Dumped My Cheating Ex. Now I'm Sleeping Next to a Billionaire CEO novel Chapter 230

Meanwhile, over in the tech department, Will kept his voice low as he discreetly aimed his phone camera at Emmy.

“James, what do we do?” he whispered, looking like he was about to crawl out of his own skin. “She’s not really going to take the Dome offline in front of everyone, right? What about our search-and-rescue drones?”

On the other end of the call, James was propped up in a hospital bed, eyes glued to the screen. His lips curled into a subtle, knowing smile. Emmy looked way too calm for someone about to blow up her own project. No way she’d give up the Dome that easily. That little fox was definitely up to something.

James thought for a second, then gave a firm order. “Send the engineers over to Starlight Corporation. If the Dome’s still online, it means the fire department’s ready to work with us—but only if Emmy’s the one handling it.”

Will’s face lit up. “Understood! I’m on it!”

He ended the call.

James spun his phone between his fingers, his eyes darkening as he dialed another number. His voice was cool and steady. “Don’t we own a streaming company? Have their top team head over to Starlight and join the crowd.”

If anyone tried anything shady or the broadcast got cut, at least there’d be another set of eyes keeping the whole thing live for everyone to see.

Emmy had no idea any of this was happening.

Soon, the PR team showed up. Reporters from every major outlet rushed in. Even Cooper arrived, his face set and unreadable.

The tech department was way too cramped, so everyone moved to the biggest conference room at Starlight Corporation.

The second the livestream started, the comment section on Starlight’s official channel exploded.

“Take the Dome down! Get that garbage system out of here!”

“Copycats like you still dare to go live? Shameless!”

“Is the developer dead or just hiding? Get out here and apologize!”

“Heard it’s a woman. We all know how she climbed up, don’t we?”

“Yeah, move over for Skyline System already! Stop hogging the spotlight if you’re not going to deliver!”

Dean’s eyes narrowed. He suddenly remembered when things started to go wrong. It probably began when Cooper kept nudging him toward Evelina, always defending her a little too much. Back then, Dean thought it was just an older man looking out for the next generation. He didn’t read too much into it.

That changed the day he overheard Emmy and Cooper arguing outside the hospital room, and the truth came out—Evelina was Cooper’s illegitimate daughter.

Later, Evelina—crying—had admitted everything to Dean. She’d only just found out herself.

Dean didn’t care anymore whether she was innocent or not. From that moment on, it was like a thorn stuck in his heart. He couldn’t see Evelina the same way again.

Still, he’d snapped at Emmy for Evelina’s sake. But the moment he turned away, he couldn’t help imagining what Emmy must be feeling. Her father’s secret daughter had taken her fiancé, and now her dad too. How much pain and anger was she bottling up?

So many times, Dean wanted to just pull her close, hold her, and promise her he’d never leave—like he used to when they were kids. Promise he’d always protect her.

But every time he saw the wedding ring on her finger, saw her defending that firefighter, something ugly and jealous burned through him. How could she treat herself like that?

Dean didn’t even know what he wanted anymore. Frustrated, he pressed his fingers to his brow, turned, and strode out to the smoking area. He lit a cigarette and let the bitter smoke blur the mess of feelings swirling in his chest.