FAKE DATING WITH BENEFITS MY BILLIONAIRE BOSS (Ophelia Corrigan) novel Chapter 131

CHAPTER 131

MON

I was in the middle of a meeting with the finance board when my phone buzzed on the table. I ignored it the first time. The second time, I looked.

“You should know.”

Below it, an image. A screenshot of a conversation between Jamie and Ethan.

My jaw locked before I could stop it. I zoomed in.

The visible messages were few:

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

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

“Just don’t mention it to anyone.”

I stared.

“Simon?”

I looked up. The CFO was waiting for my answer.

“Keep going.”

He kept going. I didn’t hear the next three sentences. I went back to the image.

There was nothing sexual. Nothing romantic. Nothing that, on its own, meant a damn thing. Ethan worked with Jamie. They had reasons to meet. She was his boss. There were a hundred perfectly normal explanations.

So why “don’t mention it to anyone”?

I locked the phone.

“Five minutes,” I said, standing.

Nobody questioned it. I walked into my office, shut the door, and opened the message again.

First the number. Unknown. Local area code. No ID.

Then the timestamp on the screenshot. Then the sequence.

The image was cropped at the top and bottom. Deliberately.

That mattered. Whoever sent it didn’t want to show me a conversation. They wanted to show me a piece of

one.

My first instinct was to call Jamie. I didn’t.

15:52 Tue Sep 29 31 MT

FAKE DATING WITH BENEFITS MY BILLIONAIRE BOSS

Jealousy was a bad emotion for decisions. I knew that. I’d already made too many stupid decisions because of it.

I opened my conversation with Jamie. Her last message was from twenty minutes earlier.

“Don’t forget to eat lunch.”

Below it, a heart.

I closed my eyes.

Ridiculous. I trusted her. I trusted her.

The problem was that trust didn’t shut off the primitive part of the brain that saw another man near the woman you loved and immediately wanted to break something.

I ran a hand over my face.

“Fuck.”

The phone buzzed again. Unknown number.

“Ask where she’s going today.”

This time, I didn’t answer. I saved the image. Not because I believed it. Because someone was doing something. And I wanted to know what.

I went back to the meeting and finished the next forty minutes like nothing had happened. Nobody noticed. I’d spent years learning to negotiate while thinking about something else.

But when I was alone, I looked at the image one more time.

“Just don’t mention it to anyone.”

That got stuck in my head like a piece of glass.

Jamie walked into my office a little after two. No knock. As always.

“I need your signature.”

I looked up from the computer. She was wearing a gray dress with her hair down. She had three documents under her arm and a pen between her fingers.

My woman. My future wife. The person I trusted more than anyone.

“What?” she asked. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Nothing.”

Jamie narrowed her eyes.

“That wasn’t a very convincing answer.”

15:52 Tue Sep 29 ) MT.

FAKE DATING WITH BENEFITS MY BILLIONAIRE BOSS

She held out the papers.

he Belmonte acquisition. Outside counsel already reviewed it. You’re the last one.”

I took the pen. She stood in front of the desk while I read.

I should’ve asked. Where are you going today? Are you meeting Ethan? Why the secret?

I didn’t. If someone was trying to provoke me, I wasn’t going to give them the luxury of choosing when I talked to Jamie.

I signed the first page.

“You leaving early?” I asked, keeping my voice neutral.

She hesitated. It was minimal. Maybe I wouldn’t have noticed on any other day.

“A little.”

My stomach tightened.

“Wedding stuff?”

Her smile appeared.

“Wedding stuff.”

I signed the second page. That should’ve been enough. It was exactly the explanation I needed.

But the image stayed in my head.

Just don’t mention it to anyone.

I handed her the documents. Jamie didn’t take them.

“Simon.”

“Hm?”

“What happened?”

“Nothing.”

“You’ve got that face you get when something unexpected comes up.”

“That’s a strangely specific description.”

“Because I’ve seen that face hundreds of times.”

She walked around the desk. I forced myself not to look at the phone.

Jamie rested a hand on my shoulder.

“Was it the meeting?”

15:53 Tue Sep 29 1 MT.

FAKE DATING WITH BENEFITS MY BILLIONAIRE BOSS

“No.”

Whe kids?”

“No.”

“Chloe?”

I looked at her.

“Why Chloe?”

“Because you’ve been weird with her since yesterday.”

“I’m checking on something.”

“About the watch?”

I nodded, deflecting. The truth was, it had nothing to do with Chloe.

Jamie ran her fingers along the back of my neck. The touch almost dismantled every bit of discipline I was holding onto.

“You want to talk?”

“When I have something concrete.”

She tilted her head.

“Okay.”

She kissed my temple.

“I’ll be back at the apartment before dinner.”

The sentence landed wrong. I hated that it landed wrong.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify