Chapter 3

I thought it, and I asked it too.

The other side typed for a long time before a single line came through:

【Don't carry any guilt over this. Partnering with the Haonan Group is no loss for me.】

I stared at the two words, Haonan, and my eyes stung without warning.

The company's original name had been built from mine and Nigel's.

But before the IPO, Nigel had someone read the fortune in it, and they said "Haonan" sounded too much like "so hard," bad luck for the company's future, so he changed it.

Now everyone knew only "the Matthews Group," and the ones who still remembered its former name, "Haonan," were next to none.

Wei, the same sound as Vee.

What was there left for me not to understand?

The scumbag's name was Nigel, my name was Selina, and the other woman's name was Mila.

And I understood something else even better. The partnership, the offer to buy the shares I was selling off, all of it was Cliff trying to make up for my humiliation that night.

But my boyfriend, the man I'd loved for years, had never once thought I shouldn't have drunk that much.

He'd taken my humiliation and turned it into a tool to please other people, with his own hands.

【Fine. Wait for me.】

I put my phone away, waited for the girls to leave, and stepped out of the restroom.

An arm caught mine out of nowhere.

"Selina, I've been looking all over for you. Where'd you go? I still need you to drink for me!"

Catching the faint scent of cologne on Nigel, I didn't turn around.

"I've got somewhere to be, so I'm leaving. As for the drinks, drink what you can handle, and if you can't, don't."

He froze for a beat, then walked around to face me, staring at me, displeased.

"What's this about? Mad I haven't proposed yet? We haven't gotten to the main event. You think I'd back out on something I promised you?"

So he still remembered the promise, to propose to me the day the company went public.

I'd waited for it all this time, at peace.

Only to end up with the cruel truth instead.

He pulled a velvet box from his pocket, coaxing me in that gentle voice.

"Once everyone's been taken care of, it's your big moment. Excited?"

Inside the box sat the engagement ring I'd dreamed about for so long.

But I only smiled and pried his hand open.

"I really do have to go. Go drink with them."

Nigel knit his brows.

"No, seriously, what's gotten into you? I'm allergic to alcohol, how am I supposed to drink? Come inside with me, Vee and the others are still waiting to toast you!"

The self-righteousness in his voice sent my stomach churning.

"Are you really allergic to alcohol?"

I looked at him, steady and unblinking, waiting to see if he'd say the truth.

But there wasn't a flicker of guilt on his face. Instead he started dragging me toward the private room without another word.

"You didn't even drink that much. Why are you talking nonsense?"

I shoved him off hard and ran for the restroom beside us, hugging the toilet as I threw up until the world went black.

Nigel waited two impatient minutes, then Mila, who'd come looking for him, pushed him back into the room.

"Mr. Matthews, go rest. I'll take care of Ms. Pruitt!"

And Nigel actually walked off without so much as a backward glance.

Mila brought over a glass of red wine and patted my back.

"Ms. Pruitt, what are you working yourself to death for? A woman who's too driven, nobody's ever going to love her!"

"Or is it the truth from before? Can't quite accept it?"

I whipped my head around and looked at Mila with bloodshot eyes.

"You did this on purpose?"

Mila watched me, smug, and poured the wine straight down over me, sneering with contempt.

"What else? Mr. Matthews has put up with you for a long time but couldn't bring himself to break it off, so someone had to be the villain! You have no idea, every time he lay next to you, all he could see was you doing a striptease for the clients. How sickening is that!"

"And where he couldn't see, you were probably getting passed around by the clients, weren't you? How do you even have the nerve to keep clinging to him?"

The wine dripped down, soaking through my white gown.