Chapter 3

Mom hurried to reassure me. “It’s all right. We’re comfortable here.”

My throat tightened.

“There are several guest rooms in this house. You shouldn’t have to stay down here.”

I strode upstairs. Only then did I discover that my parents’ room had been turned into a child’s bedroom.

Dad’s oxygen concentrator sat in the corner under a layer of dust. Kirk’s old clothes were piled on the massage chair I had bought for my parents.

Mom immediately tried to calm me down.

“Miller, don’t be mad. We’re old. It doesn’t matter where we stay. Once your father gets better, we’ll go back home. We don’t want to be a burden on you and Rebecca.”

I closed my eyes for a moment.

“Mom, come with me. I’ll book you a hotel room. We’re not staying in this house anymore.”

Rebecca did not call until the next morning.

“It’s Lenny’s birthday today. He likes having people around, so come celebrate with us tonight.”

She did not even care that I had been gone all night.

I looked at my parents. They were still asleep in the hotel bed. I murmured a quiet yes.

Then, I gripped my phone and thought back to three years earlier.

Dad had just been diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer. He had only a 10% chance of being cured.

While Mom and I were too distraught to know what to do, Rebecca had wasted no time. She had sold the family home she had inherited from her parents and brought in a leading specialist from overseas.

Dose after dose of lifesaving medication had kept Dad alive. That was why the three of us could still be together today.

I took a deep breath and decided to give her one more chance.

I returned to the office, only to find Kirk’s name on the door of my office.

When I asked Rebecca about it, she said offhandedly, “Kirk needs somewhere to help Lenny with his homework. Your office is spacious and quiet.”

She pointed to the coffee table beside her.

“You’re leaving on another business trip next month anyway. Just make do here for a few days.”

I dug my nails into my palm.

Years of desk work had left me with a herniated disc in my neck. I often suffered from headaches.

Rebecca had ordered a desk at just the right height for me and a custom-built electric office chair with a massage function.

But she expected me to hunch over a coffee table to work.

Kirk walked over with tearful eyes.

“Miller, don’t blame Rebecca. Why don’t we swap? You can have the big office.”

He paused before he added quietly, “The coffee table is a little low. Lenny could develop scoliosis if he has to bend over it to do his homework, but we can manage for a few days.”

Rebecca immediately stood up. “There’s no need to swap. I’ve made my decision.”

She turned to me. Impatience crept into her voice.

“Miller, when did you become such a difficult person?”

I was about to speak when Alan Skipper, Kirk’s secretary, stepped forward. He was a younger alumnus of my college.

“Miller, stop fighting Kirk over this. If he hadn’t stepped aside for you back then, you wouldn’t have that office in the first place.”

I froze.

Before I could react, Jeff Barry, our sales director, cleared his throat and cut in. Jeff was Rebecca’s high school friend. He had been with us since we started the company.

“Miller, Kirk and Rebecca were the best team back in college. They won every business competition they entered. You got lucky.

“You only got to be CEO because Kirk walked away. It’s time you gave the position back to the person it belongs to.”

Kirk and Rebecca had been the golden couple at business school. Everyone had assumed they were together.

However, Kirk had married an heiress straight out of college and settled into life as a stay-at-home husband.

Rebecca and I had started the company together. We had grown close through all the days and nights of working side by side, then gradually fallen in love.

I clenched my fists and looked at Rebecca.

“Is that how you see it too?”

She rubbed her brow in frustration.

“What difference does it make where you sit? Stop making a scene! I have a meeting to get to.”

My throat tightened. I could not force out even a word.

After a moment, I said, “Fine. He can have it.”

In fact, he could have her too.