Reject My Alpha President (Iris and Arthur) novel Chapter 273

Chapter 273

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Chapter 273

“May I?” she asks, gesturing to my laptop.

I nod, turning the screen toward her. She scrolls through my presentation quietly, one hand delicately holding her teacup. I watch her face for any sign of judgment, but she remains professionally neutral.

“This is a good start,” she finally says, and my heart lifts until she continues. “But there are several key elements you’re missing.”

For the next thirty minutes, Veronica methodically dissects any proposal. She points out gaps in my budget planning, questions the feasibility of my timeline, suggests that my target audience is too broad, and notes that my marketing strategy doesn’t leverage social media effectively.

“And you’ll want to think about corporate sponsorships,” she adds, scrolling back to my budget slide. “Individual donations are important, but having a few big companies on board will give your event credibility and financial stability.”

I nod, taking notes on a pad of paper and trying not to let my disappointment show. It’s not that she’s being mean -quite the opposite, actually. She’s actually being extremely helpful.

But with each point she makes, I feel more and more out of my depth, more and more like an amateur.” Inadequate” would be putting it lightly.

Once we’re finished, my head is spinning. Somehow, Veronica looks even more composed than before. She slides my laptop back to me with a graceful smile. “I hope that helped,” she says, setting aside her empty teacup. “I’m so scatterbrained today, I fear I didn’t make much sense at times.”

The thing that pisses me off about that comment, just like the “I’m a mess” comment, is the fact that she was utterly perfect in every single fucking way that whole time.

But instead of saying that, I just offer her a smile. “Thank you for taking the time to look at this. I know you must be busy.”

“Always,” she sighs dramatically, but with a grin. “Oh, before you go, I wanted to mention something.”

I pause, laptop half in my bag. “Yes?”

“I saw those ridiculous articles about us being at odds,” she says with a light laugh. “Such nonsense, isn’t it? As if we can’t both exist in the same space without being rivals.”

I force a smile. “It’s just the media trying to create drama.”

“Perhaps. Although it does make you think,” she murmurs, tapping her chin, “how… different things might have been in another life.”

“What do you mean?”

Veronica shrugs, the movement causing her robe to slip slightly off one shoulder. She adjusts it casually. “Oh, you know. Maybe in another life, our roles were reversed. Perhaps I was the mate and wife of Arthur, and you were… well.” She smiles, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “The lonely spinster.”

I freeze, unsure what to say to that. What the hell does that even mean? Is she implying that if she had been the one to enter the contract marriage with Arthur and not Selina, that I wouldn’t even be in his life right now?

“Fate is strange that way, isn’t it?” she continues when I don’t respond. “How easily things could have gone differently.”

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