Once a Love Fool Now a Leading Lady (Kylie rehbein and Axel Bowen) novel Chapter 12

So this was what favoritism looked like.

Rhea smiled easily, confidence radiating off her. "My mistake," she said sweetly. "Sorry, Mr. Field. I hope you don't mind."

Crispin didn't reply right away.

Instead, Axel spoke for her. "It's not on you. You're new to this project. Ms. Rehbein didn't handle the hand-off properly. That's her mistake."

His voice was calm, almost mild—but the words cut through Kylie like a dull blade, slow and merciless.

Crispin frowned. "How can you blame Ms. Rehbein for that? That policy was announced ten minutes ago. She couldn't have predicted it when she wrote the proposal. If she had, it would've been nothing but wishful thinking."

Kylie didn't want to argue.

She didn't even want to speak.

It felt like one light after another was flicking off inside her chest, until everything went dark.

"Excuse me," she murmured, pushing back her chair. "I'm not feeling well. I need a moment."

She hadn't eaten breakfast, and her stomach was already tying itself in knots.

The bread in her bag had gone cold and stiff, but she forced herself to chew it anyway, one painful bite at a time.

Thankfully, the break room had a water dispenser. After she gulped down a few sips and her stomach medicine, the pain dulled to something bearable.

When she stepped back into the hall, Axel and Rhea were walking out of the conference room together, chatting and smiling. Crispin followed a few steps behind, also looking pleased.

Looked like the deal had gone through.

Kylie let out a quiet, shaky breath of relief.

“Ms. Rehbein," someone called, "Ms. Malone just asked to tour the production line. Would you like to come along?"

"No—" She hadn't even finished the word before Axel's voice cut through.

"The project almost fell apart because it wasn't handed off properly," he said coolly. "Shouldn't you give Ms. Malone a complete introduction?"

So that was it.

In his eyes, the near-failure of the deal was still her fault.

Seven years at Vortex. Seven years of loyalty, of late nights, of giving everything she had—and in the end, none of it meant a damn thing.

Kylie had toured AeroX plenty of times before. She knew the place inside out.

As she led the group through the facilities, her tone stayed calm and professional. Every fact, every stat rolled off her tongue with quiet precision.

Even Crispin—who had seen plenty of slick businesspeople in his life—looked genuinely impressed.

The AeroX staff were just as warm toward her.

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