The Billionaire's Fury

The Billionaire's Fury

Sheelagh Sexton

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I was on my private Caribbean island, living the dream retirement of a tech billionaire, confident my gentle son, Caleb, was safe at home in Palo Alto, surrounded by the loyal friends I' d funded and cherished. I' d built a fortress of care for him. Then, a garish headline flashed on my screen: "SILICON VALLEY HEIR CALEB HUGHES, 18, TO WED REAL ESTATE SHARK DEBRA CLARKSON, 55. A LOVE STORY OR A HOSTILE TAKEOVER?" The accompanying photo showed my son, pale and lost, next to a woman old enough to be his grandmother, her hand possessively on his shoulder. My blood ran cold; this wasn't possible. I immediately flew home, my fury matched only by a growing dread. The moment I stepped onto my estate, a familiar, toxic fescue grass covered the lawn – a severe allergen for Caleb – and the faces awaiting me were smug, not worried. Andrew, the son of my late partner, and the three girls I' d raised like my own, smirked, talking about Caleb's "scandal" and how they were "managing" his impending forced marriage to Debra Clarkson. My heart shattered as Caleb limped down the stairs, gaunt, covered in an allergic rash, his eyes hollow. They claimed his injuries were from a skateboarding accident and self-harm, that he was "difficult" and "infertile," spinning a web of lies to blame him for his own torment. How could the people I trusted betray us so completely? Why would they do this to an innocent boy? But when Debra Clarkson brazenly walked in, and she and Andrew openly planned to take over my family and fortune, then dared to lay a hand on my son, something snapped. They thought I was a washed-up genius on an island. They were about to learn Nathaniel Hughes was far from finished.

Introduction

I was on my private Caribbean island, living the dream retirement of a tech billionaire, confident my gentle son, Caleb, was safe at home in Palo Alto, surrounded by the loyal friends I' d funded and cherished. I' d built a fortress of care for him.

Then, a garish headline flashed on my screen: "SILICON VALLEY HEIR CALEB HUGHES, 18, TO WED REAL ESTATE SHARK DEBRA CLARKSON, 55. A LOVE STORY OR A HOSTILE TAKEOVER?" The accompanying photo showed my son, pale and lost, next to a woman old enough to be his grandmother, her hand possessively on his shoulder. My blood ran cold; this wasn't possible.

I immediately flew home, my fury matched only by a growing dread. The moment I stepped onto my estate, a familiar, toxic fescue grass covered the lawn – a severe allergen for Caleb – and the faces awaiting me were smug, not worried. Andrew, the son of my late partner, and the three girls I' d raised like my own, smirked, talking about Caleb's "scandal" and how they were "managing" his impending forced marriage to Debra Clarkson.

My heart shattered as Caleb limped down the stairs, gaunt, covered in an allergic rash, his eyes hollow. They claimed his injuries were from a skateboarding accident and self-harm, that he was "difficult" and "infertile," spinning a web of lies to blame him for his own torment. How could the people I trusted betray us so completely? Why would they do this to an innocent boy?

But when Debra Clarkson brazenly walked in, and she and Andrew openly planned to take over my family and fortune, then dared to lay a hand on my son, something snapped. They thought I was a washed-up genius on an island. They were about to learn Nathaniel Hughes was far from finished.

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"That will be two dollars and fifty cents," the ice cream vendor chirped, a cheerful end to a warm afternoon. My daughter, Lily, beamed up at me, eyes wide for a rainbow-sprinkled cone. But before my fingers found my wallet, a cold voice cut through the air. "What do you think you' re doing, Ava?" It was Leo, my husband, arms crossed, face a mask of disapproval. He shamed me, publicly, over two dollars and fifty cents. "It' s the principle," he snapped, throwing a five-dollar bill at the vendor. "Consider this an advance. Transfer me one dollar and twenty-five cents by tonight. I' ll be checking." My face burned, my heart twisting as Lily clung to me. That night, I overheard his voice, warm and indulgent, on the phone. "Of course, Sophia. You liked the red one? I' ll have it delivered to your new place tomorrow." He was buying his stepsister a penthouse, showering her with gifts, yet demanding I pay for half of our daughter' s ice cream. The contrast was a physical blow. His love, his generosity, was for someone else. Later, in my small art studio, I typed a search: "divorce papers." I downloaded the forms, each keystroke heavy, final. When I placed the stack on his nightstand, he finally looked up, disbelief twisting his face into an ugly laugh. "A divorce? Don' t be ridiculous. Is this about the car I bought Sophia? Are you that jealous?" "It' s about the ice cream," I said, my voice steady, empty of the tears I' d held back all day. He scoffed, tossing the papers aside. "The ice cream? You want to end our marriage over two dollars and fifty cents? Ava, you' re being hysterical." He didn't know yet. This wasn't hysteria. It was the quiet, steel-edged birth of a rebellion.

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I woke up in a blindingly white hotel penthouse with a throbbing headache and the taste of betrayal in my mouth. The last thing I remembered was my stepsister, Cathie, handing me a flute of champagne at the charity gala with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. Now, a tall, dangerously handsome man walked out of the bathroom with a towel around his hips. On the nightstand sat a stack of hundred-dollar bills. My stepmother had finally done it—she drugged me and staged a scandal with a hired escort to destroy my reputation and my future. "Aisha! Is it true you spent the night with a gigolo?" The shouts of a dozen reporters echoed through the heavy oak door as camera flashes exploded through the peephole. My phone lit up with messages showing my bank accounts were already frozen. My father was invoking the 'morality clause' in my mother’s trust fund, and my fiancé had already released a statement dumping me to marry my stepsister instead. I was trapped, penniless, and being hunted by the press for a scandal I hadn't even participated in. My own family had sold me out for a payday, and the man standing in front of me was the only witness who could prove I was innocent—or finish me off for good. I didn't have time to cry. According to the fine print of the trust, I had thirty days to prove my "rehabilitation" through a legal marriage or I would lose everything. I tracked the man down to a coffee shop the next morning, watching him take a thick envelope of cash from a wealthy older woman. I sat across from him and slid a napkin with a $50,000 figure written on it. "I need a husband. Legal, paper-signed, and convincing." He looked at the number, then at me, a slow, crooked smile spreading across his face. I thought I was hiring a desperate gigolo to save my inheritance. I had no idea I was actually proposing to Dominic Fields, the reclusive billionaire shark who was currently planning a hostile takeover of my father’s entire empire.

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