Blooming After Betrayal のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 1 - チャプター 9

"Renee! What did you do to Jess now?" Marcus appeared in the bedroom doorway, wearing the cartoon pajamas."It's not her fault, Marc." Jessica's eyes were rimmed red, a few tears sliding down her cheeks. "I forgot about Ren's leg and bought her high heels.""I spent forever tracking down her size. I went to so many stores."Right on cue, Marcus raised his voice."Renee! Jess was just being nice. She didn't do it on purpose.""Stop snapping at her every chance you get."Jessica stood beside him, dabbing at her tears, clutching the edge of his sleeve, her voice breaking. "Marc, don't blame Ren. It's all my fault. I'll just take them back.""No." Marcus glared at me, eyes full of disappointment."You can't keep using your injured leg as an excuse to lash out at people."I couldn't hold it in anymore. "Do you even remember how my leg got injured?""Ren, that was my fault, and I'll make it up to you."Marcus froze. A flicker of guilt crossed his face, and his tone softened."But Jess is inn

At six the next evening, I arrived at the Grand Century Hotel's main ballroom.I was early. I sat alone on a sofa in the corner, my crutches beside me, and watched the room fill.I paid no attention to the occasional sideways glances and hushed whispers.Business partners and company executives filed in one after another.A stir rippled through the entrance, and I looked up instinctively.Marcus strode in wearing a sharp suit, looking like a man on top of the world.Jessica was on his arm in a flowing white evening gown, gliding in beside him.The picture of a perfect couple. They turned heads across the room."Welcome, everyone, to this evening's gala! It is our great honor to witness the signing ceremony between Sterling Group and MJ Corp."MJ Corp. That was the company Marcus had founded.When he'd named it, he claimed that blending his initial with Jessica's would make the company lucky.He'd overruled my objections and finalized it."It's an incredible honor to be partnering with

What appeared on the screen this time wasn't a promotional slideshow. It was a series of side-by-side comparison charts.On one side, the project's minimum qualification standards. On the other, MJ Corp's actual internal records.Registered capital, performance benchmarks, equipment, facilities. MJ Corp failed to meet a single requirement.This was the evidence I'd gathered.I trusted Derek, but I also knew better than to put all my eggs in one basket.The files I'd given Derek were only a backup copy.The originals had been handed to the main AV control team much earlier, as a precaution in case something went wrong on Derek's end.Now that precaution was paying off.Sweat trickled down Gerald's forehead. His eyes darted around the room. "My apologies, Mr. Sterling. I've been overwhelmed with work lately, but this is still my responsibility."Then he whipped around and roared at Marcus."Your company doesn't meet a single qualification threshold, and you had the nerve to come waltzing

"Thank you for stepping in. I'm Renee Sterling. What's your name?""Ethan Grayson."He smiled, and sunlight spilled across a face that suddenly looked bright and easy."I'm glad you're okay. I've always wanted to play the hero. Guess I finally got my shot."Once the adrenaline wore off, curiosity got the better of him."What was that about? Who comes at someone with a knife in broad daylight?"I gave him a brief rundown. By the end, he was pacing back and forth, visibly agitated."If I'd known, I would've given her a couple of kicks while she was down. Unbelievable."We talked for a few more minutes, then went our separate ways without exchanging numbers. We were strangers. That was supposed to be the end of it.What I didn't expect was that a week later, we'd run into each other again.This time, he was visiting my company as a client. The moment we locked eyes, we both froze.Neither of us brought up our first meeting. I showed him around the office, and then we sat down to talk busi