Betrayed By The Billionaire

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The betrayal didn't just happen on the battlefield; it was happening in the digital shadows. Bluebelle smirked as she scrolled through the photos on her phone. After a few minutes of manipulative persuasion, she convinced Xander Grayson to forward them directly to his cousin.

The angles were perfectly, maliciously deceptive.

In the first shot, Chloe Bishop was pinned beneath Donovan Tang on the factory floor. The camera caught Donovan’s gaze—intense and protective—making it look like he was staring into the eyes of a lover while his hand hovered near her face in what looked like a tender caress.

The second photo captured Chloe’s triumphant smile after eliminating Xander. But the angle cut out her middle finger; instead, it looked as though she was laughing provocatively at Donovan, her hand reaching up as if to wind around the "Iron Commander’s" neck.

The third was the most damning: Chloe stumbling into Donovan’s chest as he pulled her up. From the side, their bodies were pressed together without a gap. Donovan’s head was bowed, Chloe’s face hidden against his shoulder, and his large hand rested firmly on the small of her back. It looked like a deep, intimate embrace.

The final shot showed Donovan removing Chloe’s helmet, his palm resting on her head as he ruffled her hair. Chloe’s head was tilted down, making her look like a shy, smitten girl basking in the affection of her man.

The Arctic Office

Inside the Grayson Group headquarters, the atmosphere turned sub-zero the moment the notification chimed on Xavier Grayson's desk.

Standing before him was Mina, a junior secretary delivering the afternoon briefs. She saw the change in an instant. Xavier’s entire aura shifted from cold professionalism to a lethal, suffocating darkness. Mina’s hands shook so violently that the folder she was holding slipped, scattering documents across the polished floor. Her face turned ashen.

Xavier raised his eyes. They were no longer just cold; they were predatory, flicking toward her with a gaze that felt like a physical blow.

"I... I’m so sorry, President Grayson," Mina stammered, her voice cracking with terror. She scrambled to pick up the papers, her breath coming in shallow gasps.

"Get out," Xavier said, his voice a low, vibrating growl.

Mina didn't wait. she dropped the remaining files and fled the executive suite as if the building were on fire. She reached the elevators drenched in a cold sweat, her heart hammering against her ribs. She was certain that if she had stayed one second longer, she wouldn't have made it out alive.

Left alone, Xavier stared at the images of his wife in another man’s arms. The temperature in the office seemed to drop to the freezing point of liquid nitrogen. His face was a mask of frost, his jaw set so tight it looked carved from marble.

The Warning Shot

Outside the Blue Velvet Lounge, Vince was nursing a growing headache. He watched from a distance as Liam Martin’s car pulled in behind Chloe’s group. This was a direct breach of the "safety protocol," and by all rights, he should have reported Liam’s presence to Xavier immediately.

But Vince hesitated. He knew the explosion that would follow. He tucked his phone away, deciding to follow the group inside and monitor the situation personally.

What Vince didn't know was that the explosion had already been triggered.

Inside the dim, neon-lit sanctuary of the bar, Chloe’s phone began to vibrate. She looked at the screen and saw Xavier’s name. She glanced at Sarah, who was sitting with hollow eyes and a deathly pale face, and felt a surge of protective worry. She didn't hear the rage in Xavier’s voice when she answered; she only heard the demand.

"I have something to handle here," Chloe explained, her voice distracted. "Can I come back a bit later?"

"I said: come back now."

This time, the sheer vitriol in his tone registered. Chloe stepped away from the table. "Xavier, what happened? I’m with a friend who is going through a crisis. I can’t just leave. I’ll be back by nine, okay?"

There was no negotiation in his response. It was a cold, hard ultimatum. "I expect to see you before the sun goes down. If you aren't across this threshold by dark, don't bother coming back tonight at all."

Before dark? Chloe looked at her watch. It was already 6:00 PM. In this season, the sun would vanish in less than forty minutes. It was a physical impossibility to reach the Grayson Estate in time.

Her own temper, flared by the day’s stress and the injustice Sarah was facing, finally snapped. "Whatever!" she barked into the phone and slammed the 'end' button.

She returned to the booth where Lyra saw her fuming. "What’s wrong?"

"I was just insulted by a stubborn, overbearing pig," Chloe hissed, her eyes flashing with defiance. "Forget him. Tonight, we drink until we forget everything."

Just as she sat down, the "pig" called again. Chloe didn't even look at the screen. She swiped 'decline' with a vicious flick of her thumb and tossed the phone into her bag.

The Demon CEO has issued a decree, and the First Socialite has publicly defied it. Xavier is currently staring at photos of his wife’s "intimacy" with Donovan Tang, while Chloe is preparing to drown her sorrows with her ex-fiancé, Liam Martin, lurking in the shadows of the bar. The collision course is set.

Will Chloe realize the danger she's in before the sun sets, or will Xavier arrive at the Blue Velvet Lounge to drag her out in front of everyone she knows?

Should Chloe check her messages to see what has Xavier so angry, or is she too far gone into her own rebellion to care?