Chapter 277

Chapter 277

We were on the cusp of securing that office space, just waiting for the investment from RF to come through.

Mark seemed taken aback when he heard I’d managed to rent an office despite the Myers family’s decree banning me from doing so in RiverCity. “You found one?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “Seems like the landlord’s based overseas. Probably doesn’t care much about the Myers family. After all, out of sight, out of mind.”

“That’s a relief.”

Mark carefully dabbed antiseptic on my wounds, his voice full of worry, “This must hurt, right?”

“It’s bearable.”

I gritted through the pain, reminding myself over and over: No more being soft–hearted from now on.

This world has always been about the survival of the fittest, no good deed goes unpunished..

The next morning, Christine showed up at my place bright and early.

She burst through the door, surprised to find me already up. “Weren’t you injured? Why not rest a bit more?”

I set aside the fashion magazine, I was flipping through. “Did Mark tell you?”

“Yeah, he texted me last night.”

Christine dumped a bunch of groceries on the dining table, annoyed with herself, “Sorry, I went out drinking last night and only saw the message this morning.”

“It’s fine, I’m not in bad shape.”

“Let me be the judge of that.”

She marched over, lifting my shirt to inspect the damage from head to toe, her eyes reddening with anger, “And you call this ‘not in bad shape‘? What would you consider serious, then? Who the hell did this?”

“Dorothy.” I gingerly touched my wrist, still sore, and ruffled her hair, “Chris, she’s not leaving RiverCity anytime soon. Our journey in setting up our company is going to be tough.”

“I’m going to face her!” Christine didn’t even hear the rest of my words, ready to storm off.

I stopped her, “What good will that do? Beat her up and then what? Either of us end up in a worse situation?”

“What should I do then?! Just let you suffer in vain?”

Christine was always ready to throw down, “I’ll go down with her, how about that?”

“It won’t be in vain.”

I shared with her the promise I’d wrung out of Jarrod.

Only then did she calm down a bit, looking at me skeptically, “Really?”

“Really,” I assured her, then asked, “Did you hear what I said earlier?”

I was afraid of dragging her into this.

But she brushed off the concern, “Would you give up on Janedream because of Dorothy, a piece of trash? If not, then I’m with you all the

way.”

I pondered for a moment, “Okay.”

Should anything else come our way, we’d just have to play it by ear.

Christine had marketing experience, I had my design skills. We were almost ready to get the company off the ground, just waiting on RF’s funding to move forward.

So, Christine let go of her plan for retaliation.

When I woke up from my nap, Christine looked even more troubled than when she had seen my injuries in the morning.

Seeing me, she clumsily tried to hide her tablet, “Oh, you’re awake?”

“Let me see.” I approached, reaching out for the tablet.

Christine knew she couldn’t keep it from me in the age of the internet. Reluctantly, she unlocked it and handed it over.

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13:32

The headline hit me like a truck.

“Ferguson and Myers Families Announce Nuptial Plan!”

Both families were local dynasties, well–known in the community. The news had just broken and was already trending.

I felt like I had a sponge lodged in my throat but tried to play it off, “Is this what you’re upset about?”

I had suspected something like this would happen when Bryant chose Dorothy last night.

I just didn’t expect it to come so fast.

“Is this it?”

Christine paused, seeing through my facade. After a moment’s hesitation, she looked at me earnestly, a rarity for her, “Jane, when I broke up with Steven, I learned something… something I’ve been afraid to tell you.”

“What is it?”

“About your feelings for Bryant, all these years.”

Christine looked down, “I was always worried you couldn’t handle it. But knowing what we know now, maybe it’s better to have told you sooner.”