The Snared Billionaire (...The Money, Love & Crime)

"I don't feel like going out, my mind feels heavy... but I have to," Mrs. Drake whispered to herself, her reflection gazing back at her in the mirror. Her fingers swirled, brushing blush across her cheeks, adding the final touches to her makeup. Her eyes, however, were distant, drawn to her husband, Mr. Drake, who was still buried under the covers of their king-sized bed.

Her heart ached a little as she looked at him. He seemed so peaceful in his slumber, but they both knew the cost of their restless night. It had been a night filled with celebration, with memories rekindled and promises renewed. The anniversary celebration had stretched into the early hours, with laughter, wine, and passion blending together. The exhaustion weighed heavy on her body, but duty called. The meeting she had was crucial; she couldn't afford to miss it.

She turned back to the mirror with a quiet sigh, picking up her lipstick and applying it gently. She had to appear gorgeously; appearances were everything in her world. The twilight streamed through the window, casting a soft golden glow over the room, highlighting the luxurious details of their life. A life they had built through hard work, ambition, and love.

Behind her, Drake stirred his face half-buried in the pillow. "Oh... how I wish you could rest more," he murmured, his voice thick with sleep. "But the meeting... it's crucial for the D & C Conglomerate. You have to be there... it's too important."

With a faint smile touching her lips, she glanced at him. His utterance came out sleepily, weighed down by the dizziness. She knew he meant what he was saying as he drifted back into sleep in moments. "Yeah! I'll be okay," she said in a low tone, but the words were more for herself than for him.

She kissed him gently on the cheek, a soft goodbye that he barely registered. He was already slipping back into his dreams, unaware that this simple kiss, this fleeting moment, could be their last. She hesitated for just a second longer as she pulled away, something unexplainable gripping her heart. But she shook it off, against her instinct; it was just the exhaustion tricking her.

When she was finally out of the door, Christine's mind was keyed on her itinerary for the day ahead. She had meetings, decisions to make, and people depending on her. She had built a reputable status as an influential figure in her right, proficient, the other half of Mr. Drake's power couple. But as she drove away, a weird unease perched in the pit of her stomach, something she couldn't quite shake.

Hours shortly, the sereneness of the morning was interrupted by the sound of Drake's phone ringing. His hand fumbled for the device, groggily answering without checking the caller. "Hello?" His croak voice was rough with sleep.

"Mr. Drake, you need to come to the hospital. It's... it's your wife."

He flipped out of the bed as the words slammed him like a sledgehammer. He bolted upright, his mind scrambling to process what the caller just said. "Who're you? What happened? Is she okay? What-"

"You need to come right away," the voice on the other end interrupted urgency threading every word. "We can explain when you get here."

Drake's heart raced as he leaped out of bed, throwing on the nearest clothes he could find. His hands trembled as he dialed the hospital number again, demanding answers, but none were given. The minutes it took to get there felt like hours, each second stretching out as fear clawed at his chest.

When he arrived at the hospital, everything felt like a blur. Nurses moved swiftly around him, and doctors spoke in hushed tones. "Where is she? What happened?" His voice was hysteric as he paved his way amidst people, searching for any sign of Christine.

He found her lying in the hospital bed, unconscious and pale. Rhythmically, machines beeped beside her, but she remained still. The vibrancy that had always surrounded Christine was gone. It was as if all the life had drained from her.

"Hey! My love...! What happened to you...? What happened to her?" Mr. Drake asked, incoherently, his voice breaking. "Can somebody tell me what's going on?"

Nobody seems to have answers. The doctors only spoke in medical jargon that made no meaning to him in the face of this overwhelming fear. He clutched her hand, cold and lifeless, praying for her to wake up, to give him just one more smile, one more moment.

The whole days were nightmares. Christine never woke up. The doctors tried everything, but the situation only worsened. Drake watched helplessly as she slipped further into oblivion. Her heart stopped on a cold, quiet morning, the same way it had once beat so joyously on the day they renewed their vows.

When the end finally came, it felt unreal, like a cruel twist of fate. He was left with nothing but unanswered questions. The official report summed up her death as a tragic accident, but Drake's intuition summed it up differently, and he couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to it.

Grief consumed him, even after the funeral, even after the endless condolences, even after six months of drowning himself in work, the pain didn't fade away. The world moved on, but Mr. Drake did not. He became a man hollowed out by loss, driven only by the need to fill the void that Christine had left behind.

He stood alone at the penthouse, gazing out at the city below. The dazzling lights sparkled like stars, but they weren't appealing to his eyes. The world outside was moving forward, but for him, everything was on a halt since the day Christine died.

Every day, he buried himself in his empire, expanding the D & C Conglomerate, acquiring businesses, and making deals that brought him even more success. But none of it mattered. He was searching for something that no amount of wealth or power could give him.

Her memory haunted him. Her laugh, her smile, and the way her presence lit up every room-everything about Christine was etched into his soul. Her memory kept resurfacing no matter how hard he tried to brush her off; she came back fresh in every one of his thoughts; it became too loud to ignore with every silence in his penthouse.

As he wandered through the empty space, the echo of his footsteps on marble floors felt almost deafening. He paused, running a hand over his hair. Drake was overwhelmed by the emptiness. A kind of trepidation ran inside him, something he hadn't felt in years.

A strange feeling enshrouded him for the first time in what felt like an eternity; he felt an unusual shift within him. It was faint, barely perceptible, but real. An impulse that something was coming, something was about to happen.

But what...? What could penetrate through the thick wall of grief that had enveloped him this long?

As he stood there staring, lost in thought, his phone buzzed on the table. He glanced at the screen, an unfamiliar caller.

A voice in the back of his mind whispered that this call could change everything.