Billionaire's Match (Khloe and Nick Hunt) novel Chapter 13

Chapter 13

“Why are you saying this again?”

Trey turned back and pulled Angela into his arms. “If I had feelings for her, I wouldn’t have married you and had Pete with you. But right now, Khloe has to be kept in check. We can’t handle any more instability right now.”

Angela fell silent. She understood the pressure he was under. Even if he had developed some attachment to Khloe, now was not the time to press the issue. She had to be the understanding one.

The next morning, Trey was up early. He’d barely slept, his mind churning over Khloe.

At the first light of dawn, he headed for her room, but his phone rang before he could get there.

He answered, his voice rough with fatigue and tension. “You didn’t come home last night?”

“Mhm. Drank too much with a client. Stayed at a hotel.”

Khloe’s voice held not a shred of apology, only the cool detachment of someone just waking up. “Did I keep you waiting?”

Trey froze. All the restless anxiety that had plagued him all night suddenly felt like a pathetic joke. “You stood me up for this?“!

“Not just that,” she continued, utterly unfazed. “I’m thinking of taking a few days off. I need a break.”

His voice shot up. “Time off? Do you have any idea what’s going on right now? The company just lost a major project! This is the critical moment to recover, and you-”

“I’ve been working nonstop under unbearable pressure. I’m not feeling well,” she interrupted, her tone sharp and cold. “Or is the company going to collapse without me?”

She didn’t give him a chance to respond. “Yesterday, while our assistant was shoving documents at me to sign, I was in the middle of negotiating a multi–million dollar compensation deal with a client. I didn’t have a second to breathe. And then? Your mom called me over and over, demanding I drop everything to cook for Alicia because she only likes my food.”

She let the silence hang heavily between them before delivering the final, brutal blow.

“So choose, Trey. Do you want me stabilizing the company and bringing in business, or do you want me serving your sister her meals?”

On the other end of the line, Trey went completely silent.

Trey knew, with chilling clarity, that when Khloe used this one, she wasn’t bluffing. Without her, no one could clean up the mess the company was in.

“Khloe, my mother and Alicia, they…” He tried to find a sofer path, but she cut him off without mercy.

“Don’t make excuses. I only need them to understand one thing: I am here to work, not to be their servant. If they can’t respect that, then I see no reason to continue.”

For the first time, Trey realized with stark clarity–the woman who had once been so compliant was gone. The woman on the other end of the line could no longer be placated with empty promises.