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…”

stared blankly at the floor as

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

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

she’d scoured Ian’s bank statements. Over six months, he’d gone to the same hotel 86 times…Now that Erin had a location, she tracked down the hotel

…

taxi after leaving the hotel. The driver asked, “Where to,

Holly Green, had dragged her to the city’s most renowned

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

turned to look at

tugged a few hundred-dollar

profusely, then watched as she stumbled into the club. “What a pity. Such a pretty woman, here to ruin

beeline for the front desk, and slapped a debit card on the counter. “I have five million

her up and said politely, “Welcome,

right!” Erin whipped out some wet wipes from

slightly. “Miss, why don’t you take a seat at the lounge over there while I make a call? It’ll only be a short while.” As Erin turned to leave, the receptionist secretly snapped a photo of

and growled, “What the hell? How dare you send me a photo of such an ugly woman! You’ll be out of a job the next time you pull something

resist giving it a shot at the thought

give you one more chance instead of firing you, and I’m warning you: I’m the one picking the women, not the other

she saw Erin stand up and walk toward a man walking out of the

legs made Erin’s 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 man in your club,