Love's New Bloom by Simone Hastings

Chapter 1 Heartbroken

It was 10 pm on a summer night. A beautiful woman in a body-hugging dress and exquisite makeup sat in a hotel room at one of the city’s five-star hotels. A cigarette wisping pungent smoke dangled from her trembling fingers, showing how unstable her emotions were at the moment. She was eavesdropping on a conversation going on in another hotel room that she’d bugged, and it made her heart twist painfully.

The conversation was between a man and a woman. The woman said, “Ian, you’ve been coming to me so frequently that I’m on the verge of collapse…”

The man said, “Don’t tell me you’re unhappy about this.”

The woman giggled. “I’m ecstatic!”

“She’s going on a business trip tomorrow, so you can come over.”

“Ian, I’m curious about something. Back then, Erin was known as the belle of our university. Don’t you love her anymore?”

Ian said, “She’s worse than a sex doll. We’ve been married for a year, but I haven’t even laid a finger on her. That’s what she deserves for acting all high and mighty and leading me on! I’m not even interested in her anymore.”

The woman gasped. “That’s terrible. What’s the point of your marriage, then?”

“Who cares? It’s all she deserves. Alright, let’s stop talking about her…”

and stared blankly at the floor as she recalled how her husband, Ian Sloan, had mumbled another

Tracy? Was he talking about Tracy Brown, her classmate from university? They’d

the guise of wanting her to come up with a design for their bathroom because she wanted to renovate it. Tracy had come over that afternoon, and Erin took the opportunity to peek at her phone while she was in the bathroom. It was locked,

the same hotel 86

…

after leaving the

friend, Holly Green, had dragged her to the city’s most renowned private club when she was drunk out of her mind. “Take

felt like it had been soaked in acid; she was in so much pain she could barely breathe, and her chest felt unbearably heavy. She

hour later, the driver turned to

dazedly tugged a few hundred-dollar bills from her purse.

her profusely, then watched as she stumbled into the club.

into the club, made a beeline for the front desk, and slapped a debit card on the counter. “I have five million dollars here. Get me the most

and said politely, “Welcome, miss. Are

whipped out some wet wipes

only be a short while.” As Erin turned to leave, the receptionist secretly snapped a photo of her side profile and sent it to the owner

the hell? How dare you send me a photo of such an ugly woman! You’ll be out of a

million dollars…” The receptionist couldn’t resist giving it

that you’re new. I’ll give you one more chance instead of firing you, and I’m warning you:

stand up and

blood rush to her head. The man was also unbelievably handsome. She gulped and trained her gaze on him, but her question was directed at the receptionist. “This is the most handsome