FAKE DATING WITH BENEFITS MY BILLIONAIRE BOSS (Ophelia Corrigan) novel Chapter 192

CHAPTER 192

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– CHLOE

Cobra called just as I was choosing a pair of earrings. His name flashed across my screen, and I almost let it go to voicemail. Men like Cobra had one useful quality: they’d do anything for money. The downside was that they thought it made them important.

“What?” I answered.

“We’ve got ourselves a little problem, doll.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Whatever you say, princess. Listen, that Hart guy you mentioned? The rich one? He showed up on my turf.”

My hand froze in front of the mirror.

“Simon Hart?”

“You know another one? Guy showed up with a shitload of cash to take his woman home. Any later and I’d have had her on an operating table getting her organs harvested. Talk about cutting it close.”

“What?” My eyes widened. “And you just let her go?”

“Almost half a million dollars, sweetheart. What was I supposed to do, turn it down to be polite?”

I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to figure out what the hell they’d been doing there.

“Is she okay?” I asked.

“She walked out on her own two feet. Whining a little, but walking. Guy nearly took my head off when he saw her wrists.”

“You hurt her?”

“Me? Never touched her. My guys tied her up. Standard procedure.”

I studied my reflection. My expression remained perfectly composed. It was an old talent of mine. The angrier I got, the sweeter I looked.

“Do you know why they were there?” I asked, keeping my voice even.

“Not a damn clue.”

I frowned.

“Was she alone when you found her?”

“Yeah. Husband showed up later. You know the rest.”

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FAKE DATING WITH BENEFITS: MY BILLIONAIRE BOSS

That only made things worse.

“Did they say anything? Ask about anyone?”

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“Jesus Christ, Chloe, I was busy trying not to lose almost half a million bucks. I wasn’t making small talk with the happy couple.”

I pressed my lips together.

“Right.”

“But hey…” He chuckled. “What’s your deal with this Hart guy, anyway? Does he know his employee’s got a little criminal streak?”

I hung up on him.

For several seconds, I stared at the screen, trying to get my thoughts in order.

I had a pretty good idea what had brought Simon and Jamie to that neighborhood. And if I was right, they were a hell of a lot closer to the truth than I’d realized.

I looked up at my reflection and stood there for a moment. Then I took off my earrings and put them away. I needed to deal with this immediately, which meant having a conversation with that useless idiot.

The woman had already proved she couldn’t follow the simplest instructions. She’d quit her job, drawn far too much attention, changed her number, and gone into hiding in one of the worst houses in the area, in a neighborhood no sane person would choose to live in.

And now, to make matters worse, Jamie and Simon were looking for her.

I grabbed an understated handbag, slipped a thick envelope of cash inside, and left.

Traffic got even worse after I left Manhattan. Dark clouds covered the sky, and rain started falling before I reached the neighborhood.

I parked my motorcycle two blocks from the address. From there, I could see the house at the top of a narrow hill, surrounded by aging buildings and electrical wires sagging across the street.

What a depressing dump.

I pulled up my hood. Rainwater streamed along the sidewalk, forming little rivers around my shoes.

I passed a shuttered grocery store, a cracked concrete staircase, and a rusted gate. The house stood near the top of the hill, separated from the others by a low wall.

‘I knocked twice.

Slow footsteps approached from inside. The lock turned, and the door opened a crack. The woman appeared in an old cardigan, her hair pulled back in a messy knot. Her gaze dropped to my bag before returning to my

face.

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“You?” she whispered, startled.

I smiled.

“Can I come in?”

She glanced both ways down the street before opening the door wider.

“Of course. Come in.”

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I stepped into a narrow hallway that smelled of stale coffee and damp. The living room was small, furnished with a worn couch, an old television, and a few cardboard boxes stacked against the wall.

“You said you weren’t coming back,” she said, shutting the door.

“I was hoping I wouldn’t have to.”

I opened my bag, took out an envelope, and handed it to her.

“Here. This is for you.”

She accepted it warily.

“More money? But you already paid me.”

“I know. And I also remember telling you not to quit your job.” I folded my arms. “Apparently following one simple instruction was too much to ask.”

“I got scared…”

“So you decided to draw even more attention to yourself?” I cut in. “If you’d just kept showing up to work like normal, nobody would’ve suspected a fucking thing. But no. You had to quit, change your number, and hide out in the middle of nowhere.”

“I’m sorry. I thought…”

“That’s the problem. You decided to think for yourself.”

She lowered her head, clutching the envelope between her fingers.

I took a deep breath, fighting to keep my temper in check.

“Simon Hart came looking for you, didn’t he?”

Her head snapped up.

“How do you know?”

“Cobra told me he was around here.”

“He did come. But I didn’t talk to him. I swear!”

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“Well, at least you had the sense to do one thing right.”

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I walked to the window and discreetly pulled the curtain aside. Rain hammered the deserted street.

This was getting far more complicated than it needed to be. Simon had the money, influence, and resources to find just about anyone. If he’d managed to get this close to her, it was only a matter of time before he came

back.

And next time, she might not be so lucky.

I turned toward her.

“Listen carefully. Simon isn’t the kind of man who gives up once he’s set his mind on something. If he’s looking for you, it’s because he suspects something.”

“But I didn’t tell him anything!”

“And you’re going to keep it that way if you know what’s good for you.”

She swallowed hard.

I took another envelope from my bag, set it on the table, and slid it toward her.

“Here. It’s not a fortune, but it’s enough to disappear for a good long while.”

She looked at the envelope, then at me.

For a few seconds, she didn’t move.

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