Pustaka
Cari
Beranda / Romance / DEAR EX, THE VERSION OF ME YOU LOST. / CHAPTER 10

Share

CHAPTER 10

Penulis: Ene Samuel
last update Tanggal publikasi: 2026-04-27 02:03:14

Vivian's POV

Mr. Carver stopped in front of me.

He looked at me for a moment without saying anything. Up close his eyes were sharper than they looked from across a room. The kind of eyes that had seen everything and were very hard to impress.

“How long have you been working at this hotel?” he asked.

“Six months,” I said.

“Before that?”

“Private household management,” I said.

He nodded slowly. “No formal training. No agent. No portfolio.”

“No,” I said.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing,” I said.

He was quiet
Lanjutkan membaca buku ini secara gratis
Pindai kode untuk mengunduh Aplikasi
Bab sebelumnya Bab selanjutnya
Bab Terkunci

Bab terbaru

  • DEAR EX, THE VERSION OF ME YOU LOST.   CHAPTER 23

    Vivian's POVI put the phone down and sat in the quiet for a long time after Sandra hung up.She had been careful the way she always was when she was thinking through something she wasn’t ready to say out loud yet. I had told her everything. The earrings. The scarf. The fifty fourth street comment. All of it without leaving anything out and she had listened without making a sound the whole time.When I finished she said "Keep watching. Don’t change anything. And don’t mention any of this to anyone on that set. Not Grace. Not anyone.”“Okay,” I said.“Let me work.” A pause. “I’ll call you when I have something real.”Then she was gone.I lay back and stared at the water stain on the ceiling and turned everything over in my mind the way I had been turning it over for weeks. The missing items that came back in wrong places. The fifty fourth street comments that kept appearing. The Jessica question that first week sitting underneath everything else like a foundation nobody was supposed to

  • DEAR EX, THE VERSION OF ME YOU LOST.   CHAPTER 22

    Lyon's POVThe Harrington event was the kind of evening I had been to a hundred times.Ballroom. Money. The right people saying the right things at the right volume. I knew how to move through rooms like this without thinking about it. Who to talk to and for how long. When to smile and when to let it drop just enough to remind someone where they stood. It was all automatic by now. Had been for years.Jessica was beside me in a cream dress. She looked exactly right the way she always did at these things. We had a system — move together for the first hour, separate, cover more ground, meet back at certain points. We had never discussed it. We just did it.My father found me near the entrance about forty minutes in. He shook my hand and held it a second longer than usual which meant he had something to say and had decided not to make it into a full conversation.“Henderson numbers came in,” he said. “Better than projected.”“I saw them this morning,” I said.He nodded. Looked around the

  • DEAR EX, THE VERSION OF ME YOU LOST.   CHAPTER 21

    Vivian's POVRichard Peterson's office wasn’t what I’d imagined.I’d spent the whole drive turning it into something bigger in my head. Dark wood. Heavy doors. The kind of place that made you feel small before you even sat down. But it wasn’t any of that. Just clean, quiet, and controlled. A long window stretched across one wall, the city sitting behind it like it belonged there. Shelves lined with books that had been handled, not arranged for show.It felt settled. Like nothing in it needed to prove a point.Sandra leaned slightly toward me as the lift climbed. “He talks fast,” she said. “Don’t try to keep up. Just listen.”“Okay.”“And don’t pitch yourself. Don’t perform.” She gave me a quick look. “He hates that.”“Got it.”She let that sit for a second. “If he makes an offer today, it won’t be the final one. You nod, you thank him, and you let me deal with the rest.”“Understood.”The doors opened before I could say anything else.He was already standing when we walked in. Shorter

  • DEAR EX, THE VERSION OF ME YOU LOST.   CHAPTER 20

    Vivian's POVSandra picked up before the second ring had finished.“She mentioned fifty fourth street,” I said. I didn’t even say hello. I just said it because it was the thing sitting heaviest in my chest and I needed it out.Sandra was quiet for exactly two seconds. “How did she bring it up?” she said.“Casually,” I said. “We were talking about my apartment. Whether it was long term or temporary. Then she said she had a friend who lived on that street.” I paused. “Small world. That’s what she said.”“Small world,” Sandra repeated. Flat. Like she was writing it down somewhere.“I haven’t told anyone on that set where I live,” I said. “Not even in passing.”“I know,” Sandra said. “I know you haven’t.” She was quiet for a moment. “Vivian, I need you to listen to me carefully.”“I’m listening,” I said.“I need you to go home tonight and I need you to behave exactly as you normally would,” she said. “Same routine. Same everything. You don’t change anything.”“Okay,” I said.“And tomorro

  • DEAR EX, THE VERSION OF ME YOU LOST.   CHAPTER 19

    Vivian's POVSandra called on a Thursday morning.I was still in the small room getting ready when my phone rang. Daniel wasn’t due for another twenty minutes and I was standing at the mirror with one earring in when her name came up on the screen.I picked it up immediately.“Good morning,” she said. “Do you have a few minutes before your pickup?”“Yes,” I said. I sat on the edge of the bed.“I’ve been making some calls,” she said. “Quietly. Nothing that would draw attention.” She paused. “I want to ask you something and I need you to think carefully before you answer.”“Okay,” I said.“Rhea Collins,” she said. “Before she introduced herself to you on the first day. Before lunch. Before any of it. Did she make any contact with you at all? Even something small. A look. A gesture. Anything.”I thought about it. The first morning on set. Walking in with my script under my arm. Standing near the window going over my notes. The cast arrived one by one.“No,” I said. “She came to me betwe

  • DEAR EX, THE VERSION OF ME YOU LOST.   CHAPTER 18

    Vivian’s POV Sandra picked up on the second ring.“Vivian,” she said. “What’s wrong?”“Nothing is wrong exactly,” I said. “Something happened today and Daniel thought you should know tonight rather than tomorrow morning.”“Tell me,” she said.So I did. I started from the beginning of lunch and went through the whole thing without rushing it. The conversation about the industry. The questions about Carver’s production. Then the Jessica question appearing out of nowhere in the middle of it. The way Rhea had recovered fast and moved on. The drinks invitation afterward.Sandra listened without saying a word. When I finished she was quiet for a moment.“Has she asked about anything else?” she said. “Before today. Anything personal.”“Small things,” I said. “Where I grew up. Whether I have family in the city. Whether I lived in New York before the hotel.” I paused. “Normal questions on the surface.”“How often?” she said.“Every lunch,” I said.Another silence. Shorter this time. “And the

Bab Lainnya

Anda juga akan menyukai

Jelajahi dan baca novel bagus secara gratis
Akses gratis ke berbagai novel bagus di aplikasi GoodNovel. Unduh buku yang kamu suka dan baca di mana saja & kapan saja.
Baca buku gratis di Aplikasi
Pindai kode untuk membaca di Aplikasi
DMCA.com Protection Status