Betrayed and Sabotaged Before Vows Chapter 02

Betrayed and Sabotaged Before Vows Chapter 02 Her Delusional Ultimatums
Just as I settled into the passenger seat of my vehicle, Lila Hale blew up my phone with nonstop incoming calls. I hit decline on every single one without hesitation. She refuses to face the truth, so now she’s flooding my inbox with garbage to twist everything in her favor. When calling got her nowhere, she spammed my chat with paragraph after paragraph of angry texts. “Kael Mercer! Get back home this second, or I’ll never forgive you for this mess!” “Don’t think marrying into the Hale household is some easy win. Let me spell it out plain—even if I’ve got something going with Ethan, you’ve got to turn a blind eye if you want a spot in this family!” “Quit throwing this childish fit and come home like you’re supposed to. You already know I’m pregnant, so your job is to wait on me hand and foot.” I stared at the wall of bitter texts on my screen, a frigid chill seeping straight into my bones. I spent years building a life side-by-side with her, fully convinced she understood every genuine part of me. How could she see me as nothing more than a greedy gold-chaser? We’d stood by each other through every hardship for so long, and I truly thought she knew my heart. But deep down, she’d always boxed me up as a shallow social climber—someone who’d stomach any humiliation just to grab hold of the Hale family’s wealth and influence. Nothing could be further from the truth; I never wanted a single dime or favor from her family at all. Time and time again, the Hale Group stared down catastrophic business failures, and every crisis I fixed by pulling strings through my own family’s elite connections. I never set out to leech off her, and honestly? The Hale’s mid-sized corporation was far too trivial to hold any appeal for me. If Lila hadn’t risked her life to yank me away from a crew of violent kidnappers all those years back, our paths would’ve never crossed to begin with. I only stuck around her orbit to pay back that life-saving favor, nothing more. I’d hidden my wealthy family’s identity and taken an entry-level role at Hale Enterprises solely to stay close and repay my debt to her. I never expected her to fall head-over-heels the moment she laid eyes on me, even going as far as cutting all contact with her blood relatives just to pursue our relationship. Back then, her devotion moved me deeply, so I agreed to a life together without a shred of hesitation. The Hales never trusted my intentions, so they forced me to sign a prenuptial contract before we filed our marriage paperwork. I signed it instantly, no pushback whatsoever. Their whole business meant absolutely nothing against my family’s holdings. We’d legally tied the knot at the courthouse, but skipped any wedding reception entirely. Lila promised me an over-the-top luxury celebration once she climbed the corporate ladder. At the time, she hadn’t yet secured the CEO chair within the Hale family business. I poured endless time, resources and personal industry ties into lifting her up to that executive position—all for the sake of that single promise she’d made to me. A perfect shared future was right within reach, and I’d planned to reveal my real family background to her on our wedding day. Every tender memory I cherished was built on her calculated lies from day one. It hit me all at once: every single interaction we’d shared was rooted in her deception. Lila and the entire Hale bloodline had teamed up to manipulate me this whole time. I pulled my cell phone out once more and dialed my mother’s number. “Mom, we can cut all corporate funding and resource support for Hale Enterprises effective immediately. Also, that business marriage match you brought up a while back? I’m fully on board now.” “Once all company assets and client accounts are fully transferred out of their hands, I’m handing in my resignation from Hale Group for good.”