Pampered by my Billionaire CEO Husband

As soon as the last person left the area and it was now just the two of us, Stella turned to face me. The casual look that was plastered across her face faded and her demeanour shifted entirely in a split second. Her dark brown eyes were swimming with a mixture of anger and disdain. She stepped forward to get closer, closing the gap between us and our faces were now merely inches apart.

She narrowed her eyes at me, leaning in closer this time. "What did you want with Blake? My boyfriend," she reminded, spitting the words out like they were poison in her mouth. "What business do you have talking to him, huh?"

A cold chuckle erupted from my throat as I kept my gaze steady.

I arched my eyebrow at her. "What do I want with Blake?" I repeated, tossing the words right back at her with an incredulous look that was etched onto my face. "I don’t want anything with him," I answered, my voice remained cold and icy.

She let out a loud scoff as she clicked her tongue. "I don’t believe you. You are lying to me," she snarled with a disdainful scorn. "I saw the way you were looking at him just now. I saw the way you were smiling at him. You mean to tell me that meant nothing?!" She shrieked, but her voice remained hushed, afraid that someone would hear us.

"So I can’t smile and look at the person that was talking to me?" I retorted which only further fuelled the fire that was already burning inside of her as she clenched her jaws tightly.

She reached out to grab me by my arm, her fingernails digging into my skin as she pressed down hard. She leaned forward to murmur next to my ear, her low voice was heavy with a threat.

"I don’t like you talking to my boyfriend." she began. "And I don’t want to see you anywhere near Blake," she demanded through gritted teeth as the words that left her lips were laced with malice.

I quickly pulled my arm out of her grip and glared at her. "Are you crazy?!" I questioned as I let out a breath.

"I’m not crazy, don’t call me crazy!" She demanded through gritted teeth as her voice shook with anger.

"You don’t get to be the person to tell me what I can and cannot do," I hissed.

She looked at me as the air continued to crackle with unspoken tension as silence engulfed the both of us for a brief moment and the gears in her head were shifting.

"Then I won’t be acting in this movie," she declared, thinking that her words served as a threat when in reality I simply don’t care.

I couldn’t stop the laughter that slipped through the gaps of my fingers as we locked eyes. "Then don’t," I said coldly, my face void of any emotions. "I don’t care if you are not acting in this movie. You may not know it but you are not some A-list celebrity. You are very easily replaceable, Stella Brooks," I said crudely, my harsh words piercing through the tension lingering in the air between us and slapping her back to reality. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

She exhaled as her eyes widened to the size of the saucer, swirling with a mixture of anger and disbelief. "You–!"

"What?" I interrupted, cutting her off before she could even finish her sentence. "Was I wrong?"

I watched as the corners of her lips twisted upwards into a knowing smirk as smugness radiated from every inch of her skin with an arrogant look plastered across her face.

"I may not be some A-list celebrity but Blake is not going to stay to direct the movie if I am leaving," she said with certainty as the smirk on her face widened.

Another laughter left my lips. "Do you really think so? Do you really think that he would do all that for you?" I taunted as a slight smirk tugged at the corners of my lips. "Don’t be so naive, Stella. It’s always been his dream to be a director and this movie is his actual first shot at directing a movie. Do you think he would give up on his dreams because of your pettiness and childishness?" I questioned, my tone carrying a sharp edge to it.

"I could replace him as easily as I could replace you," I pointed out blatantly.

Anger flashed past her eyes for a fleeting moment. "I...I..." she stammered, struggling to find the words to say as though there was a lump stuck in her throat.

"I can tell you the answer. He won’t do it."

A frown crept onto her face as she glared at me, her fists balling up tightly beside her body and her knuckles were starting to turn white.

"You don’t know that," she insisted, her voice laced with a hint of denial.

"Why wouldn’t I?"

"I know him better than you do. I was his childhood best friend and he has known me since we were children. And also he used to like me and we used to have a thing before he married you. You can’t possibly know him better than I do," she snarled.

"If you think you know him so well, then why don’t you go tell him now?" I urged. "Tell him that you don’t like him talking to me and that you don’t like that my husband and I are the ones sponsoring this movie. Tell him to leave with you and see what he says."

I let a smile fall on my lips as I continued, letting the words roll off the tip of my tongue. "I would love to know what he would do."

She was rendered speechless for a moment before she pressed her lips tightly together and finally opened her mouth to speak up. "Just don’t talk to him," she warned, her tone carrying a slight edge to it.

"Why? Afraid that he would find out about you cheating on him with another man before he lost his memory?" I taunted and watched the moment her heart sank to the pit of her stomach.

Her eyes grew wide in fear as she stared at me and her voice dropped to a hush whisper. She jutted her finger out to point at me, her dark eyes narrowing into thin slits.

"Don’t you dare mention another word about this."

I snickered. "Don’t worry, I won’t. Like I told you, your secret is safe with me."

Anger was pulsing through every single vein inside of her as she shook with rage. "Don’t act so smug. It’s your fault that Aaron is in jail right now," she snarled as her eyes swirled with contempt.

"Are you sure it is my fault? Or are you just trying to push the blame onto me?" I questioned with a raised brow. I stepped forward, forcing her to take a step back and maintain the distance between us. "Weren’t you the one who told him to come find me? He wouldn’t have known where I was working if it wasn’t for you. You were the one that caused this," I snapped, leaving her dumbfounded for a split second as she looked at me with wide eyes.

She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but no words came out, instead I was the one who broke the silence that stretched between us.

"But this was all part of your plan, wasn’t it?" I asked curtly as I kept my gaze steady, my dark brown eyes boring right into hers. "You made him the scapegoat for your revenge plan on me. You wanted me dead but you didn’t want to be the one to go to jail. So you fuelled the fire and prayed that it would work. And when it did work, you could just tell the police you didn’t say or do anything and they would have to let you go because of insufficient evidence."

"I...I..." she stammered as her heart pounded loudly against her chest and her eyes grew wide with shock and disbelief was written all over her face.

"Save it," I interrupted. "I applaud you though, that is smart," I complimented but the words that left my lips were dripping with malice.

"But unfortunately for you..." I drawled, my voice trailing off. "I’m not dead, I’m still standing right here in front of you. Funny how things work, isn’t it?"

***

My mind continued to buzz with thoughts and the scene that unfolded earlier was constantly playing inside my head like a broken record player I couldn’t seem to fix.

I had just stepped out of the studio not too long ago when I heard someone call out to me. Almost immediately, I stopped in my tracks and whipped my head around to find myself looking into a pair of familiar eyes.

"Aurelia!" She waved at me as soon as we locked eyes from a distance and she walked over towards me with a slight smile etched onto her face while my brows were knitted together to form a small frown.

"Natalie? What are you... How did you..." My voice trailed off as a hint of confusion laced my voice and a puzzled expression masked my features.

"We need to talk," she began. "I think you might be my biological daughter."