Dumped My Cheating Ex. Now I'm Sleeping Next to a Billionaire CEO novel Chapter 479

“Ma’am, have you seen Miss Emmy anywhere?”

Ivy’s worried voice snapped Teresa out of her thoughts. Teresa lowered her binoculars, a deep frown settling on her face as she shook her head.

She handed the binoculars to Ivy. “You keep looking. I’ll try calling her again.”

Heading back to her seat, Teresa dialed Emmy’s number, but the call still wouldn’t go through.

Suddenly, the lights in the arena blazed on, and music thundered out across the stadium. The host strode onto the stage, his voice booming with excitement.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the StarTech Global AI Championship finals!”

“Tonight, we’ll witness a battle of minds and the birth of the future!”

“Now, let’s welcome our top twenty finalists—chosen from tens of thousands of the world’s brightest—to the stage to draw your competition numbers!”

Under the glare of the spotlights, the contestants stepped up one by one. Some were silver-haired professors with impressive reputations, others were fresh-faced young talents straight out of college. Every single one of them was a star in the IT world.

Standing in the crowd, Evelina scanned the stage, searching every face for Emmy. When she didn’t spot her, Evelina let out a quiet sigh of relief, a confident smile tugging at her lips.

Just then, the host called out, “Contestant Emmy, please come up and draw your number!”

The arena fell silent. Everyone craned their necks, searching, but no one saw Emmy.

Whispers raced through the audience.

“What’s going on? This is the biggest competition of the year—how is she not here yet? That’s just unprofessional.”

“I checked her background. She just graduated, and not even from a top school. Her résumé is practically blank. How did she even make the finals?”

“Come on, it’s obvious. With all the MIT and Stanford grads, she’s the only one from a regular college. Someone must’ve pulled strings for her.”

“She’s not even here. Guess she realized she’s out of her league and backed out.”

Onstage, Evelina had already picked her number—three. The earlier your number, the better your shot at impressing the judges. The later you went, the tougher it got.

He flipped it over and nearly froze.

Number one.

Seriously? Emmy wasn’t even here yet, and now she was supposed to go first. That was basically a guaranteed forfeit.

Sweat broke out on his forehead as he stood there, not knowing what to do. Suddenly, a middle-aged man sidled up next to him, looking desperate.

“Hey, want to trade numbers? Your boss isn’t even here and I got number twenty. By then, the judges are half asleep. It’s the worst spot.”

Danny’s eyes lit up. He could hardly believe his luck.

“Deal! Let’s trade right now!”

The two of them rushed to the staff table, got the swap approved, and switched numbers on the spot.