Chapter 3

The second the divorce papers hit the table, the whole room went dead silent.

Mr. Langford's expression darkened fast.

"Mr. Tyler, what exactly is this supposed to mean?"

Eric immediately grabbed the papers and forced out a smile.

"Mr. Langford, it's nothing. My wife's pregnant, so she's been emotional lately. I'll talk to her after we get home."

I yanked the papers right back.

"Nobody wants your little talk. Sign it. Right now. The second you do, I'm gone. I won't bother you again."

My voice didn't shake once.

By then, Mr. Langford already looked furious.

"Mr. Tyler, you can't even manage your own marriage, and you expect to discuss business with me?" He stood up coldly. "If this is how little respect you have for us, there's no reason to keep cooperating."

Then he walked out with his team without another glance back.

Eric and Ruby rushed after him, trying to stop him, but Mr. Langford never turned around.

Just like that, the multimillion-dollar contract was gone.

When Eric came back into the private room, his eyes were bloodshot. Ruby didn't look any better.

I held out the divorce papers again.

"No one's interrupting now. Sign them."

This time, neither of them said a word.

But Ivy, who had always been close to me, snapped first. "Sandra, you've seriously gone too far!" She shot to her feet. "Work is work. Personal drama is personal drama!

"Do you even realize you could destroy NovaCorp by pulling something like this?

"You used to know better. What happened to you?"

Ruby stepped forward and glared at me. "I spent a week taking Mr. Langford out to dinners and an entire month chasing this deal. Now it's gone. Happy now?

"Because of your jealousy and obsession with targeting me, the funding's gone too! I'm not like you, Sandra. My whole life doesn't revolve around a man. I have a family to support. One selfish stunt from you destroyed everything I worked for."

Then she grabbed her bag and stormed out dramatically.

Ivy gathered the documents and followed after her.

As she passed me, her voice turned ice-cold. "You're not my friend anymore."

And just like that, only Eric and I were left in the room.

Eric's face stayed grim as he silently cleaned up the mess.

Then he looked at me and frowned. "You already destroyed a multimillion-dollar contract. What else do you want?"

I stared at him, my expression still cold. "You know exactly what I want."

That finally made him snap.

He slammed the table over with a crash. "Divorce! Divorce! That's all you ever talk about!

"Have I ever done anything to betray you? For eight years, I handled the company and took care of you without complaining once. Why can't you try understanding me for once?"

By the end, his eyes were red. "Sandra... I'm exhausted."

Then he stumbled out of the room like he might fall apart.

Several servers had witnessed the entire fight.

They started whispering the second Eric left.

"Mr. Tyler's basically famous in Crestford for spoiling his wife."

"Seriously. Every birthday, he does those giant drone shows confessing his love. And he posts about her nonstop online. She could hand him a balloon and he'd act like it was the greatest moment of his life."

"Rich, handsome, obsessed with his wife... where do you even find a guy like that?"

"And she still isn't satisfied."

"Women like that always love drama. No man can deal with it forever. They're definitely getting divorced."

...

I stopped walking and turned toward them.

They immediately thought I was about to complain and rushed to apologize.

But I only smiled at the woman who said we'd end up divorced.

"I hope you're right."