Dumped My Cheating Ex. Now I'm Sleeping Next to a Billionaire CEO novel Chapter 1733

Emmy carefully observed Sylvia's expression, drawing her into lighthearted conversations about everyday life outside of work. Only after confirming that Sylvia seemed perfectly normal and emotionally stable did Emmy finally allow her lingering worries to ease. When the girls got together, they always had endless things to talk about. Even though they abstained from alcohol, simply sharing fruit platters, singing, and gossiping kept them occupied until midnight. By the time Sylvia dragged her exhausted feet back to her apartment, the early hours of the morning had already crept in.

She had genuinely enjoyed her evening with her friends, never once feeling tired while she was out. Yet, the moment she collapsed onto her sofa, a crushing wave of exhaustion crashed over her. Despite her physical fatigue, her mind remained sharply awake. She was too exhausted to even fall asleep. Knowing she had an early morning meeting at the company, she forced herself to get up and walked over to the kitchen counter to pour a glass of warm water. Opening a drawer, she swallowed the antidepressants prescribed by her doctor, then tipped a sleeping pill from another bottle and choked it down. Relying entirely on the medication, she managed to secure a few fitful hours of rest.

The next morning in the conference room of Agri-Tech Ventures, Sylvia sat at the head of the long table, dressed sharply in a black business suit. What she absolutely had not expected was to run into the one person she wanted to see the least. Steve, acting as the company's legal consultant, was currently seated in the corner with the legal department. He wore a tailored dark gray suit, his deep eyes partially shadowed by his fringe, completely masking whatever emotions lay beneath. Even though he sat quietly out of the way without uttering a single word, Sylvia found it impossible to ignore the intense, piercing gaze he kept fixed upon her.

She tried her best to focus on the presentation, but as she picked up her fountain pen to jot down key figures, her wrist began to tremble uncontrollably. Even as she gripped the pen tighter, her fingertips continued to quiver. The physical symptoms of her anxiety had flared up once again, triggered entirely by his relentless stare. Sylvia took a deep breath, placed the pen back on the table, and turned her head to whisper to her assistant standing behind her. "Take down the key points from that last section for me."

Sophia nodded immediately and quickly began taking notes.

Sitting in his corner, Steve took in every single one of her subtle movements. His dark eyes grew terrifyingly bleak, and his brows pulled together in a tight knot. In truth, he had received word shortly after Sylvia walked into the psychological counseling clinic. The moment she left, he had tracked down her therapist. Using a few of his connections, he had uncovered the true extent of her condition. Hearing terms like severe depression and severe somatization had made him feel as though he had been plunged into an icy abyss. In that terrible moment, his mind flashed back to the nightmare that had tormented him for countless nights. In that desperately vivid dream, Sylvia had succumbed to severe depression and ultimately ended her own life, slitting her wrists in a bathtub. The blinding red blood filling the tub had stained all of his dreams. Just the memory of that horrifying image made his chest ache as if it were being violently twisted by a knife.

He had sat up the entire night, researching every possible psychological intervention available. Ultimately, he arrived at a single conclusion. He could not back down, and he certainly could not leave her to suffer alone in the shadows. He had to get close to her, insert himself into her life, and pull her out of the darkness. Because of this resolve, the second the morning meeting concluded, Steve made a beeline straight for Sylvia's executive office.