All Chapters of Betrayed By My Husband, I Married His Billionaire Uncle: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

ANIKA Staring down at the glowing screen of my phone, my mind fractured into a dozen different directions. The text message glared back at me, a digital poison seeping straight into my bloodstream.*Meet me at the old warehouse on 4th Street... Do this if you value your life.*My lungs tightened, refusing to take in enough oxygen. Questions swarmed my head like a hive of angry hornets. Was Merrick lying? He had proven himself a coward and a snake over the last three years. Trusting a single word he said was a fool's errand. Yet, the timing of his message aligned too perfectly with the cryptic chat on Icelyn’s phone. If my ex-husband truly possessed the missing puzzle pieces regarding Senator Hayes, could I afford to ignore him?If I stayed in this bathroom and told my husband about the text, Icelyn would dispatch a tactical team. Merrick would be dragged away, locked in a federal cell, and his secrets would die in the dark. I would never know the truth. I would spend the rest of my l

ANIKAThe bedroom was dark, save for the gray light filtering through the rain-streaked windows. Icelyn sat against the tufted headboard, holding me flush against his chest. A thick down comforter covered us both, trapping the heat of his body against my shivering frame.Terrifying tremors continued to wrack my limbs in violent, unpredictable waves.Icelyn kept one arm wrapped tight around my waist, his other hand stroking my damp hair. He had carried me straight into the master bathroom after we arrived, washing the cold rain and the scent of the alley off my skin under the steaming shower. Now, nestled in his arms, the deep soreness between my thighs from our earlier intimacy mixed with the raw, throbbing ache in my shoulder where the foreman had grabbed me."You are still shaking," he observed. His voice was a low, rough rumble that vibrated through my own chest."I keep feeling the gun," I whispered, squeezing my eyes shut. Hot tears leaked onto the fabric of his shirt. "I keep fe

ANIKAEven after everything, I couldn't help it. I couldn't help getting it out of my head.The violent storm outside had finally exhausted itself, leaving a heavy, suffocating silence in its wake. Midnight draped over the Manhattan skyline like a thick, damp wool blanket. Inside the sprawling penthouse, the air felt incredibly dense and unmoving.Sleep remained a foreign concept to me. My bare feet padded a restless, erratic path across the dark hardwood floors of the living room. The faint amber glow of the city streetlights filtered through the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting long, distorted shadows against the walls.A terrible, lingering doubt gnawed at the edges of my sanity. The anonymous text message regarding the senator refused to leave my mind. The cruel words played on a relentless loop behind my eyes, twisting my stomach into tight, painful knots. “Ask your perfect husband what he did... You are sleeping next to a murderer.”My rational mind knew Merrick sent the mess

ICELYNEverything looked fine on paper. The flight plan out of the private aviation terminal in Teterboro was logged and verified. The background checks for the flight crew came back clean. The hotel accommodations in Massachusetts were secured under a blind corporate alias. Yet, the air inside my own home felt thick and wrong.My survival in the corporate underworld relied heavily on this specific instinct. It was the same cold, creeping sensation that warned me when a rival CEO was preparing a hostile takeover, or when a politician was lying to my face. The threat level surrounding Merrick had reached a boiling point, and a desperate animal was the most dangerous kind to hunt.Reaching across the desk, my hand closed around the sleek black receiver of the secure landline. I pressed the speed-dial button for my head of security.Peter answered on the first ring. "Yes, Mr. Sterling.""Run through the transport logistics for the airport transfer tonight," I ordered, keeping my voice

ANIKAHis predatory instincts flared a fraction of a second before the hitman even tightened his finger on the trigger. The shift in my husband was violent, instantaneous, and terrifying to witness. The calm, reassuring man holding my hand vanished, replaced by an apex predator reacting to a lethal threat.He did not waste precious oxygen yelling a warning. He did not pull his own concealed firearm or call out to his security team.Ripping his hand away from mine, Icelyn pivoted on his heel with blinding, impossible speed. His broad shoulders squared toward me. His face contorted into a mask of pure, primal ferocity.Before I could even blink, his large hands clamped down hard on my shoulders. The grip bruised my flesh right through the thick layers of my wool coat.A brutal, devastating shove followed.Icelyn threw me backward with a terrifying amount of physical force. The violent momentum ripped my feet right off the ground. The world spun in a chaotic blur of gray mist and flashi