Revenge: The Billionaire's Downfall

Revenge: The Billionaire's Downfall

Dorine Koestler

5.0
Comment(s)
18.2K
View
18
Chapters

For eight years, I was the girlfriend of New York's most untouchable billionaire, Dean Lee. To the public, we were a fairy tale: the brilliant, cold CEO who was utterly devoted to me, a simple artist he had plucked from obscurity. He built a fortress of luxury and safety around me. But it was all a lie. On our anniversary, I overheard him with another woman. He called me a "decoy," a "shield" he used to absorb the threats and scrutiny meant for his real love, Karina. His mask came off. He allowed Karina to humiliate me publicly, destroy my dead mother's heirloom, and then, as punishment, had me force-fed soup made from my beloved cat. His final "lesson" was to throw me into an underground fight club. As I lay beaten and bleeding on the canvas, I saw him in the VIP booth, watching with bored detachment as Karina laughed beside him. The eight years of protection weren't love; they were just maintenance on his human shield. On the verge of death, I was rescued by his biggest rival, Brennen Finley. With my last breath, I gave him the secrets that would bring Dean's empire to its knees. In exchange, I asked for just one thing. "Make Hayley York disappear," I whispered. "Help me die."

Chapter 1

For eight years, I was the girlfriend of New York's most untouchable billionaire, Dean Lee. To the public, we were a fairy tale: the brilliant, cold CEO who was utterly devoted to me, a simple artist he had plucked from obscurity. He built a fortress of luxury and safety around me.

But it was all a lie. On our anniversary, I overheard him with another woman. He called me a "decoy," a "shield" he used to absorb the threats and scrutiny meant for his real love, Karina.

His mask came off. He allowed Karina to humiliate me publicly, destroy my dead mother's heirloom, and then, as punishment, had me force-fed soup made from my beloved cat.

His final "lesson" was to throw me into an underground fight club. As I lay beaten and bleeding on the canvas, I saw him in the VIP booth, watching with bored detachment as Karina laughed beside him. The eight years of protection weren't love; they were just maintenance on his human shield.

On the verge of death, I was rescued by his biggest rival, Brennen Finley. With my last breath, I gave him the secrets that would bring Dean's empire to its knees. In exchange, I asked for just one thing.

"Make Hayley York disappear," I whispered. "Help me die."

Chapter 1

Dean Lee was a name that commanded respect in New York City. On the cover of magazines, he was the brilliant, cold tech CEO, a billionaire who seemed to exist on a different plane from everyone else. His face was sharp, his eyes were distant, and he never smiled. People called him a machine, a genius with no time for human connection. That was his public image, carefully built and maintained.

But in private, in the sprawling penthouse that overlooked Central Park, the machine had a single, all-consuming obsession. He wasn't cold; he was a furnace of carefully controlled intensity. That intensity was directed at one person: Hayley York.

Hayley had been a struggling art student eight years ago, barely making rent on a tiny apartment in Brooklyn. Dean had found her, plucked her from obscurity, and made her his girlfriend. Not just his girlfriend, but the publicly adored partner of the city's most untouchable man.

He was intensely protective, a trait everyone mistook for love. When a rival company tried to dig up dirt on him, he built a wall of security around Hayley so thick that no reporter could get within a hundred feet of her. When a society gossip column printed a snide remark about her simple background, the publication was sued into oblivion within a week.

Everyone in their circle believed Dean Lee, the stoic billionaire, was utterly devoted to Hayley York. They saw the way he followed her with his eyes at parties, the way he personally chose every piece of her designer wardrobe, the way he sent a helicopter to pick her up if she was working late at her art studio. They saw a fairy tale.

Tonight was their eighth anniversary. They were at a charity gala, an event glittering with the city's elite. Hayley, dressed in a gown the color of a midnight sky, felt a rare spark of boldness. She leaned close to Dean, her voice a soft whisper against the clinking of champagne glasses.

"Dean," she said, "could you get me the 'Star of the Sea' necklace when it comes up for auction? As an anniversary gift?"

It was a piece she'd seen in the catalog, a simple sapphire on a delicate chain. It reminded her of her mother, who had loved the ocean.

Dean' s expression, which had been neutral, instantly turned to ice. He pulled back slightly, his eyes scanning her face with a sudden, chilling disapproval.

"You have a vault full of jewelry," he said, his voice low and sharp. "Why would you want something so trivial?"

His words were a slap. A moment later, Karina Luna, the daughter of one of Dean's major business partners, drifted over to their table. She smiled sweetly, her eyes landing on Hayley.

"Hayley, your dress is lovely," Karina said, but her tone was laced with something sharp. "Though, I heard you were asking Dean for the 'Star of the Sea.' Isn't that a bit... modest for an occasion like this? It's hardly worth mentioning."

A few people at the table snickered. Hayley's face burned with humiliation. She felt Dean' s hand on her arm, not in comfort, but in warning. He didn't defend her. He didn't say a word. He just let her sit there, exposed and ridiculed.

She couldn't understand it. For eight years, he had given her everything. He had built her a world of luxury and safety. But sometimes, over small, seemingly insignificant things, this coldness would appear. This cruel, dismissive stranger would replace the man she thought she loved.

Later that evening, feeling sick with confusion, Hayley slipped away from the main hall. She needed a moment of quiet. As she passed a secluded balcony, she heard voices. Dean's voice, and Karina's. She froze, pressing herself into the shadows of a large potted palm.

"Dean, she has no right to ask for that necklace," Karina's voice was a venomous hiss, completely unlike her public persona. "She's getting too comfortable. She's forgetting her place."

"I know," Dean's reply was flat, devoid of any warmth. "It was a mistake to let her get so attached."

Hayley's heart stopped. A mistake?

"She's just a decoy, Dean. A shield. You can't start treating the shield like it's the real thing," Karina continued, her voice rising with jealousy. "I'm the one you're supposed to be protecting. That necklace should be for me."

The words hit Hayley like a physical blow. A decoy. A shield.

"The public humiliation tonight wasn't enough," Karina went on, her tone turning sadistic. "She needs a stronger reminder. That she's just a stand-in, a body to absorb the threats and the scrutiny that are meant for me."

Hayley felt the air leave her lungs. The threats. The scrutiny. All the danger she thought Dean was protecting her from... he was actually using her to attract.

"She' s a pawn, Dean. And she' s starting to think she' s the queen," Karina spat. "It' s disgusting."

Then came the words that shattered Hayley's entire world. Dean's voice, cold and final.

"I know," he said. "I'm getting tired of her. Do what you want. Just don't let it get too messy."

The sound was a roar in Hayley' s ears. She stumbled back, her hand flying to her mouth to stifle a sob. She couldn't breathe. Her mind spun, replaying the last eight years in a nauseating, high-speed reel.

The car crash that nearly killed her two years ago, which Dean had called a tragic accident caused by a drunk driver. The food poisoning incident that had her hospitalized for a week. The stalker who had broken into her studio and destroyed her paintings. All of it. For eight years, she had been a human sponge, soaking up the danger meant for another woman.

She remembered the times Dean had held her after one of these "accidents," his face tight with what she thought was worry. He' d check her for injuries, his touch frantic. He' d murmur about increasing her security. She had thought it was love, his desperate fear of losing her.

Now she saw the truth. It wasn't love. It was a cold, calculating assessment of his asset. He was checking to see if his shield was still functional. The realization was a poison seeping into every good memory she had, turning it black and rotten. She was a tool. A disposable object.

"And Dean," Karina's voice cooed from the balcony, pulling Hayley back to the horrifying present. "If she gets too disobedient again... maybe a more permanent lesson is in order. My uncle knows some people. They run a private club. It gets very rough."

Hayley' s blood ran cold. She heard Dean' s silence, and she knew what it meant. It was approval. Cold, callous approval.

She couldn't hear any more. She turned and ran, her borrowed heels catching on the plush carpet. She didn't know where she was going, only that she had to get away. The beautiful gown felt like a costume for a fool. The diamonds around her neck felt like a collar.

She made it back to her suite in the penthouse, her lungs burning. Her hands shook as she threw a suitcase on the bed, pulling open drawers, grabbing clothes, her passport, anything. She had to leave. Now.

Suddenly, the door to her bedroom opened without a sound. It wasn't Dean. A man she had never seen before stood there, a cruel smile on his face. He was large, and his eyes were predatory. He worked for Karina's uncle. Hayley knew it instantly.

"Going somewhere, pretty thing?" he sneered, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him.

Panic seized her. She backed away until her legs hit the bed. The man advanced slowly, cracking his knuckles.

"Don't touch me," Hayley whispered, her voice trembling.

"Miss Luna said you needed a lesson," he said, his smile widening. "And Mr. Lee didn't say no."

He lunged. Hayley screamed as he grabbed her, his hand clamping over her mouth. His other hand ripped the shoulder of her expensive gown.

"I have money!" she gasped, trying to twist away. "I can give you anything you want!"

He laughed, a harsh, ugly sound. "Your money is Dean Lee's money. And he's the one who wants you punished." He leaned in, his breath hot and foul. "He thinks you're dirty. He can't even stand to touch you, did you know that? Eight years, and he's never slept with you. Just keeps you around like a pretty doll on a shelf."

The words were a fresh wave of agony. It was true. Dean had always been distant physically, claiming he respected her too much to rush things. It was another lie. He was repulsed by her. She was just a prop. Not a lover, not even a person. Just a thing.

A surge of pure, primal rage ripped through her. She was not a thing. She was not a doll.

As the man fumbled with his belt, Hayley saw her chance. Her hand shot out and grabbed the heavy glass lamp from the nightstand. With a strength born of terror and fury, she swung it with all her might.

The lamp connected with his head with a sickening crack. He grunted, stumbling back, his eyes wide with surprise. She didn't hesitate. She swung again, and again, until he crumpled to the floor, unconscious.

Hayley stood over him, panting, the broken lamp still in her hand. Sobs tore from her throat, raw and broken. The illusion was gone. The love was a lie. Her life was a lie.

Her eyes fell on her phone, lying on the bed. Her hands were still shaking, but she picked it up. There was one number in her contacts that Dean didn't know about. A secret she had kept for herself.

She dialed the number. It rang twice before a smooth, calm voice answered.

"This is Brennen Finley."

Brennen Finley. Dean Lee's biggest corporate rival. A man based in San Francisco who Dean hated with a passion. They had met once, a year ago, at a tech conference. He had been charming, intelligent, and had looked at her with an intensity that had unnerved her. He had slipped her his private number, "Just in case you ever need a new perspective."

"I have information," Hayley said, her voice a raw whisper. "Insider information. The kind that could cripple Dean Lee's new project."

There was a pause on the other end. "Go on."

"I'll give it to you," she said, her resolve hardening into something sharp and unbreakable. "I'll give you everything. In exchange, I want one thing."

"Name it," Brennen's voice was sharp with interest.

Hayley took a deep, shuddering breath, looking at the man bleeding on her floor and the life that was now in ashes around her.

"I want you to make Hayley York disappear," she said. "I want you to help me die."

There was another pause, longer this time. When Brennen spoke again, his voice was different. Softer.

"Hayley York will be dead by morning," he said. "I promise."

Continue Reading

Other books by Dorine Koestler

More
Contract With The Devil: Love In Shackles

Contract With The Devil: Love In Shackles

Mafia

4.5

I watched my husband sign the papers that would end our marriage while he was busy texting the woman he actually loved. He didn't even glance at the header. He just scribbled the sharp, jagged signature that had signed death warrants for half of New York, tossed the file onto the passenger seat, and tapped his screen again. "Done," he said, his voice devoid of emotion. That was Dante Moretti. The Underboss. A man who could smell a lie from a mile away but couldn't see that his wife had just handed him an annulment decree disguised beneath a stack of mundane logistics reports. For three years, I scrubbed his blood out of his shirts. I saved his family's alliance when his ex, Sofia, ran off with a civilian. In return, he treated me like furniture. He left me in the rain to save Sofia from a broken nail. He left me alone on my birthday to drink champagne on a yacht with her. He even handed me a glass of whiskey—her favorite drink—forgetting that I despised the taste. I was merely a placeholder. A ghost in my own home. So, I stopped waiting. I burned our wedding portrait in the fireplace, left my platinum ring in the ashes, and boarded a one-way flight to San Francisco. I thought I was finally free. I thought I had escaped the cage. But I underestimated Dante. When he finally opened that file weeks later and realized he had signed away his wife without looking, the Reaper didn't accept defeat. He burned down the world to find me, obsessed with reclaiming the woman he had already thrown away.

One Night With The Rival Alpha

One Night With The Rival Alpha

Werewolf

5.0

My mother had been dead for four years, and my father, the Alpha of our pack, was now a hollow shell controlled by his new wife, Marley. I was a ghost in my own home, watching from the shadows as they celebrated a wedding that felt more like my execution. During the reception, Marley cornered me and demanded my mother's last heirloom-a blood-red ruby-to pay off her family's secret gambling debts. When I refused, her guards pinned me down, and in the struggle, the ancient stone hit the marble floor and shattered into a thousand jagged pieces. Framed for grand larceny by my own stepmother, I fled to a dive bar and sought refuge with Caleb Sterling, a rival Alpha who radiated power and danger. We spent a night of soul-shattering passion that I was certain was our mate bond, but the next morning, he tossed an envelope of cash at me and called me a high-end escort. When the police arrived to arrest me, he simply stepped aside and watched them drag me away in handcuffs, cold and indifferent to my screams. "Do what you have to do," he had told the officers, his eyes devoid of any warmth. I was a fugitive, stripped of my title, and discovered I was carrying Caleb's child-a baby cursed by his bloodline to never survive the womb. I couldn't understand why my father had abandoned me to a monster, or why the man I was destined for had sold me out just to save his own reputation. After a brutal ambush that left my only friend in a burning wreck, I stood at the border of the forbidden North. I clutched the jagged shards of my mother's ruby and looked the Northern Warlord in the eye, ready to trigger a war that would burn my father's legacy to the ground.

His Obsession, My Hell

His Obsession, My Hell

Romance

5.0

My marriage to David Miller was a picture of perfection, a dream life built on his charm and our shared happiness. Then came the call: my mother in an accident, and David, my husband, utterly unreachable. Hours bled into sterile dread in the hospital waiting room, a dread far deeper than my mother' s condition. An unknown text arrived, a single photo: David, arm around another woman, intimate, familiar. It was my aunt, Sophia Hayes, my mother' s estranged sister, her smile painfully like mine. My world, once perfect, splintered into a million icy shards under the humming hospital lights. He returned late, weaving slick lies about dead phones and urgent meetings, as if I were a child to be placated. But as he signed the papers I put before him, oblivious, a chilling sense of irony settled heavy in my gut. The man I thought I knew, the husband who murmured of naming our child "Sophia," was a stranger. I found his study, not an office, but a shrine to her, filled with desperate letters and a diary detailing his monstrous plan: I was just a "perfect-looking replacement" to bear "his Sophia." The love, the marriage, the baby-all a grotesque fabrication, designed to resurrect his lost obsession. The pain threatened to split me, but beneath it, a cold, hard resolve began to form, sharper than any grief. He thought he' d signed investment papers; he' d signed his divorce, and my consent to end the lie he' d so carefully constructed within me. I walked out that night, leaving his diary open, his delusion exposed, ready to erase every trace of his monstrous fantasy.

His Mistress, Her Empire

His Mistress, Her Empire

Billionaires

5.0

I sat in my Singapore office, thousands of miles from home, my eyes glued to the laptop. It was Lily's 18th birthday party, a lavish affair I' d planned down to the last detail. The live stream flickered on, and I saw the magnificent ballroom, just as I' d envisioned. But then, the MC boomed, "Let' s welcome the heiress to Innovate Solutions, Tiffany!" My smile froze. Tiffany? A girl I' d never seen before walked into the spotlight, wearing Lily's custom-made gown and my family' s heirloom sapphire necklace. Then a woman, Sarah, stepped up, beaming, "As the CEO of Innovate Solutions, it warms my heart…" CEO? I was the CEO. A cold dread seeped in. The camera panned, and I saw her. My Lily. She was near a service table, holding a tray of drinks, head bowed, in a drab server' s uniform. A group of Tiffany' s friends deliberately knocked a glass from her tray, laughing as she flinched, picking up the pieces in defeat. A guttural roar escaped me. I snatched my phone, hands shaking, and dialed Mark, my husband. "Mark, what the hell is going on? Who is Tiffany? Why is she wearing Lily' s dress and my family' s necklace?" His response was too casual, too quick. "A surprise… Sarah' s daughter. My new co-CEO. A PR move." Co-CEO? Sarah Miller, his old girlfriend? "A PR move that involves my daughter serving drinks at her own birthday party?" I seethed. "Put Lily on the phone now!" The line went dead. A text from Lily' s friend confirmed my worst fears: "They' re treating Lily like a servant. Tiffany and her mom moved in. They told everyone Lily is an illegitimate child and that you abandoned her. Mark is letting it happen." Moved in. Illegitimate child. Abandoned. The lies were a physical blow. My daughter, small and broken, flashed in my mind. Mark wasn't just having an affair; he was erasing my daughter. Erasing me. I slammed my laptop shut. Grabbed my purse and passport. There would be no more calls. No more texts. I was going home. And I was going to burn their world to the ground.

The Secret Genius Ex-Wife's Cold Revenge

The Secret Genius Ex-Wife's Cold Revenge

Modern

5.0

I spent three years playing the role of the perfect, invisible wife to Dillard Bentley, the billionaire heir of Manhattan. While he graced the tabloids with socialites, I stayed in the shadows of our penthouse, waiting for a man who treated me like a piece of furniture. One rainy night, the facade finally shattered. Dillard came home smelling of another woman’s perfume, and I handed him the divorce papers he never expected. But before the ink could dry, a violent pain ripped through me during a family lunch, and I collapsed in a pool of blood on the pristine marble floor. While I was being rushed to the hospital, Dillard’s mother dismissed my agony as a manipulative trick, and Dillard chose to believe her. He didn't follow the ambulance; he went to a gala to protect his mistress instead. I woke up in a cold emergency room only to be told I had lost the baby I didn't even know I was carrying. Because of the toxic "vitamins" his mother had been force-feeding me, my blood wouldn't clot, and I had to undergo surgery without a single drop of anesthesia. I bit down on a leather strap, feeling every agonizing scrape as they cleared the remains of my child, while my husband laughed at my pain over the phone. "Stop the drama, Erica. Tell her the divorce terms are non-negotiable. I'm busy." He hung up, leaving me to scream in silence. I realized then that the man I had once loved was the same man who let his family poison me. The "vitamins" weren't supplements; they were a death sentence for my unborn child, and he didn't even care enough to show up. Dillard thinks he’s divorcing a penniless nobody, but he’s about to find out that the world-renowned medical genius he’s desperate to recruit is the wife he left to bleed alone. I walked out of that hospital, threw my wedding ring in the trash, and reclaimed my true identity. Dr. N is coming to the global summit, and I’m not there to save the Bentley empire—I’m there to burn it to the ground.

You'll also like

Too Late: The Spare Daughter Escapes Him

Too Late: The Spare Daughter Escapes Him

SHANA GRAY
4.3

I died on a Tuesday. It wasn't a quick death. It was slow, cold, and meticulously planned by the man who called himself my father. I was twenty years old. He needed my kidney to save my sister. The spare part for the golden child. I remember the blinding lights of the operating theater, the sterile smell of betrayal, and the phantom pain of a surgeon's scalpel carving into my flesh while my screams echoed unheard. I remember looking through the observation glass and seeing him-my father, Giovanni Vitiello, the Don of the Chicago Outfit-watching me die with the same detached expression he used when signing a death warrant. He chose her. He always chose her. And then, I woke up. Not in heaven. Not in hell. But in my own bed, a year before my scheduled execution. My body was whole, unscarred. The timeline had reset, a glitch in the cruel matrix of my existence, giving me a second chance I never asked for. This time, when my father handed me a one-way ticket to London-an exile disguised as a severance package-I didn't cry. I didn't beg. My heart, once a bleeding wound, was now a block of ice. He didn't know he was talking to a ghost. He didn't know I had already lived through his ultimate betrayal. He also didn't know that six months ago, during the city's brutal territory wars, I was the one who saved his most valuable asset. In a secret safe house, I stitched up the wounds of a blinded soldier, a man whose life hung by a thread. He never saw my face. He only knew my voice, the scent of vanilla, and the steady touch of my hands. He called me Sette. Seven. For the seven stitches I put in his shoulder. That man was Dante Moretti. The Ruthless Capo. The man my sister, Isabella, is now set to marry. She stole my story. She claimed my actions, my voice, my scent. And Dante, the man who could spot a lie from a mile away, believed the beautiful deception because he wanted it to be true. He wanted the golden girl to be his savior, not the invisible sister who was only ever good for her spare parts. So I took the ticket. In my past life, I fought them, and they silenced me on an operating table. This time, I will let them have their perfect, gilded lie. I will go to London. I will disappear. I will let Seraphina Vitiello die on that plane. But I will not be a victim. This time, I will not be the lamb led to slaughter. This time, from the shadows of my exile, I will be the one holding the match. And I will wait, with the patience of the dead, to watch their entire world burn. Because a ghost has nothing to lose, and a queen of ashes has an empire to gain.

Chapters
Read Now
Download Book