FAKE DATING WITH BENEFITS MY BILLIONAIRE BOSS (Ophelia Corrigan) novel Chapter 189

CHAPTER 189

– JAMIE

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The first thing I noticed was the smell. Cigarette smoke, rust, and cleaning chemicals so strong they burned my nose. The second was the rope binding my wrists behind the chair.

I was in a room with peeling walls, lit by a bare bulb hanging from the ceiling. There were no windows I could reach. The metal door was shut.

I strained against the restraints, and the rope dug into my skin.

“Let me go. Now.”

One of the men who’d brought me in leaned against the wall and started scrolling through his phone. The other opened a soda like this was a perfectly ordinary afternoon.

“I’m talking to you.”

“We heard you,” the younger one said.

“Then untie me.”

He snorted.

“She still thinks she’s in charge.”

The man with the scar stood by a table, lighting another cigarette. An old, jagged mark cut through his left eyebrow. His eyes seemed constantly busy calculating just how frightened he could make someone.

“Cobra,” the guy with the soda called. “Lady says she wants to leave.”

Cobra.

I filed the nickname away immediately. Names mattered. Identifying people, places, and times was what I did when I built a case. I’d just never imagined I’d be doing it tied to a chair.

He exhaled smoke slowly.

“You wanna leave, princess?”

“Yes. And you’re going to let me.”

He stepped closer.

“You gonna ask nicely?”

“I’m going to give you a chance. Let me go, give me back my phone, and I won’t sue you.”

Silence held for a second.

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FAKE DATING WITH BENEFITS: MY BILLIONAIRE BOSS

98

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Then Cobra burst out laughing. The other two joined in, slapping the table like I’d told the funniest joke they’d ever heard.

I waited for them to finish.

“I’m serious.”

“So am I, counselor,” Cobra growled, getting right in my face. “You’re fine as hell, but you got a big fucking mouth. Better watch it. People who run their mouths around here end up regretting it.”

I kept my chin raised even as my breathing quickened.

“You have no idea who you’re dealing with.”

He took another drag.

“My husband’s going to come looking for me.”

“Then your husband’s in for a rough night.”

The casual way he said it frightened me more than shouting would have.

“Listen. We weren’t investigating you. We were looking for a former factory employee. That’s all.”

Cobra looked at the man with the phone.

“You hear that? A factory.”

“Maybe she’s a cop,” the younger man said.

“I’m not a cop. I’m an attorney for a corporate group.”

“Even worse,” Cobra said.

I swallowed.

He dragged a chair over and sat across from me, legs spread, cigarette between two fingers.

The worst part was not knowing how much time had passed.

My phone, and the clock on it, were gone. The light overhead gave me no clue what time it was.

I focused on the noises coming from the hallway. Footsteps. A door slamming. Someone laughing.

I tried to memorize the sequence, wondering if any of it might help me later.

Fear made every detail painfully sharp: a stain on the floor, the rusted edge of the table, the makeshift ashtray.

All I wanted was to go home, even if it meant listening to Simon lecture me for hours about suggesting we split up.

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FAKE DATING WITH BENEFITS: MY BILLIONAIRE BOSS

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“You think waving the law in my face is gonna scare me, counselor?” Cobra laughed mockingly. “Cops don’t run shit around here. Scream all you want. Nobody’s lifting a finger to save some rich bitch like you.”

“If you don’t let me go, this becomes a kidnapping.”

“Well, holy shit!” He pressed a hand to his chest, pretending to be terrified. “No kidding, counselor? Good thing you told me. Here I thought I’d invited you over for coffee.”

The men around him howled with laughter.

My stomach twisted, but I did my best not to show how scared I was.

“How much do you want? Two thousand dollars? Five? I can pay.”

Cobra raised an eyebrow, apparently amused. Then he stubbed his cigarette out in an empty can.

“Five grand?” He laughed in my face. “You fucking with me, counselor? I was thinking more like a hundred thousand. But you know what? I’m starting to think you’re worth a hell of a lot more than that.”

The young man drinking soda stopped smiling.

A chill crawled down my spine.

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