After 666 Betrayals, I Chose His Billionaire Rival

"We've done this six hundred and sixty-six times in the two years since you married her."

"Brother, do you think your wife suspects anything?"

The voice on the other side of the door was syrupy sweet.

Lily Ashford froze where she stood.

Her blood turned to ice.

She had rushed to Nathan Pierce's office to share good news her hearing had come back.

Instead, she'd walked straight into the sound of her husband's affair.

The woman behind that door was no stranger.

She was Nathan's sworn sister. Melissa Sinclair. The same Melissa Sinclair whose reckless driving had put her own brother in a coma years ago.

Lily lowered her eyes.

So that's how it is.

The realization gutted her.

The sounds from inside kept coming, shameless and unbroken.

Melissa's voice was breathless. "Brother, it's been two years. You still sneak off to see me every night. Why don't you just leave her for good?"

A voice Lily hadn't heard in this tone before answered the boyish warmth stripped away, replaced by something low, indulgent, and filthy.

"She's used goods anyway."

Melissa laughed, delighted. "That's right my sister-in-law married a rich, handsome man, and he's probably worn her out by now."

Lily's fists clenched.

Her wedding ring bit cold into her fingers.

Used goods.

Nathan had called her that.

Lily's lips curved not into a smile, but something that resembled one.

She had sold two years of her life for five million dollars, money that had become the seed capital for Nathan's company. And this was what it bought her.

Her grip on the doorknob went slack.

With trembling fingers, she pulled out her phone, opened the voice recorder, and slid it beneath the door.

Evidence. Proof of everything.

She staggered back two steps, then turned and walked away without looking back.

In the back of the taxi home, her phone buzzed.

She glanced at the screen, breathed through the tightness in her throat, and answered. "Mom."

Diane Whitfield's voice came through sharp and impatient. "Are you wearing your hearing aid? Is Nathan with you? Ask him when the second round of funding for your Uncle Martin's company is coming. His whole business is hanging by a thread waiting on that money."

Lily said nothing.

Diane pressed on. "And have you been to see your brother? The machines keeping Owen alive need their lease renewed again. Make sure Nathan pays it. One day's delay and your brother's life is on the line."

Lily closed her eyes.

Owen had been in a vegetative state for two years, kept alive only because Nathan had leased, at staggering cost, a piece of proprietary life-support technology from an overseas biotech lab a machine that cost tens of millions a year just to rent.

When Lily stayed silent too long, Diane's voice climbed. "One more thing. I was out with the girls the other day, and one of them said she saw Nathan shopping with some woman."

Lily sniffed back tears. "Mom if Nathan really has been unfaithful, I'm going to divorce him"

She didn't get to finish.

"Lily Ashford, have you lost your mind?" Diane snapped. "You're deaf, you're damaged goods how did a girl like you even marry into the Pierce family? People would kill for the life you have, and you want to throw it away?"

"Forget the cheating. If that woman showed up on your doorstep nine months pregnant, you'd still smile and nurse her through her recovery. As long as you're still Mrs. Pierce, you're set for life. If you leave Nathan, your brother, you, me, your Uncle Martin we all starve."

Diane's voice was loud enough that the driver could hear it leaking from the phone.

He glanced at Lily in the rearview mirror, pity and discomfort flickering across his face.

Lily was quiet for a long moment. Then a faint smile touched her mouth. "Then let them all starve."

She hung up.

She wiped away the cold tears clinging to her lashes and dialed another number. "The prenup I signed with Nathan before the wedding you still have it? I also need a divorce agreement drafted. Send it to me tomorrow."

A voice answered on the other end.

Lily smiled bitterly.

Nathan had probably forgotten.

Before they married, eager to prove his devotion, he'd insisted they sign an agreement:

If Nathan Pierce was ever unfaithful, every asset under his name would pass to Lily.

He would walk away with nothing. Not one cent.

Lily sat alone in the living room until two in the morning.

When Nathan finally came home and found her sitting there in the dim light, he looked startled, then hurried over. "Why are you still up? I told you I had to work late."

His long fingers moved gracefully through the air as he signed the words, out of habit, even though he didn't know she could hear him now.

Lily thought back to the year it all began the year her father died shielding Nathan from an accident, the year the trauma stole her hearing.

Nathan had taught himself sign language from scratch. Within a month, he'd mastered it well enough to teach both her and her younger brother, Owen.

Back then, Nathan had promised to spend the rest of his life making it up to her.

Lily looked up at the faint red mark on his neck. "Tired?"

Nathan flinched, then covered it with a smile. He took her hand and pressed a kiss to her fingers before producing, as if by magic, a diamond bracelet that caught the lamplight and scattered it in sparks.

Two years of marriage.

This was gift number six hundred and sixty-six.

He fastened it around her wrist himself. "Perfect fit. Beautiful, just like you."

His eyes were soft.

Hers were wet.

She used to think it was love, repeated six hundred and sixty-six times.

She hadn't known it was guilt payment for six hundred and sixty-six nights spent in someone else's bed.

Lily slipped her hand free.

She smiled without any warmth in it. "Do you know what day it is in three days?"

Nathan signed patiently. [The company goes public the valuation doubles. And it's our second anniversary, Lily. I'll have something special for you.]

Lily nodded. "I have something prepared for you too."

A gift.

Freedom.

His, so he'd stop sneaking around for gifts to buy Melissa's silence.

Nathan patted her hand. "Get some sleep. Tomorrow's your father's anniversary. We'll visit the grave together."

The next morning, snow fell heavily.

On the drive to the cemetery, Nathan's phone rang.

Lily never wore her hearing aid around him so as far as he knew, she couldn't hear a word. He answered without a second thought. "What is it?"

Melissa's voice trembled with fear. "Brother, that drunk neighbor is banging on my door again. I'm scared. Can you come?"

Nathan frowned. "I'll send Ryan to deal with it."

Disappointment flickered under Melissa's tone before she caved sweetly. "Okay, brother."

He hung up.

Lily gripped the hem of her coat, hunting for some scrap of gratitude toward the man beside her if nothing else, he still owed her father that much.

She let out a slow breath.

The car had barely gone another two minutes before the phone rang again.

Nathan answered, jaw tight.

Melissa again, softer, more frightened. "Brother, he's picking the lock"

Nathan slammed the brakes.

Lily lurched forward, narrowly missing the dashboard, then was yanked back by her seatbelt as the car shuddered to a stop.

Dizzy from the jolt, she turned calm, unreadable eyes on her husband.

Nathan's expression crumpled with guilt. "Lily, I'm sorry something urgent came up at the office. I can't come to the cemetery with you today. I'll finish as fast as I can and come find you."

Something in Lily's chest burned.

She smiled, understanding. "It's fine. Go."

Nathan looked ashamed. He reached out, meaning to smooth her hair in apology.

Lily leaned away before he could touch her.

His hand hung empty in the air. Something hollow opened up in his chest too though he didn't chase the feeling.

He got out and opened her door instead.

The moment she stepped out, he was already speeding off.

Lily's hand hovered, reaching for nothing. "...Right."

Her coat was still on the back seat.

A cutting wind swept past, and she shivered hard in the cold.

She caught a cab the rest of the way to her father's grave, pulled the weeds from around the headstone, and burned incense and paper money in the snow. Then, exhausted, she sat down in front of the grave and talked to her father for a long, long time.

A shadow finally fell over her from behind.

She turned. "Mr. Reed. Did you bring what I asked for?"

The lawyer nodded, glancing at the snow piled on her shoulders and hair before opening his briefcase and handing her the folder.

Lily took it with both hands, her fingers numb with cold. "Thank you."

Reed started to type something on his phone to show her.

She looked up. "You can just talk. I can hear now."

He blinked, startled. "You can hear?"

She nodded.

He considered his words. "Jonathan Ford was good to me once. Since you're the one raising his son now, I owe you the same. Call me anytime you need a lawyer."

Lily looked up at him, sorrow settling over her delicate features. "Thank you."

Reed seemed to notice the lost look in her eyes and said gently, "When someone becomes your whole faith, it breaks something in you when that faith collapses."

Faith.

Yes.

Nathan had been her faith. Her fate.

Right here, in this exact spot, with his eyes bloodshot, he'd once carved a vow into the frozen ground, letter by letter: Lily, I'll spend my whole life repaying your father. My life belongs to you now.

She'd never wanted him dead in exchange.

But loving Nathan Pierce had cost her half her life anyway.

Her phone buzzed.

She looked down at the screen a message from Nathan.

[Lily, something happened with Melissa's family. I'm bringing her home to stay with us for a few days.]