Pampered by my Billionaire CEO Husband

Everyone in the room turned to fix their wide eyes on me and their lips were left agape.

"What...?" James mumbled under his breath, his voice laced with denial as disbelief was written all over his face. He was staring at me, his eyes darting between his wife and I. I had my arms wrapped around Natalie as I rushed to her side. My brows were furrowed together and my dark brown eyes were swimming with concern while Evelyn watched quietly behind us, her eyes wide with horror.

"Mum?" Murmurs began to fill the air as people started to gossip and whisper among themselves.

"Is that true? Is she really her mother?"

"Oh my god, I can’t believe this, how did this happen?" Another questioned.

I ignored the whispers in the background as I kept my eyes fixated on Natalie, her hand holding onto her red cheek. "Are you okay?" I asked, my voice laced with a hint of concern and worry.

"You called me mum..." She commented under her breath as a slight smile tugged at the corners of her lips. She looked at me, tears began to fill the brim of her eyes as they glistened under the soft yellow glow from the chandeliers that lit up the ballroom, emotions running wild in her eyes. "This is the first time you called me mum," she said, her voice coming out shaky as a single teardrop fell down her cheek.

I pulled her into a hug, wrapping my arms around her tightly as I leaned on her shoulders with a slight smile etched onto my face. "Mum..." I murmured softly this time as hot tears stung my eyes in a split second.

I didn’t notice it earlier but the cameras had gone crazy earlier. Almost everyone standing in that room whipped out their phones to start recording and taking pictures of this "reunion" and shocking revelation. I’m certain that the media is about to have a field day with this.

As all of this was going on, Evelyn stood up on her own with an angry expression that masked her features and her heart was bursting with displease. She roughly grabbed me by my shoulders and pulled me away from Natalie.

"Get away from my mum!" She demanded through gritted teeth as rage was pulsing in every single vein inside of her body. "She’s not your mother!" She shrieked loudly this time, her sharp voice cutting through the tension that hung in the air like a thick blanket.

"Poor girl," one of the onlookers commented. "She probably doesn’t know that she isn’t the Lloyd’s family real daughter..."

"Yeah, I think she is in shock and denial. Afterall, this is some really unexpected and shocking news. She probably didn’t see it coming," another remarked casually in agreement.

Hearing all these whispers and murmurs linger in the air, I could see that it was driving Evelyn crazy. Her eyes were wide with anger and her fists were clenched tightly beside her, even her knuckles were starting to turn white by now.

"I told you! She is my mother! Not hers!" She screamed this time, her voice cracking towards the end of the sentence. "My mum doesn’t know what she is talking about, she is being manipulated by this cunning woman," she sneered with a disdainful scorn as the words that left her lips were dripping with accusation.

James walked up to Evelyn’s side and his gaze softened almost immediately when his eyes landed on hers. "Eve..." Her name left his lips before he turned to face his wife. "Natalie, when are you going to stop this nonsense? Stop letting that woman get into your head!"

I opened my mouth to say something but Natalie beat me to it. I watched as she quickly wiped the tears off her face and stepped forward, closing the gap between her and the father-daughter duo. She kept her gaze steady and her voice was filled with certainty as she let the next few words roll out of her tongue.

"I know exactly what I am talking about," she announced. "And no, it’s not nonsense. This is very real."

James’s eyes went wide, anger swirling in the depths of his eyes. "You –!"

The word barely left his lips when she cut him off before he could even complete his sentence.

"I have evidence," she announced.

As if on cue, the screen began to flash the maternity and paternity test results, displaying on HD, high resolution for everyone to see.

99.99% match.

It’s real, I am the Lloyd’s family daughter.

James shook his head, clearly still in denial. "No... No, no, no!" He let out a yell, his voice came out louder than expected. "This can’t be, Evelyn is our daughter. This can’t be real." I watched as he hugged Evelyn even tighter this time, overwhelmed with emotions.

Natalie was looking at Evelyn and James with a soft gaze, a bitter smile plastered across her face.

"I still love Evelyn. Afterall, I did spend over 25 years raising her as my own daughter. But I cannot hide the truth from everyone else," she said, her voice trembling slightly as she spoke. There was a brief pause before she continued. "I need everyone to know that Aurelia is my biological daughter and I will not let anyone stop me or ruin it. I was planning to announce it here today. Aurelia is our daughter."

Silence fell upon everyone here as the air crackled with unspoken tension.

"25 years ago, my baby was swapped. I had only found out recently after I hired a private investigator and I knew I had to have her back by my side." She turned to face me and we locked eyes, her eyes holding mine captive as the corners of her lips twitched upwards into a slight smile, and so did mine.

"Jennifer Holt, she was the woman who did this."

It was at this moment when the sound of the door creaking open reverberated loudly in the quiet ballroom. Everyone snapped their heads around to stare at the door and their eyes landed on none other than Jennifer.

Jennifer’s eyes went wide. She had a flustered look on her face as her hand grabbed onto the handle. She froze and her blood chilled when she realised everyone was looking at her and she had no way to escape.

"Guards!" Jennifer’s usual soft and gentle voice was now strong and loud, carrying a hint of demand as a serious look was stretched across her face. She jutted out her finger to point directly at Jennifer. "Stop her from stepping foot out of this place."

The guards immediately sprung into action, dashing across the ballroom and grabbed her by her arms.

A loud yelp emerged from her lips as she protested, pushing and shoving against their tight hold.

"Let go of me!" She demanded but her protests fell on deaf ears as they only tightened their hold on her. "Evelyn, say something!" She pleaded, her eyes filled with desperation and hope but it quickly faded away the moment she realised her daughter wasn’t going to defend her.

Natalie slowly made her way down the flight of stairs, sauntering over towards Jennifer with a cold expression that masked her features. She soon closed the distance between them and stopped right in front of her, leaning in with their faces now merely inches apart.

"I can forgive Evelyn for trying to hide the truth, but I will never forgive you for taking my daughter away from me because of your greed and selfishness."

Jennifer gritted her teeth. "You have no proof I did anything at all," she insisted.

Natalie arched her brow at her. "Are you sure about that? You should know that I am not the type of person that comes unprepared."

"I’m serious! I didn’t do anything! It wasn’t me! The hospital made a mistake," she claimed, her voice dripping with desperation this time.

Natalie’s voice remained cold.

"Tell that to the police."

***

Jennifer was sent to jail for what she did. She would be locked up for years to come and Evelyn wouldn’t even spare her another glance, not going to visit her even once, in her eyes, Jennifer was nothing more than a burden to her.

It was clear that Evelyn simply didn’t care about her mother, all she cared about was retaining the wealth and luxurious lifestyle she had been enjoying, she wasn’t going to let anyone take that away from her. And definitely not by me, she hated my guts.

But I never knew she would have wanted me dead just to kick me out of the picture.

Xavier and I were walking down the streets one day when a car came zooming down the street, heading straight for us. For a split second, we locked eyes, she was behind the wheel with a manic smile stretched across her face.

With little to no time to react, Xavier immediately pushed me out of the way and I fell onto the ground, scraping my elbows when I heard a loud bang come from behind me.

My eyes went wide with fear and horror as I whipped my head around to find Xavier lying on the ground motionless and covered in blood.

My heart stopped beating as I let out a bloodcurdling scream.

"Xavier!"