Billionaire's Betrayal: A Love Lost

"Gosh! I'm getting sick of you, Daniel! I don't like being controlled like this! Can't go out alone, can't wear clothes like this, and I have to obey all your desires? Is that what you want? I have my own rights, Daniel!" The outburst came from a woman dressed in a tight red mini dress that hugged her guitar-shaped body like a Spanish guitar.

The woman stood in front of a man wearing a formal suit, typical for work, while the man stared at the woman in front of him with a sharp and warning gaze.

Daniel, the man, opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the woman in front of him speaking again.

"What? Want to get angry? Go ahead, Daniel! I've had enough of you! If necessary, let's just end this relationship rather than–"

"Shut up! Watch your mouth! I won't let our relationship end!" Daniel interjected sharply, causing the woman in front of him to fall silent after being cut off like that.

So far, it can be concluded that they have a special relationship or are in a relationship as lovers.

The woman standing in front of Daniel, now sporting a brave and challenging expression, is his girlfriend, named Isabella, often called Bella.

They are currently arguing in a busy restaurant, so they have become the center of attention due to their argument.

Bella chuckled softly after Daniel said those words. Her expression still showed that she was not afraid after being snapped at by her boyfriend, her chin lifted as she stared challengingly at Daniel, who was much taller than her.

"Fine! Just don't overly control and dictate my life, Daniel!" Bella said in a low but emphatic tone, staring into Daniel's sharp eyes as if unafraid at all.

"Got it!" Bella continued before she left the restaurant without even looking back at Daniel. She was truly fed up with her relationship with Daniel, but deep down, Bella still loved and cared for her boyfriend.

"Bella! Wait, Bella!" Daniel shouted, trying to stop Bella's steps. But unfortunately, she ignored Daniel's call and kept walking away.

"Arrgghh!" Daniel screamed, running his hands through his hair in frustration. He seemed to not care about the many eyes on him because of their little argument earlier.

"I won't let you go, Bella!" Daniel muttered seriously. The man's gaze glanced sharply at a few people staring at him before he also left the restaurant in long, hurried strides.

Unbeknownst to Daniel and Bella, at a table in the corner not far from their initial position, there was a woman watching the argument between Daniel and Bella with a pleased smile.

The woman kept staring at Daniel's departure until he disappeared from view through the restaurant's glass window.

"Daniel, Daniel, I can't wait to have you, darling," the woman murmured with a smile that turned into a meaningful grin.

****

Apparently, after arguing with Daniel, Bella went to a gym as if to meet someone, evident by her not bringing any gym gear with her.

"Hey, darling, just arrived? Why took you so long, hm?" greeted a shirtless man approaching Bella as she entered.

Bella immediately welcomed him with a sweet smile, not hesitating to return the sudden hug from the man. "Sorry, dear, had a little trouble with Daniel," Bella replied with her endearing pet name.

"What now, hm?"

"As usual, he showed up at the restaurant when I was alone and then criticized me there, criticizing my way of dressing. The restaurant was crowded, and I felt really embarrassed, Edward," Bella replied with a whining tone at the end.

Edward, the man Bella called, invited her to sit in one of the chairs there, and they sat close together, very intimate.

"Haha, just end that relationship already. When will you do it, Bella? Aren't you comfortable with our relationship?" Edward laughed cynically before speaking seriously, causing Bella to fall silent.

'What now? Why is Edward talking about our secret relationship? Although I do feel more comfortable with Edward, who never constrains and is not possessive like Daniel, it's still very difficult to let go of Daniel,' thought Bella with her musings and her mind focused on the feelings she had when with Daniel and Edward.

Yes, indeed, Edward is Bella's affair. They have been in a relationship for almost a month. But Daniel seems not to know yet or pretends not to know, who knows.

"Haha, alright, I know my place because I'm just your affair," Edward said again, snapping Bella out of her reverie.

"Not like that, Edward, but I still feel unsure about letting go of Daniel. There's something I need to make sure of," Bella replied, not wanting Edward to think that Bella was just playing with their secret relationship.

"What do you need to make sure of, darling?" Edward asked, staring at Bella intently, his hand embracing the waist of the woman next to him, seemingly forgetting the fact that she already had a boyfriend.

"There is, I will tell you later after I know the answer," Bella answered with a sweet smile. She didn't want Edward to have any suspicions.

'Sorry, Edward, I want to make sure first whether I still love Daniel or not. If not, I will definitely leave Daniel and choose to be with you, but if I still love Daniel, I don't know,' thought Bella, feeling confused.

Edward sighed softly before nodding resignedly. He would always understand the condition of the woman he loved so much. "Alright, darling, I won't force you to tell me now," he replied with a smile.

Bella returned the smile equally sweetly. She immediately hugged Edward's shirtless upper body. "Thank you for understanding me, Edward," Bella said sweetly.

"You're welcome, darling," Edward replied with a wide smile, feeling happy with Bella's sudden embrace. But after he remembered something, he immediately tried to release Bella from the hug.

"Darling, let go for a moment, my body is covered in sweat, it must smell," Edward said, making Bella shake her head in the embrace of Edward.

"No, dear, it doesn't smell. I just want to hug you like this first, I miss you, dear," Bella replied, looking up at Edward with a cute pouty face that looked adorable even though Bella was in her twenties.

Edward chuckled affectionately. "Alright, anything for you, baby," he replied while returning Bella's hug just as tightly.

In the distance, there was a man who loved the loving couple. The man seemed to be aiming his phone camera at Bella and Edward, who were hugging intimately.

"Success, soon I will get the reward, and after this, I can buy anything I want," murmured the mysterious man, who immediately left the gym after getting what he had been aiming for.

A casually dressed woman was sitting on a balcony, staring straight ahead at the tall illuminated buildings amidst the darkness of the night.

In one hand, she held a cigarette wedged between her fingers, with wisps of smoke occasionally emanating from her mouth and nose. She seemed to thoroughly enjoy the hazardous object she leisurely inhaled.

"I won't give up on getting you, Daniel," the woman murmured with a smirk playing on her lips.

One of her hands reached for the cellphone on the small table beside her. Without hesitation, she gazed at a photo displayed on the phone.

Still smirking, the woman chuckled softly, her laughter sounding mocking as she looked at the photo on her phone.

"Just wait for your turn, Bella, and after that, you'll be thrown aside by Daniel, then I'll replace you as Daniel's lover," the woman muttered again before bursting into laughter, her laughter tinged with an eerie vibe. Her gaze was equally chilling as she stared at the photo on her phone like a predator eyeing its prey.

Crash!

The distinctive sound of a glass object shattering made the woman, who had been relaxedly smoking while looking at the photo on her phone, rise from her seat.

"Ugh! Noisy!" the woman exclaimed before getting up from the balcony and leaving the room she occupied.

Her steps slowly descended the stairs to check the source of the breaking sound. Upon reaching the ground floor, the woman was immediately greeted by the loud yelling of a couple arguing back and forth after the sound of another object breaking resurfaced.

Crash!

"Watch your words! I'm not cheating! How many times do I have to tell you, Lucy!"

The woman who had to discard her cigarette lazily sighed at the sight of the argument before her, but she still stood near the stairs, watching the middle-aged couple argue near the living room sofa.

"Don't keep denying it, Andrew! I saw with my own eyes that you were with another woman at the nightclub! Your mistress must be a whore, isn't she?"

"Stop it!" the woman who had smoked earlier yelled loudly when she saw the middle-aged man, who happened to be her father, about to slap her mother.

So, the middle-aged married couple were none other than Angel's parents. Angel, that's the woman's name.

Angel's father, named Andrew, stopped his hand that was about to slap his wife, but luckily Angel managed to prevent the violence her mother was about to receive.

With a blank expression, Angel stared at her parents, who looked at her with complicated expressions. "Enough! Can't you two go a single day without arguing and breaking things in this house? Is that too much to ask? I'm tired of hearing you constantly arguing and making a scene in this house!" she said bluntly and boldly.

Before hearing any response from her parents, Angel left the living room abruptly. Instead of returning to her room, she walked confidently towards the front door of the house, leaving with casual attire and flip-flops.

"This is all because of you! All these problems stem from you, Andrew!" Angel's mother, Lucy, spoke up again with a firm tone upon seeing Angel leave. She blamed her husband who had almost slapped her earlier.

"Don't just spout nonsense, Lucy! You're the one who always starts trouble with me! And you're the one who always tries to find fault with me! Yet what you say is always wrong and untrue!" Andrew retorted with an increasingly high tone, his shouts directed at Lucy.

And their argument continued, who knows for how long. It had become Angel's daily fare, making her sick of being at home when her parents were having a heated argument like now.

*****

"How do I ensure my own feelings? I'm confused myself," Bella muttered as she stared at the photo frame of herself with Daniel, purposely placed on her vanity table.

She gazed at the photo frame for a long time until the notification sound of a message from her phone broke the silence. Bella immediately checked it, hoping it was a message from Daniel, as since their argument this morning at the restaurant, Daniel hadn't sent her any messages.

Yes, Bella felt a bit worried because she hadn't received any messages from Daniel. She felt that her boyfriend was truly angry with her, and the uneasiness she felt Bella interpreted as her lingering love for Daniel, but Bella still doubted.

"Ugh!" Bella sighed, giving up on thinking too hard about her feelings. She might find another excuse not to answer Edward's question, the one he had asked her earlier this morning.

Knock, knock, knock.

Bella immediately put down the photo frame she had been staring at and got up from her chair, then walked towards her bedroom door, which was being knocked from the outside.

"What?" Bella asked when she saw her younger brother standing in front of her bedroom door.

"Let's have dinner, sis," came the reply from the teenage boy who was Bella's younger brother, just call him Kelvin. He was a teenager who had just entered high school.

"Oh right, I completely forgot about dinner," Bella replied, patting her forehead lightly, making Kelvin, who saw it, furrow his brows in confusion.

"Why did you forget? Is something bothering you, sis?" Kelvin seemed to be a very perceptive younger brother.

Bella smiled and shook her head, she couldn't possibly be honest with her brother about the problems she faced, because those problems were of her own making. "No, Kelvin, I was just too engrossed in the movie I was watching, come on, we should go to the dining table before Mommy starts nagging," Bella replied, immediately changing the subject by inviting Kelvin to leave.

Don't forget, Bella closed her bedroom door before gently pulling Kelvin's sleeve to lead him downstairs to the first floor.

"Are you lying, sis?" Kelvin asked again, the teenager seemed not easily deceived and Bella had forgotten that.

Bella tried to avert her gaze elsewhere to avoid looking at her brother. "No, Kelvin, why would I lie to you," she replied, trying to sound casual.

After that, Kelvin didn't respond to his sister's words, he just remained silent and glanced briefly at Bella with a puzzled look.

"What's wrong, Bella? You rarely come late to the dining table that your brother has to fetch you," the statement came from a middle-aged woman who was Bella and Kelvin's biological mother.

Bella was the firstborn, and she only had one sibling, Kelvin.

Bella grinned when she received the question from her mother. "Hehe, I got carried away watching a movie, Mom," she replied, lying again. In reality, she got lost in thought while staring at her photo with Daniel.

"Shit!" Daniel cursed as he ruffled his hair roughly before shutting his laptop, which had been displaying intricate graphs requiring focused attention. Unfortunately, Daniel's mind was filled with thoughts of his girlfriend, Bella.

Not receiving any messages from Bella after their argument at the restaurant this morning had made it difficult for Daniel to focus on his work now, even though it was the weekend. Their argument had led Daniel to busy himself by going to the office to work, accompanied by his secretary, who happened to be his own friend.

"What's wrong, Daniel? Headache from work? I've told you not to work on the weekend. You're so stubborn," remarked a man who had just entered Daniel's workspace without permission, immediately commenting upon seeing Daniel, who looked frustrated while messing up his hair with his closed laptop.

Daniel instantly shot a sharp look at the person. His secretary and friend, Virgo, sometimes entered and left his workspace as he pleased, as if it were his own room. But Daniel didn't mind much because Virgo was his friend, and they had been friends since childhood.

Virgo wasn't just a secretary in Daniel's company; don't underestimate him because the man also owned his own restaurant branches in various areas and had even expanded internationally.

"You talk too much! You'd better focus on your work!" Daniel snapped with a sarcastic glance at Virgo, who was now casually sitting on the sofa not far from Daniel's desk.

"How can I focus when my wife is waiting for me at home? If you weren't working, I could be relaxing with my wife by now," replied Virgo with a heavy sigh. Yes, the man was married, and his marriage had just begun this month.

"Ugh! Do you want me to cut your salary?" threatened Daniel, irritated after hearing Virgo's complaint. According to Daniel, Virgo's workload today wasn't as heavy as usual.

Virgo rolled his eyes lazily at Daniel's threat, used to his friend's behavior just because Daniel was the boss in his own company.

"Always making threats!" muttered Virgo, but Daniel didn't respond to him anymore.

Both of them fell silent, preoccupied with their own thoughts. Virgo was thinking about his wife who was waiting at home, while Daniel was still thinking about his problems with Bella.

"Ugh!" Suddenly, Daniel groaned harshly as he got up from his chair, but his movement caused a sound that made Virgo divert his attention to the man.

"What's wrong? Are you having problems with your girlfriend?" Virgo asked again, making Daniel glare at him even more intensely.

"You don't need to know!" replied Daniel before he got up to leave his workspace. But before that happened, Virgo asked again.

"Where are you going? Home?" Virgo hoped his question would be answered with a nod from Daniel so that he could go home now and meet his wife.

"Nightclub," Daniel replied shortly, succinctly, and clearly. He left just like that, leaving Virgo alone in his room.

Meanwhile, Virgo, upon hearing that, immediately widened his eyes in surprise. "Damn, if he's having problems with his girlfriend, I can't let him go alone. There's no way I'll let Daniel get tempted by those girls at the club when he's drunk," Virgo monologued, thinking for a moment before he left to catch up with Daniel, who hadn't gone too far yet.

****

"Shit! I knew he would end up heavily drunk!" cursed Virgo as he saw Daniel, now on the brink of passing out from excessive drinking.

Daniel had consumed several bottles of alcohol until he collapsed on the bar stool, his body slumped over the bar table. Not only that, he was rambling incoherently several times, making Virgo patiently urge him to leave repeatedly.

"Let's go home, Daniel! You're already heavily drunk like this and still want to drink!" urged Virgo for the umpteenth time, trying to convince Daniel to leave. Especially with the club getting more crowded and noisy, Virgo felt uncomfortable being there; he wasn't accustomed to such places.

"No! Give me one more bottle!" commanded Daniel with half-closed eyes and a slurred voice, but Virgo could still hear what his friend was saying.

Smack!

"Wake up, idiot! You're already drunk! Let's go home!" scolded Virgo angrily after he impatiently slapped Daniel's head, hoping to make him slightly more aware.

Instead of getting angry, Daniel, still in a semi-conscious state, continued to ramble incoherently, muttering Bella's name several times.

"Bella."

"Bella, forgive me."

"I'm angry with you, but I can't ignore you for long. Forgive me."

Virgo rubbed his temples as his head began to ache from hearing Daniel's rambling, and Daniel showed no signs of wanting to leave. His body felt incredibly heavy when Virgo tried to pull him off the chair.

"You definitely have problems with your girlfriend, don't you? No wonder you're like this!"

"Instead of telling me, you choose to vent by getting drunk like this. tsk tsk," continued Virgo, scolding Daniel as if he were a mother scolding her child. He sighed several times, not expecting to have a friend like Daniel.

Virgo sighed heavily; he needed to do something to get home quickly. "I guess I have to contact Bella to come here and convince Daniel to leave," he muttered before actually calling Bella, luckily he had her phone number.

"Wait a moment! I've contacted Bella, and she's coming!" announced Virgo after a brief conversation with Bella on the phone. Luckily, Bella agreed to come to the venue to get Daniel.

Virgo sat down next to Daniel and tried once again to pull his body, but once again, he couldn't manage it as Daniel himself resisted, his muscular body proving too strong.

"Bella, Bella, I love you, Bella."

Virgo rolled his eyes in exasperation and sighed lazily as his ears continued to be bombarded by Daniel's rambling amidst the loud music and dancing crowd.

"Yeah, Bella will be here soon!" replied Virgo tersely, no longer in a friendly tone. He was truly fed up with Daniel, who had been causing him trouble since being asked to work outside of working hours, and now Virgo had to deal with a drunken Daniel who refused to be taken home.

A few minutes later, Bella rushed in through the entrance, frantically searching for Daniel and Virgo. Fortunately, Virgo spotted her and quickly called out to Bella.

"Oh my god, Daniel," exclaimed Bella, her face showing a hint of shock as she saw Daniel, who was almost completely unconscious.