Dumped My Cheating Ex. Now I'm Sleeping Next to a Billionaire CEO novel Chapter 1183

Emmy ran her fingers along the side of her warm water glass, staying silent, just watching Isabel.

When Emmy didn’t jump in, Isabel kept talking. “Honestly, this was all a huge misunderstanding. You know how Nelson Corporation is, right? So many research teams, all fighting for the next big thing. Any project with potential, everyone wants a piece.” She gave a helpless shrug. “The AI prosthetics project just happened to end up with my team, total coincidence. I’d just wrapped up a major research job and my team had nothing on their plate. Someone brought the project to me, I thought it looked promising, so I took it.”

As she spoke, Isabel kept an eye on Emmy, making it sound like she had nothing to do with any market grabs or moves against Sync. Apparently, it was all just luck and the team’s idea, nothing to do with her. She put on her most innocent look. “I was really worried you’d get the wrong idea. I wanted to talk to you, but I just couldn’t reach you.” She leaned in, lowering her voice. “So… how have you been this last year? I mean it, I never believed any of those wild rumors about you. The stuff with Dean…”

Emmy lifted her glass, took a sip, and set it down. Her face stayed calm as she looked right at Isabel. “Rumors only fool people who want to be fooled. I’m sure you’re smart enough not to believe all that nonsense.”

Isabel froze, thrown off by Emmy’s cool response, like she’d just punched into thin air. Emmy kept going. “So, you wanted to clear up the misunderstanding. Now it’s cleared up. I should get going.”

She stood up to leave. A flash of irritation crossed Isabel’s face. Emmy’s calm made Isabel’s whole speech feel pointless, like she’d been performing for nobody. For someone as proud as Isabel, that was hard to swallow.

“What’s the hurry?” Isabel called out, her smile returning, smooth as ever. “We hardly ever see each other. Don’t you have anything you want to say to me? I mean… things are a little different now.”

Emmy, halfway to leaving, slowly sat back down. “Right. I heard you married Tyler. Congratulations.”

“Thank you.” Isabel looked down at her hand, touching the diamond ring that sparkled under the lights. She looked like she couldn’t be happier. “Honestly, I never thought we’d end up as family.”

She glanced back up at Emmy, her smile a little sharper. “So technically, you should call me sister-in-law.”

Emmy’s eyes went cold, a hint of sarcasm curling her lips. “Family? Come on.” She shook her head, keeping her voice distant. “You know just as well as I do how things are between your husband and mine. Let’s not pretend we’re family.”

Isabel’s face tightened, but Emmy didn’t let up. Her voice stayed steady. “Tonight’s gala is filled with the real power players. We’re barely a blip here. If we run into each other again, let’s just act like strangers. It’ll save everyone a lot of trouble.”

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