You Had Me, You Lost Me, You'll Never Find Me novel Chapter 25

Without giving Penelope's humiliated expression a second thought, Ashton had simply walked away with Sylvia in tow.

After that incident, Penelope treated Sylvia like she was invisible. The obsessive copying stopped completely, and after graduation, they lost touch entirely.

Three years later, Sylvia hadn't expected to run into Penelope again. The woman had transformed. Her hair fell in glamorous waves, her bold red lips were striking, and her jawline was sharp. It was a far more natural look than the innocent, fresh-faced persona she used to fake.

Perhaps this was who she truly was all along.

-

Since they were old classmates crossing paths, Penelope offered to buy Sylvia a coffee. They went to a chic, atmospheric café near the residential complex, where slow, ambient music played softly in the background.

"Do you live around here?" Penelope asked.

"No," Sylvia replied flatly.

Penelope's lips curved into a smirk, though her eyes remained cold. "Makes sense. As long as you're with him, why would you ever need to live in a place like this?"

She pulled a slim cigarette and a lighter from her pocket, but remembering the indoor smoking ban, she tossed them onto the table.

Sylvia's fingers tightened slightly around her cup. Her voice was steady. "We broke up."

Penelope's hand froze for a fraction of a second before she smoothly shifted her posture. "Oh? You broke up?"

"What happened to true love conquering all?"

Penelope was throwing Sylvia's own words back at her—words Sylvia had used to defend her relationship all those years ago.

Back then, they had both been terribly naive.

Even someone as fiercely ambitious and calculating as Penelope hadn't been immune to unrealistic romantic fantasies.

Sylvia stayed silent for a long moment. "...I guess it doesn't conquer everything."

Sylvia didn't say anything. Penelope didn't seem to need a response anyway, launching right into her own story.

Over the past three years, Penelope had clawed her way up behind the scenes of the entertainment industry, eventually becoming the manager of a highly successful actor.

When Penelope first signed him, he was an absolute nobody. She poured her heart and soul into his career—securing roles, crafting his public image, and running aggressive PR campaigns until he became a household name.

From an investment standpoint, it was finally time to reap the rewards. Instead, he betrayed her. He paid the termination fee and jumped ship to a rival agency.

Penelope was the last person to find out.

At the time, she was lying in a hospital bed after a car accident.

If it were just a business decision, it might have been excusable. Even the secrecy could be rationalized. But the ultimate betrayal was that they had been secretly dating.

Penelope had genuine feelings for him. A woman as aggressively pragmatic as her would never have sacrificed her own well-being for someone else unless she was in love.