Unmasked My CEO Ex-Husband’s Regret novel Chapter 290

It was a Thursday afternoon.

Julian Beckett had taken his secretary and Vivian Winthrop to discuss a partnership with a client. By the time they stepped out of the client's building, it was almost the end of the workday.

Julian told his secretary to take the files back to the office and call it a day, while he left early with Vivian.

Since Vivian had returned from her leave, they had been clocking out on time almost every day. They dated like a normal couple—grabbing dinner, catching a movie, or going shopping.

Sometimes, they simply hit the grocery store to pick up ingredients and cooked dinner together at home.

Today, they opted for the former.

Since it was still early, Julian and Vivian decided to grab dinner first before heading upstairs to the theater for a movie.

They found a nearby restaurant, Siam Palace. After ordering, they picked out a movie and bought tickets.

Vivian used her account for the movie tickets, so it wasn't until they tried to pay for dinner that they realized a transaction had failed.

The restaurant used a digital scanner, and the machine beeped with a payment failure notification. Julian didn't think much of it at first, assuming he had entered his pin incorrectly, so he typed it in again.

It failed again.

Meeting the cashier's confused gaze, Julian felt equally puzzled. Not wanting to hold up the line, he didn't immediately check the account issue. Instead, he switched over to his Venmo account to pay.

Failed again.

Julian stared blankly.

He finally realized this wasn't a simple glitch.

"What's wrong?"

Vivian, standing right beside him, noticed something was off and leaned in, whispering, "Is it still not going through?"

"Yeah."

Julian exited the payment screen. He was just about to contact customer service when a system notification from Venmo caught his eye.

His heart skipped a beat as he tapped on it.

—"In accordance with relevant laws and regulations, and pursuant to the enforcement documents of the Shoreline County Courthouse, mandatory enforcement measures have been taken on the funds in your Venmo account. Enforcement Agency: Shoreline County Courthouse..."

The rest of the message detailed the freezing order, the case number, and the court's contact information.

It felt like a bomb went off in his head.

Julian felt the ground give way beneath him. His mind went entirely blank for a split second.

"Oh my God!"

Vivian was leaning against him, watching him troubleshoot, so she naturally saw the freeze notification. She gasped, "How could this..."

Realizing they were still at the restaurant's front counter during the dinner rush, with customers walking in, she immediately clamped a hand over her mouth, swallowing the rest of her words.

The cashier had been waiting for a while. Seeing their distressed expressions, she figured there was just an issue with their digital wallets and kindly offered, "We accept credit cards too."

"No, it's fine."

Vivian quickly stepped in, stepping forward with her phone and opening her own Venmo. "Just scan mine."

She presented the code, and the machine gave a sharp beep.

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