The Billionaire He Threw Away Chapter 10

The Billionaire He Threw Away Chapter 10

The emergency board resolution was Richard Hale’s final play.

Even after being forced off the Wentworth board, he had maintained allies inside Prism Digital-board members he’d personally installed during the initial investment. The resolution would transfer fifty-one percent of Prism’s founding shares to a holding company Richard controlled,

effectively stripping Liam of his own startup.

And Vanessa was the one pushing it through.

Gerald confirmed it within hours. “She’s been collecting proxy votes from Prism’s minority shareholders. She has three of five board seats locked.

The vote is scheduled for Friday.”

Four days.

“Can we block it?” I asked.

“Wentworth Industries holds thirty percent of Prism. If you vote against the resolution, it fails. But-” Gerald paused. “You’d have to reveal your

identity as the Wentworth heir. To the board. To Liam. To everyone.”

I closed my eyes.

I had wanted more time. More distance. More control over when and how the truth came out.

But Liam was about to lose everything. And despite everything he’d done to me-the couch, the coldness, the casual cruelty of choosing Vanessa over and over again-I couldn’t watch him be destroyed by people who had used him as a pawn.

Not because I still loved him. But because I understood, now, what it meant to have power-and what it cost to use it wrong.

“Schedule the vote,” I said, “I’ll be there.”

Thursday night. The night before everything changed.

I was at the penthouse, reviewing documents, when the doorbell rang.

I opened it to find Liam.

He stood in the hallway, soaking wet from the rain, holding a crumpled piece of paper. His eyes were red. His hands were shaking

“Elise,” he said, his voice raw. “They’re taking my company.”

I stepped aside. He walked in-then froze.

He looked around the penthouse. The marble floors. The floor-to-ceiling windows. The view of Central Park glittering in the rain. The original artwork on the walls. The kind of wealth that doesn’t whisper-it hums.

“Where…” He turned to me, bewildered. “Where are we?”

“My home,” I said.

“Your-” He shook his head, unable to process it. “Elise, what is going on? Who are you?”

I took a breath

“Sit down,” I said. “I’ll explain everything.”

And I did.

I told him about my grandmother. About the inheritance. About Wentworth Industries. About the thirty percent stake in his company. About

Richard Hale’s scheme. About Vanessa.

I watched his face as each piece of information landed. Confusion gave way to shock. Shock gave way to horror. And horror, slowly, gave way to

something worse.

Understanding.

“Vanessa,” he whispered. “She was… the whole time?”

“The whole time.”

He pressed his hands over his face. When he pulled them away, his eyes were wet.

“The pregnancy?”

“There is no pregnancy, Liam.”

He made a sound-half laugh, half sob-that cracked through the quiet room like a gunshot.

“I gave up everything,” he said. “I gave up you. For her. And she was-” His voice broke. “She was never real.”

I said nothing. There was nothing to say.

He looked at me then-really looked, for the first time in months. Not through me. Not past me. At me.

“You knew,” he said. “You knew all of this. And you still didn’t let them take my company.”

“The vote is tomorrow,” I said. “I’ll be there.”

“Why?” His voice cracked. “After everything I did-why would you help me?”

I thought about it. I thought about the couch. The bare frame. The cold nights. The way he’d said “fine” when I told him I wouldn’t be coming home. The way he’d handed my life to another woman without a second thought.

“Because someone should have helped me,” I said quietly, “and no one did. I won’t be that person for someone else Not even for you

He flinched. The words landed exactly where I’d aimed them.

He stayed for another hour, sitting on the edge of a chair that cost more than his monthly rent, looking like a man who had just realized he’d been

living in a burning building and calling it home.

When he finally stood to leave, he paused at the door.

“Elise, I’m-”

“Don’t,” I said. “Not tonight. Whatever you want to say, save it for after tomorrow.”

He nodded. And left.

I stood at the window and watched his figure disappear into the rain below.

Tomorrow, I would walk into that boardroom and reveal who I was. Tomorrow, Vanessa’s scheme would collapse. Tomorrow, Liam would get to

keep his company.

And tomorrow, I would finally stop being invisible.