Finally, there was a reply from inside the room. “Come in.”

Ariel pushed the door open. Jayson had just finished showering and was standing with his back to her, checking his phone.

As she stepped in, she noticed his suit jacket had fallen on the rug. Instinctively, she went over to pick it up.

Jayson turned around at that exact moment. His eyes landed on the jacket in her hands, and his brows furrowed.” Don’t touch my clothes.”

Ariel used to iron all his clothes by hand, so he assumed she was going to press the jacket, like she used to.

Ariel pressed her lips together and tossed the jacket onto the bed. “When are we going to—”

“You can go to bed first,” Jayson cut her off. While glancing at his watch, he strode past her and left the room. He didn’t care whether she had something important to say.

Ariel hadn’t expected him to leave in such a hurry. She didn’t even get the chance to talk about the divorce.

And as for who could possibly make him rush off like that, she couldn’t think of another person other than Nancy. A car horn blared downstairs.

Her phone lit up. It was a voice message from Chad.

“Come with me to a banquet the night after tomorrow. Big names in the industry will be there. Building connections will do you good.”

Ariel sent back a simple “okay“, then grabbed some spare clothes from the closet and headed to the guest room for the night.

The next day, Betty was furious when she found out Jayson had taken off in the middle of the night. Ariel spent a good chunk of the morning calming her down before heading to Faye Technologies.

By now, Ariel had a solid grasp of everything going on at Faye Technologies. She’d gone through the mountain of documents. She even managed to pull together a detailed roadmap for the team, which she handed over to the core member of the technology department, Noah Clarke.

When Noah realized she’d sorted through all that data in less than three days and written a top–tier technical guide on top of it, his jaw practically hit the floor.

“She did this all by herself?”

He was clearly skeptical,

Chad smirked. “Oh, this is nothing. You have no idea how in demand she used to be. Every top institute, domestic and international, wanted her. I could work my ass off for five more years and still not catch up to where she was back then.”

Noah looked stunned, but he still couldn’t fully believe it. “Mr. Hockney, you’ve got to be kidding. You’re one of the best in the country. What is she? Some kind of genius?”

Chad just smiled without saying a word.

If Ariel weren’t a once–in–a–generation talent, his father, Carlos Hockney, wouldn’t have been so pissed off when she gave it all up to get married. He actually had to take blood pressure pills over it.

What a waste.

But well, not everyone could recognize a gem when they saw one.

The banquet called for formalwear, but Ariel didn’t have any nice dresses. She’d spent the past three years orbiting around Jayson. Since their marriage was a secret, she never had an occasion to dress up.

The only dress she owned was a dark green satin mermaid dress Betty had given her for her birthday the previous

year.

The gift came with a matching suit for Jayson too. His cufflinks were green gems that matched her dress exactly. It was a couple’s set.

She never got the chance to wear hers, and he never wore his.

Ariel’s skin looked pale without makeup, so she brushed on extra blush to hide her weariness, then slipped into the dress and headed out.

When Chad saw her, even he couldn’t help but be impressed. “Well, damn. You almost look human. I barely recognized you.‘

ז

Ariel smirked. “You don’t look too bad yourself, Chad.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” he said, holding out his arm. “Now do your thing. This room’s packed with big players. Make the right connections, and your foundation’s set.”

Ariel placed her hand on his arm and took a deep breath. “Got it.”

Tonight’s banquet was formal, and she knew how important it was.

Even though she had developed U.N2, she was now representing Faye Technologies..

Chad had a lot of influence in the industry, especially with a father like Carlos, a highly respected member of the aerospace research institute. No one would dare disrespect him.

Between greetings and small talk, Chad made sure to spotlight Ariel, “This is Ariel Walker, our latest tech genius at Faye Tech.”

The crowd smiled politely, but beneath those smiles was scrutiny.

This banquet was invite–only, and everyone here was top–tier. For Chad to bring a young woman along raised some eyebrows. To them, it looked like he was lowering his standards.

He really didn’t hesitate to give such a valuable opportunity to a woman.

They’d never heard of Ariel before. How great could she be? Was Chad just trying to make his date look good?