Chapter 3

The day Vanessa came in for her interview, her performance was terrible. Leon made no effort to hide his disdain, and I didn't pay much attention to her either since both her academic background and abilities fell short.

Yet somehow, she was hired as a special exception and joined the company as an intern.

I didn't truly become alarmed until I saw the matching ring that should have belonged only to Leon and me on Vanessa's finger. At first, when I confronted Leon about it, he was still willing to patiently explain himself and soothe me with sweet words. However, little by little, all he had left for me was irritation.

My constant refusal to let go and repeated compromises only made his favoritism toward Vanessa increasingly blatant.

The menus for company dinners were all arranged according to Vanessa's tastes. She only came to work for half a day each week, spending the rest of her time wandering around with Leon. Leon even dumped all the small tasks she should have handled as an intern onto me.

He brought her up in front of me more and more often, going from casually praising her to openly comparing me to her. He said I didn't know how to be romantic, nor was I good at sweet talk.

One time during the company tea break, Leon said the milk shake he ordered tasted good. Vanessa leaned over and said she wanted to try it, so he casually handed the cup to her without even changing the straw. She then took a big sip straight from the straw he had already used.

What made my chest tighten even more was how naturally he took the cup back and continued drinking from the same straw right afterward. At that moment, a wave of bitterness left me completely breathless.

From then on, Vanessa's overstepping became relentless. She joined Leon during his skincare routine and personally applied his moisturizer and aftershave for him. When he twisted his ankle, she ignored the fact that I was standing right there and practically carried him to the medical room.

Leon even canceled the birthday celebration he had promised me just because Vanessa caught a minor cold.

Every time I voiced my frustration, Leon would say impatiently, "Audrey, your mind is filthy, so everything looks dirty to you! She's just an intern. What could possibly be going on between us? Don't project your filthy thoughts onto other people."

As time went on, he sounded less and less confident whenever he said those words.

What hurt me the most was what happened at an important industry gala. The organizers had specifically asked attendees to bring their partners, but he hid it from me and brought Vanessa instead.

I only found out after several people asked me whether Leon and I had broken up.

When I went to confront him, he was angrier than I was. "What's wrong with taking her out so she can gain some experience? Don't interns need to learn too? Can you stop being so petty?"

That time, we gave each other the silent treatment for so long that I thought our relationship had truly reached its end. But one day, he suddenly sent me a message late at night. "Sweetheart, my stomach hurts so bad."

The instant I saw the message, all my feigned indifference crumbled.

Just like that, we fell back into the same awful cycle. Whenever I confronted him, he would get angry, and whenever I gave in, things would go back to normal.

I snapped the ring box shut and tossed it into the trash can. Tucked in the very back of the drawer was an apology letter he had given me when he was 18 years old. Back then, he had written it simply because he forgot to reply to one of my messages.

At that time, he truly cared about me. Now, Vanessa was all he had eyes for.

I took out the yellowed letter, tore it apart piece by piece, and tossed the scraps into the trash can. I completely cleared away everything from nearly 20 years with him. The room instantly felt much emptier, and my heart felt hollow along with it.

At that moment, the company group chat was flooded with photos of Vanessa celebrating Leon's birthday and making him laugh. The coworkers who knew him best competed to flatter him.

"Mr. Mercer and Vanessa are so adorable together!"

"If you're looking for a girlfriend, find someone like Vanessa. She's caring and knows exactly how to make people happy. You definitely shouldn't date someone like Ms. Callahan, who's cold all day long."

"She's only an intern, but she takes such good care of Mr. Mercer. That's what real effort looks like."

I didn't bother reading any further and called my lawyer. "Pull all of my investments out of Mercer Group."