At present, nothing mattered to Brandon except Vrie. If Jayden insisted on forcing him to see Michelle, their friendship might not survive.


    Yale nodded. "Got it. I''ll mention it, but I won''t push it if he doesn''t listen."


    He and Nn had a clear view of the situation and weren''t nning on getting too involved. They didn''t want to end up stuck in the middle, trying to please both sides and failing.


    The news of Brandon stepping down as CEO of the Sumner Group spread quickly through Saintornia.


    As soon as Michelle heard about it, she called Jayden.


    "Jayden, I just saw online that Brandon resigned as CEO of the Sumner Group. What''s going on?" Her voice trembled with worry.


    There was a brief silence on the other end before Jayden responded in a low voice. "I don''t know yet. I''ll ask around."


    "Jayden, do you think it''s because of that exposé you had someone post online? Maybe you should have them take it down. I want to see him, but I don''t want him to leave the Sumner Group because of me," Michelle said.


    The line went silent after she spoke.


    After a few seconds, with no response, Michelle frowned. "Jayden? What''s wrong? Why aren''t you saying anything? If you''re busy, I can call youter."


    "No, it''s fine," Jayden said tly. "I''ll take care of it. You should rest."


    With that, he hung up.


    Michelle was too focused on the news of Brandon''s resignation to notice the odd tone in Jayden''s voice. Even if she had, she probably wouldn''t have cared.


    After all, she had always believed Jayden liked her so much he would never leave her, no matter what.


    Jayden set his phone down and called his assistant into the office. "Contact the blogger who posted the exposé about Brandon being ungrateful and have them delete all their posts. Also, remove any trending topics rted to it. Get it done by tomorrow morning."


    The assistant looked puzzled, staring at him in disbelief.


    Just half an hour ago, Jayden had ordered them to buy more bot traffic to amplify the controversy. Why the sudden change of heart?


    Seeing the hesitation, Jayden frowned. "Did you not understand what I just said?"


    "I-I did, Mr. Gilmour. I''ll take care of it right away," the assistant replied. After the assistant left, Jayden rubbed his temples, frustration flooding over him.


    He had almostpletely burned his bridge with Brandon for Michelle''s sake Yet, the moment she learned Brandon had resigned, she wanted everything taken down.


    It was clear now-he never really mattered to her.


    The only reason she had been kind to him was probably to use him to get closer to Brandon.


    Before, as long as he could see


    Michelle smile, he felt content. He endured the heartache of helping her pursue Brandon, agreeing to her. every unreasonable request.


    But now, for the first time, he wondered what the point was. No matter how much


    effort he put in, she would never look back at him.


    Maybe it was time to let go and start over.


    As Jayden pondered this, his phone rang again.


    His heart skipped a beat.


    He picked it up, seeing Yale''s name on the screen.


    A sh of disappointment crossed his face. For a moment, he had


    hoped it was Michelle


    something was wrong and calling him back.


    Clearly, he was fooling himself.


    Pushing aside his emotions, he answered the call.