Chapter 61

Three days later Vivienne Dane called Alex directly.He didn't answer. She left a voicemail so carefully worded that it could have been benign to anyone who didn't know her history. “Just checking in. Heard things are going well, would love to catch up." He played it for Izzy that evening.She listened to the whole thing with her arms crossed."She knows," Izzy said."Probably.""Not probably. She called the day after you told the board the contract terms were changing." She looked at him. "Someone talked.""I know.""Who knew about the change?""Legal, Elena, two board members.""Elena wouldn't.""No.""So it's one of the board members or someone in law who talks to Vivienne's circle." She uncrossed her arms. "What does she want?""To remind me she exists. To plant something before we get ahead of her."Izzy was quiet for a moment, thinking. He watched her do it. She had a particular way of working through problems, still and focused, her eyes moving slightly like she was reading so

Chapter 62

Julian came at nine.Izzy was still there. She'd made coffee, found bread in Alex's kitchen that hadn't expired, and was reading something on her phone at the island when Julian walked in and stopped like he'd hit glass.He looked at her. Looked at Alex. Looked back at her."You stayed," he said."Good morning Julian," she said."This is the best Monday of my life.""Sit down," Alex said.Julian sat, still visibly delighted, and accepted the coffee Izzy pushed toward him with the air of a man receiving a gift. Alex watched him look between them again, cataloguing details, reading the room the way only Julian could."You're both very calm," Julian observed."We're calm because there's a situation," Izzy said. "Save the commentary.""Right. Yes." Julian straightened. "Vivienne.""Tell us what you know," Alex said.Julian opened his phone. "Cameron met with Vivienne's lawyer on Thursday. Lunch, private room, two hours. My contact at the restaurant confirmed it." He set the phone on the c

Chapter 63

Alex called Elena at ten.She picked up on the second ring, which meant she'd been expecting the call. That told him Vivienne had already been in contact."I was wondering when you'd call," Elena said."Then you already know why.""I have some idea. Come for lunch."He looked at Izzy across the room. She was on her own phone, pacing slowly, working through something with Sophie. She caught his eye and raised her eyebrows.He held up two fingers. *Two hours.*She nodded and went back to her call.Elena lived forty minutes out in a house she'd owned for thirty years, with a large garden, no staff on weekdays. She opened the door herself and looked at Alex the way she'd been looking at him since he was twelve. Like she could see exactly what he wasn't saying."You look better," she said."Than what?""Than you have in two years." She stepped back to let him in. "Sit down. I made soup."They sat in her kitchen. She was seventy-one and moved like someone who had decided aging was optional.

All Chapters of FAKING IT WITH THE BILLIONAIRE : Chapter 61 - Chapter 63

Chapter 61

Chapter 62

Chapter 63