The Transactional Marriage That Imploded novel Chapter 28

Xanthe sighed. "He really goes out of his way to protect her. The way that trending topic disappeared the day before yesterday... that was definitely his doing."

"Yeah, it was him," Bianca agreed. "But the Jagger family drama is top-tier entertainment. The one who bought the trending spot to leak it was his own grandmother."

Xanthe listened eagerly to all the inside gossip about the Jagger family's brutal infighting on their way into the office. Afterward, she shook her head. "You still need to finalize that divorce as soon as possible and get yourself out of that mess."

"I know."

After the morning meetings wrapped up and she had buried herself in code for a few hours, Cillian Calder messaged the company group chat. He needed Bianca to accompany him to Progenix Tech that afternoon to run diagnostics on their joint project.

The thought of having to see Cynthia at work made Bianca's stomach knot with annoyance.

When they arrived at Progenix, Cynthia was introduced as the new Technical Director, overseeing a large team of engineers. To Bianca's shock, Miles Hollister—a legend in the industry—was working under her as a project manager.

For a talent like Miles to be subordinated to someone like Cynthia... Mathis must have moved mountains to secure her position and build an elite team to carry her.

Just as the meeting was about to start, Mathis walked in. He was carrying a massive bouquet of vibrant, flawless yellow roses—clearly an incredibly rare and expensive variety.

In their entire three years of marriage, Mathis had never once bought Bianca flowers.

She looked away.

Mathis was an investor and board member at Progenix Tech, which gave him every right to be there. But for a man of his status to attend a low-level technical briefing? It proved exactly how much he prioritized Cynthia.

The moment she saw him, Cynthia practically threw herself into his arms, playing the role of the delicate damsel. "Mathis, did you come because you were worried I couldn't handle my first day? Why did you bring so many flowers?"

"Don't worry, I know you'll do great," Mathis said, his voice unusually soft. "I just wanted to see you. I had the flowers flown in specially for you."

Cynthia cast a sideways glance at Bianca. "Mathis, even if people try to undermine me, I'm not afraid. I know you'll always have my back."

Realizing she was out of her depth, Cynthia simply grabbed a coffee and went over to chat with Mathis.

Sitting on the sidelines, Cillian couldn't understand Mathis's logic. If Cynthia wasn't qualified for the job, why force her into such a high-level position?

But since Mathis wasn't offering an explanation, no one dared to ask.

Integrating computing power was incredibly complex. By the time the work day officially ended, they hadn't even finished the first phase of testing.

Bianca looked up and noticed Mathis was still there. "He really doesn't have a real job, does he?" she muttered under her breath.

Since it was Cynthia's first day, Mathis announced he was taking the entire Progenix engineering team out to dinner.

Cynthia immediately looped her arm through his, boasting loudly to the room, "Mathis really cares about my work environment, and he wants to make sure all my coworkers treat me well. That's why he booked a private room for us at the Elysian Club."