I Slapped My Fiancé—Then Married His Billionaire Nemesis
Chapter 185 - 186 Hired Gun

Chapter 185: Chapter 186 Hired Gun

While the host droned on about the change in protocol, I turned to Ashton.

‘Octavia told you?’

He nodded. ‘The Hadley guy works for a friend of mine. I asked him to look in it. Dubois took a payment. Six hundred thousand, wired two days ago. Offshore account. She’s the one who ordered everything. The sabotage, the switch-up, all of it came from her.’

I frowned. ‘I don’t even know her. Never met her before today.’

‘She’s just the hired gun. Hadley only had enough time to find out about the payment but couldn’t trace the sender. It’s buried. Whoever did it knew what they were doing.’

‘Huh. I wonder who it could be.’

But there was no time to dig into it at the moment.

The host’s voice boomed. ‘The final score is in. First place goes to... Miss Mirabelle Vance!’

A staff member waved me back onto the stage.

After the award-giving, we hit another snag.

‘Miss Vance, quick question—about the rights to your designs.’ A staff member, who’d probably been roped into this against her will, approached me with an apologetic smile.

‘What about them?’

‘As per the contract, the designs submitted during the competition belong to the organisers. That includes both sets.’

‘Wrong.’ I shook my head. ‘I submitted one set. The second one only went in after your colleague sabotaged my original entry. This set’s yours. The first one stays with me.’

‘We’d really appreciate your cooperation—’

‘Not happening.’

She tried again.

I didn’t budge.

After five more minutes of back-and-forth, she gave up and walked off.

I pulled out my phone and sent the files to Priya.

[Necklace goes premium. High-grade stones, higher price tag, position it as affordable luxury. Rings, bracelets, earrings—use budget-friendly materials. Keep the designs clean, price low, wide reach. The views just hit two hundred thousand. Let’s ride the wave.]

She replied instantly. [On it!]

‘Mirabelle!’

I turned and spotted Octavia making her way through a gap between curtains.

‘Congrats! You got what you came for.’

‘Only because you wouldn’t let them bury me.’

I meant it.

She’d held the line while I was still figuring out where to aim.

Octavia gave a quick shrug. ‘My words wouldn’t have mattered if your pieces were shit. People aren’t blind.’

I laughed. ‘Fair point.’

‘Let’s go find Ashton. He’s the one who got the Hadley guy to speak up against Dubois.’

‘He wasn’t the only one,’ I recalled. ‘Who was the woman seated to your right?’ She gave me a ten when the other judges followed Dubois’ lead.

‘Rowan Hale. A singer. She’s mostly based overseas. But I guess now she—oh.’ Octavia stopped abruptly.

I followed her line of sight.

Rowan Hale was standing in front of Ashton, talking.

‘Didn’t know they knew each other,’ Octavia muttered.

Neither did I.

The question must have been written on my face, as Ashton explained, ‘Miss Hale and I are acquainted.’

‘We went to Wessexia at the same time,’ Rowan added. ‘I was a year below. Haven’t seen him since he moved back to Skyline, so this was a surprise.’

She smiled the whole time she spoke. Very polite.

But she stood a little too close.

Her hand almost brushed his sleeve when she gestured.

Something felt off.

I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it crawled under my skin anyway.

I forced a smile. ‘Thanks for what you said earlier.’

‘No problem. Your work’s incredible.’

Ashton stepped closer and took my hand. ‘Everything sorted?’

I nodded.

‘Let’s go.’

He nodded at Rowan, then started walking.

Octavia’s heels clicked behind us. ‘You two are dropping me at the hotel. My car’s dead, and both my assistant and driver are off fixing it.’

‘Fine,’ Ashton said.

Behind us, I could feel Rowan’s eyes tracking us as we walked away.

After dinner, Ashton dropped Octavia off at her hotel, then drove back to the Riverbend house.

I curled up on the living room sofa, scrolling through my phone.

My follower count was jumping like mad, faster than when Octavia had tagged me last month.

Comments flooded in, most asking about new collections, stock updates, preorders.

I answered as many questions as I could.

Five minutes turned into half an hour, then an hour.

Ashton walked in, stared at me for two seconds, then picked me up with both arms.

‘That’s enough screen time,’ he muttered as he carried me upstairs.

***

We didn’t stay at Riverbend long.

A few days later, we packed up to head back to Skyline.

The night before we left, Tristan Hadley showed up at the house.

He produced a glossy photo.

‘I found who paid off Dr Dubois,’ he said. ‘They only spoke online, never met in person. But the cops traced the wire transfers. The account belongs to this guy.’

I leaned over to get a better look.

The man in the photo had grey hair and a hunched back.

His coat was creased and two sizes too big.

Sixty, maybe older.

Ashton glanced at me. ‘You know him?’

I shook my head. ‘Never seen him before.’

He stared at the picture for a long time, fingers pressed against the edge of the table.

‘That’s odd,’ he said finally. ‘Why pay that much to target you? Six hundred K’s not pocket change.’

‘And he doesn’t look like he’s ever held that kind of money,’ I agreed. ‘Someone could’ve used his account. He might just be the fall guy.’

‘It’s going to take time.’ Hadley scratched the back of his head. ‘Cross-border investigations are a mess. I might not be able to get clear answers soon.’

‘Then make it your priority,’ Ashton said. ‘If you sort it, I’ll make sure Al-Ahmad gives you that promotion you’ve been whining about.’

Hadley straightened up like he’d just been plugged into a wall socket. ‘Yes, yes, absolutely!’

We flew back to Skyline the next morning.

We talked about the case on the flight.

My guess was that it was one of the spoiled brats competing in the same category as me.

But Ashton was less convinced.

But until we knew more, there was nothing more to be done.

The second we stepped off the plane, icy wind blasted straight through my clothes.