Chapter 4

“Her resignation has been rejected. Effective immediately, she’s fired. Her bonus will be given to Naomi instead.”

My eyes widened in shock. I was in disbelief.

Anger washed over me as I shouted, “Clarence, that bonus is mine! I earned it. Who do you think you are?”

According to company policy, the bonus amount was determined by the value of the projects each person secured.

I was the one who negotiated business deals, drafted proposals, finalized agreements, and haggled with clients.

I drank until the wee hours of the morning just to squeeze out one more percentage point.

I needed that year-end bonus to pay off my mortgage.

When I was a child, my parents divorced, and neither of them wanted me. They tossed me back and forth like a soccer ball.

I was dumped at my uncle’s house, where my aunt hated me. She often threatened to throw me out if I did not behave.

Because of that, even as an adult, I was deeply afraid of having nowhere to go.

After I got together with Clarence, I clung to him desperately because I was terrified that he would kick me out as well.

No matter where he went, I had to keep track of his every move.

But even the hottest fire eventually burned out.

Instead, I began to place my hopes on money.

I wanted to buy a house of my own with that money, so that even if Clarence and I broke up and I was thrown out, I would still have a place to live.

I worked to the bone to make money, and I finally managed to scrape together enough for a down payment.

Over the years, I had pinched every penny to save and pay off the mortgage.

The stress was immense. I was losing hair, and my hair had already started going gray.

Clarence had witnessed my journey. He knew perfectly well how much I valued that year-end bonus.

He said sarcastically, “Look, this is my company. You picked a fight with Omi.

“You owe her, plain and simple.”

All my words got stuck in my throat.

A wave of nausea rolled through my stomach and climbed up my throat.

He had casually given away over thirty thousand dollars in year-end bonus money to an intern who had done absolutely nothing.

I gritted my teeth and endured the dizzying sensation as the security guards Clarence had called threw me out of the company.

As soon as I left the building, he sent me a text message.

[What happened today was your fault.]

When I did not reply, he sent another one.

[Fine, I may have gone overboard, but you didn’t cut Omi any slack either. She’s still an intern, and watching you calling the other employees to gang up on her like that made me angry.]

[I’m heading to Franbia for a business trip tomorrow. That new bag you wanted will be launching there. I’ll buy it for you as an apology.]

He did not know that Naomi had already flexed it all over her social media a minute ago.

[I mentioned I wanted to see the Ardenois Tower, and suddenly, someone just had to schedule a business trip there and bring me along, of course. He’s such a good boy.]

I blocked both of them on the spot.

...

(3rd POV)

A week later, Clarence finished his business trip.

He felt a little guilty as he held a new designer bag in his hand.

He had originally planned to be away for only three days.

However, Naomi kept dragging him from one shop to another, and before he realized it, he had forgotten to send Lucia a single message to keep her in the loop.

He came back that day specifically to surprise Lucia.

The thought of her waiting for him at home warmed his heart. His steps quickened with eagerness to return.

When he pushed open the front door, he called out Lucia’s name a couple of times.

But no one answered.

The suitcases that she had packed last time were also gone.

All her belongings had also disappeared.

His stomach dropped, and his face turned ashen as an awful realization started to dawn on him.