Too Late to Hold Me Back novel Chapter 656

"Elara, don't let it get to you. Like I said, everyone has their own agenda.

If we can get along with her, great. If we can't, we'll just keep our distance."

Mira stepped in front of Elara to calm her down.

"There are billions of people in the world. We just need to surround ourselves with the ones who actually have our backs."

"But she's literally your cousin..."

"So what? You know my own biological parents once tried to ruin my life.

Sometimes, blood relatives are far more toxic than strangers."

"That's fair. My mom is a piece of work too."

Elara's mother had once tried to force her into donating a kidney to save her half-brother.

"How do you guys all have such insane families? My parents and my brother are completely normal," Leah said.

Leah chimed in just as Mira and Elara were trying to drop the depressing subject.

"Normal parents are wonderful. We just had the bad luck of drawing the crazy ones."

Mira explained, and Elara nodded in grim agreement. "Yeah, we just pulled the short straw."

Since there were seven of them and the tables only seated four, the group pulled two tables together.

Everyone ordered their favorite dishes. Since they ate together all the time, they couldn't expect one person to foot the bill every night, so they usually just split the check.

The atmosphere was lively as they ate and chatted.

Harvey, who was sitting next to Mira, turned to her. "How long do you think it'll take for Emerald Messenger to be fully developed?"

Mira had reserved a 5% stake in the app for Harvey, rewarding him for his unwavering loyalty.

But she couldn't offer him any more than that. For every major venture, Mira had to maintain at least a 51% controlling interest, while the remaining shares had to be distributed between Owen and her mentor.

Personal ties aside, her mentor provided crucial physical protection, and without Owen running Solflare Group, Mira wouldn't have been able to balance her corporate empire with her college education.

Had she spotted Mira? Was she trying to sneak out without being noticed?

It was laughable. Mira's world would keep spinning perfectly fine without Seraphina Quinn in it.

As the group walked back to campus after dinner, Mira turned to Harvey. "I don't think I've ever done anything to offend Seraphina. We were getting along perfectly fine when the semester started. Why is she suddenly working against me?"

"You're just too close to the situation to see it. She's obviously intensely jealous of you.

When you guys lived far apart and had separate lives, there was no friction. But now you're at the exact same university.

You're simply too brilliant.

Even though you try to stay low-key, your natural talent outshines her effortlessly. For someone as prideful as Seraphina, that kind of constant overshadowing breeds serious resentment.

On top of that, Eleanor Quinn clearly favors you. Her family probably constantly compares her to you, which only makes her feel more insecure and vindictive."

Mira nodded. She had merely been curious; in reality, whatever Seraphina chose to do wouldn't affect her emotionally in the slightest.