[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":10},["ShallowReactive",2],{"viewer-data-260322724E0B-558":3},{"id":4,"number":5,"name":6,"content":7,"isLocked":8,"price":9,"hasRead":8},558,20,"Chapter 20: The Hug That Wasn't For Her","\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Olivia Hayes leaned into her plea, her voice trembling with a practiced fragility, but Ethan Spencer’s expression remained as cold as a morgue slab.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">\"Trying the sentimental route again?\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Ethan’s laugh was brittle, devoid of warmth. \"Olivia, that act doesn't work on me anymore.\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">His voice cut through the air, icy and absolute. \"I didn't come back to Portsmouth to listen to your half-hearted confessions.\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">He stepped closer, his eyes unblinking. \"Your little empire in South City is breathing its last. I'm going to make sure you understand exactly what it feels like to fail, over and over again.\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">He took a step back and slammed the door in her face. He didn't blink.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Ethan kept his word. Within three months, the landscape of South City had been turned upside down. The Spencer family, leveraging their massive commercial network and bottomless influence, severed the Hayes Group’s key international supply chains for high-end ingredients. They shifted their support to The Gilded Table Group, offering terms so lucrative that competitors were left in the dust.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">With Ethan personally steering the ship, The Gilded Table launched a new high-end culinary series, directly targeting the Hayes Group’s most profitable niches. He dismantled their prestige piece by piece, ensuring Olivia had a front-row seat to the destruction.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">When Damon Meyer tried to use back-alley muscle to sabotage Ethan, he only handed the Spencer family a golden ticket to crush the Meyer family openly.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Albert Meyer initially tried to play the mediator, but within weeks, his major project bids began falling like dominoes. Facing catastrophic losses, the patriarch finally saw the reality of the situation. He took a leather whip to his own son, carving the consequences of the family’s failure directly into Damon’s back, hoping the brutality would buy Ethan’s mercy.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Damon couldn't swallow the loss. He blew a fortune on a half-baked plot to kidnap Ethan. He thought he finally had the upper hand, but he had underestimated his prey. Ethan’s men descended on them like a storm. When they were finished, Damon was left a broken husk of a man, dumped on the front steps of the Meyer estate like discarded trash.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">The Meyer family, lacking the spine or the strength to retaliate, retreated into the shadows to lick their wounds, gasping for breath.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Another month passed. The international terminal at the airport was a blur of grey, much like Olivia’s mood. After two weeks of desperate, grueling negotiations abroad, she had hit nothing but dead ends.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Her expensive makeup couldn't hide the hollow exhaustion in her eyes. She exited the VIP lounge, rubbing a throbbing temple, and let her gaze drift over the waiting crowd. Then, her eyes snapped to a standstill.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">There, standing near the bustling arrivals gate, was a tall, imposing figure. Ethan Spencer. He wore a sharp black overcoat, standing perfectly still, his eyes fixed firmly on the exit.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Olivia’s heart skipped a beat, a violent, hitching thud. The exhaustion and the failure that had dogged her for weeks vanished, replaced by a surge of impossible, electric hope.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">He... was he waiting for her?\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">A thousand desperate thoughts flooded her brain, making her breath hitch in her chest. She stared at his sharp, angular features, watching as his arms shifted, opening slightly in a familiar gesture of welcome.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">He was waiting for her. Just like he used to, a lifetime ago.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">The cold, dead ashes of her heart sparked, foolishly, dangerously. She quickened her pace, her heels clicking rapidly against the polished floor, eager to vanish into the embrace she had ached for through a thousand sleepless nights.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Then, a vibrant, glowing figure darted past her.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Grace Ellis surged forward, throwing her arms around Ethan’s waist and burying her face in his chest. Ethan caught her instantly, his face breaking into a look of such profound tenderness that it looked like a different man entirely. He leaned down, brushing a soft kiss onto the top of her head.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">The two of them locked fingers, turning to leave with a security detail trailing closely behind.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Olivia froze in the middle of the crowded concourse. Her blood turned to ice in her veins. She let out a sharp, self-deprecating laugh, but the tears were already streaming down her face, unchecked and burning.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Some bridges don't just burn; they dissolve. She had destroyed the only man who had ever worshipped her, and now, she was left with nothing but her own wreckage, standing alone in the cold.\u003C/p>",false,0,1774272910701]