The Double Life of My Billionaire Husband – Episode 25
Natalie left the hospital carrying more hope than she had brought in. Her mother had color in her cheeks, the nurse had spoken confidently about the next treatment, and no unpaid balance haunted the end of every conversation. For once, Natalie could hold her mother’s hand without secretly counting days. George’s payment seemed to have returned a future to both of them.
She bought a modest box of pastries on the way to the Quinn mansion. The gift looked painfully small beside the scale of what she believed her father had done, but gratitude mattered more than display. She remembered which flavor George once claimed to like and chose it despite doubting he would remember telling her. During the ride, she rehearsed a simple thank-you, unwilling to transform the visit into another argument about belonging.
At the penthouse, Sebastian called her twice. Natalie had silenced her phone inside the hospital and did not see the missed calls. He drafted a message warning that George had not made the payment, but there was no honest way to explain his certainty. He considered sending Daniel to intercept her, then recognized how controlling that would be. Each attempt to protect his secret threatened to become another form of manipulation.
The gates at the Quinn estate opened after the guard recognized her name. Natalie walked the familiar drive as an outsider, remembering childhood occasions when George had promised to return and never appeared. She had spent years insisting she no longer needed his approval, yet one payment had awakened the daughter who still wanted evidence that she mattered. Today, she told herself, he had finally returned in the only way that mattered.
Lauren opened the door before a servant could reach it. Her expression changed from surprise to annoyance when she saw Natalie. “Why are you here?”
Natalie held out the pastry box. “I came to see Dad.”
“If you’re asking for more money, you’re wasting your time.” Lauren did not invite her inside. “The company has expenses you couldn’t begin to understand.”
The hostility confused Natalie, but years of practice kept her voice calm. “I’m not asking for anything. I came to thank him for paying Mom’s hospital bills.”
Lauren stared at her. The pause lasted only a second, yet it contained unmistakable surprise. Then calculation settled over her features. Natalie knew that expression from every family gathering where Lauren learned an inconvenient fact and immediately searched for a way to control it. “So George finally handled that little problem.”
“It wasn’t little.” Natalie lowered the box. “Her treatment could have stopped.” She searched Lauren’s face for acknowledgment and found only irritation at being confronted with another woman’s suffering.
Cassie appeared at the top of the stairs, dressed for an afternoon she had no intention of spending usefully. “What’s she doing here?” Her gaze dropped to the pastries. “Did your husband send you to beg for leftovers?” The insult no longer carried its former power. Natalie had seen Sebastian protect her dignity when her own family would not, and Cassie’s contempt now revealed more about its source than its target.
“Dad paid the full balance,” Natalie said. She expected the fact to silence Cassie. Instead, her half sister descended slowly, exchanging a glance with Lauren that made Natalie’s relief feel less secure.
“Dad has been in meetings all morning,” Cassie said. “He nearly canceled my card because the company’s accounts are frozen.” She circled Natalie as if inspecting a trick. Rumors had spread that an unseen buyer was collecting influence over Quinn holdings, and George had responded by restricting every unnecessary expense. “You expect us to believe he secretly gave your mother fifty thousand dollars?”
Natalie’s fingers tightened around the box. “The hospital gave me his name.”
Lauren recovered first. “Then the payment must have been arranged earlier.” Her explanation came too smoothly. “George doesn’t report every transaction to Cassie.”
“Of course not,” Cassie replied, understanding her mother’s warning. Pride quickly replaced confusion. “Maybe he decided your little sacrifice deserved a reward after all.”
The words reopened the wound Natalie had tried to close. She had not come to discuss being traded for Cassie’s place at the altar. “I only want to thank him. Is he home?”
Before Lauren could answer, George entered from the corridor with two advisers behind him. His face was drawn, his tie loosened after hours of failed negotiations. One adviser carried a folder stamped with B.M. Enterprises’ name before quickly turning it inward. George stopped when he saw Natalie. She stepped forward, interpreting his alarm as discomfort over their last conversation. “Dad, the hospital called. Mom’s balance is cleared.”
George looked from Natalie to Lauren. He had spent the morning trying to prevent creditors from seizing what remained of his company; he knew every dollar that had left his accounts. The acquisition threat had forced him to review transactions personally, leaving no room for a forgotten transfer of that size. “What are you talking about?”
Natalie’s gratitude faltered. “The payment was made under your name.” George’s bewilderment was too immediate to be rehearsed. Behind her, Cassie went silent, while Lauren’s fingers closed around the doorframe. The pastries grew heavy in Natalie’s hands as she mentally searched for anyone with both the money and knowledge to intervene. George shook his head and delivered the answer that turned relief into suspicion: “Natalie, I never paid that bill.”
