Pampered by my Billionaire CEO Husband

She closed the distance between us, the arrogant look still lingered on her face as she stopped right before me.

"Speechless? Surprised to see me here?" She taunted me when I didn’t say a word.

I let out a loud scoff as I kept my gaze steady.

"Of course I would be surprised to see you here at such a prestigious awards ceremony," I retorted without a second thought. "After all... The last I remembered, you were begging me to help you put in a good word right after I miscarried and lost my child," I reminded her curtly, the words that left my lips were thick with venom.

She glared at me with a fiery blaze burning in her wide eyes as she clenched her jaws tightly and gritted her teeth. "I wasn’t begging you, I was just simply asking for a favour," she explained as she straightened her posture.

A low chuckle emerged from my throat. "Yeah, sure," I sneered, my voice dripping with sarcasm. "So what changed? How come you get to be at the ceremony now? Finally found someone that would accept your daddy’s money?" I mocked as a smirk tugged at the corners of my lips.

I watched as her eyes grew wide and she raised her hand but before I could stop her, Xavier had already reached out to grab her wrist as his face darkened visibly.

"What do you think you are doing?!" His deep voice boomed loudly, catching the attention of a few people that were standing not too far away from us.

Whispers and murmurs started to fill the place in the next moment and the three of us were now the center of attention.

As if on cue, I watched as Evelyn’s parents ran over to us. Natalie’s eyes were swimming with worry and concern as she rushed to her daughter’s side while James had an angry expression that masked his features.

"Let go of my daughter right this instant!" He demanded fiercely, his low voice trembling with the rage that was already pulsing through every single vein inside his body.

Xavier immediately released his grip on her and backed away, not wanting to cause any more trouble or ruin the awards ceremony for me because he knew exactly how much this meant to me. "Look, I don’t want no trouble..." he started. "Why don’t we just let this go and move on?"

James on the other hand, he wasn’t going to let him off the hook so easily.

"Let it go?" He repeated as his gaze hardened. "Do you think I would let it go after what you did?!"

"Daddy!" I watched as Evelyn ran towards her father and wrapped her arms around his torso and buried her face in his chest. The smug look that was once on her face quickly faded and was replaced with a pitiful look as she looked up at him this time. His gaze softened in a split second. "My wrist hurts... They were being rude to me for no reason at all, I just merely went over to say hi," she lied without even batting an eye.

"That’s not true, she —"

The words barely left the tip of my tongue when I was rudely interrupted by James. He narrowed his eyes into thin slits as he glared at me.

"Are you trying to tell me that my daughter is lying to me?!" He snarled, his sharp words piercing through the tension that was lingering in the air between us. Beside him, the corners of Evelyn’s lips twisted upwards into a knowing smirk as satisfaction washed over her, delighted to see him defend her undoubtedly.

Natalie chimed in this time as she tugged at her husband’s arm with a small frown resting between her brows. "James, darling. Let’s not do this here," she pleaded, her voice laced with a hint of desperation as she met her his eyes. "We wouldn’t want to ruin this for Evelyn," she reasoned but impulse had long clouded Jame’s judgement.

He only shook her off roughly, causing her to stumble a couple of steps back but she quickly caught her balance.

It was at this moment when the guards came running over. "Mr Lloyd, is everything okay?" One of them asked with a serious expression etched onto his face.

James only tilted his head towards us with a cold look plastered across his face. "Throw them out. They don’t deserve to be at this awards ceremony."

As soon as the words left his lips, the guards sprung into action as they marched towards us and forcefully grabbed us by our arms, trying to drag us out. They needed three guards to hold Xavier back while only one of the guards grabbed me to pull me out. Just as we were struggling to break free from their tight hold and our protests filled the air, Evelyn spoke up

She curled her fingers around her father’s arm. "Daddy, it’s okay. Mum is right. We shouldn’t let anything ruin this day I have worked so hard for. I know they don’t like me but I can forgive them," she said, acting all generous and forgiving. It took me every urge inside of my body to stop myself from rolling my eyes and letting out a snicker. "I say we should let them go."

James turned to glare at us with an intense look. "You are lucky my daughter is so forgiving. If it were me, you wouldn’t be so fortunate," he warned, his voice heavy with a threat. He then turned to the guards who were looking at him, waiting for his command. "Let them go," he ordered before he spun on his heels and walked away with Evelyn who had a smirk on her face as she glanced over to meet my eyes.

Natalie let out a soft sigh yet a relief expression masked her features. She turned to me, resting her hand on my arm with an apologetic look etched onto her face this time.

"I apologise on my husband and Evelyn’s behalf," she began in a soft and gentle tone. She was about to turn to leave when she stopped herself and snapped her head back around and her eyes landed on mine. I watched as the corners of her lips twitched upwards into a genuine and sweet smile. "Anyway, good job on your work, you must be so proud and happy about this awards ceremony. I can’t wait to see you up on stage later."

I smiled at her words, my heart filled with warmth as I looked at her retreating back.

***

"Welcome to the 50th Arts Awards Ceremony!" The host exclaimed, her voice filled with excitement as she gestured towards the crowd below the stage with a bright grin that was stretched across her face. "I’m delighted to see some familiar faces in the crowd and also many new artists sitting among us here today."

A round of applause erupted from the crowd, echoing in the large ballroom.

"We have a very special guest here today," she announced with a smile on her lips. It didn’t take long before whispers and murmurs filled the air as people started taking their guesses and let their curious eyes wander around the ballroom in search of this special guest. "Mr and Mrs Lloyd have made a generous donation to the community and they are also the sponsors of today’s Arts Awards Ceremony. Let us welcome them up on stage!" 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

It was at this moment when realisation washed over me in an instant and it finally clicked inside my head. This must be the reason why Evelyn was here at the awards ceremony.

Everyone burst into enthusiastic applause once again, the loud noise jolting me back to reality as I watched them from below the stage. I didn’t listen to much of their speech, as my mind buzzed with thoughts and before I knew it, they were walking down the steps to get back to their front row seats.

"Thank you, Mr and Mrs Lloyd for the wonderful and touching speech. Now let us invite Evelyn Lloyd, the daughter of the Lloyd family up on stage to give away the awards to our esteemed artists and our up and coming artists. Miss Evelyn Lloyd, please."

As the people began clapping, I kept my gaze fixated on the arrogant expression that masked Evelyn’s features as she carefully walked up on stage, lifting the hem of her long black dress so that she wouldn’t trip and fall. Her lips spread into a smile as she stood up in the center of the stage with the spotlight shining down on her.

I watched as countless people went up to receive their awards and soon enough, I heard my name being called.

"Aurelia Grace Wilder."

I stood up from my seat and slowly made my way up on stage. Our eyes met from a distance and her lips were curved into a smile as she extended her arm while the air crackled with unspoken tension. We shook hands and just as I was about to take the glass plague from her hands, a smirk appeared on her face for a fleeting moment before she let go of it, letting it fall onto the stage and shatter into pieces.

Then her high-pitched scream pierced through the air.

"Ahh!"