The Billionaire's Regret

Chapter 4

Chapter 4.

" As for yesterday, I got a ride with the Investors I was discussing with."

"You must have seen someone who looked like me. Or maybe it was a deepfake? You know how common those are in the tech sector now."

"A deepfake?" Evelyn’s voice was dangerously low. "You’re going to go with that?"

"It’s the only thing that makes sense!" Vander said, leaning back over the bed, his voice dripping with concern.

"Think about it, honey. Someone wants to stop our families from joining. Perhaps that same person or people want to ruin the most important day of our lives. They sent you a fake image to distract you, and it worked, it almost cost you your life!"

"I should be the one who’s angry at whoever did this to you!"

Vanders words where so seamless and professional, that for a split second, Evelyn actually felt the foundations of her reality shake. He sounded so convincing. His outrage felt so righteous. Was she crazy? Had the stress of all those overtime made her snap?

But then, she looked at his wrist.

The watch. The specific, limited-edition Patek Philippe she had commissioned for him. The rose-gold casing caught the hospital light.

She remembered the photo, the way that exact watch had been visible as he cupped the blonde woman's face.

"You're saying you know nothing of it?" she asked, her voice trembling. "That I didn't see you cheating? That I didn't see you in the front seat of your SUV with a blonde woman while I was working late?"

"I don't know what to tell you, Evelyn," Vander said, his voice turning cold, a hint of the true Wellington steel showing through. "If you want to throw away our future over a hallucination or a fake text message, that’s on you. But I’ve been nothing but a devoted partner. I have worked tirelessly for us."

"Son," Alexander Wellington’s voice boomed, heavy with authority. "If there is any truth to this—" Although he didn't want to believe it, Alexander didn't know Evelyn to be so easily decived, he understood just how much she loved his son, so hearing this from her naturally has him growing suspicious.

"There isn't, Father!" Vander snapped. "Evelyn is clearly not in her right mind. Perhaps we should leave and let the sedation wear off."

"No," Evelyn said. "Nobody leaves. Maria, get my phone."

Maria didn't hesitate. She grabbed Evelyn’s designer purse from the chair and fished out the device. The screen was a spiderweb of cracks, the glass shards glinting like diamonds, but the internal LCD flickered to life with a stubborn glow.

As Evelyn took the phone with a shaking hand, it buzzed again.

Ding.

Another message from the unknown number.

A follow-up.

Evelyn didn't even read the text. She just tapped the attachment.

" Darling? Is something the matter?" Cassandra asked when her daughters demeanor turned gloomy all of a sudden.

Her silence made the others feel rather worried.

"You wanted proof, Vander? Even while the truth is real, you still wanted to act like I’m some hysterical woman who can’t tell reality from a dream?" She turned the shattered screen toward the room.

It wasn't a photo this time. It was a video.

The footage was high-definition and appeared to be from a hidden camera mounted within the car's interior.

The luxury leather of the Wellington SUV was unmistakable. And there, in the center of the frame, was Vander.

He didn't just kiss the woman.

The video showed them moving toward each other again, a passionate, desperate embrace that felt like a physical blow to everyone watching in the room.

The silence that followed was like a vacuum. It was the kind of silence that preceded a building collapsing.

Vander’s face didn't just go pale; it turned a sickly, translucent grey, as if his soul had opted to leave his body before the fallout.

Alexander Wellington looked at his son not with anger, but with a terrifying, cold disgust. Beatrice let out a small, strangled gasp, her hand flying to her pearls as if they were choking her.

Evelyn’s father, who had been silent until now, took a step toward Vander. His face was a dark, dangerous shade of purple. "You son of a—"

"Arthur, no," Cassandra whispered, grabbing her husband's arm, though her own eyes were fixed on Vander with visible disappointment.

Seeing as how everyone had turned against him, Vander hurriedly shifted his focus to Evelyn.

"Evelyn, I can explain," Vander started, his voice cracking. The "distraught fiancé" was gone. In his place was a cornered animal. "It’s not what it looks like. I was—"

"You were having the best time of your life, weren't you?" Evelyn finished for him. She felt a strange, cold clarity wash over her.

The pain in her head was still there, but the pain in her heart had solidified into a block of ice. " After all the time we spent together, the least you could've done was tell me what I did wrong, Vander."

" All these years, all these years and all I could think about was you. Oh how I loved you so much. Sometimes I even scared myself."

" But now I see you never really cared about me did you. And you thought I was too stupid, or too blinded by that 'June wedding' fairy tale, to notice you were building a life with someone else on my dime."

"Evelyn—" Beatrice tried to intervene, her voice trembling. "Let’s not make any rash decisions in a hospital room. Think of the families. Think of the press."

"The press is going to have a field day, Vander," Evelyn said, her eyes flashing. "But they won't be writing about a wedding. They’ll be writing about us, canceling our engagement."

She looked at Vander, who was still standing by her bed, looking smaller than he ever had.

"Get out," Evelyn said. This time, her voice was no different than a cold command, yet her eyes were filled with more anguish than hatred.

Vander's was silent, his face looked like he still had something to say but in the end, He turned and walked out.

" My dear, we're terribly sorry." Vander's mother apologised.

" It's not your fault Aunty... It's his."

" We know, but as his parents, we're also partly to blame. The both of us didn't expect him to do such a thing. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive us."

Evelyn chuckled lightly, a sad smile on her face. " There's nothing to forgive. Like I said, you've done nothing wrong."

This time around, the Wellington couple said nothing. After conversing with Arthur in a corner, they both left along with him.

As the door clicked shut, Evelyn let out a breath she felt she’d been holding since the car crash.

She leaned back against the thin hospital pillows, her eyes closing.

"Evelyn?" Maria whispered, coming to the side of the bed.

"I'm fine, Maria," Evelyn said, though a single tear finally escaped, tracing a path through the dried blood on her cheek. "I’m fine. Because for the first time in three years, I finally found out just what type of man I'd fallen in love with." With the first, more and more tears began leaking from her eyes as she sobbed softly.

" Evelyn, please don't cry." Her mother tried to comfort her.

" Why shouldn't I?" She sniffled. " I and Vander have been together for 3 whole years and not once did I know that he...."

" Evelyn, we can't be completely sure, perhaps this is all just some misunderstanding." Her father said.

" A misunderstanding?" Alas, Evelyn only became even more angry from his words. " I should take the fact that he was making out with some other woman as a mistake."

" Darling, that's not what I'm saying. Perhaps he wasn't the one who..."

" That's enough dad..." Evelyn's voice hitched as she stopped her father from going on.

" I think I need some time alone to myself."

" Evelyn..." Her mother muttered, looking slightly worried.

" Please..." Yet Evelyn remained firm on her decision.

" Alright..." Her father let out a sigh. " You're mother and I will head home." He said before glancing at Maria.

Maria understood what he meant and nodded, slowly getting up before leaving the room with the Franklin couple.

Once alone, Evelyn was silent for a moment before sounds of sorrowful sobbing filled the hospital room.