Ditch the Ex, Date the Billionaire . Chapter 39: Fuel to the fire . “Archibald?” Jerking his head upright, Archie stares right in Nathaniel’s blue eyes. Unable to form any coherent thoughts, he looks back at the tablet; his head spinning. Someone was eavesdropping on them… a guest, most possibly, or even one of the waiters. Whoever it was, they snitched them out to all of these blogs – the same social media blogs that Archibald has filed countless lawsuits against for spreading misinformation about him and this company. “Call the company’s lawyer and also inform Lisa too,” Archibald eventually croaks out. “I want them in my office in one hour. By then, I expect to have a full list of all the waiters and guests who were sitting close to us yesterday. I’m going to sue their fucking asses off.” “So… it’s true?” Swallowing thickly, Archibald looks up at him. “I had already informed the guests at the company party last week, I just didn’t extend the news to everybody in th
Ditch the Ex, Date the Billionaire . Chapter 40: Help . “Most likely,” Hector says. “Also, I’m sure the board of directors will convene a crisis meeting in the next couple of hours. Considering the public backlash, it’s only a matter of time until the stock price drops significantly.” Once again, Alan feels bad for a second, but he quickly reminds himself that all of this is necessary and – in the long run – for his own best. To not make himself look guilty, Alan decides to call his uncle, but the line is busy. He wonders who Archibald is speaking to at the moment… Isabella? His grand father? Some members of the board? Alan wished he could be there and hear what they’re saying. That reminds him… “Hey, about that virus… you deactivated it, right?” “Naturally,” Hector says. “Archibald won’t be able to find the remnants of it unless he actively looks for it, which I doubt he’ll do without any proper reason. And even if he finds the virus, he will never be able to lin
Ditch the Ex, Date the Billionaire . Chapter 41: Reveal . Isabella’s world comes crashing down on her during lunch break. After she was done with her work at the unit, she heads straight to the cafeteria with two fellow colleagues that she sometimes talks to. They’re queuing up at the serving counter, talking about the lecture, when a tall guy standing in line behind Isabella taps on her on the shoulder. “Are you the ceo’s son plaything? Mr Archibald?.” Mouth dropping open, Isabella stares at him for a second; what the hell? “I… No, I– why would you think that I’m–” The words die in her throat when the guy holds up his phone. “This sure looks like you, though.” When he turns the screen around, Isabella winces so terribly she almost drops her tray. There’s a photo of Archibald and her sitting in the Tesla, underneath the headline, ‘EXCLUSIVE: Billionaire Heir Archibald Bancroft dining out with a college-aged boy toy!’ Panic surges through her from head to toe and
Ditch the Ex. Date the Billionaire . Chapter 42: Penny for thoughts . Archibald sighs as Warren leaves through the door to go help Isabella. He runs his hands through his hair feeling more nervous than before. He didn’t expect this at all. Of course, he knew that eventually the bloggers would try to dig up everything about him but not this soon. His plan was that after he had introduced Isabella to everyone at that dinner party then maybe he’ll pop up with a surprise engagement party just before his nephew does and then that was it. It was just an engagement that he and Isabella needed to seal his father’s trust and push Alan away. And now it’s looking like it’s not going to happen. But not on Archibald’s watch. “A penny for your thoughts?.” Lisa said quietly, her voice prompting him out of his thinking. Archibald glanced at the papers she had in her hands. “Are you done already?.” She didn’t say anything, just added another stack of papers and began writing
Ditch the Ex, Date the Billionaire . Chapter 43: a dinner between families .“You are just jealous.” Lisa paused for a moment before scoffing at what Archie said like it was absurd. “Jealous? Me? Jealous? Are you serious?.” “I mean, yeah. I already made it clear that day that I didn’t like you back the way you wanted to go, Lisa. And since then you’ve been giving me a cold shoulder, you just stopped talking to me.”“That doesn’t mean I’m jealous of you and Isabella, you dufus. I am a lawyer, a barrister, I should be out there at work now but I’m here because of you, to support my friend.” She said holding up the papers that were now looking too much to be a marriage contract. “I am here because of you and yet you have the nerve to call me jealous.” Archibald sighed. “I’m sorry for my words. I was being stupid. Please continue helping me.”“I know you are been sarcastic with that apology.” Lisa noticed before eyeing him. “But I’ll help you nonetheless.” “Great!.” He said a
Ditch the Ex, Date the Billionaire . Chapter 44: hurt . This little shit. Alan expected a lot of things when he got home, but he didn’t expect to find Isabella chilling on the couch as if she was living here, wrapped in Alan’s Hermes blanket and bragging about her stupid life with her hot, rich sugar-daddy. Isabella flinches terribly when she turns her head. “H-How long have you been standing there?” She quickly swipes over her screen, probably to end the video call. Snorting like an angry bull, Alan walks up to her. “Long enough to hear that you and dad besmirched my six thousand dollar blanket. What are you even doing here?” Isabella gulps and averts her gaze. “I… Warren said that Archie said I could wait for him until he gets home. Have you… have you seen the article?” It is only then that Alan remembers that he wanted to show empathy next time he saw Isabella, to lure her into a false sense of security. Trying to swallow down his anger, he takes a few calm bre
Ditch the Ex, Date the Billionaire . Chapter 45: Birthright . Alan stormed out of the room, frustration burning through him like a wildfire. He couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. His uncle, Archibald was becoming a pain in his neck, bringing his girlfriend—Isabella—to their family house without a word to anyone. It felt like a betrayal, a breach of trust.He couldn’t even think of Isabella and his uncle’s relationship as a real one. Because it couldn’t be! He retreated to the other living room where his mother, Jeanette, and his sister, Aileen, were seated at the table. Aileen seemed to be in a good mood which was rare considering how cold she acted most of the time. Their faces brightened upon seeing Alan, but their smiles faltered as they noticed his troubled expression. "Alan, what's wrong?" Jeanette asked, concern etching lines on her forehead. Alan sank into an armchair, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "Mom, Aileen," he began, his voi
Ditch the Ex, Date the Billionaire . Chapter 46: lucky girl . “So… you think it’s better if we publish a statement?” Isabella asks, curling her fingers against the soft fabric of Archibald’s shirt. Archibald spent the last half hour telling her about his conversation with his lawyer and his publicist. “Either that or we’ll just ignore it for now, and hope that the buzz will die down. From my past experience with Iris, I doubt they’ll leave us alone any time soon, though.” Isabella shivers. They've never spoken about any of his ex girlfriends before, but she has seen enough articles and photos of them to know how interested the public were in their relationship. “But Iris was the first person you ever dated after you left the company, and he’s… a world-famous model. I’m just a young adult.” “One young enough to be my daughter,” Archibald adds gloomily. “Don’t forget that some people feed on drama; the more scandalous, the better.” Even though Isabella knows it’s naiv
Ditch the Ex. Date the Billionaire .Chapter 143: .It happens by accident.Archibald’s out of town again for work but tries to call in the evenings when he can and Isabella, consequently, does her best to be available despite the three-hour time difference. Dara can roll her eyes all she wants — and does — but keeps her smart remarks, if not to a minimum, then to an average.(“It’s part of our arrangement!” Isabella protests noisily as if the forty-five minutes she spends holed up in her bedroom have anything at all to do with those initial terms of their relationship and aren’t simply because she misses the man like a limb when he’s gone.Dara makes an unflattering snort and digs her elbow into Isabella’s side, stealing a pretzel out of her bag while she’s distracted.“Uh-huh,” she says, “Is that what we’re calling it now, Ms. Codependent?”“I don’t think I like you anymore.”Isabella, among other things, is a liar. A bad one.)It happens by accident because Isabella’s bundled up
Ditch the Ex. Date the Billionaire .Chapter 142: .See, if Isabella’s life was a movie, this is where it would end.A great romantic conclusion tied up with a neat little bow, roll credits, and scene.But this isn’t a movie, and this isn’t where it ends.“I’m thinking about going back to school,” Isabella says one afternoon during a lunch date. She doesn’t stop stirring anxiously at her gelato until Archibald reaches out to physically stop her before it turns to soup, and she won’t like it as much.“I think that’s a good idea,” he replies.Isabella is still basically unhireable, further blacklisted professionally by the drama that came out of her father’s quick but messy trial that put him in jail for years and ruined any good reputation any of them might have had.(The man left a single furious, frothing voicemail on Isabella’s phone that could be summed up as three straight minutes of death threats that included everyone from Isabella herself to the cat to the goldfish that had o
Ditch the Ex. Date the Billionaire .Chapter 142: .“You know, I almost broke up with you last night.”Archibald’s steady calm, the largest holdover from last night, holds up even as he nods in agreement. “I know.”Isabella scowls at him.“How’d you know? I barely knew until I’d decided not to.”“Because I know you. You’ve been given precious few people in life who haven’t broken your trust, and I did that by going behind your back. It would have been an understandable reaction, and I wouldn’t have begrudged you—“Isabella slams that ocean blue tumbler down on the table with a clatter. Her eyes are bright with emotion, and her lips are turned down in an irritated scowl.“Maybe you wouldn’t,” she snaps, “but I’d sure as shit begrudge you if you just, what, let me break up with you without so much as asking me not to? What the fuck, man.”“You are an adult who can make your own decisions—““Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I want you to just let me go when I’m about to do something stupid!
Ditch the Ex. Date the Billionaire .Chapter 140:.There is coffee, kept hot in the kind of insulated tumbler that costs too much and coordinates with the beachy colors of the house. Isabella has a suspicion that it was bought specifically for her, because Archibald is a crazy person who thinks about that kind of stuff. It doesn’t stop her from drinking it.“Tell me what you did,” Isabella orders before she can talk herself out of it and in spite of the very large part of her that doesn’t actually want to know. “Something something something about buying out the board?” she elaborates with a pointed stare. Because Chantelle, of all people, wouldn’t be bailing unless the ship is sinking. The ship might already be sunk if she’s that willing to abandon what she sees as her birthright. A birthright that she’s always seen as a competition, even though she’d won right out the gate and Isabella’s so stupid that it took literally being disowned to see that she never stood a chance.“Oh, th
Ditch the Ex. Date the Billionaire .Chapter 139: .Isabella and Alan had settled many a disagreement with an angry tussle in bed that was worth the drop afterward for being able to get a little of her own back, to feel seen and heard. Except that Archibald already makes her feel seen and heard, and right now Isabella just sort of wants one of them to hurt, and she’s not sure who.“Stop, stop, enough,” Archibald orders, kinder than Isabella deserves, and wipes the beginnings of tears out of the corners of Isabella’s eyes before she even realizes that she’s about to cry. “I know, baby. I know.”“You don’t know anything.” It comes out way less cool and way more pathetic when Isabella’s voice cracks on what is definitely an overtired, strung-out sob. “You don’t know anything.”“I know that you’re exhausted and running on fumes and that you’d rather have the kind of sex that’s not good for you and that you don’t even want than get what you need,” Archibald tells her. “I’d say I know pl
Ditch the Ex. Date the Billionaire .Chapter 138: .The only tears Chantelle’s ever shed have been of the crocodilian variety, as purposeful a tactic as any insult. Even after she’d forced herself to learn how to stop, she’d never managed to wield emotion like a weapon. At times like this, Isabella sort of wishes that she had.Isabella trembles and wraps her arms around herself, chilled even underneath the blanket. The edges are getting wet with saltwater and crusted with sand, and she would bite anyone who might try to take it from her.Archibald doesn’t touch her, but Isabella can feel him practically vibrating with the way he wants to. Right now, Isabella would be happy to bite him, too.“I don’t think you’re stupid.”“Well, it sure feels like it.”Archibald literally wrings his hands in open distress, and even now, it doesn’t feel remotely like a win. Isabella’s gotten exactly what she’s asked for—space and someone else being the one to hurt, but it doesn’t lessen her own, not e
Ditch the Ex. Date the Billionaire .Chapter 137:.It's still pitch black outside, but Isabella finds herself at the edge of the water anyway. The ocean doesn’t give a damn about Isabella’s battered foundation and rolls happily up the night-cooled sand, leaving only foam and bits of seashell behind.Isabella sits at the shoreline and tucks her knees up under her chin.She wonders, miserably, where Chantelle plans to go.God, she hopes her sister gets as far away as she can.Isabella's spent her whole life loyal, but Chantelle? She’s fanatical to a degree that Isabella could never quite manage, and she wonders if putting her loyalty into a cage match with her relentless drive to protect herself finally did what nothing else could—crack that fanaticism. She’ll never know; it’s not her place now, and even if it was, Chantelle would never let her.God, she hopes Chantelle got as far away as she possibly can.Mai, with much derision, refers to it as Isabella's "better place theory." Mom
Ditch the Ex. Date the Billionaire .Chapter 136: .“Oh, please. Because your boytoy just woke up and bought half our board and their corresponding shares out from under us for some weekend summer fun? I didn’t think you had it in you, but I guess you had to grow a spine sometime.”Isabella’s brain goes blank. Chantelle’s words land with all the delicacy and grace of anvils, pinning her down under their weight like a butterfly in a box.“I didn’t—you’re wrong,” she protests.“Sure, okay. Keep telling yourself that. Anyway, don’t bother saving this number; I’m ditching the phone once my plane boards. Congratulations on your win, Izzy. We always knew you’d ruin the family, but I didn’t think it’d be like this. Have a good rest of your life, I guess.”There’s a click and then a dial tone. Isabella tries to call back, but it goes straight to a generic voicemail that she knows won’t ever be checked. At best it’s a burner phone; at worst it’s Chantelle’s regular phone that she’s willing t
Ditch the Ex. Date the Billionaire .Chapter 135: .There’s the temptation after breakfast to go back to bed and find another way to entertain themselves, but Archibald shuffles her to go shower instead.“It’s about ten miles to get into town,” he says when Isabella protests in an appropriately dignified manner, definitely not pouting at having to put pants on. “You’ll like it.” Isabella does pout, then, and is rewarded for her bad behavior by being hoisted up onto the bathroom counter and thoroughly kissed until she’ll say yes to just about anything. And she does say yes, eventually, and delays the inevitable by about ten minutes by sticking her hands down the back of Archibald’s pajamas.Isabella’s never had this kind of domesticity in a relationship before, and it should feel strange but it doesn’t, just scaffolds its way up the norms built in by months of getting to know each other. It doesn’t feel weird at all for Isabella to snag Archibald by the wrist and tug him into the sho