I Canceled The Wedding After His Female Bro Ruined Everything Chapter 07
Cole Group’s stock price tanked for seven consecutive days.
Other shareholders saw the company collapsing and started dumping their shares.
Cole Group quickly became a shell of its former self.
Harold landed in the hospital from the stress. He was in the ICU for hours and was still unconscious.
Margaret sat on the living room couch, repeating the same thing over and over.
“What do we do? The Cole family can’t really be ruined, can it? Go beg the Blakes. Even if it’s just to get
through this quarter… You and Katherine grew up together. She won’t turn her back on you.”
Sebastian didn’t answer.
He went to the Blake residence, but got stopped at the gate.
“Mr. Cole, Mr. Blake isn’t here.”
“I can wait.”
“Mr. Blake left instructions before he went out. He’s not seeing anyone today.”
Sebastian stood outside the gate.
He looked up at the second-floor window. Lawrence’s shadow darted behind the curtain.
He gave a bitter, self-mocking smile and didn’t stick around.
That night, Sebastian used a mutual connection to set up a meeting with Marcus.
He bowed deeply.
He explained why he’d come.
He wanted to see Elena. To apologize in person.
And he wanted Marcus to go easy on him.
“Go easy on you?”
Marcus let out a dry laugh.
“Sebastian, do you really think the Cole family got where it is because of its deep roots? Do you think you’re so talented that resources just fall into your lap?”
Sebastian’s lips parted slightly.
Marcus slid a stack of documents across the table.
“Go check the Cole family’s books for the past five years. While you’re at it, look into the old shareholders. The Cole family was hollowed out a long time ago. Your father was just holding it together with nothing but
a fading reputation.”
He set his teacup down.
“My father never approved of you. Elena signed a performance pledge. She bet that you’d become number one in the industry within a year. She bet that you’d treat her right. And then at the wedding, she watched you let your so-called female best friend humiliate her. She watched your whole family force her to her knees.”
Marcus’s voice had been calm the whole time. But when he got to that part, his teeth clenched.
“You’ve been living off the perks she brought you. Now that she doesn’t want to give it anymore, it’s getting
pulled.”
When Sebastian walked out of the tea lounge, it was raining.
He didn’t have an umbrella.
The rain wasn’t heavy. Fine mist of rain landed on his shoulders and slowly soaked into the fabric of his suit.
As he walked down to the parking garage, his foot slipped. He caught himself on the wall and scraped his
hand raw.
Blood stained his wrist. But he didn’t seem to feel it. He just kept walking toward his car like a robot.
In the garage, a silver sports car was parked right in front of him.
The door opened. Katherine stepped out in heels, wearing a pink trench coat and carrying a bag he’d bought
her last month.
The man in the driver’s seat was Cole Group’s biggest competitor from last year’s bidding war.
She looped her arm through his and turned around-coming face to face with Sebastian.
She did a double take.
Then she gave him that same familiar, coy smile.
“Sebastian. Fancy running into you.”
She paused.
“Oh, right. This is my fiancé. We’re getting engaged next month.”
When she looked at the man next to her, her voice went soft.
“Babe, this is Sebastian. I told you about him. We grew up together.”
The man nodded at Sebastian, his eyes glancing over Sebastian’s sorry state.
Sebastian locked eyes on Katherine.
“I thought you’d be hiding from me like your father.”
She let go of her fiancé’s arm and walked up to Sebastian in her heels.
Then she rose onto her tiptoes and leaned close to his ear, barely whispering.
“Sebastian, you always said you’d protect me forever. But look at you now. You can’t even protect yourself. My father was right. Your family is a dumpster fire. Anyone who gets near you goes under.”
She stepped back, keeping the smile on her face.
“It’s not my fault. I’m just a clueless little girl. I can’t tell my father what to do. But for old time’s sake, I’ll send
your parents an invitation when I get married.”
Then she took her fiancé’s arm and walked away.
Two months later. Cole Group officially declared bankruptcy and went into liquidation.
Harold had a stroke. Half his body was paralyzed.
Margaret looked at her son standing in the hospital room doorway.
“If you hadn’t protected that girl and driven Elena away, we wouldn’t be in this mess!”
Sebastian didn’t argue.
He walked into the room, clipped Harold’s test results in order, and waited in line at the billing window.
Then he took the bus back to the small cramped studio.
He wasn’t Sebastian Cole, heir to the Cole fortune, anymore.
He worked three jobs a day. He barely had time to think about how he’d ended up like this.
Only in the middle of the night, when he woke up from a nightmare, would he pull up the old chat logs with
Elena and read them line by line.
He’d clutch his phone to his chest, crying and laughing, rambling to himself.
But time doesn’t go backward.
No matter how much he missed the past the night before, he still had to get up early the next morning and
go earn a living.
