《The Rival I Left Behind》全部章節：第 1 章 - 第 10 章

Vera stopped tapping her fingers on the table.She didn't seem to expect me to actually take the glass.I closed my eyes and forced the liquid down my throat. The mixture of alcohol and hot mustard felt like a ball of lava, searing its way down my esophagus before exploding in my stomach."Nice! Mr. Morass is certainly a good sport!" Diane led the applause.Vera suddenly stood up. She stared at me, her face darkening with a terrifying intensity."Mylo, you’re disgusting." She threw the words at me coldly and turned to leave.I couldn't care less about her insults. I shoved through the crowd and stumbled toward the restroom.Once inside a stall, I could no longer suppress the metallic, bloody taste surging up. I heaved, vomiting violently into the toilet. The pain in my stomach was so intense my whole body spasmed, leaving me curled on the floor, gasping for air.I fumbled through my bag, found a painkiller, and swallowed it.I can't die. Not yet. I haven't bought a plot for my

Vera let out a cold laugh and bent down to snatch the pills from my hand."You’re still denying it? You even had the painkillers ready. Mylo, you haven't changed a bit when it comes to acting for sympathy."She weighed the box in her hand. "Do you really think acting fragile is going to make me let you go?""Give them back," I said, reaching for them.Vera jerked her hand back, easily avoiding me. She grabbed a glass of red wine from a passing waiter’s tray and right in front of everyone, popped the pills out of the box and dropped each pill into the wine.The pills dissolved quickly, creating tiny white bubbles in the alcohol.Vera held the spiked wine out to me. "Since you have stomach cancer, if you drink this, I’ll clear your debt with Diane myself."A collective gasp went up from the crowd. Everyone knew how badly mixing red wine and pills would wreck a stomach, especially with high-strength painkillers like these.I looked at Vera, but all I felt inside was a dead silence

Vera’s company was facing its biggest crisis in three years.A rival firm had somehow obtained overseas investment records from three years ago. They were accusing her of money laundering and financial fraud. The stock price hit the floor in a single day, and the media swarmed the office building until it was completely blocked off.As the PR manager, Cole was sweating through his shirt in the conference room. His eyes were red. "Vera, I really tried my best. But they were too prepared. We've put out a statement, but no one believes us."Vera sat at the head of the table, her face pale with rage. She gripped her pen so hard it looked like it was about to snap.I stood in the corner, watching Cole’s performance with nothing but irony in my heart. That financial loophole was something Cole had created himself three years ago to suck up to Vera. She hadn't known about it at the time, but now she was taking the fall for it."Everyone out," Vera growled, her voice raspy.The room cl

Vera snapped, standing up with a look of obsessive madness in her eyes. "I won’t let you say that! I have money! I have more than enough!"If it means saving you, I’d sell all of Quinn Corp without a second thought! Mylo, didn’t you love competing with me?"You won. You won every single game we played over the last seven years. Just stay alive. I’ll give you the partner position. I’ll be your assistant. You can humiliate me however you want!"I looked at her, but I didn’t feel a single spark of satisfaction. All I felt was a deep, heavy exhaustion."Vera, in these seven years, what were we even fighting for?" I closed my eyes, weak."Fighting over whose strategy was more perfect. Fighting over whose performance reviews were higher. Fighting to see who could stomp the other into the dirt first. But in the end, I lost my life, and you lost your soul."Is winning like this actually worth anything?"Vera froze. She slowly knelt by my bed and buried her face in my palm, her scalding

Vera stood by the sea, her eyes hollow as she watched the ashes scatter in the wind.She returned to the company and announced her retirement at the board meeting. She sold all her shares and real estate, using the proceeds to establish a cancer relief fund named the "Mylo Foundation."Vera moved out of her luxury villa and into the cramped, dilapidated apartment Mylo had once rented. Just like Mylo used to, she woke up early every day to squeeze onto the bus and buy a burrito from the corner stand. She wanted to experience the hardships Mylo had endured over those three years, searching for any trace he might have left behind in the mundane details of everyday life.Every morning, Vera brought a bouquet of fresh red roses to his gravestone."Mylo, today's burrito was a little salty. It’s not as good as the place you used to take me to.""Mylo, Cole isn't doing well in prison. See? I’ve avenged everyone who ever bullied you."She spoke to Mylo’s photo, sitting there for the ent