My Billionaire Fake Boyfriends (Her Billionaire Triplets #3)

Chapter 1

Tania

My shift at the museum ends in twenty minutes, and I’m still fixing labels under a Renaissance altarpiece that an intern definitely shouldn’t be trusted with.

My phone buzzes, and I retrieve it from my back pocket to check it.

Ben: Weekend. Lake house. You in? I miss you!

The text takes me by surprise. My brother doesn’t do spontaneous.

Ben plans. Ben schedules. Ben builds spreadsheets for grocery runs.

I brush dust from my fingers and text back.

Me: Whose lake house?

Ben: The Lockes.

The Lockes.

I haven’t seen them since I was thirteen, since they left for college and never really came back to our hometown, not for holidays, not for summers, and not for graduations.

Once in a while, I’ll stalk them online.

The triplets are always in the news because they are rich, successful, good-looking, and all very single.

The triplets and my brother still see each other regularly, of course. They’ve been best friends since they were eight.

But not me.

When they left for college, our lives stopped overlapping.

Me: Maybe. When?

Ben: Leaving in two hours.

My hand stills on the label beneath the altarpiece. I guess if I’m going, I have to make a decision right now.

Me: Okay. I am just about to leave the museum. I’ll run home and pack.

Ben’s car is new enough that it still smells like leather and that fresh car scent I can’t really place.

“You didn’t have to say yes.” He merges onto the highway, shoulders loose in that rare way that means he’s escaped his office. “I know it’s last-minute.”

“I need this break.”

He glances at me. “You sure? You’ve got that exhibition thing coming up.”

“I’ve already worked my hours for the week. I don’t have to go back until Tuesday.”

Traffic thins as the city gives way to suburbs, and the suburbs give way to trees.

“How long since you’ve seen the guys?” He changes lanes. “I can’t remember how long it’s been.”

“Eleven years.” My fingers trace the edge of the seatbelt. “I was barely a teenager when you all left for college.”

He nods, then pauses for a moment. “They’re different now.”

“Different?”

He huffs a laugh. “Well, yeah, they’re different from who they were at eighteen.”

I laugh, too. “Obviously.”

“But lately?” He’s quiet for a second. “Since their dad died last year, they’ve been more... intense. I guess running a billion-dollar company will do that.”

“Billion?” I knew they were rich growing up, but I never paid attention to how rich they were.

“Multi-billion. Real estate, manufacturing, investments. The whole business landed on them.”

I picture their father vaguely. Tall. Formal. The kind of man who shook your hand and made you feel like you’d just been judged.

I watch the trees blur past. “How’s the company?”

Ben exhales. “They’re holding it together. Barely.”

“Barely?”

“There’s some inheritance thing. A clause in their dad’s will that is stressing them out. They don’t talk about it much.”

By the time we turn off the main road, the trees have thickened, and the air feels colder, which makes sense because we are so close to the water.

“Almost there,” Ben says, as if I couldn’t tell.

The driveway is long and curving, and when the house comes into view, my mouth opens involuntarily.

The lake house isn’t a house. It’s a monstrosity perched on the water’s edge that’s made of glass and wood.

I stare at the house. “Wow.”

Ben looks at the house, then at me. “Yeah. Wow.”

“This is the lake house? Are you sure it’s not a hotel?”

“Did the Lockes ever do anything half-ass?”

He’s right, of course.

Ben parks and I grab my bag. I follow my brother up the stone path, and the door opens before we knock.

A man fills the doorway, and he’s even more impressive than the house.

Tall. Broad-shouldered. Brown hair. Blue eyes. He wears expensive casual clothes that fit like they were made for him.

That’s not the boy I remember. I’d scrolled past the triplets’ photos online, but nothing could have prepared me for seeing one of them in person.

He grins when he sees Ben.

Then he goes still when his eyes land on me. His grin falters. He was ready for Ben’s kid sister. He wasn’t ready for the grown-up version of me.

He shakes his head and turns his focus to Ben again.

“Ben.” He steps forward and pulls him into a rough hug. “You made good time.”

His attention returns to me, polite but searching.

“Sorry.” Ben clears his throat. “This is Tania.”

A second man with an identical face appears behind the first. Doesn’t smile. Just looks at me.

“Holy shit!” The first man blinks. “Little Tania Dalton.”

There it is. Recognition.

My chin lifts. “Not so little anymore.”

The first man laughs. Evan, I realize, because his smile comes easy, like it always did.

The man behind him stays where he is, unreadable.

Silas.

Evan grabs my bag and invites us inside. “Come on in.”

We step inside. The house opens into one wide space, a living area that flows into the kitchen, with floor-to-ceiling windows facing the lake.

A third man rounds the corner from the kitchen, beer in hand. He’s slightly leaner than the other two, but he still has the same face. He’s staring and doesn’t bother pretending he’s not.

Callum.

It’s wild that after all this time, I can still tell them apart. I don’t know how I do it. I just do. But I would recognize this one any day. The restless energy, like he’s always one second from getting himself into trouble.

His bottle pauses halfway to his mouth. “Tania Dalton.”

“Callum Locke.”

His mouth curves, not quite a smile. “Last time I saw you, you were what—thirteen?”

I nod once. “That was the last time.”

He lifts his bottle slightly. “You changed, Red.”

I had forgotten about that nickname he gave me when I was a kid.

“Did I?”

He takes a drink of his beer. “You’re taller.”

And then I laugh. “Liar.”

I was short then. I’m short now.

He smirks again. Evan snorts as he sets down my bag. Ben shakes his head like he’s watching a familiar game start up again.

The quiet one—Silas—moves to the fridge. “Beer?” His hand rests on the handle.

“Sure.”

“I can’t believe Little Tania is old enough to drink.” And then Evan smiles again, putting me at ease like he always did when we were kids.

Silas hands it to me, and he doesn’t look away until I have it. Then he goes back to the fridge, pulls out some vegetables, and grabs a knife and a cutting board.

Ben drops onto a stool like this is his house, too. And I sit down next to him, because I feel really awkward, not knowing how to act around these guys I haven’t seen in so long.

Evan leans against the counter. “How’s the museum?”

“Dusty.”

He grins. “Ben said you studied art history in college.”

“I finished my master’s degree last year.” I place my beer on the coaster in front of me. “Now I’m interning.”

“Interning,” Callum repeats. “That’s a polite word for working for free.”

“It is unpaid,” I confirm. “But the experience is invaluable.”

“And you’re living off what?” Callum’s eyebrow lifts. “Your sparkling personality?”

“Callum,” Ben warns. “Give her a break. She’s a kid.”

I am not a kid, but I let it go. I can’t very well argue that I am an independent woman while we are discussing how my brother is paying all my bills.

“What? It’s a reasonable question.” Callum shrugs.

I meet his eyes. “Ben covers my expenses while I’m building my resume.”

Callum lifts his beer. “Must be nice having a multimillionaire brother.”

“It is.” I smile at my brother. “I’m so proud of what he’s accomplished since college.”

Silas glances up from the cutting board. “It’s practical, Callum. Internships as prestigious as hers are how you gain experience and build connections. Not everyone has that option.”

“Fuck, relax, Silas. I’m just saying she’s lucky.”

They pick up right where they left off, giving each other shit and throwing around inside jokes that I half-remember.

I stay near the counter, peeling the label from my beer bottle into damp curls, watching more than speaking. Trying to match these men to the boys I remember.

Silas catches me looking at him while he’s chopping vegetables for dinner.

I don’t look away fast enough.

His gaze holds mine for a beat. Then he turns back to the peppers.

I take a long drink.

By the time dinner’s ready, the sky has gone dark. Evan loads plates, and we each grab our own plate before following him outside to a deck strung with lights. The lake stretches out in front of us, black and still.

Dinner looks and tastes delicious—salmon and roasted vegetables.

The conversation flows easily. Ben relaxes in a way I haven’t seen in months, and watching him laugh with them reminds me why he’s stayed friends with these guys for more than twenty years.

“So, what’s the plan for the weekend?” Ben asks between bites.

“The plan is to relax.” Evan stretches. “No schedules.”

Callum raises his bottle. “Drinking.”

Silas cuts into his salmon. “Avoiding reality.”

Ben glances at him. “The inheritance thing still hanging over you?”

Silas sets down his fork. “It’s handled.”

“Oh, yeah?” Evan laughs. “Handled how?”

Silas blows out a breath. “We’re working on it.”

Callum snorts. “Working on it. That’s optimistic.”

My curiosity spikes. “What inheritance thing?”

The table goes quiet for a moment.

“Family business stuff.” Evan waves a hand dismissively. “It’s pretty boring.”

I shrug. “Sounds complicated.”

“It is.” Silas’s eyes meet mine across the table, and something in the way he looks at me makes my internal temperature spike.

Evan props his elbows on the table, watching the exchange. “Don’t worry about it, Tania. We’ll figure it out.”

“Or we won’t,” Callum interjects. “Either way, we’re not talking business this weekend.”

Silas raises his glass. “Agreed.”

The conversation changes. More wine. More stories. The temperature drops, and I wrap my arms around myself.

Evan notices immediately. He stands without a word, disappears inside, and comes back with a blanket and drapes it over my shoulders.

“Thanks.”

“Can’t have you freezing on the first night.” His hand lingers on my shoulder for half a second longer than necessary. Then he’s back in his seat like nothing happened.

But Silas saw it, and he narrows his eyes at Evan.

An hour later, Ben yawns. “I’m tired, guys. I’m going to bed.”

Callum’s mouth curves. “Lightweight.”

Ben playfully smacks Callum on the shoulder. “Responsible.”

Ben heads inside, and Evan follows with the plates. Callum grabs the last of the bread and disappears, too.

Silas stands and collects the glasses. “You good?”

“Yeah.”

He nods and then pauses at the door. “Good to see you again, Tania.”

Then he’s gone.

I sit there another minute, wrapped in a blanket, staring at the dark water, then I head inside, too.

Upstairs, my room faces the lake. The bed is enormous, and my best friend texts the moment I sit down.

Renata: How’s the trip?

I stare at the screen.

Me: Fine. Weird but fine.

Renata: Good weird or bad weird?

Me: I don’t know yet.

Renata: Where are you again?

Me: Lake house with Ben and the Lockes.

Renata: Wait. The LOCKES? Ben’s triplet friends? The ones we had massive crushes on?

Me: We were twelve when we pretended that we were marrying them.

Renata: And they were seventeen and hot. Are they still hot?

Me: Not answering that.

Renata: That’s a yes. Have fun. Text me if you need a weekend companion.

I send a smiley face emoji, then plug my phone into the charger.

Still shaking my head at what she said, I get ready for bed.

When I close my eyes, I keep replaying the day in my mind. The way Evan smiled before he realized who I was. Callum was not even pretending he wasn’t staring. Silas saying almost nothing and still making me nervous.

Nothing interesting really happened. But they didn’t look at me the way they used to when I last saw them.

And I really like it.