Married to the Billionaire Who Betrayed Me novel Chapter 185

Chapter 185 Let Me Be a Monster

“We lost three cargo ships in the testshour, Ricardo said. They vanished from the tracking grid, Mina. Gone.”

‘Ships do not vanish,” I replied. I kept my eyes on the broken plastic airplane resting on the marble counter. They get taken.”

Tristan walked back into the kitchen. His boots left wet mark on the hardwood. He set the black handgun on the island. His jaw was set in stone.

“Nothing, Tristan said. “They knew the blind spots.”

I pointed to the phone. “They knew a lot more than our camera angles.”

Ricardo spoke from the speaker. “The supply chain issues Oliver Pembroke complained about last week? They were not delays. They were test runs. The eastern sector logistics are bleeding out. Someone is routing our shipping containers to unregistered ports.”

I pulled my laptop across the counter. I flipped the screen open and logged into the Aegis mainframe. Numbers flooded the display. Red deficits. Missing

cargo.

‘Oliver blamed local suppliers,” I said. My fingers flew across the keyboard. “He fired the port managers who asked questions. He cleared the way for this.”

“It is a coordinated strike,” Ricardo confirmed. “A hijack. A shadow syndicate is choking the eastern trade routes. They waited until the merger was finalized.”

“They waited until we went to sleep,” Tristan added.

I looked at the gun on the table. Then I looked at the shattered toy in the trash. The picture came together, sharp and cruel.

I pulled up the manifest logs. I traced the missing cargo.

“How did they bypass the harbor authorities?” I asked.

“Bribes,” Tristan stated. He leaned over my shoulder, studying the screen. “They bought the dockmasters. They bought the union leaders. You cannot steal a cargo ship without an inside man. Pembroke built a network of ghosts before you fired him.”

“Pembroke does not have the intellect to build a syndicate,’ I countered. ‘He is a middle manager with a good suit. He takes orders. Someone else signs the

checks.

I clicked on a hidden financial routing file. The screen required a dual-authorization override.

r

The screen displayed a maze of shell companies. I followed the money. The funds paying the corrupt dockmasters originated from a single source. An offshore account buried under layers of encryption.

“This is not a competitor,” I said. The cold realization settled over my skin. A rival corporation attacks the stock price. They steal clients. They do not steal

physical ships and leave toys on windowsills. This is an execution.

“It is a syndicate, Tristan corrected. His voice held a dark, familiar gravel. ‘They operate outside the law. They do not care about SEC regulations. They care about blood and leverage.”

‘Cancel my afternoon schedule,” I told Ricardo over the phone line. ‘Freeze the eastern sector accounts. Ground the remaining fleet. No ship leaves port

without my direct authorization.

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Chapter 185 Let Me Be a Monster

The board will-panic, Mina; Ricardo warried. “Grounding the fleet costs millions by the hour.”

‘Let them panic, I commanded. “I am the Chairman. I will not feed my ships to a syndicate to keep the stock price comfortable. Lock it down.”

“Understood,” Ricardo said. The call ended.

Tristan picked up the broken plastic airplane. He threw into the trash can.

“I am going to the city,” Tristan announced.

I stood up. “No.”

He turned to face me. The gray storm in his eyes raged. “They threatened Elias. They touched his window. I know the men who run the eastern ports. I know

the language they speak. I can end this.”

“You promised.” I reminded him. I stepped into his space. I did not back down.

“They changed the rules,’ Tristan argued. His chest heaved. “You cannot fight a syndicate with corporate audits, Mina. You cannot fire a ghost. You beat Thomas Whitmore because he played a public game. These people live in the dirt. I know the dirt. Let me handle this.”

“You are asking me to let you become a monster again,” I said. The words tasted like ash.

‘I will become whatever keeps my son breathing,” he swore.

I grabbed his shirt. I pulled him close, forcing him to meet my stare.

“If you walk out that door and fight this war alone, you break us,” I told him. “We built this partnership on the truth. The moment you hide your actions from me, you become the man who left me in Port Sterling. I will not survive that betrayal twice.”

Tristan squeezed his eyes shut. A shudder wrecked his large frame. He brought his hands up and gripped my wrists. He did not pull away.

“They stood outside his window,” he repeated. The agony in his tone cut right through my armor. “They stood in the dark. I could not protect him.”

“We will protect him together,” I said. “We find the source. We drag them into the light. We crush them. But we do it as partners.”

Tristan opened his eyes. He let go of my wrists. He lowered his head and pressed his forehead against mine.

“Okay,’ he breathed. The word cost him everything. ‘We do it your way.”

“Good,’

Pull up the cargo manifests from the last month, I told Tristan. I pointed to the laptop. Pembroke laid the groundwork before I fired him. I need to see what he broke.”

Tristan stepped beside me. He tapped the keys. The screen split into multiple windows.

“Look at the port of origin,” Tristan pointed to a glowing line of text. ‘Shanghai. Singapore. Manila. The shipments reached international waters, then the transponders went dark.

“They spoofed the GPS signals,” I said. The realization hit me. “They made the ships look like they were on course while they diverted them to black-market docks.

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Chapter 185 Let Me Be a Monster

That requires-military-grade hacking, Tristan noted. His jaw tightened. Aegis security protocols are state-of-the-art. You built them to withstand corporate

espionage. You did not build them to fight a cyber-war against a criminal syndicate.”

“They found a backdoor, I realized. Pembroke gave them the access codes.”

“It is worse than missing cargo,” Tristan said. He brought up a new file. “Look at the financial ledgers. The syndicate is not just stealing goods. They are shorting Johnston Group stock. They hijack a ship. The market panics. The stock drops. They buy the dip and make millions.”.

“They are funding their war against us with our own money,” I concluded.

The brilliance of the scheme was undeniable. It was a perfect trap. They hit the family to distract the parents. They hit the supply chain to drain the resources. They manipulated the stock market to profit from the chaos.

This was not a random attack. This was a masterclass in destruction.

“We need to go to the city,” I said. I grabbed the laptop. “The coastal house is compromised. The eastern sector is bleeding. I cannot fight a global syndicate

from a kitchen island.”

Tristan looked at the black handgun resting near the stove. “We bring Elias. We move to the secure penthouse in the capital. Marcus handles the transport.”

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Married to the Billionaire Who Betrayed Me