Mistaken Online Love

Start Reading

The heir to the Manhattan elite added both me and my roommate on Snapchat.

He was incredibly warm to me.

Yet to Cathy, the gorgeous campus queen, he was ice cold.

She looked annoyed. I thought Dominic was here for me. Can't believe he is chasing you.

I was over the moon. We dated online for two whole months.

But the day we finally met in person, his brows pulled together in a tight frown.

"Why is it you?"

Dominic Lancaster had the wrong girl.

All the affection, the late night calls, and the sweet texts meant for Cathy Shawn he had mistakenly given to me.

Instead, he had accidentally ghosted the girl he actually wanted.

A soft breeze drifted past. He leaned against his sleek Aston Martin, pinching the bridge of his nose in sheer frustration. He shot me a helpless, almost pitying look.

"You should head back. I will text you tonight."

I forced back the tears burning in my eyes.

"Okay."

But I was not stupid. Some things were just too cruel to say to a girl's face.

My dorm was empty when I got back. I crawled into bed and fell into a heavy, suffocating sleep.

Loud voices woke me up.

Cathy stood in the center of the room, clutching a massive bouquet of deep red roses.

Our other two roommates were practically shouting over each other.

"So it was just a mix up! I knew it. There was no way a guy like him would pass you up for Jenny."

Cathy offered a gentle, practiced smile.

"It was just a misunderstanding."

She turned her gaze to me.

"Jenny, I am apologizing on Dominic's behalf. You are not mad, right?"

I sat up, forcing my face into a blank mask.

"No."

She let out a soft laugh. "Makes sense. It was only two months of texting anyway. You probably did not even like him that much."

Cathy was wrong.

I had been secretly in love with Dominic for years.

He was three years older than me. By the time I was a freshman, he was a senior and barely ever on campus.

It happened right after freshman orientation. He was back at the university to pick up some paperwork. I took a nasty fall on the concrete steps, and he was the one who drove me to the ER.

But I was too painfully shy.

I never asked for his number. I never even told him my name.

After he graduated, he became a ghost. All I knew was that he came from old money, built a massive tech empire from the ground up, and lived in a world of penthouses and private jets.

We were from completely different universes.

Until recently. At a frat party, he asked for my socials.

He was incredibly attentive. We texted from morning until night, and it did not take long for us to make it official.

Looking back now, it was a joke.

Every ounce of joy, every sweet good morning text, it was all meant for Cathy.

My phone lit up.

A text from Dominic. He did not waste a single breath.

"Let us just end this here."

"Make sure you delete our chat logs. I do not want Cathy seeing any of it."

"To make up for the mix up, my assistant will wire you fifty grand."

Fifty grand. To a broke college student like me, it was life changing money.

To him, it was pocket change.

He was literally buying my silence. Erasing everything we had.

I stared at the glowing screen for a long time before typing out a single word.

"Okay."

I paused, then added a follow up.

"I will not say a word about our conversations. You have my promise."

But the message bounced back.

Not Delivered.

He had already blocked me.

Staring at that little red exclamation mark, my hands started to shake uncontrollably.

I scrolled up. We had talked about everything.

When he was in London for business, he sent me photos of his espresso, told me about the investors he hated, and complained about the jet lag.

Once, I asked him to help me with a tricky finance assignment. He texted back saying he was in the shower.

I teased him. "Prove it."

He actually did.

He sent a photo. His hair was dripping wet, water sliding down the sharp, gorgeous angles of his face. He radiated this raw, dangerous magnetism.

My face had burned hot. "Okay, delete it before I die of embarrassment."

A second later, he sent a voice note, his voice dark and thick with amusement.

"Why are you scared? You will have to look at it every day eventually."

"I will have you know I have never been with anyone. But doing it with you... I think that would be incredibly fun."

I had literally googled what to expect for my first time that very night.

Now, looking at those exact words...

It was nothing but a humiliating fantasy.

I deleted every single message.

I stopped googling his tech firm. I stopped reading his Forbes interviews.

But I lived in the same cramped dorm as Cathy, and his name was constantly on her lips.

She bragged that they were officially a couple. He had asked her out.

That night, he rented out an entire VIP cinema for her. When she finally gathered the courage to reach for his hand, he subtly shifted away.

"He acts like a total player, but he is weirdly old fashioned," she complained to us. "Honestly, he makes me a little insecure. He is too perfect. Women throw themselves at him constantly."

I bit my tongue.

Dominic was fiercely loyal. He had no messy exes, no female best friends. The only time he ever made a move was when he asked for Cathy's number.

That was how much he wanted her.

One of our roommates chimed in. "You should ask him to take you to the Hamptons this weekend. Just the two of you in a hotel suite. Trust me, he will make a move."

"If you are nervous, invite us along! We can be your wingwomen."

I let out a heavy breath, shoved my AirPods in, and cranked the volume to the max.

Just then, a girl from down the hall knocked on our open door.

"Is Jenny here?"

"Rowan Pierce is downstairs looking for you."

The entire room went dead silent.

Cathy's smile completely vanished. Her brows pulled together sharply. "You know Rowan Pierce?"

I shook my head.

"I have never met him."

But the girl insisted he had specifically asked for me by name.

Panicking that something was seriously wrong, I rushed downstairs.

Rowan was waiting by the courtyard.

Everyone knew exactly who he was. Filthy rich, top of his class, with the kind of lazy, heartbreaker good looks that made girls ruin their lives.

Yet, strangely, the guy had never dated anyone.

Freshman year, Cathy had sent someone to ask for his number. She was entirely convinced her looks made her invincible.

Rowan turned her down flat.

Because of that bruised ego, nobody in our dorm was allowed to mention his name.

And now, he was leaning against a brick pillar, furiously typing on his phone.

He looked extremely irritated.

I walked up to him, shrinking a little. "I am sorry, did I keep you waiting?"

He clicked his tongue.

He looked up.

Whatever he was about to say died in his throat. His eyes flickered over my face for a split second before he narrowed them.

"You are Jenny?"

I nodded.

He fell silent. When he finally spoke, his tone was bizarre. "My cousin's ex girlfriend?"

I froze.

It took my brain a solid ten seconds to connect the dots.

I had only ever been in one relationship. But I had never associated the word ex with Dominic Lancaster.

"You mean Dominic?" I asked cautiously.

He nodded.

"Yeah."

"Hardly anyone on campus knows about us. Please keep it to yourself," I mumbled.

He agreed.

Then he pulled a crisp, folded check from his leather jacket. "He told me to give you this."

Right. The payoff.

I took it without hesitating and shoved it in my pocket.

Just then, his phone rang.

I was standing close enough to see the caller ID.

Dominic.

Rowan did not even bother stepping away. He answered it with a lazy drawl. "Yeah?"

Silence on the other end for a beat.

"Did you see her?"

Under the pale moonlight, Rowan lifted his gaze and stared right at me.

"Saw her. Gave her the envelope."

My chest tightened. Dominic was just calling to make sure the transaction was complete.

I did not want to hear the rest. I turned around and slipped quietly back into the building.

When I pushed the door open, Cathy was standing right by the window.

"I thought Rowan Pierce was actually trying to sweep you off your feet," she said, her voice dripping with venom. "Turns out he was just acting as a delivery boy. He barely even looked at you. What did he hand you anyway?"

I stayed quiet.

I could hardly tell her it was hush money from her new billionaire boyfriend.

"Nothing important."

I grabbed my pajamas and locked myself in the bathroom before she could interrogate me further.

When I stepped out, the air in the room was thick with tension. Cathy was doing her skincare routine, her phone on speaker on her desk.

She was talking to Dominic.

She asked if they could go up to the Hamptons for the weekend.

"I will have my assistant book the penthouse suite," his deep voice replied smoothly.

Cathy giggled.

"I am going to bring two of my friends along, is that okay?"

Over the speaker, the sharp sound of shattering glass echoed through the line.

Cathy jumped. "What happened? Are you okay?"

Dominic's voice dropped, sounding a little tight. "Just knocked over a glass. I am fine."

Over the next few days, they called each other every single night.

Sometimes the conversations crossed into intimate territory.

"Who was your first kiss?" she teased him once.

A low, rough chuckle rumbled from the speaker.

"Never had one. I have been saving it for you."

Every time they talked, I had to pretend I was deaf, burying my face in my textbooks.

I stopped talking to people. Whenever a random guy asked for my number, I would explicitly introduce myself with my full name, terrified of another mistaken identity.

By the weekend, Cathy and her two followers packed their designer duffels and left.

I finally breathed.

But the very next morning, the campus counselor called me in a panic.

She needed Cathy for an emergency paperwork issue regarding her scholarship.

None of the three girls were answering their phones.

"It is extremely urgent. Do you have any way to reach her?"

The moment she asked, a cold dread pooled in my stomach.

They were with Dominic.

What if they had gotten into an accident?

My palms started sweating.

I had Dominic's number memorized. I typed it in and hit call.

The number you have dialed is unavailable.

He really blocked my actual phone number too. He was incredibly thorough. He wanted every trace of my existence completely wiped from his life.

Left with no other choice, I sprinted down six flights of stairs to the lobby payphone.

By the time I punched in the digits, my lungs were burning.

The line rang twice before it connected.

I let out a massive sigh of relief and quickly explained that the counselor was desperately trying to reach Cathy.

Through the receiver, Dominic's voice was crisp and detached.

"They are down in the restaurant eating breakfast. They left their phones in the room. I will let her know."

"Okay. Thank you."

I was about to slam the receiver down when I heard the distinct click of a metal lighter.

Then came his voice, laced with a casual, almost mocking curiosity. "Why did you not come with them?"

I froze.

A memory hit me like a truck. A month ago, when we were still dating, Dominic had asked if I got along with my roommates.

I had not wanted to sound like a loner, so I lied and said we were close.

He had asked me about Cathy blowing up his phone, thinking her account was actually mine. I had defended her, saying she was sweet and did not mean to bother him.

Every memory that used to feel like a fairytale now felt like acid burning a hole in my chest.

I wet my dry lips, preparing to give him a polite, hollow excuse.

But before I could speak, a soft voice floated through the phone.

Cathy.

"Dominic? I am so scared of sleeping alone... can I stay in your suite tonight? I can just take the sofa."

Something inside my brain quietly snapped.

Without a single word, I slammed the heavy plastic receiver back onto the cradle.

After that weekend, Dominic was suddenly everywhere.

We never spoke, but I saw him constantly.

He was a busy CEO, yet he found the time to sit in the back of Cathy's lecture halls.

Once, he sat in the row directly behind me.

They whispered to each other the entire time. Their voices were low, but the sound of his breathy laughs ruined my focus for the entire morning.

Halfway through the lecture, my pen rolled off my desk.

I bent down to grab it, my fingers brushing against another hand.

His hand.

He paused, his long fingers wrapping around the metal pen. He placed it squarely in my palm. "Here."

His tone was completely empty.

Beside him, Cathy was glaring daggers at my back.

My heart was a mess.

When class ended, I looked down at my notebook and realized with absolute horror that I had unconsciously scribbled Dominic's name in the margins.

Panic flared in my chest. I grabbed my white out.

Suddenly, a wave of scalding heat splashed violently across my back. Searing pain tore through my skin.

I shrieked and spun around.

Cathy was holding an empty tumbler.

She widened her eyes in a perfect picture of innocence. "Oh my god, I am so sorry! My hand slipped. But the water was cold, right? You are fine. I will pay for the dress."

"It was literally boiling!" I choked out, tears of pain welling in my eyes. "You did that on purpose."

Cathy offered a pathetic, victimized smile and looked at the guy standing next to her.

"You saw it, right? It was cold water."

The guy, desperate to get in Dominic's good graces, nodded vigorously. "Yeah, totally cold."

Right at that moment, Dominic walked back into the room. He had stepped out to take a business call.

Seeing the commotion, his dark brows pulled together. "What is going on?"

The brown nosing classmate immediately spun the story in Cathy's favor.

Dominic's cold gaze slid over to me.

He clearly had somewhere more important to be. He chose the most efficient, soulless way to handle it. "I will have my assistant drop off a new dress for you later. Cathy did not mean it."

He paused, his eyes narrowing to icy slits.

"But lying to play the victim is not a good look on you. Is it, Jenny?"

My breath hitched. The burn on my back throbbed in agony, but it was nothing compared to the hollow ache in my chest.

"Got it."

Between Cathy and me, no matter what the truth was, he was always going to choose her.