All Chapters of THE UNDERESTIMATED BILLIONAIRE TYCOON : Chapter 31
- Chapter 40
73 chapters
SOMEONE WHO UNDERSTANDS REVENGE
Blake took a step towards the window before turning back to stare at his father. When he finally spoke, his voice was soft but dangerous."Wait, you had a brother involved in arms dealing. And you never considered mentioning him to me?"Robert's face was carved from stone. "James Sterling wasn't… he already died eight years ago—""James Sterling." Blake repeated the name like it tasted wrong. "My uncle. Working with Dimitri Volkov's organization two decades ago.""Yes.""And you just decided that wasn't relevant information?" Blake's control was fracturing, rage bleeding through the cracks. "That your son might want to know his family had history with international arms dealers?"Robert stood, matched Blake's intensity with his own. "I was protecting you! James made choices that would have destroyed our family's reputation. I cleaned up his mess, paid off the right people, made sure no one connected Sterling Industries to his crimes."Emma glared at almost nothing, confusion looming in
I WANT YOU TO SUFFER
Blake stared at Lillian's face on the screen and saw a stranger.Her makeup had melted, black streaks running down her cheeks like war paint. Her eyes were too bright, pupils dilated, darting between the camera and Dimitri like she couldn't quite focus. Hair that used to be perfectly styled hung in tangled clumps around her face.She looked insane."Do you see this, Blake?" Lillian's voice climbed too high, breaking on his name. "Do you see what you've done to me? I had everything! A company! A future! Respect! And you destroyed it all!"Blake kept his voice level. "You destroyed yourself, Lillian. I didn't force you to commit fraud. Didn't force you to align with criminals.""Fraud?" She laughed, the sound sharp enough to cut. "You set me up! You and your secret connections, pulling strings, making me look incompetent when I was brilliant! My company was perfect until you sabotaged it!""Your company was built on falsified investor relationships. The SEC found the evidence without an
PLUNGE THE KNIFE INTO HIS THROAT
Sam pulled up files on his tablet, spread them across the hospital waiting room table like battle plans."Blake's been tracking Dimitri's entire network since the warehouse." His finger traced connections between locations, names, businesses. "Every safe house. Every corrupt official. Every shell company and weapons cache. We've had surveillance on all of them for forty-eight hours."Emma stared at the web of information. Dozens of targets. "This is impossible to coordinate.""Not impossible. Difficult." Sam swiped to another screen showing personnel deployments. "FBI's been waiting for actionable intel on Dimitri for years. Blake gave them everything. Federal warrants were issued two hours ago for every name on this list."Robert leaned closer, scanning the documents. "This is half the city's criminal infrastructure.""Dimitri's infrastructure," Sam corrected. "Tonight, while Blake walks into that factory, teams hit every location simultaneously. Safe houses, weapon depots, corrupt o
COVERED IN BLOOD
The darkness was absolute, punctuated only by muzzle flashes that turned men into silhouettes.Blake hit the concrete floor hard, shoulder screaming where the bullet had torn through. He rolled left as gunfire chewed the air where he'd been standing, splinters of concrete stinging his face."Victoria!" His voice was swallowed by chaos.More gunshots. Dimitri's men firing blindly, panic making them stupid. Blake heard someone screaming, cut off abruptly. The wet sound of a body hitting the floor.Then new sounds—boots on metal, coordinated movement, voices barking commands in the clipped cadence of military training."FBI! Drop your weapons!""On the ground now!"The SWAT team poured through every entrance simultaneously, night vision turning them into hunters in a world of prey. Their rifles found targets with surgical precision. Three shots. Four. Five. Each one ended someone.Blake crawled forward, hands finding Victoria's trembling leg. His fingers worked at her bonds, found the sm
DO YOU KNOW THE BEST REVENGE??
The ambulance screamed through city streets, sirens carving a path through traffic that wasn't moving fast enough.Emma clutched Blake's hand, felt his pulse fluttering weak and irregular beneath her fingers. Too fast. Too shallow. Blood soaked through the pressure bandages the paramedics had wrapped around his side and shoulder, darkening the white gauze into something obscene."Stay with me." Her voice cracked. "Blake, please. Stay with me."His eyes fluttered open, unfocused and glassy. "Emma?""I'm here. I'm right here.""Tired." The word came out slurred. "So tired.""I know, but you have to stay awake. Just a little longer. We're almost there."Blake's lips moved, shaping words with no sound. Emma leaned closer, pressed her ear to his mouth."Love you," he whispered. Barely there. Almost nothing.Then his eyes rolled back and his hand went limp in hers."No!" Emma's scream filled the ambulance. "Blake! Blake, wake up!"The paramedic was already moving, checking vitals, barking i
ATTEMPTED MURDER ON CAMERA
Madam Mary threw the newspaper across the motel room hard enough to scatter pages like wounded birds."Survived." The word came out strangled, venomous. "That parasite survived."The headline screamed in bold type: BILLIONAIRE BLAKE STERLING STABLE AFTER FACTORY SHOOTOUT. CRIME NETWORK DISMANTLED.Billionaire. Not house husband. Not failure. Not the worthless man she'd spent three years berating in her living room.Billionaire."It's not fair." Madam Mary's voice climbed higher. "None of this is fair! My daughter is in a psychiatric ward! I spent two weeks in jail! My reputation is destroyed! And he gets to be the hero?"Mrs. Wellington sat on the stained motel bed, picking at her cuticles. She'd aged ten years in the last month. Designer clothes replaced with discount store purchases. Manicured nails now ragged and bitten."The news said Lillian's being transferred to a long-term facility," she said quietly. "Indefinite commitment.""Because of him!" Madam Mary slammed her fist again
TRIED TO KILL
Sam twisted Madam Mary's wrist with clinical precision, the kind of move that spoke of military training and zero tolerance for resistance.The syringe clattered to the floor, poison spreading across sterile tile in a harmless puddle."Security!" Sam's voice cut through the room. "Code red! Room 418!"Footsteps thundered in the hallway. Four guards burst through the door, hands on weapons, faces tense with adrenaline. They processed the scene in seconds—Sam restraining an older woman in stolen scrubs, a syringe on the floor, Blake Sterling unconscious in the bed."Restrain her," Sam ordered. "She just attempted murder."Two guards grabbed Madam Mary's arms, yanked them behind her back. Handcuffs clicked shut with brutal finality.Blake's eyes opened, groggy from medication, confused by the noise. His gaze found Madam Mary, registered her presence, and something sharp crossed his face."You," he said. Voice rough but certain.Madam Mary's face contorted. Rage stripped away whatever hum
YOU VINDICTIVE BITCH
Blake woke to birdsong and the smell of coffee.Two weeks since the factory. Two weeks since poison and gunfire and nearly dying three separate ways. His shoulder still ached when he moved wrong, and the knife wound in his side pulled tight when he breathed deep, but he was alive. Healing. Getting stronger every day.Emma sat in the chair beside his bed, already dressed in a sharp navy suit, tablet balanced on her knee. CEO armor. She'd stopped trying to hide her work from him days ago."First day," Blake said.Emma looked up, smiled. Nervous energy radiated from her despite the professional exterior. "First day.""You're going to be brilliant.""I'm terrified." She set the tablet down, moved to sit on the edge of his bed. "What if I can't do this? What if your mother's company falls apart under my leadership?"Blake caught her hand. "Then we'll rebuild it. But that won't happen. You turned CloudPeak into something investors fought over. You'll do the same with Stratton."Emma kissed
THIS IS TOO DANGEROUS
Emma's finger was still hovering over Blake's contact when her office door swung open.Sam stood there, weapon drawn, three security guards flanking him. He scanned the room with tactical precision, found Emma backed against the window, then the finger on her desk."Clear the floor," Sam ordered. "Now. Full lockdown."Alarms shrieked to life. Emergency lights flickered on, painting everything in red. Emma heard doors slamming, people shouting, the organized chaos of evacuation procedures.Sam approached the severed finger carefully, pulling an evidence bag from his jacket. "Don't touch anything else. Forensics is en route.""There was someone in the hallway." Emma's voice came out steadier than she felt. "Russian accent. He said—he said we should talk about family."Sam's jaw clenched. He spoke into his radio. "Sweep every floor. Target is male, Russian national, armed and extremely dangerous."Blake's voice crackled through Emma's phone, finally connected. "Emma? What's happening?""
A TERRIBLE SMILE
Blake stood in front of the mirror, studying his reflection with clinical detachment.The cane was real—his side still protested sharp movements. The bandages were theatrical, wrapped thicker than necessary, visible beneath his partially unbuttoned shirt. His face had the right pallor, exhaustion etched in lines that weren't entirely faked.He looked wounded. Vulnerable. Like a man who'd survived too many attempts on his life and was finally breaking under the weight.Perfect.Emma watched from the doorway, arms crossed, face tight with barely controlled fear. "I hate this.""I know.""If anything goes wrong—""It won't." Blake turned to face her. "Sam's team has been preparing for three days. Every angle covered. Every contingency planned.""Viktor is former Spetsnaz. He'll spot the trap.""Maybe." Blake approached her, movements deliberately slow, favoring his healing wounds. "Or maybe he'll see exactly what we want him to see—a broken man making himself an easy target."Emma's hand