Billionaire's Betrayal a contracted revenge (Aurelia) novel Chapter 115

16:26 Mon, Aug 3

Chapter 115

Chapter 115

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Dawson’s phone buzzed three times on the polished surface of his desk, but he barely looked up from the numbers spread in front of him, expecting nothing more than another routine alert from the finance team.

Five hundred thousand dollars. Wired out. A name on the receiving end he didn’t recognize, some account he had never once seen referenced anywhere in the family’s usual dealings.

Dawson set the report down slowly, his eyes narrowing at the screen.

The transaction had come from the joint savings account, the one he shared with Charlotte, the one he still monitored closely enough to see every single alert that passed through it, a habit born less from trust and more from the kind of caution he had learned to apply to every person in his life.

He scrolled back through the notification history, his jaw tightening with every new line that appeared.

Two hundred thousand, three weeks ago. A hundred and fifty thousand, ten days after that. Now this, half a million dollars gone in a single transfer.

Charlotte had been bleeding that account dry for weeks, quietly, patiently, while he had been too buried in the company’s expansion to notice, too distracted by staff walking out the door towards Rieck’s new venture to keep his own house properly in order.

He confronted her the moment he walked through the penthouse door that evening, the report still tucked under one arm, his patience already gone from the drive home, traffic and numbers and now this compounding into a headache he could feel building behind his eyes.

“Charlotte. We need to talk about the joint account.”

She looked up from the couch, one hand resting over the curve of her stomach, feigning surprise. “Is something wrong?”

“Five hundred thousand dollars, Charlotte. Wired out this morning. To an account I don’t recognize.” He dropped the report on the coffee table, hard enough to make the sound land the way he intended. “Explain it

to me. Now.”

“My mother is sick.” She said it simply, like the words cost her nothing at all. “The medical bills have gotten out of hand. I needed to help her.”

“Your mother is sick?” Dawson repeated the words flatly, studying her expression closely, searching for the smallest crack in her composure. “I never once heard you mention her being ill. Not once in two years.”

“It only just started.” Charlotte’s eyes stayed steady, unbothered, her hand smoothing slowly over the curve of her stomach. “These things happen quickly sometimes, Dawson. I didn’t think I needed to report every detail of my family to you.”

“You reported the necklace easily enough. The nursery furniture. Every other expense that crossed your mind this past month, down to the last detail.”

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16:26 Mon, Aug 3

Chapter 115

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“Those were happy expenses.” Her voice sharpened just slightly. “My mother dying isn’t exactly a topic I enjoy bringing up over dinner.”

“Dying?” Dawson’s eyes narrowed further. “A moment ago it was just sick.”

Charlotte’s jaw tightened, a flicker of something calculating passing behind her eyes before the sweetness returned. “Sick enough that it frightens me, Dawson. Is that better?”

“Half a million dollars isn’t a detail, Charlotte. That kind of money doesn’t just vanish into a stranger’s account without a real reason attached to it, and I intend to hear one.”

“Besides.” She waved a dismissive hand, the diamond on her finger sparkling in the light. “You don’t need that kind of money. Not with everything the company brings in. It’s practically nothing to you.”

“You may be right.” Dawson’s voice stayed low, controlled, though something cold settled behind his eyes. “But I need to know where my money is going, Charlotte. Every dollar of it.”

“Well.” She smiled, settling back into the couch cushions, her hand still resting protectively over her stomach, entirely unbothered by the accusation. “Now you know.”

“Do I?”

“Don’t you believe me, Dawson?” Her eyebrows furrowed. “That’s a rather unkind thing to accuse the mother of your child of.”

“I didn’t accuse you of anything. I asked a simple question.”

“It felt like an accusation.” She looked away, dabbing slowly at the corner of one eye, though Dawson noted no actual tears had gathered there. “The stress of all this isn’t good for the baby, you know.”

“Then let’s not discuss it further tonight.” Dawson exhaled slowly, choosing backing off over a fight he sensed he wouldn’t win with facts alone. “I will check on the wire transfer myself in the morning.”

“Do whatever helps you sleep, sweetie.”

Dawson studied her for a long moment.

She had always been good at bending a conversation until it was exactly where she wanted it.

“Fine.” He picked the report back up off the table, resigned for tonight but far from finished. “I hope your mother recovers quickly.”

“Thank you, sweetie.” Charlotte’s smile returned in full, as though the entire conversation had cost her nothing at all.

He sat behind his desk the next morning, the same quiet unease from the night before still gnawing at him.

Charlotte’s mother had never been sick, not once in the two years he had known the family. He remembered every holiday, every family dinner, every casual mention of relatives over the years, and not a single word

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16:26 Mon, Aug 3

Chapter 115

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about illness had ever crossed her lips before yesterday, not one hospital visit, not one worried phone call late at night. A sudden illness appearing exactly when convenient, exactly enough to explain away a fortune in withdrawals, felt too neat to trust.

He thought back over every withdrawal again, the timing of each one, the pattern of a woman testing exactly how much she could take before anyone noticed.

Charlotte was many things, clever chief among them. Clever enough to invent a dying mother on short notice. Clever enough to know he would rather pay quietly than fight publicly, not with a pregnancy this close to term and an image to protect.

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