The Billionaire's Bought Bride and Instant Mom Chapter 169

Vivian

"And those additional companies you attempted to establish this morning for further fund transfers? Cyprus entities for import/export, tech consulting, real estate development? All shell entities designed for one purpose. I won't bore you with proving the obvious."

Richard sat there like a broken man, staring at the bank statements scattered across our coffee table.

"Orion," he whispered, the name coming out like a curse. "Fucking Orion. He planned this from the beginning."

I'd had enough of this slow torture. "Stop with the bullshit explanations! What do you actually want? If you were here to arrest my father, you wouldn't waste time explaining everything to us!"

Davidson's eyes lit up with approval. "Miss Vivian, you're clearly the smartest one here. I said I came to negotiate, not to send anyone to prison."

He turned back to Richard, his tone becoming almost conversational. "Mr. Hartwell, you might think this is just a corporate bankruptcy issue. But your actions—establishing shell companies and fabricating contracts to transfer loan funds—have pierced the corporate veil. This means you're no longer protected by limited liability. You and your wife will be personally responsible for all debts and damages, with unlimited personal liability."

"However," he continued, reaching into his briefcase once more, "the actual creditor, Mr. Blackwell, has no interest in sending you to prison. He finds that... tedious. He's proposed an alternative solution."

Davidson pulled out a final document, thick with legal language and official seals. "Here's a stock transfer agreement. I suggest you review it carefully."

Monica lunged forward before anyone else could move, her eyes scanning frantically for the purchase price. When she found it, her scream could probably be heard three blocks away.

"Five hundred thousand DOLLARS?" She whirled around, her face twisted with rage and disbelief. "Are you fucking kidding me? Our company is worth millions!"

"Was worth millions," Davidson corrected mildly. "Before the loan default and criminal liability."

Monica turned on Richard like a wild animal. "How did I end up married to such a worthless, pathetic loser!" She kicked him viciously in the shin, then again in the ribs when he doubled over. "You've destroyed everything! Everything!"

Richard didn't even try to defend himself. He just lay there on the floor where she'd knocked him, his glasses askew, looking utterly defeated. "five hundred thousand... five hundred thousand?" His voice was hollow, broken. "Vivian... you look at it. Tell me how much we actually get to keep."

My heart was breaking watching my father crumble like this, but I forced myself to examine the contract. The pages blurred as I tried to focus through my rising panic. The amount was indeed five hundred thousand dollars—a fraction of what the company had been worth just days ago.

But then I saw something that made my blood turn to ice.

The name under "Transferee" wasn't Orion Blackwell.

It was Aveline Reeves.

The revelation hit me like a physical blow. All the grief and despair I'd been feeling—watching my father destroyed, our family's future obliterated—instantly transformed into something else entirely. Pure, incandescent rage.

"AVELINE!" The name escaped my lips in a broken whisper, the contract trembling in my hands like autumn leaves. My voice was raw with pain, not rage—the kind of deep, soul-crushing anguish that comes from watching everything you love burn to ashes.

Davidson watched my breakdown with professional detachment, but I could see the satisfaction flickering in his eyes.

"Of course it's you," I whispered, my voice barely audible. "It was always going to be you."

The fury was there, buried deep beneath layers of exhaustion and heartbreak, but it came out as something far more dangerous—a cold, bitter resignation that made the room feel smaller.

"You already have everything," I continued, each word dropping like stones into still water. "You're living the life I'll never have. You've got everything you could possibly want. So why can't you just leave me alone? Why do you keep coming after me?"

Monica, her own frustration boiling over, couldn't contain herself any longer. "This is all on you, you stupid bitch! None of this would have happened if your loser boyfriend hadn't been stupid enough to kidnap Aveline, and if you had just left her the hell alone! You've ruined everything!"

I turned toward her slowly, and something in my expression made her take an instinctive step backward. When I spoke, my voice was so quiet it was almost a hiss.

"Monica, if you say one more fucking word, I will make you regret it for the rest of your pathetic life."

The venom in my tone was so unexpected, so completely unlike my usual demeanor, that Monica's mouth snapped shut. She actually backed away from me, suddenly recognizing that she was looking at someone she'd never seen before.

Richard lifted his head from the floor, seeing the transformation in my face, and let out a long, broken sigh. The fight had gone out of him completely.

"Five hundred thousand," he whispered to the ceiling, his voice barely audible. "After thirty years of building that company... five hundred thousand it is."

I looked down at my father—this broken man who'd tried so hard to provide for us, who'd made desperate choices out of love and fear—and something inside me crystallized into diamond-hard resolve.

"Don't worry, Dad," I said softly, kneeling beside him. "Some debts aren't meant to be paid with money."

I gently helped Richard to his feet, feeling how much weight he seemed to have lost in just these few minutes. He leaned heavily on my arm, his body trembling as he struggled to stand upright.

With shaking hands, Richard reached for the pen Davidson offered. His signature looked like that of a dying man, but he signed every page without reading another word.

Davidson closed his briefcase with a satisfied click. "Pleasure doing business with you."