I Slapped My Fiancé—Then Married His Billionaire Nemesis novel Chapter 186

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 into 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 ceremony, 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 organizers. 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.]

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Chapter 186 Hired Gun

She replied instantly. [On it!]

“Mirabelle!”

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

+15 BONUS

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.”

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Chapter 186 Hired Gun

+15 BONUS

“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.

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