Chapter 1

"Must you kick up such a big fuss over this?" Amelia Stone, my wife, snapped at me.

"All I did was ask you to take the fall for a young and inexperienced man. Are you seriously threatening me with divorce right now?

"As I said, the truth will speak for itself. Everyone knows whether you're truly innocent or not. You're a veteran in the business by now. Don't tell me you don't even have what it takes to endure a hit like this."

She threw the divorce agreement onto the floor in annoyance and started berating me, as if I'd committed some egregious mistake.

I was just about to speak when Amelia's phone started ringing. She took the call, and Marshall Locke's troubled voice came through the speaker.

"What should I do, Amy? I accidentally messed up the data for the joint project, and Mr. Handell is extremely upset. I'm not going to get blacklisted from the industry like Jeremy has, right?"

Amelia's expression softened at once. "It's fine, Marshall. Just do what you did the last time and explain that it was Jeremy who'd been handling the project the whole time. You only took over from him at the last minute."

"But Jeremy helped me out the last time, too," Marshall said worriedly. "What if Mr. Handell sues him as well? Jeremy would hate me!"

Amelia shot me a look of contempt before responding to Marshall, "He's your superior. It's his job to take the fall for you. Besides, he's got experience in such situations anyway, so don't worry about it."

I slammed my hand on the table in fury and confronted her.

"Amelia, you know better than anyone how much effort goes into a project from start to finish. Are you seriously going to sacrifice the company just to bolster Marshall's career? Have you lost your mind?"

Immediately, Marshall started apologizing over the phone, his voice turning visibly choked. It only made Amelia stare at me with even greater hostility.

"You act as if no one ever makes a mistake at work. Marshall is still young. How dare you cause a scene in front of me when you did a poor job of guiding him properly despite being his superior?" she snarled.

"You're accusing me of not guiding him properly?"

It was the biggest joke I'd ever heard.

I'd spent over a dozen years working my way up the corporate ladder. It was impossible to keep track of all the hardships I endured in the business world before I rose to the position of CEO.

Everyone used to call me the rising star of the business world who could work his magic with anyone. But thanks to a single business project, my reputation was destroyed for good.

Ever since Marshall joined the company, all of his mistakes became my fault.

When he messed up his reports, it was because I didn't review them carefully.

When he failed to meet his KPIs, it was because I hadn't guided him well enough and hadn't given him all my connections and resources.

As for the projects that took me countless sleepless nights and numerous arduous business meetings to close, they would somehow all end up credited to him.

Amelia wanted nothing more than to squeeze out every last bit of value in me to pave the way for Marshall.

"I've already taken the fall for him once. I even got sued in court because of it. Don't even think about throwing me under the bus again!" I declared.

Amelia simply eyed me frostily before calling her secretary.

"Switch out Marshall's name and list Jeremy as the person in charge of Marshall's project. Let Mr. Handell hold him accountable for the situation. He's already got a lawsuit against him anyway. There's no reason for the company to continue supporting him."

She completely ignored my protest and made the snap decision to pin all the blame on me.

It was this very act that shattered the last of my affection for her.