Bitcoin Billionaire: I Regressed to Invest in the First Bitcoin!-Chapter 119: Company Launch! (2): Petals of a Lily

Rachel half-pivoted, taking a good hard look at Lily's pitiful face, yet feeling no pity at all. At least, that was what one would assume, given her extremely bland expression.

She turned to Darren and made a face that asked if he would be fine. Darren's eyes left Lily for a moment and looked down at Rachel. Then he nodded, assuring her he'd be fine.

"Go," he said.

"Okay," Rachel whispered, then catwalked down the corridor and into the elevator. As the doors were closing, she gave Lily a cold, warning stare with her eye of steel.

Lily gulped, then looked away.

Darren then turned to her, hands in pockets. "What do you want?"

She looked at him, eyes quivering. "How can you say that? What do you think I want?" She stopped closer. "Darren, we haven't talked. At all."

His gaze was heartless. "Isn't that the point? I don't want to talk to you."

"Please Darren," her eyes saddened. She lifted her hand and rested it on his chest. Darren looked down apathetically. "I've never been more lonely. Please. Let me... Let me explain everything."

He raised a brow. Then, saying nothing, took one hand out of his pocket and used it to take her hand off his chest. Carefully too.

"You knew I liked you, and maybe you liked me too. But obviously not as much as I did. You took advantage of my feelings for you. You and your father." He stood straight. "What else is there to tell?"

"But that was the only way I could be with you," she said desperately. "He wouldn't... Dad wouldn't let me date if I didn't agree."

"You're 23, Lily," Darren snapped coldly. "That would have been an acceptable excuse if you were a teenager, not a grown adult. You're the one choosing to let your father control you. You're the one who chose to lie to me, and deceive me all my life—"

Lily narrowed her eyes in shock, fear maybe. Darren's reaction was too guttural, and way more raw than she'd expected.

"You're the one who chose to cheat on me," he added in a whisper that was almost meant to be a yell.

She frowned. "Cheat on you?" she said in a confused, broken voice. "Darren? What are you talking about—? I never... I never cheated on you."

Darren ran a palm through his hair. "Yeah, not now you haven't."

Lily only got more confused. "Darren, what are you saying?"

He exhaled, slipping the hand back into his pocket. As much as Darren hated to admit it, even now, Lily was still able to get a reaction out of him now.

He'd spent 10 years with this girl. Ups, downs. Maybe a lot more downs than ups but they had been together for the most part of it.

But... to think, to believe, to know that all of it had all been orchestrated by her father to keep him tied in as a puppet — to keep him obedient and respectful — that was something he could never forget. Or forgive.

"And what are you going to do then?" he said to her, voice like toxic smoke. "If I ever did forgive you. What would your father say, hmm? Wouldn't he ask you to get me on his side once again, to try to manipulate me into benefiting him. Maybe he'll say that's the only way he can allow you to be around me."

Darren chuckled. "And of course you'll listen to him. Of course you would. Cause you'll always do what your dad tells you even if it means hurting the ones you claim to love. And then you expect them to forgive you because there's some sort of guilt shift. Because you think you were coerced to do the horrible things you've done. You think you're as innocent as the flower you're named after. Pfft... Give me a break, Lily."

He stepped back, while Lily, gazing up at him, had the most broken face ever. Her blue eyes had turned oceanic, wetness gathering at the edges.

"There pretty much wasn't anything I wouldn't do for you," Darren continued, looking at nothing. Then he looked at her. "And you took advantage of that. There was barely anything you would do for me. But maybe we can change that."

He turned fully to her, standing face to face, looking down at her shivering body and frightened eyes.

"For the first time in your life, do something for me. Get out of my face and never come close to me again."

Heart break.

It was almost audible. In Lily's chest, a crack had just spiderwebbed straight down the middle of her heart, and the fragments burnt in her chest.

"Darre—" she tried to speak. But that was a bad idea, because it caused the dam to leak and tears fell down her cheeks. She pressed her lips thin and upwards, like she accepted her fate.

"Okay," she whispered.

Darren just looked at her. Showing nothing.

Lily tilted her head pitifully. "Okay," she repeated, turned around and hurried away from the sight of others, into the other elevator.

Darren watched her leave, silent and conserved, hands still in his pockets, chest high. He exhaled softly, then lost sight of her.

Ding!

┏System has discerned a spike in host's emotional state┛

Darren didn't react to that. He only turned around and headed to the elevator.

Ding!

┏You've earned a Character Bonus!┛

Downstairs, on the main arena, the hum of conversation dipped as the MC of the occasion stepped forward.

R𝑒ad lat𝒆st chapt𝒆rs at free𝑤ebnovel.com Only.

Rachel.

She moved to the stage and welcomed everyone with grace. She kept it short— just enough warmth to earn attention, just enough poise to hand it off.

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Rachel Teschmacher, some of you know me and some of you don't. Those that do know me, recognize me as the former secretary of the presently infamous Gareth Smithers, and the daughter of the even more infamous Teschmacher family."

There was laughter.

"So what am I doing here, you might ask. Well, I'm here because I believe in the vision of my boss, Mr. Darren Steele. Some might look at his plans and call them outrageous, meaningless, risky. But that's what we're going to do here in Steele Investments. Success doesn't come easy. However, it might if you're been pioneered by my boss, the center of attention today, the most brilliant and most captivating person I've ever met, Darren Steele!"

Rounds of applause filled the atrium as Darren sauntered into the stage.