Fake Wife, Real Revenge: I Married His Billionaire Uncle

Alanna killed the headlights and pulled her car onto a dirt path shielded by a thicket of pine trees, a safe distance from the retreat's main entrance. The lights from the luxury cabins glowed like warm, welcoming embers in the deep darkness of the mountain. The sight made her stomach churn.

She didn't get out of the car. She wasn't here for a screaming match, to play the part of the hysterical, wronged woman. She was here to hunt.

From her handbag, she took out a small device that looked like a USB drive. It was a long-range audio bug she had designed herself, with a fifty-meter range. She slipped out of her heels and into a pair of flat sneakers, pulling on a dark jacket. She moved through the trees like a ghost, silent and purposeful.

The air was cold, smelling of pine needles and damp earth. Her senses felt sharper than ever before.

She circled around to the back of the cabin where Aiden's car was parked. A window had been left slightly ajar, spilling a sliver of warm light and muffled voices into the night. Crouching low in the shrubbery beneath the window, she carefully affixed the listening device to the corner of the glass pane.

She put in a single wireless earbud. Their voices came through, sharp and clear.

It was Ember, her voice a cloying whine. "Aiden, when are you going to get rid of that woman? I'm your legal wife. I'm sick of sneaking around like this."

Aiden's soothing tone followed. "Soon, baby. As soon as Sterling's investment comes through, I'll move on to the next phase."

"What phase?" Ember pressed.

Alanna held her breath, her heart a cold, heavy stone in her chest. This was it.

Aiden chuckled, his voice dripping with smug self-satisfaction. "The prenup was designed for this. The marriage clauses were camouflage. The attached investment agreements classify every dollar from her trust as an irrevocable capital contribution to Aura Tech and transfer the voting rights attached to that money to me. Those agreements stand even if the marriage doesn't. Once Sterling's investment comes through, I'll dilute her shares and force her out. Her money stays. She goes."

"But she's the core of Aura Tech," Ember said, a note of concern in her voice. "Without her..."

"Tech people are a dime a dozen. We can hire more," Aiden cut her off dismissively. "But there's only one CEO of Aura Tech. Me. Once I have full control and merge it into the Mcmahon Group, my position in the family is secure."

Alanna let out a silent, humorless laugh in the darkness. Her nails dug into her palms. So he wasn't just greedy. He was a fool.

Ember's voice, now laced with avarice, piped up again. "What about her house? That beach house in Malibu. I like that one."

"It will all be yours, baby," Aiden promised. "Everything she has will be ours."

The sound of a kiss, wet and obscene, followed.

Fabric rustled through the earbud, followed by the scrape of a chair across the floor. Ember released a breathy moan. "Right there, Aiden..."

"Quiet, baby. You don't want the whole mountain knowing what a greedy little wife I have." Aiden's low laugh was followed by another muffled moan as his hand clearly wandered beneath her clothes. "Then again, maybe Alanna should hear this. Consider it an anniversary gift."

Ember giggled, shameless and breathless. "Only if you tell her we did it in the cabin she paid for."

"I'll tell her we fucked in every house she's about to lose."

Alanna's face was a mask of stone. She ended the recording, saving the file. She had what she needed.

She didn't wait for more. She turned and began to retrace her steps, just as quietly as she had come.

As she was about to clear the bushes, the cabin door creaked open.

Aiden stepped out onto the deck, lighting a cigarette. His gaze swept casually over the dark yard, right in the direction of her hiding spot.

Alanna's heart stopped. She froze, every muscle tensed, trying to melt into the shadows.

He didn't see her. He took a long drag from the cigarette, leaning against the railing. As he exhaled a cloud of smoke, obscuring his view for a precious second, Alanna ducked low and scurried back into the deeper darkness of the woods.

Back in her car, she leaned her head against the seat, only then realizing her back was soaked in cold sweat. But there was no fear. Only the electric thrill of the hunt. The game was on.

She encrypted the audio file and sent it to Sophie. "Get our new legal team to analyze this and the prenup," she typed. "I want to know exactly how we can put them in prison for fraud."