The Double Life of My Billionaire Husband – Episode 11
Sebastian locked his phone before Natalie could read the name on the screen. “Something wrong?” she asked from the hallway. “Nothing I can’t handle.” The answer came too smoothly, but she reminded herself that their agreement allowed him privacy.
She carried her interview notes into the bedroom while he cleared the table. Tomorrow offered three chances at an entry-level position, each one a possible step away from fear. Her résumé contained no prestigious internships or influential references, only years of ordinary work completed while her classmates built easier careers. If George continued delaying the hospital payment, a salary would not solve the crisis immediately, but it could keep Natalie from feeling completely powerless.
At the kitchen sink, Sebastian called Daniel through an earpiece. “Proceed with Jason’s shares,” he said quietly. “Don’t let my father see who the buyer is.” Every acquisition narrowed the gap between patience and revenge.
“Understood, boss,” Daniel replied. “And Mrs. Klein’s background check?” Sebastian looked toward the closed bedroom door. “Complete it, but keep your distance. She can’t know we’re watching over her.”
He disliked the order as soon as he gave it. Protection without consent could become another form of control, and Natalie had endured enough people deciding what was best for her. His mother had once warned him that power revealed character most clearly in the moments when no one could challenge its use. Yet allowing threats near Natalie would be worse, and Sebastian could not pretend she was merely a contractual detail anymore.
When the call ended, Sebastian found her sitting cross-legged on the bed with a résumé covered in notes. Several answers had been rewritten in the margins, and a list of likely questions filled the back page in her small, disciplined handwriting. The sight reminded him that Natalie never expected doors to open merely because she knocked; she arrived prepared to force them open through effort. “You know,” he said from the doorway, “being qualified isn’t the only thing that matters in an interview.”
Natalie looked up. “Please don’t tell me confidence is everything.” She had heard the advice from people whose names opened doors before they touched the handle. “I have good grades, but no impressive work history. Confidence can’t rewrite that.”
“No, but it can stop someone from using it against you.” Sebastian leaned against the frame, keeping his tone casual even as he studied the worry she tried to hide. “You’re kind, Natalie. That’s not weakness. But the world isn’t kind to the meek, and some people can smell when a person is afraid to push back.” He knew because he had survived by encouraging enemies to mistake restraint for helplessness.
His bluntness stung because it was accurate. Natalie thought of Lauren setting the price of her mother’s life and the boutique clerk inventing a fee. “So I should become rude before anyone else gets the chance?”
“You should make them earn the right to judge you.” He nodded toward the résumé. “You worked while maintaining a four-point GPA and caring for your mother. Don’t apologize because the job was at Walmart. Tell them what it proves.”
Natalie glanced down at the page. She had always treated those years as evidence that she had fallen behind her classmates. Sebastian recast them as endurance. “Since when are you an expert on hiring?”
The question nearly made him smile. He had approved executive appointments across several companies and built a management team around Daniel. “I’ve been rejected enough times to recognize bad interviews,” he said.
“That’s not the same thing.” Natalie narrowed her eyes playfully. “Maybe you should take your own advice and find a job.” Sebastian pressed a hand to his chest as if wounded. “And take away your chance to support us?”
She threw a pillow at him. He caught it easily, laughing, and the movement drew him farther into the room. The playful attack released some of the pressure gathering in Natalie’s chest, and she laughed too, startled by how natural the sound felt inside his home. For a moment, the line between husband and stranger blurred, replaced by the fragile ease of two people learning each other’s rhythms.
Sebastian placed the pillow back beside her. Their hands met again, and neither pulled away immediately. Natalie became aware of how close he stood and how little space the bedroom offered for retreat.
“You’ll do well tomorrow,” he said. The teasing had disappeared. His confidence in her felt steady enough to borrow, and Natalie nodded before her nerves could argue.
“Thank you.” She hesitated. “For the advice, dinner, and the shoes—even though I still think they were ridiculous.” Sebastian’s thumb brushed once across her knuckles before he released her hand.
“Get some sleep,” he said. “I’ll be on the couch.” Natalie watched him leave, confused by the disappointment that followed. Their arrangement was working exactly as intended, yet distance no longer felt entirely safe.
In the living room, Sebastian opened the shareholder documents Daniel had sent. The company he secretly controlled would soon be stronger, and the Klein empire weaker. Everything was moving according to plan.
Then he noticed the name of one company on Natalie’s interview list. It belonged to a subsidiary managed by Daniel, close enough to his hidden world that one unlucky encounter could expose him. Sebastian stared at the name and realized that tomorrow his wife might walk directly into the life he had forbidden her to see.
