All Chapters of The Billionaire’s Replacement Wife: Chapter 21 - Chapter 29

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

DAYS LATERJared Wilson was literally the worst person at sitting still. He’d been stuck in bed for almost a whole week now, and he was totally going crazy from cabin fever.He kept moving his laptop from one side of the blanket to the other, and he kept looking at his phone, opening the same emails over and over. Every time someone from work called him with a problem he couldn't actually fix from his room, he would just grit his teeth. Instead of being the boss at the office, he was stuck in bed with his ankle wrapped in a bandage and propped up on three different pillows.He typed a super quick email back to his assistant, CC’ed his head of operations, and closed his laptop with a loud sigh.The bedroom was totally quiet, except for Nara folding clothes on the other side of the room.She had a laundry basket resting on her hip and was just moving around smoothly. She had been doing this all week. She’d shake out a shirt, fold it up nice and neat, put it in a pile, and grab the nex

NARAI got no response. So I smiled at them.. It was genuinely all I could do. Every single person in that room was staring at me like I had walked in with something on my face and nobody wanted to be the one to say it so I just stood there with the dish towel in my hand and smiled like maybe I was missing a joke.“Why is everyone looking at me like that?” I laughed a little, nervously.Ophelia moved.I didn’t even see it. One second she was standing across the room and the next her hand was across my face and I stumbled sideways, my shoulder slamming into the doorframe.. She slapped me.Why? The dish towel hit the floor as I grabbed the wall with one hand and just stood there for a second trying to understand what had just happened.“What…” My hand flew to my cheek. “What was that for?”“You have the nerve to stand there and smile,” Ophelia snapped, her voice shaking. “After everything we just heard.”“What did you hear?” I looked around the room. “What is going on? Someone please

NARAThe house was quiet, so when I walked in and something felt off about it.. It felt too still and too heavy. I and Tristan had lost track of time and engaged in other outdoor activities after leaving the coffee shop. We even went to the movies.It was a beautiful and relaxing time. Steadying myself, I took a deep breath as I pushed the door shut behind me and turned around.. That's when I saw him in the living room staring straight at the door.. Jared.He was sitting forward with his elbows on his knees, the lamp behind him barely doing anything, and his eyes were already on me. Just fixed on me, like he had been sitting in that exact position for a while now and had been waiting for the sound of that door.“Hey.” My voice came out lighter than I felt. “I didn’t know anyone was still up.”He said nothing.I smiled a little, the awkward kind you make when you need to fill a silence that isn’t filling itself, and I turned toward the stairs.“Where are you coming from.” His voice ec