---- Chapter 15 Alexandra Smith POV: Once my body had healed enough to move without searing pain, | made my first move. | drove to the suburban home of Jamie House, Edward' s distant cousin and the junior executive from the text messages. | knew from my time in the Cardenas family that Jamie had always resented Edward. He was smarter, more capable, but had been consistently passed over for promotions in favor of his more charismatic, well-connected cousin. He was the perfect disgruntled employee, the ideal inside man. He greeted me at the door with a wary surprise. "I'm not here to make trouble, Jamie," | said, my voice calm and even. "I'm here to make a deal." | laid it out for him, plain and simple. "Help me take Edward down, and I'll make sure that when the dust settles, you're the one sitting in the CEO's chair at Cardenas Corp." His eyes lit up with a greedy, ambitious fire. It was all the answer | needed. "What do you need to know?" he asked, his voice low. "Everything," | replied. "Tell me about Dianne." ---- He told me a story | had only heard whispers of. Dianne wasn't a Cardenas by birth. She was the orphaned daughter of the family's maid, taken in and raised alongside Edward's father. They were childhood sweethearts, but he had been forced into an arranged marriage with Edward's biological mother for business reasons. After she died, he had been free to marry his true love, Dianne. A perfect, tragic love story. Except, | now knew it was a lie. "Dianne hated her," Jamie said, his voice laced with a bitter resentment that mirrored my own. "She hated Edward's mother for having the life she felt she deserved. And she hates Edward, because every time she looks at him, she sees the woman her husband truly loved." The pieces fell into place. Dianne hadn't just stood by and let Edward's mother die. She had orchestrated it. And she had framed my father to cover her tracks. As Jamie was walking me to my car, a sleek black sports car screeched to a halt at the curb. Edward got out, his face a mask of fury. "What the hell are you doing here?" he snarled, his eyes darting between me and Jamie. "Can't you keep your legs closed for five minutes, Alexandra? First Oliver, now my own cousin? You really are a slut." "Watch your mouth, Edward," Jamie warned, stepping in front of me protectively. ---- "Or what?" Edward sneered. "You'll hit me with your briefcase?" He looked Jamie up and down with dismissive contempt. "Pathetic." | stepped out from behind Jamie, my face a mask of cold indifference. | let my gaze drift down to Edward's collar, where a smudge of bright red lipstick, the exact shade Carla always wore, was Clearly visible. | met his eyes, a slow, predatory smile spreading across my face. | raised my hand and drew a single finger across my throat in a silent, unmistakable gesture. | was coming for him. And | was going to enjoy every second of it. The look of fear that flashed in his eyes, quickly masked but not quickly enough, was the sweetest thing | had felt in months. He got back in his car and sped away. | knew where he was going. He was going home to confront Carla, his drug-addled mind now seeded with the poison of suspicion. The first domino had fallen. In "CEO, That Intern is Actually Your Wife" by CrushReel, delve into a captivating romance where a billionaire CEO becomes contractually linked to an unexpected partner. When faced with the urgent need to fund her grandmother's critical surgery, our protagonist finds herself in a unique situation—entering a one-year contract marriage with a stranger. As the story unfolds, themes of love, sacrifice, and the complexities of modern relationships come to light. The novel offers a fresh take on the familiar billionaire romance genre by exploring the dynamics of office relationships and the intricacies of contract lovers. Discover this modern tale of unexpected connections and heartfelt emotions, available to read at CrushReel.