Dumped My Cheating Ex. Now I'm Sleeping Next to a Billionaire CEO novel Chapter 1123

The phone rang for ages. Emmy was just about ready to give up when someone finally picked up.

“Hello?”

But it wasn’t James’s deep, familiar voice. A woman answered. Her voice was sweet, a little lazy, and—there was something about it that made Emmy’s skin prickle. Like she’d heard it a thousand times before.

“Is this Mrs. Lincoln?”

Emmy’s fingers went still around her phone. That voice…

Of course. The Janus Sphere Technologies resort ad. Emmy had watched it three times before signing off, and the voiceover had used the original audio. This woman’s voice was distinctive. Impossible to forget.

She narrowed her eyes, swallowed the last of her sandwich, and kept her tone level. “Mercedes?”

There was a beat of stunned silence, then a little laugh bubbled through the line, laced with surprise. “Wow, Mrs. Lincoln, you actually recognized me?”

Emmy grabbed a napkin, wiped her hands, and replied in a flat, unfazed tone. “Of course. The ad turned out well. The voiceover was especially moving. Nice job, Mercedes.”

Mercedes’s smile froze. Was that a compliment? The words sounded fine, but the more she thought about it, the more they stung. It was the kind of thing a boss would say to a junior employee, not praise from one woman to another.

A flicker of annoyance lit up inside Mercedes. She was Mercedes. An international star, the kind of celebrity that even billionaires treated with respect. Who gave Emmy the right to talk down to her like this? And she was calling from James’s private phone—surely Emmy understood what that meant. Wasn’t this the moment any normal wife would start screaming, demanding to know who she was and why she had her husband’s phone?

The hint was loud and clear.

Emmy’s grip tightened, her knuckles turning white. But she kept it together, only pausing for a couple of seconds. Just when Mercedes expected her to lose it, Emmy laughed softly.

“If he’s busy, I won’t interrupt. But Mercedes… it’s pretty late over there, isn’t it? For a public figure like you, hanging out in a man’s room at this hour… if the paparazzi found out, I imagine your sweet, innocent image might take a hit.”

And with that, Emmy hung up.

Mercedes stared at the screen, stunned. Emmy had just… ended the call? No jealousy, no threats, not even a single question. She’d actually thrown it back in her face. That empty, powerless feeling had Mercedes clenching her jaw so hard she nearly chucked the phone across the room.