Karma Doesn’t Sleep: The Revenge Queen Rises novel Chapter 276

Clive sat there, listening to Klaus, not saying a word.

He kept thinking back to the night Amelia brought up wanting to lead the team herself, suggesting they work with West Medicine as an outside contractor. On the surface, he’d agreed. But the truth was, all the resentment and bitterness he’d tried to bury for years was starting to bubble up again.

Seven years ago, he’d only managed to secure the GM position and a seat on the board—becoming the youngest director in the company—all because of Amelia. That came with its own set of humiliations. People whispered behind his back, saying he was useless and could only get ahead by hanging onto a woman.

It took five years of Amelia lying in a coma for those rumors to finally fade away. These days, hardly anyone at Cloudcrest even remembered Amelia’s glory days, much less that Clive had ridden her coattails to the top.

But if Amelia swooped in now and managed to renew the West Medicine contract, all those old stories would come crawling back out. Just thinking about it made Clive simmer with anger—and a jealousy he hated to admit.

He’d called Klaus in secret. After talking it over, father and son agreed: keep Amelia calm for now, but start grooming Kristen, shifting more resources her way.

Everything was going according to plan. But when it came to divorce...

Clive hesitated. “Dad, Amelia’s still the mother of my kids. If she could just settle down and focus on the family…”

Klaus cut him off, voice ice-cold. “Enough. With a mother like that, all Timmy will ever have is a stain on his name.”

Clive went quiet.

It was true. Amelia’s background was just too humble. Even with her reputation as a genius, in their world she was still just some small-town brainiac—never really good enough to be one of them.

Klaus continued, “Don’t worry about Amelia for now. Announce the renewed deal with West Medicine and make sure last night’s scandal at the bar disappears. Tomorrow night, bring Amelia home and make sure she dresses up. I’ll arrange for reporters to take photos. We need everyone to believe you’re the perfect couple.”

That PR move would flip the narrative and keep Clive’s image as the ideal family man intact.

“Understood, Dad.”

Clive hung up, got himself together, and left the guest room. As he passed the stairs, he caught sight of the shattered glass from their wedding photo on the wall. He frowned, finally remembering how he’d smashed Donna’s phone in a fit of anger last night.

Heading downstairs, the smell of breakfast drifted in from the kitchen. Without thinking, Clive assumed it was Donna.

Donna had been with the Salmeron family for over twenty years. Other than Tara, the housekeeper his mother-in-law brought along, Donna was the one his mother trusted most. Making an enemy of her just wasn’t worth it.

Clive walked into the kitchen, planning to offer Donna a couple extra months’ pay as compensation.

“Donna, about your salary this month, I wanted to—”

He stopped. Instead of Donna, Kristen stepped out, wearing an apron and looking completely at home.

“Oh, hey Clive. You’re up,” she said, all warmth and smiles. “Breakfast will be ready in about five minutes, just waiting on the steak.”

Verify captcha to read the contentVerify