Dumped My Cheating Ex. Now I'm Sleeping Next to a Billionaire CEO novel Chapter 856

The line went quiet for a second before a cold dial tone hummed in her ear. He’d hung up. Emmy slammed the receiver back into place, her chest tight with frustration. Dean had gone on business trips before, sometimes for weeks at a time, but he’d never tried to control her like this. What was he so scared of? Who did he think she’d reach out to?

Two more days slipped by. Dean still wasn’t back.

Emmy’s body had recovered. She could finally move around on her own. Claiming she needed some fresh air, she walked to the island’s only little settlement and found the tiny general store. Using the handful of words she’d picked up recently, she tried to talk to the owner, stumbling over the new language.

“I… want to buy… phone,” she managed.

The owner, a middle-aged man with dark skin and a warm smile, pulled out a few old smartphones for her to look at. Emmy picked the one that seemed least battered, but as she reached for her pocket, it hit her—she didn’t have a single cent.

Embarrassed, she trudged back to the villa.

She searched Dean’s bedroom from top to bottom, every closet and drawer. Nothing. No cash, not even a stray coin. He’d locked her in this gilded cage, giving her every comfort except her own freedom and money.

Her eyes landed on a sculpture by the entryway, something Dean had once boasted about winning at auction for a hundred thousand dollars. Emmy didn’t hesitate. She scooped it up and marched back to the general store.

One priceless art piece later, she walked out with a battered phone and a SIM card, worth less than a hundred bucks together. The shopkeeper stared at her like she was out of her mind. She didn’t care.

She headed straight to the beach, sat down in the sand, and popped in the SIM card. Two bars of signal. Not great, but good enough. Quickly, she downloaded the apps she needed and started setting up a VPN so she could log in to her socials back home.

Just then, a group of kids came tearing down the beach, kicking a battered soccer ball and shouting over each other. Their voices drifted over to her.

“Look, it’s that woman again!”

“The island boss’s wife is so pale. She looks like she doesn’t even have bones.”

“Yeah, why does the boss like girls like that? My mom says a breeze would knock her over.”

Emmy had only studied for a few days, but she was already getting the hang of it. The kids instantly accepted her as one of their own, crowding around and firing off questions. Piece by piece, she put together the truth.

Dean had bought this island. He was the boss here, the one everyone answered to. The villagers all worked for him, and if they took the boat to a neighboring island for work, their pay was better than ever. Life here had changed completely.

“Boss’s wife,” the bold boy said, “do you want to go diving with us? The water’s awesome today. We’ll catch big lobsters.”

For the first time in days, Emmy felt a spark of excitement. She thought for a second, then nodded. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

She hurried back to the villa and hid the phone under her pillow. In the closet, she found several brand-new swimsuits, tags still attached, all picked out by Dean. Instinctively, she skipped over the revealing bikinis and chose the most modest one-piece.

As she changed, standing in front of the mirror, her eyes lingered on her stomach.