Dumped Then Claimed By A Billionaire (Nerissa and Owen) novel Chapter 85

Chapter 85

Chapter 85

A good musician needs a good audience.

It’s hard to find someone who truly gets you.

Lennox’s decision to meet up wasn’t just a whim. It was something he’d thought through carefully.

In this life, chances to meet someone truly on his wavelength were few and far between.

Phyllis was the only person who had ever made Lennox genuinely curious and shocked.

But with just a screen between them, he still had no clue how Phyllis had managed to solve his puzzle.

Meeting in person was the only way.

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Only by facing each other and playing a match in person could he really gauge Phyllis’s skills, and see if they were truly in

sync.

After sending that message, Lennox found himself feeling a little on edge.

Indeed,

he was nervous.

With so many scammers out there these days, Lennox couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

He wasn’t just nervous. He was actually a little worried too.

Lennox thought to himself, ‘What if Phyllis thinks I’m just another scammer?’

Meanwhile,

Nerissa was just as surprised when she got Lennox’s invitation to meet up.

Here was why.

Just a second before Lennox sent that message, Nerissa had been about to invite him to meet up herself.

With the internet being such a mix of truths and lies, Nerissa knew she could never really tell who was on the other side of the screen.

Meeting face-to-face and playing a match was the only way to see whether Mr. S was real or just smoke and mirrors.

If Mr. S really was that good, and actually vibed with her, then maybe she’d finally found someone who truly got her.

So…

she didn’t even hesitate,

Nerissa set her fingers on the keyboard and fired off a message. ure, I’m in Aosthorne. Where are you?]

“Wait, Aosthorne?” Lennox muttered, caught off guard by the message.

When he saw Phyllis’s reply, Lennox was momentarily stunned, his eyes widening in surprise. [No way, I’m in Aosthorne too!]

‘Seriously?’ Nerissa thought, her jaw dropping in shock.

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What are the odds? We’re both in Aosthorne!’ she marveled, still trying to process the coincidence.

She shot back. [Alright, let’s meet this Saturday at 2 PM, at Yep Cafe. Sound good?]

Lennox replied. [Perfect. It’s a deal, Saturday at 2, Yep Cafe. Don be late.]

[Deal. See you Saturday.]

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Lennox sat at his computer, watching as Phyllis’s avatar dimmed and disappeared. His eyes were shadowed, thoughts churning restlessly behind them.

‘She’s in Aosthorne too?’ Lennox thought, still trying to wrap his head around it.

‘How did I never realize that?’ he asked himself, a wave of surprise washing over him.

‘Who would’ve thought this small city of Aosthorne was hiding so many talents?’ Lennox mused with a faint smile.

Who is Phyllis, really?’ Lennox wondered, his curiosity burning ven brighter.

‘Saturday couldn’t come soon enough, Lennox thought, feeling is anticipation build with every passing moment.

Knock, knock!

Just as Lennox logged out of Splendor Peak, he heard someone knocking on the door.

“Who is it?” Lennox asked.

“Mr. Stratford, it’s me.”

It was Daniel’s voice.

“Come in,” Lennox said, closing his laptop.

His tone was commanding and it sent a chill down Daniel’s spine

Daniel pushed the door open and stepped inside.

He wasn’t empty-handed. He was carrying two packages.

Daniel set the packages down on the floor and asked respectfully “Mr. Stratford, where do you want these?”

Lennox lounged in his executive chair, looking up calmly. “Bring them in and put them in the little storeroom off my study.”

Lennox’s study was massive, spanning more than 800 square feet, and it had a small storeroom tucked away inside. That was where he kept all his private belongings.

Hardly anyone ever set foot in there.

To be more precise, no one ever dared to.

“Got it,” Daniel replied, grabbing the two big packages and carrying them off to the little storeroom in Lennox’s study.

After stashing the packages, Daniel glanced at Lennox. “Mr. Straord, if there’s nothing else, I’ll clock out now.”

“Go ahead,” Lennox said with a slight nod.

Daniel turned and left, quietly shutting the door behind him.

Lennox picked up the book A Random Walk Down the Wall Street from his desk and began to flip through it slowly. His

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gaze was intense, completely absorbed in the book. The crystal chandelier cast a soft, even light over his sharp, chiseled features, making him look even more distinguished and refined His long, slender fingers turned the pages with effortless. grace, like a king surveying his kingdom. He didn’t need to do anything dramatic. Just by being there, he exuded a sense of silent dominance, as if everything was already under his control.

After flipping through several pages without finding what he was looking for, Lennox opened his laptop again, pulled up Google, typed in a question, and hit enter.

And there it was.

The question he’d searched for was, [When is the best time to give a birthday gift?]

There were tons of answers online.

[You can give a birthday gift up to two weeks early.]

[Of course you give it on their birthday! What kind of dumb question is that?]

[If you’re worried you’ll forget, giving it the day before is actually the best way to go.]

Lennox didn’t have the patience to read through every single answer. From experience, he knew the most liked reply was usually the best one.

So he just scrolled straight to the most liked answer.

[Honestly, it depends. If that person means a lot to you, then you should wish them happy birthday right at midnight, the moment their birthday begins.]

‘Right at midnight?’ Lennox wondered, his eyes narrowing a bit.

Lennox squinted, and then glanced up at the calendar.

There were still two days until the 8th.

‘Guess I’ll send it to her right at midnight on the 7th, Lennox thought to himself.

With that settled, Lennox shut down his laptop, left his study, and headed to his room to wash up and get some rest.

After washing up, Lennox slipped into his black silk pajamas and started looking for Snowball.

Lennox had that cool, fair skin. Thanks to all his workouts, he looked totally different in those black silk pajamas, less icy and reserved, more relaxed and ridiculously attractive. He was the kind of man who could walk down the street and make people scream.

He searched the whole house, but Snowball was nowhere to be found.

‘How weird!’ Lennox thought, frowning.

‘Where did Snowball run off to this time?’ he wondered, feeling bit worried.

Lennox’s brow furrowed as he headed downstairs in the elevato

Hannah was lounging on the living room sofa, painting her nail

Lennox called out, keeping his tone casual, “Mom, have you see Snowball?”

“Snowball?” Hannah shook her head. “No, I haven’t.”

After saying that, Hannah looked up at Lennox. Seeing him still his pajamas, she stared in disbelief. “It’s so late. Why are

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you looking for Snowball now? Don’t tell me you’re actually thinking of letting her sleep in your bed tonight?”

Lennox had always adored Snowball.

But because he was such a neat freak, he’d never let Snowball sleep with him before.

Once he’d showered, he wouldn’t even go near Snowball.

But tonight was different.

It was totally out of character for Lennox to be roaming around in his pajamas, searching for Snowball.

“No,” Lennox replied, brushing it off. “Just asking.”

‘Just asking?’ Hannah mused, feeling like she’d heard that line before.

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She didn’t think too much about it and simply showed off her freshly painted nails to Lennox. “Lennox, check it out, does this color look good on me?”

“Looks great,” Lennox replied with a slight nod.

“Do I look eighteen?” Hannah grinned.

Hannah wiggled her fingers and asked, “Guess how old I look?”

‘How old?’

‘Eighteen?!’

Lennox said with a faint smile. “Sure, you do.”

“If you swap the digits, you’d really nail it,” Lennox joked.

“Swap the digits?” Hannah asked, raising her eyebrows.

81?

Fuming, Hannah snatched up a pillow and hurled it at Lennox. Honestly, do you even know how to charm a lady?!”

Lennox didn’t know what to say.

Hannah waved her other hand at Lennox. “And what about this color? Do you think it looks good?”

“Yeah, looks good, Lennox said, barely glancing up.

Hannah rolled her eyes. “You’re so hopeless. Can’t you say anything besides ‘looks good? Seriously, you never say anything I actually want to hear!”

“The old lady is seriously hard to please,’ Lennox thought, feeling totally defeated.

‘Say it looks good, she complains.

‘Say it doesn’t, she still complains, Lennox sighed to himself, shaking his head.

“Dad does have a good temper,” Lennox said.

“What do you mean, your dad has a good temper? And I don’t?” Hannah shot Lennox a glare. “You really need someone to whip you into shape!”

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Lennox replied flatly, “Guess you’ll just have to keep waiting.”

Truth was, in this world,

Lennox was always the one laying down the law.

No one else ever dared to tell him what to do.

Hannah just snorted in disdain and ignored him, going right back to painting her nails.

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He looked all over for Snowball, but didn’t find him. He just called it quits and headed upstairs to crash for the night.

His business trip had been packed with back-to-back meetings and deadlines.

So…

as soon as his head hit the pillow, he was out like a light.

He slept soundly all night.

Even his dreams were nothing but sweet.

The next morning, Lennox woke up right on the dot at seven. He was just about to kick off the covers and get out of bed when he sensed something was off.

He pulled back the blanket and found himself deep in thought.

‘Again?’ Lennox mused, a bit confused.

‘Why am I dreaming about her again?’ he wondered, still trying to make sense of it.

This time, though,

she was even more of a tease in his dream than ever before.

‘Am I actually getting hooked on these dreams?’ Lennox thought a little thrown off.

‘Why? Why am I dreaming about her again?’ he asked himself, feeling helpless.

Just remembering the dream made Lennox’s whole body heat up and his mouth go dry. Without missing a beat, he locked the door, grabbed the blanket, and took it straight to the bathroom.

He handled it with practiced ease.

It was the first morning since Nerissa and Hunter had moved in the villa.

As always, Hunter was up early making breakfast.

Nerissa took a sip of her milk and said, “Grandpa, why don’t I hire a couple of helpers? You’re always up early making breakfast and cleaning. It’s too much for you to handle alone.”

“No need, really. It’s just a bit of exercise for me,” Hunter said serously, glancing at Nerissa. “Nerissa, I’m still going strong. If you bring in a bunch of strangers, it’ll just make me uncomfortale!”

Hunter was never really comfortable having strangers in the house.

“How about this, Grandpa?” Nerissa said, setting her cup down. “Starting today, I’ll get people to come by and clean up

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regularly, but they won’t be living here. Otherwise, it’s way too much for you to take care of such a big place all on your

own.”

“Alright then,” Hunter nodded, and then asked, “By the way, Nerissa, when will the property management at Winton Villas be handed over?”

Winton Villas was a brand new development.

The property services still weren’t fully set up yet. So after Nerissa paid for the house, she went ahead and secured the property management contract herself, just to make sure her grandpa wouldn’t have to stress about his daily commute. From now on, her family would be running things at Winton Villas.

“It’s all sorted,” Nerissa said with a smile. “Starting today, you won’t need to go to Eastview Gardens for work anymore.”

Eastview Gardens was the old neighborhood where they had lived.

“Wow, that was quick!” Hunter exclaimed, genuinely surprised.

“Yep,” Nerissa replied. “Just swing by the property office later and get yourself settled in.”

“Nerissa, you didn’t tell them about my identity, did you?” Hunter followed up.

This time, he didn’t want to work in the community as the owner or manager.

He believed that only by starting at the lowest level could he truly see how the company was run.

After all, property management was all about serving the residents and making their lives more convenient.

Only by nailing the service could the company become bigger, better, and stronger.

Since Nerissa trusted him, Hunter was determined to make sure everything ran smoothly, and he wasn’t about to let his granddaughter down.

Nerissa shook her head. “You specifically asked me not to mention it, so I made sure not to say a word.”

“Good,” Hunter said, letting out a sigh of relief. “I’ll head over to the office after breakfast.”

“Alright,” Nerissa replied.

After breakfast,

Hunter showed up at the property office to report for duty.

Since he kept his real identity under wraps, the whole process was business as usual. He got handed a neon green vest, grabbed his cleaning gear, and got right to work tidying up the pace.

Just like that, another day flew by.

It was already the 7th.

Nerissa’s birthday was just around the corner.

At II PM, Luke texted Lennox again Uncle Lennox, tomorrow Ms Jamison’s birthday You’re really not even getting her a birthday present?]

Lennox was sitting in the driver’s seat of his car, with luxury handbags he’d brought back from overseas and a complete lipstick collection on the passenger seat.

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There was also a bouquet of fresh flowers.

It was still an hour away from midnight.

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Lennox picked up his phone, his face cold as he replied. [How many times do I have to say it? I don’t spend a dime on women I’m not related to.]

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