The Double Life of My Billionaire Husband – Episode 44
The B.M. ballroom glittered with the restrained extravagance Natalie now recognized as Sebastian’s taste. Employees, investors, and reporters waited beneath screens displaying the company’s history. Every milestone carried Bash Myers’s name and no face, a public version of the marriage she had lived.
Sebastian watched the entrance from behind the stage. Daniel confirmed that Natalie’s invitation had been scanned nowhere. Her empty place beside him mattered more than hundreds of guests awaiting his announcement.
“You still have to go out,” Daniel said. “Klein shareholders need certainty.”
Sebastian adjusted the cuff hiding the hospital bracelet. “I know.”
George Quinn arrived without Lauren or Cassie, hoping to preserve his company by appealing to his son-in-law. Security stopped him because his invitation had been revoked after the hotel conspiracy. He demanded recognition until cameras turned toward the disturbance.
Sebastian ordered that George be admitted to a private waiting room, not the ballroom. Family humiliation had shaped too much of his life; he would not perform another version for entertainment.
Onstage, Daniel introduced B.M.’s founder. The audience expected an older financier or foreign magnate. When Sebastian stepped into the light, surprise moved through the room like a physical force.
He confirmed his identity, the Klein share acquisition, and his new leadership role. He credited Stephanie Myers as the reason B.M. existed and Daniel as the person who protected the company while its founder remained hidden.
The speech was calm until he reached the final acknowledgment. “And to my wife, who taught me that winning means very little if secrecy costs the person you hoped to come home to.”
An empty chair near the stage appeared on the broadcast. Sebastian did not ask Natalie publicly to forgive him. He merely admitted that the greatest failure in his plan was believing love could be protected without trust.
At the hospital, Natalie watched the live stream beside her mother. Hearing him accept responsibility without disguising it as sacrifice loosened something inside her, though not enough to erase the injury.
Reporters immediately searched for the mysterious wife. Old wedding images surfaced online, along with cruel speculation about Natalie replacing Cassie and marrying Sebastian for money.
Sarah called to warn her that journalists had found the hospital. Natalie refused to let cameras disturb patients and arranged to leave through a service exit.
Her mother was being discharged the following morning and planned to stay with a cousin during recovery. Natalie considered traveling with her, creating distance while deciding what she wanted beyond crisis.
At the event, George begged Sebastian to stop the pressure on Quinn Holdings. Sebastian told him the acquisition of Klein Enterprises had exposed fraudulent contracts tied to George’s company. Creditors, not revenge, were closing in.
“You used my daughter to reach me,” George accused.
“You used your daughter to pay a debt you never honored,” Sebastian replied. “Do not confuse consequences with persecution.”
George warned that Lauren and Cassie would not accept defeat quietly. Sebastian already knew. Hotel security had provided evidence of drugging, but Natalie had not yet decided whether to support charges.
When Sebastian returned to the penthouse, he found the wedding ring beside the key card. Natalie’s clothes and her mother’s photograph were gone. The absence made the vast home look staged again.
Daniel called with confirmation that Natalie’s mother had been discharged early and a car was heading toward the airport. Sebastian remembered his promise not to track her, yet the possibility of losing her without one complete conversation tore through restraint.
He picked up the ring and left for the airport, not to use power to stop her, but to ask whether the marriage deserved a chance beyond the lies that created it. If she refused, he would let her go. The uncertainty frightened him more than any hostile boardroom.