Chapter 3

I leaned back in my chair and looked at Wesley calmly.

"Geoffrey sits in that position because I allowed him to. Now that I'm no longer allowing it, that seat is yours. Managing people is easy, whereas true technical talent is rare.

"Terrell Group can run just fine without Geoffrey, but without you, it'll be nothing more than a pile of scrap metal by tomorrow. Sign this, and you'll be the one sitting in the main seat at tomorrow's bell-ringing ceremony.

"Why should those parasites who've been feeding off your blood get to live so well?"

Wesley was gripping the fountain pen so hard that his fingers turned slightly pale.

"Can I really do this? Mr. Terrell always says I only understand the technical side, that I'm not fit for the spotlight. I—"

"If I say you can, then you can," I interjected.

Wesley took a deep breath, and his gaze gradually grew resolute and sharp.

"Thank you, Ms. Bennett. I'll sign the agreement."

He was no fool.

After all these years at the company, he could of course see that it wasn't that good-for-nothing Geoffrey who was holding the place up. What he hadn't expected, though, was that the one truly behind it all was me, the woman who had all along been mocked as a gold-digger.

"Great." I gathered up the documents. "A stylist will pick you up tomorrow. Remember—as of tomorrow, you're the CEO of Terrell Group, so hold your head high."

At noon the next day, Geoffrey woke from his hangover, his head splitting with pain.

Out of habit, he shouted, "Water!"

But no one answered.

His hangover had his head pounding like a drum. He cracked open his eyes in irritation, only to find no hangover cure nor a suit laid out beside the bed.

His temper flared even hotter.

"Kayla, are you dead or something?"

Geoffrey stormed out of the bedroom barefoot, and it was only upon seeing the unfamiliar surroundings that he remembered he had stayed at a hotel last night with Valerie and Jennifer. In other words, he wasn't at home.

Thus, he immediately grabbed his phone to call me. After all, I was always at his beck and call. But the call went unanswered. He called again—still no answer.

"That useless woman! I must've gone too easy on her for her to treat me like this!" Geoffrey said, slamming his phone down onto the couch.

Just then, Valerie and Jennifer emerged from the room.

"What's wrong, Geoffrey? What's got you all worked up so early in the morning?"

"That useless woman has disappeared. She didn't prepare breakfast or arrange the car for us!" Geoffrey replied through gritted teeth.

Valerie let out a derisive laugh and sauntered over, wrapping her arms around him.

"She's just trying to get your attention by playing hard to get."

Jennifer sidled up to him as well.

"Exactly. Geoffrey, have you checked Instagram? I just saw someone post that they spotted someone who looked like Kayla buying a multi-million-dollar watch at the Patek Philippe boutique."

Geoffrey was taken aback. "She bought a watch?"

"Yeah, think about it—what could she possibly do without you? She obviously bought the watch as a peace offering for you. But after we riled her up last night, she's probably wrestling with her pride right now."

Geoffrey's expression immediately softened at this, and a smug smile even crept across his lips.

"Glad she's come to her senses," he said with a scoff. "What did I tell you? Without me, she can't even put food on the table. There's no way she'd actually have the guts to leave me."

He picked up his phone and typed, "Seeing as you've bought the watch to make amends, I'll let what happened last night slide. I'll give the watch to Mr. Carr later, so you'd better box it up nicely and get back here to drive us to the ceremony. Don't you dare make me late."

He pressed send, but the message to me showed only one gray tick.