From His Fake Wife to Billionaire Heiress Chapter 134: Riley Felt Calmer

She didn't say much. She just picked up the last document from the coffee table.

Riley read fast. Her eyes moved down each page, but she didn't stop at the fancy diagrams or the overly optimistic profit projections.

She flipped straight to the sections on "division of project responsibilities" and "fund supervision process."

Those sections were full of legal terms and technical language—boring stuff. Sophia would skip it. Lucas would just skim it. But to Riley, that was the heart of the whole project—the real meat.

The more she read, the tighter her frown got.

In less than five minutes, she'd spotted the trap hidden under all that polished planning.

This project was extremely risky.

On the surface, the funding looked solid. The Torres Group—a giant—was putting up over sixty percent of the startup capital, like a rock-solid insurance policy.

But Riley caught a tiny clause that most people would miss: All operating funds for the project would be managed and disbursed by the lead party—a new project company under the Quinn Group.

Ashford Group's role? They would come on as the construction contractor.

That meant the money from Torres Group and any other investors would go into an account controlled by Quinn Group.

And Ashford Group—the ones doing the actual work—would have to keep pouring in their own money, people, and resources to build the island resort.

When would they get paid? How much? It was completely up to Quinn Group.

If Quinn Group wanted to play games—hold up approvals, drag their feet on financial reviews—Ashford Group would have to front their own cash to keep the project going. Because if they missed deadlines, the penalties would be huge.

It was like a perfectly designed drain. Once you hooked it up, it would just keep sucking blood out of the Ashford Group.

Riley closed the document slowly. Her fingertips felt cold.

This isn't a partnership. Aiden isn't looking for a partner—he's looking for a fall guy. Someone big enough to take the hit, but easy enough for him to control.

And Ashford Group—with its tight cash flow—is the perfect target.

Aiden's real goal probably isn't even the island project itself. That is just leverage. Something to get him what he really wants.

Riley's expression wasn't great.

Aiden didn't miss the change.

His face still wore that warm, friendly smile. But his eyes were sharp. "What's wrong, Mrs. Ashford?" he asked, all concern. "Did you find something in my proposal?"

Sophia sneered.

Here she goes again. Pretending to be all professional. What could she possibly find?

Just some small, unimportant detail.

Lucas turned to Riley right away. "Well? What do you think of the project?"

He knew Riley's skills.

When it came to evaluating business deals, she was almost never wrong.

More than a few of Ashford Group's big decisions had succeeded because of her sharp eye.

Riley went still for a moment.

Her fingernail traced a faint line on the folder cover without her even thinking about it.

Before—if Lucas had asked her this—she would have pointed out the deadly flaws right away and told him to stay away from this poison wrapped in sugar.

But now?

The Ashford family had already made it clear: she was just a tool, replaceable and expendable.

Her marriage to Lucas was fake, too.

So why should she keep killing herself for their company? For Lucas' business empire?

The truth was, Lucas was supposed to be the one running Ashford Group. He should have been able to spot traps like this himself.

If he couldn't—that meant his ambition had outgrown his ability.

That was his problem, not hers.

From the moment they all joined forces to push her out of Ashford Group, the company's fate stopped being her concern.

And Lucas? He'd lied to her and betrayed her, over and over.

Once she worked through all of that, Riley felt calmer.

Her frown smoothed out. When she looked up again, her eyes were back to that cool, collected state.

She turned to Aiden—still smiling like nothing was wrong—and asked a casual question.

"The project looks very promising on paper," she said. "Impressive work, Mr. Quinn.

"But I noticed something in the proposal. The island where you're planning to build the resort—it seems there are still dozens of families living there. I've worked on similar cases before. I've heard those villagers are very unwilling to relocate. Pretty stubborn about it. For such a basic issue—one that could cause major problems down the line—has your team figured out how to handle it?"