The CEO's Contractual Wife (Olivia and Alexander) novel Chapter 225

Alexander

I stared at my phone for another moment before setting it face down on my desk. Whatever rumors were amulang Id deal with them. I’d spent years building Carter Enterprises, navigating board politics, and outmaneuvering competitors. A few whispers wouldn’t derail everything now.

My phone buzzed again. Unknown number.

I frowned, picking it up. Probably spam. I started to delete it without reading, then paused when I saw it wasn’t a text message but a series of photos.

The first one loaded slowly. A cafe. Familiar, somewhere in downtown LA. And there, sitting at a corner table, was Olivia. laughing at something, her coffee cup halfway to her lips.

Across from her sat James Westbrook.

I felt my jaw clench involuntarily. I swiped to the next photo. Different location this time, what looked like a pub. Same two people. Olivia’s hand was resting on the table, and James was leaning forward like he was telling her something important.

I swiped again, revealing a third photo, this one taken from a distance outside on a bustling street. The angle was deliberate: the shot captured Olivia and James standing uncomfortably close together.

My phone buzzed with an incoming text from the same unknown number.

Unknown: Interesting company your wife keeps. Wonder what Grandfather Harold would think?

I stared at the message, my mind working through the implications. Someone had been following Olivia. Taking photos. And now they were trying to leverage them.

Another text appeared.

Unknown: $500,000, and these photos disappear. Otherwise, I’m sure the board would be fascinated to see how devoted Mrs. Carter really is.

I let out a slow breath, forcing my initial anger down into something colder, more controlled. This was blackmail, pure and simple. And whoever was behind it clearly thought they had something damaging.

But did they?

1 looked at the photos again, studying them more carefully this time. Coffee. Conversation. Nothing overtly romantic. No hand holding, no intimate touching. Just two people talking.

James was my rival, sure. Had been for years. But before that, he’d been my friend. We’d competed in education, in business, and even flirted with the same women occasionally. The friendship had soured when business got in the way, when we’d started bidding against each other for acquisitions.

But that didn’t make him Olivia’s enemy.

My phone buzzed again.

Unknown: Clock’s ticking. Carter. 24 hours or these go wide.

I set the phone down without responding, leaning back in my chair. Whoever this was wanted a reaction. Wanted me to panic, to assume the worst, to pay them off quietly

Which meant they didn’t actually have anything damaging. If they did, they’d have led with it.

17:41 Fri, Dec 19 JMD

Chapter 925

Dec 19

These photos showed Olive having coffee with someone. That was it No smoking gew, no albeu, nothing th actually concern Grandfather or the board beyond some raised eyebrows.

Unless I made it into something by overreacting

I pulled up my security director’s number, typed out a quick message

Me: Someone’s trying to blackmail ine with photos of Olivia. Unknown number. Can you trace it?

The reply came within seconds.

Matteo: Send me the number. I’ll have it tracked within the hour.

I forwarded him the unknown number, staring at those photos again. Coffee at a cafe. Conversation at what looked like O’Malley’s. Nothing damning. Nothing suggested anything inappropriate.

Just Olivia talking to James. That was it.

My phone buzzed twenty minutes later.

Matteo: Burner phone. Number registered yesterday, already offline. Can’t trace without more activity.

Great. Someone was smart enough to cover their tracks.

Me: Keep monitoring. If they text again, flag it immediately.

Matteo: Will do.

I set my phone down and leaned back in my chair. The photos stared up at me from my screen, innocuous yet threatening simply because someone thought they could be weaponized.

Victoria. This had her fingerprints all over it. She’d been looking for ways to undermine my marriage since the wedding, and she had the resources to hire someone to follow Olivia.

Or maybe it was Penelope, still bitter about our broken engagement and determined to cause trouble.

Hell, it could even be James himself, playing some twisted game.

I pulled up the photos one more time, studying them carefully. The angles were deliberate, the framing designed to suggest intimacy where there might be none. Whoever took these knew what they were doing.

My door opened after a knock, and it was Jessica.

“Mr. Carter, I have the Sterling contracts ready for your review.”

“Leave them on the desk.” I closed the photos, not wanting her to see them.

After she left, I opened the Sterling folder, forcing myself to focus on the actual work rather than mystery blackmailers and suspicious photos.

The contracts were solid. Legal had done its job well, anticipating potential issues and closing loopholes. I made a few notes in the margins, suggested revisions to payment terms, and initialed each page.

By the time I finished, it was almost three in the afternoon. My stomach growled, reminding me I’d skipped lunch.

I buzzed Jessica.

“Yes, Mr. Carter?”

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Cool Mike sure the architecture retry with and were

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1 hung up and braced back in gay duir, niting my temples. The touring contr

Fork these photos. Clivia and James, laughing cover coffee. Nothing rating othing worth packing y

So why did it bother me vo raudt

The sudden vibration of my phone cant my tention, signaling a call from Mates I answered promptly

The burner’s harder to track than I thought Wooner set it up knows what they doing teda prepaid with cash, registered under a fake name Matteo exjained

“Can you trace it or not?

“I can, but i’ll take time. Kight now, the phone’s office. Dead or turned of hand to say Bus the enigings again have a location within minutes”

I drummed my fingers on the desk. “How long are we talking”

“Could be hours, could be days. Depends on when they turn it back one pas

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