Married to the Billionaire Who Betrayed Me novel Chapter 188

Chapter 188 Contracts Cannot Stop Syndicate Bullets

“They are not businessmen, Mina. Stop looking at the spreadsheets, Tristan said. He reached across the glass table and pushed the laptop down. The screen clicked shut, severing the soft grow of the financial ledgers.

I kept my hands suspended over the keyboard. The abrupt silence in the penthouse living room rang in my ears.

“I need the cargo routing numbers,” I argued. I met his gaze. “Pembroke left a digital trail. I can trace the dark money to the source.”

“Pembroke left a distraction.” Tristan leaned over the table. The dim lights caught the sharp, unrelenting angles of his face. “The stolen ships are bait. The toy on the window was bait. They want you spinning in circles in the boardroom while they dig their claws into the foundation.”

I sat back in the leather chair. The exhaustion of the day pulled at my bones. We secured the capital penthouse. Marcus placed four armed guards at the private elevator. Two more stood outside Elias’s bedroom down the hall. We locked down the family.

Tristan turned and walked to the floor-to-ceiling windows. He stared out at the sprawling London skyline. The city glittered below, ignorant of the war

brewing in the clouds.

“I know this playbook,” Tristan said. His voice dropped to a rough, gravelly pitch. “You choke the supply chain, tank the stock market confidence, and terrorize the executive leadership. They ran this exact operation against the Russian shipping fleets in the early two-thousands. It is a shadow syndicate out of the eastern sector. They do not negotiate. They do not leave survivors. They leave examples.”

“How do you know their tactics?” I asked.

Tristan looked over his shoulder. A dark shadow crossed his gray eyes. Guilt.

“Because I used them, Tristan confessed. “Five years ago, a rival tech firm tried a hostile takeover of the Johnston servers. I did not fight them in court. I hired an eastern information broker to dismantle their lives. We exposed their secrets, drained their offshore accounts, and forced them into bankruptcy in a week. I know the people funding Pembroke. I know the language they speak./

“Then we give this to the authorities,” I stated. I kept my tone level. I refused to let panic dictate my strategy. “We hand your knowledge and the Vanguard logs to the federal prosecutors. We let the FBI raid Pembroke.”

“The FBI will spend six months building a case, Tristan countered. He walked back toward the center of the room. In six months, the syndicate will absorb our entire fleet. The Johnston Group will collapse. And long before that happens, they will make another visit to Elias.”

He stopped a foot away from my chair,

‘A court subpoena does not stop a man from climbing a wall in the middle of the night, Tristan said.

The threat sat between us, ugly and undeniable. The rule of law failed the moment that plastic airplane touched my son’s windowsill.

“How do we break them?’ I asked.

The question tasted like copper. I knew the answer would cost us. I spent three years clawing my way out of the dirt to build a clean empire. I dragged Aegis into the light. Now, the dark reached back.

Tristan crouched next to my chair. He took my hands in his. His skin felt rough and warm.

“We hit the men who hold Pembroke’s leash,” Tristan said. He held my gaze. He did not blink. The brokers who move the dark money. But they operate underground. They do not answer to the SEC. They answer to leverage. Extortion. Violence.”

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Chapter 188 Contracts Cannot Stop Syndicate Bullets

Istered into his eyes: Illegal leverage.’

“Yes.”

“The kind of leverage you swore you would never touch again.”

Tristan flinched. The truth hit him hard. He closed his eyes for a fraction of a second. When he opened them, the raw desperation laid bare.

*I stood in a cathedral and promised you equal power, Tristan whispered. His thumbs brushed across my knuckles. “I promised no shadow deals. I promised to leave the monster in the past. But Mina, if I play by your rules, we lose our son. If we fight them in the light, we die in the light.”

He tightened his grip on my hands.

“Let me take the gloves off,” he pleaded. It was a terrifying sound. A billionaire begging for permission to sin. “Let me go back into the dark. Just until this

threat is dead.”

My chest ached. The conflict tore at my ribs.

I remembered the cold nights in Port Sterling. I remembered the helplessness. I swore I would never let anyone make me feel small again. I built a fortress of legal contracts and corporate power to ensure my safety.

Pembroke proved the contracts were useless against criminals.

I looked at the man kneeling beside my chair. He respected me. He did not make the call behind my back. He did not hide his intent to protect my feelings. He brought the ugly reality to my feet and asked for my command.

We were equals.

“Who do you need to contact?” I asked.

Tristan let out a short, jagged breath. “A man named Silas. He runs the underground information brokers in the eastern sector. He knows the syndicate heads

backing Pembroke. He will give me the names.”

‘What does he want in return?’ I pressed. ‘Men like that do not take cash.

“He will want a favor, Tristan admitted. The grim reality settled over his features. A dirty one. A blind eye on a shipping route. Access to a port Something

illegal.

I pulled my hands from his grip. I stood up.

I walked to the glass window. I placed my palm flat against the cool pane. The city stretched out, a vast network of power and ambition. I owned it. I fought

a brutal war to claim the Chairman seat. I would not let a coward in a bespoke suit steal it from me.

More importantly, I would not let them touch my child.

I turned around. I faced my husband.

“Call him, I ordered.

Tristan stood. He did not look relieved. He looked like a man stepping onto a battlefield he promised to leave behind. He knew the cost of his actions.

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Chapter 188 Contracts Cannot Stop Syndicate Bullets

“But Duderstand this, I continued. I crossed the room. stopped inches from his chest. “You do not carry this alone. You tell me every name. You tell me

Very lavar you promise. You do not hide the sins to protect my conscience. We share the dirt.”

Tristan looked down at me. The darkstorm in his eyes shifted, replaced by a fierce, burning devotion. He raised his hand and cupped my cheek.

“We share the dirt, Tristan echoed.

He stepped back and pulled his phone from his pocket. He bypassed the standard contacts and opened an encrypted dialing application. He punched in a

long sequence of numbers.

I watched him raise the device to his ear. The silence in the room felt heavy, pregnant with the weight of the life we crossed.

The call connected.

‘Silas, Tristan said. His voice was a cold, flat weapon. “It is Johnston. I need a name.”

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Married to the Billionaire Who Betrayed Me