---- Chapter 15 Bennett was jolted awake by the insistent buzzing of a phone. It wasn't his. It was Aria's, left on the nightstand. The screen lit up with a stream of texts from someone named "Rico." He grumbled, reaching over to silence it, but his thumb slipped, and he accidentally opened the message thread. His blood ran cold. Rico: Did you get the money yet? The guys are getting impatient. Rico: He's not gonna pay you forever for a fake pregnancy, you idiot. You need a better plan. Aria: Shut up! He loves me. He's going to marry me. He bought me a ring! Rico: A ring doesn't pay off a gambling debt, sis. Get the cash or you're gonna have a real 'miscarriage' of justice when they find you. Fake pregnancy. The words swam before his eyes. He scrolled up, his hands shaking, reading through months of messages. It was all there. The forged medical documents, the plan to fake a miscarriage, the mounting debts to loan sharks. A long, elaborate con. ---- He felt a wave of nausea. He had thrown away his marriage, his life, for this. For a lie. He had abandoned Kelsey, bleeding and alone, for this. He had publicly humiliated her, chosen this girl over her, time and time again. 2 He felt like a fool. The biggest, most pathetic fool in the world. Aria stirred beside him, stretching languidly. "Morning, baby," she murmured, snuggling against him. He flinched, pulling away as if her touch were toxic. He quickly hid his phone, his face a mask of cold fury. + "I'm hungry," she whined, oblivious. "Can you make me those pancakes | like? The ones with the chocolate chips?" He thought of Kelsey, who never whined, who never demanded. The rage inside him was a physical thing, a hot, choking pressure in his chest. He wanted to scream, to confront her, to destroy her. But a cold, calculating part of his brain took over. The CEO. The Randolph. She had humiliated him. She had made him a fool. She would pay. "Of course, darling," he said, his voice terrifyingly calm. "Anything for you and our... babies." While she was in the shower, he made a call. "It's Bennett Randolph," he said to his head of security. "| need a full, deep-dive investigation on a woman named Aria Diaz. ---- And her brother, Rico. | want to know everything. Her debts, her associates, everything. And | need it yesterday." He hung up and stood in the silent hotel suite, the mask of the doting fiancé back in place. He would play her game, right up until the very end. And then he would burn her world to the ground. That night, over a lavish room-service dinner, he casually asked, "Is there anything you haven't told me, Aria? Any secrets?" "Of course not, Ben," she said, her eyes wide and innocent. "| would never lie to you." Just then, his phone buzzed. It was the report. Verifying everything. The forged documents, the debts, the names of the loan sharks. It was all true. He looked at her, at her beautiful, lying face, and he felt a profound, soul-crushing wave of regret. Not for her. But for the woman he had lost forever.