Chapter 1

"Jacob, why aren't you saying anything? What, are you upset that I'm calling you out?"

My wife, Stacy Levine, raised an eyebrow and coldly mocked me.

Her male assistant, Zack Lowe, looked smug. He covered his mouth with a fist and gave a small cough, pretending to sound wise and mature.

"Mr. Sawyer, Ms. Levine is only correcting you because she wants you to do better. You should be thanking her instead."

Everyone else quickly joined in, turning to me and urging me to respond.

"Mr. Sawyer, you're terrible at your job. You should be grateful Ms. Levine still keeps you around. Aren't you going to thank her?"

I kept my head down and said nothing like usual. I just felt a little tired.

Stacy had kept our marriage secret for five years so she could keep me isolated and control me. At work, she always found fault with me and treated me coldly.

The employees followed her lead. They bossed me around and looked down on me.

My friends and family slowly drifted away too.

For years, I had no one left to talk to. My whole life seemed to revolve around Stacy.

Just then, Stacy's sweet, playful voice suddenly rang in my head.

"I'd better give the vice president appointment letter now, or my darling Jake is going to cry!"

I looked up. Stacy's beautiful face still wore an icy expression, and her lips hadn't moved.

I gave a bitter smile.

After marrying Stacy, I accidentally discovered that I could hear her thoughts. This had happened countless times before.

At first, I thought Stacy was distant because she was too shy to express her feelings for me.

Now, I saw things clearly. It was nothing more than her obsessive need to have me all to herself.

For years, to control me, she kept a tight grip on my finances and slowly cut me off from everyone around me.

All of this was because she had been kidnapped as a child, and because neither of her parents had ever shown her much love. After seeing the worst in people from such a young age, she had always felt insecure.

That was why I always felt sorry for her and kept giving her chances. I thought that one day, she would finally open up to me.

Six months ago, she hired Zack as her assistant. When he started advising her, her insults toward me only got worse. That made my situation at the company increasingly difficult.

Even on the day the company went public, she still found a way to make my life miserable under the pretext of giving me a surprise.

I couldn't live with a suffocating love like this anymore.

I came back to myself, took a deep breath, and calmly shook my head.

"Ms. Levine is right. I haven't been of much use to this company. I'll hand in my resignation."

In an instant, Stacy tightened her fingers around the vice president appointment letter. Her knuckles turned white.

Her eyes widened as she stared at me in disbelief.

Everyone else froze too. After all, they had always seen me as someone who would never fight back. No matter how badly they treated me, I had always stayed placid.

Their expressions were full of mockery as they burst into laughter.

"Well, well. At least you know your own worth, Mr. Sawyer. Why don't you hurry up and get lost?"

However, Zack frowned and said pointedly, "Mr. Sawyer, don't be so impulsive. If you have a problem with the company, just say so. Ms. Levine is fair. She'll take care of it for you!"

He was basically implying that I had been holding a grudge against the company and was deliberately causing trouble.

Stacy finally came to her senses. Her frown deepened, and she snorted coldly.

"Jacob, have you even looked at your own performance? Where do you think you can go after leaving this company? Do you really think you're in a position to quit?"