Chapter 2

Heather only had to drink with Colton a few times to effortlessly steal my credit. Now, it seemed clear that Colton had been planning to get rid of me for a while.

Years of marriage meant nothing compared to his first love. How ironic. Maybe it was time to leave.

At that thought, a bitterness welled up in my chest, but my face remained expressionless as I said, "Fine."

A flash of mockery crossed Heather's eyes, but she still put on a show. "Liana, I'm just a newbie. This project involves billions of dollars. How could I possibly be qualified to handle it?”

"I only offered because Colton mentioned you've been drinking with clients every day and don't have time. I just wanted to help lighten your load."

Colton smiled and patted Heather's arm. "Heather, you're an elite from Yalen University. If you can't handle it, nobody in this company can."

I laughed out loud.

The Yalen program Colton kept bragging about was actually a community college that shared a campus with the university. It just had Yalen's name attached to it.

Only Colton would treat her like top talent and pay her a premium salary to work here.

When Colton heard me laugh, his expression darkened. "Liana, what's so funny? Without me, you'd never have become Design Director with nothing but your ability to drink with clients!”

"The company's on solid ground now. If Heather hadn't spoken up for you, I would've fired you ages ago!"

I laughed coldly.

Colton seemed to have forgotten that when the company first started, I handled every single piece of business. I was the one who taught him everything I knew. To win contracts for the company, I drank with clients more times than I could count.

Now that the company was doing well, he saw me as dead weight. He even looked at me with disgust.

As Colton's words grew increasingly harsh, I took a deep breath and walked straight up to Heather.

The colleagues around us backed away, apparently worried they'd get caught in the crossfire if Heather and I started fighting, but I stayed calm.

Smiling, I pulled out a share transfer agreement from my bag. "Working on projects all the time is exhausting. Why don't I just make you the company's Design Director instead?"

In an instant, everyone in the company stared at me in disbelief. They probably thought I had lost my mind and was just saying things out of anger.

After all, my colleagues knew how much blood and sweat I had poured into this company to get to where I was today.

"Liana, don't be impulsive! If you leave the company, all those years of hard work will be for nothing!"

Colton, however, thought I was threatening him with my resignation. He said angrily, "Liana, what the hell are you doing? I'm the boss of this company. Can't I even criticize you?"

I laughed coldly again. Was this not exactly what Colton wanted to see? I was handing his first love everything I had.

My relationship with him, my position, my status, and even everything in his life that had once been mine. Shouldn’t he be happy?

Beside us, Heather clutched the share transfer agreement tightly. Her eyes were filled with desire, but she still put on an act. "Liana, are you upset because of what Colton said? Please don't misunderstand. I really just wanted to help.”

"You're the company's Design Director and a founding member. Everyone respects you. How could a newbie like me possibly accept becoming a shareholder?"

She made a show of handing the agreement back to me, but her movements were slow. Clearly, she was reluctant to let go of the windfall that had just fallen into her lap.

Seeing this, I smiled slightly and gave her a gentle push. "Why would I be upset? I couldn't be happier.”

"With such a talented graduate like you leading our company, we're bound to reach new heights. You're the perfect fit."