Married to the Billionaire Who Betrayed Me novel Chapter 32

Chapter 32 Hiding In The Shadows

Eduardo picked up a brass pen from his desk. He turned it over in his fingers. The rhythmic motion offered the only movement in the room. He processed the magnitude of the scandal. He processed the danger of harboring a woman hunted by the Johnston

empire.

“A billionaire frames his hidden wife to secure a merger, Eduardo mused. “It is a classic, ruthless maneuver. Tristan Johnston operates like a butcher. He cuts away the infected tissue to save the host.”

“I am not infected tissue.”

“To him, you are. Eduardo set the pen down. He leaned forward, resting his forearms on the desk. “You handed me a massive problem, Minerva. If the Johnston dragnet traces you to my firm, Tristan will crush my operations. He will bury my company, in

frivolous lawsuits just to starve you out.”

“I understand,” I said. I pulled my hands back from the desk. The fight was over. He could not risk his business for a stranger. “I will pack my things. You can keep the files. Fire your floor managers.”

I turned to leave.

“Stop, Eduardo commanded.

I froze halfway to the door.

“I did not tell you to leave,” Eduardo said. “I am assessing the variables.”

I looked over my shoulder. “There is nothing to assess. I am radioactive.”

“You are a weapon,” he corrected. He picked up the stack of files I built. “You hold absolute proof of theft. You built a flawless trap in six hours. The men out there in the bullpen will crucify you when I fire them tomorrow. They will know the new girl found the leak. They will retaliate. This floor is no longer safe for you.”

“Then what is left?”

“A door opens, Eduardo replied. He opened a lower drawer in his desk and pulled out a different folder. This one looked thin and neglected. He tossed it onto the mahogany surface.

“Valdez Distribution Strategies is my primary logistics hub, Eduardo explained. “But I own a subsidiary across the city. Valdez Elegance. It handles distribution for regional fashion boutiques and independent cosmetics lines.”

I frowned. “Fashion and cosmetics?”

“It is bleeding worse than this warehouse,” Eduardo stated bluntly. “The inventory is fragile. The shipping schedules require precision, and the current management treats it like a junk hauling service. The boutiques are canceling contracts. The cosmetics expire in transit. It is a disaster.”

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Chapter 32 Hiding In The Shadows

He tapped the thin folder.

“The role is low-level, Eduardo warned. “The pay is insulting. The contract offers zero stability. You will sit in a cramped office in a dilapidated building and fight with arrogant boutique owners all day. But it is off the main books. Tristan Johnston’s algorithms hunt for heavy industry, finance, and major logistics. He will not look for you in a failing cosmetics subsidiary,”

I stared at the folder. It was a demotion. It was a massive step down from optimizing international trade routes for the Johnston Group. The pay would barely cover my rent and my groceries.

But it was safe. It was hidden. And it was mine.

“I will take it,” I said.

Eduardo nodded. “You start tomorrow. Address is in the folder. Report to a woman named Sienna Navarro. She manages the Moor. She is stubborn, but she knows the product.”

I walked back to the desk and picked up the folder. The cardboard felt rough against my fingertips.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked. “You could fire me. You could protect your primary firm from the Johnston network.”

Eduardo looked at the window. The rain continued to fall outside, a constant, gray sheet over the industrial district.

‘I built my company from the dirt, Eduardo said. His gravel voice dropped low. “I fought the old money families for every contract. I know what men like Tristan Johnston do to people who lack power. I need a strategist who understands the cruelty of the corporate elite. I need a monster to fight monsters.”

He shifted his gaze back to me.

“Fix my cosmetics line, Minerva. Build your strength. Hide in the shadows until you are ready. Because one day, Tristan Johnston will make a mistake. And when he does, you will be holding the knife.”

A cold thrill raced down my spine. I offered a single nod. I turned and walked out of the glass office.

The bullpen was nearly empty. The clock on the wall read seven in the evening. Most of the employees had gone home.

I grabbed my coat from the back of my rolling chair. I slung my canvas duffel bag over my shoulder. I walked toward the metal exit

door.

Two desks away, the two floor managers sat in the dim light. The men who spent the morning laughing over a sports magazine. They watched me pack my things. They watched me walk toward the exit. Their eyes lacked the lazy boredom from earlier. They looked sharp. They looked hostile.

They knew I spent six hours digging through their shipping manifests. They knew I handed a stack of red-ink files to the boss.

1 pushed the metal door open and stepped into the freezing night.

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Chapter 32 Hiding In The Shadows

The industrial district was a ghost town after dark. The streetlights flickered, casting long, jagged shadows across the wet pavement Transport trucks sat parked in rows along the chain-link fence. The bus stop sat three blocks away, isolated under a broken

streetlamp.

I pulled my coat tight against the biting wind. I kept my head down, navigating the puddles on the cracked sidewalk. The silence of the harbor pressed in around me, broken only by the distant wail of a foghorn.

I reached the second block. A narrow alley separated two massive concrete warehouses.

A sharp scrape of shoe leather echoed against the brick.

I stopped. The sound came from behind me.

I turned my head. The street behind me was empty. Just the flickering streetlights and the parked trucks.

I faced forward and increased my pace. My heart accelerated. My breathing turned shallow. I gripped the strap of my duffel bag

tight.

Footsteps sounded again.

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