Chapter 1

The conference room was packed with executives, yet deathly silent.

My longtime colleagues watched me with undisguised anger and pity. I froze upon entering and instinctively turned toward the head of the table, where Catherine Sanders was seated.

At that instant, my eyes widened in surprise.

"Cate, who is this?"

I frowned and pointed at the man sitting beside Catherine at the head of the table.

That seat was supposed to be mine.

Ten years ago, Catherine's father died suddenly, leaving her a company buried in debt and on the brink of collapse. Just to be closer to the woman I admired, I gave up a high-paying overseas job and joined her without hesitation.

Back then, the company was buried in debt. Employees fled one after another. I was her only remaining staff member.

I wasn't just her secretary or her driver. I handled the company's workload, her logistics, and even the basic details of her daily living.

It was no exaggeration to say that without me, there would be no Sanders Technology today, and there certainly would not be the glamorous Catherine everyone admired.

Now the company was about to go public. I had planned to propose to her on the day of the listing. Yet here she was, with another man by her side, sitting in the position that should have been mine.

What did this mean?

As soon as my words fell, more than a dozen pairs of eyes in the room turned toward Catherine. The atmosphere became unnaturally still and tense.

Catherine's expression was calm but distant. She deliberately avoided my gaze and introduced him lightly, as if it were nothing.

"William Hayes, this is Benedict Shaw, our new assistant director. After the meeting, take him to HR to complete his onboarding. As for offices, you will have to make do and give up yours to him. His office will be closer to mine, which will make communication easier."

I stood there, feeling as if the ground had vanished beneath my feet.

He was Catherine's new assistant director, and I was expected to give up my office for him.

I had stayed with her when everyone else had abandoned the company. On paper, I was just the marketing manager, but in truth, I had been doing an assistant director's work all along.

For ten years, I had given everything I had, bringing the company back from near bankruptcy to the brink of its IPO.

However, I had never once been formally appointed assistant director. That position had always been left vacant.

Right when it mattered most, someone was suddenly parachuted in, given the title, and I was told to hand over my office.

What did that make me?

Even if I took a step back and told myself I didn't care about the title, she knew exactly how much I loved her over these ten years.

It was that love that had built Sanders Technology into what it was today, and now she had done this without even a word to me.

What was I in her eyes? A rag to be used and discarded, or worse, someone who had never mattered at all?

Thinking of everything I had given over the past decade, I felt deeply unwilling to accept it, or perhaps I was still clinging to a trace of hope. I asked softly, "Can you give me a reason?"

I stared straight into Catherine's eyes. I could give up a position in the company, but I couldn't give up my place in her heart.

Whether out of guilt or weakness, she dared not meet my gaze. She sidestepped the truth and said, "The company is preparing to go public. We need a bigger strategy and broader opportunities. Benedict is simply more suitable as the assistant director."

In that instant, my heart plunged into an icy abyss.

It was a cold so deep, it felt like the world was closing in on me.