The Billionaire's Revenge Bride

Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO

I stepped out of my SUV, my breath hitching in the smoggy night air. I had changed. The emerald silk was gone, replaced by a vintage black lace dress that clung to my curves like a second skin. It was a dress for a funeral or a war.

Two mountain-sized men guarding a door made of reinforced steel.

"Name?" one of the guards grunted.

"Lily Harrington."

The guard’s eyes flickered with a strange recognition. He didn't check a list. He simply pulled the door open. "He’s been expecting you, Mrs. Prescott."

The interior was a cathedral of sin. Dark velvet, the scent of expensive bourbon, and a bassline so low it vibrated in my marrow. I was led past the main floor, up a flight of glass stairs, to a private mezzanine that overlooked the entire club.

There, sitting in a throne-like leather chair, was Lucian Knight.

He was more imposing than the business journals suggested. His hair was midnight dark, his jawline sharp enough to draw blood, and his eyes cold, slate gray, were fixed on a glass of amber liquid. But it was the scar on his hand that caught my eyes: a jagged mark across his palm that he rubbed rhythmically with his thumb.

"You’re three minutes late, Lily," he said. His voice was a deep, melodic growl that made the hair on her arms stand up.

"The traffic was heavy," I replied, reclaiming my lawyer’s poise. I sat opposite him, crossing my legs. "And I don't recall giving you my private number, Mr. Knight. Or permission to survey my home."

Lucian leaned forward, the shadows of the club dancing across his features. "I’ve had your number for six years. And I wasn't surveilling your home, I was surveilling Tobias. You just happened to be the most interesting thing in the frame."

He pushed a thick manila folder across the marble table. "I know about Nora. I know about the 'open arrangement.' I even know about the sterile results Tobias received from his doctor three days ago, the ones he’s hiding from you."

I froze. Sterile? "How..."

"Information is the only currency I care about." Lucian took a slow sip of his drink. "You sent me a text saying you wanted his empire. That’s a tall order for a woman who just got replaced by her stepsister."

"I built that empire," I snapped, my eyes flashing. "I laundered his reputation. I won his unwinnable cases. I am the reason Prescott Media isn't a footnote in a bankruptcy filing. If I leave, I want what’s mine."

Lucian set his glass down with a definitive clack. "I don't give charity, Lily. I want Tobias buried. I want him begging for scraps on the street where he belongs. To do that, I need access. I need to be inside his house, inside his boardrooms, and inside his head."

"And how do I help with that?"

Lucian’s gaze darkened, traveling slowly from her face down to the lace of her dress. "By becoming my woman. Publicly. Irrevocably."

My heart was hammering. "He wants an open marriage. You want me to flaunt an affair with his greatest rival? He’ll kill me."

"He won't touch you," Lucian promised, his voice dropping an octave. "Because if he does, I’ll burn every bridge he has left. You will move me into that estate. We will play the role of obsessed lovers. While he plays house with your sister, we will be dismantling his life, piece by piece, from the bedroom next door."

Lily felt a shiver that wasn't entirely from fear. There was an intensity in Lucian that felt personal as if this wasn't just business for him. It felt like a vendetta.

"Why me?" I whispered. "There are a thousand women in this city who would crawl through glass to be on your arm. Why the wife of your enemy?"

Lucian stood up, his tall frame blocking out the light. He walked around the table, stopping just inches from me. He reached out, his scarred palm hovering near my cheek, but he didn't touch me.

"Because you owe me a debt from six years ago, Counselor," he murmured, his eyes burning with a sudden, terrifying fire. "And I’ve decided that the only way you can pay it back is with your soul."

Before Lily could ask what he meant, Lucian’s phone buzzed on the table. He glanced at it, a smirk twisting his handsome face.

"Perfect timing," he said, turning the screen toward her.

It was a live feed of the Prescott Estate. Tobias and Nora were in the living room, laughing. But in the background, a black motorcycle was pulling into the driveway.

"What is that?" I asked, my blood running cold.

"That," Lucian said, "is my lead security team. They are currently informing your husband that I have just purchased the forty-percent stake in his company that he put up as collateral for his last merger. As of five minutes ago, I am his primary partner. And as his partner... I’ve decided to move in."

I gasped. "Tonight? You're coming tonight?"

"Oh, I'm already there," Lucian whispered, leaning down so his lips were brushing her ear. "But that's not all, Lily. Check your messages again."

I grabbed her phone. A new message from an unknown sender not Lucian appeared. It was a photo of her daughter, Ava, sleeping in her bed. Attached was a note:

“Tell Lucian to back off, or the girl goes to Switzerland tonight.”

I looked up at Lucian, her face pale. "Tobias knows. He’s using Ava."

Lucian’s expression didn't soften. He simply straightened his suit jacket. "Then I suppose we shouldn't keep him waiting. Let's go home, darling. The war has officially begun."