His Last Choice, My First Gambit Chapter 07

His Last Choice, My First Gambit Chapter 07

I didn’t expect Preston to follow me out. Just then, Julian’s car pulled up to the gate.

Not wanting to get entangled with him, I simply said, “My boyfriend is here to pick me up. Goodbye.”

Preston sneered. “Coralie, are you sure you want someone like him as your boyfriend?”

“And who should I be with? Someone like you, who’s indecisive and can’t admit when he’s wrong?”

I started to walk away, but Preston tried to grab my wrist again. “Coralie, listen to me..”

I flinched.

Julian got out of the car, strode over, and punched Preston squarely in the face. He pulled me behind him and growled, “Stay away from her.”

We got in the car.

Sitting beside Julian, I noticed a framed printout on the dashboard. It was code. I gasped.

“Wait… This code. I gave this to an online friend years ago.”

“Did you?” Julian’s face, even the tips of his ears, turned bright red.

“Yeah, that algorithm…” Memories I thought were long buried came rushing back.

I was lonely in high school, so I made a friend on an elite coding forum. He said he was the son of a tech giant; I said I was a princess from a small country. He said he got all A’s; I boasted I was class valedictorian.

We never planned to meet, so we laid it on thick. Later, my phone was stolen, and since I couldn’t remember the password to the forum, we lost contact.

Remembering it all, I looked at him in disbelief. “You really are the son of a tech giant…”

Julian nodded, his tone slightly aggrieved. “And you lied to me. The princess kingdom you mentioned doesn’t exist.”

I coughed awkwardly, lowering my head. “I didn’t think anything you said was true either.”

Julian chuckled, glancing at me at a red light. “So, do you believe me now?”

I nodded, then quickly asked, “How did you recognize me?”

“You sent me a photo once. I remembered your face.”

Seeing his serious expression, I said sincerely, “Thank you.”

And thank you, I added silently, for trying to help me in my past life.

Later that afternoon, as I was curled up on Julian’s sofa, my father called. The gist was simple: if I could secure the Crestwood Marina project, the entire family conglomerate

was mine to run.

I knew that project. A lot of powerful people had their eyes on it.

In my last life, the Sterling family was facing a debt crisis, which was a major reason they’d pushed for the marriage. But even our union wasn’t enough to secure the project.

Back then, I was so infatuated with Preston that I never would have competed with

him.

In the end, I had to raise funds under the Vance Group’s name to help him win the bid.

That project was a game-changer. Within a few months, it had pulled the Sterling family back from the brink of bankruptcy and catapulted them to the top.

This time, I was determined to win it for myself.

What I didn’t expect was for Lily to come find me.

She found me in the lobby of the hospital where I worked. And she knelt. “Coralie, please don’t break off the engagement. There’s nothing between Preston and me, I swear. If it makes you uncomfortable, I’ll go abroad immediately and never come back.”

I watched her in silence.

Even in my past life, I was never naive enough to believe they were just friends. Preston’s grief after her death made their real feelings obvious.

I remembered the day he’d finally agreed to a divorce. He had no other choice.

He had come home to find me with a knife to my own throat. Terrified I would actually go through with it, he finally relented.

But on the way to finalize the paperwork, he drove his sports car to a cliff on the

coastal highway.

“You’re alive today because Lily died for you, yet you’ve never shown an ounce of gratitude. Coralie, you disgust me.”

I was furious. “If you love her so much, why don’t you go die with her?”

Preston’s eyes turned red. He slammed on the accelerator, sending the car hurtling toward the cliff’s edge.

“We owe her, Coralie! We’re supposed to spend our lives repaying that debt! What gives you the right to run away?!”

The man was a monster.