I Knew He Was A Billionaire, I Let Him Pretend To Be Poor Chapter 08

I Knew He Was A Billionaire, I Let Him Pretend To Be Poor Chapter 08

I expected him to quit within a week.

He lasted three months. Long enough to build calluses of his hands and shoulders.

Lunch together every day. Walked me home every night.

Money kept showing up in my account. Packages kept showing up at the door.

My tiny apartment was running out of room.

I’d tease him sometimes: ask where all the money was coming from, ask if he was into something shady.

He’d swear up and down he wasn’t. Then he’d behave for a few days before inventing some new excuse to

send more.

Once he told me he’d won the lottery.

When my period leaked through my underwear, he hunched over the bathroom sink and scrubbed it out by

hand.

A man who’d never so much as boiled water was teaching himself to cook for me.

When I was in a bad mood, he’d do anything to make me laugh.

It started to feel real.

He’d beg me to tell him I liked him. That I needed him. That I couldn’t do this without him.

If my eyes drifted to another guy while we were out, he’d sulk. “Is he better looking than me?”

Had I ever liked someone before him? Had I ever been this sweet to anyone else?

I was getting tired of the performance. I’d been turning it over for weeks: how to end this without it getting

ugly.

Grant solved it for me.

My next day off came around.

I’d gone out early to take a coworker to a doctor’s appointment.

She cancelled last minute, so I headed home.

Nolan was there.

He’d tried to cook something. The whole place smelled like smoke.

I told him to crack the door for the smell and went to the bedroom to catch up on sleep.

I hadn’t even closed my eyes when the front door swung open.

Grant’s voice filled the apartment.

“Nolan, have you lost your mind? You’re blowing off a multimillion-dollar deal to work a two-grand-a-month job for HER?”

“Don’t look at me like that. You said she was out Can’t I stop by?”

Silence.

I walked out of the bedroom. Grant looked like he’d seen a ghost.

Nolan was next to him, white as paper.

“Mara… Mara, wait, listen to me!”

He grabbed my hand. His fingers were shaking.

I looked down at our hands. Thought about it. “I’m going to go out for a while. I’ll be back at six. That’s enough time to get your stuff out, right?”

His eyes went red.

“Move out? Why would I move out? I’m not going anywhere!”

“I swear I wasn’t trying to lie. It was him. Grant told me you stained his clothes on purpose because you were trying to get close to him for money. I was stupid enough to believe it. Grant, tell her! Tell her that’s what happened!”

Grant flinched and started nodding fast.

“Yeah… yeah, that’s exactly what happened. It was all me.”

I looked at him. At those red-rimmed eyes.

My silence was eating him alive. He was unraveling.

“Mara, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m a piece of shit. I never should’ve… I’m sorry…’

I peeled his fingers off mine, one by one. Moved him aside. Walked out.

He started to follow, Our eyes met, and he froze where he stood.