Dumped My Cheating Ex. Now I'm Sleeping Next to a Billionaire CEO novel Chapter 1401

The report laid bare the devastating truth. The Moore family had finally established a solid foothold in the Capital entirely by leveraging their marriage and business ties with the Michell family. However, just days before Christmas, the Michell family abruptly terminated every single joint project without warning. To make matters worse, they publicly declared that anyone who dared to assist the Moore family would be making a direct enemy of the Michells. The financial fallout was catastrophic. Their cash flow evaporated overnight, banks aggressively called in debts, and their corporate partners instantly turned on them. The Moore family simply could not weather such a relentless hurricane. In a matter of days, their burgeoning empire collapsed. To avoid prison time, they were forced to declare bankruptcy, liquidating their luxurious villa in the Capital and pawning off all their real estate assets. The entire family fled back to Seaview in utter disgrace, looking like beaten dogs. The wealth and status Sylvia's parents had spent years ruthlessly clawing for vanished into thin air, and they viciously pinned the blame for this absolute ruin squarely on Sylvia.

Her parents had always despised the daughter they had banished to the countryside. To force Sylvia to grovel before Steve and somehow salvage their ruined fortune, they resorted to blackmail. They threatened to sell off her grandfather's beloved farm, the only place she considered home. They vowed that if she failed to secure Steve's forgiveness, the farm would be liquidated immediately. Driven into a corner, Sylvia had indeed visited the hospital. It was December twenty third. She had stood outside the main entrance in the freezing winter wind for three agonizing hours, only to be blocked by Ella. Right in front of passing pedestrians, Steve's mother had publicly humiliated Sylvia, screaming that she was a shameless jinx and a parasitic gold digger desperate to cling to wealth. Ella then ordered the security guards to physically throw her off the premises. Somehow, the news of this brutal degradation reached Arthur in Seaview. The shock and heartbreak triggered a massive, fatal heart attack. By the time the ambulance rushed the elderly man to the hospital, his advanced age and overwhelming distress proved too much. Resuscitation efforts failed. The time of death was recorded on Christmas Eve. While millions of families gathered under bright lights to celebrate the holidays, Sylvia sat alone in a desolate, freezing morgue, keeping vigil over her grandfather's corpse through the long, hollow night.

Steve could vividly picture the scene. Outside the window, fireworks would have illuminated the night sky, the entire world rejoicing in the festive spirit, while Sylvia watched the only person who had ever truly loved her slip away forever amidst the joyful noise. His fingers trembled violently as he scrolled further down the screen. After her grandfather passed, Sylvia was not even allowed to organize a proper funeral. Desperate to reclaim their lost wealth, her parents locked her inside the Seaview villa, trying to starve her into calling Steve. But Sylvia had a spine of steel. No matter how much they beat her, screamed at her, or threatened her, she kept her jaw locked tight and refused to make the call. She would rather starve to death than bow her head to the Michell family ever again.

Steve snapped his head up, his icy, bloodshot eyes locking onto the assistant trembling by the bed. "Why did nobody tell me?" His voice shook, laced with an uncontrollable, surging rage. "The Moore family goes bankrupt, Sylvia is thrown out of my hospital, and her grandfather dies. Why did not a single person tell me any of this?" The assistant shrank back in sheer terror, instinctively retreating a step. "Sir... it was your mother. Madam Ella explicitly ordered us to keep quiet. She said you had just woken up and your body required absolute peace to recover. She claimed these were trivial matters that would only upset you, and she promised she would handle everything herself."

Steve let out a dark, mocking laugh, as if he had just heard the most absurd joke in existence. "This is her idea of handling things? A human being is dead. You all treated an innocent man's life as a trivial matter?" A sudden, agonizing spasm tore through Steve's chest, feeling as though his surgical wounds had just violently ripped open. Unable to stop himself, he pressed a hand hard against his injured chest. The color drained from his face at a visible rate, leaving him deathly pale as a sheen of cold sweat broke out across his forehead. Panicked, the assistant rushed forward to support him. "Sir. What is wrong? Please calm down, you will tear your stitches."

At that exact moment, the heavy door swung open, and Ella glided in holding a thermal soup container, an expression of motherly devotion plastered across her face. The instant she crossed the threshold, she saw Steve clutching his chest, looking completely drained of blood. Terrified, she rushed to his bedside. "Steve. Steve, what is wrong? Is your wound hurting?" As she fussed over him with frantic anxiety, Ella's peripheral vision caught the tablet resting near Steve's hand, clearly displaying the investigative report on the Moore family. Her worried expression instantly darkened into a storm of fury. Whipping her head around, she leveled a vicious glare at the assistant and barked, "Who permitted you to show this garbage to my son? Did I not explicitly order you to keep that woman's pathetic affairs away from him?" The assistant bowed his head deeply, too terrified to even breathe. Still unsatisfied, Ella sneered at the tablet, her voice dripping with venomous disgust. "That Sylvia truly is a curse. Even after scurrying back to Seaview, she refuses to stay quiet. To think she actually managed to sneak her sob story in here. She is like a lingering ghost. If my precious son suffers any setbacks because of this nonsense, I will make sure her family cannot even survive in Seaview."

"Enough." Steve erupted with a deafening roar. Lunging forward, he snatched his mother's wrist just as she reached to confiscate the tablet. His grip was entirely merciless, causing Ella to wince in sharp pain. Stunned, she looked down. The son she had endlessly doted on was glaring up at her with a look of pure, unadulterated hatred. Ella was completely paralyzed by the sheer malice in his eyes. A profound sense of dread gripped her heart, and she instinctively tried to yank her arm free. "Steve, what are you doing? You are terrifying me. What has gotten into you?"