All Chapters of The Broke Husband’s Billion-Dollar Name: Chapter 81
- Chapter 90
92 chapters
The Alliance
The morning after the siege brought a strange calm to the safe house. Everyone moved slower, still processing the violence of the previous night. James's parents were settling into the private medical facility, and the preliminary reports indicated they were responding well to treatment.The team gathered for one final meeting before dispersing. Cole stood by the door, his gear already packed with military precision. He pulled a card from his pocket and handed it to James."Call if you need me again," he said simply. "Day or night. No questions asked."James took the card. "Thank you. For everything you did."Cole nodded once and left without further ceremony. He'd never been one for long goodbyes.Yuki finished packing their collection of laptops and surveillance equipment into a ruggedized case. They grinned at the remaining group. "That was fun. Weird, definitely weird, but fun. I haven't had that much excitement since I hacked the Pentagon's firewall just to see if I could.""You
The Investigation
The morning news showed federal agents swarming the Nevada facility in overwhelming force. Helicopters circled overhead while armored vehicles blocked every exit. The footage was raw, unfiltered, and devastating.James watched from the safe house with Elena beside him. Marcus stood behind them, phone in hand, coordinating with his contacts in the federal prosecutor's office."They found forty-three patients," Marcus said, reading from a text message. "All held illegally. Various stages of medical experimentation, forced participation in drug trials, some subjected to surgical procedures without consent."Elena's hand went to her mouth. "Forty-three people.""Fifteen years for some of them," James said quietly. "Just like my parents. Stolen from their lives and used as lab specimens."The news anchor's voice continued: "This is the largest human rights violation discovered on American soil in decades. The facility, owned and operated by Ashford Pharmaceuticals, appears to have been run
The counterattack
The cyberattack hit Sterling Tech at three in the morning. By dawn, every confidential file in the company's servers had been exposed to the internet. Financial records. Employee data. Internal communications. Everything.Elena's phone woke her with an avalanche of notifications. She answered Victoria's call with her heart already racing."We've been hacked," Victoria said without preamble. "Everything's out there. Every document from the past fifteen years.""How bad is it?""Catastrophic. The board is calling emergency meeting for eight AM. And Elena—there are anonymous accusations circulating online. About Dad."Elena felt ice spread through her chest. "What kind of accusations?""That he knew about Mom's involvement all along. That he was complicit in the Thorne family's disappearance. That his investigation was just cover to appear innocent."By the time Elena reached Sterling Tech headquarters, reporters had already gathered outside. Cameras and microphones tracked her movement
The Legal Battle
The conference room at Marcus's legal firm felt more like a war room than a place of business. Three of the most expensive defense attorneys in the country sat across from James, Elena, and Marcus, explaining exactly how dire their situation had become."Victor Ashford has filed seventeen separate lawsuits across five jurisdictions," the lead attorney said, spreading documents across the table. "Each one is strategically designed to drain your resources and time. His legal team is aggressive, well-funded, and absolutely ruthless.""How much is this going to cost?" Marcus asked."Conservative estimate? Fifteen million dollars in legal fees alone. That's if we can resolve everything within eighteen months. If trials go forward, double that number."Elena absorbed the figures without flinching. "We have the resources. What's our strategy?""Aggressive defense and simultaneous counterattack. We challenge every filing, expose the harassment pattern, and file our own suits for malicious pro
The confession
The morning after the nightmare, James stood at the safe house window watching dawn break over the desert. Elena had stayed all night, dozing in the chair beside his bed. When she woke and found him at the window, she brought coffee without asking."Tell me about the gaps," she said quietly.James took the coffee, grateful for something to do with his hands. "Ages thirteen to sixteen. I remember being taken from my grandfather's house after my parents disappeared. I remember being somewhere cold and bright and terrifying. Then I remember waking up in a rural hospital three years later with almost no memory of what happened between.""Nothing at all?""Fragments. Pieces that don't connect. White rooms. Men in masks. Pain. Fear. The feeling of being tested constantly. But the details are gone, like they've been erased."Elena set down her coffee. "Show me the box."James had kept the locked metal box in his room since arriving at the safe house. He retrieved it now and set it on the sma
The Breaking point
Elena spent the rest of that day locked in her room at the safe house. James heard her crying through the door but gave her space, knowing she needed time to process the magnitude of what her mother had done.By evening, when she still hadn't emerged, he knocked softly. "Elena? Can I come in?"Silence, then a quiet, "Yes."He found her sitting on the floor, surrounded by the documents from Catherine's files. Her face was streaked with tears, eyes red and swollen."Forty-seven children," she said without looking up. "My mother helped steal forty-seven children from their families. Some as young as eight years old."James sat down beside her on the floor. "I know.""How do you not hate me? How do you even look at me knowing what my family did?""Because you're not your mother," James said firmly. "You're the person who destroyed her own reputation to tell the truth. Who fought beside me to save my parents. Who's choosing to expose these crimes even though it will cost you everything."E
The revelation
The press conference was scheduled for two PM at a neutral venue downtown. By noon, every major news outlet had positioned cameras and reporters. The story had been teased with just enough detail to guarantee maximum coverage: "Sterling Family to Reveal Dark Legacy."James stood backstage with Elena, both of them reviewing notes they probably didn't need anymore. They'd rehearsed this moment a hundred times, but the reality of it felt different."Last chance to back out," James said quietly.Elena looked at him with absolute certainty. "Not a chance. We do this together."Marcus appeared with their legal team. "The attorneys want me to remind you both that everything you say today will be used in ongoing criminal cases. Stick to documented facts. Don't speculate.""We know," Elena said. "Are the survivors ready?""They're here. Waiting in the side room. Anna will speak first, then David if he's comfortable."The stage was simple. A long table, microphones, screens mounted behind them
The Hunt
The international arrest warrant for Victor Ashford was issued within forty-eight hours of the press conference. Interpol flagged his passport, froze known bank accounts, and alerted member nations to detain him on sight.But Victor had money and connections that made official channels nearly useless.Marcus spent two days working his intelligence contacts before he got a solid lead. He called James and Elena to the war room—now relocated to a hotel suite since the safe house had been compromised by media attention."Victor's plane landed in Monaco three days ago," Marcus said, spreading surveillance photos across the table. "He's staying at the Hotel de Paris. Penthouse suite.""Can Monaco authorities arrest him?" Elena asked.Marcus shook his head. "Monaco's banking secrecy laws and Victor's history of generous donations to local officials make that unlikely. My contact says he's essentially untouchable there.""Then we make him touchable," James said.His phone rang. Cole's name ap
The confrontation
The Salle des Étoiles lived up to its name. Stars glittered overhead—both in the night sky visible through the retractable roof and among the guests who represented Europe's wealthiest elite. Crystal chandeliers cast warm light over designer gowns and tailored tuxedos. Champagne flowed freely. A string quartet played something classical and refined.James felt completely out of place and exactly where he needed to be.Elena's hand rested lightly on his arm as they entered, playing their roles as wealthy couple attending charity function. Marcus followed several steps behind, maintaining the appearance of separate attendance.Cole's voice came through the nearly invisible earpiece James wore. "I'm in position. Third floor balcony, eyes on the whole room. Victor just arrived through the east entrance."James spotted him immediately. Victor Ashford stood at the center of a small crowd, holding court like royalty. He wore an immaculate white dinner jacket that probably cost more than Jame
The New Begginning
Three months later, the verdict came down in a Manhattan federal courthouse.Victor Ashford was found guilty on forty-seven counts of human trafficking, twenty-three counts of kidnapping, eighteen counts of illegal medical experimentation, and numerous other charges that carried sentences measured in lifetimes.The judge gave him thirty years without possibility of parole.James watched from the gallery with Elena beside him and his parents behind him. When the sentence was read, his mother squeezed his shoulder. His father said quietly, "It's over."But James knew it wasn't over. Not really. Victor's network had been larger than just him.Still, twelve additional arrests had been made across five countries. Three facilities besides Nevada had been raided and shut down. Eight more survivors had been found and were receiving care.It was progress. Significant progress.James's parents had recovered remarkably well. The years of captivity had taken their toll, but the Thorne resilience