bChapter /bb208 /b

    Ste’s kiss had gotten better than before, and it was enough to tease him, soon, Jordan was the one taking charge.

    Just one step closer to Ste, and he’d bepletely undone. The kisssted for what felt like forever.

    Afterward, their foreheads touched, sharing the quiet understanding between them. Smiles spread across their facesb, /bunable to be contained. They didn’t say a word, just kept gazing at each other in silence.

    After a long moment, Jordan suddenly pushed her away. Ste blinked at him, surprised.

    Jordan knew it was all on him. Ste had nothing to do with it. “Uh, Ste, I need to handle something. I’ll be backb./bb” /b

    Ste watched him rush off, feeling like it wasn’t her fault; he definitely had something on his mind.

    They’d been together for a while now, but Ste still knew nothing about Jordan’s past. All she knew was that his parents were goneb, /bbbut /bshe had no idea why or how it happened.

    She always thought it was pretty sad that he was all alone in the world, and she was willing to wait until he felt ready to talk about it. But seeing how he was acting, Ste couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.

    Back in her room, Ste sat in front of herputer, wondering if she should do some digging into Jordan’s past. Maybe there were things he just couldn’t bring himself to talk about.

    But as she rested her hands on the keyboard, she stopped herself.

    It felt wrong to snoop around like this. She should trust Jordan.

    Ste went back to her room and went to sleep.

    When she woke up again, it was already the next day, and the room reeked of alcohol. Ste wrinkled her nose.

    Mary came over and whispered, “Ste, do you smell that?”

    Ste nodded.

    Mary said, “Around one o’clockst night, I heard someone opening the door. At first, I didn’t know what was going on, but then I didn’t hear anything else, so I went back to sleep.

    “When I came out this morning, I smelled this. I think Mr. Erwin must have gone out drinking too muchst night.”

    As far as Ste knew, she’d never seen Jordan drink that much before. ‘Why would he get so drunk? What’s really going on with him?‘ she

    wondered to herself.

    Ste thought about knocking on his door to check on him, but since he’d onlye back around one in the morning, she figured it was better to just let him sleep a bit longer.

    “It’s fine, Mary. Let’s just leave him alone for now. Is breakfast ready? I’m starving, and I need to get to the office soon,” Ste said.

    “It’s ready,” Mary replied.

    When Ste left, Jordan still hadn’t woken up. She figured he probably just had ate night out socializing, so she bdidn’t /bdwell bon it/bb./bb” /b

    N drove out of her house. She wasn’t just some ordinary girl but a privileged heiress. The White family was one of the most low proble ns in Seavale. They almost never showed up at fancy parties and kept to themselves most of the time.

    Over the years, the White family had quietly built up a solid fortune. They spent a lot of time on charity work, and their products were balways /btop quality. That was why their family business had stayed rock steady all these years.

    Everyone just knew that the White family had a son and a daughter. N never bragged about her background, and she always dressed inly.

    When she came back from studying abroad, she could have easily joined the family business, but she wasn’t interested at ball/b. Insteadb, /bshe was determined to work for the Hayes Group.

    Her family just couldn’t understand it. Everyone knew the Hayes family was about to go under, and they figured N wouldn’tst long there.

    N grinned and said, “Dad, Mom, Oliver, why don’t we make a bet? I’m telling you, the Hayes family will make aeback in less than a year.”

    Her dad, Jaxon White, shook his head. “No way, I know all about the Hayes family. Max has some abilityb, /bbut it’s limited at best. As for Andrew, he’s the one who drove the family into ruin.

    “And Anna? Don’t even consider her–she’s too busy ying mind games to have any real business sense. Ste is the only one in the bfamily /bwho excels in business, but she just doesn’t have it in her to run the whole show.”

    N just smiled, “Trust me. You’re about to watch me work some magic real soon.”

    To everyone’s surprise, it didn’t take long before Ste actually became the CEO of Hayes Group, taking the reins of the whole family business.

    The White family wasn’t just coasting through life; they knew what they were doing, and that was exactly how they’d made it this far.

    Now, they were starting to believe that maybe, just maybe, the Hayes family really could make aeback.

    N’s mom, Dorothy White, gave her a curious look. “Why are you so confident about this? Honestly, I’m getting more and more curious about you.”

    N grinned, “Mom, you have no idea. Back in school, I was two years younger than Ste, and her name was everywhere. Everyone talked about how talented she was; she was just good at everything.

    “From that moment, I knew I wanted to follow her lead someday. And she never let me down. She could’ve gotten into Quentiham with a special rmendation, but she insisted on taking the regr entrance exam like everyone else.”

    N added, “Do you know her score back then? Just one point short of perfect. And when someone interviewed her, she actually exined that she deliberately scored one point less than full marks because she feared people wouldn’t believe a perfect score.

    “Even after she went through some rough patches, I still want to stick by her side. Whether she’s on top of the world or at her lowest, I truly believe she’ll rise again.”

    The White family never expected their daughter to idolize Ste.

    N had always been exceptional in her own right. To her family, she was the most remarkable young woman in the world. But as bit /bturned out, there was actually another girl she looked up to.

    With Oliver taking care of all the family business, N could do whatever she wanted, and her family was totally cool with bit/b.

    But being new to thepany, she couldn’t very well show up in a fancy car, so she settled for a Mini EV. Her brother, bOliver /bbWhite/b, bwinced /b

    b10:53 /bbFri/b, b15 /bbAug /b

    every time he saw her behind the wheel of the tiny vehicle.

    “Why not get yourself a proper sedan? I swear, if someone bumps into you, that little car of yours is toastb,/bb” /bOliver said.

    “Oliver, are you trying to curse me or something?” N shot back.

    “Hey, I’m just saying,” he replied.

    “I’m good with it. I really enjoy living like this,” N said.

    But the words that Oliver spoke unintentionally actually came true. She’d been driving that little car for days smoothly, and today, surE enough, someone bumped right into her.

    Luckily, it was early and the roads were pretty emptyi, /iiso /iN was totally fine–her car just got a few scratches and some paint chipped off.

    “Hey, do you even know how to drive?” N nced at the guy who hit her. She wasn’t upset or anything–just casually called bhim /bout.

    Kevin got out of his car right away. He was heading somewhere important, and since his driver was busy, he had to drive himself for onceb. /b

    He hadn’t even been driving for long before he got into a fender bender.

    He could only me himself. He almost never drove, so of course, he screwed up right when it mattered.

    AD