Lost Me, Gained Regret (Jane and Bryant Ferguson) novel Chapter 277

We were on the cusp of securing that office space, just waiting for the investment from RF to come through.

Mark seemed taken aback when he heard I'd managed to rent an office despite the Myers family's decree banning me from doing so in RiverCity. "You found one?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "Seems like the landlord's based overseas. Probably doesn't care much about the Myers family. After all, out of sight, out of mind."

"That's a relief."

Mark carefully dabbed antiseptic on my wounds, his voice full of worry, "This must hurt, right?"

"It's bearable."

I gritted through the pain, reminding myself over and over: No more being soft-hearted from now on.

This world has always been about the survival of the fittest, no good deed goes unpunished.

...

The next morning, Christine showed up at my place bright and early.

She burst through the door, surprised to find me already up. "Weren't you injured? Why not rest a bit more?"

I set aside the fashion magazine I was flipping through. "Did Mark tell you?"

"Yeah, he texted me last night."

Christine dumped a bunch of groceries on the dining table, annoyed with herself, "Sorry, I went out drinking last night and only saw the message this morning."

"It's fine, I'm not in bad shape."

"Let me be the judge of that."

She marched over, lifting my shirt to inspect the damage from head to toe, her eyes reddening with anger, "And you call this 'not in bad shape'? What would you consider serious, then? Who the hell did this?"

"Dorothy." I gingerly touched my wrist, still sore, and ruffled her hair, "Chris, she's not leaving RiverCity anytime soon. Our journey in setting up our company is going to be tough."

"I'm going to face her!" Christine didn't even hear the rest of my words, ready to storm off.

I stopped her, "What good will that do? Beat her up and then what? Either of us end up in a worse situation?"

"What should I do then?! Just let you suffer in vain?"

Christine was always ready to throw down, "I’ll go down with her, how about that?"

"It won't be in vain."

I shared with her the promise I'd wrung out of Jarrod.

The headline hit me like a truck.

“Ferguson and Myers Families Announce Nuptial Plan!”

Both families were local dynasties, well-known in the community. The news had just broken and was already trending.

I felt like I had a sponge lodged in my throat but tried to play it off, "Is this what you're upset about?"

I had suspected something like this would happen when Bryant chose Dorothy last night.

I just didn't expect it to come so fast.

"Is this it?"

Christine paused, seeing through my facade. After a moment's hesitation, she looked at me earnestly, a rarity for her, "Jane, when I broke up with Steven, I learned something... something I've been afraid to tell you."

"What is it?"

"About your feelings for Bryant, all these years."

Christine looked down, "I was always worried you couldn't handle it. But knowing what we know now, maybe it's better to have told you sooner."