Chapter 2

Matthias’s expression darkened even further.

He took a sudden step forward, looking down at me condescendingly.

"Gianna, why you become so hypocritical and malicious?"

Rage and disbelief flickered in his dark eyes.

"It's obvious you targeted Serena out of petty jealousy. Everyone here can attest to that. How can you demand an apology from the victim? Apologize to Serena right now! If you compromise, I can consider not punishing you."

Seeing the Boss's decisive stance, those employees behind him erupted into a frenzy, hurling vicious insults like sharp blades:

"What a self-important woman! She uses her seniority to bully a genuinely talented newcomer, and she still has the nerve to demand an apology? How ridiculous!"

"Printing a pile of useless, jumbled waste paper to drain the company’s server resources and delay our department's work! Why does a thoroughly selfish hag deserve such a high title?"

"She used to act so noble, 'generously' giving up executive stock dividends and holiday benefits just to curry favor with the boss. Today, over a bottle of custom perfume, she finally couldn’t keep up the act anymore. Her true colors are exposed at last!"

Everyone believed that what Matthias possessed today was earned through his own merit.

They were dead wrong.

Years ago, for the sake of so-called love, I defied my father without hesitation to build this company alongside a penniless Matthias.

I concealed my true surname and threw my entire net worth into providing him with his startup capital.

Meanwhile, as an underground ruler of the European black market and a renowned top expert in information technology, I brought a steady stream of technical resources and network connections to join his company for free.

It wasn't until last year that Caro Tech finally gained a firm foothold. Eager to capture the market, he rapidly expanded the team, recruiting a large number of newcomers.

Deeply aware of how hard his journey had been, I gave up all public compensation, handing over every company benefit and all the glory to the newcomers, willingly acting as his invisible shield behind the scenes.

But I never expected Matthias chose to favor a intern girl.

The entire building was buzzing with rumors of his affair with Serena.

He granted her an uncapped expense account requiring zero receipts, even though she was just an intern in the finance department.

He even rewarded her with a limited-edition Maserati sports car during the year-end evaluation, despite the fact that after a whole year at the company, she still couldn't handle basic tasks like printing documents or brewing coffee.

When I raised questions, Matthias brushed it off with a simple, "It shows care for entry-level staff and builds team cohesion," and I finally chose to believe him.

Yet my painstaking endurance and support ultimately turned me into "the mistress clinging to the boss" in everyone else's eyes.

I raised my hand and pointed at the papers scattered on the floor.

Looking at the man before me who thought he was in total control, my voice was extremely calm:

"This is an information database I spent several all-nighters building! If it were submitted today according to my schedule, Caro Tech could rely on this agreement to lock in victory before the bidding committee closes! Now it's all ruined by Serena! Shouldn't she be the one getting cleared out?"

Hearing my accusation, Serena, standing weakly to the side, shifted her eyes slightly as fat tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Ms. Moretti, I just happened to receive a special gift from Mr. Caro—must you set up such a malicious trap to frame me?"

"No wonder you set a one-hour limit for me to print so many encrypted logs! It's because you couldn't make the core decryption module Mr. Caro requested and feared failing tomorrow's bid, so you deliberately used me as a scapegoat!"

"Are you going to ruin me like this just to get revenge on Mr. Caro for cold-shouldering you?"

The lackeys around her immediately found an opening to attack:

"No wonder! I heard Mr. Caro was already dissatisfied with the tech department for failing to break through the algorithm bottleneck for a whole year! This old hag is so sneaky, pulling a newcomer down to take the blame!"

"So the printed stuff was all unreadable hexadecimal gibberish! Giving an intern an impossible task was just to shift all responsibility for the failed bid onto Serena!"

"So treacherous! She definitely knew her talent had run dry!"

As the chatter around them escalated, Matthias's brow furrowed tighter and tighter.

All along, he had ignored me, although I was the true core pillar of his company.

While he placed immense importance on the opinions of lower-level staff. He believed securing a good reputation among them was key to maintaining company stability.

Matthias took a look at the pitifully weeping Serena, then turned his icy, razor-sharp gaze toward me.

His tone was filled with the arrogance and disappointment of a superior.

"When you volunteered to lead the technical architecture, why was there no substantial breakthrough for so long? Turns out all your energy was spent on framing colleagues! Maybe I need to re-evaluate whether you're fit to serve as CTO!"

His eyes were filled with intense paranoia, like a hunter ready to lock his prey that was slipping from his grasp back into the cage.

The others chimed in one after another.

"Mr. Caro is right! Being a housewife suits incompetent trash like you much better."

"An old woman like Gianna has only one option: go home and cater to her husband. An outstanding man like Mr. Caro isn't someone she should be coveting!"

Matthias heard every single word, but he made no move to stop them. Instead, a smile curled on his lips, as if in thorough agreement.

His gaze was a warning, as if expecting me to erupt like a shrew so he could pile on more accusations.

But he would be disappointed.

I said nothing, only reaching out to unclip the identification card on my chest, which symbolized "Chief Technology Officer of Caro Tech," tossing it at Matthias's feet without hesitation.

Then, I turned toward my desk and packed up my personal belongings.

"No need to threaten me. As of right now, I quit."

Under everyone's watchful eyes, I calmly printed out a document, signed my name, and slammed it hard against Matthias's chest.

"Sign it. I'll have my lawyer send you the mailing address later."

Looking at the stark, bold letters at the top of the document—“Divorce Decree”, Matthias was instantly struck like lightning.

Startled, he instinctively reached out and forcefully grabbed me as I tried to leave.