Tired of me, Mr. Taylor?의 모든 챕터: 챕터 21 - 챕터 30

The first roar of the engine silenced six hundred people.A second later, the enormous screens suspended above the Street Nation Performance stage came alive, and the ballroom erupted.Serena stood behind the curtain with Elena and two members of the production team, watching the live feed as the SN-R rolled through a tunnel of white light onto the circular platform at the center of the room. Camera flashes went off almost immediately. Music surged back through the speakers, the revolving platform began to move, and somewhere beyond the curtain a man shouted loudly enough about the car’s rear profile that Serena laughed.Elena glanced at her. “I think he likes it.”“I’m concerned about how much.”Another cheer rose from the ballroom as the SN-R completed its first rotation beneath the lights.Elena laughed. “Six hundred people and somehow we found the loudest one.”“Put him near the press when they start asking difficult questions.”“Noted.”The stage manager appeared beside them with

By the time Serena said goodbye to Theo, the launch had begun to empty. He offered to take her home, but Serena had driven herself, and after a warm hug and a promise to call her tomorrow, Theo finally left. Serena remained another twenty minutes, thanked Elena and the team, endured one final conversation with a journalist and collected her bag before heading toward the private exit.She was halfway down the quieter corridor when the door ahead opened and Damian stepped through alone.Serena slowed. So Cecilia and Victor were gone.Damian looked up and saw her. “Serena.”She adjusted the strap of her bag and kept walking. “Goodnight, Damian.”“Wait.”“No.”His footsteps followed her. “We didn’t finish our conversation.”That stopped her. Serena turned so abruptly that Damian came within a step of her before stopping too. “Your fiancée came looking for you, and you left with her. I’d say the conversation finished itself rather nicely.”“My father was leaving.”“I know. Cecilia told me.

Cecilia waited until Damian set his phone facedown on the table before she spoke.They had finished dinner nearly an hour ago, yet neither of them had made any move to leave the living room. Damian had poured himself a drink and settled into the armchair opposite her, his jacket discarded somewhere between dinner and the second call he’d taken from Victor. Cecilia had been half listening while scrolling through photographs Mrs. Everhart had sent from the Children’s Promise Dinner.There was one of Lily onstage, both hands wrapped around the microphone, looking terrified and determined. Another showed Cecilia standing beside Mrs. Everhart afterward, and in the corner of that photograph was Serena Ellis.Cecilia locked her phone. “Can I ask you something?”Damian glanced at her over his glass. “Of course.”She had imagined several ways of approaching this conversation on the drive over. Every version had been more careful than the question that finally came out.“Do you love me?”His gl

Theo didn’t release Serena immediately.For several seconds, neither of them seemed capable of doing anything except laugh while the Laurent Motorsport garage erupted around them. Someone slapped the roof of the car, Marcus was shouting something about the final overtake, and two mechanics had already begun arguing over who had predicted the win first.When Theo finally set her fully on her feet, his hands remained at her waist.“You actually listened to me.”Serena was still trying to catch her breath. “Don’t ruin this moment.”His smile widened, but there was something else beneath it—pride so open that it made her chest tighten.“You were incredible.”The words landed differently from the screaming congratulations around them.Serena looked at him.“I nearly lost him in the last sector.”“But you didn’t.”“He was right there.”“And you were in front.”She laughed again, shaking her head. The adrenaline hadn’t begun to settle. She could feel it everywhere, in the trembling of her ha

Serena knew something was wrong the moment she stepped into Ellis Atelier and the receptionist smiled too quickly.She slowed just inside the glass doors, sunglasses still perched on top of her head. “Why is everyone looking at me like that?”“No reason,” Tessa Morgan called from somewhere beyond the reception desk.That was enough to confirm there was absolutely a reason.Serena followed the sound into the main workroom and stopped.Gold balloons crowded one corner of the ceiling. Someone had taped a printed photograph from Saturday’s podium to the wall, except they had enlarged it so aggressively that Serena’s champagne-soaked face was nearly the size of a serving tray. Beneath it sat two bottles of champagne, pastries, flowers and a small silver plastic trophy with FASTEST BOSS ALIVE printed across the front.Serena stared at it.Tessa folded her arms, visibly pleased with herself. At thirty-two, she had been with Ellis Atelier long enough to have survived Serena’s worst months, th