Dumped My Cheating Ex. Now I'm Sleeping Next to a Billionaire CEO novel Chapter 824

James stood up, slow and steady, his tall figure blocking Emmy completely from view. He didn’t even glance at Brian. His eyes were cold, locked right on Dean.

“This is my grandmother’s wake. If you’re not supposed to be here, you need to leave.”

He grabbed the intercom from the table, his voice low and sharp, each word chilling.

“Security. Please show Mr. Sparrow the way out.”

From the corners of the courtyard, a dozen bodyguards appeared at once. They wore white mourning bands around their arms, faces blank, moving quickly to surround Dean without a moment’s hesitation. Brian, standing in front of Dean, got swept up in the circle too.

Brian’s face darkened, clouds gathering in his expression. He never thought his own nephew would embarrass him like this, right here, in front of everyone.

“James, what are you doing?”

“I’m here with my godson to pay respects to my mother. That’s tradition. Are you really going to stand in our way?”

James didn’t even look at him. His attention never left Dean, and the contempt in his eyes was clear, like he was staring at something that didn’t belong.

“Did you not hear me?” His voice into the intercom was so cold it almost felt like a threat. “Get him out.”

The bodyguards shifted, ready to move.

“Stop. All of you.”

A commanding voice rang out from the front of the hall, cutting through the noise and freezing everyone in place. Heads turned. Jared, the head of the Nelson family, strode in wearing mourning clothes, his expression somber. His sharp eyes scanned the crowd and finally landed on Brian.

“Brian, you just keep getting bolder with age.”

“Mother made the guest list herself. No outsiders. She wanted peace. That was her wish.”

“You bring someone from outside, are you trying to upset her even after she’s gone?”

Dean slipped into the car Brian had sent for him. The black sedan pulled away, smooth and quiet. When Dean got back to his own car, the cold mask he wore finally cracked, rage flickering across his handsome face.

He hit the gas, hard. The car surged forward. After a while, he suddenly pulled over, thoughts racing.

Something clicked in his mind. He grabbed his phone and opened the digital file for the AI prosthetic project. Back then, he’d barely read it before helping her secure the second-tier support documents.

Now, reading it line by line, his heart sank.

Something was off.

Way off.

The core algorithm and technical details in this proposal were nothing like the research paper she’d just published.

This… this wasn’t real.