SWNOVELS Chapter 1
Chapter 1 Betrayal
In the middle of the night, when Tiara Fowler woke up, she had a splitting headache, and her mouth was dry.
She was particularly delighted tonight.
“First Love“, the perfume she had been mixing for a long time, was finally perfect. After she won the prize in tomorrow night’s contest, her marriage to Darren Fred would be on the table.
They had known each other for five years and had been dating for three years since college.
She dropped everything and devoted herself to perfume, helping him make his company thrive. A bright future beckoned, so she had a few more drinks than she had planned in the evening.
She pinched the bridge of her nose and wanted to fetch some water. Yet she heard a strange sound coming from the room next
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door.
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She lived alone in a tiny rented flat. Darren would stay here every once in a while, but he always lived in the next room.
Hearing the sound, she couldn’t help but worry that he was feeling uncomfortable.
When she walked closer to the room, however, she heard a woman’s voice.
“Darren, will Tiara hear us?”
“That will only spice things up, don’t you think? Baby, relax. I tampered with her drinks. I promise that she won’t wake up before tomorrow.”
The man was gasping, yet Tiara could still tell that it was Darren.
She felt a chill deep down. She had suffered from insomnia over the years for her research, so she always relied on medicine. By now, she was immune to sleeping pills.
“When the new product wins an award tomorrow, I’ll be a senior perfumer, and my
12:35
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position in the perfume industry will be unshakable. You’ll have all kinds of
investments to pick from, and you can hire as many staff as you want. Tiara will be nothing.”
Tiara, who was standing at the door, clenched her fists. She already recognized that the woman inside was Leticia Trevelyan.
Leticia was Tiara’s bestie from college, and she was having an affair with Darren, Tiara’s fiancé.
Tiara had heard rumors, yet she stubbornly chose to trust them. Unluckily, the reality slapped her face hard.
“You slutty girl. I even let you name my company. Can’t you tell … how much I love you? Tiara is just a springboard. If it weren’t for you, would I have messed with her formula back in the rookie contest?”
“I don’t want to hear her name from your mouth. Tell me. Do you love me or her?”
Leticia’s voice was soft enough already. She
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elongated her words, making her voice sound particularly seductive. Yet in Tiara’s ears, Leticia’s voice was nothing but ear–piercing.
Tiara gritted her teeth and opened her eyes wide as if she wanted to look through the door and see the bitch couple inside.
“You… of course!”
The following sounds made Tiara sick. She clenched her fists so tightly that her palms were bleeding, and she barely suppressed the urge to rush in.
It never occurred to her that she would end up like this after she gave everything up.
She rose to fame three years ago in the provincial perfuming competition. At that time, she received countless invitations from big companies, including Cosmos Group. However, she turned down the offers for Darren’s fledgling business and focused solely on helping him.
Two years ago, when she took part in a large- scale competition, something was wrong with
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her perfume. She was derided as “a perfumer without a nose“. Back then, she just could not figure out what had gone wrong. Meanwhile, Darren was always “there for her“. He was even considerate enough to advise her to step down, leaving all the competitions and public. appearances to Leticia.
Tiara figured that she and Darren had each other’s backs while going through all the hardships, yet it turned out that she was just a pawn in his hands.
He named his company “Wave Perfume“. It turned out to be Leticia’s idea.
Now that Tiara recalled seriously, she realized that there were many signs of Darren and Leticia having an affair, and she was dumb enough not to notice any of them.
Finally, she managed to calm down and was no longer angry. She couldn’t sleep for the whole night. It was almost dawn before she heard the sounds of the bitch couple leaving.
She immediately got up and rummaged through all the drawers. Finally, she found
A
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the gilded business card.
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Three years ago, Lucas Carroll, the CEO of Cosmos Group, personally gave her his business card. She did not know if he had changed his number.
She said nervously after the call went through while clutching the phone, “Mr. Carroll, hi. This is Tiara Fowler.”
Then she paused for a second. Hearing that he didn’t hang up, she quickly continued, “We met at the provincial perfuming contest three years ago. You gave me your business card back then…”
“I remember.”
His deep male voice and simple words soothed her surprisingly, and she was no longer nervous.
“Here’s the thing. I have an offer. Perhaps you will be interested.”
After a brief moment of silence, Lucas said in a deep voice, “Come to my office tomorrow
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at nine o’clock.”
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Hearing that he was about to hang up, Tiara hurriedly stopped him, saying, “Wait… Mr. Carroll, tomorrow might be too late. Can we meet today? Also, your office might not be the best place to talk. Can we talk somewhere else?”
She was very anxious and therefore spoke quickly. After she finished speaking, she could not help but feel a bit worried.
Cosmos Group’s business accounted for two- thirds of the entire domestic cosmetics and skincare industry. What was more, it had an unimaginably wide business scope and huge capital backup.
Lucas was the CEO of Cosmos Group and was simply a legend in the business world. She should be glad that he agreed to meet her. To haggle over the meeting time and place was a bold move.
Yet her hands were tied.
The launch and the perfuming contest started
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tonight, and tomorrow would be too late. Moreover, going to his company would easily attract attention, which would jeopardize her plan.
She tightened her grip on her phone, and even her breathing became tentative. She went all out to take a gamble.
She didn’t hear any sound for a full three minutes. Just when she thought Lucas was about to turn her down, she heard him say. “OK. See you in the café on Garden Road in 30 minutes.”
“Thank…”
Before Tiara could finish her sentence, she heard him continue, “Remember to bring your
ID card.”
“What?”
He hung up directly.
After coming back to her senses, Tiara wondered if she heard him wrong, yet there was no time to dwell on it.
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She quickly changed her clothes, tidied herself up, and went out.
Luckily, Garden Road was not very far away, and she arrived on time. When she was about to enter the café, someone stopped her.
“Ms. Fowler?”
The man said her name, yet she did not know who he was. She looked puzzled.
“My boss invites you to have a chat.”
He made a gesture of invitation, and Tiara looked in the direction. A black Lincoln limousine was parked on the roadside.
She instantly knew what was going on.
Without any hesitation, she walked toward the car. The driver opened the door from the outside, and she could see nothing but a pair of slender legs and shiny leather shoes.
She bent over and got into the car. The air conditioning in the car functioned well, and it was chilly inside. She shivered and looked up at the man in the car. “Hello, Mr. Carroll. I…”
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“Get to the point.
He was still concise, and his voice was as cold as ever. Tiara stopped talking at once, and then she saw his face