Chapter 1: From Lovers, Exes, to Business Rivals

"Please cooperate, Mr. Langford, Miss Carpenter. I am sure a great product will come out of this collaboration," Mr. Roth, the director of the perfume company that hired Eve's advertising agency to make a yearly ad campaign said with a big smile, as if he didn't just turn Eve's life upside down. 

Eve tried her best to smile professionally as she shook his hand, "I will definitely make this work, Sir. Now, please excuse me, I still have other meetings to attend."

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Eve left the meeting room, and her corporate smile vanished instantly. She strutted—no, stomped her five-inch stilettos as she walked through a long corridor towards the elevator at the end. 

She kept her mouth shut and eyes straight because she wanted to ignore this bastard who ruined all the plans she prepared for this mega project.

"Why are you so angry, Eve? Are you mad at something?" the man who had been tailing her from behind said in a relaxed tone, acting as if he was not the problem in the first place. 

"It's Miss Evelyn Carpenter for you, and I should be the one asking you a question," Eve stopped in front of the elevator and pressed the button. She kept her eyes straight, refusing to look at the man who was a whole foot taller than her even when she was wearing these five-inch stilettos. "What did you do to him? Why did he change his mind and make us work together in this perfume ad mega project?"

Ding!

The elevator door opened, and they stepped into the elevator at the same time. Eve noticed his long leg made a wide step, so she tried her best to stretch her leg. That way, she wouldn't look so petite compared to him. 

"Nothing fancy. I simply showed him my proposal, and Mr. Roth thinks my plan is better than yours. He wants to ditch you, but I told him it's better if we work together, since I know you've prepared everything for this campaign."

"That's a load of nonsense, Alex. I know you're pulling some strings to suddenly get into the same project as me," Eve went straight to the point. 

"Going back to the first name base, aren't we?" Alex chuckled. "Alright, you got me. Yeah, I pulled some strings so we can work together on this mega project. So, what about it? It's not like we haven't worked together before… in bed."

Eve finally turned her body to face Alexander Langford and glared at him.

Alex was 6'5, basically a foot taller than her, even with her stilettos. He was dashingly handsome as always, with his jet-black hair and cold blue eyes that made him look unreachable for many. It was a befitting appearance for his previous job as a heartthrob actor, which suited him better since Eve thought this man had nothing going on inside his brain.

He always had that laid-back, smug smirk, as if everything in this world was under his control and nothing would stop him from getting what he wanted.

Which was unfortunately true for an ultimate nepo baby like him. 

"Listen to me, Alexander Langford. You and I are done since Two. Years. Ago," Eve used her finger to poke on his chest three times. "Get that into your head, will you?"

Alex grabbed her wrist gently and replied, "We're not done until I said so. You broke up with me for no reason, Eve."

"No reason? Are you serious?"

"You know I can't tell you everything about my family," Alex said.

"Yeah, I know. Who would've expected that the man I dated lied about everything about his life? I didn't know he's the son of whatever billionaire his father is," Eve rolled her eyes. "Well, we're done now, and I'm already engaged by now, mind you."

Ding!

The elevator door was opened. Eve and Alex stepped out of the elevator at the same time, but Eve still struggled to match Alex's steps. 

"Yeah, to my cousin," Alex sneered. "I don't understand you, Eve. Pierre is a jobless bum who hates women. Everybody in my family knows that."

"At least he didn't lie to me, unlike you. Oh, and one thing you need to know, Alex. Pierre has been a supportive man who never cheats on me. You should know that you have NO chance unless he cheated on me first—"

Ring-ring-ring!

Eve halted her step and fished the phone out of her bag. She frowned when she saw the caller was Andrea, her secretary. 

Alex stretched his neck, wanting to see who was the caller, but Eve gave him a stern look before accepting the call. 

"Yes, Andrea, what is it?"

"Miss! You need to return now! Your fiance, Mr. Pierre Dust, stole all of the confidential documents about our ongoing advertisement project! He called us just now, telling us to inform you about this because he wants to sell them all to a rival company!"

"Andrea, don't joke with me now," Eve's heart dropped. She tried to stay strong by speaking in a rigid tone, but her hand holding the phone was already shaking. "This is just a bad joke, right?"

"I wish I was joking, Miss. Please come to the office as soon as you can!"

"I-I will be there! Make sure that nobody touches anything in my office!" Eve said before she ended the call.

Beep.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked, his smirk was gone when he saw that Eve was shaking. He grabbed Eve's arm and asked, "Eve, tell me what's wrong."

"It's nothing."

"Eve—"

"I said it's nothing!" Eve snapped, which made everyone in the lobby turn their heads simultaneously. Eve looked up at Alex, her eyes already welled up with tears. But she quickly wiped her tears and shrugged her shoulders, so she could break free from Alex's grip and ran to the parking lot.

Alex stared at Eve's back solemnly, and he clenched his fist as he had a gist of what happened.

"That bastard dares to hurt my Eve."