All Chapters of She Was Never Just the Billionaire’s Wife: Chapter 351 - Chapter 360

380 Chapters

Chapter 351 In Charge

(Elijah)"You're doing it again," Mom says."Doing what?""That."She points the spatula at my whole face."Whatever that is."I'm not doing anything. That's the actual problem.I'm sitting at the table being as normal as a human can be, and it's the hardest thing I've done all week, including the four mile run.Nobody warned me a secret would be this heavy.It sits on your chest like Lily when she's decided you're furniture.My plan is to say nothing to anybody about anything, ever.Great plan.Falling apart already.James is here.He's here a lot lately.He fixed our wobbly chair last week and nobody asked him to.He knows we keep the good pan in the drawer under the oven, which took me a year to figure out, probably because mom was hiding it from me."Two minutes," Mom says. "Somebody grab plates."James gets up and grabs plates.Three of them.He puts one down at Mom's spot without having to ask which one's hers.When you're hiding a big thing, you start seeing everybody else's.N

Chapter 352 Continued Interest

(Gloria)"You're not even looking.""I'm looking."Nathanial isn't looking. He's got a hand on the back of my neck and his eyes on the side of my face."You've ranked them. What's my ranking going to add?"I've got four agencies open on the laptop and a legal pad with my own shorthand down the margin.Weeks of reading, back when neither of us was supposed to be reading anything yet.Finding out. That was the deal. Not deciding.I'm very bad at not deciding."Pick a top two," I tell him."Humor me. We call them, we sit in a room, we see how it feels. Nobody signs anything.""And if it feels wrong?""Then we get up, we leave, I take you somewhere expensive, we drink too much wine, and we never speak of it again.""And if it feels right?"I look at him."Then we’re very happy and we have a starting point. That's the whole point of finding out. You decide if you want to move forward.""Whatever you think."He says it into my hair."You're better at this than me. You're better at most thin

Chapter 353 Waiting

(Nathanial)Gloria's wiping a counter that's already spotless.She does this.When something's wrong she gets efficient.The dishwasher's going, the leftovers are in matching containers, she's found a job for both hands and a bright voice to go on top of it.She's been fine since dinner.Aggressively fine.The tell isn't the brightness.It's the noise.My wife has a habit of waiting until there's something making noise before she says the things that matter.She turns on the tap, waits for the machine to start, then drops whatever she's been carrying around.Tonight she does everything except the last part.So she's keeping it to herself.I could wait her out.I'm good at waiting.Where she's concerned, it's practically my specialty.I don't wait."Gloria.""Mm."She doesn't turn around."You want the last of the wine, or should I pour it out? I want to rinse the bottle for recycling.""Put the cloth down.""I'm nearly-""Gloria."She puts the cloth down.Doesn't turn.Both hands on t

Chapter 354 Handled

(Natasha)"Say that again."I've got the phone pinched against my shoulder and a paint roller drying to a brick in my hand.I need the building manager to repeat himself, because I don't think I heard him right."The roof," he says. "You don't need to worry about it. It's handled.""Handled how?""Owner's covering it. Nobody gets billed."I put the roller down."Easy as that? With no pushback? He’s just decided to pay for it out of pocket.""It appears so." Papers are being moved around on his end."Building changed hands about two weeks ago. New owner wants everything fixed to an acceptable standard. Says he’s not a slumlord.""It sold?"A very firm suspicion is taking root in my heart."Closed fast. All cash, is what I heard. Over ask.""Who bought it?""Couldn't tell you. Some holding company. I've got an account and a name I can't pronounce and instructions to keep the tenants happy."He sounds pleased, like it's a present for all of us."You've got a good landlord now, Ms. Kelly.

Chapter 355 Two Chairs

(Chase)"What’s up with the furniture?"Two chairs face each other in the middle of a half-painted room.My lease is propped on the stepladder shelf, folded so the marked-up page shows, like an exhibit somebody's about to enter into evidence.She's standing behind the far chair, both hands on the back of it.The look on her face is one I've watched her use on other people.I didn’t enjoy any of the times it’s been turned on me."Sit," she says."I'm fine standing.""Sit down, Chase."I sit.She stays on her feet.That's on purpose.I taught her half of what she's doing right now without meaning to, and she made all of it worse."A building I leased office space from three weeks ago was sold this month," she says."Cash. The buyer paid more than asking price. It was sold to a company nobody will give me a name for."I keep my expression carefully puzzled."And the new owner's first move was to pay for a roof the old landlord was going to bill the other tenants for. I made an objection

Chapter 356 Four Steps

(Natasha)"Which is why," Elias is saying, "Nobody should be allowed to cook salmon in an apartment building. It's a crime against the other tenants.""You live in a mansion by yourself," Julian says."For that reason exactly."Lunch is mostly done.Plates shoved back, Gloria already clearing one end of the table, Nathanial stacking bowls badly and Gloria taking them off him to restack.Lily's been working the room on her feet for twenty minutes.Chair leg.Table edge.Elias's cane, which he allows once, then confiscates.She's steadier today.I keep noticing it and not saying it out loud.Chase is quiet next to me.Been quiet all day.Wound tight under it, like a man carrying a speech he keeps deciding not to give. I've been telling myself it's still the building sitting between us.We're fine.Maybe not all-the-way fine, but mostly.Elijah's cross-legged on the rug a few feet off the end of the couch, phone in his hands, pretending he isn't tracking Lily's whole slow journey around

Chapter 357 The Last One

(Natasha)"You're drying that same bottle for the third time.""Am I?"Chase takes the towel out of my hand and puts the bottle in the rack himself.Lily went down forty minutes ago.Walked herself halfway to the crib first, fell into my hands twice, furious both times.Big day for everybody."Sit down," I say.He looks at the kitchen chair I've pulled out."You're rearranging furniture at me again.""One chair. Sit."He sits. Doesn't argue. That's how I know he's already waiting for the attack.I stay standing, because it worked last time."At lunch today," I say, "When Lily walked. I watched you.""Everyone watched her.""I watched you. And for about half a second you looked like a man who'd just been let off something."He goes still.Jaw first. Always the jaw first."You gave up the building yesterday," I say."You told me you'd sell it at a loss and you meant it. So that's done. Over. Nothing left there to feel relieved about.""Natasha.""But today you looked relieved. Those two

Chapter 358 Terms

(Chase)"Okay," I say. "Tell me."The box is still open between us.She looks at it, so I close the lid."It'll keep," I say. "Talk."She gets up.Walks to the counter, turns around, holds onto it behind her with both hands.Interrogation over.Now she's the one in the chair, so to speak."The interview," she says."The one I did to correct the record. Dana Whitfield, at Larchmont.""I remember.""Halfway through it I announced my firm.""You told a reporter about the firm?""No. Worse."She grips the counter harder."I told a reporter before there was any firm yet. There was nothing. Not a lease, not a hire, nothing. She asked what was next for me and I heard myself describe a company that didn't exist. On tape."Nobody says anything for a second."So when I leased the office," she says, "And hired Priya, and let you think you were finding out early, you weren't.”She chews her bottom lip nervously.“A journalist knew before you did. There's a second piece coming. I can’t believe it

Chapter 359 One Table

(Julian)"Nobody gets summoned to a Thursday dinner for good news," Nathanial says, taking the seat across from me."Speak for yourself. I've been summoned for excellent news.""You know something.""I know everything. It's a burden."Gloria comes through with a roast that could feed a parish and tells us both to stop speculating at her table.Full house.Elias at the head.Sonia and Liam sharing a chair for no structural reason.Clarice next to Lily's high chair.Elijah sitting very straight, staring at Chase like a dog watching a fridge.Chase stands up.Taps nothing against nothing.He doesn't need a glass, the room goes quiet on its own."Two announcements," he says. "Natasha goes first.""Coward," Natasha says, and stands."Fine. I've started my own firm. Office is leased, first hire is made, we open next month. You're hearing it before the press does, which matters, because the press has it and it'll print soon."Silence."A firm doing what?" Nathanial asks."Same thing I’ve bee

Chapter 360 Plus One

(Sonia)"Stop waving at the photographers.""They're waving at me," Liam says, waving."They're not. They have no idea who you are.""Which is why I'm building the relationship now. Ground floor."The screening was fine.The party after is the actual work, which nobody tells you until you're famous enough to find out for yourself.Liam's in a suit he calls his opening-night suit.It's his only suit.He looks stupidly good in it, which I'll tell him never.A woman with an earpiece steers me toward the step-and-repeat."Sonia! Over here. Who's your date?""Liam Kelly. Writer on the show.""Boyfriend?""Unfortunately."Liam beams at her like she pinned a medal on him."Any truth to the rumors about your sister and Chase Warren? There's chatter about a big announcement coming."Careful.Careful, careful."There's always chatter about my sister," I say."Last month there was chatter that I was engaged. To a castmate. Who I'd met twice when we shot scenes together and never once outside wor

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