Chapter 4

Ashton stood in the doorway. His shirt collar was unbuttoned, and his tie was crooked.

After scanning the room, his gaze landed right on the clipboard I'd slapped against Eve's chest.

"Sylvia, what are you doing? Eve is a new intern, while you're a senior employee. Act like one when you're training someone, and keep your personal feelings out of the workplace."

His voice wasn't loud, but every single word was a defense of Eve. And he said it in front of everyone outside the CEO's office.

The old me would have lowered my head with tear-filled eyes and mumbled, "I'm sorry. I'll be more careful next time."

But that day, I just nodded. "You're absolutely right, Mr. Clark. I clearly lack the ability to train an intern."

I pulled a document from my bag and smacked it onto the desk in front of him. "This is my transfer request. Please sign it. I'm moving back to the investment analysis department."

Ashton's expression shifted. As he looked down at the paper, his mouth twitched. "This is nonsense."

He pushed the document back toward me. "You've been with the CEO's Office for eight years. You know the operations better than anyone. Why would you transfer?"

"Mr. Clark, in my eight years here, the only real work I've done is write your analysis reports."

My voice wasn't loud, but it carried perfectly across the quiet office.

"I built the core risk-control model for last year's Evermont merger. The year before that, I set up the entire financial analysis framework for the Sterling investment.

"I even pulled an all-nighter to put together the final presentation slides you used on stage for the Axiom restructuring three years ago."

I looked Ashton straight in the eye and said, "Yet, every single one of those reports went out under your name."

Someone in the office gasped.

Ashton's face flushed a deep crimson.

Eve's hands were shaking so badly that she could barely hold the coffee cup.

"You…"

Gritting his teeth, Ashton forced the words out. "Sylvia, do you have any idea what you're saying?"

"I have proof for everything I just said," I replied. My tone was so calm that it surprised even me.

"I have the email logs, document edit histories, and IP login timestamps. Mr. Clark, if you don't want to sign my transfer, I don't mind sending those files to the board of directors."

The office went dead silent.

Ashton's hand trembled slightly around his pen, and he stared at me for a long time. It was as if he were looking at a total stranger.

In the end, he signed it.

I picked up the approved request and turned to walk out.

Just as I reached the door, a voice called out behind me. "Sylvia."

The three syllables carried a faint trace of panic Ashton probably didn't even realize was there.

My pace faltered for a fraction of a second. It wasn't out of hesitation but surprise.

This was the first time in eight years that this man had ever called after me when I turned to leave.

I smiled to myself and kept walking out the door.

…

My transfer back to the investment analysis department went smoother than I expected.

The director, Larry Wilder, personally introduced me to the team. By that afternoon, the multinational merger for Lansford Group was on my desk.

It felt incredible to be busy again.

With my brain packed with data and financial models, there was no room left for me to think about anything else.

When I returned to the apartment that night, Ashton was sitting on the living room couch watching TV.

He heard the door open, and his thumb paused on the remote.

I changed into my slippers, walked straight into the guest bedroom, and shut the door.

I didn't greet him, and he didn't call out to me either.

Just like that, we became nothing more than roommates.

Maybe I was just imagining things, but several times when I stepped out of the guest room to grab a glass of water, I caught a glimpse of Ashton quickly turning his head away out of the corner of my eye.

It was the same story at the office.

The investment analysis department was on the 12th floor, and the CEO's Office was on the 26th.

Logically, we shouldn't have run into each other at all.

Yet, I kept running into him—in the break room, the copy room, and even the elevator when I went down to the lobby to pick up a package.