LOGINShare
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE : Justin
publish date:
2026-06-07 12:33:36
Latest chapter
The Billionaire Next door (Who I Hate) CHAPTER SIXTY TWO : Alone
KATE'S POVLeon pulled over before I could give the driver the address.Not aggressively. Just firmly, the car finding the kerb with a quiet certainty that said this conversation was happening before we went another metre in any direction.He turned to look at me."No," he said."I haven't said yes yet.""You were about to."He wasn't wrong.I held the phone against my chest and looked at him properly. He was doing the controlled thing, the jaw set, the expression measured, all the familiar architecture of Leon Romano keeping himself functional when his instinct was running somewhere else entirely. But underneath it something was showing that the architecture wasn't quite covering.Not anger. Something closer to fear.I'd seen it twice before tonight. Both times it had been about me specifically."He said alone," I said."I heard what he said.""If I bring you he won't give me whatever he has.""You don't know what he has.""He said it belongs to me more than anyone else," I said. "Le
The Billionaire Next door (Who I Hate) CHAPTER SIXTY ONE : Jared's Angle
KATE'S POVLeon showed me the photograph without saying anything.I looked at it for a long moment.Jared Adams sitting in the back of a car beside Wakefield, smiling the specific smile he wore when he believed he was the smartest person in a situation. I knew that smile. Had been watching it my entire life, usually right before something fell apart."When was this taken," I said."Bryan's timestamp says eleven minutes ago," Leon said.Eleven minutes. While we'd been sitting in this room talking about letters and leverage and what Carter was going to say in his own words, Jared had been in a car somewhere with the one man who had the one piece of evidence that could still complicate everything.I tried to find surprise somewhere inside myself and couldn't locate it.Jared Adams didn't miss angles. It was the one consistent thing about him. He gambled compulsively and lost consistently and made bad decisions in every direction, but he never missed an angle. He'd seen Carter Romano arri
The Billionaire Next door (Who I Hate) CHAPTER SIXTY : The Letter
LEON'S POVI checked my pocket even though I already knew.Empty.I'd put that letter there myself in the study at the villa. Had felt it against my hand when we left. At some point between there and Wakefield's anonymous house it had moved from my pocket to somewhere else and I hadn't noticed because I'd been managing twelve other things simultaneously and Wakefield had been standing right there the entire time, composed and cooperative and apparently picking my pocket while he helped us dismantle everything Carter had built.Twelve years of working for the Romano family.He knew how to be in a room without being seen."When did you last have it," Kate said from beside me.I thought back. The kitchen at the villa. I'd put it in my pocket and we'd left. We'd gone to the car. We'd driven to the anonymous house. I'd been in the same room as Wakefield from the moment we arrived until we left twenty minutes ago."He took it at the house," I said.Carter's voice came through the phone stil
The Billionaire Next door (Who I Hate) CHAPTER FIFTY NINE : Natalie’s Message
KATE’S POVI read it twice.Then I handed the phone back to Leon because holding it any longer felt like holding something that needed to be put down before it burned through the hand.Natalie’s message was not what I’d expected.Not a threat. Not another carefully timed strike designed to destabilise everything we’d been trying to hold together. It was something else entirely, and the something else was worse in a specific way that threats never quite managed to be.It was an apology.Not the calculated kind. Not the kind that came wrapped in conditions or designed to create leverage. Just words, direct and unpolished, from a woman who by all accounts had spent the last several months being the most calculating person in any room she occupied.I read it in my head again from memory.I know you have no reason to believe anything I say. I know what tonight looked like and what the past few months looked like and I’m not going to try to reframe any of it. What I did was what I did. But
The Billionaire Next door (Who I Hate) CHAPTER FIFTY EIGHT : Clara’s Letters
LEON’S POVNobody moved for a moment.Oliver stood in the middle of the kitchen holding that envelope with both hands, not extending it toward anyone, just holding it, like he’d carried it so long that putting it down required more decision than he currently had available.Fiona was looking at it.Not at Oliver. At the envelope specifically. The worn edges. The handling it had absorbed over three years of someone picking it up and putting it down and picking it up again.She knew what was in it. She’d known the moment she saw it.I stayed where I was, near the doorway, and didn’t speak. This wasn’t mine to manage. I’d been managing things all night, all week, all year, and I was beginning to understand that some rooms needed to find their own shape without someone arranging the furniture.Kate was beside me. Still. Watching.Oliver looked at Fiona.“She wrote to you,” he said. “My mother. Right up until she got sick.” He paused. “I didn’t understand the letters at first. Some of them
The Billionaire Next door (Who I Hate) CHAPTER FIFTY SEVEN : Oliver And Fiona
KATE’S POVI was already moving toward the door.Leon caught my arm. Not stopping me, just slowing me down enough to think.“Bryan’s following him,” he said.“I know.”“We have people at the estate.”“I know that too.” I looked at him. “But Fiona is there alone and Oliver has been building toward something for weeks and whatever he thinks he’s going to get from her tonight, she’s not prepared for it. She’s never been prepared for Oliver when he’s like this.”Leon held my gaze for a second.Then he let go of my arm.We said brief things to Wakefield about the files, about not moving them, about independent counsel arriving in the morning. Stefena said she would stay. Justin said the same, which surprised me until I looked at him properly and understood that what he needed right now was to be in the same room as those folders, close to the truth about his mother in whatever form it currently existed, and that was a need I wasn’t going to argue with.Carter said nothing about staying or
The Billionaire Next door (Who I Hate) CHAPTER SIX : Our Wedding Night
KATE “What kind of bride ditches her wedding reception before the toast?”I sighed in frustration. “An unhappy bride.”To save face I returned my attention to the wardrobe, desperate to put something on, but not before I saw his mouth twitch at my statement.Where were my clothes? They were here b
The Billionaire Next door (Who I Hate) CHAPTER FIVE : Forced Proximity
KATEThe cathedral bells bellowed ceremoniously.The wedding was finally over. Then came the marriage. The actual marriage.Mrs Romano's smile was ice as she held up my bulk wedding dress, just for the cameras of course, so I could slide into the white limousine. I let out a deep breath I didn't
The Billionaire Next door (Who I Hate) CHAPTER FOUR : Into The Lion's Den
KATEMrs Romano’s eyes met mine.And just like that, I knew I wasn’t welcome.The verdict didn’t need words.It was in the way her gaze lingered a second too long. In the slight tightening of her lips. In the silence that followed.I lowered my eyes and took my seat.The dining table was too long.
The Billionaire Next door (Who I Hate) CHAPTER THREE : The Unexpected Bride
KATE“With cooperation comes reward.”The man’s voice was calm, very calm.My father leaned forward like he was being offered the world.“And everything we discussed… still stands?”The man gave a small nod.“Of course.”My stomach turned. Everything we discussed?I stepped into the room.“What is
You May Also Like
Pursuing My Ex-Wife Isn't Easy
Inked Snow3.3M viewsWrong Ride, Right Lover
Rainweather670.8K viewsTrading My Ex for His Uncle
Hello Spring651.5K viewsCraving The Wrong Brother
Elysian Sparrow601.1K viewsSeven Days to Rewrite My Fate
SilverMoon137 viewsMy stepsister stole my fiance', so I became Mrs Blackwood.
Debiana. 147 viewsOffice Hours; Extra Credit
Dera NK74 viewsMy Stepbrother's Lesson (A Forbidden Collection)
Niffy's Pen 🖋️70 views
