Chapter 1

For twenty years, I'd been the heiress of the Ford family.

Everything changed when the real daughter, Stella Ford, showed up with her DNA test.

I left without hesitation, only taking the cheap earrings shaped like stars and moons with me.

It was just like what my online boyfriend of three years said, "You're my star, and I am a believer who looks up to you forever."

After leaving the Ford family, I broke up, saying, "I'm sorry, the photo is fake, and so am I."

Five years later, I became the most obscure outsourced designer in the company.

He shot down my proposal in front of everyone, embarrassing me.

When we were alone, he stopped me.

His voice was hoarse and barely holding back his emotions. "Winnie Reed, are you leaving me again?" he asked.

I didn't expect to meet Julian Blake again at the most embarrassing time.

On the projector screen, the PowerPoint slides were flickering at the worst possible moment.

I pressed the page turn button.

But the screen didn't respond. After two seconds, the screen suddenly went black.

I broke out in a cold sweat and stood there at a loss.

Before the meeting, I'd double-checked everything. There were no problems at that time.

Why did something go wrong at a critical moment?

The client's smile turned stiff.

The others in the meeting room began to whisper.

All those dissatisfied and contemptuous stares felt like a thousand tiny needles stabbing into me, making my skin crawl with icy numbness.

Suddenly, someone in the back cleared their throat.

At the head of the long table, the man who had been keeping his head down finally spoke, his voice calm and deep.

"Is this really the best your staff can do? How disappointing!" he said.

I stood frozen, feeling like my blood had turned to ice.

This voice was something I desperately wanted to forget, but it had appeared countless times in my dreams.

How could it be him?

I looked up automatically, scanning the crowd until my eyes found him.

Julian, my ex. I broke up with him five years ago.

Now, just his gaze was enough to make me feel like I was drowning.

There was no trace of nervousness or shyness. It was not like when I first caught him staring at me.

He looked at me.

My heart skipped a beat, and I lowered my head without thinking.

Julian looked very calm, like nothing had happened.

But his eyes were distant and indifferent.

Julian said, "Mr. Cole, it seems that you have not prepared the final plan. Let's end the meeting here."

Brandon Cole snapped out of his shock and shot to his feet, looking nervous and eager to please.

He said, "Mr. Blake, please don't leave. It was my fault. I'll have someone to fix it right away."

But when he looked at me, his face changed immediately, and his voice was full of anger.

He snapped, "Winnie! Do you even want this job? Fix the computer immediately! If this cooperation is ruined, you just get out!"

My throat felt parched. I whispered, "I'm sorry, I'll call someone to fix it right away..."

Julian cut me off, "No need."

He picked up the proposal booklet from the table and quickly flipped it.

The sound of paper flipping was particularly harsh in the quiet room.

Soon, he stopped.

Holding up a page, he asked in a deep voice, "Where did these projected visitor numbers for the new development zone come from? Is there any field research?"

I replied, "We visited the surrounding commercial districts and based our calculations on the average figures from the past five years."

"Five years ago?" Julian chuckled. "The city development planning changes every year. The data is barely practical now," he said.

I wrung my hands and bowed my head to admit my mistake.

He let it go, but his gaze stayed fixed on my face.

My heart was racing, ready to leap out of my chest, and my palms were full of cold sweat.

Julian asked, "Winnie? Have we met somewhere before?"

Somehow, a wave of sourness and pain hit me.

I bit the tip of my tongue so hard to keep myself from losing it.

Finally, I replied calmly, "Mr. Blake, you're joking. This is the first time we meet."

Julian did not respond and just stared at me with deep eyes, like a bottomless lake.

There were emotions hidden in it that I couldn't understand.

I couldn't even spare a thought for it.

I suddenly thought of something else.

We'd been together for three years.

But Julian didn't know what I really looked like.

We met on a forum on the Internet.

Late at night, I sent a post asking for help.

Winnie: [Help! Who knows the design calculations of curved roofs?]

It was so late that barely anyone saw it. My post got buried on page two in no time.

Just as I was giving up, a reply suddenly appeared.

Julian: [You need to take into account the structural forces of a hyperbolic paraboloid. Try looking at Example 3 in Chapter 3, page 45 of the Light Steel Structure Design Manual.]

Julian: [By the way, the load factor marked on your drawing is too low.]

I was shocked.

I clicked on his profile, but it was empty.