Divorced, Now Watch Me Rise! のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 201 - チャプター 210

CLAIRE"What kind of problem?" I asked, my hands tightening on the steering wheel."Quality control," Nina replied, her voice strained. "We have a major issue with the spring collection."My stomach dropped further. "How major?" I pressed."Very," Nina said. "Can you come back to the facility? We need you here immediately.""I'm twenty minutes away," I replied. "Tell me what happened.""Better to show you," Nina said. "Just get here."The drive back to the facility felt like it took hours instead of twenty minutes, my mind raced through possibilities, each one worse than the last, the spring collection was supposed to be perfect.We'd checked everything multiple times, quality control had been strict, but something had gone wrong. When I arrived at the facility, Nina was waiting for me at the entrance.One look at her face told me everything I needed to know, this was bad. "Come on," she said, leading me straight to the main production floor.Maria was there with several other seamstr

CLAIRE I woke up at five in the morning, my mind was already racing, already calculating production timelines and work schedules. Julian was still sleeping beside me, his breathing deep and even.I slipped out of bed carefully and went to the kitchen to make coffee, the sun was just beginning to rise, painting the sky in shades of pink and orange.I sat at the kitchen table with my laptop, pulling up the spreadsheet I'd started the night before.Fifty-three dresses needed to be remade, six weeks to do it, that meant roughly nine dresses a week, or about three a day if we worked standard hours.But we couldn't do standard hours, we needed to finish faster, which meant overtime. The question was how to approach it. I didn't want to force my team to work extra hours.These were skilled workers with families, lives outside the facility, but I also needed them to understand the urgency.Around seven, Julian emerged from the bedroom. He'd already showered and dressed for work. When he saw

CLAIREI woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. It was early, maybe six in the morning. Julian was already up, in the shower, getting ready for work.I reached for my phone on the nightstand, squinting at the screen. Blake.I almost didn't answer, but Blake never called this early unless something was important. "Hello?" I said, my voice still rough with sleep."Good morning, beautiful," Blake's voice came through, bright and cheerful. "How's my favorite person doing?""Blake, it's six in the morning," I replied, sitting up slightly."I know," he said. "But I wanted to catch you before your day got crazy. Tell me you're taking care of yourself."I smiled despite the early hour. "I'm trying," I said. "Why are you up so early?""Couldn't sleep," Blake admitted. "Been thinking about you, actually. About the whole situation with your collection."My mood shifted slightly. "Blake...""Let me talk," he interrupted gently. "I know you're dealing with a lot right now. The sabotage, the rem

CLAIREWhen I got home, the apartment was dark except for one light in the bedroom. Julian was waiting, he was sitting on the edge of the bed, still in his work clothes, looking exhausted."Hey," I said softly, closing the door behind me."Hey," he replied. "How was your day?""The last dress was delivered," I said, moving to sit beside him. "Everything's done. All perfect.""That's incredible," Julian said, but his voice was distant. "I'm so proud of you."I studied his face carefully, something was wrong. "Julian, what's going on?" I asked gently.He was quiet for a long moment, then he took a deep breath. "I need to tell you about something," he said. "A rival of mine from years ago came back to the country."My stomach tightened. "Okay," I said carefully. "Tell me."Julian stood and walked to the window, looking out at the city. "We went to business school together," he continued. "We competed for years. Every deal, every investment, we were always against each other.""What happe

JULIANThe conference room was packed by two PM, all twelve board members were present, which was unusual, most meetings had people dialing in remotely or sending representatives, but this meeting had brought everyone in person.They could feel the stakes. I sat at the head of the table, David beside me with his laptop and files.Thomas Greene was already there, looking uncomfortable, he wouldn't meet my eyes. "Thank you all for coming on short notice," I began, my voice steady. "I'm sure you've all seen the articles that went public this morning.""We have," Charles Ashford replied."And I want to address them directly," I continued. "These articles are a coordinated attack orchestrated by Adrian Vaughn."Several board members exchanged glances. "You don't know that for certain," another board member, Patricia Wells, said carefully."Actually, I do," I replied. "David has been tracking the story placement. All three major publications received the same tip from the same source at the