All Chapters of The Wife They Rejected Was a Billionaire Heiress: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

Back on the office floor, Chloe found a cluster of employees crowded around Naomi's old desk."What exactly are you all doing during work hours?"The group scattered instantly at the sound of her voice.Their expressions as they looked at her weren't entirely friendly.Everyone in the building understood, in the unspoken way office politics worked, exactly what Chloe was to Ethan. Nobody wanted to be the one to test that."Ms. Bennett, Naomi left some things behind and we were trying to figure out what they were," one of them offered, braver than the rest.Curious, Chloe stepped closer to inspect the sketches spread across the desk.Recognizing them as Naomi's architectural drafts, something sparked behind her eyes.She'd caught wind, just recently, of an international design competition opening up grand prize ten million dollars, plus a parcel of land on Catalina."They're just sketches. Nothing worth gathering around." Chloe swept them straight into the trash can. "Everyone, back to

"Sebastian, seriously no interest at all in pursuing something with Ms. Hart?" Miles couldn't resist pushing. "You've spent over a decade looking for that girl with nothing to show for it. Statistically, there's a real chance she's already"Sebastian cut him off with a look cold enough to freeze the sentence in his throat.Miles's hand shot up, zipping an invisible line across his lips.Right. Forgot that particular subject is off-limits.Relieved Sebastian wasn't holding a grudge, Miles pivoted fast. "So you went to the biomaterials building. How'd the research go?"Something in Sebastian's cold expression finally eased. "Found what I needed."A pause. "Also ran into someone I know."Something dark and unreadable settled behind his eyes as he said it.That got Miles's full attention instantly. "Who?""Naomi.""Oh, Ms. Hart, right, you two are basically fa" Miles started on autopilot, then stopped cold halfway through. "Wait. You saw her in the archive room?"That was the city hospita

"Sebastian, we're here. Redgate."Miles eased the car to a stop, glancing out at the cramped, low-slung neighborhood pressing in around them.To keep this whole operation off anyone's radar, Sebastian had leased a modest unit tucked into Redgate a dense, overlooked pocket on the edge of Crestview and quietly converted it into a private lab.Sebastian nodded and stepped out of the car."I've got this from here."Miles, halfway out of his own seat, sat back down."Call me if anything goes sideways."Sebastian gave a short "mm" and shut the door.A few minutes later, he reached the lab entrance, punched in the code, and stepped inside.He crossed to the workbench and lifted a small bottle of white powder.He pulled out a set of tweezers, transferred a pinch of the powder into a glass dish, and switched on the mixer.The powder ground down fine within seconds.Sebastian's eyes dimmed slightly as he transferred it into a test tube and began prepping the reagent.Naomi's face surfaced in hi

Though it came out phrased as a question, Naomi understood exactly what he meant.He wants me to meet the man I'm technically engaged to, tonight, in person."I understand."She couldn't quite bring herself to say no.She knew the old man's intentions were genuinely good he just wanted to see her settled somewhere solid.And realistically, an arrangement between two families like this wasn't something she could simply wave off unilaterally.Shame she'd long since stopped believing in whatever people meant when they said "love.""Don't worry, sweetheart. Grandpa's not actually trying to force anything here." The old man's voice gentled. "Just take a look at him from across the room tonight. If nothing's there, we drop it completely. Sound fair?"Something in Naomi's expression eased.He's not actually pushing me into a blind date. Just a glance.That, she could live with."Okay," she agreed.Watching her fall in line so gracefully only deepened the old man's approval."Good. Go on, the

"Is that the truth?"Naomi's eyes narrowed slightly, letting a quiet weight settle over the boy.He shrank into his shoulders, something cold crawling up his spine, but still held his tongue.Naomi fell back on the oldest trick in the book for getting a kid to talk. "Tell me quietly, and it stays between us. Keep stonewalling, and I'll just go get Ms. Carter instead.""Then you'd officially be his accomplice. Might even land you a week's suspension right alongside him."She said nothing further, just watched him, patient, waiting.He was a kid, but weighing consequences was practically instinct at any age.Sure enough, after a short internal battle, the boy who'd been so loyally tight-lipped a moment ago folded."Pretty lady, you got it right. Julian told us to help him teach Lily a lesson. Said he'd split his toys with us if we did it."Something cold and unsurprised settled in Naomi's chest.She'd known Julian had drifted somewhere ugly. She hadn't expected him to go after his own s