The Billionaire's Rental Wife Is A Hot Shot

Natalie froze in her spot, her eyes wide, tears welling at the corners as the weight of Avery’s words hit her. She tried to blink them away, but the turmoil etched across her face made Avery regret bringing up the past. She shouldn’t have said anything. Not now. Not when Natalie was already going through a shit.

"Is... Is he sick, Mom?" Emily’s voice broke the silence in the room. The girl who had been fuming moments earlier now seemed small, her bravado replaced with uncertainty. Her eyes darted nervously between her mother and Avery, seeking answers in the space where there were none.

Natalie’s head snapped up, her eyes wide with a mix of panic and desperation. "No!" she answered too quickly, her denial sharp and brittle. The word lingered in the air, false and hollow. She tried to catch herself, her fingers trembling as she wrapped her arms around her body, as if to shield herself from the truth.

"He’s... he’s fine," she continued, her voice softer, but no more convincing. "They just—" She paused, her breath hitching. "They just don’t want to live here anymore," she finished, her voice cracking under the weight of the lie.

Avery narrowed her eyes, suspicion growing. "But what about the company?" she questioned. "And the estate? Dominic would leave all that behind?" It didn’t make sense. Dominic had never been one to walk away from responsibility, especially not Sabrina’s family legacy. Perhaps he wanted to stay with his father, Fredrick Rigory, a reputed Judge in Aracamia, who had divorced Sabrina decades ago. But something about this didn’t sit right.

Natalie’s lips trembled, the guilt weighing down her every movement. She shook her head as if the denial alone could somehow erase the truth. But it was written all over her face, in the way her body trembled as though she carried a burden too heavy to bear. Her voice was thin, fragile. "He just wants to be with his father," she lied, trying to convince herself more than anyone else.

Emily, whose defiance had only moments before filled the room, now seemed lost, her world tilting on its axis. Panic flashed across her features, and her voice rose in desperation. "He can’t leave us! He just can’t!" She reached out, grabbing her mother’s hand, tugging it with a force born out of fear. "Mom, let’s go! We can make him stay. We just have to talk to him. He wouldn’t leave us like this!"

Natalie closed her eyes, her body trembling as the first tear slid down her cheek. She understood Emily’s desperation. She felt the same crushing fear, the same suffocating dread of losing him. But this time, there was no solution. No amount of pleading or talking could stop what was coming. Dominic seemed to have made his choice from the way he felt last night.

Evelyn stepped forward, her voice calm but unyielding. "Even if you convince him to stay, Emily... will you ever be able to make him happy?"

Emily froze, her wide eyes locking onto Evelyn, her confusion was evident. The question seemed to pierce through the fragile wall she had built around herself. Her lip quivered but she didn’t back up, "Don’t meddle in our family issues. We can handle it ourselves."

"This brat!" Avery gritted her teeth and stepped forward to teach Emily a lesson but Evelyn held her back.

Evelyn’s gaze softened, her tone gentler now, "Think about it," she continued. "Your parents feel suffocating just to being around each other. They’ve been walking on eggshells, trying to make things work, but deep down, you know it’s not working. If you force them to stay in this marriage, will they ever be happy again? Will they ever find peace?"

Emily shook her head slightly, her throat constricting as she fought back tears. She didn’t want to hear this. She didn’t want to believe that her family, the one thing she thought was unbreakable, was falling apart.

"Emily," Evelyn continued softly, her voice gentle but serious. "If you’re doing this because you’re scared of what your friends might say, or what the world will think of you... you need to ask yourself something." She paused, her eyes steady on the girl. "Are you willing to make your parents stay together just to keep people from talking about you? Because if you do... they’ll end up hating you, Emily."

The words landed like a blow, and Emily’s face paled. Her breath caught in her throat, her chest rising and falling in rapid, shallow breaths.

"They’ll resent you," Evelyn added, her voice unwavering as she recalled how her father had hated all these years. "Every argument, every painful day they endure, they’ll blame you. But those friends? The world? They don’t matter, Emily. They won’t care about you once this blows over. So, you need to decide... who do you want to hate you? Your parents, who love you despite everything you do? Or people who don’t even know you?"

For a moment, it felt as if time had stopped. The room was cloaked in silence, the tension hanging like a thick fog, pressing down on them all. Emily stood there, frozen, her gaze flickering between Evelyn and her mother. The weight of Evelyn’s words settled on her, heavy and unrelenting.

Her shoulders slumped as the fight drained out of her, but then, as if clutching onto the last shreds of hope, she straightened her back. "I need to see him," she said quietly, but her tone was firm, resolute. "I can’t give up without trying."

Evelyn sighed softly, understanding the determination in Emily’s voice. She had been there once, so many years ago, when she had refused to let go of something that was already lost. "Alright," she relented, her eyes softening. "I’ll arrange for a car. You can go see him alone."

Natalie, who had been silent through the exchange, watched her daughter with tear-filled eyes. She hadn’t said a word, too broken by her grief and guilt to intervene. But she was glad Evelyn tried to convey what they couldn’t all these years.

"Thank you" Emily murmured softly, surprising everyone in the room. She turned and hurried out of the room, desperate to prepare herself for what might be her last chance to salvage her family.

Evelyn’s eyes followed her until she disappeared from sight, her heart heavy with the knowledge that this confrontation might not bring the resolution Emily hoped for. She glanced back at Natalie, whose tear-streaked face was a mask of anguish, the pain too deep to conceal anymore.

Cautiously, Evelyn approached, her voice soft as she reached out. "Natalie... what’s going on? What’s really happening?"

It was as though Evelyn’s words unlocked something inside Natalie, a dam breaking open. Sobs tore from her throat, and she collapsed into Evelyn’s arms, clutching at her as though she were the only thing keeping her from drowning in her own despair.

"It’s back," Natalie choked out between sobs, her fingers gripping Evelyn’s shirt tightly. "The tumor... it’s back. Dominic... he’s sick again."

The confession sent a shockwave through the room. Avery gasped softly, her hand flying to her mouth as the gravity of Natalie’s words sunk in. She hadn’t expected this. Dominic’s illness had been a secret for so long, a shadow that loomed over their lives but was never acknowledged.

"I am so sorry, Nat!" Avery murmured, breaking into tears. She had seen her cousin’s life closely and felt god was really cruel to her.

Just after Natalie had successfully helped Dominic defeat it and returned, Sabrina forced her to adopt Emily as everyone where talking about her, how even after three long years of marriage she hadn’t conceived yet. And right after a few months, just when they thought Natalie would finally lead a happy life, Sabrina pressured her to convince Zevian to marry Katherine, using not just Dominic but also Emily to blackmail and throw Nat in a pit of depression.

"How long?" Evelyn asked, her voice quivering slightly.

"A year maybe," Natalie responded, tears trickling down her cheeks.

Tears welled in Evelyn’s eyes as she held Natalie closely. She didn’t know how to comfort her nor did she have any solution to this mess. Before they could dwell further, her phone buzzed in her pocket. She frowned, pulling it out. Zevian’s assistant’s name flashed across the screen.

"Hello?"

"Ms. Evelyn," the voice on the other end was tense. "Could you go to Kiana’s school?"

Evelyn’s heart skipped a beat. "Why? What’s wrong?"

The assistant hesitated. "I think it’s an emergency. Boss is busy and they need him there!"And the line went dead after it.

Evelyn stood up in horror, the phone still pressed to her ear as the ominous weight of those words settled over her. Natalie and Avery watched her, their earlier worries replaced by a new sense of dread.

"What’s wrong?" Avery asked, her voice barely a whisper.

Evelyn lowered the phone, her face pale. "Something’s wrong with Kiana."