Divorce my prentened poor Billionaire husband

Annika’s chest was a tangled mess of every emotion you could name when Everest straight up asked if she had anything to say to him. What could she possibly say? Should she call him out on his fake bankruptcy? Call him out for lying to her for three whole years?

She drew a deep breath, trying to soothe the burn of bourbon still crawling down her throat, even as tears stung her eyes and welled up against her will. If she’d messed up, why couldn’t Everest just say it to her face instead of stringing her along with lies?

Her lips—still pink and swollen from the kiss they’d shared earlier—trembled as she forced herself to speak. After a beat of silence, she finally got the words out: "I have something to tell you."

Everest’s expression softened, the sharp edge of his features melting just a little. If she came clean and showed a little humility, he might just forgive her for defying him.

He drank in her flushed face, his own lips barely parted. "Go on."

Digging deep for every last scrap of courage she had, Annika locked eyes with him. "I finished the drink. Now let me leave."

The air in the room turned ice-cold instantly. You could almost reach out and touch the thick, thrumming tension.

It spiked fast, volatile and ready to blow. Everest’s hand around her waist tightened on instinct.

"You’re sure that’s all you’ve got to say to me?"

Annika bit down on the discomfort and nodded, stubborn as anything. "Yeah. I’m not your assistant, Everest. We’re not close enough for this little heart-to-heart."

The other rich guys in the room gaped, shocked Annika had the guts to talk back to Everest like this. They’d all showed up tonight to make her pay.

They’d expected her to get on her knees and beg for mercy. Not stand there, bold as brass, throwing defiance and dignity right in their faces.

"Leaving ain’t that easy. You gotta have another drink with us first," one sneered.

"Damn right, my throat’s killing me. C’mere, sit on my lap and pour me one," another chimed in with a sleazy smirk.

"Heard she’s some rich guy’s kept girl, and yet she’s over here acting like a frigid virgin," a third scoffed.

Listening to their crude, disgusting taunts, all the color drained right out of Annika’s face.

"You’re all supposed to be respectable heirs! You said if I finished the drink, you’d let me go. What happened to that?"

"So what? Promises don’t mean jack shit here," one shot back.

"You were offered a drink earlier and wouldn’t play nice. We ain’t blind, you know," another added sarcastically.

"A bunch of goddamn hypocrites!" Annika knew begging or reasoning wouldn’t work—their arrogance was carved into bone.

Trapped against Everest’s lap, she couldn’t run. She couldn’t fight back head-on either.

Maybe a different angle would work. Flattery. She’d flatter Everest.

"I’ve always heard Everest Kennedy is a man of his word. Fair. Honest. You’re all his friends—you gonna ruin his good name with this garbage?"

Annika slid a sidelong glance at Everest. Would he really let these spoiled brats humiliate her? Even after they’d pretended to be a couple for three years?

Shoving her own fear and rage down, she kept pushing, her voice sharp and cutting. "Does the famous Everest Kennedy brag about his integrity to the whole world, then turn around and lie and exploit people behind closed doors?"

"Or is his little lapdog Mario Wallace in on all this dirty business too?"

No matter how much she pushed him, Everest just stayed cold, detached, watching her squirm like it was nothing more than a show.

Annika’s nails dug so deep into her palms blood started to trickle down her wrists.

Everest looked like he didn’t have a single compassionate bone in his body. So cold. So completely uninvolved.

Feeling the tension bubble too high, Zeke stepped in to defuse it. He’d been the one to bring Annika here, after all—he couldn’t just leave her hanging.

Zeke stepped forward, holding his hands up placatingly. "Gentlemen, my apologies for the last-minute arrangement tonight. Annika isn’t feeling well. She turned down my invitation at first, only stayed ‘cause I badgered her. Do me a favor, let her go home and rest."

Annika nodded at him, grateful, her head throbbing so hard it felt like it would split open.

Even a guy like Zeke would step up for her. But the man who’d shared her bed, her life, for three years just stood there and watched her suffer in silence.

Everest could have said one word. One word to get her out of this. And he just didn’t care. Enough said.

Everest Kennedy. What a fucking jerk.

Annika knew Zeke couldn’t fix this. She’d stumbled right into this rich social circle’s revenge plot without even seeing it coming. Only Everest held the key to getting her out.

She grabbed what was left of her courage, fisted the front of Everest’s collar, and leaned in to whisper, low and dangerous, in his ear: "Everest, if you don’t get me out of here, I’m gonna tell every last one of these assholes I’ve been sleeping with their wives for the past three years. Bet they’d get a real kick out of that."

Everest’s dark eyes pinned her to the spot, tracing the lips so close to his own. His Adam’s apple bobbed once, barely noticeable.

After a long beat, his voice came out cold, distant. "What makes you think you can blackmail me?"

"I matter to you, don’t I? My safety has to mean something, right?" Annika bit her lip, fighting to hold the tears back from spilling over.

He didn’t love her. Didn’t care if she got hurt. He’d even throw her into the abyss himself if it suited him.

Annika had to save herself. She only had her own back here.

Finally, Everest loosened his grip on her waist. One cold, final word slipped past his lips: "Go."

Annika exhaled so hard her shoulders shook, relief flooding her.

If Everest was letting her walk, the other guys couldn’t keep harassing her.

She swiped away the stubborn tears that had escaped, jumped off his lap, desperate to put as much distance between her and this mess as possible.

Terrified of staying even one more second, she grabbed her coat and bolted for the door.

"Zeke, I’m heading out," she called over her shoulder.

She didn’t wait for him to answer. Grabbed her trench coat and ran out of that suffocating room like her life depended on it. Because it kind of did.

A few minutes later, Annika got a notification. A million-dollar transfer from Zeke.

She pressed a hand to her flat stomach, her thoughts heavy. "Baby, mommy just made a million. Add the million from yesterday, that’s two already. Once we save enough to cut every last tie with Everest, it’ll just be you and me, okay?"

The peace didn’t last long.

Annika was almost back to her little rented apartment when a black SUV came barrelling toward her, cutting right off her path.

A handful of huge, burly men climbed out and started walking straight for her.

"Miss Price, we need you to come with us to the hospital."

Panic exploded in Annika’s chest. She curled her body around her stomach, stepping back over and over.

Had Everest found out she was pregnant? Was he here to force her to get an abortion?

"What do you want? Dragging me to a hospital in the middle of the night?" She muttered, fumbling to dial 911 under her coat.

In a blink, a big, calloused hand clamped down on her wrist. The pain made her drop her phone before she could hit call.

"Miss Price, it’s urgent, we need you at the hospital right now," one of the men said.

They grabbed her and shoved her roughly into the back of their SUV.

Annika fought them as hard as she could, screaming: "Let me go! Is Everest Kennedy behind this? I’m not going to any hospital! Help!"