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…”

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

out of her. Tracy? Was he talking about Tracy Brown, her classmate from university? They’d lost contact after graduation, though. How

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, so she couldn’t see its contents, but the fact that it had automatically connected

couldn’t remember how she’d sent Tracy on her way, but she recalled how 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 room he’d reserved permanently and secretly bugged it. And

…

leaving the hotel. The driver

Where could she go? At this moment, she recalled how her best friend, Holly Green, had dragged her to the city’s most renowned private club when she

was obviously surprised. Erin returned his surprised look with a level gaze. Her heart 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 pressed a hand to her chest hoping it would help soothe the pain, but it didn’t help in

later, the driver turned to look

to her senses and dazedly tugged a few hundred-dollar bills from

driver thanked her profusely, then watched as she stumbled into the club. “What a pity.

debit card on

sized her up and said politely, “Welcome, miss. Are you referring

wet wipes from her bag

call? It’ll only be a short while.” As Erin turned to leave, the receptionist secretly snapped a

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

couldn’t resist giving it a shot at the thought of the commission she’d earn from Erin’s

at the moment. Instead, he was in his office. His tone turned frosty as he said, “I heard from Jamie that you’re new. I’ll give you one more chance instead of firing you, and I’m warning you: I’m the one picking the women, not the other way round!” He hung up

to explain to Erin when she saw Erin stand up and walk toward a man walking out of

6’2”. He wore a dark, fitted suit. His broad shoulders, toned waist, and long 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