Chapter 6

Then Keaton slammed the door and left.

I watched the door swing back and forth and let out a bitter laugh.

So taking Evie to see the Northern Lights had been the plan all along.

Why else would he give me such an expensive ring?

Not long after, Evie sent me a post.

A photo of her and Keaton boarding the plane together.

My fists clenched until my fingers went white.

Fine.

There was no point holding on to a marriage that had already meant nothing for a long time.

***

A week later, I walked into Orion Corp to the sound of laughter.

I looked up.

Keaton and Evie.

Our eyes met.

Keaton strolled over, a smug smile on his face.

"Tessa, turns out Evie handled the project just fine without you. Did you really think this company couldn't survive without you? If anything, you're the one who can't survive without Orion. That's why you kept trying to make yourself look indispensable."

Evie slipped in beside him, smiling like she'd already won.

"Mr. Smyth, why argue with her? She's just hiding behind seniority. Honestly, most of the new hires are better than she is. They just never got the chance to prove themselves... just like me."

She made sure everyone could hear.

The coworkers who'd been talking about the celebration party all turned to look.

Whispers spread fast.

Someone even sneered right at me.

"Looks like Evie's not below Tessa at all. Tessa was probably scared Evie would outshine her, so she refused to hand over the project."

Laughter rippled through the room.

Keaton didn't stop them.

He just let everyone mock me.

Then he spoke.

"All right, organize the project files. Nova Corp will be here any minute."

Right then, Nova Corp's team walked in.

Keaton froze for half a second, then hurried forward.

"Mr. Linden, you're early. Come in. We just finished the final data set. Once the files are organized, everything will be ready for handoff."

Mr. Linden nodded. "No rush. Take your time."

Keaton smiled and introduced Evie. "Evie is the reason this project got finished. Without her, we never would've moved this fast."

Then he shot me a look full of disgust.

"Unlike Tessa. She sat on this project for half a month and got nowhere. Complete waste of time. Luckily, Evie took over and sped everything up. She's one of the most talented people in this company."

Just then, the assistant team lead handed Mr. Linden the project files and the flash drive.

Mr. Linden nodded and gave the paperwork a quick look.

Satisfied, he handed the flash drive to his secretary.

She plugged it into her laptop to verify the data.

Keaton, Evie, and the rest watched with confident smiles.

They were sure the project was flawless.

Then the data started loading.

A second later—

Smoke poured out of the laptop.

The screen went black.

Silence slammed across the room.

Someone tried to joke that Nova Corp must've brought a broken laptop.

One look from Keaton shut them up.

A second later, the laptop powered back on.

Everyone held their breath.

The Nova Corp logo slowly appeared on the screen.

Keaton and the others had just started to relax—

Smoke poured out again.

Then—

Boom.

The laptop exploded right in front of everyone.

The room erupted in screams.