She's Too Busy Winning to Watch Him Cry novel Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Lunch began pleasantly enough. Arthur and Commissioner Jameson were deep in an enthusiastic conversation.

Delilah and Victoria chatted warmly about trivial domestic matters.

The atmosphere was cozy and perfectly orchestrated.

Halfway through the meal, Charles, seated at the head of the table, circled back to his main agenda, pushing Rowan and Lyra to formalize their engagement as soon as possible.

Lyra glanced at Rowan. He was chewing his food methodically, the muscle in his jaw flexing, a faint vein pulsing at his temple. He exuded an aura of suppressed, icy rage.

When Charles finished speaking, Rowan offered absolutely no response.

Lyra didn’t jump in to say “yes” either.

An incredibly awkward silence descended upon the dining room.

Seeing that neither of them was willing to speak, Charles deliberately pushed harder. “If you two are dragging your feet on the engagement, we might as well skip it entirely. Let’s just pick an auspicious date and have the two families plan the wedding immediately.”

That finally got a reaction out of Rowan.

He looked up at his father, a vicious, predatory darkness swirling in his eyes. He looked absolutely

lethal.

A cold smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. “I already have someone I love.”

Refusing to be outdone, Lyra immediately fired back. “So do I.”

Arthur and Delilah froze, staring at their daughter in shock.

Charles and Victoria, however, assumed the two were just throwing a childish tantrum. Charles chuckled. “Oh, you must mean each other. How wonderful. You’ll push each other to greatness.”

The second the words left his mouth, Lyra stood up.

She walked over and stood directly behind Caspian’s chair. “Actually… the person I love is Caspian.”

“We’re officially dating.”

By saying it in front of both families, Lyra effectively burned all her bridges. There was no going back now.

The entire room descended into a stunned, breathless silence.

A maid who had been walking over to serve the final dish froze in her tracks, too terrified to take another step.

In the dead silence, Rowan was the first to stand. “You all heard her.”

“Don’t ever bring this up to me again.”

Without a backward glance, he turned and stormed out of the estate.

She had handed him her entire heart, and it had cost her everything.

“Dad, I truly don’t love him anymore.”

Delilah, equally stunned by her daughter’s outrageous behavior, sat on the sofa rubbing her forehead. “Lyra, you need to go back and apologize. Just tell them you made a mistake. Charles and Victoria will pretend it was just a bad joke. Tell Rowan you were just trying to make him jealous because he was ignoring you.”

“I won’t,” Lyra’s face turned icy.

“The Jameson Group will go exclusively to Rowan! Caspian doesn’t have a single ounce of business. acumen! Do you really want to marry a useless man you can’t rely on?”

Lyra defended him fiercely. “Caspian is not useless.”

In her previous life, Caspian had always treated her with utmost respect. He was one of the very few Jamesons who had shown her basic human decency. When she went to his campus today to ask him to fake a relationship, he had agreed without hesitation.

“Just because he doesn’t have a head for ruthless corporate warfare doesn’t mean he won’t be successful in his own field.”

“If this is purely about a political alliance, what difference does it make if it’s Rowan or Caspian?”

Arthur was so enraged he couldn’t even formulate a sentence. Delilah quickly rubbed his back, trying to calm his spiking blood pressure.

“Goodnight, Mom, Dad. I’m exhausted, I’m going to bed.”

Remembering that her father had died of a stress-induced heart attack in her past life, Lyra didn’t dare push him any further. She grabbed her purse and retreated to her room.