h4Chapter 167: Hate/h4

    The music from the main event hall echoed faintly as she and Stefan stepped out of the room. Her heart still pounded with the remnants of tension from their meeting with Mr. Rogers.

    She nced sideways at Stefan, his jaw tight and unreadable. He hadn’t said a word to her but she could sense the weight he was carrying. And she felt it too—the guilt, the helplessness, the worry that she’d somehow messed everything up.

    When they took a corner just before the main hall, she stopped, turning to him. Her fingers nervously yed with her purse as she took a steadying breath.

    "Baby," she began softly, her voice tinged with remorse, "I’m... I’m really sorry."

    He turned toward her, his brows furrowed, confusion shing across his face. "Sorry?" he asked.

    She nodded, blinking back the sting in her eyes. "About Mr. Rogers. About the deal. I know this was all my fault. I know how important Mr. Rogers was to thepany and... maybe if I’d handled things better or if I hadn’t frozen up—"

    "Ruby," Stefan interrupted gently, reaching out to cradle her face in his hands. "Don’t do that. Don’t me yourself. You know I don’t like that."

    "But—"

    "No." His tone was firm, yetced with tenderness. "None of this is your fault. If anything, it’s mine—for putting you in a situation where you had to exin something that wasn’t yours to carry in the first ce."

    She opened her mouth to protest again, but the look in his eyes stopped her cold. There was something deeper there—fierce, unshakable, protective. She knew he’d always say that so why had she even tried to take the me.

    "If fighting for you means losing deals, investors, or even the whole damnpany," Stefan continued, brushing his thumb against her smooth cheek, "then so be it. I’d rather lose all of it than lose you."

    A startledugh escaped her lips, a soft mixture of relief and disbelief. "That’s... a bit dramatic, don’t you think?" she teased, though her heart fluttered at his words.

    He gave a lopsided grin. "Maybe. But it’s true."

    She shook her head, smiling now. "Well, I really hope it doesn’te to that. I’m not sure I could live with being the reason yourpany crashes."

    He chuckled, slipping his arm around her waist. "It won’t. We’ll be fine. Together."

    Together.

    The word echoed sweetly in her mind, grounding her, warming her from the inside out.

    "Now," she said after a beat, ncing around, "how about we go find your best friend and my drama queen of a best friend before they get into trouble?"

    "I like that n." Stefan nodded, then gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "But first, I need to take a quick pee break. Can you wait here?"

    "Sure," she replied, smiling.

    He kissed her forehead and turned away, disappearing into the nearby restroom.

    Ruby leaned against the wall, letting out a long breath. The tension from earlier was slowly ebbing away, reced by a fragile hope that things could still turn around.

    She looked around the hall in front, trying to guess where Rayna and Ethan might’ve gone or be standing when the sound of approaching heels made her stiffen.

    She turned, expecting maybe an assistant—or one of the event organizers.

    But instead, walking toward her with all the grace and arrogance she had grown to dread... was Ivy.

    Ruby’s breath caught. The hall suddenly felt smaller, colder.

    "Ivy..." she whispered, her body tensing instinctively.

    What does she want now? What game is she ying? Hadn’t she done enough?

    Ivy’s face was unreadable—calm, almost smug. Her eyes locked on Ruby’s with a strange intensity that made her stomach twist.

    The distant sound of a door opening echoed, but Ruby barely registered it. Her attention was wholly consumed by the unexpected, unwee presence before her.

    "What do you want?" Ruby asked with a scowl, telling herself she wasn’t going to ever let Ivy get away from talking down or bullying her ever again.

    Ivy’sughter was low and mocking, bouncing off the polished walls like a cruel echo.

    "What could I possibly want if not tough at your pathetic self?" she said, lifting a manicured hand to flick a nonexistent speck of dust off her silver dress. "Honestly, Ruby, what did you think spilling those childish grievances in front of Mr. Rogers would achieve? Did you think your sob story could sway him? Get him to favour Stefan? You can never win against me."

    Ruby’s lips curled in disgust. "Why?"

    Ivy tilted her head, feigning innocence. "Why what?"

    "Why do you hate me so much?" Ruby asked softly, her voice raw but steady. "I want to know. I really want to know what I did to deserve this never-ending war you’ve dered on me. We used to be friends, Ivy. What happened? Where did I go wrong with you? Because I can’t seem to understand," Ruby asked, unbeknownst to her or Ivy that they weren’t alone.

    Rayna, who had caught sight of Ruby earlier and begun to walk toward her, had stopped cold when she saw Ivy approach. She hadn’t meant to eavesdrop or not step in immediately but as the conversation unfolded, she instinctively reached into her bag, pulled out her phone, and pressed record. Live. From her angle, she had a perfect view and a clear feed.

    She knew this could be their opportunity to turn things around so she’d decided to show the world who Ivy truly was.

    Ivy scoffed, oblivious. "Since you asked not once but twice in one night..." She crossed her arms and leaned slightly closer. "I’ll tell you."

    Ruby blinked, startled by how easily the words seemed to pour out of her twin.

    "At first, I was happy," Ivy began, her voice hollow, almost detached. "Excited to have a twin. Someone to share life with. But then... our father wouldn’t stopparing us. Every damn report card. Every school y. Every test score. You were always top of the ss."

    Her voice rose with bitterness. "Every time I got a B, he’d say, ’Look at Ruby. Why can’t you be like her? Could you try a little harder next time?’"

    Ruby’s brows furrowed. She’d never known. Those were things she’d thought would make any child want to put in more effort to make their parents proud so how could Ivy take it the wrong way?

    "To make things worse," Ivy continued, her eyes shing, "the boys at school didn’t even look at me unless I told them I was you. And the one boy I actually liked—Leo—he had to go and confess to you. Just after rejecting me. You know what he said when I confessed to him? He’d agreed only to say no when he realized I wasn’t you. I can vividly remember how humiliated I felt that day."

    "Ivy..." Ruby whispered, but her sister held up a hand.

    "And you—" Ivy spat, her voice shaking now—"you knew I liked him. I told you! And what did you do? You kissed him! You should’ve rejected him but no. You went ahead to kiss him after telling me he isn’t only guy in school."

    Ivyughed humorlessly when she saw the shock on Ruby’s face. "What? You didn’t realize I’d seen how two-faced you were? Consoling me but going behind my back to take everyone I truly wanted——"

    "No!" Ruby snapped, her eyes wide with disbelief. "That’s not what happened! I tried to turn him down, Ivy! He kissed me before I could say anything. And I pped him the moment I could!"

    "Liar!" Ivy hissed, her voice sharp. "I didn’t see any p. All I saw was you, locking lips with the boy I wanted."

    "Maybe," Ruby said, taking a breath, "because you didn’t stay long enough to see it. You only saw half of what happened!"

    A pause before Ruby continued, a scoff escaping her lips.

    "So, that’s why you’ve hated me all these years? You and mom? Because of those minor misunderstandings that could’ve been resolved by speaking up? Our father onlypared us because he wanted you to do better," Ruby continued, her voice softer now, but still resolute. "It wasn’t about making you feel small. He wanted you to reach your potential. You were always so smart, Ivy. But you didn’t even give yourself the chance."

    "It doesn’t matter now, does it?" Ivy muttered bitterly. "The damage is done. And I’m done ying nice."

    Ruby felt something twist in her gut at the emptiness in Ivy’s voice.

    Ivy turned her eyes back to her, the hate in now, raw and unfiltered. "If I could’ve killed you a long time ago," she said quietly, "I would’ve."

    Ruby flinched, her breath catching. How could her own twin hate her to the extent of wishing her death? Looking at how unremorseful Ivy looked, Ruby realized Ivy wasn’t her sister anymore. She was an enemy, one she would have to avoid.

    Ivyughed darkly, her eyes gleaming with twisted satisfaction. "What? Surprised? You wanted honesty. That’s how much I hate you."

    "And if you want to survive this little game, you’ll leave Stefan. He was mine. You took him."