FAKE DATING WITH BENEFITS MY BILLIONAIRE BOSS (Ophelia Corrigan) novel Chapter 130

CHAPTER 130

CHLOE

There was a myth people loved to feed: that big turning points are born from big opportunities. They’re not. Almost everything gets decided in four minutes.

Four minutes with a distracted child. Four minutes while a man takes a call in another room. Four minutes when a smart woman leaves her phone on the counter because she feels safe inside her own home.

That was what trust did. It made people careless.

The next morning, the apartment woke up in its usual chaos. Lily was playing on the living room floor with Snow, eating cereal and spilling half of it on the rug. Jack was hunting for a sneaker. Sam was yelling that Jack had taken the tablet charger. Simon, near the windows, was talking low and irritated on the phone with London about numbers capable of buying half the building.

Jamie walked through the kitchen with a folder in her hand.

“Did I leave the blue document in the office?”

“I think so.” I said.

She checked the time.

“Shit.”

She ran down the hallway.

I waited.

I didn’t need to snoop like a thief. Thieves look guilty because they think about what they’re stealing. I didn’t want the phone. I wanted a possibility.

The device was on the counter, exactly where she’d left it after breakfast.

I picked it up.

The passcode worked. Naturally. Yesterday Jamie had handed it to me with a smile while we took pictures of Lily dressed as a fairy. If anyone asked, that had been a sweet moment.

And it had been. Lily looked adorable.

I opened the messages. Ethan was near the top. I didn’t have to search.

I read the conversation once. Then again. The truth was all there: the house, the giving up, the visit, the wedding, Simon. All clean, innocent, and tediously explainable.

I smiled. The truth had one weakness. It depended on context. Remove the context and anything can look like something else.

“Jamie: Perfect. Let’s go there tomorrow then.”

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FAKE DATING WITH BENEFITS: MY BILLIONAIRE BOSS

Harmless.

mie: I’ll ask to leave earlier and we’ll meet there.”

Still harmless, if someone knew why.

“Jamie: Just don’t mention it to anyone.”

That one was better.

The next message destroyed my whole plan.

“Jamie: I want to tell Simon once I know if the place works.”

So she couldn’t stay there.

My heart didn’t speed up. My hands didn’t shake. I didn’t feel guilt. Guilt was a curious emotion. It depended on the belief that you owed something to the person you were hurting. I didn’t owe Jamie anything.

I deleted only what was necessary. Nothing more. Nothing that would turn the conversation into an obvious fraud. Just enough to break the logical line.

I kept the true sentences. That was the most important detail. Perfect lies aren’t invented. They’re assembled from incomplete truths.

I captured the snippets I wanted, made a temporary copy for myself, then erased the most obvious signs of my passage through the device. I didn’t need perfection. I just needed time.

Simon’s voice got harder in the living room.

“No. I said twenty-eight, not thirty-two.”

Jamie was still in the office. Three minutes.

I opened the conversation again. I studied the result. Now it looked different. Not because the words had changed, but because the words that protected them were gone.

“Jamie: Let’s go tomorrow.”

“Jamie: We’ll meet there.”

“Jamie: Just don’t mention it to anyone.”

Beautiful. It wasn’t proof of betrayal. Proof would be vulgar. I didn’t want Simon to be sure. I wanted him

to doubt.

Certainty produces action. Doubt produces thought. Repeated thought produces obsession. And jealous men are especially good at filling empty spaces.

I locked the phone. Put it back exactly where it was, screen up, two inches from the edge of the counter. I remembered.

Jamie came back down the hallway holding the blue folder.

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FAKE DATING WITH BENEFITS: MY BILLIONAIRE BOSS

“Found it.”

Great.”

She grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl.

“Aren’t the kids dressed for school yet?”

“No.”

“They’re going to be late.”

“I’ll handle it.”

Jamie smiled.

“You save my mornings.”

I smiled back.

“It’s my job.”

55 vouchers

She walked past me. For a moment, I watched her hair sway against her back. She trusted me. That was

almost sweet.

Simon ended the call and walked into the kitchen. His eyes passed over me before dropping to my wrist. I wasn’t wearing the watch. Since the conversation the day before, I preferred not to make questions easy.

Simon was suspicious. That made him more interesting. Most people only see what they expect to find. Simon noticed small inconsistencies.

But even observant men have blind spots. His had brown hair, steady eyes, and slept in his bed.

Jamie came back into the kitchen. Simon shifted instantly. Not much. Just enough. The tension in his shoulders eased, his gaze warmed, his hand found her waist as she passed.

“You leaving early again?” he asked.

“Maybe. I’ve got a few things to take care of.”

The sentence almost made me laugh.

Simon raised an eyebrow.

“What things?”

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