Chapter 3

I was selling my shares early precisely so I could get enough cash in hand.

Lance looked extremely excited. He discussed quietly with Janelle for a moment before finally making a decision.

"Of course you can, but we'll only pay you half the normal share price."

Hearing this, even Dad furrowed his brow.

I walked over to Janelle. Then, I pulled her aside and whispered in her ear, "You know very well how many dirty and messy things have gone on inside North Hill Corporation over the years.

"If you don't want both of us to end up destroyed, don't haggle with me over the share price."

There was suspicion in Janelle's eyes. She was probably wondering if I'd also been reborn. But after looking me up and down, she couldn't find anything unusual about me.

Thus, she let out a cold snort and agreed to my terms.

"Take the money and get lost. Don't ever let me see you again. North Hill Corporation has been going nowhere under your watch for years. Once Lance joins the company, he'll surely make it an industry leader!"

No matter the circumstances, Janelle always harbored unrealistic confidence and trust in Lance. Yet, she never trusted me, her childhood friend.

She seemed to have forgotten that I, too, had been accepted into graduate school back then. However, I'd voluntarily given up that path as North Hill Corporation was on the verge of bankruptcy.

I felt as if a giant boulder was pressing down on my chest, the suffocating frustration nearly impossible to bear.

I stared straight into Janelle's eyes, trying to find a trace of the woman she used to be.

It was my relentless, day-and-night efforts that pulled North Hill Corporation back from the brink of bankruptcy.

I worked myself ragged around the clock, entertaining clients until I'd given myself multiple gastric hemorrhages, landed in the ICU, and was hospitalized more than once.

And yet, Janelle could dismiss everything I'd done with just a few careless words.

Finally, it dawned on me that it wasn't that she didn't know how to love someone. It was that she had never loved me.

We signed the contract on the spot. As I was leaving, Theo spat at me from the side.

"You're nothing but a loser, Wes!"

In my previous life, I spent years raising Theo. But it was all for nothing, as he would only ever call me "Wes". Looking at it now, it turned out it was genetics. He had that vile blood running through him.

I never imagined that the last time I'd come to North Hill Corporation would be with my divorce papers in hand.

Janelle and Lance were both out of the office. The two of them had left for a honeymoon abroad right after that day.

But even though they weren't actually in the company, I kept hearing both of their names on the employees' lips along the way.

"What's the deal with the new vice CEO? Why did he change our working hours the moment he arrived?"

"I don't know anything else, but he clearly doesn't understand a thing about business. All he does is crack down on us regular employees."

Along the way, all I could hear were employees complaining about these ridiculous new rules.

I placed the divorce papers on Janelle's desk. As I opened the door to leave, I saw Aaron Buck waiting for me at the entrance. He was my assistant and the person I trusted the most in this company.

In my previous life, he had vanished without a trace. It wasn't until the building contracted by the company collapsed that I discovered his body.

Back then, news broke that the company had been using substandard materials, and the story went viral after being reported by influencers.

I was pushed out as a scapegoat to take all the public criticism, left powerless to investigate Aaron's cause of death. But now…

"Mr. Dunham, take a look at this."

Aaron handed me his phone, showing me his chat history with Lance. After I left, he had been put in charge of handing over my business.

The chat screen was filled with work messages sent by Aaron, while Lance hadn't replied to a single one.

"He doesn't reply to my messages, but still posts normally on Instagram. Mr. Dunham, are you really okay with leaving the company in their hands? North Hill Corporation is your life's work, after all."