Chapter 1257:

Then, one evening in the hallway, Brad arrived to pick her up at precisely the moment Sherwood was raising his hand to knock on her office door under the pretext of work.

“Mr. Howe, let’s talk about it tomorrow,” Brad said calmly, resting a hand on Kari’s shoulder without hesitation. “I’m taking her to a movie tonight.”

Kari looked up at him with visible surprise. It was the first time he had asked her out on his own.

“It’s work, and it’s important,” Sherwood pressed.

Kari cut him off with a trace of irritation. “Whatever it is, it can wait. I’m done for the day.”

Sherwood stood and watched them walk away side by side. The faint smile still resting on his face slowly stiffened into something colder.

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And that was only the beginning.

Before long, Brad had convinced Kari to let him take an active role in the business division’s most significant projects. At first, the assignments were minor — peripheral deals that Sherwood had no reason to feel threatened by. But gradually, he began to notice something was wrong. The major clients he had spent months cultivating, the ones nearly ready to sign, were quietly being reassigned under Brad’s name.

“Those clients have always belonged to my division,” Sherwood said, forcing his temper down as he confronted Brad in his office.

Brad didn’t look up at first, continuing to work through a stack of papers. “Mr. Marquez wants me to understand the company’s core operations. Taking on these clients is part of that process.”

“But this is —”

“Mr. Howe.” Brad looked up at last, his expression steady and unhurried. “The company doesn’t draw lines between us. We’re both here for its success, aren’t we?”

Sherwood had nothing left to say. There was no argument to make. Brad’s position now gave him the clear advantage, and compared to the future heir and Luther’s soon-to-be son-in-law, Sherwood’s title had begun to feel very small.

He left with his jaw clenched, anger and bitterness churning beneath the surface.

Since graduation, he had devoted himself entirely to Havenridge Group — years of relentless effort in his career and in his relationship with Kari. Yet what he had earned through all of that labor paled beside what a newcomer had received without apparent struggle.

What unsettled him further was Brad’s uncanny ability to appear at exactly the wrong moments.

One Wednesday, Sherwood had arranged a private hotel room, only for Kari to cancel, citing an unexpected obligation. He later discovered she had spent the afternoon with Brad selecting a wedding gown.

By Friday, he managed to get her to dinner under a professional pretext. Halfway through the meal, her phone lit up — Brad calling to celebrate a significant contract he had just closed. Kari excused herself and left without looking back. Sherwood sat alone, watching the untouched steak in front of him slowly go cold.

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