Chapter 13
After that, I helped Trent rebuild.
My strengths were in Fairmont Bay and Kingston Island, so I ended up dealing with Declan more
and more.
And I really did hate himlingpage
He knew how badly Trent and I needed that landmark project in Fairmont Bay to prove ourselves to my parents. And he wouldn’t give an inch.
www
Everyone in the company knew that Sloane had an archenemy.
The one she’d throw folders at in bid reviews and knock over teacups for at negotiation tables.
But no one ever guessed…
That the two enemies ended up in the same bed.
When I brought Declan home, my parents’ faces nearly split from smiling.
My dad came all the way to the front door, grabbed Declan’s hand, and just kept saying “good,
good, good.”
My mom wiped her eyes and kept mumbling, “Finally home. Finally home.”
For once, Declan dropped the whole sly act.
He stood up straight and called them “Mom” and “Dad.” They practically turned to putty.
At dinner, my father brought up the reclamation project in Fairmont Bay that had been in the works
for three years,
Truth was, my parents had dangled that as bait to watch me struggle for ten years.
The Harrison company’s bid won it as soon as they submitted.
For a decade, they’d watched from the sidelines,
Watched me start from nothing with Tren, running projects, negotiating deals, taking risks, slowly
building a company.
Finally they admitted that aside from being stubborn, I actually had business instincts.
Chapter 13
100.00%
MoboReader
INSTALL
Mocked for her looks, she divorces and transforms into a beauty. Returns to…
I could take pressure. Make tough calls. Hold my ground.
So even though they couldn’t stand my ex, they decided to let their daughter win.
They just didn’t expect the wedding to go off the rails.
“That project,” my father said, sipping his iced tea and smiling at Declan, “is a gift for my new soninlaw. That other boy didn’t deserve it. Are you interested?”
Declan picked up a piece of BBQ pork rib and put it in my bowl. “Whatever Sloane says.”
That’s what he said out loud. But the truth was, from the day we got the certificate, he stopped holding back.
Before, he’d pulled his punches just to see me more often.
I thought it was because of my father.
Then my mom told me later that my dad had given him an order, “Make her life hell.”
Declan had been stuck in the middle, always holding back.
Now he didn’t have to worry.
He pulled the last rug out from under Trent’s feet.
When the news reached Trent, he was already drinking.
Empty whiskey bottles covered the coffee table and the floor.
He lay on the couch, staring at a home that no longer had anyone waiting in it, his eyes bloodshot.
His friends tried to talk him down.
“She’s just mad. She’ll get over it.”
“No way. Even if she did move on, it wouldn’t be with Declan…”
Tyler finally got so frustrated he brought Aria over.
But the second she walked in, Trent lunged at her, grabbed her by the throat, and slammed her against the wall.
“That night you got me drunk and slept with me. You said your father would put in more money. Where is it? Why did he pull out?!”
Chapter 13
100.00%
MoboReader
INSTALL
Mocked for her looks, she divorces and transforms into a beauty. Returns to…
-….
Aria went white. She stammered and couldn’t answer.
How was she supposed to know her own father had gone crazy and wouldn’t even listen to her?
Men cheat. Zero times or a thousand times.
Trent hadn’t wanted to.
He told himself he’d confused her with me. That he was dirty now.
He’d betrayed me, so why bother staying clean?
He lied to himself that it was just for the investment. But the truth was, Aria’s young body and wild streak had gotten him hooked.
And I never noticed.
The more I didn’t notice, the more he wanted me to. So I’d accept it.
And if I accepted it, he’d feel better.
Now he regretted it.
He regretted not stopping after the first time. He’d been so sure I had no other option.
He hadn’t even seen his enemy coming.
That night, he smashed his phone to pieces.
He screamed at the empty room all night. “Why? How?!”
His company lost its backbone. Major projects stalled.
The other side paid their penalty, but it was nothing compared to the hole left by the withdrawn
funds.
He dug and dug, and finally found out that the shipping magnate from Fairmont Bay, Arthur Bennett, had a daughter he’d kept well hidden.
Her name was Sloane Bennett,
It all hit him.
That was why Sloane could walk anywhere in Fairmont Bay and Kingston Island like she owned the
place.
Chapter 13
MoboReader
W
INSTALL
Mocked for her looks, she divorces and transforms into a beauty. Returns to…
100.00%
That was why he’d become the most successful young man in Port Ellis.
That fatherinlaw he’d never taken seriously, the one with the “small business”, was actually the
man who controlled the shipping lanes of two cities.
He knelt outside the Bennett estate in the rain. All night. Begging to see me.
When the butler came to tell me, I was curled up in Declan’s lap watching a movie.
“No,” I said.
Declan kissed the top of my head and smiled. “Baby, you look hottest when you’re being cruel.”
The rain fell all night. Trent knelt all night.
By morning, he was gone.
All that was left was a rainsoaked envelope. Inside, a ring.
The one I’d taken off the night before the wedding.
I told the butler to throw it away.
This time, I wasn’t picking up trash.
THE END
Chapter 1 Tristan’s Release from Prison
MoboReader
Mocked for her looks, she divorces and transforms into a beauty. Returns to…
INSTALL
