Love, Broken, and Found のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 1 - チャプター 10

After our second divorce, I had applied and got hired as Jeff's assistant. I carried his favorite caramel latte, heart racing with hope, as I pushed open the door to his office.Instead, I found him leaning back in his chair while kissing Larissa, who was sitting on his lap.I lost it. I lunged at Larissa, fists swinging, and Jeff slapped me to the floor.People had gathered outside the office, peeking in.Everyone assumed I was still the CEO's wife, so their eyes were full of judgment as they looked at Larissa.To spare her from gossip, Jeff ignored my tears, snatched my bag, and dumped everything on the floor.The divorce papers lay there like a warning sign, announcing to the world exactly what our relationship was.From then on, every time Jeff and I divorced, he made it public on social media.Everyone knew Jeff loved Larissa. I was just the shameless woman who refused to leave his side.But this time, Jeff's worry was unnecessary.I grabbed my suitcase without hesitatio

Rumor had it that Jeff and Larissa's fight was about me.I just smiled, indifferent.I wasn't that hopeless romantic anymore, the one who used to refresh social media dozens of times a day, stalking them and everyone who knew them, hoping to catch the tiniest crack in their relationship. If I succeeded, I would then rush to Jeff the second I thought he might need me, ready to remind him that I was the one who truly loved him.Couples who are really in love argue in bed and make up before breakfast. So what if the fight was about me? I had always just been another player in their little game anyway.Still, after that, Jeff started calling me more and more.But I either hung up immediately or found some excuse not to see him.Then, the day before I was leaving the country, he asked me to go to the concert with him."I already got the tickets. I'll see you tonight. It's our anniversary today. You're not gonna stand me up, are you?"He had never sounded so pleading before.Bef

Jeff's voice was hoarse, his eyes bloodshot. He seemed to have finally realized that Helen had left him for good this time.Jeff stumbled back into his apartment, and the moment he opened the door, he caught a familiar scent.The sweet aroma of beef stew hit him like a lightning bolt. It was Helen's signature dish.His heart jumped, a flash of joy lighting up his eyes."Helen? You're home?"He practically ran into the kitchen, hope and excitement written all over his face. But the moment he saw who was actually there, he froze as the smile drained from his face.It wasn't her.Larissa, in a silky white nightgown, was calmly stirring a pot on the stove. She turned to him with a sweet smile the second she noticed him."Hey, you're back."All of Jeff's hope evaporated in an instant. His face went cold."I thought you left."He clearly remembered personally seeing Larissa onto her flight."I'm back again," she said while stepping closer, her delicate fingers brushing his chest.

Jeff stared at the screen, watching me shake hands with officials from another country's Commerce Department. His Adam's apple bobbed violently."Tell the finance department to raise the interest rate on the shares pledged to the bank by two points," he muttered.Meanwhile, as the plane pierced through the stratosphere, I was at the executive lounge of a hotel, signing for a special delivery.I peeled back the protective foam to reveal all our marriage and divorce papers.A sticky note from Scarlett, sent from back home, was tucked between them.[He says collecting all of these will make you change your mind.]I pressed the call button and smiled at the concierge who arrived."Please shred these for me," I said lightly.By the time Jeff finally tracked me down, I was sitting in a café with Albert Foster from Foster Enterprise, the man I was supposed to be forming a marriage alliance with.In a glass conservatory on Everton Avenue, Albert's fingers traced the rim of his coffee

This was what true love looked like.My wedding was held in a chapel on the pink-sand beaches of Coral Bay.Wearing the custom-made wedding gown, I stared into the mirror at myself. I looked calm, poised, and more grounded than I had been three years ago."Ms. Garner," the stylist whispered, "there's a gentleman outside—"Scarlett cut her off. "Tell him the bride isn't seeing anyone."My fingers froze on the veil. "Jeff's still out there?""He's been kneeling at the beach entrance since last night," Scarlett said, rolling her eyes. "Said he won't get up until he sees you. Security tried to move him three times, but he wouldn't budge."Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, I saw him in the storm, drenched, his expensive suit pants torn and streaked with blood at the knees. He pushed away the black umbrella the bodyguards held over him, as if trying to wash something away with the rain.Albert suddenly pushed the door open, holding a tablet.On the screen were real-time stock pr