Betrayed and Dumped: She Rose Stronger Than Ever novel Chapter 5

The envelope was marked in big, bold letters: “TO Bruce.” No return address, nothing else. As Bruce’s ever-attentive assistant, Kane immediately asked the delivery guy, “Who sent this?” The courier showed him the sender’s info on his app.

Rebecca?

Kane’s mind spun. What were these two up to now? Some secret love note routine? Bruce ran a tight ship and drew a hard line between work and his personal life. He hated office relationships. Except for the original team who’d been there from the beginning, hardly anyone knew Bruce and Rebecca were actually together. Bruce didn’t even allow Rebecca to wander around the executive office area unless it was necessary. Sometimes, Kane found himself acting as a go-between for them. But sending letters? This was new.

Without missing a beat, Kane knocked on Bruce’s office door. “Mr. Lamont, you’ve got a letter.” He kept the sender to himself. Saying it out loud would ruin the mystery and whatever fun they were having.

Bruce was buried in emails. Hearing about the letter, he frowned and took it, tearing it open. He didn’t even get a chance to read what was inside before the receptionist popped in. “Mr. Lamont, Kane, Mr. Hanks and his team are here.”

Mr. Hanks’ team was a major client that NovaStack Cloud had been chasing for months. No way could they keep them waiting. Bruce put the letter on the corner of his desk, grabbed his laptop, and hustled out with Kane. As they left, his laptop nudged the envelope. It slid right off the desk and landed in the trash.

Five minutes later, the cleaning lady came in. She spotted the torn envelope in the bin, figured it was garbage, and tossed it out. By the time Bruce returned from the meeting two hours later, the letter was long gone—and he had forgotten all about it.

Later, a knock sounded on the door.

“Come in,” Bruce called, not looking up.

“Mr. Lamont.”

He glanced up. Sonja was standing in the doorway, smiling. His heart skipped a beat. The scene made him think of a memory from years ago—when he’d just been brought back to the Lamont family. Back then, he and his mom were outsiders. At a party, all the other kids kept their distance because he was the illegitimate child. Only Sonja had reached out, taken his hand, and said, “We’re friends now.”

Since then, Sonja had never really left his heart. As the Lamont family’s secret son, he’d always watched her from afar. Now, they could finally sit together as equals… but he was about to get engaged. He felt a dull ache in his chest.

“When it’s just us, call me Bruce.” he told her, getting up to pour her a glass of warm water.

Sonja grinned, a little mischievous. “Okay, Bruce.”

He nodded. “So, what’s up?”

Setting down the glass, Sonja’s smile faded. “You said I’d be the new vice president. Does everyone know?”

“Of course. I talked to the tech and product teams.”

She hesitated. “What about R&D and Sales?”

Bruce looked at her. “Them too.”

Sonja seemed to want to say more, but stopped. “Is there a problem?” Bruce pressed. “Is someone giving you trouble?”

She shook her head with a small smile. “No, it’s nothing.”

She took a breath and changed the subject. “I’ve been staying late, going over our R&D plans. If we could add a certain model to our core product, we could really shake up the market.”

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