Chapter 109: Chapter 109: Susan Miller’s Late-Night Questioning
###Chapter 109: Susan Miller’s Late-Night Interrogation
Late at night, Cloudview Apartments.
In the bedroom, the afterglow of intimacy and the scent of their bodies still lingered in the air—warm, humid, and tinged with a comforting exhaustion.
Maxine Rhodes lay on her side, her back to Ethan Hawthorne. Her slender shoulder blades rose and fell gently in the dim light.
Ethan’s arm was draped across her waist. Exhausted, he had fallen asleep, his breathing even and deep. His warm breath brushed against the nape of her neck.
Just then, the phone, carelessly tossed on the nightstand, lit up, its screen glowing as it began to vibrate with a low, persistent buzz.
Maxine furrowed her brow instinctively. ’So late...’
Her first instinct was to reach out and silence it, but when her eyes fell on the name "Susan Miller" on the screen, a chill shot up from her fingertips.
Susan Miller almost never called her, especially not at this hour.
Unless...
She took a deep breath, carefully lifted Ethan’s arm, and slipped out of bed. Her bare feet silent on the soft carpet, she took the phone and quietly pulled the door shut behind her.
She walked to the walk-in closet, which was relatively soundproof, before answering. She didn’t even have a chance to speak before a shrill, biting voice shot through the phone.
"Maxine Rhodes! You goddamn worthless disgrace! Tell me! What kind of shameful things have you been doing in Kingsland?! Huh?!"
Maxine’s fingers tightened around the phone, her knuckles turning white.
But her face was expressionless, her only reaction a slight tremor in her eyelashes.
"Are you messing around with a married man?! You may have no shame, but the Rhodes Family does! Hugo still needs to find a wife! Do you think you’re worthy of all the years your father and I spent putting you through school? Are you worthy of Benjamin Sterling?!"
Heh.
Maxine let out a cold laugh.
Benjamin Sterling. ’Of course it was him.’
She could just imagine how Benjamin had found her parents, how he’d exaggerated everything, painting himself as the deeply devoted victim.
And her parents wouldn’t even need to verify the story. They would unhesitatingly choose to believe Benjamin, because it fit their worldview that women must depend on men and are easily led astray. It also gave them the moral high ground, allowing them to make their self-righteous demands and accusations.
"Say something! Are you mute?! I’m telling you, break it off with that bastard right now! Get your ass back here! Apologize to Benjamin and go live a proper life with him! Otherwise, your father and I will show up at your company and let everyone see what a cheap piece of trash you are!"
Susan Miller’s voice raged on. Maxine listened quietly, her back ramrod straight as she leaned against the cold closet door.
The walk-in closet was dark, with only the faint light from the phone screen illuminating one side of her face.
There were no tears, no anger, only a bottomless sense of calm.
But she alone knew that somewhere deep in her heart, a silent crack was forming, oozing a pain that was close to numbness.
It was a deep-seated wound from a childhood of being repeatedly ignored, commanded, and having a price tag put on her worth.
Every time her closest kin treated her this way, it was like tearing open an old wound and rubbing salt in it.
On the other end of the line, Susan seemed to have tired of shouting and switched to emotional blackmail. "What did I do to deserve this... to have given birth to such an ungrateful daughter... You’re going to be the death of me..."
Maxine finally spoke, her voice surprisingly steady, even holding a hint of detachment. "Are you done?"
Susan was taken aback by her calm tone, which only enraged her further. "What kind of attitude is that?!"
"I’ll handle my own affairs."
Maxine’s voice was flat. "I won’t see you even if you come here. And another thing, you’d be wise not to believe everything Benjamin Sterling says."
Without waiting for a response, she hung up.
The screen went dark, plunging the closet back into blackness.
Maxine had once been desperately starved for love, craving it so much that she tried to earn even a sliver of approval through endless sacrifice. But experience had proven that to be a mere illusion, a bottomless pit that could never be filled.
Now, after experiencing what it felt like to be cherished and protected by Ethan, being suddenly yanked back into this ice-cold reality created a contrast so jarring it nearly suffocated her.
But she didn’t cry. She wasn’t hysterical.
She was used to swallowing her bitterness alone, used to hiding her vulnerability and her scars.
Especially... in front of Ethan.
She didn’t want him to see her deeply dysfunctional family.
It would make her feel as though the confidence and radiance she had so painstakingly built up in his eyes would instantly crumble, revealing her true, broken self.
In his presence, she always wanted to be the calm, strong Maxine who could stand by his side as an equal—not this pitiful, scarred wretch dragged down by her family.
Maxine remained in that position, standing in the darkness for a long time.
She could feel a faint tremor deep inside her body—a physical reaction to the intense emotional shock—but she forced it down.
Maxine took a few deep breaths until she felt her breathing steady. Only then did she gently open the door and slip silently back into the bedroom.
The man on the bed seemed to be in a deep sleep, his position unchanged.
She carefully slid back under the covers, lay down with her back to him, and nestled herself back within the circle of his embrace. His body heat quickly enveloped her, chasing away the chill from the closet.
Maxine closed her eyes and buried her face in the pillow, drawing in the crisp, reassuring scent of him that lingered on it.
Behind her, Ethan shifted unconsciously in his sleep. His arm tightened, pulling her more securely into his arms as a low, mumbled whisper, warm and gentle, brushed against her cool earlobe.
"Honey~"
Her body stiffened for a moment, then, like a ship that had finally found safe harbor, she slowly relaxed, letting herself sink into his warmth and protection.
「The next morning.」
After freshening up, Maxine changed into a tie-dye slip dress, layered with a brown, fringed vest. She meticulously put her long hair up and applied light makeup.
The woman in the mirror had cool, clear eyes and a slightly raised chin. She still looked confident and radiant.
When she arrived at Stellar Tech, Coco and Bubbles were already waiting for her.
"Morning, Ms. Rhodes!"
"Morning, beautiful Maxine~"
"Morning."
a.m., in the conference room.
The projector beam hit the screen, displaying the title: "Stellar Tech Series A Funding: Final Presentation."
This was the culmination of a battle Maxine and her team had been preparing for over two months.
They had gone through eleven complete rewrites of the business plan, filled three hard drives with test data, and had been drinking coffee like it was water.
Maxine was fully prepared, all for the sake of today’s two-hour presentation.
The meeting began. The conference room was filled with key company executives and representatives from the investment firms.
The first twenty minutes of her speech were nothing short of perfect.
Maxine’s presentation was logically tight and backed by solid data. She could feel the investors’ gazes shift from scrutiny to interest, and then to approval.
However, just then.
BUZZ—
Her personal phone, placed on the inside of the lectern, began to vibrate incessantly.*****
