When I refused to take the bait, Marianne pushed in harder.

She carried the pine straight inside, set it deliberately out on the balcony, and started watering it with the ease of someone who already lived there.

"Ms. Lambert, this apartment belongs to Toby too, doesn't it?"

She didn't care whether I answered. "Toby told me that once you're gone I should move in here, so I can have his guidance whenever I need it. You won't mind, will you?"

I walked over to her, easy and unhurried, and slapped her across the face anyway.

"I really don't get it. You're a mistress who slept her way up, so where do you find the nerve to come here and pick a fight with me?"

Marianne held her cheek and looked at me, smiling, then kicked the pine over.

By the time I registered that something was off, Toby's roar came from behind me.

"Alison, what do you think you're doing?!"

He came striding in, shoved me roughly aside, and pulled Marianne into his arms.

"Marianne, are you hurt?"

His broad hand cradled her cheek. "Let me take you to the hospital!"

Marianne shook her head to stop him, turned to look at me, and choked out the words.

"Toby, I'm fine."

"Maybe there's some misunderstanding between you and Ms. Lambert? I only told her this was the pine you bought, that she should take good care of it... but she... but she..."

That pitiful, fragile picture of her sent the blood rushing to Toby's head.

"Alison, today I finally see you for what you are!"

"The problem's between you and me. Why are you taking it out on Marianne?"

Marianne was still clinging and pulling at Toby, pushing him away while drawing him in.

But the two of them kept drifting closer to me, until Toby's hand cracked across my face.

"You hit me?"

He'd hesitated in the instant before he did it. He landed it on my face all the same.

I thought back to the early days, when we were building the company, one cup of instant ramen split between us, a single hot dog torn in half.

Back then Toby had smiled and told me he would give me a happy future.

I believed his vows, and I waited until his success came.

But the person standing at his side would never again be me.

"So what if I hit you?"

He was uneasy at first, then steadied fast and turned it back on me. "You apologize to Marianne. Right now."

"And if I say no?"

I watched the scene in front of me with an aching heart. How familiar this past felt.

"Alison, I've given you more than enough face already."

His arrogance kept swelling, as if I were some class enemy.

"If you insist on throwing my goodwill back in my face, then don't blame me for not being gentle with you."

I was rather curious to see just how ungentle he intended to be.

"Toby, Ms. Lambert, please stop fighting. It's all my fault, all of it is my fault."

Marianne suddenly burst into loud sobbing, then ran off in tears.

Toby lifted a foot to chase after her, stopped, and turned back to point at me, biting off each word.

"Alison, you remember this. If anything happens to Marianne, I'll make sure you wish you were dead."

What big talk.

He seemed to have forgotten long ago, or maybe he'd never taken it to heart at all.

That he could get to where he was today, that he could build the company to what it had become...

That stood on every ounce of my energy and everything I'd poured in.

Fine, then. At the very least, before I left, I would take back what was mine.

I wouldn't leave him so much as a single cent.

The next night, I met with two of the company's partners.

Madge Floyd and Maxine Floyd, two sisters.

They were also the company's strategic partners.

Once we were in the private room, Maxine bounced over to my side.

"Allie, you're looking a little pale."

I gave a bitter smile and told them what had happened between me and Toby.

Madge stayed silent through the whole thing. Maxine, though, was furious, waving her little fist in the air.

“Toby is scum. If it weren't for you, he wouldn't have any of this.”

Then she turned to her sister. “Madge, we don't owe Toby anything. Since little Allie's out of the picture now, let's just cancel the partnership. What do you think?”

Madge said nothing. I signaled the server to bring the food.

A few glasses of red wine in, a faint flush rose on Madge's face, and she looked at me, serious now.

“The partnership doesn't matter. But I want to know—how do you plan to deal with Toby?”

“Business is a battlefield. Company partnerships can't be mixed up with personal feelings.”

Maxine got a little anxious, but Madge raised a hand to stop her. “But for you, I can make an exception this once.”

The two sisters were three years ahead of me in school. We'd been in the same computer club, so we'd always gotten along well enough.

One year, their family's company hit a crisis, and the sisters couldn't even afford to eat.

When I heard, I took out what little living money I had, and the three of us scraped through that whole year together.

“It was because of you that we brought Toby's company into our partnerships in the first place.”

Talking about it stirred something in Madge too. “So we can set all that aside. Tell me—what are your plans now?”

I said it plainly: I was going to take back everything I'd lost.

Maxine clapped in agreement, and Madge said she'd help me.

“Just canceling the partnership is the biggest help you could give me. Anything more wouldn't be right coming from you.”

Madge moved fast.

Three days later, a termination agreement landed on Toby's desk.

Marianne, cheeks flushed and voice all sweetness, brought me up.

“Mr. Gilbert, is there any chance this has something to do with Allie? I mean, the Floyd sisters……”

She was good at this kind of thing—say half of it, and leave the rest for Toby to decide.

Whether or not Toby pinned it on me, Marianne lost nothing either way.

“You're right. This has to be Alison's doing.”

I was in the middle of signing a property contract with a buyer when Toby called, seething.

“Alison, how can you be so shameless?”

I asked back, what was wrong?

Toby skipped the lead-up and went straight to Floyd Group.

“Our partnership with Floyd Group has always gone smoothly. If you hadn't been stirring things up behind the scenes, why would they terminate?”

I set the phone aside and finished signing with the buyer, smiling.

After the buyer left, Toby was still going on in my ear.

“You think staying quiet means I don't know you're the one causing trouble behind my back?”

“Do you have any idea—on this alone, I could take you to court. Do you know how much damage this is doing to the company?”

When he'd worn himself out and was breathing hard, I could still hear Marianne soothing him in that soft, gentle voice.

Once it had gone completely quiet, I asked him with a light laugh.

“What does any of this have to do with me?”