The Betrayed Billionaire

Chapter 5

“The man you thought you buried.”

The words didn’t leave when he spoke them. They clung to the air, heavy, and suffocating, pressing down on Lisa until her knees nearly gave way. Her hands clutched the edge of her desk, her knuckles turned white, as if the polished wood were the only thing keeping her from collapsing.

For once, the untouchable CEO wasn’t the flawless queen of Oakford Empire anymore. She wasn’t the woman who silenced boardrooms with a single glare. In that moment, Lisa looked cornered, like prey forced to face a predator.

Her lips trembled. "Y-you..." Her voice cracked. "This... this can’t be real."

Ray didn’t answer. He stood there, calm, his silence a weapon sharper than any blade. It made her squirm, it forced her mind to do the work she wanted desperately to avoid.

This was exactly what he had wanted. Adrian’s arrival wasn't a coincidence, it was a move placed long before tonight. A whisper here, a call there. Pull one string, and Adrian would come running, eager to please the man he owed everything to. Pull another, and Oakford’s already fragile stocks would shake under the right pressure. He didn't need to reveal anything, he only had to light the match and watch Lisa’s empire burn slowly.

Everything he did now, every move in the shadows, wasn’t only to watch Lisa crumble. It was for her, for Aurora. For the future she deserved. For the day she would never have to live and grow with this poisonous family again.

Her chest heaved, anger clawing its way up to cover the dread on her face. "You... you had something to do with this, didn’t you?" She jabbed a shaking finger toward him, her words frantic. "The stocks, the merger, Adrian, everything. You’re behind this"

Ray tilted his head, his expression unreadable. "Why does your mind go there first?"

"Because it’s you" Lisa snapped, but the quiver in her voice betrayed her. "No one else could..." She cut herself off, shaking her head violently. "No. No! That’s ridiculous. You don’t have that kind of power. You’re nothing, Ray. A nobody"

Ray took a step closer, slow, but deliberate. The sound of his shoe against marble made her flinch despite trying to hide it.

"Then maybe," he said softly, "the world just doesn’t like you as much as you thought."

Her face twisted, fury covering the cracks of doubt. She refused to believe this man, the one she had tossed aside as irrelevant, could possibly hold any power over her. But Adrian’s bow, the ruined party, the bleeding stocks... nothing fit. Nothing made sense.

Ray didn’t need her to believe. Belief wasn’t the goal. Doubt was. Every denial she spat only proved the seed was already growing. Tonight was only step one.

Behind them, Oscar shifted awkwardly. His eyes flicked between the two, lips pressed tight. Even he seemed unsettled, though he didn’t dare speak.

Lisa’s breathing grew harsher, her voice rising with desperation. "No, you couldn’t have. You’re a poor man with no money or influence, Ray! Do you hear me? Nothing! Just a ghost clinging to life."

Ray’s lips curved faintly. "If that helps you sleep at night... believe it."

The words gave her nothing to hold on to, no certainty, only emptiness. And in that emptiness, her doubts grew like a sickness, churning her stomach.

Her mouth opened, but no words came.

This was why he had come. Not to reveal himself, not to admit anything, but to plant doubt. To leave her questioning whether she was truly the master of her empire or if she was losing it.

Ray leaned just close enough for her to feel his calm presence suffocating her more than any accusation ever could. "You should take better care of your company, Lisa. It seems fragile."

Her eyes flicked instinctively to the desktop on her desk. The chart was still bleeding red, her empire trembling before her.

"You..." she whispered, but her voice broke before the words could form.

Ray turned to leave, each step gentle and calm. At the door, he paused and glanced back, his voice low and certain.

"This is only the beginning."

Then he was gone.

Lisa stayed frozen behind her desk, clutching it like a lifeline. Her chest rose and fell, her mind spinning with disbelief.

Oscar tried cautiously, "Lisa..."

"Get out!" she shrieked, spinning on him, her face flushed with fury.

He hesitated. "But..."

"I said get out!" she roared.

It pissed Oscar off. He scoffed and he stormed out after, leaving her alone with the storm inside her head.

She pressed both hands flat on the desk, shaking. "He’s nothing," she muttered to herself. "A useless man. He couldn’t have done this. He doesn’t have that kind of reach or power..."

Her voice shook, and the more she spoke, the less she believed her own words. Adrian’s bow replayed in her mind, over and over, mocking her.

Her company was collapsing, her control slipping, and somehow, he was standing at the center of it all.

Lisa Oakford, the woman who had once crushed him without a second thought, whispered into the silence.

"What the hell is truly happening?"