جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 160

Ryan’s POVI stood in the hallway, waiting patiently as Serena headed off to judge the second half of the competition. I couldn't help but notice that Quinn guy watching her every move.Something about him bothered me—the way he looked at her seemed too familiar, too interested."Mr. Blackwood, would you like to watch from the audience? The view is much better down there," Mr. Brook, the event organizer, approached with an eager smile.I turned to him, keeping my expression neutral. "That won't be necessary. I have other matters to attend to. Serena is here under your care—I trust you'll ensure everything goes smoothly.""Of course, Mr. Blackwood! Ms. Quinn is our specially invited judge. Nothing inappropriate will happen, I assure you."He pulled out a business card from his pocket and handed it to me with both hands."I hope we might have the opportunity to collaborate in the future."I glanced at the card briefly before accepting it. "Fine."As I walked away, I instructed Simon to o

Serena’s POVAfter our beach stroll the night before, I'd barely had time to catch my breath. The competition organizers weren't about to let their newly viral judge lounge around—they'd scheduled back-to-back activities and interviews for the next two days before the finals.Online buzz about the design competition was exploding, and apparently I was dominating at least half the trending topics. So much for any hope of downtime.Ryan had come to San Francisco specifically to accompany me, which meant he was backstage for every single one of these exhausting events. We weren't exactly hiding our closeness, either. His hand would rest casually on the small of my back, or he'd brush hair from my face without a second thought about who might be watching.I could hear the whispers from the production staff whenever we passed by."I heard she's his ex-wife. They supposedly divorced because of relationship problems, but look at them now...""You know how these wealthy families operate—it's l

Author’s POVMeanwhile, Ethan Quinn was fuming. He never imagined his photo would be dragged into some tawdry scandal.Worse still, his face had been blurred out!"Find out who's behind this," he snapped, his anger filling the office. "Who dares smear my name in San Francisco?"His assistant quickly agreed, not daring to waste time before rushing off to investigate.Across town, Georgina sat staring at her screen with a face like thunder, refreshing the page repeatedly."What's going on? Why can't I find any of yesterday's news stories?" she demanded, hurling a nearby object at her assistant.The assistant suppressed a groan of pain, not daring to dodge. She simply endured the abuse."How incompetent are you?" Georgina snarled."Ms. Georgina, last night's campaign was actually quite effective, but early this morning, everything got suppressed," the assistant explained timidly."I asked around, and someone must have—"Georgina slammed her hand on the desk. "It shouldn't happen this fast

Serena’s POVI watched as Georgina came stumbling back into the break room, her face going completely stiff when she heard Ryan's ice-cold declaration that she should withdraw from the competition.Ryan glanced at Ethan, his tone clearly displeased. "Since Mr. Quinn has already uncovered the truth, I believe he knows exactly how this should be handled."Georgina dragged her assistant into the room behind her, desperately trying to defend herself. "Mr. Quinn, this was all her doing! It had nothing to do with me!" She turned sharply to her assistant. "Tell them! Why did you do this?"The assistant trembled visibly, the color draining from her face as everyone in the break room stared her down. The pressure in the room was suffocating."It... it was me," she finally stammered.I exchanged a knowing glance with Ryan. Neither of us believed this for a second. Why would an assistant have any personal vendetta against me? It made zero sense.Georgina visibly relaxed when her assistant took th

Serena’s POVI froze on the floor as Georgina towered over me, her face twisted into something barely human. My arms wrapped tighter around my belly as pain shot through my lower back. I couldn't move, couldn't even scream—all I could think about was my baby."This is all because of you!" Georgina screamed, looming over me with wild eyes. "Everything was fine until you showed up! Just die!"I saw her raise her hand, ready to strike. In that moment, everything slowed down. I closed my eyes, turning to shield my stomach, when a sharp voice cut through the tension."Stop!"My eyes flew open. Ethan was suddenly there, moving like lightning across the hallway. He shoved Georgina aside with such force that she stumbled backward."Georgina, what the hell are you doing?" he snapped, his voice colder than I'd ever heard it.Instead of backing down, Georgina completely lost it. Her face contorted with rage as she looked from Ethan to me, her eyes bulging."This is all your fault, you bitch!" she