Dumped My Cheating Ex. Now I'm Sleeping Next to a Billionaire CEO novel Chapter 199

Their eyes locked and Dean’s anger was so sharp, it almost felt real.

“I’ll give you ten million. Walk away from Emmy,” he said coolly, like he was tossing out charity.

James just laughed, shaking his head. “Mr. Sparrow, maybe you should worry about fixing your ribs before you try to buy off my wife. Or did you mess up your brain too?”

Dean’s face hardened, his voice dropping to a threat. “How about I shut down that shabby fire station of yours tomorrow? Don’t think I won’t.”

James raised a brow, totally unfazed as he strode into the elevator.

“Go ahead and try,” he replied, voice casual.

As James brushed past, his arm hit Dean right where it hurt—those half-healed ribs.

“Just a heads-up, Mr. Sparrow. Guys who go after my wife? Never ends well for them.”

The elevator doors slid closed.

Dean grunted in pain, doubling over as agony shot through his ribs. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He clenched his phone and dialed.

“What is wrong with you all? You couldn’t handle one firefighter?” he snapped.

On the other end, someone sounded terrified. “Mr. Sparrow, that guy isn’t just any firefighter! There were over ten of us and he took us all down by himself. Some of the guys are still in the ICU!”

“We’re out. We’re refunding your money right now. Find someone else for this job!”

Dean cursed and hung up, face twisted with pain and humiliation.

Evelina hurried over, her voice soft as she steadied him. “Dean, are you okay? You look terrible.”

He forced himself to stand straight. “It’s nothing.”

Then a thought hit him and he grabbed her wrist. “Doesn’t your mom know someone in a mercenary group overseas? Get in touch. I need them to take care of someone for me.”

Evelina’s eyes flickered for a split second before she smiled, all sweet and innocent again.

“You want them to deal with James, right?”

When Dean didn’t answer, she sighed, sounding touched and a little heartbroken. “Dean, you don’t need to go this far for me. If it’s just James, my mom can handle it with one call. Let me talk to her.”

She’d never let Dean know the real reason. James might’ve nearly snapped her wrist, but the way his muscles flexed under his shirt had made her feel something she really shouldn’t—thrilled.

Dean and Evelina were just a few doors down.

After a second, James pulled out his phone and shot off a text to Abriella.

“I’ll go after Abriella gets here,” he said.

Emmy didn’t argue. She just asked her assistant to bring her laptop and stretched out on the cot, getting back to work.

Later that afternoon, the doctor called her to the office to fill out some forms.

When Emmy came back, she saw Evelina leaning against the hallway wall, obviously waiting for her.

Evelina flashed a smug smile. “Emmy, you probably don’t know this, but years ago your dad bought my mom a villa. The only reason we moved into that dump your mom owns was to mess with you. Did you really think we wanted it? Ours is way nicer.”

Emmy looked at her, suddenly amused. So, Dean wasn’t around. She had to admit, she preferred this version of Evelina—the ambitious, no-filter one who didn’t bother pretending.

At least she was finally being honest.

Ignoring the taunt, Emmy fixed her with a calm look. “Where did you get the multimodal perception fusion system for autonomous driving?”