Chapter 3

The comments section was already hundreds of replies deep, with various opinions voiced.

[I told you that Jasper is no ordinary person! He took down Mr. Surrey, who worked hard for years, in just one year of his arrival. Who would believe that he has no one behind him?]

[Don't be bitter. Jasper is genuinely good at what he does, and I heard that he has a particularly tragic background. A strong, chivalrous woman like Ms. Lawrence is bound to fall for that kind of thing.]

[Is it just me who feels sorry for Mr. Surrey? He worked all the way up from the bottom and helped Ms. Lawrence build this empire. And then what happened to him? Hah, women!]

[Spare me the pity! Word is, my friend in the company's finance department says Mason already got a massive payout from Ms. Lawrence. There were so many zeros I could barely count them! Is he being cast aside? He's getting paid a fortune to step aside. That's a win-win!]

[So Jasper is the true love, while Mason is just a partner in a mutually beneficial arrangement? This rich family drama just keeps getting more and more exciting!]

I scrolled expressionlessly and recalled the year I graduated from university. Willow and I had crammed into a tiny rented apartment of barely a hundred square feet, dreaming of changing the world as we built a small design studio from the ground up.

We stayed up all night writing proposals together, leaning on each other for a nap when we were tired. We shared the last of the meal we bought from a bodega, dreaming of buying the city's brightest office building. After a project's success, we would excitedly embrace on the street at night.

Later, her family business faced a crisis, so she had to step back in and take it over.

I went with her and helped her build the company.

Under her leadership, Starmax Group was revived and grew stronger day by day.

She wanted me to join the core management team as her deputy, but I refused.

To prove I was not anyone's trophy husband, nor someone out of my league, I insisted on starting as an ordinary employee in Starmax Group's most demanding and arduous marketing department.

I dealt with the most difficult clients, prepared the most tedious reports, and won the most impossible projects. I practically lived at the office, climbing step by step to my current position with impressive performance reports.

She repeatedly offered me shares or a less demanding position in the strategy department.

Each time, I firmly refused. I foolishly told her that I wanted our relationship to be purely that of lovers and comrades, not boss and subordinate. I wanted all my achievements to be branded solely with my name and not the heavy and vain label of ‘Ms. Lawrence's husband’.

Those years of shared struggle and the principles I was so proud of were the foundation of my unwavering belief in the strength of our relationship.

Now, she easily negated all my efforts and perseverance for another man and her laughable pity.

I scooped up a spoonful of dessert and put it in my mouth.

The intense sweetness melted on my tongue. Expensive desserts were indeed delicious. Money really did buy you happiness.

I calmly closed the webpage and turned off the screen.

The voting incident was not the beginning of the rift between us—it was merely the final straw.

The true betrayal had already been quietly unfolding in the shadows.

A year ago, Jasper joined the company as a top-level ‘high-potential management trainee’. He was indeed brilliant—a prestigious university graduate with an impressive resume and quick to adapt to his work.

What was even more striking was his seemingly at-odds demeanor: a fragile vulnerability that seemed to have weathered many storms yet remained aloof and stubborn.

Soon, rumors about his background spread within the company. His parents died early, and he was raised by a grandmother who collected scraps. He owed his success to his indomitable spirit.