I Became the Billionaire's Fake Lover to Get My Revenge
Chapter 104: Proposal

Chapter 104: Proposal

Once Anna told William all about her meeting with her aunt’s secret child, the man didn’t really say much. It wasn’t really surprising, considering how he had never truly expressed the full extent of his emotions toward Anna’s situation, but this time, she still felt a tinge of disappointment.

It was huge news. Her father was killed. Yet, his reaction was lackluster at best.

A few days later, however, everything changed again.

"What is it?" Anna raised her brows in bewilderment as she accepted a stack of papers from the man. "A business proposal?"

"Yes," William nodded and gestured for her to take a seat in his study. "We are going to have our own startup."

"What?!" Anna’s eyes went wide, the papers almost falling out of her grip. "We? As in you and I?"

"Evidently," the man frowned a little, clearly not impressed with her lack of trust in her own capabilities. "This is what I have been working on this entire time––this is what has been keeping me busy."

"Oh? If you’ve been working on it for so long, then it must be something very complicated..."

Anna lowered her eyes and started skimming through the contents of the papers in her hands. William was a genius developer, so naturally, his idea was related to software development.

As she went through the basics of the proposals, she then finally shifted her eyes back to the man across the desk, and asked, "A phone security software?"

William nodded. "Yes, precisely. This software will become Robert Hyde’s number one competitor in this field once it’s released."

"You want to push Robert out of the market?!"

The moment she asked that question, everything started making a lot more sense. She recalled William’s story about their university group project and how Robert had stolen his code in the most horrible way possible.

Now, it looked like William, too, was ready for his own revenge. But why would Anna get involved? She was ready to offer her help for his charity project, but this? She did not know a single thing about coding.

"Judging from the look on your face," William suddenly scoffed, "you must be wondering what your role is here."

"Obviously," Anna felt a little strange about his unwavering confidence. "What do I even know about software development?"

"Hmm," the man hummed in an almost mocking manner. "You’ve been a girlfriend and a wife of a quite successful software developer. Take a better look at the documents and tell me what you see."

"Alright," Anna said reluctantly, returning to analysing the papers. Then, all of a sudden, she indeed noticed something strange.

Having spent years attending company meetings and listening to Robert and his partners talk, she had a general understanding of her ex-husband’s business, and since William was now trying to push for the same product, even without clearly realizing it herself, her brain began to piece everything together.

"Is this a final proposal?"

"Why do you ask?"

"This just... doesn’t look like a product development plan," Anna placed the fourth page on the desk before William, pointing her finger at the graph. "These numbers are... well, rubbish."

"It’s true," he grinned, pleased by her perspicacity. "This is a bullshit proposal."

"Excuse me?" The more he talked, the more confused Anna became.

"It’s true that I am going to announce the phone security program in the near future. And it’s also true that you will be involved. But this specific plan," William then tapped on the papers as well. "But this is a fake investment proposal. And it is aimed at one specific person only."

Once again, his words brought nothing but more confusion into Anna’s mind. "And who is that person?"

William grinned, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms at his chest. "Your aunt."

"Lillian?"

The man reached for a thin paper folder that had been resting on the left side of his desk this whole time and slid it across the wooden surface, gesturing for Anna to open it.

"It’s a... bank statement," she said quietly once her eyes finished scanning the papers.

"Yes," William nodded, "your aunt is in a lot of debt. Go on, look through all of them. There’s more."

Anna did exactly that, her eyes widening with each page that turned under her fingers. "Oh my God! She even got a casino statement?!"

"Her gambling addiction has only become worse over the years, and seeing how the Hydes do not rush to help her, soon enough, she will have no choice but to start selling all her belongings, including the Adler family estate."

Anna’s heartbeat quickened, a slight shiver running down her spine. Aunt Lillian must have had a fortune at her disposal, all things considered, and she had managed to lose all of it in such a short period of time because of gambling?!

She no longer cared even for the money she had lost, but the house... No, the house was something she couldn’t allow to be taken away from her. Not again.

As her fingers tightened on the plastic paper folder, Anna finally managed to calm down and returned her eyes to William. "So what do I have to do with this bullshit proposal?"

William grinned again, his eyes glistening almost wickedly. "Let’s start like we always do."

***

Anna stood in front of the entrance to the Cartier boutique, watching as a tall, slender woman with short, artificially brown hair had her long, thin fingers tapping on the glass display featuring a collection of diamonds.

She took a deep breath and stepped in, forcing a polite smile to greet the assistants.

"Good afternoon, Miss Dumas," one of them said as she gestured for her to follow her to a glass stand to her left. "Your order arrived from Italy two days ago."

A name-placed order? Lillian cocked a brow, her narrow eyes shifting to her side to check out who exactly the assistant was talking too.

"Thank you, Christina," Anna said as she approached the stand. "Your service is amazing as always."

"Well, of course!" The assistant exclaimed, her smile widening. "Mr. Stark has been our customer for years! When he places an order for gifts, we see it as our top priority to deliver them as soon as possible."

Mr. Stark, as in William Stark? Lillian’s eyes widened, her curiosity soaring higher as she finally saw the woman who was able to receive such top-notch service. Ah, I see. Miss Dumas, William Stark’s lover. I heard Marienne mention her name, but I figured she was just a bimbo. Was I wrong?

"How do you find the necklace, Miss Dumas?" The assistant asked as she placed the necklace on top of the glass display.

"It’s nice," Anna said rather lazily as if completely unimpressed with the piece placed before her.

Nice? Lillian’s brows shot up in shock as she quietly approached the glass stand too. She peeked from behind Anna’s shoulder in curiosity, and her jaw almost dropped to the floor when she realized how much that diamond necklace cost.

"Goodness!" She gasped, attracting the attention of everyone present in the store. "Oh, I’m sorry," she recoiled awkwardly, realizing that she was too loud. "I was just mesmerized by the beauty of this necklace. It’s so beautiful! If this is a gift, then your man must be head over heels for you!"

A slight frown appeared on Anna’s face, but she managed to get rid of it pretty fast. It was strange to see Aunt Lillian like this again, but it was even more strange to feel nothing but irritation.

"Oh, you like it?" Anna asked, struggling hard to remain rather unimpressed with the necklace. "I’m not sure it’s in my taste."

"Taste?" Lillian clearly couldn’t understand her. "Sweety, when a man pays a quarter of a million for a necklace, you’ve got to be certain that it will go with anything. Your taste has nothing to do with it!"

Anna tilted her head to the side ever so slightly, her eyes lazily scanning Lillian’s appearance.

She looks like she’s aged a lot––I guess she can’t spare more money on botox and cosmetic surgery anymore. Old clothes, too. It’s just... sad.

"Is something wrong?" Lillian asked, getting a little concerned about the other woman’s intense scrutiny. "Is there something wrong with my face?"

"No. I’m sorry," Anna shook her head, returning to the necklace. "So you think I should accept it, huh? Well, it’s not like it’s that expensive anyway... Maybe I could wear to brunch or something."

"It’s not that expensive?!" Lillian could not believe what she was hearing.

Anna raised her eyebrows, bewildered. "Why? Is it? I wouldn’t know, I never buy my own jewelry."

"Goodness, your family must be very well off! I could only dream about such luxuries now," Lillian sighed, her eyes drooping with unconcealed sadness.

"Really?" Anna offered the woman a somewhat pitying look. "Then, are you perhaps interested in having a little chat?"