Chapter 2

I arrived at Horizon Dynamics early the next morning.

Ethan and I had built the company together. Since I had decided to leave, I needed to collect my personal documents and separate myself from the projects I had been managing.

I had barely begun organizing my files when Mark Dawson, one of our senior project managers, rushed into my office carrying a stack of folders.

His face was pale.

“Elena, we have a problem.”

His hands shook as he placed a tablet in front of me.

Susan had posted a photograph on Instagram at two in the morning. She was sitting at her desk with a cup of coffee, smiling at the camera.

The caption read:

Losing sleep and probably my hair for tomorrow’s bid.

An open proposal was spread across the desk behind her.

The photograph clearly showed confidential terms from one of Horizon Dynamics’ government contracts.

I enlarged the image and stared at it for three seconds.

“Who gave her access to this project?”

“Ethan approved it personally last Tuesday,” Mark said quietly. “He said he wanted her to experience what it was like to work on core business.”

“I warned him that she didn’t have the clearance or experience. He told me to stop interfering.”

Mark opened another document.

“Because the contract details were exposed publicly, we’re facing a three-million-dollar penalty. Every active government project involving Horizon Dynamics has also been suspended pending an investigation.”

I stood up and walked directly to Ethan’s office.

When I pushed open the door, Susan was lying on the pink couch.

Ethan sat beside her with an ice pack in one hand while he held her ankle with the other.

“You shouldn’t wear heels anymore,” he told her.

Susan looked up at him, her expression filled with helpless admiration.

“But you trusted me with this project. I didn’t want to disappoint you.”

Ethan’s face softened immediately.

He enjoyed being needed by her.

I looked at the couch.

Ethan had bought it for me three years earlier. He had told me that I worked too hard and needed somewhere comfortable to rest during long nights at the office.

Now another woman was lying on it while my fiancé held her foot.

Ethan finally noticed me.

“Why didn’t you knock?”

I placed the tablet on his desk.

He glanced at Susan’s post for several seconds and failed to see the problem.

“Susan worked until two in the morning,” he said. “What’s wrong with her posting a picture?”

I placed the penalty notice beside the tablet.

“What about this?”

His expression changed.

He sat upright.

“All of our government contracts have been suspended,” I said.

The color drained from his face.

The suspension alone would cost the company approximately eight million dollars.

Susan immediately understood that something had gone wrong.

She slid off the couch and dropped to her knees.

“This is my fault,” she cried. “I’ll delete the post right now.”

“I’ll repay whatever the company loses. I’ll go to the government office myself and explain everything.”

She looked at Ethan with tears streaming down her cheeks.

“I’ll do anything if it means saving the contracts.”

For the first time, Ethan did not immediately comfort her.

His brows drew together as he stared at the penalty notice.

I placed the document in front of Susan.

“You think government investigators are going to negotiate with you?”

She flinched.

“Who exactly do you think you are?”

I pointed to the suspended contracts.

“You can’t fix a federal compliance violation by showing up, crying, and offering to do anything they ask. You aren’t the governor’s daughter or the governor’s wife. No one there cares about your feelings.”

Susan began sobbing harder.

While pretending to wipe her tears, she glanced at Ethan, waiting for him to defend her.

He did not move.

Realizing that her tears were not working quickly enough, she pushed herself to her feet.

“Then maybe I should just die!”

She took two steps and collapsed.

“Susan!”

Ethan rushed forward and caught her.

Then he turned his anger on me.

“She knows she made a mistake. Why do you have to push her this far?”

He looked at me with open disappointment.

“Elena, how can you be so selfish?”

I did not raise my voice as I had in the past.

Watching him hold Susan no longer made me angry.

It only made him look pathetic.

“I’m selfish?”

I stood across from him.

“Fine. Let’s discuss the facts.”

“The regulatory penalty is three million dollars. The suspension of our active government contracts will cost another eight million. How do you intend to cover the damage?”

“This company does not belong to you alone. We have shareholders, employees, and contractual obligations.”

My calmness only made Ethan more agitated.

“Money. That’s all you ever care about.”

He tightened his arms around Susan.

“I said I’ll cover it.”

“It’s only eight million dollars.”

I stared at him.

“Only eight million?”

The man in front of me had once counted every dollar before buying groceries. Now he was willing to throw away eight million dollars rather than admit that the woman he defended had made a catastrophic mistake.

“You’re beyond saving, Ethan.”

Something in my expression wounded his pride.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

He carefully placed Susan on the couch and stood.

“You’ve always believed this company would collapse without you, haven’t you?”

“You think everyone looks at me and sees a man who only succeeded because of you.”

I said nothing.

He pulled out his phone, desperate to prove that he still had authority.

“I’m telling you right now, Elena. I can run this company without you.”

“I’ll cover the eight million myself.”

A minute later, eight million dollars appeared in the company’s account.

Ethan looked at me with a faint expression of triumph, as though transferring the money proved that he had won.

I turned and left.

As I adjusted my glasses, I wiped away the tear that had escaped before anyone could see it.

Ethan once told me that having a brilliant woman beside him made him proud.

Now my ability humiliated him.

I no longer wanted a man whose love depended on me pretending to be less capable than I was.

Eight million dollars was easy for him to replace.

I wondered what he would do when the cost became eight hundred million.