After the New Year holiday, work resumed—and my wife, Marlene Henson, blindsided everyone by bringing in a returned overseas student to restructure the company.

"Henson Group is on the verge of signing a partnership with the Delgado family of Grandview."

"Which means we need to purge the dead weight first!"

The man stood on the elevated stage, eyes locked on me with open contempt. "So the restructuring starts with you—you parasite!"

He then called out the eighty employees I'd personally recruited.

I turned to Marlene. "Someone's coming after your husband. You're not going to say anything?"

She was quiet for a moment. Then: "Let's go with what Miles suggests. He's doing this for the company. And he's a top-tier talent."

Three years of marriage. This was the first time she hadn't taken my side.

The room went still with shock.

But I laughed.

Of course. The words of a first love always carried more weight.

What she didn't know was that the Delgado family had only agreed to the partnership as a way to get closer to me.

——

Onstage.

Miles Sullivan—freshly returned from abroad—fixed me with a taunting smirk and spoke again. "I'm announcing that effective today, Jacob Gilbert is stripped of his position as Vice President. His new assignment: restroom janitor."

"As for the other eighty? Terminated. Every last one."

The room erupted.

"On what grounds are you firing us?"

"Exactly! Vice President Gilbert led us with everything he had. We never made a single mistake—we delivered outstanding results!"

Some pushed back.

Others watched with barely concealed amusement.

"Hmph. Being loyal to Jacob Gilbert is your crime!"

"I've been sick of him for a long time. Riding Ms. Henson's coattails, bossing the rest of us around."

"Sure, he got us bonuses. Sure, he gave us more time off. But at the end of the day, he's just the CEO's lapdog. Not exactly someone who belongs in the boardroom."

"Some community college kid—how's he supposed to compare to Consultant Sullivan, who studied overseas?"

More than a few of them owed their careers to me. Now they were turning like weathervanes in a storm.

"Enough! Everyone, quiet!"

Marlene slammed her palm on the table.

For a split second, I thought she was finally going to speak up for me. Then her tone shifted.

"Jacob."

"I know you've contributed to this company. I know you once traded yourself to kidnappers to save me. But the company is finding its footing now, and you've been falling behind the new pace. So..."

She knew all of that. And she was still doing this to me.

I cut her off. "So you're teaming up with an outsider to burn the bridge after crossing it? To toss aside the person who got you here?"

If not for me working around the clock, day and night, Henson Group would have gone bankrupt three years ago.

And whether the Delgado partnership went through at all? That hinged entirely on my say-so.

"Don't make it sound so ugly. This is all for the good of the company." Marlene's brow creased. "If we're committing to reform, we have to go all in. No exceptions."

"You and your people—you've taken up too many positions in this company."

Her explanation.

To my ears, it was hollow. Paper-thin. I couldn't help pressing one more time. "Is this really all for the company? Or is it because he was the moon you could never reach?"

Silence crashed over the room like a wave.

Even Marlene's eyes went wide.

No one had expected me to tear that secret open in front of everyone.

The truth was, it had been an open secret in the company for a long time—Miles Sullivan was Marlene's idealized love from college. Her untouchable first love.

To win him over, she'd written a hundred love letters. Confessed dozens of times.

Rejected. Every single one.

The day Miles flew overseas, Marlene stood in the rain and wept. She spiraled for months before she finally pulled herself together.

Everyone knew. No one dared bring it up.

"Jacob Gilbert!"

"You're truly despicable—trying to guilt-trip your way out of being fired!"

Miles Sullivan shattered the silence by pinning yet another accusation on me.

Right on cue, Marlene snapped out of her daze and turned on me, shouting:

"Jacob!"

"Stop making up excuses!"

"If you don't want to be here, then get out! As of today, you're fired!"

Look at her—lashing out from sheer humiliation.

I was silent for a few seconds.

"Fine."

"What?"

Marlene blinked, caught off guard.

"I hope you—all of you—don't live to regret this."

My gaze swept across every face in the room before settling on Marlene's. I unclipped my employee badge, tossed it on the floor, and walked out.

Eighty employees followed in lockstep.

Once we cleared the banquet hall, I told them to go home and wait for further word. Then I pulled out my phone and dialed a number.

"Miss Delgado."

"Put the Henson Group contract on hold. I have a better deal to discuss with you."

If this place didn't want me, plenty of others would. Wherever I took these eighty people, companies would be fighting to have us.

"Oh?" Doreen Delgado's voice drifted through the line, tinged with amusement. "What's this? Judging by your tone, are you looking to stray? Run into this big sister's arms?"

She'd come all the way from Grandview to find me. When she learned I was married, she'd been quietly hoping for a divorce ever since—using the contract as an excuse to stay close.

I was about to respond when footsteps sounded behind me.

"I'll send you the details."

I hung up. I'd assumed it was Marlene chasing after me, but it turned out to be Miles Sullivan.

"Jacob!"

"Now do you see how powerful a first love can be? No matter how much you sacrifice for Marlene, she's still wrapped around my finger."

Miles sauntered toward me, his smirk stretching so wide it practically touched his ears. The smugness rolled off him in waves.

"You might be forgetting something," I said, regarding him with flat indifference. "Marlene wasn't the only one who came begging me to come down from that mountain."

With that, I turned and walked away.

Three years ago, Henson Group had imploded—teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. Marlene's grandfather, Felix Henson, was on his deathbed.

He'd ordered every member of the Henson clan to take the family's ceremonial token and kneel for three days and three nights before the gates of Shadow Peak Academy, just to recruit me.

They called me a once-in-a-generation business prodigy.

On his deathbed, Felix entrusted me with his final wish: marry Marlene and pull Henson Group back from the brink.

I owed the old man a debt—a kindness from years past—so I agreed. Over three years together, I'd grown genuinely fond of Marlene.

She was gentle. When I worked late, she'd bring me a warm glass of milk. She'd knead the tension from my shoulders.

She'd lay out my clothes for me every morning.

A few times, when I'd pushed myself to collapse and ended up hospitalized with a high fever, she sat at my bedside through the night without leaving.

She was attentive to my feelings. If anyone disrespected me, she was the first to shut it down.

When I was upset, she'd speak to me softly until the storm passed.

She told me that once the company was stable, she wanted to have a child together—a happy little family of three.

Today was the first time she'd felt like a different person entirely.

I went home.

I stood in front of our wedding portrait, staring at it, unable to stop the question gnawing at me—had three years of tenderness all been an act?

Then something caught my eye.

The portrait looked like it had been shifted recently. I reached up and lifted it off the wall.

Behind it was another photograph.

Marlene and Miles.

It looked like it had been taken years ago. They were young, sitting beneath a canopy of cherry blossoms, their smiles sickeningly sweet.

In that moment, everything crystallized. No matter how much life had battered her, Marlene had never forgotten Miles Sullivan. Not for a single day.

Everything she'd done—the devoted wife, the perfect partner—had been a performance. All for the company.

Buzz. Buzz.

My phone vibrated. Marlene's name on the screen.

"Dad wants us to come for dinner."

In private, she used to call me "honey" without a second thought. Now it was just one clipped sentence—and the line went dead.

So they weren't even bothering to pretend anymore.

The only question was how Marlene's parents—and the rest of the Henson clan—would act when I got there.

I arrived at the Henson family villa to find every elder already assembled.

The way they looked at me was different.

"Sit down."

Spencer Henson waved a dismissive hand.

He used to greet me warmly, calling me his "wonderful son-in-law." Now his voice dripped with cold indifference and barely concealed arrogance.

Every detail told me this dinner was anything but ordinary.

I didn't say much. I took my seat at the table and had just picked up my chopsticks when Marlene walked in—with Miles Sullivan at her side.

"Uncle Henson, and greetings to all the elders." Miles flashed a brilliant smile.

Beside him, Marlene kept her head slightly bowed, stealing glances at me when she thought I wasn't looking.

She wanted to see my reaction.

Unlike the reception they'd given me, Spencer and the others all rose from their seats, falling over themselves to welcome him.

"Miles! It's been too long. More handsome than ever, and such presence! So much better than some backwater nobody."

"How can you even compare some stray mutt to a top-tier talent like Miles?"

"With you on board, Henson Group is sure to become world-class!"

One by one, the Henson relatives heaped on the flattery—each compliment a thinly veiled jab aimed squarely at me.

To my ears, they were nothing but a flock of chirping sparrows.

I didn't even bother looking up.

Spencer deliberately seated Miles and Marlene directly across from me.

They sat shoulder to shoulder.

This time, I did raise my head. "Marlene, we're still married. Sitting that close to another man doesn't seem appropriate, does it?"

For a split second, panic flickered in Marlene's eyes. She started to stand—but Miles caught her wrist.

She stayed put.

Spencer dropped all pretense and laid out his real purpose. "The Henson name is on the rise now. We're going international, and we need someone like Miles to help us get there. You have no power, no influence. You're simply not a match for my daughter."

"I'd like us to part on good terms."

"So—name your price."

My gaze swept across every face in the room.

I remembered a time when they needed something from me. Back then, they'd tucked their tails between their legs, practically licking the soles of my shoes.

Now the Hensons had barely tasted success, and they'd already turned on me without a shred of gratitude.

Worse than wolves. At least wolves had the decency not to pretend.

When I didn't respond right away, Miles couldn't sit still. He looked down his nose at me, sneering. "Jacob, don't push your luck. Take a good look in the mirror and see what you really are."

"You're nothing but a backwater nobody. It was the Henson family that gave you a platform—that let you shine at all."

"Without the Hensons, you'd still be a nobody in this city."

"So show some gratitude."

The others nodded along eagerly, as if they expected me to drop to my knees and kowtow.

I turned to Marlene, who had been silent this whole time. My voice was ice. "Is this what you meant when you said you'd be grateful to me for the rest of your life?"

"That 'rest of your life' didn't last very long."

Marlene bit her lip. "Jacob, you know how it is. Water flows downhill, and people reach for higher ground."

"Who wouldn't want to be with someone more accomplished?"

"If you want to blame anyone, blame yourself for not measuring up to Miles—or matching the status I have now."

I looked at her earnest face.

I shook my head and let out a quiet laugh. "You really have no idea what you're throwing away."

"Enough!"

Spencer's patience snapped. He slapped two documents onto the table.

One was a divorce agreement.

The other was a compensation offer: a small two-story house in the countryside and a thousand dollars a month in living expenses.

Three years of everything I had. I'd taken a crumbling, insignificant Henson Group and built it into a top-three company in the city.

And all I got in return were two sheets of paper.

What a joke.