NARA I didn’t sleep well one bit. Every time I got close to something deep enough to count as rest, the text message pulled me back up. The words had lodged themselves somewhere behind my eyes and they were still there when the first grey lights of morning started pushing through the curtains. I lay on my side of the bed staring at the wall and listening to Jared breathe on his side and thought about Mike. About the version of Mike I used to know, the one who held my hand and made promises and asked me to wait just a little longer. By the time Jared’s alarm went off I had already been awake for an hour. I kept still and kept my breathing even while he moved around the room getting ready. The bathroom door, the wardrobe, the soft sound of a drawer sliding open and closed. I listened to all of it with my eyes shut and my chest tight while I said nothing, still faking sleep After awhile, the bedroom door clicked shut behind him. I waited another ten minutes before I sat up. I show

Last Updated : 2026-06-11

NARAThree days and I still hadn’t figured out how to do it.I had run through every version of the conversation in my head at least a dozen times. The casual approach. The practical approach. The desperate approach. None of them ended well when I played them out. Jared was not the kind of man you walked up to and asked for money without a very good reason and a very clear answer ready for the inevitable follow up question of why.And my reason was not something I could say out loud.I was sitting in the living room with a book I had stopped reading twenty minutes ago when I heard the front door.Jared walked in and something about the way he moved was different. Not dramatically different, not warm and open, still Jared in every way that counted.. But the sharp edge that usually came through the door with him wasn’t as sharp tonight. His jacket was over his arm instead of still buttoned up, his tie was loosened. He glanced across the room and when his eyes found me he gave a short no

Last Updated : 2026-06-12

All Chapters of The Billionaire’s Replacement Wife: Chapter 21 - Chapter 22

21

22