Chapter 3

Lance wasn't the least bit fazed.

"If she were really busy, she'd be in her office instead of coasting on past achievements and wasting valuable work hours scrolling through social media!" he snarled. "She didn't even apologize to you. In fact, she had the nerve to throw a tantrum over some well-deserved criticism!"

I clenched my fist.

The company's success was the result of both our efforts. My projects had consistently generated returns on our investments over the years. Yet instead of showing gratitude, he repaid me by systematically stripping away my authority within the company.

I had let it slide time and again because, at the end of the day, this was the man I had married and promised to spend the rest of my life with.

However, he didn't stop there. Instead, he used his authority as CEO to promote Lucinda and grant her powers and privileges that no secretary could, or should, possess. He had deliberately silenced anyone who spoke out against it.

One time, Lucinda forgot she had an entire proposal to draft. The client was so furious that the deal nearly fell through.

Lance still wanted to protect her, so he blamed me and demanded that I take responsibility.

"Do you know how wrong you are, Brianna?!" he snarled.

I nodded to myself. "I sure know how wrong I was now."

This marriage had lasted a decade. I couldn't believe I had been blind for so long, trapping myself in this torment for all those years. I was ridiculous.

He seemed pleased with my answer. Even his tone softened. "Then you should make amends. You can start by feeding her goldfish before cleaning her room. And I do mean putting in some elbow grease."

I could almost hear my bones creak as I clenched my fists tighter. "Not a chance."

His voice rose sharply. "What did you just say?!"

I hung up before he could launch into another torrent of verbal abuse.

The clerk handed me a notice. "The review process takes three days. Please be patient."

I nodded. Three days was enough time. Lance should be back by then.

…

The first thing I did after getting home was arrange a memorial service for my father.

I wrote and posted his obituary on my account: [I've lost another person who truly loved me today.]

The post immediately drew skepticism.

One commenter wrote: [What a high-level narcissistic attention-seeker. Is she using her dad to get Mr. Mitchell's attention now?!]

Many of my online "friends" were actually employees and colleagues I had once supervised, but most of them were close to Lucinda. Very few believed me when I said my father had passed away.

…

My father had opposed our marriage at first. After seeing how much I wanted to be with Lance, he softened his stance and finally gave his blessing.

But the experience had left a wound on Lance's ego that never healed. Over the past ten years, he had never once shared a meal with my father. He had never even referred to him as his father-in-law. I had explained why my father had been reserved at first, but Lance never listened.

Then one day, I overheard a conversation between him and Lucinda. Apparently, he had never wanted to acknowledge my father because he was originally "just a backwater bumpkin." In Lance's eyes, my father was beneath him. He mocked him and treated him like garbage.

At the same time, though, he called Lucinda's father "Dad." That man was nothing more than a construction worker!

The room originally reserved for my father had been forcibly converted into a storage room. Lance was that opposed to my father's presence. Every time my father came to visit me, he had to stay in a hotel. A millionaire forced to stay in a budget inn every single visit. No one would have believed it if I told them.

…

A group gathered at the door. They were my relatives from my father's side of the family, so I welcomed them inside and served refreshments.

"Brianna, dear... I'm sorry for your loss," one of them said. "You were all he had left."

Laura, one of my distant relatives, arrived in an elegant dress. She scanned the room and asked, "Where's Lance?"