All Chapters of The Billionaire's Ultimatum: Chapter 61 - Chapter 68

68 Chapters

CHAPTER SIXTY ONE

XAVIER Monday morning arrived too quick for comfort.I stood in front of the mirror in my bedroom, adjusting my tie for the third time. The suit I’d chosen was one of my most expensive—a Tom Ford, perfectly tailored to fit me like a glove, dark charcoal that made me look powerful and in control.It felt like armor when I wore it and maybe that’s what it was.I was preparing for battle after all.The board meeting was at the company’s headquarters downtown and I couldn’t tell if I was fully prepared for it.I’d been in a thousand high-stakes negotiations before. I’d faced down mob bosses and rival families without flinching, had stared death in the face more times than I could count.But something about facing these men who had known and respected my mother made me nervous in a way I wasn’t used to.They would be judging whether I was worthy of Grace’s legacy. And my recent disappearance—vanishing for nearly two weeks right when I was supposed to show up and pick up where they left

CHAPTER SIXTY TWO

LAURA I didn’t plan on coming to Xavier’s meeting let alone anywhere close to Grace’s office. I was supposed to stay home, stay safe, stay out of the way like the good little wife I was expected to be, but that email from Vanessa Whitmore had been eating at me all weekend.I’d tried to ignore it. I really did—telling myself it was just some professional contact reaching out. It was probably nothing and I was simply overthinking the whole thing.Plus Xavier had said it was spam, he’d dismissed it completely if I was being entirely honest but I couldn’t stop thinking about it.Saturday morning, while Xavier was in the shower getting ready, I’d finally snapped and done something I wasn’t proud of. I’d googled Vanessa Whitmore.And found exactly what I was afraid of.A stunning woman in her early thirties—with perfect bone structure, blonde hair, and an Ivy League education from one of the top universities in five states—stared back at me across multiple search results.Corporate att

CHAPTER SIXTY THREE

XAVIER The elevator ride to my office was suffocatingly silent.As though my day couldn’t have gotten any worse, Laura just had to show up to my office at the worst time possible.She stood on the opposite side of the car, her arms crossed tightly across her chest, her eyes fixed on the floor numbers as they climbed. She wouldn’t look at me, and she certainly wouldn’t acknowledge my presence. I could practically feel the hurt radiating off her in waves.I wanted to explain. I wanted to tell her that Vanessa being brought onto the legal team wasn’t my decision—it was the board’s idea, their way of adding “oversight” because they didn’t trust my judgment right now. Another move by Donnelly to undermine me. To surround me with people loyal to him instead of me which—I couldn’t really complain, could I?I did just prove him right by leaving an important board meeting because of Laura and I would do it over and over and over again.That’s how much I loved her now.That’s how much she

CHAPTER SIXTY FOUR

XAVIER Laura turned to face me, and my heart plunged to the very depths of my stomach. Her expression was broken, clouded with hurt and it killed me knowing I was the one who made her feel this way.“Nothing to do with us?” She laughed, but I knew it was nothing close to a joyful one. “Xavier, everything about your business is entangled with us. Our marriage exists because of your business. You came for me when I was kidnapped because I’m connected to your world now, because Alexei saw me as leverage against you.”She took a step toward me, her eyes blazing.“You can’t keep some parts of your life separate and locked away and expect me to just be fine and accept it. Not after everything we’ve been through. Not after—”She stopped, her voice cracking slightly.“Not after what we did,” she finished quietly.“That’s different,” I said, but even I could hear how dumb and insensitive that sounded.Why was I like this? Why couldn’t I just put my pride aside and explain things like a

CHAPTER SIXTY FIVE

XAVIER “Do you know how I felt ambushed by those reporters?” She asked and I could see her fingers trembling. “I stood in front of them and I told them I was lucky to be your wife,” she said quietly. “I defended you and our marriage without a single ounce of hesitation. Can you say the same for me?” My eyes widened at the question. “Can you honestly say that you’d defend me the same way?” Laura continued, her voice steady despite the tears now staining her cheeks. “Or am I still just the contract you had to sign to get what you wanted?” The question hung in the air between us, heavy and devastating. And I realized with growing horror that Laura didn’t actually know how I felt. We’d slept together, yes. I held her at night, whispered things in the dark that I could barely admit to myself. But I’d never actually said the words out loud. I never made it clear once that this stopped being about the contract a long time ago. That somewhere between her jumping out of a movi

CHAPTER SIXTY SIX

LAURA I didn’t even give Xavier the chance to say another word. I was already out the door. I couldn’t stand being in that room for another second.Feeling like the complete idiot I probably looked like.Vanessa Whitmore was everything I wasn’t, and seeing that—live and direct—burned something inside me.She was polished, confident, fluent in business talk. Completely at ease in Xavier’s world, while I was just—I was just me.I could barely hold my own against her.Those lifeless blue eyes saw right through my façade, like she already knew I wasn’t worthy. That I didn’t stand a single chance against her. That I was nothing more than an imposter in a life that could never be mine.The way Vanessa looked at Xavier killed me even more—the familiarity in it. That stupid, syrupy tone she used with him. That devious smile of hers.For a split second, I felt like nothing—like an intruder in my own marriage. And I hated every single moment of it.I didn’t realize when I started running inst

CHAPTER SIXTY SEVEN

LAURA That evening, I heard Xavier’s key in the lock around 8:30 PM.I’d been sitting on the couch for the past hour pretending to read a book, the same page staring back at me because I couldn’t focus on a single word. Every sound in the penthouse made me jump, thinking it was him.And now he was finally here.Xavier walked in looking exhausted—his tie loosened, his slightly tussled from running his hands through them, dark circles under his eyes that told the day had been as brutal for him as it had been for me.He stopped in his tracks when he saw me on the couch, something flickering across his face. “You’re still up?” He asked, his voice dripping with concern.“Can we talk?” The words came out smaller than I intended, my voice betraying all the vulnerability I’d been trying to hide.Xavier studied me for a long moment, then nodded. He set his jacket and briefcase down and came to sit beside me on the couch, leaving just enough space between us that we weren’t touching.The di

CHAPTER SIXTY EIGHT

XAVIER I didn’t get home until 4am in the morning.Exhausted didn’t even begin to cut it. I was running on zero sleep, my patience stretched out to nothing, and my entire body felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.The warehouse situation had turned out to be a complex waste of time—one of my newer guys had gotten paranoid over absolutely nothing, going on about moving shadows and convinced we had intruders when it was just the building settling.Marcus should have handled the situation because he was mainly responsible for this sector, but he had other things on his hands to handle.He was keeping a close eye on Alexie and if I was being completely honest, that’s all I needed him to do.By the time I’d gotten there and personally verified that everything was fine—no threats, no break-ins, nothing worth the emergency call that had pulled me away from Laura—it was past 2am. I’d crashed at one of my safe houses nearby rather than making the long drive back to the penthouse. It had s

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