Nothing On Him

Chapter 11 Dani grabbed my wrist before I got the laptop open."Don't," she said."Let go.""Mia. It's Sunday night. You've been in my kitchen for six hours. You haven't eaten. You're wearing my sweatpants—""Your sweatpants are comfortable.""You're wearing my sweatpants and you're about to look a man up on the internet and there is no version of this that ends with you feeling good."I opened the laptop.The café was the one on the corner with the bad espresso and the good chairs, and we had the table by the window, and the barista had already come over twice to ask if we wanted anything else and both times I'd said not yet in a voice that meant never."Adrian Voss," I typed.The results came back in a second and a half."Okay," Dani said, leaning over. "Okay. Voss Group. That's real. That's a real thing, that's — Mia, that's the building. That's the building on Weller with the whole block.""Keep scrolling.""Voss Capital. Voss Foundation. There's a hospital wing—""Scroll.""Adri

Last Updated : 2026-11-12

The Reason

Chapter 12 I crossed the street in front of the whole café and knocked on the window twice.The window came down four inches."Ms. Brennan," he said. "There's a woman behind you filming.""I know.""There's a woman behind you filming," he said again, "and you're standing in the road.""I know that too." I put both hands on the door. The café door had swung open behind me and I could hear it — the shuffle of feet, the woman's voice going she's actually going over there, the barista saying ma'am, please — and I did not turn around. "Why me?""Get out of the road.""Answer the question.""Mia—""Why me?" I said it loud. Loud enough for the street. Loud enough for the woman in the beige coat on the corner under the streetlamp, though I didn't know she was there yet. "There's a hundred thousand women in this city who'd sign a page for thirty days with a man who owns a building. Half of them went to the right schools. Some of them have fathers with boats. Why me?"The engine was running. T

Last Updated : 2026-11-12

Chapter 13 The blonde didn't run.That was the thing that got me. Anybody else would've put the car in gear and gone. She sat there in the passenger seat of a silver car in a loading zone with the driver's door hanging open and her phone still up at her ear, and she watched me walk up the sidewalk like she'd been waiting for me all night."Hi," she said. She lowered the phone. "You're faster than I thought.""Who are you?""I'm nobody." She smiled. It was a nice smile. That was somehow worse. "I'm just a woman who was in the neighborhood.""You've been standing on that corner since before the car pulled up.""I've been standing on that corner for about four hours," she said. "You didn't notice. You were busy."Dani caught up behind me, out of breath. "Mia—""Four hours," I said. "Four hours on a corner in the cold.""I had coffee." She held up the cup. "I had two."The café crowd had followed us down the block. The woman with the phone was at the front of them, and the barista, and t

Last Updated : 2026-11-12

Oat Milk, One Sugar

Chapter 14 I was wearing shoes.That's the thing I want on the record. At nine fifty-eight on a Monday morning, in my own apartment, with the chain on the door, I was sitting on my couch in a dress and heels with the folder on the coffee table, waiting to tell a man no.I'd rehearsed it. Out loud. Twice. Once in the bathroom mirror and once to Dani on the phone at eight in the morning while she was still in bed."No," I said, to the mirror."Say it like you mean it," I said, to myself.I'd written the speech on the back of the eviction notice, which felt appropriate, and I had it in my lap, and I had a cup of my own terrible coffee going cold on the table, and at 9:59 I heard the elevator.I sat up. I put the speech in my hand.The elevator doors opened.Footsteps. A man's shoes — I could hear them, those hard leather ones, unhurried — coming down the corridor past Mrs. Delgado's door, past 1106, and stopping outside 1104.I stood up."You're late," I said, to the door, and opened it

Last Updated : 2026-11-12

The Second No

Chapter 15 I called him from the lobby with the speaker on and five people standing around me.Not because I wanted witnesses. Because my hands were shaking and I couldn't hold the phone to my ear and the phone kept slipping and finally Luis said, "Miss Brennan, put it on the table," and I put it on the table, face up, and hit the number from the note.It rang twice."Ms. Brennan," Adrian Voss said.The super was standing there in his work boots with his gloves in his hand. The delivery kid was there with his bag. Mrs. Delgado was there with her coat still on and her arms crossed. Luis was behind the desk with his cap off. And two women from the fourth floor had come down and were standing by the mailboxes pretending to sort their mail."How much is the water bill," I said."Good morning to you too.""How much is the water bill.""Whatever the number is.""That's not an answer, that's a receipt." I leaned on the table. "You paid my mother's doctors. You paid my landlord. Now you're p

Last Updated : 2026-11-12

Say It Where They Can Hear You

Chapter 16 The reporter got one question out before Luis had the door."Ms. Brennan—""Luis.""Sir, you're on private property—""Ms. Brennan, the Post is running it tomorrow morning whether you talk to me or not, and right now the story is a woman who got paid to go to a dinner and a man who's paying her mother's doctors. That's the story. That's the story with no comment from you in it."I came out from behind the lobby table."Miss Brennan," Luis said."It's fine.""Miss Brennan—""It's fine, Luis." I stopped at the door. The woman with the camera had it up already. "You want a comment? Here's your comment. Nobody paid me to go to that dinner. I paid. I paid two thousand two hundred dollars out of my own account, which you can check, because my bank will be thrilled to hear from you. And the man who showed up wasn't the man I hired, so if you want to write about somebody getting cheated, write about that."The reporter's pen had stopped."Then who is he?""Ask him.""We can't. Nob

Last Updated : 2026-11-12

All Chapters of HIRED THE WRONG BILLIONAIRE: Chapter 11 - Chapter 16

Nothing On Him

The Reason

No

Oat Milk, One Sugar

The Second No

Say It Where They Can Hear You