Married to the Billionaire Who Betrayed Me novel Chapter 250

Chapter 250 She Paid To Kill Us

Tristan stares at the laptop screen on the wooden table. The silver data drive rests in the USB port The name burns on the monitor. Evelyn Johnston. His grandmother. The matriarch of the empire.

Tristan grips the edge of the table. The muscles in his forearms bunch into tight cords. His knuckles turn white. The aged wood groans under the pressure. He splinters the edge. He trusted his family. He protected bloodline from corporate rivals and hostile takeovers. His blood paid a federal prosecutor to destroy me. She funded the hit squads. She engineered the RICO injunction. She orchestrated the downfall of her own grandson to rid her legacy of the

Whitmore disease.

I step behind him. I wrap my arms around his waist. I press my cheek against his broad back. His body feels like cofled wire. A dark, lethal rage radiates from his skin.

“She paid Sterling, Tristan says. His voice holds zero emotion. A dead, hollow sound. “She bought the federal raid. She sent the agents to the coastal house.

She tried to take Elias from you.”

‘She failed, I say. I keep my voice steady. I offer an anchor in the storm.

He turns. He does not look at my face. He grabs my hips. He lifts me onto the wooden table. He pushes the laptop aside. He steps between my knees. He frames my face with rough, dirt-stained hands. His gray eyes burn with a dark, consuming fire. The civilized man shatters. The warlord claims the surface.

“I will ruin her, Tristan vows. The promise sounds like a death sentence. “I will burn the Johnston estate to the ground. I will erase her name from the earth.

“No,” I counter. I cover his hands with mine. “We destroy her. Death is a release. We will strip her of the Johnston wealth. We will leave her with nothing. We

will make her watch us take the crown.”

He crushes his mouth against mine. The kiss holds pain. The kiss holds the deep, bitter sting of betrayal. I open my lips. I take his rage. I tangle my fingers in his dark hair. I pull his head down. I match his desperate need. He needs to erase the image of his grandmother from his mind. He needs proof of life.

He tears the black silk dress from my shoulders. The expensive fabric rips down the seam. It falls to the stone floor. The cold air hits my bare skin. I do not shiver. The heat of his body warms the room.

“Show me, I command.

The screen shifts. A massive spreadsheet replaces the code. Thousands of names. Dates. Offshore account numbers. Shell corporations. The digital map of a corrupt empire.

I lean closer to the monitor. I scan the names. The scope of the corruption freezes the blood in my veins. Sterling did not act alone. He commanded a legion of bought men.

“Senator Vance,” I read. “Federal Judge Harrison. SEC Director Miller. Congressman Davis.”

“He built an empire of dirt,” I say. “He used Thomas Whitmore’s money to enslave the justice system. The men on this list dictate the laws. They dictate the markets. Sterling holds their leash.”

*Sterling bought the entire board,” Tristan says. He stands at my shoulder. He rests his hand on the back of my chair. “He bought the men who froze our assets. They did not act on legal precedent. They acted on a payroll.

*Sterling insulated himself,” I realize. I track the numbers across the screen. I connect the dots. “He paid SEC Director Miller five million dollars to sign the RICO order. He paid Judge Harrison ten million dollars to ignore the lack of concrete evidence. Sterling built a cage of corrupt officials. He paid them to look the other way while he robbed us.”