The CEO Beautiful Regret 의 모든 챕터: 챕터 1 - 챕터 8

*Vivienne *"It was a calculated detour," I muttered to my reflection in the elevator mirror, smoothing down the front of my tailored emerald blazer. "A statistical anomaly. It won’t happen again."The doors chimed, opening to the sleek, glass-and-steel lobby of Vance Global Holdings. I took a deep breath, forcing my heart rate to settle. By the time I reached the receptionist's desk, my professional mask was firmly in place.I had spent the entire weekend scrubbing the memory of the penthouse from my brain. I didn't know the man's name, and he didn't know mine. He was a closed chapter, a beautiful mistake left behind in a pile of ripped legal paper. Today was about survival. Vance Global was acquiring my ex-fiancé's firm, and today was my one chance to pitch the new board directly to head up the international design division. If I got this anchor position, I could protect my team and take back the leverage I had lost.My phone buzzed in my clutch. I pulled it out, my stomach sinking

"Vivienne *I stared at the leather-bound contract on the glass desk, the words Clause 14: Marital Alliance burning into my retina."You're insane," I breathed, the words slipping out before I could stop them. "You want me to marry you? For a corporate merger? This isn't the nineteenth century, Julian.""No. It’s the twenty-first century, where a PR crisis can erase three billion dollars in market cap overnight," Julian replied smoothly. He didn't blink. He didn't look angry. He just looked like a man calculating a spreadsheet.He reached into his breast pocket, pulled out a sleek, obsidian fountain pen, and slid it across the glass until it tapped against the folder. "Your father wants to use our weekend to prove I lack executive judgment, thereby forcing the board to restructure the acquisition in his favor. If we are married, the narrative changes entirely. It wasn't a reckless fling with a subordinate design director. It was a private, long-standing relationship culminating in a m

*Vivienne *"You knew who I was," I whispered, the cold night air suddenly feeling sharp against my bare skin. "The lounge. The drink. The penthouse. It was all a setup."Julian’s expression remained perfectly unreadable, a masterpiece of corporate calm. "Let's call it an aligned acquisition, Vivienne. I needed a foothold to completely dismantle your father's political leverage in this city, and you needed a way out from under his heel. I simply provided the match. You brought the gasoline."Before I could demand more answers, the balcony doors swung open. Julian stepped past me with an effortless, predatory grace, returning to the ballroom to handle the circling pack of journalists and investors.He left me alone in the shadows, but I wasn't alone for long.Arthur Sterling stepped onto the terrace, his face contorted in a mask of pure, unbridled rage. The aristocratic composure he usually wore like armor was entirely gone. As noted in the family dynamic, he looked at me not as a daug

*Vivienne*The door of the Maybach slammed shut with a heavy, pressurized thud, cutting off the sounds of the chaotic city street and Marcus’s stunned silence.Julian didn't say a word as the car tore away from the curb. He sat in the dimmed light of the leather interior, his chest rising and falling in slow, controlled breaths. The raw, predatory fury he had just shown on the sidewalk was locked back behind his billionaire mask, but the temperature inside the vehicle felt below freezing.I stared down at the sleek, encrypted burner phone resting in my lap. My hands were shaking slightly, but I forced my fingers to press the screen.The file loaded instantly. It wasn't just a life insurance policy. It was a digital trail of breadcrumbs. There were signed bank transfers from an offshore shell company based in the Cayman Islands, heavily linked to my ex-fiancé, Marcus. But as my eyes scrolled further down the encrypted ledger, the breath caught completely in my throat.The offshore acco