登入Carina Lewis, the head of the department, has been a friend of mine since college. While she successfully climbs up the corporate ladder, I'm stuck being the workhorse at the bottom of the totem pole. When she's late for work, I sign in for her. When she messes up, I clean up for her. I'm happy to play along with her, of course. It's not easy to find someone dumb enough to be the scapegoat. One day, a billionaire investor shows up at the company's doorstep, and the senior executives instruct me to take care of him during his visit. This evening, when the rest of the office is empty, Carina takes my hand and tells me earnestly, "Bailey, investors like him are ruthless. You won't even know what's coming for you. An innocent woman like you won't be able to handle him. Let me, your best friend, test the waters with him first. Once everything is settled, I'll make you a manager." I nod sweetly in response. Hours later, I scurry over to the presidential suite at the hotel, where the billionaire investor is staying, and kick down the door. "Open up, Dal!" It's one thing for Carina to constantly take advantage of me, but how dare she dream of becoming my sister-in-law to steal half of my family's assets? That deluded pipe dream of hers will even make the marble statues in my family's garden roll their eyes.
查看更多Elena's POV
“You know what they call women like you? Barren! Worthless and a waste of wife.” He finally dropped the bomb that had refused to offload since he set foot in the house. The words that hit me harder than a slap would have. “Elena,” he said, not looking at me. “I can’t keep doing this. I’m tired.” I stood at the edge of the living room, my arms wrapped around myself, trying to hold the tremor in my chest. “It's been five years,” he continued, finally turning his golden brown eyes at me with disgust. “Five years of nothing and all you continue to do is to tell me how to partake in some stupid IVF cycle that doesn't even work!” My hands shook as I tried to steady my breath. “Marcus…I told you it wasn't my fault. I have seen a specialist, I've..” “Oh, I know,” he spat, cutting me off. “I know you've seen doctors, shed tears and prayed to whatever God you believe in. But none of that changes the fact that I am a man! A fucking man who needs an heir, Elena. My family needs one. And all you've given me is embarrassment.” Tears clouded my face. “But…but I… He stepped closer, towering over me with his expensive Woody cologne suffocating me. “You helped my sister,” he sneered. “Is that not your fucking excuse? All the damn time. You gave her your egg like some charity project. You were willing to do that for her but you can't even give me a child?” My eyes turned. “Your sister was dying, Marcus. You said that yourself . You begged me. You begged me to do this for you…” He scoffed, nudging my words off and picking the one significant to him. “She needed an egg donor, Elena. Not you playing saviour. You could have said no. Go against my wish but no, you didn't. And now look what your kindness has cost us. We're the laughing stock of every dinner party, every board meeting with the name tag — Marcus and his barren wife.” He was blaming me now? If someone would have told me, a day like this would come and Marcus would turn his back against me and act as though he had no hand in his sister's help or he didn't know about the doctor's warning. Maybe, just maybe I wouldn't have done anything. Maybe we would still be lovers that can't do without each other. But look now? Marcus Ashford, the husband of my youth, had changed into something I don't even know. Marcus even hardly comes home anymore. Whenever there is a dinner at his family's place, he just puts through a call and asks me to get dressed. Whenever he comes back home, he doesn't sleep in our matrimonial bedroom anymore. My breath caught when he walked back to his desk, opened the drawer, and nonchallantly tossed a set of papers across the counter. They slid to a stop at my feet and just looking at the cover of the file. Divorce papers My world stopped and I started to see blurry things. “I've already spoken to my lawyer,” he said with a dead calm that made me shake. “I'll have my assistant finalize everything. We're done, Elena. Done with all this bullshit.” Right that instant, something inside me snapped in a heartbreaking way and the tears I had tried to restrain, fell out of control. I bent down slowly, my fingers brushing the cold papers. My name was boldly written on it. “Marcus…” My voice cracked. “Please. We can try again. I’m doing treatments. I ..” “I don’t want to try.” He said, jerking off my hands away from his shoulder, causing me to flinch. I watched as he leaned against the desk, his arms crossed and his face blank then I used the opportunity to bring out the pregnancy strip test I had just done before he came in. However, as Marcus took it, he checked with disgust and threw it right back at my face, sending jolts into my soul. “What do you take me for, Elena? After trying lots of IVF, you sent me a pregnancy test with one line?” I shook my head in disagreement, trying to make him understand that this one might be a miracle, but he cut me off. “No long talks, Elena. I've met someone else,” he said. My heart dropped a heartbeat. “Yes…she's refreshing,” he added, almost smiling. “You know her, actually. My secretary.” I don't know how it happened, but hot tears blurred my vision. I didn't want to cry. God, not here. Not like this. What was my offense? Giving out my eggs stupidly to help his sister which completely ruined me and my chances of getting pregnant. “I don't understand? You..you've been cheating on me?” “Don't make this dramatic,” he said with a sigh. “This marriage has been dead for years. We just didn't want to admit it, or you just chose not to get my signs. He stepped closer, and my body froze out of habit, years of swallowing tears and bending myself into shapes to make him stay. “Elena,” he said softly, “you will be okay. You're strong. You'll find someone who doesn't care about children. Someone who accepts a woman like you.” A woman like you— as if I was defective, as if I was returning to the store shelf for sale again. “I…Marcus, we can still…” “No! Don't you get it, Lena? I'm done! Nothing can make me stay. Not even a baby from you anymore. You drained me. I'm the mayor and it is expected of me to have a son.” I drained him? His words made my soul burn with hurt. The way he had begged me that night to save his sister kept revebrating in my brain. “Don’t waste more time, Elena. Be fast about this.” He handed me the papers like he was in a hurry and my fingers tightened around the papers. Fine. If he wanted me gone, I would walk away with whatever dignity I had left. “Where do I sign?” I asked, my voice almost firm. I watched as he blinked, surprised by how quickly I stopped begging. He cleared his throat, handing me a pen. “Elena Martinez.” When I pushed the papers back toward him, something inside of me went numb. “This is for the best,” Marcus said, already dismissing me and reaching for his phone. “My lawyer will contact you for your settlement. You should pack before the rain gets worse. I do not want excuses or having to bear some kind of loss.” And just like that, I was no longer his wife. I was no longer the girl he loved five years ago. I was no longer the apple of his eyes. He left the room, leaving behind a loud thud and the flashing of my pregnancy test. I squinted my eyes to notice the little changes that had now covered it. “Two freaking lines!”Carina screamed and raged at the unfairness of the fate she'd been given. I walked up to her and looked down at the person I once considered my best friend."You're blaming the world for being too unfair? When you couldn't afford your college tuition, I used my allowance to cover it for you. When you couldn't find a job after graduation, I begged Dalton to get you into Lumina Corporation."All I did was set up a few traps to lure out the leeches in the company. Who knew you'd walk right into them and cross the line with me?"Although I didn't raise my voice, my words cut deep."I gave you countless chances. You're the one who drove yourself into a dead end. You don't just want a better life for yourself. What you really want is to be better than everyone else by trampling all over them, ruining them to bolster yourself."Carina stared at me in a daze, her lips trembling. She couldn't say a single word.I heard the sound of police cars and fire trucks arriving.Several police off
Carina's predicament was simply an act of divine justice.Just then, my phone rang with a call from an unknown number. When I answered it, Carina's hoarse voice came through the line."Are you satisfied now, Bailey? I lost everything. My entire life has been ruined! You won. You get to be the high-and-mighty heiress, watching me get trampled into the ground like some pathetic rat. I bet you're thrilled to see this, huh?"As she screamed hysterically into the phone, I heard police sirens in the background. I figured the debt collectors must've drawn the attention of the police, who'd taken her back to the station yet again.I calmly replied, "I didn't ruin your life, Carina. You did. If you'd treated everyone fairly and hadn't been greedy for things that weren't yours, you'd still be a department head at Lumina Corporation right now. You did this to yourself."There was a brief silence on the other end, but Carina soon snorted."Hah! Stop acting like a saint in front of me, Bailey
"I made sure they gave you the right amount of ice, too. I went downstairs to get it just for you," Jessica added.Her hands trembled as she held the coffee out, too scared to lift her head. The others behind her quickly chimed in."Ms. Scott, it was that bitch Carina who forced us to pick on you before.""That's right. Truth be told, we've always admired you for being extremely capable!""Please give us another chance. From now on, we'll be your most loyal employees."I didn't take the coffee. Instead, I walked over to the couch and sat down."You're saying you had no choice, huh?" I remarked before scoffing. "Yesterday, when Carina told me to redo the document, one of you said I was just coasting in the company."When she told me to get her coffee, one of you also kicked a trash can to my feet and told me to take the trash out while I was at it."Jessica's face went pale, the coffee cup shaking in her hands. "Ms. Scott, I… I just lost my head for a moment and—""Enough. Drop
The next day, on the top floor of Lumina Tower, I sat in the large executive chair, spinning a fountain pen between my fingers.There was a knock at the door. Lionel Chase, the head of security, rushed in, drenched in sweat."Ms. Scott, Ms. Lewis is causing a scene down in the lobby. She demands to see you and says nothing's going to stop her."I raised a brow. Shouldn't she be in police custody right now?I figured Felix Turner, her fiance who worked as a lawyer, must've spent a fortune to bail her out."Let her come up."Five minutes later, two security guards escorted Carina into the office. She looked nothing like her former sophisticated self. Her eyes were sunken, and her hair disheveled.The moment she saw me, she broke free from the guards and dropped to her knees in front of my desk."Bailey, please withdraw the charges. I'm begging you! Felix broke off the engagement after he found out I'd offended Scott Group. He only helped me this one last time so that I could meet
The arrogant smile on Carina's face stiffened before morphing into a look of pure disbelief.The USB drive slipped out of John's hands, clattering onto the floor.Grasping Dalton's hand, I used his support to get back on my feet before brushing off my knees.Looking at the stunned Carina and John
Dalton walked in, dressed in a perfectly tailored black suit and flanked by a team of bodyguards. His arrival drew everyone's attention.Carina's eyes lit up. She swiftly put on a pitiful expression and hurried forward to greet him."You're finally here, Mr. Scott. I'm so sorry about this. There's
Out of nowhere, Carina broke into a smile. She got out of her chair and walked over to me, taking my hand in a show of familiar intimacy."See? I knew you had potential! But the higher-ups might not even bother reading the proposal if it came from you. Here's what I think we should do. Let's put my
"Get lost," Dalton commanded without wasting any more of his words.Carina's face went ghostly pale, her eyes reddening instantly. "How can you humiliate me like this, Mr. Scott? I'm just trying to do what's best for the company and—"Dalton slammed the door shut in her face, causing her nose to a


















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