Chapter 6.
Back in her office, Jovana threw herself into sketching a jewelry set, pouring her focus into preparing for next month’s design competition.
Suddenly, the door swung open.
Armando walked in, holding an elegant gift box.
It was the jewelry set she’d admired not long ago.
As Armando approached, Jovana quickly opened a drawer and slid her sketches inside.
“Vana, I messed up earlier. Don’t stay mad.”
Armando massaged her shoulders, his voice low and coaxing.
Jovana frowned, brushing his hands off. She was too drained to deal with him.
Whatever he wanted to do, she didn’t care. After all, she’d already made up her mind to leave.
“I’m not mad. It’s fine. Go back to work.”
Though her tone was gentle, her gaze was ice cold.
Armando, however, didn’t feel relieved by her words.
In the past, whenever he gave her a gift, even just a single rose, she would be absolutely thrilled.
Now, her expression was nothing but cold.
He was at a loss. Before he could say more, his assistant called him for a meeting. Reluctantly, he left.
As soon as he was gone, Jovana immediately called a secondhand luxury reseller.
“I have a set of jewelry to get rid of. Donate the money to the garbage station.”
The shop owner was dumbfounded.
No sooner had Jovana hung up than her desk phone’s internal line rang.
“Jovana, there’s a welcome party tonight at eight for the new spokesperson at Greenhill Eatery.”
Jovana paused mid–flip through her files.“Got it.”
She didn’t like Juliette, but for the sake of the marketing team’s reputation, she’d show up.
At eight o’clock that evening, Jovana, elegant in a white pantsuit, walked into Greenhill Eatery.
The moment she entered, she saw Juliette.
Juliette was draped in a glamorous gown, surrounded by a fawning crowd.
The dress Juliette was wearing was the very one Jovana had admired that day.
Jovana had known Armando gave her favorite things to his mistress, and she’d grieved over it countless times.
But seeing it in person still made her heart clench painfully.
Juliette spotted her and flashed a radiant, taunting smile, as if saying, “Look, Armando spoils me. You’re nothing.”
“Juliette, that dress is gorgeous! I heard it’s worth over a hundred grand!”
“Wow, talk about splurging! Who bought it?”
The crowd buzzed with chatter.
Juliette pressed her lips together, feigning a shy smile.
She deliberately looked at Jovana and said, “My boyfriend got it for me. I told him not to, but he insisted. Said I was the only one who could pull
it off.
He said no one compares to me.”
She emphasized the last line, her voice dripping with condescension and challenge.
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“Your boyfriend’s so sweet! Dropping that kind of cash on a dress? That’s almost on par with how Mr. Dunbar treats Ms. Atherton!”
“Right?”
Jovana’s face stayed blank, but her fingers curled tightly at her sides.
She thought, “So this is how gentle and caring Armando is with his mistress…”
“Oh? Boyfriend?” Jovana swallowed the ache in her chest and spoke, her voice cutting like ice.
She stepped forward, her presence commanding.
Juliette felt a chill creep up her spine.
But in front of her rival, she couldn’t back down.
“Yup!”
She twisted the knife deeper.“Besides the dress, he’s always surprising me with little gifts… Last night, he even got me blondies! He’s so sweet!”
Jovana froze at the mention of blondies.
She thought, “Oh…
“So Armando’s been giving me his mistress’s leftovers?”
Her heart felt like it had been sliced open and stomped into the dirt.
She hadn’t imagined Armando could trample her love so thoroughly.
Chapt
