In the past, even a random holiday card from her was enough for me to be happy for days.

Now, for the first time, that trick no longer worked.

Joanna froze briefly before her face flushed red with anger.

"Aren't you getting a little full of yourself, Ethan? You've done nothing but give me attitude since you've come back! Are you really so hung up over what I did?

"Fine, tell your parents to come to the city, and I'll give you gifts too so you can live out your little vain fantasies! Is that good enough for you?

"I thought that you were the only person I didn't have to force an act around, but now even you're pushing me. I'm disappointed in you!"

I was just about to fire back when Zion suddenly pushed open the office door.

"Alright, stop making mountains out of molehills. The relationship between Joanna and I goes beyond romance. It's not what you think!"

Then, he grabbed my hand.

"From now on, we're brothers!"

His act made my skin crawl, and I shook him off immediately.

The next second, his entire body tilted backwards dramatically, crashing towards the unclosed door and falling to the ground, right in front of the colleagues outside.

Naturally, everyone was shocked.

Joanna instantly panicked. Completely disregarding her image, she dropped to her knees beside him and helped him up while glaring at me with reddened eyes.

"Ethan, this isn’t over!"

One time, when I’d drank so much at work, so much that my stomach bled, she was the only one by my side. Yet, even while I was in enough pain to send me into shock, she forced me to unlock my phone and pay to call an ambulance myself, saying that she wanted to "avoid suspicion".

It didn't seem like she cared about that all now, though.

The moment Zion heard Joanna talking about going to the hospital, he immediately panicked at the thought of ruining his chance to impress the chairman, stumbling to his feet immediately.

"I'm alright, Joanna. I can change whatever Ethan dislikes about me. I'll avoid stealing his thunder in the future, too. I’m even willing to give up the vice president position and spend the rest of my life as your little assistant!"

I couldn't help but mock him.

"Since when was the vice president position even close to yours? At this point, I might as well say I'm giving up becoming a billionaire or something."

Several colleagues had already developed a strong dislike for Zion, hating how he threw work onto others while acting like he called the shots due to Joanna's treatment of him. They couldn't help but laugh out loud.

But Joanna shot me a furious glare.

"How dare you form cliques inside the company, Ethan? You lot, don't you dare laugh! CEO's orders! As for you, Ethan, I won't forgive you for causing this serious workplace incident. From today on, you're no longer the vice president!"

At that moment, I actually saw caution and hostility in her eyes.

So, she saw me as the enemy?

The employees were stunned and quickly tried persuading Joanna to calm down. Everyone who genuinely worked at the company knew perfectly well who the real backbone of the business was.

However, Joanna was hell-bent on using this opportunity to crush me.

"If any of you keep defending Ethan, then you can suffer alongside him and get demoted too! I’m cleaning up this toxic workplace culture before the chairman arrives and sees this embarrassment!"

"Do you even have the authority to do that?" I refuted calmly.

The HR manager hurriedly spoke up, "You don't have enough authority to do that, Ms. Vale. Any appointment or removal involving Mr. Yates requires the chairman's approval."

Speak of the devil, that was the moment the chairman, Mr. Hart, walked into the company with a dark expression.

"What's all this nonsense about?!"

Joanna immediately rushed forward and spoke first.

"Mr. Hart! Ethan's harassing his subordinates, and keeping him around is a liability. He doesn't deserve his position, and he should be demoted!"

Zion also put on a pitiful face. "He didn't mean it, sir. It's just enough to dock a few months of his salary!"

The two of them looked at me smugly, as if saying: You're finished!

Instead, the chairman directly slapped a transfer document right into Joanna's face.

"How do you have the nerve to speak? You drove away a major client and ruined our company's investments this quarter! You're the one who doesn't deserve your position!"