For five years, I had bent over backward to please my in-laws. With their full support, I finally married their only son.

He was nothing more than a spoiled playboy, but through the title of his wife, I climbed my way up to become the CEO of Cavendish Corporation. From that moment on, everything had been smooth sailing.

At a celebratory banquet for a major project, he showed up arm-in-arm with his pregnant first love, Arabella Kingsleigh, clinging to him like a trophy.

“Marrying a commoner like you was me settling,” he sneered, voice dripping with contempt. “Now that Arabella and I are back together, only the mother of my child deserves to manage Cavendish Corporation. You’re just a used-up woman. You’re fired. Get lost.”

I looked over at my in-laws. They looked like they wanted to speak up, but in the end, they held their tongues. I let out a soft sigh.

“You don’t have the authority to fire me. I’ll give you one last chance. Have her end the pregnancy and cut ties with her. We can still stay a family.”

Everyone burst into laughter like I’d lost my mind, thinking I was trying to cling on without shame.

I smiled. Calm. Unbothered. “That’s right. I actually do have the right to freeload.”

——

After I said that, the grand banquet hall fell into a brief hush.

Then, the murmurs exploded.

“President Celestine Windsor must’ve lost her mind. Without the Cavendish name backing her, she’s nothing. Who does she think she’s fooling?”

“Calling her ‘President’ is being kind. She’s just a discarded wife now. Once she’s out, she’ll go back to being nobody.”

“If you ask me, Celestine, just give it up. The kid won’t carry your name. It’s not even yours; why bother? If you’re gonna play stepmom, might as well enjoy the ride.”

Griffin Cavendish furrowed his brows amid the ridicule, that same haughty arrogance gleaming in his eyes.

“Celestine, someone like you has no right to act tough. You don’t have the standing. Without me, you’re nothing.”

I stared at that handsome, smug face and for a moment, memories of the passion and tenderness we once shared surfaced, stinging like salt on a wound.

Bitterness welled up in my chest.

“Three years of marriage, Griffin and you think you can toss me aside just like that? Do you want me out of Cavendish Corporation, too? Have you ever thought about how you’ll explain this to your parents?”

Griffin’s face darkened and a flicker of disdain flashed through his eyes.

“If it weren’t for your shameless groveling to my parents back then, do you think you could’ve married me? We were never cut from the same cloth. I can’t go on living like this. And you? What right do you have to remain CEO of Cavendish Corporation? My parents will stand with me; of course, they will.”

“Is that so?” I crossed my arms, a calm smile tugging at my lips. “That might not be the case.”

My composed confidence sent a ripple through the crowd.

“President Windsor looks awfully sure of herself. Could she be hiding something up her sleeve?”

“Now that you mention it, Cavendish Corporation was just an average company before. Ever since she took over three years ago, its value skyrocketed.”

“Exactly. That latest hundred-billion-dollar deal alone could keep Cavendish Corporation thriving for years.”

The whispers in the room gradually shifted in my favor. But as the tide began to turn, Arabella could no longer keep her composure.

She made a sharp scoff and shot me a look of pure scorn.

“So what if you’re capable? You’re just an employee. The second you’re dismissed, you’re lower than a stray dog. Know your place. You’ll never be one of us, born into status, raised with power.”

I ignored Arabella’s sharp-tongued mockery and turned to Griffin with a calm voice. “Is that what you think, too?”

Perhaps recalling how relentless I’d been in business, his gaze flickered with hesitation, softening with a trace of pity.

“It was my decision to dismiss you,” he said flatly. “That won’t change. Here, take a hundred thousand. Let’s end this on a good note.”

I almost laughed. “You think a hundred thousand can buy three years of my life? Just this one hundred-billion-dollar project alone, add two more zeroes and it still wouldn’t come close.”

Griffin let out a cold laugh, smug and dismissive.

“Unfair? And what right does someone like you have to talk about fairness, Celestine? You didn’t even sign a contract, remember? So, even if I don’t give you a single cent, kicking you out is still perfectly justified. Be smart; take the money while you can.”

As soon as those words left my lips, every gaze in the banquet hall landed squarely on me; pity, disbelief and gloating twisted in their eyes, drowning me like a rising tide.

I simply gave a bitter shake of my head.

Back then, I thought I was just doing my part for the family. I hadn’t signed any contract. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine Griffin would try to replace me with Arabella.

Arabella, the so-called first love. When the Cavendish Family fell on hard times, she vanished without so much as a goodbye. Cold. Ruthless. For years, she never reached out and never looked back. And now that I had turned Cavendish Corporation around, she reappeared like clockwork, just in time to reap what I had sown.

The only person I could blame was Griffin. For being blind. For turning heartless toward me, all for the sake of a woman who once left him in the dirt.

The thought fanned the flames inside me and my voice turned sharp, slicing through the air.

“Griffin, you have no right to fire me.”

“I’ll give you one last chance. If she gets rid of that baby and you devote yourself entirely to me, we can still be a family. But that offer won’t stand twice.”

Griffin’s eyes widened in disbelief before his finger jabbed toward me, his voice dripping with fury.

“Who do you think you are, giving me orders? Arabella is carrying the heir to the Cavendish Family. She’s the woman I’ll love, heart and soul, from this moment on. As for you, kneel and beg all you want, but all you’ll get is a cold dismissal!”

The crowd around us couldn’t contain their laughter, shaking their heads at what they must’ve seen as my delusion.

But it didn’t matter; I knew they were wrong.

I had never spoken a word I couldn’t back up and I meant every one of them. I gave Griffin this ultimatum because I had the strength to see it through.

If I hadn’t promised my in-laws to endure him, he wouldn’t have stood a chance.

I met his glare, unflinching. “So, what you’re saying is, you’ll fire me and divorce me just to defend your mistress?”

“You bitch, mind your tongue!” Arabella spat, her anger evident. “You’re the one who isn’t loved! Are you really that clueless not to see that?”

Griffin didn’t hesitate; he pulled her into his arms with all the tenderness he could muster.

“That’s right, Celestine. I don’t want you anymore. Without your ties to me, you’re not even qualified to sit in the CEO’s chair at Cavendish Corporation. Arabella and the child we’ll have, that’s my real family now.”

I let out a slow sigh, my voice calm and unshaken. “What a shame, Griffin. You just threw away your last chance.”

His expression darkened, layer by layer until it was nothing but frost. His eyes burned with disgust as he stared me down.

“Stop this ridiculous act. Do you think you're still some all-powerful CEO? Without me, you're nothing. Who the hell wants your pathetic chance?”

Arabella stepped in, finger jabbing at my forehead like she owned the world. “What are you, a dog? Barking nonsense every chance you get! Use what’s left of your brain and hand over the project. From now on, everything in Cavendish Corporation will be mine!”

I didn’t flinch. I slapped her hand away without hesitation.

“And who told you just any stray cat or dog could manage this project?”

“What the hell is wrong with you, Celestine!”

Griffin shoved me hard, rough and thoughtless before turning to Arabella and holding her hand as gently as if it were made of glass.

“Does it hurt?”

Arabella gritted her teeth, her voice sharp as a blade. “Griffin, since she’s asking for it, don’t hold back anymore.”

Griffin nodded with cold resolve, his gaze filled with scorn as it fell on me.

“If you refuse to cooperate with the handover, so be it. If someone like you could land this project, then Arabella, an overseas returnee with elite credentials, can do it ten times better. Besides, my father will back her.”

A soft laugh slipped from my lips, laced with irony. “And what makes you so certain your father will accept her?”

He sneered, full of smug superiority and rested his hand tenderly on Arabella’s belly.

“She’s the mother of my child, the future heir to the Cavendish name. That alone means you’ve already lost entirely.”

Looking at his face, so arrogant and self-assured, I couldn’t help but offer a quiet reminder, each word hitting like a nail in his pride, “With her by your side, your child may not even qualify to bear the Cavendish name.”

“You’re absolutely right!” Arabella let out a haughty laugh, her voice dripping with arrogance. “Griffin loves me deeply; he’s already promised that our first child will carry my surname. That’s the difference between being loved and being tossed aside. You’ve spent years groveling at his feet, yet you still don’t measure up to a single strand of my hair.”

Even the guests couldn’t help themselves; they burst into laughter as if they’d just heard the punchline of a cruel joke.

“Celestine still thinks everyone’s like her, clinging to wealthy families like a lifeline, thinking the child must take the father’s surname?”

“The Cavendish and Kingsleigh families are a perfect match. It doesn’t matter whose surname the child carries.”

“Chairman Cavendish only has one son. Whatever he says, that’s the final word.”

Griffin glanced at me with utter contempt before declaring without pause, “Celestine, there’s no point pestering me anymore. You’ve been dismissed. From now on, Arabella will take your place as president of Cavendish Corporation.”

A cold laugh slipped from my lips, sharp as glass. “I already told you you don’t have the authority to fire me.”

The moment those words left my mouth, the room erupted with muffled snickers. People pointed, whispered and laughed as if they’d just witnessed the most absurd thing in the world.

Arabella sneered, her voice filled with ridicule. “Stop bluffing, you wretched woman. You’ve offended the Cavendish Family; not only are you fired, but no one in this industry will dare to touch you again. Your good days are over.”

The crowd shook their heads, clicking their tongues at my supposed foolishness. They whispered that I could’ve walked away with a tidy settlement, but now I’d lost everything and burned my future to the ground.

But I didn’t flinch. Instead, I stood tall, spine straight, confidence radiating from every inch of me.

I swept my gaze across the room, locking eyes with every guest in attendance.

“Tell me, do you really think someone with my ability deserves to be dismissed?”

These weren’t strangers. They were representatives of companies that had built years of deep, trusted partnerships with Cavendish Corporation.

Griffin had always been nothing more than a spoiled heir, born to luxury, living for indulgence. The company had never interested him. It was first run by his father and then handed over to me.

Most of the people standing here barely even knew Griffin. But me, they had worked with. Closely.

Some of their companies had stood at the edge of collapse. I’d seen value where others didn’t. I extended a hand, built partnerships and brought them back from the brink.

One of them once told me, with tears in her eyes, that I was like a second mother to her.

There was a time when others looked down on me, assuming I was nothing more than a trophy wife who had clawed her way up through marriage. But after working with me time and again, they were forced to acknowledge my strength. Many of them even became trusted allies.

As for those who once fell over themselves to curry favor, there were far too many to count.

Yet now, those same faces either avoided my gaze or sneered with open contempt.

“Celestine, don’t look at me like that. If you’d left Cavendish Corporation quietly, I might’ve tossed you a bone, something to gnaw on.”

“Your skills aren’t bad, but you overplayed your hand. There’s no shortage of talent out there. We’re not about to risk offending the Cavendish Family just to stand by you. Who do you think you are?”

“You’re finished in this business. Maybe next time, try a little humility. Or find yourself another man to leech off; that’s your specialty, isn’t it?”

By the end, the entire banquet hall had erupted into laughter, cold, mocking and merciless.

The very people who once held me up high were now taking turns to kick me while I was down.

It brought to mind something my father-in-law once told me back when I had just taken over Cavendish Corporation.

He said that when the seas were calm, everyone would seem kind and loyal, but the moment a storm rolled in, their true colors would surface.

As I looked at the crowd of greedy, two-faced sycophants before me, I finally saw the truth behind those words.

But as for surrender? That was never in my blood.

I lifted my chin and cast them all aside with a single glance. My voice rang low and steady.

"Let me make one thing clear: none of you here have the right to fire me."

"You worthless parasite! How long do you plan to keep clinging on?"

Arabella couldn’t hold back any longer. Her fury spilled through her clenched teeth.

"Griffin has already thrown you away! This is high society; you’re nothing but an outsider now!"