for good.