Chapter 4

Back in my office, the company's vice president, Peter Henderson, pointed angrily at Nancy.

"Mr. Harris, we just lost a major deal because of her! You can't keep protecting her. This time, you have to punish her severely."

Nancy slapped him across the face without hesitation.

"Bradley hasn't even said anything yet. You're only the vice president. What makes you think you can talk to me like that?"

Peter was furious and then turned to me. "Mr. Harris, are you seriously going to let this slide?"

I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my temples. "Forget it. Nancy only brought the doctors and nurses because she was worried about me."

"Mr. Harris!" Peter was shaking with anger. "How do you expect anyone here to respect you if you keep letting her get away with this? I quit!"

He stormed out and slammed the door behind him.

The other executives looked just as unhappy. One by one, they followed him out.

Now that the deal was completely dead, Nancy could barely hide her smile. Austin was gone, so she didn't bother pretending anymore.

"Well, you clearly don't want to go back to the hospital and lie around, so I won't make you."

She turned and left with the doctors and nurses following behind her.

I watched her go, and the last trace of affection I had for her disappeared completely.

I turned to Joshua. "Cancel the house and money I planned to give Nancy. Tear up the transfer papers."

Joshua looked openly pleased to hear it. He agreed immediately and left the office in a much better mood.

I glanced at the two unsigned contracts from Apex Holdings on my desk, then fed them into the shredder without a second thought.

That evening, not long after I got home, a video message from Austin popped up on my phone.

In the video, he had one arm around Nancy as he stood proudly in front of the Apex Holdings logo.

"Bradley, see this? The deal's mine. You couldn't keep the partnership, and now you can't keep the woman you want either. At this point, why even bother?"

I watched the entire video without reacting, then deleted it.

Austin thought he had won.

What he didn't know was that everything had been part of my plan.

-

Nancy didn't come home that night, and I didn't care.

The next afternoon, I drove to her school for the graduation ceremony.

I brought a bouquet of white lisianthus, Claudia's favorite flowers. It felt like the right way to mark the end of the promise I had made to her.

The moment I walked into the auditorium, I spotted Nancy. She had dressed to make sure everyone noticed her.

She hadn't seen me yet. She held up her wrist and showed off a bracelet to a group of classmates.

"See this? It's a pigeon's blood ruby bracelet. Austin gave it to me for graduation. He said he just bought it at auction."

Her classmates immediately looked impressed.

"Nancy, you're so lucky! Mr. Harris already spoils you, and now Austin does, too."

Nancy looked completely pleased with herself.

I doubted Austin would spend that kind of money on her, and one closer look confirmed it. The bracelet was just cheap glass, the kind you could pick up at a street market for a few bucks.

I didn't bother exposing the lie. I just walked over and held out the flowers.

"Nancy, congratulations on graduating."

The second she saw that I had only brought flowers, she frowned.

"I'm graduating, and this cheap bouquet is all you got me?"

She swept the bouquet from my hand with a flick of her wrist. The flowers hit the ground and got crushed underfoot.

Nancy scoffed and turned away without another look at me.

After the ceremony, she called the whole class together to celebrate at the most expensive hotel in the city.