Shadows Of A Forgotten Spring
Billionaire Shadow 78

Chapter 78 537

She sighed, glancing at the city lights streaming past her window. The silence was unbearable. Finally, she turned to him, her voice soft and worried. "Is anything the problem?"

"Nothing, Jaden replied curtly, his voice chipped and low. His hands gripped the wheel tighter, his frustration palpable.

Emma frowned, her worry growing. "Jaden."

He sighed heavily but didn't look at her. "Emma, it's nothing. Just drop it."*

But it wasn't nothing, and Emma could feel the weight of his anger bearing down on her. She watched him in the dim light. the lines of his face hard and unforgiving.

Inside, Jaden's emotions churned in chaotic storm. He felt like a fool. No, worse-a pawn. The woman he cared for, the one he had defended and admired, had played him. Or at least, that's how it

tfelt

He had talked for a whole week about the CEO of W2 HOLDINGS. marveling at her power and her vision. And Emma had sat there, quiet, listened to him ramble on, never once giving a single hint. He wasn't upset about her success-far from it. He did admire her ambition. How could she keep such a monumental thing from him? Can't she have trusted him enough to tell him even minutes before everyone else!

His mind had been racing as he pulled up in front of her apartment building. He didn't help her out of the car, he didn't even look at her. His heart felt heavy, but his pride wouldn't let him act otherwise.

"Goodnight," Emma murmured hesitantly, but Jaden didn't reply

Without a word, he sped off into the night, and left Emma standing on the curb-the soft glow of streetlights stretching out long shadows around her.

Emma stood in front of her apartment and watched as the tail lights of Jaden's car disappeared into the darkness. Her heart pained at his reaction, the cold in his eyes haunting her. She hadn't meant to hurt him. She hadn't even considered he would be affected much less how. Tears prickled her eyes, but she blinked them away. Regret was not an option now.

Earlier that night, Jaden had stepped outside to take a call. His father was on the other end, his voice low and rumbling in anger. "You need to drop that girl, Jaden!" his father growled. "She's nothing but trouble, a magnet for bad luck. Do you wait her ruining your reputation? Our family's reputation?"

Jaden's hand had clenched around his phone, anger flaring. "Emma is my girlfriend, Dad. And one day, I intend to make her my wife"

"Your wife" his father had scoffed. I've already found you a wife, someone who will bring strength to our family name, not drag it through the mud."

But he hadn't backed down; his steadfast loyalty to Emma never really called into question. "You don't ger to decide who I love. The line had still been throbbing in his ears after he hung shaking from contained rage

up, and

Now, while driving through city streets, the conversation replayed before his mind, anger mixing into a volatile cocktail. It wouldn't be taken back-he couldn't regret the defense given to Emma against his father-but he couldn't shake this sting pressed onto his silence Eventually, he pulled up to a bar, parking his car with a jerky motion. He stepped inside and ordered the strongest drink they had. Tonight, he needed it.

As he downed his first glass, the bitterness of the alcohol trrored the bitterness in his chest. He had believed in Emma. fought for her, and now he was questioning everything

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21.18 Tue Dec 17

Chapter 78

Annie's eyes fluttered open to the sterile glow of ambulance lights flashing above her. The vehicle was speeding, the wailing siren a faint echo in her disoriented mind. She blinked hard, her vision blurring as paramedics leaned over her, connecting tubes and adjusting monitors.

"Where am I she croaked, her voice hoarse and tinged with confusion

"You're in an ambulance, ma'am. We're on our way to the nearest hospital," one paramedic responded calmly.

Annie's brow furrowed as fragments of the night came rushing back to her. She remembered standing-rising to her feet, clapping stiffly for that insufferable, manipulative Emma. It had been for the cameras, nothing more than a forced gesture to maintain appearances. But then came the smile. That victorious, smug smile Emina had thrown her way as she strode confidently down the podium. The memory made Annie's blood boil. How dare she?

Her rage flared like a wildfire as she yanked the needles from her arm, ignoring the sting of pain. "No! This can't be happening!" she spat, her face twisting into a mask of fury and disbelief.

In an instant, a paramedic was at her side, trying to restrain her his hands firm yet gentle as he pressed her back onto the stretcher. "Ma'am, please relax. You've fainted. You need to rest."

"Relax?" Annie shrieked, her voice cracking with hysteria. Do I look like I can relax? My life is falling apart!. She thought ik her mind.

She had fainted. Fainted In front of everyone-the cameras, the reporters, the whole world. It was an unpardonable humiliation, one which would haunt her for years.

Her mind reeled as she clung to the impossible, there being no way-so impossible-that Emma, the very nobody she had once teased, could be the boss of W2 HOLDINGS This had to be a bad dream. Some cruel and twisted hallucination brought about by exhaustion. But those eyes-the look in those eyes, the gasps of admiration, the applause-seemed to scream the truth in her ears that she wanted not to believe. "Where's my phone? Annie snapped, her eyes darting everywhere. "Give me my phone!"

"Your purse is with your boyfriend, ma'am," a voice answered as steady as stone.

And now the boiling point overflowed as Annie screamed, "I said, give me my phone!" Her voice whirled through the confines with a sound as keen as a lash. She had to see for herself had to assure herself it was some awful nightmare that enveloped her in its foul grip. Before she could wrestle herself free, the ambulance came to a juddering halt and the doors were wrenched open. The paramedics swung into action, scooping her onto a stretcher and wheeling her into the bright chaos of the hospital's VIP emergency unit.

Bundled along corridors at a fast pace, the sight of a recognizably familiar car pulling into the driveway of the hospital proved another painful twist in the human vice that was her hean. Alexander.

The shame clawed at her like a rabid beast. She needed to find a way out of this humiliation, to erase the image of her collapse from everyone's mind. Something, anything that could salvage what was left of her dignity.

In the emergency room, the nurses laid her down on a bed while a doctor efficiently began taking her blood for tests. Annie's mand raced, the weight of the evening pressing on her chest like vice. She couldn't let this be the end.

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