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Tempted by the Billionaire Novel Cover

Tempted by the Billionaire

After years of devotion, Arabella Quinn is discarded when her adoptive parents' true daughter returns—and her fiancé Louis abandons her for the heiress. Left broken in a hospital bed, she sheds her kindness for cold ambition. When Malcolm King, a ruthless billionaire, proposes a contract marriage for convenience, she accepts. But as revenge fuels her rise, genuine desire threatens the arrangement. With Celine and Louis facing consequences, Arabella must decide if what she feels for Malcolm is real—or just another dangerous illusion.
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Chapter 4

I scoffed inwardly. I spotted Celine a few moments ago. She was putting on a backless dress that left nothing to the imagination. I found it irritating that she thought she could school me when her own precious daughter was dressed like an online slut.

" I won't be taking it off mum. You should go check on the kitchen staff" I said, ignoring the slight twinge of guilt that pricked my heart.

I would never talk so rudely to her. But she deserved it. Not after all her ruthless attitude towards me the moment she got back the daughter that she loved.

Her face turned a bright shade of pink as she stared at me.

" Don't you dare talk to me like that," she said, gritting her teeth.

I refused to meet her gaze as I tried to walk away.

I could hear her audible gasp as I walked into the party, my legs shaking from the encounter I just had with her.

" I did not think you would come," Louis said, looking me dead in the eye.

" Why? Because you decided to get married to my slut of a sister? They are still my family, and I don't care what you or any of them says" I said to him and I could see his jaw ticking. He was angry.

" You would not refer to her like that. I would not take that from you. I wanted to ask you this amicably, but after what happened today I have seen that you are a temperamental woman and I'm so glad that I did not proceed with this journey with you" he said.

I wanted to tell him that I was glad too, that I was glad that I had seen beyond his kind smiles and face and that he had shown his true colours before we tied the knot.

" What do you want?" I said instead, a bored expression on my face.

" I want my ring back. " He said and I looked at him in shock.

The ring he had engaged me with was a simple but yet expensive one. I remembered blushing so violently as I kissed him over and over, thanking him for what he got, happy to take another step with him in life.

He wanted it back. To give it to my sister.

" I threw it out,"I said simply.

I enjoyed the look of pure anger that crossed his features as he stared at me.

" You wouldn't dare," he said.

" Oh but I did. I threw it out the moment I found out about your engagement to my sister. I did not know I was supposed to keep it so you could put it on another girl's finger with the same lies and promises you told me. It just felt repulsive to think about" I said to him.

He looked at me with the fury still clear in his eyes.

" You are going to regret doing that" he said and strode off, leaving me with my heart thumping as I remembered the ring I had put on the table top. I made a mental note to take it and flush it down the toilet for good.

The air was closing up on me and I could already feel my breathing being restricted.

The judge eyes the crowd as they whisper. Perhaps it's because she is so shabby in comparison to her sister.

Maybe it's because he did not want to be stuck with a woman that is second choice with her parents.

I could hear all their thoughts clearly as my legs wobbled, leading me to the table where I knew Tasha was supposed to be, but she was not there.

I wanted to leave now, to take a walk and get the air out of my system, but I stood frozen to the spot, even as she walked back to look at me.

" Where have you been?" I asked her.

She seemed shocked as she looked at me.

" Are you okay? You are breathing so hard and I'm beginning to think that you won't make it through the rest of the night at this pace" she said to me, putting her hand on my forehead as if to check if I was burning up.

" He wants his ring back. That two faced idiot wants to put the same ring he put on my finger, on my sister's" I said.

She scowled as she looked at me, picking up a cupcake.

" Then screw him. He is an idiot if he thinks he would be getting that ring back. You should turn it into spikes and stick it into his clothes.

Maybe add hair loss powder to his shampoo. I keep telling you how to get your revenge but you never seem to do any" she said, sighing as though she would have done worse should she be in my situation.

" I understand your concerns but I think I'm just better off flushing it down the toilet" I said to her and she shrugged.

" You have always decided to take the easy way out anyways. Should we leave now? If you want we can go and then you can call this shitty gathering a night " she said.

I looked at all of them, watching them giggle and play as they danced, happy like a family, celebrating, forgetting that I was one of them.

I met Celine a few times and it was nasty. She seemed to be happy that she had everything I had.

My life, my family, my parents, and now my fiance.

I could not let her win again. Not three times in a row.

" I won't be going," I said with determination.

" But you look like you are about to pass out" she said to me but I shook my head rapidly.

" I would just take a walk in the garden," I said, turning around to leave before she could protest.

I would stay here for as long as I could.

I would show them that it was not easy to break me.

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