The Green Card Lie: Billionaire's Vengeance

The USCIS officer slammed her palm onto the desk. "Sir! I told you, this paperwork is fake! The woman you claim as your spouse already has a husband.

He secured his green card a decade ago. Your marriage certificate is a total forgery." Ten years of a longdistance marriage. Ten rejected green card applications.

The officer finally snapped. She spun her monitor around, shoving it toward me. My vision blurred.

Under Valerie’s spouse section, the screen flashed a glaring, undeniable name—Carter. Her widowed adopted brother. My lungs seized. A highpitched ringing pierced my ears.

I dialed Valerie right there in the lobby. "Yeah, our certificate is fake." Her voice drifted through the speaker. Completely casual.

Carefree. "I legally married him so Zane could study in the States. He gets access to better schools this way. You’ve waited ten years anyway. You’re used to it.

Just wait a few more years until Zane turns eighteen and locks in his citizenship. We’ll get married then." No screaming.

No cursing. "No thanks." My voice dropped dead flat. "I have zero interest in playing second husband to another man's wife." I ended the call.

I dialed my assistant next. "Contact the board. Terminate Valerie from the overseas branch immediately.

And cut off every single credit card in her name." Chapter 1 I hadn't been able to stand watching her waste away in frustration back then, so I had built an entire expat program.

Just for her. I poured millions of dollars into an Ivy League university to buy her a professorship.

I funded a cuttingedge R&D team and greased every palm necessary until she became the youngest external tech consultant in the country.

My tourist visa only allowed me three months a year in the States. For ten years, I flew back and forth across the Pacific. Jetlagged. Drained.

Every year, I compiled a mountain of paperwork for the spousal visa. I doublechecked every signature and submitted it.

Every year, the rejection letter arrived. "USCIS is notoriously strict," Valerie always murmured, rubbing my shoulders. "Especially with my clearance as a senior tech consultant.

Rejections happen. We’ll just try again next year." I thought I was cursed with terrible luck. Now I knew the woman sharing my bed had rigged the game from the start.

I had even asked Carter once how he secured his green card so easily, bypassing the grueling wait to settle permanently in the States.

Carter had leaned against the counter, flashing a smirk. "Guess I’m just lucky." A cold wave of dread washed over me. My jaw locked so tight my teeth physically ached.

My phone buzzed in my palm. Valerie. I swiped to answer. I needed to hear exactly how far she would take this gaslighting.

Her shrill scolding assaulted my ear. "Carter is having a panic attack because you called to interrogate me!

He’s threatening to pull Zane out of school and book the first flight out of here!

You terrified Zane!" Carter’s voice filtered through the background, layered over his son’s hysterical crying. "Mean man! Why is he kicking us out? I’m not leaving!

This is my house!

Don’t let that bad man come here!" "Caspian, just blame me," Carter pleaded loudly. "Don't fight with Valerie over this…" Valerie’s tone shifted, melting into a sickeningly sweet coo for the two of them. "I’m right here.

No one is kicking you out." The phone shifted closer to her mouth. Her voice hardened. "I'm going to make him apologize to you right now, okay?

Caspian, apologize to them." I tapped the red icon. Call ended.

I gripped the thick stack of visa documents and ripped them down the middle, shredding the pieces and tossing them into the nearest trash can. To hell with the green card.

I barely walked a block before Valerie’s SUV screeched to a halt beside me.

The passenger window rolled down. "I knew you were throwing a tantrum," she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Fine. You don't have to apologize.

But seriously, they are in such a vulnerable position. Why are you always so obsessed with competing with them? I drove all the way here to pick you up.

Get in." I didn't waste my breath on an argument. I walked straight to the passenger door and yanked it open. Carter sat there.

He raised an eyebrow, his face twisting into an exaggerated mask of guilt. "Oh, sorry, Caspian. I get really carsick in the back.

Do you mind taking the rear seat today?" Valerie’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. Her shoulders tensed, ready to fire back and defend him.

Any other day, I would have planted my feet. I would have demanded the front seat—the unspoken territory of the actual partner.

Today, I slammed the door shut, opened the back door, and slid in. The immigration center was twenty miles from downtown. Uber wait times were nonexistent out here.

If she wanted to play chauffeur, I’d take the free ride. Valerie blinked, thrown off guard. Her lips parted, and she twisted around in her seat to look at me.

Carter immediately reached over and tapped the dashboard. "Valerie, the guy behind us is honking. Let's go." Chapter 2 I kept my eyes shut. The SUV finally jolted to a stop.

I opened my eyes to the glowing valet stand of a threeMichelinstar restaurant.

Valerie caught my frown and flashed a placating smile. "Carter knows you're upset about the green card.

He wants to buy you dinner to apologize." "Pass," I said, my voice dead. "Take me home." She ignored me, gripping my arm and yanking me out of the passenger seat. "Behave.

Carter and I will explain the whole marriage certificate thing inside." I slid into the leather booth, my face a carefully blank mask to hide the storm brewing inside.

For the next hour, I watched a masterclass in playing house. Carter reached across the pristine tablecloth, taking Valerie’s plate to cut her Wagyu steak.

Zane whined, demanding Valerie feed him off her fork. My patience snapped. "Say whatever it is you brought me here to say." Valerie waved a hand, infuriatingly slow. "Hold on.

Let me order another bottle of Pinot." The waiter barely finished pouring the vintage before Zane violently jerked his arm. The crystal glass shattered.

Deep red bled across the white linen.

Carter gasped, dramatically dabbing at his shirt. "Honey, wait right here," Valerie rushed out, grabbing Zane’s hand. "I’m taking him to the restroom to clean up." Carter trailed right behind her.

He threw a victorious smirk over his shoulder before disappearing around the corner. I sat there. Sixty minutes bled by. The booth remained empty.

Instead of my wife, the floor manager approached my table. His polite smile didn't reach his eyes. "Sir, we are closing out the registers.

Your bill is one hundred and fifty thousand dollars." My jaw locked. My phone vibrated against the mahogany table. A text from Valerie. "You refused to apologize.

You kept making things difficult for my brother and his son. Your obsession with me just gave you a massive ego. I froze your card.

Let's see you try to pay a tab like that in a foreign country. Let’s see if you finally drop the attitude and beg." The manager's faux politeness vanished.

He raised his voice, drawing stares. "Sir! The bill. Now." Whispers erupted from the remaining tables. "Walking into a place like this with zero cash.

What a disgrace to his country." "Scam artist.

He should just get deported already." Their mocking glares burned into my skin, each whisper feeling like a sharp, physical slap to the face. My phone buzzed again.

Another text. "Apologize to Carter right now! Swear you will never bring up the marriage certificate again.

Otherwise, enjoy washing dishes or getting dragged to the precinct." I read the threat. I kept my expression entirely deadpan.

I locked eyes with the manager. "Call your general manager," I commanded in flawless English. "Tell him Caspian is here." The manager blinked.

Something in my tone hit him like a physical blow. He turned on his heel and rushed toward the back office. I pulled Valerie’s platinum card from my wallet.

I snapped the plastic in half. Tossed the jagged pieces into the nearest trash bin. She genuinely thought I was a parasite. A broke loser living off her paycheck.

She had zero idea I owned half the zip code. I had inherited a global empire years ago.

I had kept my mouth shut all these years because before my parents passed, they wove an ironclad clause into my trust fund.

If I wanted to get married, I had to completely hide my wealth. If my partner discovered my actual net worth before the wedding, the family foundation would liquidate my assets.

I would be restricted to a basic annual stipend. It was their ultimate test to filter out the gold diggers. Chapter 3 I always thought Valerie was different. She hustled.

She clawed her way into a tenuretrack spot and finally snagged a universityfunded fellowship abroad. Then some nepo baby had stolen her slot.

Valerie had barricaded herself in her home office. Total tailspin. I couldn't stand watching her light dim. So I had my assistant quietly wire a massive endowment to an Ivy League.

I bought a new science wing just to secure her a jointresearch fellowship and a visiting professor title.

She sobbed in my arms when the acceptance letter arrived. "Caspian, I'll grind so hard out there," she choked out, burying her wet face in my chest. "Once I get tenure, I'm sponsoring your green card.

We'll be together permanently." I never cared about the damn residency. I just hated living off threemonth scraps of her time every year. A dry, humorless laugh escaped me.

She never planned on letting me stay. She handed that legal status straight to Carter. Everything clicked.

All those random masculine items I found scattered around the house during my visits. The way she always packed my suitcases a week before my tourist visa actually expired.

Pushing me out the door. For nine months out of the year, another man played house in the home I paid for. The general manager rushed into the dining room.

He spotted me and practically folded in half. He turned sharply to the floor manager. "Mr. Caspian is the owner. Comp the entire—" "Why would we comp it?" I cut him off.

I pointed a finger at the security dome mounted above the bar. "Theft of services is a felony at that price point. Call the precinct.

Press full charges and hit her with the maximum civil penalty." You played me, Valerie. You weaponized my blind devotion because you thought I’d never bite back.

The obsession is gone. Now we see how you handle the fall. I unlocked the front door of my house. A sickeningly domestic scene greeted me.

Zane sat curled in Valerie’s lap, holding a picture book. Carter stood right behind her chair, his hands kneading her shoulders.

His thumb dragged slow and deliberate across her bare collarbone. A dark, heavy flush crept up Valerie’s neck. Bile burned the back of my throat.

My vision tunneled until the only thing I could focus on was the fabric clinging to Carter’s back. Matching silk pajamas.

I had customordered that exact set years ago, practically begging Valerie to wear them so we could feel like a real married couple. "Caspian, grow up," she had scoffed, tossing them aside. "We aren't teenagers." When I flew back the following year, the pajamas were gone.

I assumed she trashed them. She just saved them for her actual husband. I slammed my boot into the heavy oak door. It banged against the wall. The three of them jumped.

Carter let out a pathetic yelp and scrambled behind Valerie's chair. Shock paralyzed Valerie's face.

The color drained from her cheeks, leaving a guilty, ashen mask. "How… how are you back?" she stammered. "I own the deed," I sneered. "Why wouldn't I be in my own house?" Valerie opened her mouth.

Nothing came out. Zane launched himself off her lap. The kid moved like a bullet. He lowered his head and rammed his skull directly into my stomach.

The breath was punched out of my lungs. My boots slipped on the hardwood. I pitched backward. The sharp corner of the marble console table gouged into my lower back.

Blinding pain paralyzed my spine. My knees gave out. I hit the floor hard, gasping for air that wouldn't come.

Chapter 4 "You ruin everything!" Zane screamed, his tiny fists clenched. "Every time you come here, my dad and I have to leave! Don't you have your own house?

Stop stealing ours!" Valerie tugged Zane against her hip. Her face hardened. "He's just a child, Caspian. Don't throw a fit over a kid's tantrum." I clenched my jaw.

I forced my battered body off the floor. "Fine. I won't blame the kid." I closed the distance.

I swung my arm back and cracked my palm across Carter's jaw. "A kid's behavior is the father's fault, Carter. You earned that." Valerie shrieked. She shoved me hard in the chest.

A split second later, heavy crystal shattered against my skull. My knees buckled. Hot, sticky blood slid into my eyes. I looked up.

Valerie stood over me, her knuckles white around the jagged neck of a decorative vase. "Are you completely out of your mind, Caspian?" she shrieked, her voice echoing off the vaulted ceilings. "Haven't you done enough damage for one day?" Her eyes darted over my clothes.

A cruel realization twisted her features. "That tab was a hundred and fifty grand. I froze your accounts. How the hell did you pay it?" Carter gasped.

He cradled his bruised jaw, his eyes widening in faux horror. "Caspian, I know you're angry, but you didn't have to sink that low. No wonder that manager was smiling at you.

Did you sleep with that old cougar to clear the bill?" Valerie’s face contorted in pure disgust. "You slept with that old woman just to avoid apologizing to my brother?

Are you kidding me? You're disgusting! You're nothing but a piece of filthy, used goods!" She pointed a trembling finger at the front door. "Get out! You want a breakup?

Fine, we're done. Get the hell out of my house!" I wiped the blood dripping from my chin. I swayed on my feet but forced my spine straight. "I paid for this house, Valerie.

You two get out." Carter hooked his arm around Valerie's waist. He offered me a patronizing smile. "Caspian, I know you helped with the down payment.

But Valerie already transferred the deed to my name.

So, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." I snapped my head toward Valerie. "You signed the deed over to him?" Carter stroked Valerie's hip. "She didn't want Zane and me feeling like guests in our own home.

She wanted us to have security." The oxygen vanished from the room. A phantom blade twisted deep into my gut. My lungs forgot how to expand. "This was supposed to be our home!

We built this place together!" My voice fractured. "Valerie, how could you?" Her eyes stayed dead cold. "The deed is in Carter's name.

Throwing a tantrum won't change reality." I stared at them. A low, raspy chuckle scraped up my throat.

I pulled out my phone and dialed my private security team. "Send a removal crew to the estate. Now." I tapped the red icon. Valerie rolled her eyes.

A harsh scoff left her lips. "Drop the act, Caspian. Your accounts are frozen. Who exactly are you going to hire?" Chapter 5 Carter let out a soft, theatrical sigh.

His tone dripped with fake sympathy. "Caspian, I know this is a tough pill to swallow. But what's done is done." He ruffled Zane's hair. "Valerie just felt sorry for us.

That's why she put the deed in my name." I kept my mouth shut. The shouting had drawn a small crowd on the manicured lawn. A woman from the HOA recognized her. "Professor Valerie?

Do you and your husband need me to call the cops?" Carter flashed a warm, polite smile. "We're fine, thank you.

Just an old friend from overseas refusing to leave our property." The neighbors' eyes hardened with disgust. "Freaking squatters," a guy in a polo shirt muttered. "Get the hell off their lawn!

You don't belong in this neighborhood! Deport his ass!" Valerie turned back to me, her lip curling. "Just leave, Caspian. An apology won't fix this anymore.

You're… you're tainted." My face remained a mask of stone. "One hundred grand." "What?" "The renovation money," I said, my voice dead and hollow. "I bought the house.

You only paid for the interior remodels. I'll cut you a check for your share." Valerie lost whatever shred of patience she had left. "Give it a rest.

It took you ten years to pay off the mortgage. You don't have that kind of cash." She yanked out her phone and dialed. "Yes, I need to report a case of immigration fraud.

He's attempting to secure a green card through a sham marriage. Yes, I have the documentation.

Please send federal agents to my residence immediately." She ended the call and stared at me.

A twisted, complex emotion flickered in her eyes. "You could have just apologized, Caspian. I explained this to you.

Once Zane finishes college and my brother is fully settled, we can legally marry. Why are you so damn stubborn? You waited a decade.

What's another ten years?" I let out a harsh, cynical laugh. The weight of ten wasted years settled in my chest. A decade. Torched for a woman who viewed me as nothing but an ATM.

Valerie took a deep breath. "Promise me you'll never bring up Carter again.

If you swear to that, I'll tell ICE it was a misunderstanding." She took a step closer, lowering her voice. "I know the flights are exhausting.

I promise I'll fly back during the university's summer and winter breaks.

We can play husband and wife over there." Carter shot me a venomous glare before softening his voice again. "Don't be an idiot, Caspian.

Federal prison for visa fraud is a tenyear sentence. Plus hundreds of thousands in fines.

You might have slept your way out of a restaurant tab, but you can't screw your way out of federal lockup." Heavy boots crunched against the gravel driveway outside.

Valerie grabbed my forearm. Her grip was desperate, threatening. "This is your absolute last chance, Caspian. Agree to my terms, and I'll send them away.

If you don't, I'm letting them drag you out in cuffs." I looked down at her fingers digging into my jacket. A slow, dark smirk stretched across my face.

I ripped my arm out of her grasp and walked straight toward the foyer. The heavy oak door swung open.

A wall of massive men in tailored black suits and dark sunglasses stepped into the hallway. Chapter 6 Valerie’s jaw twitched. A cold, hard resolve locked onto her features.

She leveled a finger straight at my chest. "That's him—" I didn't let her finish. I raised my hand and flicked two fingers forward. "Tear it down.

Rip this entire house to shreds." Valerie and Carter’s eyes bulged. "Are you out of your damn mind