Chapter 4

Back when the board had questioned Joel's leadership, I had stood by him, helping him reconnect with clients, make up for the losses, and survive the most difficult six months of his career.

We had even mortgaged our marital home and given up our honeymoon to build the company we had today.

Elodie had taken the blame for him once, and he had remembered it for years. Yet everything I had done to hold Crestwell together seemed to have become his due simply because I had eventually married him and become his wife.

"Let's not talk about that anymore," Elodie interrupted softly. "Ms. Landry doesn't like it when you use the past as an excuse. Just like your last wedding anniversary. You only went to the airport to pick me up, and she held it against you for ages."

I slowly raised my head.

Only the two of us knew the reason behind the argument we had on our wedding anniversary.

That day, I asked him why he couldn't let his assistant, Leah Jenkins, pick Elodie instead. He said I was making a big deal out of nothing, and we never talked about this again.

But now, Elodie didn't just know what happened. She was even aware of how long I'd been holding a grudge against him.

So it turned out Joel had been telling another woman about the arguments we had, treating our rocky marriage as nothing but a story to tell.

Just then, my phone buzzed with a message from Mr. Grisham.

"Ms. Landry, Mr. Harrington mentioned earlier that it's likely Ms. Shaw will be handling the deal from now on."

"Is this a mutual decision?" I showed Joel the text message. "Is this for the sake of nurturing new employees too?"

Joel, however, didn't panic like I'd anticipated.

"I only discussed the staffing arrangements with the client in advance. Nothing has been officially decided yet," he said.

"And putting her in charge as the client's main point of contact doesn't count as an official decision?"

"Crestwell can't rely on you forever," he explained patiently. "You have too many projects on your plate. I wanted Elodie to take some of the workload off your shoulders. I was worried you were pushing yourself too hard."

He made it sound as though he was doing all this for my sake.

At that moment, the anger I had been bottling up for so long suddenly dissipated.

I walked into my office and took a document folder from a locked drawer. Joel followed me in.

"Calm down first," he said, his expression softening. "We can discuss the final project arrangements again."

I didn't answer. Instead, I pulled out the share transfer agreement from the folder.

I'd spent nearly a month working with a lawyer to prepare the gift. My original plan had been to transfer part of my shares to Joel once the deal was signed, as a belated wedding anniversary present.

Back then, I had believed we were not only husband and wife but also each other's most reliable partners. Now, it seemed that had all been wishful thinking on my part.

When I tore the agreement in half, Joel's expression finally changed.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting rid of unnecessary paperwork."

I dropped the torn pieces into the bin, then took out my phone and opened the digital copy my lawyer had just sent me. I held the screen out to him.

"From today onward, you can no longer expect me to clean up after every decision you make simply because I'm your wife."

He lowered his gaze to the screen.

It was a proposal for the division of our marital assets and shares, with preliminary terms for divorce negotiations attached at the end.