Chapter 286

Chapter 286 The Breaking Point Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on.net
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Connor staggered from the villa like a ghost. The sunlight stabbed his eyes, sharp as knives. His phone vibrated in his pocket–his assistant’s frantic voice spilled out:
“Mr. Jude! It’s bad! Ms. Joyner’s lawyers have filed the patent withdrawal. The board’s in chaos -our stock has already hit limit down!”
The voice kept talking, but Connor couldn’t hear. He slid down against the wall, buried his face in his hands. His shoulders shook. The man who once thought himself untouchable now sat broken, swallowed by regret. One false step had pulled down his entire empire.
Scarlett stood before the glass window, watching the stream of cars below. Her phone buzzed with confirmation: the patent withdrawal was filed, Jude Group’s market value bleeding out by the second.
No triumph. No wild joy. Only a cool, steady calm.
She remembered the first time she met Connor, that boy in a white shirt grinning in the sun: “ Scarlett, I’ll protect you. ”
And she had believed him. She had handed him her heart, her work, her brilliance, convinced it would mean a future together. But promises warped under profit’s weight. Love, she’d learned, was too fragile against greed.
The doorbell rang. Her assistant brought new drafts, and Scarlett opened the door, the light outlining her like a blade. The past was ashes. She would build her future atop them.
Her phone lit again. A text, not from Connor–an unknown number:
“ I’m Rebecca. You wouldn’t want me exposing how you faked my voice to trick Connor, would you? ”
Scarlett’s lips curved coldly. She deleted the message without a second thought. Perfect. Let Rebecca come to her–otherwise all her plans would be wasted.
In another room, the message delivered with a sharp chime. Rebecca stared at the “Sent” status, then flipped her phone facedown. The dull thud on the table startled Martha.
“You sending secret messages again? Since Connor left you’ve been restless–what are you plotting now?”
Sunlight sliced the room, shadowing Rebecca’s face half bright, half dark. She ignored her
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Chapter 286 The Breaking Point
mother, patting concealer over the dark rings beneath her eyes. Prison had hollowed her cheeks, but when she thought of profit, her gaze still burned with calculation.
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“I’m talking to you!” Martha’s voice rose. “Are you sneaking around with another man? Rebecca, you can’t–after all that’s happened-”
“Mom.” Rebecca’s tone was edged with impatience. “Why do you care so much?”
“How could I not care?” Martha snapped, slamming her knee into the table so hard it rattled. “You’re my daughter! Your father’s gone, the Joyners are finished—there’s only us left. Who else should you tell if not me? Who did you text?”
Rebecca’s grip on the powder puff whitened her knuckles. In the mirror, the woman staring back wore a smile sharp with mockery but void of warmth.
“So what if I did? So what if I didn’t? What business is it of yours?”
“It’s my business!” Martha’s fury cracked through her voice. “Don’t tell me you’re trying to deal with Scarlett behind my back! That girl’s Lane family now, with real power. If you go crawling to her, she’ll crush you!”
The bitterness welled in her chest. “A beggar I took in, now sitting on top of us all—what a joke!”
“Took in? ”
Rebecca spun, her voice like a whip. The cap of her foundation bottle cracked in her grip, sharp as her glare.
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