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All Chapters of She Was Never Just the Billionaire’s Wife: Chapter 191 - Chapter 200

418 Chapters

Chapter 191 The Appointment

(Natasha)I hate how familiar St. Jude's smells by now.A weird blend of antiseptic liquid and the lavender oil Tracy keeps on her desk because she read it lowers anxiety.It does not lower mine but I appreciate the thought.Lily is on the exam table with one fist around my thumb and the other in her mouth.She’s decided fingers are a food group this week.She’s also doing the thing where she rolls onto her stomach and then can't quite figure out how to push herself up, and complains about it with gusto.I’m sure she’s going to be crawling any day now.James comes in with her file."How's my favorite patient?""Sleeping eight hours. Eating like she's training for something.""Weight check."He scoops Lily up without asking.She tolerates being weighed because James is the one weighing her.Anyone else and she screams.He writes down the numbers and puts her in my lap.Listens to her chest.Pen-light in her eyes, which she abhors because it confuses her.He finishes the check-up and sm

Chapter 192 Shell Cove

(Natasha)I tell Chase the whole sordid story in my kitchen.It takes forty minutes to lay the whole thing out properly.My mother, the affair, James walking in at nineteen, the deathbed, why I was left behind.I tell it like I’m presenting a financial report.Flat and factual.The way I tell things when I don't want to feel them while I'm telling them.Chase doesn't interrupt once.He poured coffee before I started.It's gone cold.He hasn't made another cup because moving would interrupt my train of thought and he can see how badly I need not to be derailed right now.He's keeping still in a way he isn't usually capable of.I manage to get the whole thing out without crying or breaking anything.Lily is upstairs asleep with the monitor on the counter between us.For a while her breathing on the monitor is the only sound in the room."What do you need? How can I help?" He asks eventually."I don't know."He nods. Doesn't push.I look at my hands.There's a crescent of polish missing

Chapter 193 Half

(Nathanial)The call comes Tuesday afternoon. Unknown number. I almost don't pick up."This is James Bailey.""Oh."My half-brother who was a barely remembered uncle until a few days ago.I don’t really know what to say.Judging by the pause that follows, neither does he.I wait it out. He's the one who called."I'd like to buy you a drink. Tonight, if you can. There's a bar at the hotel on Wilshire that’s never too rowdy. I know it’s last-minute, but I'd appreciate the time."I look at the ceiling."Okay.""Seven good for you?""Sure."He probably thinks I’m an idiot who can’t string a sentence together.“Thank you, Nathanial. I’ll see you tonight.”He hangs up. He's clearly not a man who fills space.I sit at my desk for a minute after.I don't know what I just agreed to.I do know I wasn't going to say no.I get there at five to.He’s already there, sitting at a corner table with a neat whiskey, no ice.He stands when he sees me, which is the kind of thing his generation does and o

Chapter 194 Bad Pasta

(Chase)Natasha leaves at four for the therapy appointment her doctor arranged for her.I’m glad she’s finally dealing with her PTSD and not continuing to pretend being kidnapped by Bauer was just another Thursday.Or that finding out her brother is her uncle just rolled off her back.It’s the first time she’s asked me to take care of Lily when she has something to do and it’s not Lily’s allocated days with me.It’s kind of a big deal, whether she wants to admit it or not."Her bottle's in the fridge. She had a nap at two. Sorry, you know her as well as I do."The glowiest of praise.I’m careful not to let it go to my head."Don’t be sorry, and don’t be nervous. It’s going to be good for you to talk to someone.""I guess."She stops in the doorway with her hand on the knob."Chase.""Yeah.""Don't burn down my house."I take that. I'd take more if she handed it to me.Lily is in the bouncer in the corner of the kitchen, watching me with the look she gets when she's deciding whether to

Chapter 195 Receipts

(Piper)His door is open.I close it behind me when I come in.He's at his desk reading something on his computer screen."Piper. What are you doing here?""It’s nice to see you too, Nathanial."I deserve the look he gives me. We don’t do casual drop-ins.I sit in the chair across from him and cross my legs.He puts his pen down, waiting to hear what I want."How was your trip to Shell Cove? Your mother is fine I presume?"A look I can’t decipher flashes across his face before it clears.“Oh. Your call the other night. She was fine. I did text you to let you know. Not that you bothered to respond.”There’s something behind that flash of panic that I’m not privy to, but I barely care right now.Whatever drama has been dogging Clarice’s heels all her life has nothing to do with me."I came because we should talk about Gloria."He leans back in his chair, his expression immediately turning inscrutable."What about her?""You stood her up. Again.""That’s none of your business.""She dese

Chapter 196 The Snoop

(Natasha)Nathanial has been at my townhouse every day this week.Not in a casual brother way.In a "I am here to make sure my sister doesn't get kidnapped twice" way.He doesn't say it.He doesn't have to.Monday he showed up at six with takeout and a face like it was absolutely normal to check the locks on the way in.He did it twice. I watched him.Tuesday he came at five, carrying a state of the art security camera system that I was quite impressed he managed to install himself.Wednesday he was already in the kitchen when I got home, sitting at the island with Lily on his knee.He was going through quotes from security companies.Not just to install a brand new alarm system and some panic buttons.Patrol cars that drive by every hour, and optional night guard from seven pm to seven am daily.I can only picture Chase’s expression if I tell him some big, burly man will be spending every night with me.Nathanial had the quotes open on his laptop, doing a spreadsheet with side-by-sid

Chapter 197 Compassion

(Julian)Sunday afternoon. Three o'clock.I have decided, with the kind of unilateral confidence I usually reserve for menu selections, that I’m going to check on Natasha.I don’t warn her.If I'd warned her she would have produced reasons for me not to come over.She’s a woman of many reasons.I’m a man who doesn’t produce unnecessary roadblocks for myself when I’ve decided a thing.I bring nothing.No flowers, no wine.After the previous arrangement I sent her, I suspect she may beat me savagely with any flowers I hand her.Wine is always nice for lubricating the situation, but it would have suggested I expected to be invited in long enough to drink it.I do expect that.I have, however, decided to not make that obvious and leave the decision to her.I wear charm like a coat I can take on and off.This afternoon it stays on the hook.I’m not here to flirt. I genuinely need to see that she’s okay.The townhouse looks mostly the same, bar for the new security cameras.I hate that she

Chapter 198 Shares

(Natasha)Brenda calls me at half past nine on Wednesday morning and says Elias Warren would like me to come to his house this afternoon.Three o'clock.Just me."Could I ask what this is about?""I’m afraid he didn’t share that information with me."Poor Brenda. I wonder what it would be like to work so closely with Elias.I love him, but I’d throttle him before the first day is out."Did he say I had to come?""He said he hoped you would. I’m sure you know what that means."I sure do.I'm at his door at two fifty-five.The housekeeper lets me in.Chase and I weren’t regular visitors, but it’s not the first time I’ve been here either.Elias left the Warren Estate to Eleanor and his son after his wife died and moved to this considerably smaller mansion.She offers me a small, careful smile and points me toward the study at the end of a hallway I've never been down.He's already there.In a chair by the window, half a sandwich on a plate beside him. He looks up when I come in."Natasha

Chapter 199 I Never Loved Her

(Chase)The wine I bring is a peace offering.I put it on the kitchen island like I'm handing in a permission slip.Don't offer to open it.Don't ask for a glass.Just set it down and leave my hand on it for a second longer than necessary."Lily asleep?""She went down an hour ago. What brings you here after her bedtime?"Should have known I’d be busted immediately.That’s what happens when you fall in love with a smart woman.I came over at ten on a Tuesday night and I don't have Lily until Friday.There's only one reason I'm here and we both know what it is.I sit on the stool across from her."You heard," she says."My grandfather called me Friday. I’ve known for a while.""And? Are you upset?"I grin."I’m upset that he still treats me like I’m twelve years old. I’m glad he gave you the shares. Even if I had been upset, he made it crystal clear I had no vote in the matter. Then he made me pay for his lunch as per usual, after lambasting the waiter about the inadequate soup selecti

Chapter 200 The Spare Room

(Chase)I wake at six.For a second I don't know where I am.Then I remember.Spare room at Natasha's.The extra blanket she gave me last night pulled up to my chest the way I left it.The monitor on the dresser shows Lily on her back, awake.Hands in the air, batting at nothing.She's been up about a minute. Hasn't started fussing yet. That'll come in three.I lie still and listen for Natasha moving.Nothing.I count to thirty.Still nothing.I get up. In last night's clothes minus the jacket.I walk out in my socks. Don't want to wake her if she's actually asleep.Lily sees me come in and does the surprised face she does for everyone these mornings.Wide eyes, open mouth, full-body wriggle.Then she remembers she's annoyed about something and gives me the look that means, food, sir."Morning."I lift her out.She’s heavier this week than last.She’s heavier every week than last.It’s equal measures wonderful and frightening.Diaper change first which she barely tolerates, then we he

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