Beyond Betrayal: Our Unexpected Love Story
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stop them. Of course, they did. The bab
ed a win, Crawford," he' d say over his morning coffee, the newspaper folded neatly beside his plate. "Not jus
ry integration of logistics and AI that would streamline our global operations and save billions. It was also my ticket. My cr
ea. Her mind was a magnificent, terrifying thing. She saw angles no one else did. But passion? That wasn't in our
ame Br
he didn't talk about market caps or synergy; she talked about how I made her feel. Sh
to clandestine meetings in hotel suites. It was a mistake, I told myself. A temp
r-it was all there. A child with Brittany, Hale Rodgers' favored daughter, would bind the two companies together more tig
. I felt a pang of something-guilt, maybe-seeing her lying in that hospital
ce had alrea
a gesture of male solidarity. "
at Brittany, who was now gazing at me with wide, ad
lm. There was no hysteria, no tears, none of the messy emotion I had bra
know this is a shock. And I am truly sorry for the way you're finding this out.
monster. To throw the engagement ring a
line of code she was debugging. It was the same look she got rig
steady. "Project Chimera. Brittany presente
cident happened yesterday evening. The board meet
ched beside m
The one I keep in my home office. She took it after the accident. She pitched
news of the crash. She' d had the drive. "It's our chance, Crawford," she' d said, her eyes gleaming with a desperat
your initial plan overlooked." It was a lie. Her presentation was a clumsy, plagiarized version of Althea' s ge
orless smile. It didn't
was a five-carat stone from a legacy jeweler, a symbol of the Pierce
said, her voice devoid of any emotion. "
t felt like she wasn't conceding defeat. It f
window as if we were no longer in the room. "I'm officially divesti
at? Althea, be reasona
first time, I saw a flicker of something d
, facing away from us, a clear di
ant smile finally breaking through her tear-stained facad
ld have fought to the bitter end. This quiet, decisive stranger in the hospital bed unnerved me
ed on my phone. A
OF FAILED R&D. ESSEX PAGE CALLED "TH
p was a joke, a relic from a bygone era. E
her out of the hospital, leaving Althe