Burning Love Chapter 2

Ruby, whose face was stained with beautiful, delicate tears, had been leaning against Hugo's chest. My sudden entrance made her tremble like a frightened bird.

Hugo instinctively reached out to soothe her, gently rubbing her shoulder.

The sight of his hand on her burned my eyes. I fought desperately to hold back my tears, but my vision still blurred.

Ruby was a junior from my high school. Ever since she joined our university, she had followed me around like a shadow, always calling me her beloved senior.

Back then, people used to whisper that I was just a brainless, arrogant rich kid who only knew how to throw tantrums and spend money. Ruby was the only one who stood up and defended me.

She came from a completely average family but worked incredibly hard. Remembering our old friendship, I hired her the second she graduated.

To help her build her career quickly, I personally guided her through several of our biggest accounts.

Hugo used to joke about it.

"Your little protege is a shark. Even our most difficult clients absolutely adore her."

At the time, I thought Hugo was just being a little cynical. If the clients loved her, it just meant her professional skills were solid.

I never expected her to be so skilled that she would make Hugo fall for her too.

But this time, the ever clever Ruby had leaked highly classified company documents, completely enraging our biggest investor.

I forced my emotions down. I forced myself to look away from the sickening pity on Hugo's face.

"Ruby, leaking a project proposal is a massive breach. The fallout is severe."

"We are all adults here. You cannot run away from the consequences of your actions."

"I will go with you to apologize to the investors."

Ruby stood up nervously. She looked at Hugo, then looked at me.

"Shelly... the representative from Apex Capital said they will only speak to you..."

Apex Capital had invested in our startup two years ago.

Back then, we were just getting off the ground. Every single investment firm in the city laughed us out of their offices.

To our absolute shock, the biggest venture capital firm in the country reached out to us directly, injecting a massive amount of funding into our accounts.

Because of that money, our company skyrocketed in just two years.

But I could not fathom how Hugo could possibly believe that Ruby's catastrophic failure should fall on my shoulders.

I stared at his face, suddenly realizing how incredibly foreign this man looked to me.

Was he always this shameless?

"Take the fall for me? Do you think I own this company by myself?"

Hugo remained completely indifferent to my anger.

"You were the one who secured the Apex investment. It is naturally your responsibility to handle them."

Ruby dropped to her knees right in front of me, shaking violently, looking up at me like a pathetic, abandoned puppy.

Her eyes were filled with tears. "Shelly, I swear I didn't mean to do it. Please, just save me this one time..."

Hugo grabbed her arm and pulled her roughly to her feet, glaring at me with pure frustration.

"Shelly! Ruby offended the investors while working on your project! You should be the one going there to beg for forgiveness!"

"You are the one who should be on your knees."

"Do you really not know? The man behind Apex Capital is Sebastian. He specifically demanded that you go see him."

Hugo's words hit me so hard the room began to spin.

Sebastian?

The sole heir to the most powerful family in New York. The untouchable prince of the city.

But Hugo wasn't finished. He had something far more cruel waiting for me.

"Sebastian said that if you just spend one night with him, he will let the company off the hook."

The last thread of my sanity snapped. It felt like my heart had been ripped in half and thrown bleeding onto the floor.

"Hugo, what exactly am I to you?"

Hugo furrowed his brows, looking at me like I was an unreasonable child throwing a tantrum.

"It is literally just one night."

Did he really not understand what one night meant?

No. He was just playing stupid because he was a coward trying to escape reality.

When I didn't speak, Hugo finally lost his temper.

"Is your pride really worth more than Ruby's entire future?"

"If you don't fix this, Ruby will be blacklisted. She will never be able to work in this city again!"

I was entirely sick of his voice. I grabbed the door handle and dropped my words like ice.

"Then you can both go straight to hell."