THE BILLIONAIRE THEY NEVER SAW COMING

CHAPTER 179

The room went silent again, not from tension, but curiosity. The new man had the kind of presence that demanded attention. Slick, arrogant, dressed in an all-black ensemble that screamed “money” and “menace.” A gold watch peeked beneath his sleeve, the kind people wore not to tell time, but to own it.

Javier turned fully now, eyes locked on the man like a sniper sighting a target. His expression didn’t change—still quiet, composed, and unimpressed.

But the man smirked wider.

“What? No hug for an old friend?”

He stepped further into the boutique, the floor-length glass doors closing behind him with a click. His shoes—shiny, imported, expensive—made no sound, unlike Gideon’s once had. This man didn’t stomp.

He prowled.

Javier’s silence was permission.

So the man continued.

“Oh, that’s right. We’re not friends, are we? You’re the awkward charity case that used to sit at the end of the schoolyard bench with a book while the rest of us lived.”

Someone gasped quietly.

Another whispered, “He