The Call Boy I Met in Paris — Episode 28
The question struck close enough to truth that Justin forgot to breathe. Sophie watched him with playful suspicion, unaware that she had identified the secret hidden beneath every coincidence since their reunion.
“An undercover billionaire?” he repeated. Humor gave him time to recover, but his pulse had already quickened. He had always planned to tell her eventually; he simply had not expected the opportunity to arrive disguised as a joke.
Sophie gestured around the Lake Enterprises sales center. “What if you’re Mr. Lake, the CEO of Lake Enterprises?” She made the possibility sound deliberately absurd, stacking it beside psychic predictions and magical discounts.
For one dangerous second, Justin considered answering yes. The truth would end the invented jobs, fake roommates, and goldfish responsibilities. It would also force Sophie to reconsider every vulnerable moment she had shared with him.
Before he could decide, she studied his face and added, “He does look quite handsome, by the way.” Her tone suggested she had seen a distant photograph or heard society gossip about the elusive CEO. “Right?”
Justin placed a hand over his chest. “I’m not handsome?” The wounded performance redirected the conversation exactly as he intended. Sophie’s laughter broke the tension, and the door to confession closed again.
“That’s not what I said,” she replied. “I said Mr. Lake is handsome.” She tilted her head, comparing him to an image she could not quite recall. Justin wondered how long poor publicity photographs and her own assumptions could continue protecting him.
“You seem unusually interested in this mysterious CEO,” he said. Jealousy threaded through the joke even though the rival was himself. “Should your husband be concerned?”
“My husband should be concerned that he needs a fifteen-million-dollar discount to afford the house I dragged him into buying,” Sophie countered. Yet she looked at him again, curiosity lingering beneath the banter.
The representative returned with the keys and final documents, interrupting before Sophie could ask another question. Justin accepted the folder while Sophie examined the architectural renderings. His own name appeared in small print beneath the developer’s logo.
He closed the folder before she noticed. Each successful concealment now felt less like victory and more like borrowed time. Sophie was trusting him with her company, money, and reputation while he withheld the fact that her largest business partner belonged to him.
Outside the sales center, afternoon light reflected from the glass towers surrounding the development. Sophie walked beside him with an energy he had not seen after encounters with her family. Defeating Stella had restored something Derek’s betrayal had taken.
“You enjoyed that far too much,” she accused when she noticed his smile. “Did you somehow know their system would fail?”
“Maybe I really am psychic,” Justin said. The evasive answer earned him a light strike on the arm. He caught her hand before she could withdraw it, and their laughter faded into awareness.
For a moment, they stood close enough that the fake marriage felt like the only dishonest thing between them. Sophie’s gaze dropped to his mouth, then returned to his eyes. Justin could have kissed her, but the secret hovering between them made tenderness feel unfair.
He released her slowly. “We should celebrate your excellent investment,” he said. Sophie agreed, though a trace of disappointment crossed her expression before she turned toward the car.
Neither noticed Stella watching from across the street. She and Derek had not driven far before suspicion pulled them back. Through the sales center windows, Stella had seen Sophie signing documents for the property she herself had been denied.
Humiliation hardened into fury. The system had failed only for Derek, then recovered in time to reward Sophie with an impossible promotion. Stella did not believe in coincidence, especially where her sister was concerned.
She photographed Sophie and Justin leaving with the property folder. Derek cursed beside her, but Stella was already choosing a more effective target. Their father valued appearances, obedience, and control; she would make the new house proof that Sophie threatened all three.
As Justin opened the car door for Sophie, her phone began ringing with her father’s name. Across the street, Stella lowered her own phone after sending him the photograph and smiled. The discount had given Sophie a house, but it had also handed Stella the weapon for their next family war.
