Share

014: Make it believable

Author: Peace C
last update publish date: 2026-01-20 19:32:23

Leon's POV

I showed up at Sweet Seasons the next morning with two coffees and a plan.

The mysterious text from yesterday still bothered me and I had spent half the night trying to figure out who sent it. The coffee shop meeting at noon would reveal everything but until then I needed to maintain appearances. If someone was watching us and trying to expose our arrangement, the best defense was to make the relationship look as real as possible.

That was why I was here and not because I desperatel
Continue to read this book for free
Scan code to download App
Locked Chapter

Latest chapter

  • A Contract With My Billionaire Ex   088: Eleanor collapses

    Anastasia's POVI saw it before it happened.Eleanor was standing at the drawing room sideboard, telling the housekeeper where to put a vase. She had been moving it back and forth all day, an inch this way, an inch that way, and I was sitting on the arm of the sofa watching her with the particular kind of tired patience you develop for the people you love."No, a little to the left," Eleanor said, tilting her head. "Yes. No, wait — back again."The housekeeper shifted the vase without a word, the way someone does when they have learned that objecting will only add more rounds to the process."There." Eleanor pointed. "Right — "She stopped.Not paused. Stopped. The way a song stops when someone pulls the power cord out of the wall.Her hand, the one that had been pointing, moved slowly to the edge of the sideboard instead. Her fingers found the wood and gripped it. I watched her head drop forward a little, just a fraction, like something inside her was losing its balance before the re

  • A Contract With My Billionaire Ex   087: Christmas morning

    Leon's POVMargaret met me at the door when I arrived at the Hart mansion at nine in the morning and told me that my grandma had been up since before 6 AM."She rearranged the drawing room twice," Margaret said. She had the expression of a woman who had seen many things in sixteen years of working for Eleanor Hart and had learned to measure which things were worth mentioning. She was mentioning this one. "She also called the caterer again.""On Christmas morning?""At seven forty-five." Margaret took my coat with the practiced efficiency of someone who had been doing it for a long time. "She told them she wanted to confirm the rehearsal dinner delivery time." She paused just long enough. "It was already confirmed."I thanked her and went to find Eleanor. I found her in the hallway adjusting the angle of a framed photograph on the wall by small increments, stepping back to assess it, then stepping forward to move it again. She was fully dressed, her hair done, jewellery on, moving with

  • A Contract With My Billionaire Ex   086: Christmas Eve

    Anastasia's POV The Hart estate on Christmas Eve felt like a breath being held.Everything was finished. Every wreath was hung, every candle set, every arrangement confirmed and signed off and placed exactly where it needed to be. There was no reason left to adjust anything but Leon's grandma Eleanor was adjusting things anyway. When I arrived at half past nine she was in the hallway asking the housekeeper to move a small vase two inches to the left. When I came back through twenty minutes later the vase was two inches to the right. Eleanor was on the phone with the florist behind me, asking about the delivery window for the wedding ceremony flowers that had been confirmed three times already that week.Leon was already there when I arrived. He was in the kitchen drinking coffee and looking at Eleanor through the doorway with an expression I recognised from the previous afternoon, the one where he was watching her carefully and keeping his concern off his face because Eleanor would n

  • A Contract With My Billionaire Ex   085: Two days before Christmas

    Leon's POVEleanor called me at eight in the morning to say she needed my opinion on the table arrangement for the rehearsal dinner.I had been coming to this house my entire life and I knew what Eleanor needing my opinion actually meant. It meant she had woken up early, found the house too quiet, and wanted someone there who belonged in it. I told her I would be there by ten. I said it without hesitation because there was no version of Eleanor asking me to come and me finding a reason not to.The estate looked different in the days just before Christmas. The decorations were finished and everything was exactly where it was supposed to be and there was nothing left to do, which meant my grandma had found other things to do. The caterer's first delivery of the week was coming through the kitchen when I arrived, and she was standing in the hallway directing two staff members on the placement of something that had clearly already been placed and then moved and then placed again. The tree

  • A Contract With My Billionaire Ex   084: Jennifer

    Anastasia's POVI stayed at the bakery until late that night.It wasn't the orders that kept me there. The morning prep was done in an hour and I had no real reason to keep measuring flour and reorganising the cold shelf except that the kitchen was where I went when I had too much in my head and needed to move my hands. I turned the radio on low and worked and thought about the planning session and the wedding coordinator's colour-coded checklist and the way Leon had answered me when I asked him if there was anything I didn't know.He had said no. But his face was obviously saying yes. He had always been a terrible liar and I could see right through him, and the fact that he had looked at the table for half a second too long before answering told me more than the answer itself did. I didn't bother pressing him for the truth though.I also thought about Jennifer's calls.She had called very recently, three days ago, in the evening, while I was closing up. She had used the warm voice, t

  • A Contract With My Billionaire Ex   083: Final touches

    Leon's POV The wedding coordinator had colour-coded her checklist. Pink for confirmed, yellow for pending, red for urgent. When I sat down at the dining table and saw it spread across three pages, I understood that this woman took her job more seriously than most people took anything in their lives.Eleanor stood at the head of the table looking like she had been awake since four in the morning and was proud of it. "We have nine items still in yellow," she said, before anyone had even opened a notebook. "I want every one of them pink before we leave this table." "Good morning, grandma," I said.She waved her hand. "Sit down, Leon. Anastasia, sit. We have a lot to get through."Anastasia sat across from me and pulled the seating chart toward her without being asked. She had a pen out and her reading glasses on before the coordinator finished saying hello. I watched her scan the chart quickly, not really bothering to take her time. Within thirty seconds she had already marked two thin

  • A Contract With My Billionaire Ex   040: James' confrontation

    Leon's POVJames showed up at my office as usual without calling first. I looked up from my computer and saw him standing in the doorway with his phone in his hand and an expression that said he was not here for small talk."We need to talk," he said as he closed the door behind him.I leaned back

  • A Contract With My Billionaire Ex   Chapter 039: Weight of pretending

    Anastasia's POVI couldn't answer Aunt Patricia right away. The words stuck in my throat like something sharp I had swallowed by mistake. She was looking at me with so much hope and warmth in her eyes, waiting for me to promise something I had no right to promise."I won't let him go," I finally ma

  • A Contract With My Billionaire Ex   038: Family game night

    Anastasia's POVThe Hart mansion glowed with warm lights when Leon and I arrived for family game night. Eleanor had insisted we attend and said the entire extended family would be there. I tried to find an excuse but Leon reminded me that these events were important for keeping up appearances.Insi

  • A Contract With My Billionaire Ex   037: Security detail

    Anastasia's POVI didn't sleep until after the security team arrived. I sat on my bed with my back pressed against the headboard and my knees pulled up to my chest, staring at the door of my bedroom like it might burst open at any second. The apartment was dark and quiet except for the hum of the r

More Chapters
Explore and read good novels for free
Free access to a vast number of good novels on GoodNovel app. Download the books you like and read anywhere & anytime.
Read books for free on the app
SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP
DMCA.com Protection Status