My CEO Husband Says I'm Irreplaceable

Chapter 43: Chapter 43: Luke, Don’t Be Fooled by Her

Vesper Grayson heard the screech of brakes behind her and glanced back coolly.

When Luke Lockwood saw her look back, his heart leaped with joy. But before that joy could spread, the woman turned away without a second glance and walked off quickly.

The last glimmer of light in his eyes was instantly extinguished.

Luke Lockwood seemed not to hear Leon Quillan’s words at all. He dazedly climbed to his feet and staggered into the car.

Meanwhile, just as Vesper Grayson stepped out of the elevator, her phone rang abruptly.

The moment she answered, Ivy Joyce’s furious voice came through.

"Vesper Grayson, since you already left, why did you have to come back? Can’t you just disappear for good!"

Ivy Joyce had gone to the office first thing in the morning and learned that Luke Lockwood had flown to Northolme again at dawn.

She remembered the summit, how Luke Lockwood had lost control and flown into a rage over just a glimpse of a woman whose back resembled Vesper Grayson’s. She was certain Vesper had intentionally appeared before him.

Vesper Grayson’s tone was indifferent, betraying no emotion. "Ivy Joyce, what is your problem?"

"Luke is the president of Zephyr, but now he’s constrained at every turn, struggling to make a move! You’ve already broken up with him, so why won’t you let him go?"

"I helped him build Zephyr from the ground up. What I took was simply my fair share."

"Then you shouldn’t have sold it to Zenith!"

"I sell to the highest bidder. No one turns their nose up at money, right?" She chuckled, her tone laced with a cool indifference. "Luke Lockwood said you’re his most capable assistant. Surely, Secretary Joyce, you can’t only want to share the good times and not the bad?"

"You did this on purpose!" Ivy Joyce’s voice trembled with rage. "Luke built Zephyr himself! What does it have to do with an old hag like you who can only cook? You were just his maid for three years! At most, you deserved a few ten thousand in wages. What right do you have to take half of Zephyr’s shares?"

"There are some things I don’t need to explain to you. Since you’re pregnant with a precious child, Secretary Joyce, perhaps you should spend more time thinking about how to secure your position."

That sentence hit Ivy Joyce right where it hurt.

Listening to the dial tone, her face twisted in anger, and she could barely keep her grip on the phone.

Vesper Grayson sent the files she had already organized to Luke Lockwood’s email.

They contained detailed records of Ivy Joyce deliberately leaking her and Luke Lockwood’s whereabouts in Varden, along with the provocative text messages and call recordings that followed.

’Since they have so much free time and insist on provoking me, I don’t mind giving them something to do myself.’

A knock sounded at the door.

Aaron Sawyer walked in. "Young Miss, President Hawthorne is here. He’s in the president’s office."

"Elias Hawthorne?"

"Yes."

Vesper Grayson’s heart skipped a beat. She felt a strange, subtle nervousness about this marriage partner she had never met.

"Mr. Spencer, you’ve seen him?"

Aaron Sawyer nodded with a smile, his tone full of praise. "Handsome and composed, with a reserved brilliance, distinguished and cool. In short, he and you, Young Miss, are a match made in heaven."

"Pfft—"

She couldn’t help but laugh. "Mr. Spencer, must you be so dramatic? Is he especially old and stodgy?"

’Old and stodgy?’

Mr. Spencer thought of the man’s composed and intimidating aura and nodded seriously. "One couldn’t cultivate an air like President Hawthorne’s without decades of experience. For him to have such a presence at his young age is truly extraordinary."

"Er..."

Vesper Grayson frowned. "Doesn’t that mean he’s really old? Will we have a generation gap when we try to communicate?"

"You’ve misunderstood, Young Miss. President Hawthorne is wise beyond his years, but he’s actually very young."

He was only thirty; no matter how mature his disposition, he couldn’t be considered old.

"Can I sneak a peek?"

She was quite curious what this legendary business prodigy actually looked like.

"Absolutely not," Aaron Sawyer immediately stopped her. "A young lady must be reserved! You two will have your formal meeting tonight. You’ll see him then."

"..."

「Zephyr Office.」

"Luke, you’re back."

The moment Ivy Joyce saw him enter, she immediately stood up to greet him.

The next second, Luke Lockwood violently raised his hand and seized her slender neck, his expression sinister and terrifying.

"Bitch! So you were the one pulling the strings behind the scenes!"

On the way back, he had finished reading all the files Vesper Grayson had sent.

His relationship with Ivy Joyce had always been a tightly kept secret, absolutely watertight. How could Vesper have suddenly found out everything?

It turned out someone had been secretly feeding her information all along.

And that person was the woman he had always believed to be docile, obedient, understanding, and unassuming.

Ivy Joyce’s face went deathly pale. She slapped helplessly at his arm. "Luke, what—what are you talking about?"

"Vesper Grayson showing up in Varden that day, her overhearing those things—it was all your deliberate guidance and careful calculation, wasn’t it?" Luke Lockwood sneered, his eyes filled with malice. "And I was completely fooled by your ’above it all’ act!"

A flash of panic crossed Ivy Joyce’s eyes. Then, as if deciding to throw caution to the wind, she stiffened her neck and said, "I just love you too much. I wanted to win a legitimate status for myself. What did I do wrong?"

"Love? You’re not worthy of that word!"

Luke Lockwood’s gaze was bone-chilling, every word a dagger to the heart. "You’re nothing but a plaything I keep around. I show you a little favor, and you really start to forget your place?"

Ivy Joyce’s face was ashen. The resentment in her heart finally erupted as she shrieked her question.

"Then what makes Vesper Grayson so special? She can’t even accept you, and she’s no help to you at all! How am I any worse than her!"

She was younger and prettier than Vesper Grayson, more educated, and from a better family. She was his most capable assistant at work and his most compatible partner in bed.

’What does Vesper Grayson have?’

’Just a washed-up housewife who only knows how to stay at home. Besides her pretty face, she’s utterly useless.’

’And when she left, she greedily took half of Zephyr’s shares.’

Hearing this, the disgust in Luke Lockwood’s eyes practically overflowed.

"You’re comparing yourself to her?"

He scoffed, his tone cruel and cold. "If it weren’t for Vesper, I, Luke Lockwood, would never have reached the position I’m in today. The ’useless’ woman you speak of gave me all of Zephyr! And you? You’re just a toy I play with to pass the time when I’m lonely."

Ivy Joyce froze, her face turning deathly white.

"What do you mean?"

’Zephyr... Vesper Grayson gave it to him?’

Luke Lockwood slowly released his grip. He collapsed onto the sofa, drained, and dug his fingers into his dark hair as if all the life had been sucked out of him.

"The startup capital for the company came from Vesper. Thomas Sutton’s support... that was also her doing behind the scenes..."

His entrepreneurial journey had been too smooth, too easy. It had caused him to gradually lose his way, becoming arrogant and conceited, until he personally hurt the person who had always been by his side, the one who loved him most.

"That’s impossible!" Ivy Joyce felt as if she’d been struck a heavy blow, completely unable to accept this fact.

Vesper Grayson was just an orphan. How could she have that much power? Enough to command even Thomas Sutton?

She rushed to Luke Lockwood’s side like a madwoman, clutching his arm tightly, her voice shrill and panicked.

"Luke, don’t let her fool you! She’s just making all this up to make you feel guilty and full of regret!"

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