The Double Life of My Billionaire Husband – Episode 18
The pawnbroker released the box as soon as Daniel approached. “This is a private transaction,” he said, though his confidence had weakened. Men in tailored suits rarely entered pawnshops by accident, and Daniel carried no visible uncertainty about his right to intervene. The few customers browsing nearby drifted closer, sensing that a routine act of exploitation had become something more dangerous.
Daniel picked up the contract and read the terms. “A seventy-percent discount followed by this interest rate isn’t a transaction. It’s an ambush.” He tore the unsigned page neatly in half.
Natalie rose. “You can’t do that.” She was relieved and embarrassed in equal measure. “I need the loan.”
“Not from him.” Daniel placed the pieces on the counter. He knew Sebastian would gladly pay every hospital bill and probably purchase the building merely to ensure this man never exploited Natalie again. Explaining that certainty required a truth he was not authorized to reveal. For now, he had to offer help that looked plausible from the assistant of a supposedly penniless friend.
The pawnbroker scowled. “If you’re not selling, get out.” Daniel smiled without warmth. “We will. After you return every copy of her identification you scanned.”
The demand produced a flash of alarm. Natalie had not realized the clerk retained digital copies beyond the transaction or that the paperwork authorized uses she had barely understood. Daniel waited while the pawnbroker opened his computer system, deleted the files, and emptied the archive under his supervision. Only after the temporary scan was returned did he step away, leaving the man with no profitable trace of Natalie’s desperation.
Outside, Natalie clutched the shoe box. “Why were you following me?” Daniel chose his answer carefully. “I was nearby and recognized you.”
“Nearby?” She looked toward the office towers. “What kind of work do you do?” “I handle business for a friend,” he said. It was both precise and useless.
“Sebastian sent you, didn’t he?” Natalie asked. The possibility made her stomach drop. She had hoped to replace the shoes before he noticed, preserving the memory of his gift and avoiding a conversation about the hospital. The plan had depended on several improbable successes—an immediate loan, a quick job, and repayment before Sebastian opened the closet—but desperation had made them feel achievable.
Daniel did not lie well enough to answer convincingly. “He doesn’t know the details yet.” The word yet confirmed that he intended to tell him.
“Please don’t.” Natalie stepped closer, lowering her voice so the pawnbroker could not hear the private details. “I only need enough to keep my mother’s treatment going. I’ll get another job interview and buy the shoes back.” The confidence in her promise could not conceal how little time she had. Daniel saw the same stubborn self-reliance Sebastian had described and understood why his boss was already losing the distance his plan required.
Daniel studied her. Sebastian had married her as one element in a plan, but this desperate loyalty made her unlike anyone the background report had prepared him to meet. The records listed debt, employment, and family estrangement; they could not capture the way Natalie protected everyone around her while asking nothing in return. Daniel understood that Sebastian’s greatest risk was no longer exposure. It was becoming emotionally invested before revenge was complete.
“Why hasn’t your father paid?” he asked. Natalie looked away. Explaining would expose the marriage bargain and the Quinn family’s betrayal.
“It’s complicated.” The phrase sounded weak even to her. “The hospital cannot schedule promises, Mrs. Klein.” Daniel’s formality made the warning gentler, not colder.
He offered to arrange a fair private loan against the shoes through a legitimate lender. The documentation would protect her ownership, the interest would remain minimal, and repayment could begin after she found work. Natalie hesitated, suspicious of any solution connected to Sebastian’s mysterious circle of friends. Daniel appeared wherever money and power crossed her path, and his ordinary title no longer explained the ease with which people obeyed him.
“No special favors,” she said. “A written agreement, reasonable interest, and I repay everything.” Daniel almost smiled. Even cornered, she insisted on preserving responsibility.
“Agreed.” He transferred an advance large enough to address the immediate warning, recording it as a secured personal loan. The shoes remained in Natalie’s possession.
Relief loosened her breath, but it did not feel complete. The hospital would receive enough to preserve the next appointment, yet the money created another secret between her and Sebastian. “Thank you.” She looked at Daniel’s phone, imagining her husband’s reaction when he learned what she had nearly surrendered. “And please let me tell Sebastian myself.”
Daniel had spent years obeying Sebastian without hesitation. This request placed discretion against loyalty, yet he could grant only a little time. “You have until tonight.”
As Natalie hurried toward the hospital, Daniel sent Sebastian a carefully limited update: She is safe. We need to talk. Sebastian read it between negotiations and understood the omission immediately. Daniel never softened a report unless the truth involved someone his boss cared about. Sebastian ended the meeting early, leaving two startled shareholders at the table. By the time Natalie returned home, her husband would already know that the shoes had become collateral for a secret—and he would be waiting to learn why. The delay she had requested was already disappearing.
