Chapter 3

From that day onward, I often slept at the office to keep the project on track.

Joel called from time to time to check on me, but he always managed to slip in a question about whether I could give Elodie a fair chance.

I thought he was simply sentimental about the past.

It wasn't until today that I realized every seemingly casual favor he did for her was another step toward putting her in my place.

Suddenly, I heard voices outside the door.

"Has Ms. Landry misunderstood something?" Elodie's voice was low. "I can explain the access issue to her personally."

"You haven't done anything wrong," Joel said, reassuring her. "She's just been under too much pressure lately. She's not targeting you."

"But that deal is with Ms. Landry's client," Elodie said. "If she finds out you're the one who took some of Mr. Grisham's requests and handed them to me, she'll be even angrier."

There was a brief silence outside.

I closed my laptop and opened the door.

"So you only landed your first deal because he took it from me?"

Joel turned to look at me, a flicker of unease crossing his face. He didn't deny it.

"The client had a small request that wasn't particularly difficult, so I let Elodie give it a try."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Clients belong to the company, not to individuals. I don't need to consult you about every routine decision involving order allocation."

He'd always been good at dodging the point.

"Then why did you have the entire company celebrate her achievement?" I asked, letting out a laugh. "You took a small order from an existing client and presented it as though she'd won the deal entirely on her own. Anyone who didn't know better would think she'd made Crestwell millions."

"The celebration wasn't about the profit," Joel argued. "It was about encouraging a new employee."

"Then why did you lock the records room today?"

"The original plan was for everyone to go out. Of course the room had to be locked."

Every one of his explanations sounded reasonable on its own. Put together, they were absurdly laughable.

"If this was all perfectly routine, why did you hide it from me?" I demanded, suppressing my anger.

Joel fell silent for a few seconds.

"Because you're prejudiced against Elodie," he finally said. "If I'd told you beforehand, you wouldn't have agreed."

For a moment, I didn't know what to say. He'd made the decision without consulting me, then used the fact that I would have objected to justify keeping it from me in the first place.

With logic like that, no matter how I responded, I'd always be the one in the wrong.

"This is my fault," Elodie suddenly said.

She took off her access card and pulled out her phone, submitting a request to revoke her own access right in front of us.

"If my presence is affecting your relationship, I can withdraw from the project. If necessary, I can even leave Crestwell."

"This isn't your fault." Joel frowned. "You don't have to bring up resigning every time something happens."

"But Ms. Landry clearly doesn't trust me."

Joel stepped forward, blocking my view of Elodie.

"Whether Elodie stays or leaves should depend on her performance, not on your personal feelings," he said. "You can't let your personal feelings about our marriage spill over into the workplace."

"Who was the one who brought his personal affairs into the workplace in the first place?"

His expression turned cold.

"If that's how you insist on seeing things, there's nothing I can do."

Those familiar words snuffed out whatever desire I had left to argue with him.

"I didn't help her for the reasons you think," Joel said, his tone softening as he noticed my silence.

"When I first took over the family business, I made a bad decision that nearly got me thrown off the board. Elodie took the blame for me. That was why she eventually went abroad."

It was the first time I'd heard him talk about what had happened back then.

"She had a much brighter future ahead of her. I owe her one."

I stared at him, unable to believe how absurd this whole thing was.