The Billionaire Next Door (But He's Also My Ex)
Skye Parker thought leaving Leo Westcott behind in college would spare her heart, but life has a cruel sense of timing. She’s just been fired from her struggling startup—only to realize the man who broke her is now the one controlling her career. Worse, he lives next door. Every hallway encounter, every shared glance, every accidental touch ignites the past she tried to forget. Can she trust him when betrayal seems to lurk in every corner, from former friends to rival companies—and even Leo himself? She’s forced to confront not just her feelings, but her self-worth, her career, and her ability to choose herself over the man who still has her heart. Leo, the polished billionaire with secrets of his own, must learn that power can’t replace vulnerability, and that protecting someone sometimes means letting them go. Secrets, seduction, and sabotage threaten to destroy them both—but will love survive the mess they’ve made of each other’s lives? Get ready for a story of passion, ambition, and heartbreak that won’t let go until the very last page.
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Chapter: Rival MovesMy phone buzzes before I even sit down.Not a cute buzz either. The sharp kind that slices through your chest because your body knows something’s wrong before your brain catches up.Unknown sender. Clean subject line. Too clean.We’ve been watching your work. Coffee?I stare at it, thumb hovering, heart already racing. I’m still outside the coffee shop. Leo’s words are still crawling under my skin. You can’t hide from me. I hate how true that feels.I lock my phone and shove it into my bag like it might explode.Work doesn’t give me time to breathe anyway.By the time I get to my desk, the office is already buzzing. People whisper when I pass. Not subtle. Never subtle. Someone laughs too loudly behind me. Someone else stops talking the second I turn.Pressure cooker. That’s what this place has become.I open my laptop and my inbox floods.Revisions. Deadlines. A meeting moved up. Another one added. My calendar looks like a bad joke.Then another email slides in.Same sender.We think
Last Updated: 2026-01-31
Chapter: Coffee Shop ConfrontationI almost crash into him.Like, full-on, shoulder to chest, coffee sloshing kind of crash.“Watch it—”Leo’s voice cuts off when he sees me.Of course it’s him. Of course it is. Because the universe has jokes and I am always the punchline.My heart jumps straight into my throat. My body reacts before my brain can catch up. Heat. Anger. Something sharp and stupidly familiar.We’re standing outside the coffee shop across from the office. The one I only came to because I needed air and caffeine and five minutes where no one could say my name like it was a problem.“Skye,” he says.I step back fast, like touching him might actually burn me. “No.”“No?” His brow creases. “I didn’t even say anything.”“You don’t have to,” I snap. “You follow me now?”“I didn’t follow you.”“Funny coincidence then.”People brush past us, laughing, talking, living their lives like my chest isn’t tight and my hands aren’t shaking. I grip my cup harder than I need to.He looks tired. Jacket off. Tie loosened. C
Last Updated: 2026-01-31
Chapter: Pressure CookerThe deadline hits me in the face before I even sit down.Pinned to the board. Circled in red. Three days.Three days to fix something people with bigger teams take weeks to polish.My chest tightens. Coffee tastes bitter. The office already feels louder than yesterday, like everyone woke up knowing something was about to snap.I open my laptop. Slack pings don’t stop. Emails stack. Someone taps a pen too hard behind me.Pressure. Real pressure. The kind that makes your hands shake but you still have to type like everything’s fine.“Skye.”I don’t look up. I already know it’s him.“The spacing on your last mockup is off,” Leo says, loud enough for the people nearby to hear. “Margins don’t align with the user flow.”A couple heads turn.My jaw tightens. I hate this part of him. The public correction. The CEO voice. Clean. Sharp.“I’ll fix it,” I say, still staring at my screen.“Do,” he replies. “It matters.”Then he walks off.Just like that.No softness. No private check-in. Just a no
Last Updated: 2026-01-01
Chapter: Old Wounds don't Stay BuriedI drop my bag on the desk harder than I mean to.The sound cracks through the quiet office, sharp enough to make two people look up. I don’t apologize. My chest already feels too full, like one wrong breath will split me open.“This project will define you… and me.”Leo’s words from last night won’t leave my head. They sit there, heavy, like they’re waiting for something. Or daring me to run.I open my laptop, then close it. Open it again. My hands won’t settle. My body is here, but my mind keeps slipping. Backward. Years backward.Senior year. Rain-soaked sidewalks. His voice saying my name like it meant safety.I hate that it still does.“Skye.”I look up. Leo stands a few steps away, sleeves rolled up, coffee in hand. Too casual. Like we’re not walking on landmines.“We’re starting the design review in five,” he says.“I know,” I reply, sharper than needed.His eyes flick over me. He notices everything. He always did.“Did I interrupt something?”“No,” I say. “Just thinking.”“Dang
Last Updated: 2026-01-01
Chapter: The Offer She Can't RefuseThe email doesn’t even give me time to breathe.I’m still leaning against my front door, still replaying Leo’s stupid smirk in my head, when my phone buzzes again. HR. Mandatory meeting. Immediate. No greeting. No mercy.I laugh. It comes out wrong. A little hysterical. Like my body doesn’t know what else to do.“Of course,” I mutter to the empty room. “Why not.”I don’t sleep. Not really. I lie on my bed fully dressed, staring at the ceiling, counting the cracks like they might rearrange themselves into a sign. My mind keeps jumping. Leo in the hallway. Leo in the boardroom. Leo holding my future like it’s a casual thing.By morning, I feel wrung out. Hollow. Angry in a quiet, buzzing way.The office looks the same when I walk in, which feels illegal. Glass walls. Polished floors. People laughing like yesterday didn’t happen. Like I didn’t get erased and resurrected in the same breath.Heads turn.Not all at once. That would be too obvious. It’s subtle. Whispers that stop when I pass
Last Updated: 2026-01-01
Chapter: The Next Door RevealThe coffee spills first.Not all over the floor. Just a sharp splash against the lid, hot enough to sting my thumb and snap me fully awake. I hiss, juggling the cup, my bag sliding off my shoulder, my keycard slipping between my fingers like it hates me. Great. Perfect ending to a perfect twenty-four hours.I’m still shaking. From yesterday. From Leo. From the way my whole life decided to flip me off in a single meeting room.I push the lobby door open with my shoulder and step into the hallway, already digging for my keys, already halfway into my head. I’m replaying his voice. Calm. Polite. Corporate. Like he didn’t know my favorite cereal or the scar on my knee or the way I cry when I’m angry. Like we didn’t once share a mattress on a floor and talk about building things together.Then I walk straight into a chest.A solid one.Warm. Familiar in the worst way.My coffee jolts. My heart straight up forgets how to beat.“Oh—” I start, then stop.Because the chest is attached to Leo We
Last Updated: 2026-01-01
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