Dumped My Cheating Ex. Now I'm Sleeping Next to a Billionaire CEO novel Chapter 1208

Mercedes kept her usual graceful posture, but her hand on her knee was clenched tight, knuckles pale. The applause around her was thunderous. She watched Emmy on stage, soaking up all that admiration, and something hot and bitter twisted inside her. Was this really happening? How could Emmy be this good?

In the VIP section, James watched the stage with gentle, proud eyes, clapping with real enthusiasm. He only stopped when Emmy smiled, bowed, and left the stage, the applause slowly dying down around him. He was the very last one to stop.

The moment Emmy stepped offstage, Harlene came running over, totally ignoring any sense of decorum, and wrapped her in a huge bear hug. “Oh my god, Lin! You were incredible!”

“I was freaking out up there! That Marcus guy looked like he wanted to eat you alive. Just listening to his questions made my head hurt. I can’t believe you actually convinced him!”

Emmy was almost out of breath from the hug, but her smile was bright. She patted Harlene’s back in a gentle, calming way.

John came over too, his blue eyes locked on Emmy, full of emotion he was struggling to hide. It was the kind of look you give someone you care about, even when you know it’s hopeless, but you just can’t help wanting to be closer. He swallowed hard, obviously holding back the urge to hug her too.

“Lin, congratulations,” he said quietly. “You were amazing up there. Really. You’re the pride of the whole team.”

Emmy let go of Harlene and turned to John, her eyes curving like little crescent moons. “Thank you, John. Honestly, if you hadn’t been cheering me on all this time, I don’t think I’d have had the guts to stand up to Marcus like that.”

She was smiling so openly, so sincerely, with no idea how fast John’s heart was pounding or how much his happiness was mixed with a hint of sadness.

Emmy still had to go backstage to finish some paperwork, so she didn’t hang around. With Harlene and John at her side, she carried the trophy toward the back. The rest of the team headed back to their seats.

Once everything was sorted and the trophy and certificate were safely stored in the committee’s locker, the three of them came back out. The ceremony was still going on. Not wanting to disturb anyone, they took a shortcut back to their seats. That path just happened to go right past Isabel’s team.

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