Chapter 5

Dolly had spent five years with us, witnessing the happiest moments of our lives with us. Back then, Vanessa loved Dolly and treated her like a daughter.

She'd been devastated when Dolly died and suggested keeping Dolly's ashes in the house with us.

But now, she was calling Dolly's ashes trash. Perhaps the trash wasn't Dolly's ashes but me.

After bending down and painstakingly gathering the ashes, I said to Vanessa in a calm voice, "I won't be returning to the company, and neither will I delete what I posted on Instagram. You can forget about the one-billion-dollar project, too."

Vanessa didn't take me seriously. Sneering, she retorted, "Don't make me laugh. The contract's already signed! I doubt you can change anything."

Without speaking, I threw down my set of keys to the house and walked off.

…

The next day, I met Julia at a restaurant. She brought an industry giant with her, a businessman by the name of Graham White.

We'd only just taken our seats and exchanged a short round of pleasantries when Vanessa showed up at the table with Cameron by her side.

Seeing me with Julia, Cameron decided to cast the first tone by saying accusingly, "This explains why Shane resigned from the company without any fuss. He had something going on with someone else all along."

Vanessa's scowl deepened. She grabbed me and questioned, "Have you betrayed me all along?"

Picking up her cup of coffee, Julia spoke up before I could say anything.

"What betrayal? Shane has already resigned, hasn't he?"

"I'm referring to our relationship!" Vanessa snapped as she glared daggers at Julia.

Julia burst into laughter. "Oh. I thought you two broke up ages ago. After all, it seems to me that you're far more intimately involved with that other man beside you right now."

"Do you think everyone is as much of a slut as you are, Julia? Cam and I have a strictly professional relationship!" Vanessa immediately defended herself.

However, Julia simply let out a meaningful hum, remarking, "Oh. I didn't know there were strictly professional relationships that involved holding hands and going on holidays together. Guess I need to keep up with the times."

"Why, you—"

Infuriated, Vanessa was about to fly off the handle when Mr. White came out of the restroom and walked back toward the table.

The moment Vanessa saw him, she immediately had a fit. "I knew it! You teamed up with Julia to steal the company's projects! No wonder we've been failing to secure a deal with Mr. White after negotiating with him for so long!"

After saying that, she turned to Mr. White with a fawning smile. She introduced herself before attempting to besmirch Julia and me.

"They're two peas in a pod, Mr. White! They're both unscrupulous schemers with no conscience to speak of. If you work with them, sooner or later, they'll stab you in the back!

"Why don't you consider working with my company instead? This man here is an incredibly talented professional who studied abroad and came back with a master's degree…"

Vanessa wasn't done singing her own company's praises before Mr. White interrupted her in displeasure. "I haven't chosen to work with your company because Julia is my niece."

As soon as he said that, Vanessa was rooted to the spot. She hadn't fully wrapped her head around the situation before Mr. White continued, "Rest assured that I will never be working with your company in the future either.

"After all, my niece is an unscrupulous schemer, which means I'm not much better than her. I wouldn't want you to have to worry about me stabbing you in the back, too."

Vanessa didn't think she'd end up offending a business magnate of his standing. As she tried to stammer out an explanation, she got a call.

She wasn't going to take it, but once she noticed that the call was from the SEC, she immediately answered.

While she thought it was a call from the authorities informing her that her project had been approved, what she heard instead was, "Ms. Stewart, your company committed multiple violations during the bidding process. The contract is now void, and you will be facing penalties for breach of contract."