The Ex-Wife They Begged To Keep - Chapter 108: Chapter 108

Keith continued, "Starting today, the partnership between Brannon Creative Group and Blake Group is officially over."
That was when Tristan realized he'd really screwed up this time. He quickly tried to apologize, putting on his nicest voice.
But Keith wasn't having any of it. He took Serena's hand and turned to leave.
"What's with the act? If you dress up that pretty, you're obviously trying to get men's attention," Tristan muttered angrily under his breath. Watching Keith and Serena walk away, he spat on the ground in frustration.
"Mr. Blake?" A tentative voice came from behind him. Tristan turned around irritably, and when he saw it was Victor, he felt even more annoyed.
Victor had been pestering him for weeks, trying to get him to sign some contract. But the guy was completely useless. His business proposals were a complete mess.
Tristan had no interest in working with Victor, but Victor just wouldn't take no for an answer. And now, he'd run into him again.
Victor had actually just come here for dinner. He thought he'd spotted Serena out front earlier, so he'd followed to take a look. He hadn't expected to miss Serena but bump into Tristan instead. He immediately walked over with a big smile.
"What a coincidence, Mr. Blake. I thought I was seeing things for a second there," Victor said.
Tristan let out a cold laugh. "Just pretend you saw nothing. I'm in a really bad mood right now and don't have time for games."
He turned to leave, but Victor quickly caught up with him. "What happened? Tell me about it. Maybe I can help solve whatever it is."
Tristan was looking for someone to vent to anyway, so he snorted, "It's all because of Keith. Just because his company's gotten bigger and stronger over the years, he thinks he can give me attitude. He even threatened to cut off our partnership over some woman.
"Serena... Ha, she doesn't look like anything special either."
For a moment, Victor thought he'd misheard. "Tristan, did you just say Serena?"
Tristan turned around. "Yeah, some pretty little designer. You know her?"
Victor's emotions suddenly got complicated. Of course he knew her. She was his ex-wife. He'd caught a glimpse of someone who looked like Serena earlier but hadn't dared to believe it was really her.
Tristan couldn't very well admit in front of Victor that he'd gotten Keith angry by hitting on Serena, so he gave him the simplified version.
"I just invited her to come work for our company, and Keith immediately jumped to her defense. I have no idea what their relationship is—seems pretty shady if you ask me," Tristan snorted coldly.
Victor immediately spoke up, "Actually, I know Serena. If you need me to, I can help convince her to join Blake Group."
Tristan's eyes narrowed instantly. "Really?"
He thought back to Serena's face from earlier—even when she was being cold, she was still incredibly attractive. Tristan was annoyed by her attitude, but if he could actually get her... A wicked smile spread across his face.
"I swear it's true. My family helped her out, so Serena will definitely listen to me," Victor quickly promised.
Tristan chuckled, his eyes gleaming with something unreadable. "Alright then. Let's go ahead and sign that contract you mentioned earlier. That way, you'll have even more motivation to make this happen for me."
It was just one more business deal to Tristan. That couldn't compare to getting a beauty like Serena.
Victor couldn't believe that the partnership he'd been trying to secure for so long had just fallen into his lap this easily. His face lit up with excitement. "Great, thank you, Mr. Blake. I'll have my assistant send the contract over to you as soon as I get back."
Tristan nodded with satisfaction and left the restaurant.
After hesitating for a moment, Victor headed off in the direction Serena had gone.
It had started raining outside at some point. Since the car was parked in the underground garage, Serena had to stand under the awning waiting for Keith to bring it around. She'd been expecting Keith, but Victor showed up instead.
Victor walked over to Serena with a complicated expression on his face. Even though it had only been a few days since he'd seen her, she seemed even more beautiful somehow.
A few drops of water clung to her hair, but instead of making her look disheveled, she had that fresh, dewy glow of someone who'd just stepped out of a warm shower.
"Serena," Victor called out.
Serena already felt annoyed seeing Victor, and now, watching him approach her with that conflicted look made her take a step back. Her eyes were cold and distant.
"Serena, where are you living now? I drove here, so let me give you a ride home," Victor said. He couldn't figure out how to bring up the job offer at Tristan's company, so he decided to show some concern first.
Victor genuinely wanted to know how Serena was doing since she'd come back to the country. Without the Powell family's support, she should have had nothing left. But she was doing way better than he'd expected, and Victor almost felt like she shouldn't be doing this well.
"No thanks. Someone's coming to pick me up, so I don't need you," Serena replied coolly.
Victor gave a bitter smile. "You don't have to be so cold to me. I know I wronged you before, but we were together for so many years. We can still be friends, right?"
Serena just let out a cold laugh, and her mocking look made Victor feel uncomfortable. "Friends? Who wants to be friends with you?" She let out a harsh laugh.
If their marriage had just ended because they weren't compatible, Serena definitely wouldn't be looking at him with such contempt now.
"Victor, what's done is done. I hope you can understand that. We can't be friends, but let's at least not be enemies," Serena continued.
Victor wasn't ready to give up. 'She's just saying all this because she's upset. She doesn't really mean it,' he thought, and reached out to grab her wrist.
But before he could even touch Serena, a car suddenly appeared and drove straight toward him without slowing down. The tires hit a puddle and splashed water all over Victor.
"What the hell? Who drives like that?" Victor shouted.
Serena had to bite back a laugh as she watched Keith roll down his window with a completely blank expression. Seeing Victor standing there soaking wet, Keith spoke in a flat, emotionless voice, "Sorry, didn't see anyone there."
Keith's words were apologetic, but there wasn't a hint of remorse in his eyes. He turned his head to look at Serena. "Get in. I'll drive you home."
Serena held back a smile, though the corners of her eyes crinkled slightly.
Keith wasn't usually this rude to people, and what he'd just said didn't even make sense. 'How could Keith not see Victor, a grown man, standing there? Keith did that on purpose,' Serena thought.
"You!" Victor started to move forward to argue, but Serena had already walked past him and gotten in the car.
Keith had picked her up, so he wasn't about to waste any more time talking to Victor. He drove off without another word.