I Slapped My Fiancé—Then Married His Billionaire Nemesis novel Chapter 83

84 Meltdown Mode

The night sucked.

Cold sheets.

No sleep

Just me and my traitor brain spinning circles.

In the morning, I saw his shoes by the door.

That meant he’d come back sometime in the dead of night but was now gone again.

I couldn’t pretend I wasn’t disappointed.

But work slammed into me, and I buried myself in it.

I spent the next few days camped out at Moss & Flame, working ten–hour shifts hunched over gem settings and wax casts.

Came home too wrecked to care about anything, let alone our ‘rehearsal‘.

Ashton was apparently busy too.

No sign of him for days.

Not even a shadow in the hallway.

Our whole flirt–to–convince–the–family thing?

Dead in the water.

Which–fine by me.

Sort of.

Ashton was hot, yeah, but cuddling with someone that good–looking without actual benefits was borderline torture.

Then, finally, something worth celebrating: I wrapped up the custom set for Octavia Grey.

Handmade, hand–set, one–of–a–kind, absolute knockout.

And too precious to be entrusted to couriers.

I took them straight to her agent’s office myself.

Octavia was all smiles and gasps, cooing over the necklace like it was a newborn.

She grabbed both my hands, shaking them like she was trying to absorb my talent through touch.

‘This is so much better than the overpriced crap those luxury brands churn out. Honestly, I don’t know what’s going on in their design departments. Half the time it looks like they let a blind pigeon do the sketches. But this? This is art. I’m wearing this to the festival, no question. I’ll be the hottest bitch on the red carpet. Doesn’t matter if it’s Cannes or Cleveland–nobody’s topping this.‘

I beamed at her.

She beamed at the jewellery.

‘But seriously,‘ she went on, frowning, ‘why are you wasting your talent at some no–name studio? I’ve never heard of Nyx Collective before. It’s small, isn’t it? With your skills, you should be running your own label.‘

That stung.

Chapter 83 Meltdown Mode

+15 BONUS

Mostly because she was right..

A couple of days later, my annual leave was officially up.

I had no choice but to haul my arse back to work.

Quitting still wasn’t on the table.

Not yet.

Partly because Savannah had been the only one mad enough to sign a fresh–out–of–uni nobody.

lowed her for that.

And partly because I wasn’t planning on crawling into another design studio ever again.

I was done making magic for someone else’s name.

My next step was my own studio.

My rules, my name on the door, my signature–and only my signature–on the designs.

Only problem was, I didn’t have the clout or the capital.

Yet,

Nyx Collective was in meltdown mode when I stepped back into it.

People were speed–walking like it was an Olympic event, someone in comms was crying into their smoothie, and even Savannah’s usually composed assistant had mascara smudged halfway to her ear.

Tasha spotted me and lit up.

‘Mira!‘ she chirped, waving enthusiastically.

The front desk girl was in her early twenties, blue braids today, holographic nails, wore cat ears unironically.

‘Didn’t think you’d actually come back,‘ she said, grinning as she leaned over the counter. ‘We were taking bets.‘

‘Wow, rude,‘ I deadpanned. ‘What were the odds?‘

‘Sixty–forty you’d rage–quit. I had faith, though. You owe me a coffee.‘

‘I owe you nothing.‘ I gestured to the hive of activity. ‘What’s going on here?‘

‘Yeah, total war zone today. Violet’s been tweaking Eliza Black’s designs like a maniac. Eighteen revisions. Eighteen. Can you believe it? I thought Savannah was going to start foaming at the mouth.‘

I blinked. ‘Eighteen? Jesus. What’s she doing, engraving runes on it?‘

‘Wouldn’t be shocked. They finally signed off on the final version like–two hours ago? So now everyone’s basically speed- running production like it’s a boss level. Eliza’s flight is at 2 p.m.‘

I looked at my watch.

It was already 10 a.m.

People were shouting over each other, elbow–deep in foam padding, checking every clasp and stone under brutal lighting.

Someone barked about airport couriers, another yelled for a lint roller.

Violet Lin was busy stuffing boxes into bigger boxes.

She didn’t see me at first, so I just hung back, observing.

2/3

Chapter 83 Meltdown Mode

5 BONUS

I wasn’t close, but I caught a glimpse when she cracked the lid open.

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