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Chapter 132: The Mastermind
publish date:
2026-03-28 14:16:35
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The Billionaire’s Discarded Bride Chapter 133: War Council
Caleb POVBy seven the next morning, the dining room table had been taken over.Bella had been awake since before me — I'd found her in the study at five, laptop open, three pages of handwritten notes beside it and a cold cup of coffee she'd forgotten about I think hours ago. She'd looked up when I came in and said, "I have a framework," and I'd made her fresh coffee and sat down and listened to her walk me through it, and by the time Tom woke up and the ordinary morning began on top of everything else, we had something to work with. I called James, James called Lena and Bella called Diana.Diana arrived at seven-thirty with croissants, which she has been doing for a few days now, and it always seemed to surprise everyone including her, judging by her expression when she put them on the table, like she'd made the decision in the bakery and was now only partially committed to it.Tom took two immediately and informed her she should come every morning."I'll consider it," Diana said,
The Billionaire’s Discarded Bride Chapter 132: The Mastermind
Bella POVForde broke in under a few hours. That was faster than I'd expected, and Diana, sitting at the dining table reviewing the recording from the restaurant, said it meant he'd been looking for an exit for a while. "Men like Forde don't hold secrets because they're loyal," she said. "They hold them because the alternative scares them more, it takes the scare away""And they talk," I finished.Lena and Caleb had handled the Forde meeting in a conference room on a floor of Black Tower that had been cleared for the afternoon. I hadn't been in the room. That had been a deliberate choice — Caleb's, supported by me — because my presence would have made it about the family, and this needed to stay about the company, the evidence, the clean legal record we'd need afterward. I'd watched through the building's internal video feed with Diana, who had provided a quiet, running commentary on Forde's body language with the detached interest of someone watching a wildlife documentary.When Cale
The Billionaire’s Discarded Bride Chapter 131: Corporate Espionage
Caleb POVThe name on Lena's message was Daniel Forde. My corporate CFO, years with Black Enterprises, three of them reporting directly to me. The man who had sat in the war room during the SEC frame job and helped Bella and I build our counter-case. Who had shaken my hand at the press conference and said, It's good to see things working out, Caleb.I read the name and said nothing for a long moment."Caleb," Bella said again, from the window.I turned the phone so she and Diana could see the screen.Diana's expression didn't change. Bella went very still, then shifted into something controlled. Diana looked at the name and then at me. "How long has he been your CFO?""Twelve years.""Victor hired him?""No," I said. And then, because she'd asked for a reason: "He was already in the company when I took over, he was father's hire."Diana nodded once. "Then he was never yours."We didn't move immediately. That was Bella's call, and it was the right one."If we pull him now, whoever is
The Billionaire’s Discarded Bride Chapter 130: Unlikely Alliance
Bella POVDiana arrived at the penthouse at nine in the morning with a laptop bag, a second phone, and the particular expression of someone who has decided to do a thing they find personally distasteful but strategically necessary.I let her in because Caleb asked me to. I stood in the kitchen doorway with my coffee and watched her set up at the dining table and reminded myself that her file on Caleb's phone had been thorough, accurate, and had given us three names we wouldn't have had otherwise.That was the only reason she was here."Tom's at Maya's," Caleb said, coming in from the hallway. "We have the morning."Diana looked up. "I'm aware you both have questions about my methods," she said."Questions are generous," I said.She looked at me steadily. "I've been investigating my brother's life for years using means that were not always strictly legal. You can be angry about that or you can use what I found. I'd recommend the second option."I sat down across from her. "Walk us thro
The Billionaire’s Discarded Bride Chapter 129: Diana's Truth
Diana POVI was not the threat. I needed Caleb to understand that, and the fact that he wouldn't return my calls was making it significantly more difficult to prevent what was already moving toward his family like a slow-rolling collapse.I sat in my hotel room with my laptop and my second cup of terrible room service coffee and the growing, unwelcome awareness that I had made a catastrophic miscalculation.The test I'd run on Bella was stupid. I knew that now — had known it the moment Caleb walked into my hotel bar and looked at me with the particular expression our father used to wear when he thought something beneath him was wasting his time. I had spent years memorizing that expression so I could anticipate it in the wild, and seeing it on Caleb's face, directed at me, had been more effective than anything a therapist had ever said.He looked like our father. And then he didn't. He set down his glass and said, I'm not going to build this on the ruins of my life, and walked out, an
The Billionaire’s Discarded Bride Chapter 128: Protection Detail
Caleb POVTom hated the security detail with a focused, articulate passion that I found, privately, impressive.He didn't cry about it, didn't throw a tantrum. He simply stood in the kitchen on Monday morning, looked at the two people Lena had assigned as his close-protection team, and said"But they're strangers.""They're colleagues of mine," I said. "Like James.""James brings me biscuits.""Leon has biscuits," the security officer on the left said immediately, producing one from his jacket pocket.Tom looked at it, then at Leon. "What kind?""Chocolate digestive.""Okay," Tom said, and took the biscuit, and the negotiation was, apparently, complete.The decision to pause school came from Bella and I hadn't argued with it."One week," she'd said. "Until Lena's team has a clearer picture of the school surveillance. Then we reassess."What she'd built in that week — the reading schedule pinned to the kitchen whiteboard, the morning lessons at the dining table, the afternoon project th
The Billionaire’s Discarded Bride Chapter 9: Nowhere to Go at 3:47 A.M
Bella pov The bus pulled into Crestwood at 3:47 AM, depositing me at a station that was little more than a covered bench and a flickering streetlight. The rain had stopped somewhere during the ride, leaving the air cold and damp, smelling of wet concrete and exhaust fumes.I stood on the sidewalk
Last Updated : 2026-03-17The Billionaire’s Discarded Bride Chapter 67: Trapped
Bella POVThe board meeting was a battlefield disguised as a conference room.I arrived at Black Tower in the car Caleb sent, dressed in a burgundy power suit with my armor fully in place. The building was exactly as I remembered, all glass and steel and intimidation, designed to make visitors feel
Last Updated : 2026-03-28The Billionaire’s Discarded Bride Chapter 71: Visitation
Bella pov "I know, mine told me." Caleb's jaw was tight. "But we'll be there for every visit, they won't get a moment alone with him.""We?" I raised an eyebrow."You think I'm letting you face them alone?" His eyes were fierce. "Wherever you go with Tom, I go too. We're a united front, Bella. In
Last Updated : 2026-03-28The Billionaire’s Discarded Bride Chapter 68: Stuck in an elevator
Bella pov We sat in awkward silence until the food arrived. Then I focused on my salad, grateful for something to do with my hands."You were brilliant in there," Caleb said finally."Just doing my job.""It was more than that, you commanded that room. Even Walsh was impressed and he's impossible
Last Updated : 2026-03-28
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