บททั้งหมดของ ONE NIGHT STAND WITH MR.BILLIONAIRE : บทที่ 61 - บทที่ 70

James’s POVI’d seen setups before.You grow up with the O’Connor name, you learn quickly that your reputation doesn’t belong to you. It’s currency. It’s target practice. It’s bait.But this wasn’t a headline.This wasn’t a public leak.It was a message — direct, deliberate, perfectly timed to rattle Melinda before one of the most important moments of her career.And the worst part?I couldn’t tell if it was about me…Or her.I called Ronan the next morning.He’d been my private contact for years — former intelligence consultant, now operating in the gray space between corporate security and “the things no one else can touch.”“Someone sent my partner a photo,” I said. “Of me. From Berlin. With a woman. And a child I didn’t know existed.”I sent him a scan of the photo and the writing on the back.He didn’t ask permission. Just started working.“Give me forty-eight hours,” he said. “And stay quiet.”Melinda’s POVI tried not to think about it.The photo.The child.The scrawl on the b

Melinda’s POVThe envelope was black.No return address. No stamp. No name.Just delivered by hand, tucked under the front gate camera, timed to arrive the same day James filed his petition for an emergency vote to remove Marcus from the O’Connor family board.Carrie would’ve caught it.But she wasn’t here anymore.So I was the one who picked it up.And from the moment I touched it, I knew—Whatever was inside would change everything.I didn’t open it in the house.Didn’t want to risk the twins seeing anything they shouldn’t.I took it to my office instead, shut the door, and pulled the envelope apart with careful fingers.Inside was a single sheet of parchment-thick paper and a clean, serif font that made it look more like an invitation than a warning.Ms. Holt,You are being formally invited to participate as a private witness in an independent financial and ethical review of Marcus O’Connor. This proceeding is sealed, with limited visibility.Your knowledge of the offshore trust, a

Melinda’s POVThe interview aired on a Thursday night.By Friday morning, I had fifty new emails in my inbox, most of them with subject lines like “You Changed My Life” or “Thank You for Speaking Out.”By noon, the clip had hit five million views.By the end of the day, it was trending in seventeen countries.And by Saturday?The offers started coming.Television.Speaking engagements.Magazine features.Panel invitations.Brand collaborations.And then the one I didn’t expect.A book deal.Not a memoir, at first. Just a proposal.Then another.And then a third — this one from a powerhouse publishing imprint in New York, offering a seven-figure advance and creative control.The catch?They wanted everything.No edits. No omissions.Full transparency.I stared at the email for a long time.Then forwarded it to Carrie, who was now — unofficially — back as my communications advisor. (We hadn’t said the words I forgive you, but we were working our way back.)She called five minutes later.

Melinda’s POVThe envelope was thick.Stamped in bold red across the front:LEGAL NOTICE: CEASE AND DESISTCarrie brought it into my office with her mouth already open — like she wanted to curse but hadn’t picked the right word yet.“I could light this on fire,” she said, slamming it on the desk.I gave a dry smile. “Tempting.”“You don’t have to read it.”“Yes, I do.”I picked it up. Slid a blade through the seal.And read the letter that Marcus O’Connor had been waiting over a decade to use.Ms. Holt,This letter serves as formal notice of a violation of Section IV, Clause Twenty-Nine of your original divorce decree, signed and filed under the jurisdiction of the State of California on March 3, 2014.Said clause restricts the publication or public disclosure of events, communications, and material facts related to your marriage with Andrew Holt, under penalty of civil suit.You are hereby instructed to cease and desist all publication efforts regarding the forthcoming manuscript ent

Melinda’s POVI started with the check.$200,000.Issued from Holt & Moore Family Holdings.Margot had written it herself — dated July 19, 2011. The memo line read simply: “Settlement.”There was a name, scrawled just below the signature:Rachel Greene.I didn’t recognize it. Not from my past. Not from the legal fights. Not from Andrew’s world. That, more than anything, told me it was real.Because real threats never make it into the narrative.They’re handled quietly.Erased.Bought off.And sometimes… buried.I ran her name through everything.Public records.Birth databases.Court filings.Archived directories.Rachel Greene had once lived in Encino.A two-bedroom rental, leased under her name from 2009 to 2012.Then… nothing.No obituary.No marriage certificate.No forwarding address.It was like she vanished the year after the payment.But I didn’t believe in coincidence anymore.And I didn’t believe in disappearances that clean.James’s POVShe told me what she found on a Sunda