Chased by my Ex Husband novel Chapter 43

Grace

“ Ethan, I need to— ”

“ Stay. ” Ethan holds on to my waist, nudging me in the direction of the influential men approaching him.

He doesn't let me go, no matter what excuse I present or how I try to pull away from him. In the sea of irrelevant people, I find myself constantly searching for Tristin and when I locate him, I can not look at him for long.

The web of search resets, pushing me to continue the same cycle of push and pull again.

My heart is beating too fast and my hands are sweating, making me unable to hold still.

“ Look at her. Isn’t she Lily’s sister? ” I hear a group of women talking from somewhere behind us.

Ethan is engaged in a tense talk with the two expensively dressed men in front of us, while his arm remains around me, keeping me in place.

“ Didn’t she recently report her sister for attempted murder? ”

“ I bet she was jealous of her and thought Ethan would ditch her for Lily after all. ” Another one sneers.

“ Lily is better in every sense. This bitch just proved it! Look how shamelessly she is latched onto her sister’s boyfriend. If I were her, I would have died before marrying my sister’s man and sleeping with him. ”

The disgust in their voices makes me steal a glance at them. The three ladies meet my gaze before they turn away, giving me their back.

I sigh, shifting my focus to the host standing on the stage, asking for everyone’s attention. His words sound muffled in my ears as my eyes stare at the big screen behind him.

Presentations.

Proposals.

Projects.

And potential investors.

It’s not a charity event, but a confidential display of every company’s best construction designs.

Suddenly, I find Ethan’s arm more repulsive than usual. An invisible hand tightens around my throat, making it hard for me to breathe.

If a company’s reputation takes a hit in such an important international event, it’s bound to become a massive blow to them.

I catch sight of Mr. Costello in the distance, working on the system. My chest tightens.

He picks his head and looks in our direction. His eyes widen for a second, before he looks away, at Ethan.

I watch, as he nods, oblivious to everyone else’s eyes. My lips twitch.

“ Is this your plan? What if I just go and tell Tristin that his trusted Director is messing up his designs? ” I whisper under my breath.

“ What will that do? They either present a faulty design or present nothing at all because they can not make something up in a few minutes that follows the criteria. In the end, they lose face. And what is worse than losing face in our business? ” Ethan replies smugly.

I glance at him. He has his eyes on me. His gaze is soft and light as if he can no longer bother with the coldness.

“ No RB Group members will lose their sleep over such a stupid failure. ” I grit my jaw.

Ethan’s lips curl, as he strokes the side of my waist with his rough fingers. “ there is going to be a special feature to everyone’s presentation today. They will run the simulation. Once they see it fall, they will wonder…how many RB-constructed buildings can fall the same way. How easy it will be to pull some strings and make everyone believe that all those designs were passed because of the decades-old influence of the Roberto family. ”

My heart misses a beat. “ You think you can pull this off? Not every design is bribed to be like this, Ethan. ”

“ Oh. ” He smiles and looks away from me. “ But I have the power to make them pass it as faulty. Once they do, they will demolish every big project of RB Infra. That’s the biggest company under RB Corporation, isn’t it? Without it…where do the Robertos fall in the power chain? ”