I Was The Favor He Refused To See Chapter 08
“Ivy…”
Everyone instinctively rose to their feet.
Ethan’s heart lurched.
But his usual faint smile was already settling onto his lips.
“Sit down. The client will be here any minute. You’ll lead the discussion later, and Lily will assist.”
He didn’t even ask where she had been for the past three days.
All he had on his face was the smug satisfaction of having his certainty proven right.
She couldn’t leave him.
Lily glanced at Ivy, her tone displeased.
“Ivy, you finally showed up. No one could reach you these past few days. Ethan’ was worried sick.”
“But you came at the right time. This client is important, so you can’t act out again.”
Cole tugged lightly at her sleeve beside her.
She ignored him.
“The client tonight is Mr. Whitmore from Newport Beach, and the budget is fifty million dollars,” Lily continued. “This is the last chance Mr. Langford is giving you, Ivy. You’d better perform well.”
Ethan didn’t stop her.
He didn’t think there was anything wrong with what she said. Ivy did need to be put in her place so she would remember who was in charge.
Ivy stood where she was and did not sit down.
“I didn’t come here tonight for the company.”
The room went quiet for a moment.
Ethan’s smile froze slightly.
He looked at Ivy, his brows drawing together.
Not for the company? Then why had she come?
Instinctively, he assumed she was throwing another tantrum.
Lily blinked. “Ivy, you’re not here for the company project? Then what are you here for?”
“Ethan worked so hard to secure this meeting today. Don’t tell me you came here to ruin it.”
Ethan finally spoke, his voice sinking. “Ivy, stop making a scene. Sit down.”
His tone carried the same unquestionable certainty as always.
Just like every time before, once he spoke, she was supposed to listen.
But Ivy remained standing.
“I came for my fiancé.”
The moment those words landed, the room went completely silent.
Lily froze for two seconds, then let out a bright, innocent laugh.
“What? Ivy, since when do you have a fiancé? None of us knew.”
She deliberately paused.
Tilting her head, she looked at Ethan, then at Cole, before turning her gaze back to Ivy.
“Is it Ethan? Or Cole?”
Ethan’s brows tightened.
When he and Ivy were together, he had indeed promised her that one year after the company went public, he would propose.
The company had gone public at the end of last year, and he had planned to keep that promise on their anniversary by proposing to her.
If she called him her fiancé, technically, it wasn’t entirely wrong.
But this was the wrong occasion.
The client would arrive at any moment. Cole, Lily, and two department directors were all present.
For years, the carefully maintained image he had built around avoiding any appearance of
favoritism had depended on pushing Ivy down and criticizing her so no one would suspect how close they really were.
If their relationship was exposed in public today, by tomorrow the whole company would be saying
the boss had been dating one of the founding employees.
They would say, “No wonder Ivy got so many opportunities.”
The “fair and impartial” image he had always advertised would become a joke.
More importantly, Lily had just been promoted. What would the other new hires think?
Getting ahead through personal connections was a land mine for anyone.
He couldn’t let Ivy say it.
His lips moved slightly, almost mouthing a single word.
Don’t.
Lily saw all of it, and the smile on her face deepened.
“Come on, Ivy. Tell us. Who is it? I promise I won’t tell anyone.”