FAKE DATING WITH BENEFITS MY BILLIONAIRE BOSS (Ophelia Corrigan) novel Chapter 34

CHAPTER 34

MIE

“Fancy running into you here.”

“Not really,” I said, my voice coming out drier than I meant it to. “I live around here, Vanessa. The real question is what you’re doing here.”

“Still the same Jamie. Sharp tongue, straight to the point.” She stepped closer, one hand resting on her belly like a shield. “Speaking of… where’s your boyfriend? The billionaire? I thought billionaire girlfriends didn’t do their own laundry like the rest of us mortals.”

I looked back at the machine, watching my clothes spin. “He’s busy.”

“Busy.” She laughed a dry, humorless sound. “Right. He’s probably busy with the next woman, Jamie. Do you really think someone like Simon Hart is going to settle down with you? Be honest with yourself for once.”

I didn’t say anything.

“He’s using you,” she pressed, moving closer. “You know that, don’t you? A guy like him? He doesn’t want anything real. He just wants-”

She stopped.

“Go on, bitch.”

“-to sleep with you,” she finished, unfazed. “He’s getting what he wants, and you’re so desperate to feel wanted that you’re letting him. But he’s not going to marry you, Jamie. He’s never going to—”

I turned so fast she took a step back.

“Are you done?”

Vanessa blinked at me, and for a moment, I saw the girl I used to know. The cousin I shared secrets with. The best friend I trusted.

But that girl was long gone.

“I’m just saying-” she started.

“I know what you’re saying.” I grabbed my laundry basket and started pulling clothes out of the machine. “I’ve heard it all before. You wanted to be me. You always did.”

Her face went pale. “That’s not-”

“You slept with my fiancé. In my bed. Seven days before the wedding.” I tossed a wet shirt into the basket harder than necessary. “You didn’t want him. You wanted my life. My stability. My plan. And when you couldn’t have it the right way, you stole it.”

“You’re insane-”

15:26 Tue Sep 29 1 MT.

FAKE DATING WITH BENEFITS: MY BILLIONAIRE BOSS

I picked up my basket and started walking.

mie, wait-“__

Her hand closed around my arm, and I stopped, my entire body going still.

$5 Phys

“What do you want from me?” I said, my voice low and dangerous. “What more could you possibly want? You won. You got Oliver. You got the life you always wanted. So what the hell do you want from me?”

Vanessa’s grip loosened, and her face crumbled.

“Oliver won’t stop looking you up on social media. Every time I pick up his phone, your name is the first thing in the search bar. He’s obsessed.”

I’ll admit, that caught me off guard. What the hell did that idiot still want with me after everything?

I stared at her, something cold settling in my chest. “That’s not my problem.”

“Maybe not,” she said, her voice wavering. “But it’s mine. It’s mine, Jamie, and I can’t-”

“Can’t what?” I pulled my arm free. “Can’t handle the consequences of your own choices? You made your bed, Vanessa. Now lie in it.”

“Jamie, please-”

“I’m engaged.” The words came out harder than I meant them to, but I didn’t take them back. “Not that it’s any of your business. But since you seem so concerned, let me be perfectly clear: I’m engaged to a man who fucks me so good I forget my own name every single night.”

Vanessa’s mouth dropped open.

“And I feel absolutely nothing for Oliver.” I stepped closer, my voice dropping to something cold and final. “You want to know the truth? You did me a favor. I wasted ten years on that man. Ten years. He never kissed me right, made me feel small for wanting pleasure, and never-not once-put my satisfaction before his.”

I grabbed my basket, my heart pounding.

“Now you’re stuck with him. You’re the one who has to lie in that cold bed. You’re the one who has to pretend you’re happy while he’s out there looking for other women. And me? I’m with a man who actually knows what he’s doing.” I smiled-something hard, cutting. “I’m with a man who wants to please me. And let me tell you something, Vanessa-that makes all the difference.”

I turned and walked toward the door, not looking back.

I pushed through the glass door and stepped out into the cool night air. The city hummed around me, indifferent and alive. My hands were shaking. My chest was tight. I felt like I might shatter into a thousand pieces.

And then I saw him.

Simon was leaning against the Bugatti parked at the curb, arms crossed, his white shirt untucked and unbuttoned at the throat. He looked like he’d just stepped off a magazine cover-all sharp jaw and rumpled elegance-but there was something in his eyes I didn’t expect.

15:26 Tue Sep 29 1 MT.

FAKE DATING WITH BENEFITS MY BILLIONAIRE BOSS

The usual arrogance was gone. In its place was something I couldn’t name. Something raw.

was looking at me like I was the only thing in the world that mattered.

“You’re not supposed to be here. I literally told you-”

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