How To Lose Your Billionaire Alpha Husband In 365 Days (Or Less)!-Chapter 54: Entered a War...

JASMINE’S POV

I stared at the phone like it had just punched me in the throat.

"So this was all mine?" I asked in a horse voice that was barely recognisable to my own ears.

Kaiden didn’t hesitate. "Legally, Heart Enterprises was passed to you upon your twenty-fifth birthday. Your father had a clause written in the original charter and buried it in a sealed file. The company was never Vale’s. He was just holding it. Temporarily."

My thoughts scrambled, twisting in all directions as I tried to make sense of it. "That doesn’t make any sense. I turned 25 last year. Why wouldn’t I know about this? Why wouldn’t he just tell me?"

"Because if you knew too early," Aiden said, eyes locked on mine, "someone could have used you as leverage. You were a child. A high-profile target. This... this kept you safe."

"Or, he never intended to let you know in the first place."

My stomach turned violently, like I’d swallowed something rotten.

"All this time," I whispered, barely able to hear myself over the ringing in my ears. "All the hoops I jumped through to prove I belonged here... and it was mine all along?"

Kaiden’s voice came through again. "The flash drive held encrypted records. I cracked the main partition this morning. There’s more. Contracts, sealed communications between your father and his legal counsel, even one addressed to you, handwritten."

Aiden looked at me, his jaw tight, eyes burning with restrained fury. "Vale’s power isn’t real. He’s been playing regent on a throne that was never his."

"So he lied," I breathed, the words tasting bitter in my mouth. "To me. To the board. To everyone."

Aiden nodded grimly. "And now we have proof."

I slumped back into my chair, heart pounding so hard I felt it in my throat.

I felt like I’d just been lifted out of quicksand, only to find I’d been standing on solid ground the entire time, except now, that ground felt foreign. Like, I didn’t know how to stand on it anymore.

"I want those documents," I said. "All of them. Every file. Every line. Bring them here."

"Already on my way," Kaiden replied. "ETA, twenty minutes."

The line went dead with a soft click.

Aiden stepped forward, placing both palms on the edge of my desk. His presence felt like armour. "We can go public. Release the documents. Expose Vale before he makes his next move."

I hesitated, thinking of Uncle Vale and the smooth way he’d offered me that flash drive like a gift and not a distraction. I doubt he knew the content; if not, he would have destroyed it himself.

"No," I said slowly. "We don’t go public. Not yet."

Aiden straightened. "Why the hell not?"

"Because he doesn’t know what I know now. And I need to see what he does next, now that I’m in a position he tried to keep me away from."

Aiden’s brow furrowed. "You want to bait him."

"I want to trap him," I corrected. "I want to see how far he’s willing to go."

"And in the meantime?"

"In the meantime, I play the dutiful niece. The uncertain Luna. The vulnerable CEO."

He looked like he wanted to argue, but then his gaze softened with something like admiration. "You’re dangerous when you’re calculating."

"You say it like you’re surprised."

"I’m not," he said. "I just love watching it in real time."

A soft knock at the door cut through the moment like a crack in glass.

Lisa peeked in, holding a stack of papers. "Sorry to interrupt, ma’am, but Daniel Heart is here. He says he needs five minutes. Urgent."

My blood went cold. Just hearing his name made something primal in me freeze.

Aiden’s eyes darkened instantly. "Tell him she’s busy."

"Let him in," I said instead, not looking away.

"Jasmine?"

"He’s part of this," I said quietly. "I need to know what role he’s playing."

Lisa nodded and disappeared. The silence that followed was thick.

Aiden folded his arms, standing behind me like an immovable wall. "You’re not talking to him alone."

"I wasn’t planning to."

Moments later, the door opened again slowly, and my nephew, Daniel Heart, walked in like he owned the place. Like nothing in the world could shake him.

He wore his arrogance like cologne, expensive and suffocating. "You’re on seat today," he said smoothly. "And impressively, we all still have our jobs. Thank the heavens."

I didn’t stand. I didn’t flinch.

I folded my hands on my desk, forcing a calm I didn’t feel. "What do you want?"

Daniel’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. It rarely did. "To warn you."

I raised an eyebrow, not buying the act. "You? Warning me? That’s new."

"You’re walking into a war, Jasmine. And you don’t even see the bullets coming."

"You seem awfully invested for someone who’s been trying to oust me."

He stepped closer, dropping his voice. "My father’s losing control. He’s desperate. And desperate men make messy decisions."

"Is that supposed to scare me?"

"No," he said, eyes flicking to Aiden like a challenge. "But it should make you curious. About who’s standing with you... and who’s pretending."

I bristled, fists tightening under the desk. "If you have something to say, Daniel, say it."

He leaned in, and this time there was something colder in his voice. "There’s more at stake than this company. Than your title. My father doesn’t just want power. He wants a legacy, and he’s willing to rewrite history to get it."

My heart stuttered in my chest. I tried not to show it, but I knew Aiden felt the shift.

"What do you mean, rewrite history?"

Daniel didn’t answer. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

He just smiled and straightened like he’d already said too much. "You’ll figure it out. Eventually."

Then he turned to Aiden. "Good luck keeping her safe, boss. She didn’t just enter the spotlight when she saved this company from bankruptcy. She entered a war."

He walked out without another word, without another glance.

The silence in the room afterwards was sharp enough to bleed on. It wrapped around me like a second skin.

I turned to Aiden slowly. "He knows."

Aiden’s jaw was locked. "He knows something. But not everything."

"Enough to rattle me," I said. "And that’s exactly what Vale wants."

Aiden stepped closer, voice low. "Then let’s rattle him back."