New beginning: Billionaire love story

Chapter 329 Crawling Back

Claire sat at her desk, eyes glued to the screen, fingers tapping away on the keyboard. The press release from two days ago had done its job-companies were buzzing to get a piece of Metacortex now. Claire's inbox was flooded with emails from companies she never thought would even give her a second glance.

As she scrolled through another email offering a lucrative partnership, she raised an eyebrow in surprise. The offer was too good to be real. "Huh, well, didn't see that one coming," she muttered to herself, scanning the details again to make sure she wasn't imagining it. She was about to hit reply when a soft knock on her door interrupted her.

"Come in," she called out, still focused on the email.

The door creaked open, and she finally glanced up, expecting to see Matthew or Sandra. But instead, her eyes met someone else someone she hadn't expected to see standing in her office again. Mr. Rodriguez, an old client of hers, the very one who had jumped ship to Venus AMD. Claire's eyebrow arched in silent curiosity. She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms.

"Well, this is a surprise," she said, her voice polite but her expression icy. "What brings you back here?"

Rodriguez stepped into the room, and there was something off about him. He looked almost... ashamed. Claire resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Oh, now he feels bad? she thought.

"I, uh... I wanted to apologize, Claire," Rodriguez said, looking everywhere but at her. "I know I made a mistake. I shouldn't have left Metacortex like that, especially after everything we worked on together."

Claire's face remained cold and unreadable. She stared at him, saying nothing, just waiting to see how far his apology would go. The memory of their last conversation flashed in her mind-how he'd casually dropped the news that HP had kicked her off the project, and how he'd switched distributors to Venus AMD. At the time, he hadn't even batted an eye. Now, here he was, looking all kinds of guilty.

Rodriguez cleared his throat and continued, "I also want to apologize for choosing Venus over Metacortex. It was... a bad decision. If I could go back, I wouldn't have done it."

Claire's gaze didn't waver. Her expression stayed as cool as ever. She wasn't in the mood for long-winded apologies, especially not from someone who had bailed on her so easily. Rodriguez shifted awkwardly under her piercing stare. He seemed to be waiting for her to say something, but she didn't. She just kept looking at him, cold and silent.

his words. "I-I know I messed up. And

HP again, but not if you're involved. You're not the person I want to deal with." Her words hit him like a slap in the face, but she didn't care. She was

looked stunned for a moment, as if he hadn't expected that. "But... but Claire, I've changed! I can be better. We can do great things together. Venus doesn't have

snapped, her patience thinning. "I have more important things to do than

Claire shot him a sharp look that made him think twice. He mumbled another apology, though it sounded weaker this time, and shuffled toward the door like

shopping spree had been enough to relieve the stress that had built up over the past few weeks. Ever since that press release, everything had been a whirlwind.

thinking about heading home, when an idea popped into his head. Why not do something impulsive for once? After all, he'd been feeling connected to Claire for quite some time now. He wasn't one to act on a whim, but tonight felt different. Plus, he had bought dinner on a hunch, hoping she'd be up for

his car, making his stomach rumble as he parked outside her office building. "Alright, Adrian," he muttered to himself, gripping the

Claire for a while now, but telling her? No way. That felt terrifying. What if she said no? Rejection wasn't something he

balancing the bags of food as he shut the door with his elbow. The evening air was cool, and he felt the

with a thousand different thoughts, none of them good. What if she was busy? What if she didn't want company? Or worse-what if

The

made his stomach sink.

elevator doors opened, Adrian steeled himself. He knocked on her office door softly, just enough to let her know someone was there. When there was no answer, he hesitated for a second, then pushed the door open gently and peeked inside. "Claire?" he called softly, stepping into

tracks. There was Claire, slumped over her desk, fast asleep. Her face was half-buried in her arms,

she'd had a long, hard day, and Adrian found himself smiling

not to make any noise. He didn't want to wake her-she looked like she needed the rest. But his feet moved on their own, guiding him toward her desk. Her hair was all over her face, and without thinking,

ear.

didn't seem to register what was going

sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck. "Hey, sorry, didn't mean