Chapter 1

When Owen Hayes publicly announced that his college junior, Lila Reed, was the company's largest shareholder, the entire room erupted.

I stood frozen in place. After days of overtime and messed up sleep schedules, my head was buzzing. I even wondered if I'd heard him wrong.

"Look at Charlotte Shaw's face! It's changing colors like a mood ring!"

"She's been with the CEO this whole time and doesn't even have shares, but look at Lila. She's already a major shareholder!"

"Just because she closed a few big deals, she thinks she's above everyone else? She's still just an employee."

"Always complaining about this proposal or that proposal. And now? Ha!"

"She's nothing but a joke."

My colleagues laughed loudly around me, not bothering to hide it from my ears. I knew they were taking this opportunity to mock me on purpose. They were also using this chance to cozy up to Lila and win her favor. Owen wasn't going to stop them anyway.

When Lila heard their comments, she flashed me a smug smile. Her tone, however, dripped with false sweetness.

"Charlotte, aren't you happy for me? You're not clapping, does that mean you're unhappy with something?

"Though I guess that makes sense. If we're talking about seniority, this should really go to you."

She slowly pushed the share certificate across the table toward me.

Owen flinched like I'd stepped on his tail. He immediately snatched the certificate back and placed it firmly in Lila's hands.

His tone was both helpless and doting. "Lila, you're too kindhearted. That's not what the company values."

Then he shot me a cold glance.

"Stop trying to stir up trouble. You failed to close the deal with Cloudview Construction Group and cost us millions! We're already doing you a favor by not firing you. What gives you the right to own shares?"

The two of them played good cop and bad cop like some kind of comedy routine. It almost made me laugh.

Cloudview Construction Group refused to work with us entirely because of Lila's scheming. She was afraid people would find out and blame her, so she made me take the fall.

I didn't want to explain because I thought Owen would believe me. But it turned out he guarded himself against me like I was some kind of threat. Still, I'd gotten used to it by now.

Lila's work abilities were mediocre at best, but she put plenty of effort into landing a rich boyfriend and targeting me. She'd just graduated from college. She knew how to talk sweetly and played up this approachable rich girl image.

A lot of people liked her. Owen treated her differently too.

Every time Lila and I had a conflict, Owen always thought it was my fault. Behind my back, plenty of people said I was aggressive and bullied others.

She constantly twisted stories to ruin my reputation while making herself look pure and innocent. Because of that, my colleagues liked me less and less.

Lila's expression turned pitiful. "But won't Charlotte be upset?"

As she spoke, she burrowed into Owen's arms, pressing tightly against his chest in an intimate gesture.

He glared at me with a dark expression. "Charlotte, what was that face for?

"I made this shareholder decision after careful consideration. It's also the result of everyone's vote. Don't make trouble for yourself here!

"If you really can't stand it, you can resign!"

Everyone started jeering at his words.

I knew Owen too well. He was just speaking thoughtlessly in anger, but it still hurt.

I'd worked tirelessly for this company. I threw up God knew how many times at business dinners and landed in the hospital multiple times just to bring in investors. Even the garbage proposals these people submitted were ones I stayed up all night rewriting.

Now they were tossing me aside after wringing me dry? One sentence to dismiss all my achievements and even steal them from me?

I stood up and walked forward.

Lila thought I was going to hit her. She scrambled behind Owen in fear. Owen stretched out his arm to block me, shielding Lila completely as if terrified I'd hurt her.

He looked at me with disgust and caution. "Charlotte Shaw! What do you think you're doing?"

I pulled the company registration contract from my bag and placed it on the table.

"Don't misunderstand. I just think these shares are far too small. Why don't I give her the position of registered owner directly instead? I hope she keeps up the good work."

Lila stared at the contract, her eyes gleaming. Meanwhile, Owen frowned at me but said nothing.

Gasps of surprise rippled through the room.

Everyone knew I'd been working here since the company first registered. I was the hardest worker here. To get the company listed as soon as possible, I desperately cultivated connections and closed our first major contract worth ten million dollars.

I could do the work of an entire team by myself. Whether it was finding investors or handling major internal decisions, I took it all on.

Now many investors knew the company would officially go public once we completed this contract. The shares already showed signs of rising value.

Some of them thought I might ask for shares over this, but no one expected I'd hand over the position of registered owner as well. What they didn't know was that I was also Owen's fiancée.

Owen didn't want people gossiping about us, so we'd never gone public with our relationship. Later, when Lila appeared, I started to panic. I wanted him to acknowledge our relationship.

After I kept bringing it up, Owen finally promised he'd make our relationship public when we signed the first major contract.

Last night, I was so excited I couldn't sleep. But who would have thought Lila would beat me to it by sitting beside him? He didn't even try to refuse her.

Everyone assumed they were a couple, and Owen didn't bother correcting them. Only now did I understand. He didn't want to hide our relationship. He wanted a different relationship entirely.

He remained silent. I didn't want to say anything either, so I turned to leave.

After just two steps, I felt a force on my wrist. I looked back and saw it was Owen.

I was somewhat surprised. I hadn't expected him to stop me.

Usually, he'd just let me walk away. After all, I loved him, and he was certain I'd come back to apologize. But soon I understood why he'd stopped me.

He pressed his lips together. "Charlotte, don't do anything rash. You're being petty right now.

"I didn't want it to come to this, but I owe Lila an answer. The position of registered owner and the shares can only go to Lila."

I couldn't help but laugh. Was he trying to force my hand? Wasn't he basically handing the shares and the registered owner position to Lila by saying this?

If this were before, I probably would have argued with him. But now I just nodded.

My emotions were stable. There were no signs of anger.

Owen had braced himself for me to get angry, so my response caught him off guard. He was about to say something when colleagues started calling him over to celebrate.

Owen glanced at me, then picked up the contract and turned away. I watched his back as he walked toward Lila, then looked away and walked straight out of the banquet hall.

Once outside, I made a phone call. "Dad, I'll take your advice. I'm starting my own company."