Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Rival I Let In: Kabanata 11 - Kabanata 20

Julianii didn't bring up the photograph again the next morning, and I didn't ask.I told myself I was giving him space, the same way he'd given me space after the will reading, after Vesper's office, after every moment I needed time before I was ready to talk. But some part of me also wondered if I simply wasn't ready to hear the answer, whatever it turned out to be.He asked me a few things over the following days that seemed unconnected at first, small questions dropped casually into ordinary conversation."What was your father like, before he became CEO?" he asked one evening, not looking up from whatever he was reading."I don't remember much. I was young." I thought about it for a moment, genuinely trying. "Um….. He worked a lot, He and Vesper used to have meetings late into the evening, sometimes at the house. I remember being sent upstairs so the adults could talk.""Do you remember what those meetings were about?""No,I was maybe seven or eight." I studied him for a second, so

I woke up with my face flushed. Not that anything had actually happened, nothing happened, not really…., just a shoulder, a held hand and words none of us had taken back. But the memory of it sat differently in the morning light, and I found myself pulling back into old habits almost on instinct, keeping a careful, deliberate distance over breakfast.Julianii let me have it. He didn't push, didn't ask why I was suddenly speaking to him the way I used to across a boardroom table. He simply matched my distance, giving me the space I seemed to want.But something had shifted anyway. Our silences weren't hostile anymore. They felt like something else entirely, quieter, warmer, and harder to sit inside of without noticing how much had changed.That evening, we attended a small corporate dinner, the kind with enough familiar faces that everyone felt entitled to dish out comments on our engagement as though it were a topic open for public discussion."Be honest," one of the guests said halfw

I intended to walk straight into Vesper's office and demand an explanation.I said as much, already reaching for my bag, already halfway to the door before Julianii stopped me with a single question."What do you want to protect first?"I turned my eyes glaring daggers at him, "What?""You're about to walk in there furious, which means you'll say things you can't take back and give him exactly the reaction he's hoping for. What matters most right now? The northern project? Your seat on the board? Something else?"I stood there for a moment, my anger slowly aligning itself into something more useful."The northern project," I said finally. "It's the one closest to approval. If I lose control of that, everything else becomes harder to defend.""Then that's where we begin."We sat down together and went through the notice line by line. Julianii pointed out something I had missed in my initial fury. Vesper hadn't actually taken anything from me yet. He created a review process, which mean

The next day, I spent it entirely on thinking about the four words.“That is the problem.”I turned them over so many times they started to lose their shape, becoming something closer to sound than meaning. I didn't confront him about it. I told myself I was giving him room, the same way he had given me room after the will reading, but the truth was simpler than that. I wasn't sure I was ready for whatever answer would follow if I pushed.Instead, I noticed things about myself that I hadn't noticed before.I caught myself saving small stories throughout the day, pushing away a comment from a difficult meeting or something ridiculous Mireille had said, specifically because I wanted to tell Julianii later. I noticed the exact moment he left the house that morning for an early meeting, and I noticed, more than I wanted to admit, how quiet the rooms felt without him in them.By the time evening came and he still hadn't returned from a dinner across town, I found myself checking the time m

Julianii stared at the signature for a long time.The name wasn't Vesper's, It belonged to a financial advisor who had worked closely with the Castellane family during the years of the collapse, someone Julianii had barely registered as significant until now. It wasn't proof of Vesper's involvement, not directly. It was another thread, another piece of a puzzle that was still missing too many corners to form a complete picture.He needed more before he could bring any of it to me. He decided, staring at the photograph on his screen, to keep looking.I woke up the next morning remembering exactly how I fell asleep, against his shoulder, exhausted, unguarded in a way I rarely allowed myself to be.I came downstairs prepared for some acknowledgment of it, some comment that would make the whole thing feel awkward in the light of day.Instead, I found him in the kitchen, making breakfast.He didn't tease me, He didn't mention carrying me to bed, or the way I had clearly needed him the nigh