Love Burned, She Rose Unscathed novel Chapter 480

"Corley, what's your game here?" Murray walked over to the table.

"What are you talking about?"

"Why did you pull the plug on the development project?"

Corley took a sip of his tea, nonchalantly. "If I don't want to collaborate, I stop. What's the issue?"

"Just quit, just like that?! Do you realize how much cash we're bleeding every single day?"

Corley replied, "Roughly."

"And you're still doing this?!"

After finishing his cup, Corley started making a second brew, his movements smooth and practiced.

Murray grabbed the teapot from him, "You've been dodging me for three days, and now you're silent. Planning to keep dragging this out?"

It was then Corley looked up. "Who says I've been dodging?"

"Your secretary said you were on a business trip. Isn't that just an excuse to avoid me?"

"Hah, avoid you? You're giving yourself too much credit. I was in Pinehollow for a research trip I planned half a month ago. Do I really need to avoid you?"

"...Pinehollow?" Murray sensed something.

Corley gave a half-smile.

Suddenly, Cliff leaned in, "Corley, you went to Pinehollow? Man, Pinehollow is a great spot, the food and drinks are exactly to my taste... Oh, isn't Roseanne's family from Pinehollow... Why did you bump into me—uh!"

York was frantically signaling him, but to no avail, he had to bump into him.

Realizing his mistake, Cliff shut up.

Murray, watching Corley's calm demeanor, emphasized each word: "You went to Pinehollow to see her?"

Corley's tone was light. "I said, it was for research."

"But—" he changed the subject, "I did indeed run into Anne."

"Murray, I'm curious, are you here to talk about Roseanne, or the project? Or... do you want to use Roseanne as a way to talk about the project?"

"Let's get one thing straight; I'm cutting ties on not just this project, but all our shared ventures from here on out. From now on, you handle your thing, I'll do mine. We need to draw a firm line, no messing with each other's business."

Murray's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?!"

"Exactly what I said, is it that hard to understand?"

"Why? Just because I'm Roseanne's ex? Corley, have you lost your mind?! Throwing away money just to spite me?"

The two of them were involved in over twenty projects together, some led by Corley, some by Murray, and others by third parties where both had investments.

Splitting up would mean most of these ongoing projects would likely fail.

The initial investments weren't small; breaking up halfway would mean a significant loss.

"Is this really necessary?" Murray challenged, "You want to chase after Roseanne, go ahead! I wasn't the one who mentioned breaking up, but now you're taking things too far?!"