Chapter 3 I Changed My Mind

I nearly laughed out of anger. "So I'm supposed to thank you for giving my paper—and all the work I put into it—to your husband?"

Jane frowned. "Have you not gotten over my marriage with Lucas? You never used to care about things like this. Do we really need to draw such a hard line between us?"

"I didn't care before because I thought you and I were going to be in this together. But now, you're married to someone else. How dare you take the work I poured my heart and soul into and give it to your husband?"

Instead of getting angry, Jane merely smiled. "I knew it. You are just jealous. Relax, I'll definitely divorce Lucas and be with you. Stop being so petty, okay?"

I took a moment to steady myself before replying coldly, "I don't care whether you divorce him or not. I just want to be the first author."

The smile disappeared from Jane's face as she rubbed her temples.

"There really is nothing I can do this time. The submission deadline is tomorrow, and the system won't let us make any changes now. How about this? I promise you'll be the first author next time. I'll even help you apply for your own research project."

She continued, "Stop giving me a hard time about this. There has been so much going on lately, and I'm exhausted."

I did not say anything else and turned to leave the office. It was not because I believed her empty promises, though. There was simply no point in arguing anymore.

…

When I got back to my desk, I opened my personal email.

An offer was waiting quietly in my inbox.

The sender was Joanna Ince, head of another leading bioinformatics lab—and Jane's sworn rival.

She had tried to recruit me three times before through various channels. She offered double the compensation, the chance to lead my own team, and full control over the systems I developed.

Every single time, I turned her down without hesitation because of Jane.

In her last email, she said that if I ever changed my mind, I could contact her at any time.

'This is it, I guess.'

To be honest, I had a lot of responsibility for what had happened today.

If I had not been foolish enough to willingly become Jane's ride-or-die all these years, I would not have given everyone the impression that I was nothing more than Jane's lackey, always trying to curry favor with her.

I sent an email to Joanna, asking whether the terms she had offered before were still on the table.

A moment later, a new email appeared.

Joanna had replied almost instantly. "Everything is still exactly as we discussed. You are always welcome to join us, Mr. Rivers!"

After reading her reply, I breathed a sigh of relief.

I wondered whether Jane and the others would still be able to carry out the research they were so proud of without my system.

…

After all these years together, I still wanted us to part on good terms. I decided to tell Jane in person that I was resigning.

However, I did not get the chance until everyone else had left for the night.

As soon as I walked into Jane's office, I saw Lucas sitting intimately beside her, looking over a document. Half his body was practically pressed against hers.

Hearing the noise, he looked up first and smiled at me.

"It's you, Seth. Do you need something from Jane this late? From now on, just email me if you need anything. I'll pass it along to Jane. She's married now, after all. It's not really appropriate for you to meet her alone, don't you think?"

I could not be bothered to look at him. Instead, I gave Jane a faint, mocking smile. "A fake marriage, eh?"

Jane practically shot out of her chair. She hurried over, grabbed my arm, and dragged me out of the office.

Once we were outside, she spoke hurriedly, visibly flustered.

"Let me explain. I just found out that Lucas had a bad breakup while he was abroad. He genuinely sees me as his wife now. If I tell him that our marriage is only for show, I'm afraid it would be too much of a shock for him."