When my CEO girlfriend, Lana Piller, learned that I had given the design that took me half a year to complete to her first love, Aiden Connaught, for a competition, she, who had always been afraid of marriage and having children, suddenly agreed to marry me and have children with me.

Aiden was pissed off and pretended to have a depressive episode; he picked up sulfuric acid, intending to ruin his own hands.

Lana immediately panicked. Not only did she give him my position as the design director, but she also accompanied him to the Arctic to witness the aurora borealis and fulfill his dream. They ate and stayed together all the way, being inseparable.

Three months later, Lana casually remarked, "Zac and I have been busy competing and seeking inspiration, unlike you, who has been slacking off at work. Your designs are entirely unoriginal! You’ve run out of ideas. That's why you're envious of his talent."

Looking at Lana's increasingly prominent baby bump, I was not angry; I just smiled calmly and continued with the wedding preparations.

Lana thought I was still in the dark, laughing and saying she had overcome her mental barrier and could not wait to give me a child.

However, she had no idea that the wedding would take place as scheduled, but I had already chosen another bride.

When I saw my girlfriend Lana Piller again, she was already holding a national design contest trophy.

She and her first love, Zac Newton, had just walked into the company. Everyone stopped working and hurried over to praise them for their hard work.

I stood by, finding it all quite ridiculous.

They used the design draft I had spent half a year working on but pretended to have worked hard. Indeed, they were exhausted from their long honeymoon.

During these three months, Zac kept showing me the photos and videos of him and Lana eating and living together. He would also secretly turn on the voice chat while flirting with Lana so that I could hear Lana say that I was not as good as him.

At first, I was so angry that I even doubted my life. Now, my heart was calm. Now that Lana was back, I could give her my resignation letter. "Ms. Piller, this is for you."

Before Lana could speak, Zac asked with a half-smile, "Cruz Greyson, isn't it a bit inappropriate for you to publicly bribe Ms. Piller?"

Immediately, my colleagues rolled their eyes at me, saying irritably, "When Mr. Newton joined the company, Cruz had been the most vocal critic, always targeting him. Now that Mr. Newton has won the contest, he's been thoroughly proven wrong that he can only stay here by resorting to these petty tactics."

I remained unmoved by their usual sarcastic remarks.

Lana and I had been together for six years, but she had never officially announced our relationship.

We never had matching profile pictures or posted anniversary messages on social media. Plus, Lana was always cold and harsh towards me at work. My colleagues were unaware of my relationship with Lana. They all assumed she disliked me and isolated me to curry favor with Lana.

As for my strong opinion of Zac, it was because he was the so-called design director.

Not only did he lack basic design logic, but he also abused his position as Lana's first love by interfering in other people's designs and arbitrarily altering clients' requirements, causing numerous problems.

However, Lana fiercely defended him.

As a result, everyone suspected they were secretly married.

Lana also thought I was going to give her a gift. She frowned and answered, "Cruz, instead of resorting to these petty schemes, you should learn from Zac."

"Don't think just because you're a senior employee with more experience, I wouldn't dare..."

Before Lana could finish speaking, I handed her the resignation letter and my employee ID card that I had prepared earlier. "Don't bother. I'm here to resign."

Lana looked astonished. "You want to resign?"

I was a bit surprised to see her reaction.

I had been thinking of resigning for three months, but there were still clients whose projects had not been completed, and I had my professional ethics to be responsible to the clients. When all the projects I was handling were completed last week, I sent my resignation application online, and she approved it. Now, she was acting as if she had no idea.

While thinking, I saw Zac looking smug and understood what had happened. Lana must have handed her phone to Zac.

The funny thing was that I did not even know her phone password, yet she could just hand her phone to Zac and even entrust the power of human resources' decisions to him without hesitation.

Before I could speak, Zac hypocritically said, "Ms. Piller, Cruz must have resigned because I took away his valuable competition spot. After all, if a senior like Cruz were to join, he would surely win more impressively than I have. Maybe I should give the trophy to Cruz. As long as the company gains a good reputation, I don't care who the champion is."

Lana's face immediately showed concern as she comforted him, "Zac, you're a national champion now. You're so outstanding. How can Cruz compare to you? If it were him, even making the finals is a problem."

As she spoke, Lana rolled her eyes at me. "Cruz, you were the one who gave up your spot in the competition. Now that Zac has won and is in the spotlight, you're jealous, aren't you?"

I could not help but smile bitterly.

Lana really knew how to lie through her teeth.

Three months ago, Zac insisted on entering the design competition to prove his abilities, pestering Lana to give him my spot.

Not wanting to argue or have another cold war, I agreed.

Afterward, she was worried that Zac's ranking would not be ideal and he would be discouraged, so she wanted me to give him the design drafts that I had worked on for six months. I disagreed, so she threatened to break up and move out.

Lana was not in good health, and I was worried she would not be able to take care of herself, so I could only compromise. Instead of being grateful, she even thought I was jealous.

I did not bother to explain further, so I simply said, "You're right. Zac is now the national champion. I'm just a small-time designer who's no match for him. Let Mr. Newton lead the company to new heights in the future."

Lana gave me a knowing look. "Cruz, enough with the sarcasm. Don't you just want to use your resignation to get a promotion and a raise? Fine, finish all the work Zac has piled up over the past three months, and I might consider giving you a 500 dollar raise."

I could not help but sneer.

500 dollars? How could she even bring herself to say that? I had been Lana's slave for six years, and my salary is only 5000 dollars. Meanwhile, new hires at the same time were getting base salaries of over 6000 dollars.

Besides, I was quite capable; getting a two- or three-fold increase in salary after switching jobs would not be a problem.

Looking back, it was not worth it. I spent six years working hard for this so-called "relationship."

Now she expects me to clean up Zac's mess. Dream on!

I was just about to refuse when a flash of resentment crossed Zac's eyes, but he still feigned concern, saying, "It's alright, Ms. Piller. I'll handle them myself. Let’s keep things separate. This is my job anyway. Cruz is already working so hard; We can't let him get any more tired."

Lana quickly halted Zac and scolded him firmly in front of everyone, saying, "What hard work did he actually do? Zac, we've both been tirelessly seeking inspiration for the competition. Unlike him, sitting around in the office all day, wasting time, and not contributing anything new! I believe he's just run out of ideas and envies your talent. If he wants to quit, then let him!"

Watching her angry and ashamed expression, I sneered.

After six years together, I knew Lana really well. The more she felt guilty, the more she would use her anger to shift the topic. Even when Zac tried to provoke her before, Lana would not openly lose her temper and put me down. However, this time, as soon as she got to the office, she showed so much hostility towards me. There was definitely another reason behind it.

Coming back to my senses, I looked at her pregnant belly and immediately understood the reason.

She thought she could keep it from me that she was pregnant, but she had no idea that Zac had already privately shown off his achievements to me. I just did not bother to expose them.

Seeing me stay silent with my head down, Lana thought she had me wrapped around her finger. She coughed lightly, pulled me into her office, and softly comforted me, "Cruz, don't be jealous. My firing you was just for show. The company and I will both be yours in the future. By the way, how's the wedding planning going? I have good news for you. Weren't your family worried about my fear of marriage and children? I've overcome them and can give you a chubby, healthy son anytime!"

Lana had always manipulated me like this. If I did not know it was Zac's child, I probably would have already held her out of delight.

However, I did not expose her. Instead, I took out a wedding invitation and calmly said, "The wedding date is still the same. It's almost all done."

Thinking I was kept in the dark, Lana breathed a sigh of relief and said happily, "That's good. Take good care of the wedding arrangements. After the baby is born, I'll hand over the company to you and be a housewife."

I did not respond but silently opened the wedding invitation, looked at the name on it, and sneered.

She had no idea that I already had someone else as the bride, although the wedding was proceeding as planned.

The bride's name on the invitation was not Lana Piller. It was Mabel Dawson, my childhood sweetheart.

Lana always thought I had no other choice but her, which was why she always acted so superior, thinking she had me completely under her thumb. However, little did she know that I had always had a fiancé, and she was a genuine, wealthy heiress.

The Dawson family and my family had been close friends for generations. Mabel and I were childhood sweethearts, and our families had arranged a marriage between us since we were little. However, she chose to study abroad for college, while I unexpectedly met Lana, and we got together.

For years, I kept putting off our marriage, believing Lana was the one for me, and this strained my relationship with my family. Now, it seemed I was blind and misplaced my affections.

After I told my family and the Dawson family everything, Mabel did not mind and readily agreed to marry me. I was moved by Mabel and vowed to make her happy.

"Lana, I have something important to tell you..."

Just as I was about to break up with Lana, a shout came from outside the door. "Mr. Newton! Mr. Newton, why did you faint?!"

Hearing that Zac had fainted, Lana immediately rushed outside, helped Zac up, and pulled a bottle of spray from her bag.