The Wife He Dumped, The Queen She Returned As novel Chapter 13

By the time Chloe arrived at the venue, the summit was already halfway over.

She found an empty seat, immediately catching the whispered gossip of the women sitting nearby.

"Look at Mr. Hayes, he's strikingly handsome. Do you think we could get a picture with him after?"

"Calm down, will you? Didn't you see his wife sitting right next to him?"

"How do you know that's his wife? He didn't show her face in the official post on X.

" The younger woman looked utterly convinced, lowering her voice conspiratorially.

"Intuition. You can't hide the way you look at someone you love. Look at Mr. Hayes's eyes, they're definitely together."

She tapped Chloe gently on the arm. "Hey, what do you think? Don't they look like a couple? They have insane chemistry, right?"

Chloe followed their gaze and immediately spotted Preston in the front row, gently handing a bottle of water to Jenna. Her eyes darkened slightly. "Yeah. They do," she said evenly.

The girl beamed. "See? Anyone with eyes can tell."

Chloe stood up, needing to get some fresh air. Just then, a deep, resonant male voice echoed through the hall, seamlessly weaving fluent English alongside the current speaker on stage.

She froze in her tracks, her entire body locking up.

The young girl next to her, clearly well-versed in industry gossip, squealed quietly. "Do you guys know who Shaw Holdings hired for the translation?" "It's Quentin Shaw! Caroline Monet's legendary old partner!"

Chloe barely heard the muffled screams of excitement behind her. The entire world seemed to plunge into absolute silence.

Chloe withdrew her gaze and turned to leave.

Suddenly, Mason grabbed her arm. "Chloe!" he said frantically. "You studied translation, right? Preston's interpreter isn't here yet. Can you fill in for now?"

Chloe frowned in disbelief. "You guys didn't even prepare a backup?"

Jenna lost her composure entirely. "Stop making snide remarks! I know you're just enjoying watching me fail!"

Chloe found the whole situation utterly absurd. If Preston was willing to place so much blind trust in his female friend, he deserved the consequences. She shook off Mason's grip. "Sorry. I'm half-deaf. I can't help you."

Mason was desperate. "What do you mean by that? I apologized to you yesterday. Are you doing this just to get revenge? Are you really going to stand by and watch all of Preston's hard work go down the drain?"