From Doormat to Doomsday Billionaire!

Chapter 7: the vultures comes to dinner

“He divorced you?”

Michael Stowe stared at the certificate in his hand as though the words might rearrange themselves if he glared hard enough.

They didn’t.

For years, Rhys had been the best-trained dog in this house. He cooked. He drove. He fixed whatever broke. He turned over his paycheck every month like a puppy dropping a bone at his master’s feet.

“And now that mutt had bitten the hand that fed him and bolted?” Henry thought bitterly.

“Where is that son of a bitch?” Henry bellowed from the couch. “I’m gonna break his jaw!”

“Where’s Daddy? I wanna hit Daddy too!” Chris chirped, bouncing on the carpet. 

“That worthless prick is as good as dead,” Britt snapped.

Chris clapped his hands, delighted. “Daddy’s dead! Daddy’s dead!”

He had grown up watching the Stowes treat Rhys like trash. Of course he had learned to wipe his feet on him too.

Lexi stood in the living room, watching and listening to her family’s turmoil. She was as still as ice.

“Seriously, Lexi, what were you thinking?” Henry leaned forward, his jaw tight. “I’m broke. You know I’m broke. Who’s gonna pay my bloody bills now? Huh?”

“Our bills!” Michael began pacing, his face flushing a deeper red with every lap. “Groceries. Utilities. Britt’s medication. We were counting on his salary. Who pays for all this now? You?”

He had already carved Rhys’s monthly paycheck into ten pieces in his head. Now the entire piece had vanished overnight.

To Michael, it hurt worse than being slammed against the table!

Lexi felt a headache pulse behind her eyes.

Her marriage had just ended. Not one person in the room had asked how she was feeling. They only wanted to know how soon the money would start again.

“Why am I surprised? It’s always been like this.” She muttered.

“Remarry him,” Michael said suddenly.

Lexi looked up. “What?”

“You heard me. Crawl back. Cry if you have to. Beg. I’m not letting that bastard walk off with our meal ticket.”

Lexi scoffed. Remarry him? That was so easy to say.

Rhys knew Chris wasn’t his. What could she possibly say to bring him back after that?

But she would never tell her family the truth. The truth would burn the whole house down, and she’d be left alone standing in the ashes.

She opened her mouth to say something but the loud noise cut her off.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Someone was hammering on the front door.

“Who the hell is it?” Michael yelled back. He stormed over, frustration welling inside him, and yanked it open.

Mrs. Park stood in the doorway, flushed and grinning. She had heard the chaos. She was forcing a smile.

“Michael! Your family really knows how to keep a secret!”

A secret? Michael’s brows narrowed. Had Rhys already gone spreading the divorce around the neighborhood?

“That ungrateful bastard!” he roared. “Rhys assaults me, divorces my daughter, and now he’s telling the whole street? After everything we did for him? I’ll deal with him!”

Mrs. Park blinked. 

“Wait… Lexi and Rhys are divorced?” She craned her neck to peek past him into the living room.

 “Oh, Michael. Your family really is something else.”

She gave him a slow thumbs-up. The sneer carved into her grin made it clear it was no compliment.

“Anyway, I only came because I heard your son-in-law… pardon me, your former son-in-law… just bought that massive villa on the corner. Twelve million dollars, paid in full. He didn’t even haggle.”

Michael’s mouth fell open. Lexi froze.

“What did you say?” Michael asked.

“Rhys? That doormat? How could he afford a garage in that neighborhood, let alone a mansion?” Brit chipped in.

“It’s true! Go see for yourself!”

Before Michael could process it, footsteps echoed down the walkway.

Mrs. Dawson from upstairs came hurrying over, beaming with excitement as well.

“Michael! Your family really hit the jackpot! Twelve million for that mansion!”

His hand tightened on the doorframe until his knuckles whitened.

So it was true. 

Mrs. Park turned to Mrs. Dawson, her grin widening. “You haven’t heard? Lexi and Rhys got divorced.”

Mrs. Dawson gasped.

“What?” You threw away a son-in-law like that?”

Her eyes narrowed, calculating. “Well. My Jenna is still single. If you don’t want him anymore, maybe I’ll introduce them.”

She wasn’t even joking.

A man who could drop twelve million on a house was the kind of son-in-law people fought wars over. 

Divorced? He could be divorced three times over and women would still line up around the block.

And everyone on Maple Grove knew Rhys. Hardworking. Polite. Soft-spoken. The man who’d spent years waiting on the Stowes hand and foot.

Only a fool would throw away a husband like that.

“Bullshit!” Michael finally snapped out of it. “That house was bought with our money!”

The divorce was barely two days old. There was no way that bastard had earned twelve million in forty-eight hours. So the money had been sitting there all along, hidden in secret. 

Which meant Lexi was entitled to half.

“He planned it from the start! He rushed the divorce, stashed the cash, and now he’s flaunting it in our faces!” Michael yelled, the theory making sense in his head.

“Of course!” Britt gasped.

“Son of a bitch!” Henry barked.

Greed rose in all their faces at once. Lexi, though, felt something cold slide down her spine. They were missing something. She could feel it.

“Wait. Let me call Curry first. He knows a good lawyer. We need to know our options before…”

“Shut the hell up.”

Michael was already jamming his feet into his shoes. Britt snatched her coat. Henry was halfway to the door.

“Hey! Wait!”

Her voice bounced off their backs.

Within seconds, all three were gone.

They were going to Rhys’s so-called new mansion.

They would make him explain where the money had come from.

And then, they would make him hand it over, even if they had to break his fingers!