I Chose Me Over My Marriage novel Chapter 167

From the moment Maxwell sat down, his gaze lingered heavily on Lyra.

His intense staring was impossible to ignore, but Lyra felt absolutely nothing but sheer repulsion.

Seeing that she wasn't giving him an ounce of reaction, Maxwell finally pulled his gaze away, a deep frown settling on his face.

He completely missed the dark, resentful look Aria was shooting him from the side.

"I didn't call you here for any malicious reason. The Unit B director mentioned you've been struggling to get into character lately. Are you still recovering physically?"

Howard's words sounded like polite concern, but every syllable carried a hidden edge of reprimand.

Ever since Aria had joined the production, there had been one crisis after another, severely delaying the schedule.

If the rest of the cast and crew hadn't been working overtime and strictly adhering to their duties to push the project forward, her antics would have caused massive ripple effects across everyone's future projects.

There was no denying it—this was entirely Aria's fault.

And she was painfully aware of it.

Aria poured herself a glass of wine, stood up, and offered a deep, apologetic bow to Howard.

"I fully admit that I haven't been in the right headspace lately. It's completely my fault, and I won't deny it. To show my sincerity to everyone here, I'll penalize myself with a drink."

Just as she raised the glass to her lips, Chloe interjected.

"Let's skip the theatrics. You're still recovering, aren't you? If you drink that and something goes wrong, you'll just end up blaming us."

To Aria's ears, it sounded like pure mockery.

But Lyra knew Chloe. Beneath her tough exterior, she genuinely cared about people. She was actually looking out for Aria's health.

That was simply her soft spot showing.

It was as if looking at him for even a second longer would make her physically sick.

"Forget it. We're all collaborating here, so we need to be understanding," Howard said smoothly. "Besides, everyone at this table—aside from myself and Aria—is an investor in this project. We all want this show to succeed and air as quickly as possible. We're gunning for the winter holiday slot, and releasing it around the New Year will maximize our ratings."

Aria didn't absorb a single word of Howard's pep talk.

Her mind completely locked onto one specific phrase.

Investors?

Lyra was an investor too.

The moment the realization hit her, Aria felt a suffocating wave of despair and inadequacy crash over her.

Beneath the table, her hands clenched into tight fists. When she looked at Lyra, her eyes were burning with unfiltered hatred.