Page 300 of The Billionaires

It looks like they had sex, and things got wild. What else could they be doing naked together at night?

I squeeze my eyes shut, but that only worsens the images flashing through my mind. Images inspired by all the porn I’ve watched, except featuring Adrian and his ex instead of big-dicked actors. Not that his is small.

Wait, what am I even thinking about?

Ugh, I need to stop this pointless rumination. He doesn’t owe me anything. Ours isn’t a real relationship, despite my GD, which, as we’ve already established, was the equivalent of an unsatisfying sneeze.

In my face.

But it hurts. It feels like a betrayal—much more so than his words the morning after our wedding. At least then he’d claimed to act in the best interests of Piper. Unless… Did he sleep with Sydney to reassure himself that the hearing is still necessary? Like, if the sex went well, maybe they could make it work?

No, that doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Perhaps he did it as a hedge? If so, that might even be clever, in a psychopathic sort of way. Remind Sydney of the heaven that is his cock, and then if the hearing doesn’t go his way, he can just invite her back, and she would come—she’s only human.

Fucking hell.

My throat tightens with the same scream I’ve been holding back.

Is it possible that they have been sleeping together this whole time? Is that the real reason why he didn’t want to do it with me?

I know—and hate the idea that—they’ve done it at least once, since Piper is proof of that.

But why bother with the hearing if they have an ongoing sex life? Could it be that they have some kind of weird/unhealthy sex? A hate-fucking addiction or something? Is that what the shouting was about?

Or worse, is it possible he just likes her for sex but hates her company?

It could be. He has the exact opposite setup with me. Or at least it seemed like he enjoyed my company back when we were on speaking terms.

Maybe between the two of us, he’s found the perfect partner?

The thought constricts my lungs, making it difficult to breathe.

I know one thing for sure at this point.

Going to sleep is just a distant fantasy.

“We’ll talk after the hearing,” Adrian says when I meet him by the elevator.

“Sure.” I rub my bloodshot eyes. “Whatever you say.”

I don’t clarify if he’s talking about his wild sex with Sydney or something else. Either way, I’m still in no state to have anything approximating a “talk.”

We enter the elevator, and as soon as he presses the button for the lobby, he starts reading some sort of printout—no doubt related to the hearing.

The whole ride in the limo, he continues to read the same papers, and I try prepping too, as best as I can.

When we enter the courtroom, I quickly spot my mom, who’s here to provide moral support for Adrian, though I wonder if she would’ve come if I’d told her about the post-GD cold war and about last night. Taking a seat next to her, I ignore Adrian when he takes his seat and listen to the proceedings.

To my left, Mom stares at Tristan, Sydney’s father. Before I can tell her that this man is off limits and why, she looks at Juliet—Sydney’s mother—and then at Sydney herself. The whole time, Mom’s expression is extremely strange.

I wonder about it for a moment, but I don’t have time to dwell on it because looking at Sydney resurrects all the feelings from last night. I grit my teeth until my jaw hurts and ball my hands into tight fists on my lap.

Meanwhile, the lawyers do their thing, starting with Adrian’s side. They make a case for him being a good father and an upstanding citizen who has renounced his rakish ways. The judge is hard to read, but I think she’s buying it. When the other side starts to speak, Sydney darts a nasty glance our way, and something about it turns my insides all clammy.

She’s too confident. Almost like she’s already gloating. But why?—

“Please have a look at the screen,” one of Sydney’s lawyers says at that exact moment.

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