My Fiancé Took Her on Vacation Instead of Marrying Me? I Married WAY Better Chapter 13

My Fiancé Took Her on Vacation Instead of Marrying Me? I Married WAY Better Chapter 13

Three hours later, the convoy pulled smoothly into Wright Manor.

The door opened, and I saw him right away-Grandpa, standing on the steps.

He wore a formal dark suit, leaning on his cane. His back seemed more hunched than I remembered. He looked thinner, too.

My nose burned. I ran to him and threw my arms around him, just like I used to when I was little.

“Grandpa…”

He went stiff for a moment, then patted my back. His voice was low and rough. “You’re home.”

I buried my face against his chest. “Grandpa, I’m sorry.”

He didn’t ask what I was apologizing for. He just patted my back harder.

After dinner, Grandpa called Adrian and me into his study.

He settled into his armchair and slammed his cane against the floor. “That bastard Ethan Hale humiliated my granddaughter in front of her entire office and ran off with another woman. What are we going to do about it?”

Adrian stood by the bookshelf, calm and collected. “The Wright family has quietly funneled at least forty-seven core clients to his company over the years. If all those clients pull out at once, his cash flow won’t last two months.”

Grandpa nodded. “Then make him go bankrupt.”

Adrian’s lips curved slightly. “Already started. His company will be gutted within a month.”

Meanwhile, back in the hotel suite in Coral Bay, Ethan was staring at his phone.

This was his twentieth attempt to reach those core clients. Still no answer.

This trip had been about locking down those key deals. Instead, he hadn’t even met them, and they’d all gone silent.

His assistant finally called, voice shaking. “Ethan, we’ve got a problem. Twenty-three termination letters came in this morning. The annual framework contracts we signed last year-they’re paying

the penalties and terminating immediately.”

Ethan shot up. “What’s their reason?”

“No reason. They just don’t want to work with us anymore.”

His fingers went white around the phone.

Twenty-three clients canceling at the same time wasn’t a coincidence.

Someone was pulling strings. But who had that kind of reach? Who could dismantle his entire client network in a matter of hours?

Mira strolled over from the pool in her bathrobe, cocktail in hand, still carrying that vacation lightness. “Ethan, how about dinner at that seafood place tonight? I saw online there’s this spot

“Don’t bother me.”

His head was spinning. Her voice grated.

She blinked, then tried to sidle closer. “What’s wrong? Are you upset?”

Ethan shoved her away-harder than he meant. She almost fell.

“I said don’t bother me. Can’t you hear me?”

Mira stood there, face flushed.

But Ethan didn’t even see her.

His mind was flooded with Serena.

Every time the company had hit a rough patch before, she’d never been a problem. She’d quietly sort the files, prepare the proposals, and set a perfectly warm cup of tea by his hand.

With her around, even the biggest disaster felt fixable.

“Damn it,” he muttered.

The priority was finding new capital-fast. Otherwise, he wouldn’t even make payroll next month.

His phone buzzed with a financial news alert.

The headline hit him like a punch:

[Ashford Group and Wright Family Formally Announce Alliance – Wedding Set for the 15th.]

Ethan’s pupils contracted. He stared at the screen.

Ashford. Wright. An alliance.

If he could get into that wedding, make a few connections from The Sterling Circle, maybe his. company still had a chance.

He tore through his contacts, desperately searching for anyone who could get him an invitation

Behind him, Mira stood frozen, watching him run out of the room without a backward glance. All the scheming, all the effort to steal this trip-it suddenly felt like a complete joke.