To Love a Shadow, To Be the Sun novel Chapter 39

Elara stepped into the office, the trace of a smile still lingering on her lips—though it quickly turned cold.

"Of course I'm getting revenge. Isn't that exactly what I'm doing?"

As soon as she finished, Summer's phone chimed.

A new message: a bank deposit notification.

The sender was Elara.

Summer rubbed her eyes and stared hard at the number on the screen.

"You… you hit the jackpot or something? Trying to buy my surrender?"

"Don't flatter yourself. It's only enough to keep you afloat for a little while."

Only enough for a while, but in this moment, it felt like a lifeline thrown to a drowning woman. Summer was nearly speechless.

"If you're planning to rely on this money for the rest of your life, send it back. I might not even be able to pay you back."

"Consider it my investment," Elara replied.

Shock was written all over Summer's face.

"I don't need to be CEO. Just give me a department to run—I've got my eye on R&D."

Summer felt as if she'd just been hit in the face with an abacus. The pieces finally clicked.

"Wait, you're coming back to work? Does your husband even know?"

Back when Elara married Felice, their agreement hadn't required her to be a stay-at-home wife, but she was expected to put her husband's needs before her own.

Brian's world was complicated, and after the wedding, he didn't want her working outside the home. That's why Elara had given up on the idea of starting a business with Summer.

Summer never knew the full story. The day Elara made her decision, they'd had a huge argument.

Elara had been a star in the materials science department at Kingslake University, working on cutting-edge energy storage projects before she'd even graduated. She should have had a brilliant future ahead. But after graduation, lured by comfort and affection, she became a housewife.

Summer could never accept it.

That's why she'd cut ties with Elara—her own personal declaration of war.

President's Office, SiliconCrest Group.

"Mrs. Vincent bought a car and invested the rest in Miss Calloway's company," Yves Caldwell reported.

Brian looked up, surprised. "They've made up?"

Yves didn't know how to answer.

But for the first time all day, the tension in Brian's brow eased, as if a weight had lifted.

"Good. She could use a friend—it might help her see things differently."

Yves, however, frowned.

"With all due respect, sir, Mrs. Vincent is making a mistake. Miss Calloway is just a trust fund kid playing at business—she doesn't care if her company sinks or swims. For Mrs. Vincent to put so much money into that? She might as well throw it out the window."

They'd looked into Elara's background at university—she'd been impressive. But after marrying Mr. Vincent, she'd been out of the workforce for four years.

Neither Yves nor Brian believed someone who'd been out of the game that long could just jump back into such a fast-paced, fiercely competitive industry.