Chapter 13: Chapter 13: If Not Now, When
###Chapter 13: If Not Now, When!
That damn woman!!!
Benjamin Sterling lost control, grabbing his burner phone and frantically typing out a series of texts:
[Maxine Rhodes, what the hell is your problem?]
[Blocking me? You’ve gotten bold, haven’t you?]
[Answer your phone! Don’t you dare play hard to get with me!]
[Are you jealous because I took Rose as my date? I’ve told you countless times, we’re just like brother and sister! There’s nothing going on!]
[Maxine Rhodes, where are you? Let’s meet. I need to talk to you.]
...
In the afternoon, warm sunlight spilled into the dessert shop.
Maxine Rhodes took small bites of the signature tiramisu, while the phone beside her buzzed incessantly, the screen lighting up and going dark over and over.
Across from her, Susie Summers dug a large spoonful of chocolate lava cake into her mouth. "Is that the narcissist again?" she asked, her words muffled, gesturing toward the phone with her chin. "Go on, take a look. It’ll be good entertainment with my meal."
Maxine Rhodes gave a helpless smile and casually pushed the phone over to her.
Susie Summers didn’t hesitate to open the messages. Her eyes went wide after reading just a couple of lines.
"Oh my god! Playing hard to get? Forgive you?"
She nearly choked on her cake and quickly took a gulp of juice to wash it down. "What kind of overbearing CEO novel does this guy think he’s living in? Did he get his head caught in a door?!"
Maxine Rhodes couldn’t help but laugh at her friend’s dramatic expression.
"Let’s not talk about that jinx anymore!"
Susie Summers waved her hand dismissively, then leaned in closer, her eyes gleaming. "I heard all about the banquet yesterday! Ethan Hawthorne publicly tore into that scumbag and played him for a fool. And he’s so handsome! A real-life knight saving the damsel in distress!"
"You love drama so much, why didn’t you go witness it yourself yesterday?" Maxine Rhodes asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No way was I going!" Susie Summers made a face. "My old man and my brother were definitely there. If they caught me, they’d just try to force me into another blind date. I’m much happier running my dessert shop right here!"
Her tone suddenly shifted, and she leaned in, lowering her voice conspiratorially. "But seriously, a top-tier guy like Ethan Hawthorne... you’re really not considering taking things further? You’re living under the same roof, and nothing’s happened... hmm?"
An image from last night flashed uncontrollably through Maxine Rhodes’s mind: the focused look on Ethan Hawthorne’s profile as he knelt to put on her shoes, his clean, crisp scent, and the tall, powerful silhouette faintly visible behind the frosted bathroom glass...
"Don’t be ridiculous," she said with a light cough, her fingertips unconsciously tracing the rim of her coffee cup.
"It’s just a contract marriage. Besides... he has his ’white moonlight,’ someone he’s been in love with for ten years."
Susie Summers pouted. "So what? You’re the one wearing his wedding ring! You’re the one living under the same roof! Besides, with a face like yours—"
She reached out and tilted Maxine Rhodes’s chin up. "If I were a man, no one else would stand a chance! That ’white moonlight’ of his probably can’t even hold a candle to you. The early bird gets the worm, so if not now, when!"
Maxine Rhodes gently pushed her hand away, her expression growing serious. "But right now, I just want to focus on my career."
The small silver spoon tightened slightly in her fingers. "Benjamin Sterling’s company... I’m going to take it back, with interest."
Susie Summers nodded. "Alright, then I have no choice but to support you wholeheartedly! But..."
She winked slyly. "You can build your career, but you can also find a little romance on the side!"
Maxine Rhodes smiled without saying a word, looking down to take another spoonful of cake. "Well then, after I let Benjamin Sterling stew for a bit longer, it’ll be your turn to take the stage."
"Me?" Susie Summers asked in surprise, pointing to herself.
Maxine Rhodes nodded. "You’re back at the perfect time. I need an opening. You can let it slip to him that you’ve returned and that we’ve made up. He’ll definitely come looking for you, and then... weren’t you just saying you wanted to curse him out?"
"Brilliant!" Susie Summers clapped her hands excitedly.
"Mhm!" The two exchanged a knowing smile.
For Benjamin Sterling, three days felt like three years.
The company’s cash flow was on the verge of collapse. Calls from suppliers demanding payment came one after another, and the bank manager’s tone grew colder by the day.
And through it all, Maxine Rhodes wouldn’t answer his calls or reply to his texts. He felt his messages had been perfectly gentle, that he was already giving her so much face, but she remained completely unmoved.
If this continued, the Sterlings would be finished.
Just as he was at his wit’s end, a mutual friend casually mentioned, "Oh, by the way, Susie Summers is back in the country. I’ve seen her having tea with Maxine Rhodes a lot lately."
The sentence struck Benjamin Sterling’s chaotic mind like a bolt of lightning.
"So it was that woman Susie Summers pulling the strings behind the scenes!" He viciously stubbed out his cigarette in an ashtray already overflowing with butts. "I knew there was a reason Maxine has been acting like a different person lately. She’s been led astray by that woman again!"
He remembered how Susie Summers used to always try to brainwash Maxine Rhodes, feeding her nonsense like "a woman needs to be independent," "you can’t be boy-crazy," and "don’t listen to everything a man says"...
Fortunately, Maxine Rhodes had loved him enough back then not to listen to much of it.
But now that this woman was back, Maxine Rhodes suddenly had the guts to block him and embarrass him at every turn...
"I have to teach her a lesson this time!" he seethed, grinding his teeth as he got Susie Summers’s number from a friend.
When the call connected, he suppressed his anger. "Miss Summers, this is Benjamin Sterling. Is it convenient for us to meet?"
On the other end of the line, Susie Summers was with Maxine Rhodes.
She covered the mouthpiece and shot Maxine Rhodes a look that said, *The fish has taken the bait.* Then, she drawled into the phone, "Well, well, the great Young Master Sterling is actually asking me out?"
She deliberately dragged out her words. "Alright then, I’ll grace you with my presence."
After hanging up, the two women looked at each other and smiled.
Susie Summers rubbed her hands together. "Just watch how I deal with this bastard!"
Maxine Rhodes gently stirred her coffee, the corner of her lip tilting up. "Remember to leave him breathing. The game has only just begun."*****
