Ch. 456..460: Charmed by the Billionaire CEO Chapter 456-460

Chapter 456: [Bonus Chapter]Pay for everything

The maid flinched at the sound of the shutting door only to find her young master was gone.

Tristan sprinted through the hallway and reached their room. He couldn’t believe Ashley refused to eat the food he said, but he also couldn’t blame her. It was his fault in the first place and her refusing anything from him was agreeable.

He knew he made a mistake but that didn’t mean she would sleep empty stomach.

Standing in front of the door, Tristan tried to calm himself. He didn’t want to show his displeasure but he also couldn’t conceal his anger as she sent away the food leaving him disheartened.

He made a simple soup for her knowing how much she liked having it at times. Being an actress, she had to maintain her diet and figure, but she never refused the food he cooked.

Tristan not only felt offended but also disheartened because he never thought Ashley wouldn’t realize it was him who cooked the soup for her.

Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door and waited for her to open it.

Tristan just wanted to tell her not to vent her anger on food because of him. He was now regretting his actions way more than before and he would never want Ashley to skip her meal before going to bed.

She had just recovered and he didn’t want her to fall sick again.

An entire minute passed and finally, the door opened, but to his surprise, Ashley didn’t spare a glance at him and walked back.

Tristan’s heart squeezed at her ignorance but he quickly took the chance to get in and close the door behind him.

His eyes followed her until she returned to bed and sat like she didn’t see him and it made him lose his cool.

"Why did you send the food away? I know you are upset with me but you don’t have to pour your anger on the meal. Did you forget you just recovered now Ash and I don’t want you to fall sick because of my childishness?"

"You can beat me as much as you want but don’t skip the meal" Tristan kept on blabbering staring at her expecting her to look at him once.

"Are you done?" Ashley said and slowly turned her head to face him.

Tristan felt like a bucket full of cold water being thrown on his face. He could see the cold glint in her eyes and that made him wonder if she would seriously beat the shit out of him.

"N-No.. I am not. I know you are upset but that doesn’t mean-" Tristan was cut short when his eyes fell on the food tray on the bedside table and he snapped at her in shock.

"Y-You didn’t send the food away," he asked getting flabbergasted at the food he sent still resting on the table but the only thing was it wasn’t touched.

Ashley noticed the shock on his face and smiled. She had purposely asked the maid to lie to him so he would come running to her confessing all his regrets. And as expected within no time her husband stood in front of her pouring all his thoughts like a kid who accepts his mistakes.

Smiling at his shocked face Ashley climbed down the bed and walked back to him.

"How could I eat all by myself when I know even you didn’t have dinner" Ashley was still annoyed with his silliness but she couldn’t remain upset with him when she saw how he took the initiative to cook soup for her.

It was his way of seeking forgiveness and just the aromatic smell of the soup melted her heart and she decided to prank him in her twisted way.

Tristan stood there rendered speechless. He felt like all the anxiousness, sadness and uneasiness washed away from his heart. He failed to see that it was her way to get him back into their room.

He was tricked but instead of feeling offended, he liked it. No doubt he kept saying they were just like one another and that’s why he loved her more than anything.

"You did all this thing because you wanted to eat with me" he asked eyeing his wife with a small pout.

"Yes" she nodded

"And after that" he asked.

"Hmm.. after that you can return to the study room. After all, you are demoted there for a weak-" Before Ashley could finish, Tristan turned around and sprinted to the bed, and jumped in.

"No!... I don’t want to go there" Tristan would never leave the room when he finally managed to get in.

"Come on let it I am hungry" he quickly changed the topic without waiting for her rejection.

Ashley smiled at his cuteness and shook her head. "No first go and get freshen up. I am not having food with a drunkard" She purposely brought the words mocking him playfully.

Tristan pouted even more pitifully and climbed down the bed but before he walked towards the bathroom he stole a quick kiss from her and ran like a child.

"Wait for me," he said and closed the door.

Shaking her head in disbelief, Ashley walked towards the bed and waited for Tristan’s return.

While he was still taking the shower, she decided to go through her cell phone and check the news about their marriage taking all over the news portal.

As she kept reading the comments, she found one particular comment that was repetitive and her eyes squinted when she read one of the comments that said,

’No matter what height Ashley is going reach she will eventually fall down. Snatching someone’s dream will never get you anywhere’

The words written in the comment came with so much hatred and it made her wonder how she ended up snatching someone’s dream when she worked hard to get where she was today.

Meanwhile, the person who wrote the comment turned off her computer screen and stared at it blankly.

"You might have managed to get away because of your so-call husband but soon you will have to pay for everything"

Chapter 457: Forming allies

"Back to business, huh! I thought you would want to rest for a few more days" Lucas joined Sandra in her room taking a seat on the couch.

It had been three days since she finally regained consciousness and since that moment she started working on her plan.

She came to know about Tristan and Ashley publicly announcing their relationship because of external threats. She was so curious to find the person who managed to threaten the couple that they had to announce their relationship.

"I heard Tristan’s men came looking for me in the hospital," Sandra asked turning her eyes from the laptop screen towards Lucas.

"They did, but there’s nothing they could find" Lucas assured.

Sandra had her doubts about why Lucas was being this helpful toward her, so she asked," Why are you helping me, Lucas? I know you aren’t someone generous enough to help me without anything in return" Her eyes scrutinized the man as if she was looking through his soul.

She still couldn’t understand when he came to learn about Lingaa double-crossing them and giving all the information to her father. She had underestimated this old lag, but he turned out to be smarter than she would have imagined.

Lucas who was calmly observing the girl smiled." Why do you think I want something reward for helping you" he asked.

Lucas had already lost everything. His business, his empire. They were barely surviving on the little bit of asset he was left with. If he hadn’t registered it under someone else name, he wouldn’t have been here helping her out.

When Sandra didn’t say a word and just kept staring at him intently, Lucas stopped smiling.

He knew faking his death had already cleared most of their hurdle. No cops, not Tristan’s men would ever find that he is alive. So he was going to seek this chance to establish his empire from scratch and for that he needed Sandra’s help.

She might be vicious but had the brain of the devil. All these years she managed to hide herself so well that even after so long the cops never came to learn that she was alive and had been literally faking her death until Tristan exposed her.

She had her ways to survive from gawking eyes and now she will help him to hide. She wanted revenge and he wanted his empire back. He knew he didn’t have to worry about Noah and his wife, because Dylan would eventually take care of them. And whether he escaped or not was his concern anymore. All he wanted was to let Noah taste the medicine of his own revenge.

Once he was back on top, no one would be able to threaten him. Not even the cops. He would have the power to handle everything.

The expression on Lucas’s face changed from smiling to serious," I want everything that I’ve lost back and you are the only one who could help me" he said.

Sandra crossed her arms and silently bobbed her head," But why me? I have nothing left to give you" she said recalling how she had to start everything from zero.

Earlier she was able to leech money from her father and managed to emotionally blackmail him, but after he backstabbed her, she lost her faith in him.

His life was now entirely dependent on Lucas but she also knew there was nothing she would give him in return.

"I don’t want your money. We have enough until you execute your plan. I just wanted my status back that’s it. Everything that I lost I want all back. I want to stand tall on the top and only you could do that"

Sandra noticed the desperation in his eyes. It was the same as her when she wanted to have Tristan all for herself. But now she came to realize, no matter how much crazy she was for him, he would never love her. That’s why she hurt his wife by killing their child.

She knew Ashley was Tristan’s weakness and hurting her would eventually affect him. But she regretted not waiting there to watch her die along with that child in her womb.

Nevertheless, she would soon eliminate everyone who backstabbed her. Patrick, Tori, Tristan, Gabriel, everyone.... everyone had to die, and for that, she would need Lucas.

"Deal, in return for your help I will help you re-establish your empire" Sandra declared and watched the smile on Lucas’s face return.

"But before that, we have to find this person who leaked Ashley and Tristan’s marriage news providing all the details to the most reputed media channel" Sandra had dug deeply into this matter trying to find the person who was after the couple.

That anonymous person was their first target. They had to plant their allies carefully around Ashley and from what she could sense this person holds some kind of grudge against her rival.

It would be an advantage to have someone who isn’t on good terms with Ashley on their side.

"Give me some time. I will ask someone from my IT team to find the person"

"Make sure to be fast. I don’t want Tristan to get hold of him first. I am sure he must be on it. If not he wouldn’t have disclosed his marriage publicly" she said confidently.

Sandra didn’t want to lose a chance. She had to be careful enough to get back to them and for that, she had to take cautious steps knowing their every move beforehand.

*****

After having their dinner together, Ashley and Tristan got ready to sleep. Laying flat on their back both kept staring absentmindedly at the ceiling above.

Ashley, was busy thinking about the comment she read before Tristan walked out of the bathroom after taking a shower. She quickly closed the screen and placed her cell phone back on the table.

She didn’t want to spoil her mood so she decided to shove away the thoughts, but even after so long she still kept on thinking about it.

Unable to handle the dreadful silence Tristan turned around and faced Ashley. "Are you still angry with me?’ he asked breaking her stare.

Ashley turned her head to the side and watched Tristan staring at her with a pitiful gaze. She didn’t know what had gotten into Tristan tonight, but his pouting soothed her heart.

Heaving out a deep breath Ashley closed her eyes and turned to face him. "I am not angry with you Tristan. But still, you aren’t entirely forgiven"

"Then tell me what should I do to gain your forgiveness"

Chapter 458: Someone she knows

Ashley smiled watching the worry on his face and said," Kiss me and you are forgiven"

The concern on Tristan’s face vanished soon replaced with a smile and without wasting a second he leaned forward and kissed her hard.

Tristan knew something was bothering Ashley and a kiss was just a way of distraction. He wanted her to open up and talk to him but he also didn’t want to force her.

Taking his time to relish her mouth, Tristan then pulled back when they both ran out of breath.

"Do you think we are getting old? Why can’t we last longer than before" Tristan’s words made Ashley chuckle and she quickly hugged him resting her head on his chest.

"I don’t know about you, but I am surely not getting old" Her words made Tristan look down at her displeasingly, but he quickly cleared his expression and sighed.

"Now come on tell me what’s in your mind. I know you weren’t upset because of me" This time it was Ashley who was caught off guard by his words.

Craning her neck she stared at Tristan who arched his brow motioning her to speak.

Ashley wasn’t sure if she had to speak about it or not, but she couldn’t hide it from Tristan for too long. No matter how irrelevant she thought it to be but she still wanted to be clear about her doubts with him.

"Before you walked out of the bathroom, I was going through the comment section of one particular article about us" Ashley began and watched Tristan give her a nod signaling her to go on.

"There I found a weird comment and the user kept on repeating it through the entire comment section. It was as if it was he who was targeting me" Her words made Tristan frown.

"Can you show me the comment?" he asked and watched her get up.

Following her actions, Tristan too got up and watched her rampage through her phone before she showed him the comment.

As Tristan went reading through it, he realized something and snapped his head at her and asked," Why do I feel like this person holds a personal grudge against you? These comments seem like the user is blaming you for something"

Ashley furrowed when Tristan’s words matched her thoughts and she agreed with him," I too felt the same when I read it, but I couldn’t remember anyone. There are so many that I couldn’t pick one"

Ashley knew while climbing the ladder of success she ended up making enemies, whether men or women everyone held some kind of rivalry towards her. But even after racking her brains, she couldn’t pinpoint one.

"I have a feeling it’s the same person who followed us to the resort. Now that his plan backfired, he is using these cheap tricks" Tristan said gnashing his teeth in fury.

They were so close to getting that person, but they neglected his smartness and ended up losing him.

Ashley bobbed her head in understanding and asked, "You think we will be able to find him? I mean, as you said the person is using various IDs to publish news about us, even the Fox Feed Media CEO said he got the proofs through a random mail whose username got discarded a second after the mail was sent. I have a feeling that the person might know where would look for him and that’s why he is playing it smartly"

It had been a few days since they had been trying to find the person. Jack who tracked the biker checked the CCTV around the area he lost him, but couldn’t get any concrete details that would lead them to that person.

His quick reflex for escape left them with nothing.

Ashley’s words snapped Tristan out of his thoughts and he shook his head," He must be smart, but he won’t be able to hide for too long. We have Noah on board and I am sure with his tracking skills we will find a lead"

Tristan knew his team was best but Noah was the mastermind when it came to technologies and with his exceptional skill he was sure they would be able to find the person sooner.

Ashley bobbed her head as she agreed with Tristan.

"No come on let’s sleep, You have a shoot tomorrow" Tristan changed the topic stopping them from stressing too much.

Placing the phone back on the side table Tristan helped her lay back on the bed before turning off the lights.

"I don’t want you to stress over something we can’t handle" Tristan assured Ashley as he embarrassed her pressing her face into his chest and closing his eyes.

His strong manly scent vanished all her stress and she found herself slowly falling asleep.

*****

"Hmm.. Alice stop. I am feeling hot" Noah who was having a wild dream kept sleep talking while Alice who had woken up at the sound of his sensual voice glanced at him from the corner of her eyes.

She couldn’t believe Noah would be so horny that he kept having wild dreams about her. But then wasn’t he always like this sex-driven man who needed to be inside her all the time?

Shaking her head in disbelief, she turned her head and kept staring at the wall above. She had been fine all the time but suddenly Ashley’s words crossed her mind and she slowly pushed herself up.

Glancing at Noah, she sighed and climbed down the bed before heading towards the balcony. Did know why Ashley’s words kept playing in her mind and as soon as she entered the balcony, her eyes were flung outside the main gate.

"Ashley said she found someone staring at our house, but why don’t I see anyone" Alice was keenly observing the street Ashley talked about yesterday, but when she looked there she couldn’t see anyone.

"Maybe it’s a random person she must’ve seen and assumed that person to be Dylan" Alice muttered to herself brushing off Ashley’s doubts and was about to return to the bedroom but stopped.

"Wait a minute. Who is that man?" she asked suddenly finding someone standing across the street and to her surprise the person seemed to be looking inside.

Startled by the person Alice quickly hid herself behind the wall and silently peeked towards the person. Her heart began to race when she noticed the person was still looking in the same direction and surprisingly she found his actions suspicious.

Taking a moment Alice calmed herself before sprinting inside the room and dialed the security room number.

"Hello..."

 

Chapter 459: Why wasn’t I informed!

After instructing the guard, Alice ended the call and was about to sprint back to the balcony when Noah woke up from his sleep.

The moment he opened his eyes, they fell on Alice. "Babe... why are you standing there?" he asked and watched her halt in her step.

A deep frown marred his face when he sensed she was rushing towards the balcony, but due to his interruption, she stopped.

Alice turned to look at Noah, but the anxiousness on her face made him curious.

"Noah, I-" she tried to fathom words but the possibility of Dylan being the stranger standing outside their mansion bothered her and she started to panic.

Noah noticed the phone in her hand and his sleepiness vanished the moment he saw the dreadful look in her eyes.

Pushing himself up he stared at her face carefully only to realize she broke into a sweat and her shoulder was trembling. She looked a little worried and her face turned pale due to fear.

"Babe are you okay" Climbing down from the bed he rushed to her side and quickly examined her.

Noah could sense that something alarmed her and this thing only happened when she recalled something from her past.

Alice was caught in her own thoughts and she failed to speak anything. She was still thinking about the man she saw standing outside their house and how Ashley’s words kept ringing in her ears making her suspicious.

’No Alice, you can’t fall weak. Noah needs to know’ her subconscious mind screamed to her and she finally mustered the courage to look into his eyes.

"N-Noah... I t-think I saw D-Dylan outside" Her words left Noah stunned but he quickly composed as anger took over his calmness.

His hold around her arms tightened but he was careful enough not to harm her. As he looked into her eyes he could tell that she was on the verge of breaking down, so he quickly let go of her hand.

"You wait here. I’ll go and check" Leaving her Noah rushed out of their bedroom.

****

[Outside]

The moment Noah reached outside, he saw the guard drag someone into the gates.

Narrowing his eyes at the man covered in black, Noah sprinted towards him.

PUNCH!

"You bastard..." Noah lost his cool and punched the man right into his face until he fell to the ground, leaving the people around him stunned.

Hovering over him, Noah kept on landing punch after punch on him until he heard that man’s voice, and his hand that was ready to punch him again stopped mid-air.

The animosity in Noah’s eyes dimmed and he quickly pushed himself up. "Remove his mask" he ordered the guard as an unknown doubt crossed his mind.

Noah wasn’t able to see his face because the man had worn a black mask hiding his identity from them the entire time. But the moment the guard pulled over the mask, Noah was left stunned when the person was someone else and not Dylan.

Noah’s anger vanished within a second but he maintained his cold expression started at the indifferently.

"Who are you and what were you doing outside our house" Noah interrogated.

The man was so badly beaten that he was on the verge of passing out. He didn’t even hear what Noah asked.

"Madame found the man suspicious and she asked me to catch him" the guard answered looking at the man who passed out on the ground within a minute.

Following his Madame’s order, the guard did approached the man, but when asked him what was he doing outside he started to run.

In order to catch him he had to fight him down before dragging him into the gates to present him in front of Alice, but it was Noah who came instead and the next thing he did left everyone speechless.

Noah looked at the man before averting his gaze at the guard. He was so enraged to learn that Alice saw Dylan and that rage took over his mind.

"Hm...inform the cops and let them interrogate him" Noah sneered when he sensed the man reeked of alcohol and it was then he realized they misunderstood everything.

But that doesn’t mean he would let his guard down.

After handling everything outside, Noah returned to the room where he saw Alice standing in the same spot.

The moment she saw him enter the room, she snapped out of her frozen state and ran towards him.

"It’s Dylan... did they catch him? We should hand him to the cops" she asked grabbing his arm.

Alice’s eyes expectantly waited for Noah to answer and when she saw him shake his head in denial her hold around his hand loosened and they slowly dropped down.

"Y-You must’ve been mistaken. It was him Noah and saw him standing outside our house" Alice tried to justify. She was sure that it was Dylan. Though he had his face covered with a mask, she still could feel it was him.

"You have mistaken Alice. That man you saw outside isn’t Dylan. You saw someone else" Noah said and watched her shake her head.

"Noah... I swear it was him. Why would I lie? Even Ashley had seen someone like him yesterday. How can we both lie" Alice’s mind was still occupied by Ashley’s words and she trusted them.

Noah didn’t know how he was supposed to correct her, but then when he clearly heard her words his entire mind stilled for a few seconds and he asked," Did Ashley also see someone like him?" his eyes keenly watch Alice and she bobbed her head.

"She said she felt like it was Dylan and wanted me to be careful-"

"And why haven’t you told me about it" Noah flared without letting her finish her words.

Alice instantly stopped talking when Noah raised his voice on her. She did intend to inform Noah about the suspicion, but they were so caught up catching up with their friend and celebrating the good news that it skipped from her mind.

Pursing her lips she lowered her head realizing it was her fault that she didn’t alert Noah beforehand.

"I am sorry... I should’ve told you" she apologized without holding back and the next second an arm wrapped around her waist and she was hugged tightly.

 

Chapter 460: Right time

"I am sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you" He apologized for raising his voice on her.

Noah knew he overreacted. But the moment he heard her mention Dylan’s name, every cell of his body began to burn in rage.

The moment he realized he again failed to protect her made him feel worse.

Alice who was silent the entire time sensed the tension in his body and wrapped her arms around her and hugged him back.

Burring his face into the crook of her neck Noah tried to calm himself.

More than Alice it was him who needed to relax because the person they caught wasn’t Dylan or else he didn’t know what he would have done.

But deep down he also wanted it to be Dylan so these search for him would finally end and they could live their lives in peace.

"I know I should have told you sooner but the situation we were in didn’t give me the time to speak up. You were so happy..... I didn’t want to ruin your mood." Alice explained.

That thought had been lingering in her mind since the moment Ashley mentioned it, but watching him enjoying his time with his friends, she did have the heart to spoil his happiness.

Closing his eyes, Noah took a deep breath before pulling back and stared deep into Alice’s eyes.

"My happiness is with you, Alice. Your safety is my concern and no matter what I can’t stand the fact of Dylan secretly tailing you while I am unaware of it. I don’t want anything to happen to you both" Noah expressed his concerns.

He couldn’t stand the fact that something had happened to them while he couldn’t do anything. He didn’t want to face the helplessness of not being able to do anything while his wife and child suffered the consequences of his negligence.

Alice could see through his fears and felt everything he was going through.

She had already seen how defeated he looked when he could stop that accident and he almost lost her.

If he had to go through the same thing again, she feared he wouldn’t be able to handle it. She was his life, and living without her was like surviving like a corpse.

Letting out a deep breath Alice signed and hugged him tightly. She couldn’t see him going through any emotional breakdown. She knew how it felt to be helpless and she didn’t want him to face it.

"I won’t let anything happen to me and our child. I promise... " Alice assured and watched him relax in her embrace.

The couple stood hugging each other for a long time before parting away. "By the way who was that man I assumed to be Dylan" she asked.

"I don’t know yet but don’t worry our men will interrogate him before concluding anything" Noah didn’t want to take any risk.

Even if the man was a stranger, he still had to check everything before letting him go.

Alice fell silent for a moment before bobbing her head in understanding. She knew Noah wouldn’t let this incident slide just like that. He would dive deeply to ensure that everything was fine and there wasn’t any threat lingering around their lives.

Meanwhile, a man who stood watching the incident with his own eyes left the spot when the man was taken away by Noah’s men.

Dylan returned to his place and closed the door of his shabby house. He had been careful all these days, until yesterday when he noticed Ashley’s car entering Alice’s house.

At first, he thought she didn’t notice him but when she turned to look outside the window, it alarmed him and he quickly hid behind the tree.

Knowing Alice’s close relationship with Ashley, Dylan knew she wouldn’t stay quiet even if it was her assumption. She would definitely inform Alice about her suspicion.

So to confirm his doubts, he came up with a plan to replace that homeless man disguised as him, and to his surprise, the plan worked when he saw a guard approaching the man.

Since the man wasn’t in the right state of mind, Dylan had no problem getting exposed.

"So my guess was right. Ashley did alert Alice" Dylan’s face darkened as his plan of getting inside the house got ruined.

He had been waiting for the right time, but the security around the house was too tight for him to even sneak in secretly.

After Lucas’s sudden death, Dylan lost his support but thanks to the money he extorted from him before he left the world, he was able to survive until he executed his plan of killing Alice and leaving the country once and for all.

He had everything planned but now with Ashley’s intervention, he had to pick plan B.

Now that he couldn’t sneak into the house, he had to kill Alice outside. But for that, he had to wait for her to be alone.

Once he would be able to catch hold of her he would show her how it feels to get ruined. Back then, he let his friends have her but this time, he would take the initiative to destroy her and kill her without any mercy.

"Just wait and watch Alice. The way you and your husband ruined my life. I will ruin yours and that man will suffer the guilt of not being able to protect you" Dylan’s words were extremely cold and heartless.

He didn’t care how dreadful he sounded but for him revenging the people who caused him misery, he would never let them live in peace.

Picking out his phone he then looked at the pictures of her visiting the gynecologist along with Noah.

"And I know how I would get you" With an evil glim flashing through his eyes Dylan smiled as something clicked in his mind.

****

Meanwhile, a car drove in the outskirts of city M.

"Do you really want to do this?" Max asked turning his head to the side and watched the anxious Tori who kept biting her lower lips.

They had been driving for almost two hours now and it was quiet dense since they left the city.

Unlike Tori, Max was a little relax but deep down the seed of guilt kept growing and his hand around the steering wheel tightened in nervousness.

"It’s now or never Max. We have to do this no matter what" Tori’s words after a long pause left Max with no choice and he instantly sighed pursing his lips back into a thin line.