Chapter 356

I kept my cool. "He never got between us. Can you not mix things up and just stick to the point, okay?"

"What really gets me is that he doesn’t even show a shred of gratitude," Jared grumbled, clearly pissed that Nathan turned my help into some kind of romance.

"Sure, I used your money, but I was the one who made the donation. If it had been you, maybe he’d be crushing on you instead," I joked, and couldn’t help but laugh at myself.

Jared looked at me like he was completely out of words.

"Pretending you don’t care at all, but I bet the moment I get out of this car, you’ll be calling him up to grill him," Jared said coldly.

"Nope, I won’t pry," I replied, sticking to my own rule–if Nathan doesn’t mention it, I won’t ask.

Jared stared at me in disbelief.

When we pulled up outside his office, I parked the car. Jared let out a heavy sigh, looking annoyed, and slammed the door as he got out.

As I drove off, that photo Jared had shown me kept replaying in my head–Nathan helping some girl with her luggage. ‘Why does that bother me so much?’ I wondered.

I remembered Nathan spent years studying abroad before coming back to launch his company. He must have made plenty of friends while he was overseas.

Was that girl he helped at the airport one of his close friends from back in the States?

Or maybe he just saw me as a pretty divorced woman, someone to mess around with–no feelings, just a fling. ‘Is that all I am to him?’ I couldn’t help but think.

“Men, honestly,” I scoffed to myself.

I’d already dropped Yvonne off at elementary school, and since I wasn’t in charge of the hotel anymore, I just went home, packed up, and drove myself straight to Shaville.

Nathan called me a little after five, but by that time, I was already in Shaville.

He seemed a bit let down, asked why I’d left without saying anything, and said he wanted to give me a present.

I didn’t bother explaining–just told him I was busy and hung up.

Working for Jared, with the paycheck I’m getting right now, if this keeps up, he’s not stingy, that’s for sure.

We’d agreed I’d get half the hotel’s profits, but at the last meeting, the finance guys said it’d take at least three years before the hotel actually made money. So for now, I just get one percent of whatever the hotel brings in each month.

Honestly, I’m not all that hung up on the cash anymore. What I really care about is leveling up myself.

Wearing a hard hat, I stood at the main entrance of the hotel, going over the renovation progress with the construction crew. We were planning to build a waterfall feature along one wall, letting the water flow right into a fountain at the entrance–circulating smoothly, no messy splashes. And at the front, we’d be putting up seven nanmu wood columns. In Clusia, seven was a pretty mystical number, said to bring its own kind of luck.

Just handling the renovation alone was already a huge undertaking. My team and I were basically in meetings every single day, hashing out all the details.

As night fell, I stepped out of the temporary office. The city lights were dazzling–Shaville really was a city that never slept.

I was about to drive home when a tall figure got out of a black sedan.

“Off work already?” a cheerful male voice called out, with a playful smile in his tone.

I turned at the sound, spotting Ryan in sportswear, lounging casually against his car door as he looked at me.