บททั้งหมดของ My Ex-husband Billion Dollar Mistakes : บทที่ 81 - บทที่ 90

POV: Xavier's MotherThe tea had gone cold in the porcelain cup, but I did not call the maid to change it. I sat in the morning room of the town townhouse, the morning newspapers spread across the mahogany table. On the front page of the city network section, Mira Vance stood in the black mud of the railway yard, her white coat smeared with grease and her face a mask of undignified rage under the flashlights of the police.Foolish girl, I thought. Utterly foolish.Mira’s father had built an empire on the docks through crude intimidation, and it was clear his daughter possessed his same lack of restraint. She had turned a private family matter into a public spectacle and Vance's name was being dragged through the mud on the morning television broadcasts because she could not contain her temper. She was no longer an asset but a liability to our family’s corporate recovery.I looked at the legal brief my secretary had left on the corner of the table and it detailed Nichole's Ex-husban

POV: XavierThe red numbers on the computer screen updated every thirty seconds and each flash of the digital text showed that the company was losing value. The stock price of Vance Global Logistics was down fourteen percent since the opening bell.I sat at the wooden table in the house which smelled now of old fish crates and river mud. It was very different from the clean offices where I had spent my entire adult life. I had wanted a clear line between my family’s past and my future with Nichole. I had spoken plainly on the courthouse steps, but the financial market did not care about truth or the family safety. It cared about stability. By declaring my marriage to the public, I had told the international trading desks that the Vance leadership was locked in a bitter domestic dispute.While I railed through my thoughts, the phone beside the tablet vibrated against the wood and the screen displayed the private line of Arthur Pendleton. He was the senior chairman of our board of dire

POV: NicholeThe next morning. We were invited to court.I knew it was going to be another paparazzi as a group of reporters sighted Xavier and surged towards us again."Keep your head down and stay close to my side, Nichole," Xavier said, his arm instantly turning into a hard band around my waist as he stepped forward.The white light of forty camera flashes hit my eyes like a physical blow. Shouting reporters broke through the entrance pushing past the two security guards to thrust their microphones toward my face."Nichole! Is it true you are evading a state-ordered psychiatric evaluation?" a woman screamed from the front line."Did you trap a Vance executive with a pregnancy to pay off your family's debts?" a man shouted, his lens clinking against the buttons of my coat.I covered my face into Xavier’s chest and kept my hand flat over my stomach. The guards shoved their shoulders against the crowd, but a reporter in a red jacket stepped directly into our path, blocking the door o

POV: XavierThe next day…At the court."Stand aside," I said, my voice cutting through the quiet lobby of Vance Tower.The head of security stepped back, his hand dropping away from the electronic turnstile. He looked at the thick stack of federal commerce injunction papers in my left hand, then at Nichole, who stood close to my right side. My hand stayed pressed firmly against her small back, guiding her forward through the marble corridor. She did not look at the polished floor or the guards. Her chin was up and her fingers locked tightly in mine.We rode the private elevator to the top floor in total silence. When the doors slid open, the sound of Arthur Pendleton's dry voice carried through the double mahogany doors of the main boardroom."The proxy votes are verified," Arthur was saying. "If there are no objections, we will sign the executive transition over to Raymond's legal bloc…"Suddenly, I kicked the heavy doors open and the wood slammed against the interior walls with a

POV: Xavier"Do not look at the wall, Nichole," I said as I placed my hands on her face to turn her eyes away from the black writing.Her skin felt very cold. She was shaking, and she held her hands over her stomach as she looked at the broken furniture. Raymond’s men had destroyed our room to prove they could find us anywhere."We must leave right now," I said as I spoke clearly and looked directly into her eyes to make her focus on me. "Rex has a protected house in the northern hills. It has security guards, strong gates, and thick glass. You and the baby will be safe there.""It is just another prison, Xavier," she whispered and I could feel she was so cold that her teeth clicked together. "It is just another place with guards and walls.""It is only for a short time, Nichole," I promised as I leaned down and touched my forehead against hers. "I am going to fix the financial audit, put Raymond in jail, and buy us a quiet piece of land and no one will ever find us there. But tonig