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Chapter 41: The Article
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2026-02-11 19:15:50
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The Billion Dollar Bet Chapter 43: His Answer
GRACE'S POVCarter called at midnight. I was still awake, going through financial projections with David over video call, trying to figure out if delaying the IPO two weeks would be enough time to recover investor confidence. My phone lit up with Carter's name and I almost declined it. But something made me answer, made me put David on hold and take the call I'd been avoiding since I left Naomi's office six hours ago."It's midnight, Carter. Whatever you want, it can wait until morning." I kept my voice flat, professional. The voice I used with people who didn't matter."I know. I'm sorry. I just needed to say something and if I waited until morning I'd talk myself out of it." He sounded tired. Raw. "Grace, I need you to understand why I'm really helping you. Not the noble answer I gave in Naomi's office. The truth.""I don't need your truth. I need your testimony against Marcus." I pulled up my laptop, tried to focus on the numbers David was showing me. "Save the confessions for your
The Billion Dollar Bet Chapter 42: Unlikely Alliance
GRACE'S POVCarter showed up at my office three hours after the second article dropped. I was in an emergency board meeting, watching my directors debate whether to postpone the IPO or push through the crisis, when Meredith knocked and whispered that Carter Vaughn was in the lobby refusing to leave until I saw him."Tell him I'm busy. Tell him to go through my lawyer like everyone else." I turned back to the board, tried to focus on David explaining how we could stabilize investor confidence if we moved fast enough. But my brain was stuck on Carter downstairs, on what he could possibly want now when my world was burning down around me.Meredith came back ten minutes later. "He says it's about Marcus. Says he knows how to stop him. Grace, he looks desperate. I think you should hear him out."I excused myself from the meeting, took the elevator down to the lobby already regretting this decision. Carter was pacing near the security desk, still in yesterday's wrinkled clothes, looking lik
The Billion Dollar Bet Chapter 41: The Article
GRACE'S POVThe article went live at six in the morning. I knew because my phone started buzzing before my alarm went off, texts and calls coming in so fast the vibrations blended into one continuous hum. I grabbed it off the nightstand, saw Naomi's name on the screen along with fifteen missed calls, and knew something terrible had happened."Tell me you haven't seen it yet." Naomi's voice was tight. Angry. "Grace, don't read it. Let me summarize so you're not blindsided by the details.""Seen what? Naomi, what's going on?" I was already opening my browser, typing my name into the search bar. The Business Journal article was the top result. Headline in bold: "Grace Monroe's Secret Affair & Baby Trap: The Untold Story Behind the Billion Dollar Victim."My stomach dropped. I clicked the link before Naomi could stop me, started reading. The article was long, detailed, written by Sarah Martinez who I'd never heard of but who apparently had sources close to the situation. Sources who claim
The Billion Dollar Bet Chapter 40: Marcus's Move
MARCUS'S POVI found out Carter was chasing Grace from Richard's text at two in the morning. "Your boy's in Portland stalking his ex. Got himself arrested. Thought you should know before this blows up."I called Carter immediately. Voicemail. Called again. Nothing. Sent a text: "What the fuck are you doing in Portland?"No response. I sat in my home office staring at my phone feeling something cold settle in my chest. Carter was supposed to be past this. Past Grace, past the guilt, past caring about what happened to the woman who'd destroyed us. We'd made a pact after the scandal broke. Brothers before anyone else. The club above everything. No woman was worth betraying that.And now he was in Portland. Chasing after Grace and the kids everyone kept saying were his. Kids I'd told him couldn't possibly be real, that Grace was using for sympathy, that he needed to forget about. He'd agreed. Said he was moving on. Fucking liar.My phone rang. Carter finally calling back. I answered ready
The Billion Dollar Bet Chapter 39: What He Wants
CARTER'S POVI sat in Tom's conference room for twenty minutes after Grace left. Just sat there staring at the empty chair where she'd been, replaying every word she'd said. You don't have children. You have DNA matches. The words kept looping in my head like a punishment I deserved but couldn't accept.Tom was on his phone with Naomi, trying to salvage something from the wreckage of that meeting. I wasn't listening. Couldn't focus on legal strategy when Grace's face was burned into my brain. The coldness in her eyes when she looked at me. The absolute certainty in her voice when she said I'd never be their father. Like it was already decided. Like nothing I did would ever matter."Carter." Tom hung up, sat down across from me. "We need to talk about next steps. Naomi's threatening harassment charges on top of the restraining order violation. She wants all communication to go through lawyers only. No more direct contact with Grace.""I heard." My voice sounded hollow. "What else did s
The Billion Dollar Bet Chapter 38: Naomi Steps In
GRACE'S POVCarter was arrested at his hotel six hours later. Naomi called to tell me while I was putting the twins to bed, her voice satisfied in a way that should've made me feel victorious. It didn't. Just made me tired. Tired of fighting, tired of being afraid, tired of checking security cameras every ten minutes to make sure Carter wasn't back at my door."They picked him up for violating the restraining order. He'll spend the night in holding, probably be released tomorrow on his own recognizance since it's a first offense." Naomi was clearly reading from notes. "But this is good for us, Grace. Really good. Shows a pattern of disregarding court orders, of prioritizing his wants over legal boundaries. Any judge will see this and think twice about giving him access to the twins.""What happens now?" I pulled the twins' bedroom door mostly closed, left it cracked so I could hear if they woke up. "Does he go to trial? Do I have to testify?""Not criminal trial. This is civil contemp
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