Home / When He Brought In My Replacement, I Filed for Divorce / Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

All Chapters of When He Brought In My Replacement, I Filed for Divorce: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

8 Chapters

1

Halfway through the project meeting, Lily Tate, the intern, interrupted my presentation."Ms. Jennings, we've been using this distribution strategy for three years. We should've retired it ages ago."The conference room went silent.Every eye turned to her.Lily had only been with the company for three months, but she'd taken the seat to Grant's right.That used to be my seat.I switched off the projector and looked at her. "Have you read the risk assessment?""I have. But numbers are just numbers. People adapt."Ms. Jennings, the market has changed. Just because you've lost your nerve doesn't mean the rest of us have to play it safe."Someone sucked in a breath.Before I could speak, Grant capped his pen."Enough."Lily stuck out her tongue, not the least bit scared.Grant turned to me, his tone mild, as if this were the most natural thing in the world."She could've said it better, but she's not wrong. She did great work on her last project, too."The company needs fresh ideas. You'v

2

Lily had uploaded her new plan to the shared drive.I opened it without thinking, then froze.Her plan used my private distribution forecasting model. I'd always kept it locked in the archive.Only Grant and I had access to it.I stared at the screen for a long time.She hadn't just used my model.She'd even nailed the clipped sentences and little formatting habits from my early proposals.So there really was someone who seemed more like the old me than I did.And it was no accident.My office door swung open.Lily clicked across the room in her heels and tossed my handover checklist onto the desk."27 pages? Are you afraid I won't understand it, Ms. Jennings, or are you just trying to show me who's boss?"I ignored the question and asked one of my own. "Who gave you access to the archive?"Something flickered in her eyes. Then she laughed."Company resources belong to whoever can put them to use, obviously."Grant was worried I'd have nothing to work from since I'm new, so he sent me

3

When I got home, the nanny was settling Jamie into the crib.She turned, saw me, and hurried over with a velvet box.She said Mr. Ford had sent it ahead as an anniversary gift.Inside was a bright red designer slip dress.He'd had a limited-edition design from five years ago recreated. It had a sharply tailored waist and tiny diamonds along the neckline.I held it against myself in the mirror.The waist snagged above my hips. It was a good two finger-widths too tight.He remembered the style and size I'd worn at 25.He had no idea how my body had changed by 30.That evening, Grant came home with roses.He frowned when he saw my loose maxi dress."Still mad at me? I had that anniversary present made just for you. Why aren't you wearing it?"I kept folding Jamie's tiny clothes and answered without looking up."It's the wrong size. I can't fit into it anymore."The room went quiet for a second.He looked embarrassed for a moment, then brushed it off with a smile."I've been so busy I didn

4

"Lily's new to the project. Of course she doesn't know how everything works yet."After you handed it over, you should've taught her what she needed to know instead of waiting for her to make a mistake so you could laugh at her."I looked at him and answered calmly."She didn't read a single page of my 27-page handover checklist. She used my private model without permission. Now her plan has blown up, and it's my fault for not teaching her?""Rachel!"Grant's voice hardened."It's one model. When did you get so petty?"Between the baby and your health, you don't have the energy to manage a project right now."Let Lily do it for you. The results still belong to the company. What's wrong with that?"Do it for me?I turned his words over in my mind, and they cut a little deeper each time.So he knew Lily was copying me.He just thought it was a good thing.Lily's eyes were red as she spoke softly."Grant, forget it."If Rachel doesn't want to teach me, I'll leave the project. Nothing I do

5

Grant watched Rachel leave the restaurant. To his surprise, he felt a pang of nostalgia.He looked at his empty hand. Maybe the old Rachel, all sharp edges, was finally coming back to him."Grant! Rachel just walked out. What are we going to do about tomorrow's plan?"Lily had to call his name several times before he snapped out of it.Her face, so carefully styled to look like Rachel's, was tight with anxiety.Irritation flared in Grant almost at once.When his best friend had asked him to look after his sister, who'd just returned to the States, Grant had planned to refuse.But Rachel had just given birth.Almost all her attention went to the baby.Even when he came home and tried to hold her, all she'd say was:"Keep it down. The baby just fell asleep."She used to sleep all night in his arms. Now she woke whenever Jamie cried.She spent less than a third as much time looking at him as she used to.Grant was fed up.He knew he'd always loved Rachel for her sharp edges and the way sh

6

Grant went still.Dread wiped the smugness from his face.He tossed the bouquet of red roses aside and hurried to the bedroom.Almost nothing in the room was missing.The jewelry from the auctions, the clothes, the makeup he'd bought her. It was all right where it belonged.Only Jamie's things were missing.Even the little crib had been pushed into a corner.As if Jamie had never existed.Grant's heart lurched. His hand shook as he pulled out his phone.The call went through, but no one picked up.He didn't give up.Once. Twice. Three times.He kept calling.Then she rejected his call.Rachel had blocked him.Grant sat on the edge of the bed and raked his hands through his hair.Then something occurred to him. He grabbed his keys and drove to the office.He couldn't remember how many red lights he ran on the way.All he could think about was what the nanny had said.Since Rachel had lied about going on a business trip, maybe the company had a record of where she'd gone.But HR's answer

7

Rachel's POV:The suspicion Grant had refused to face was confirmed the moment he saw me.He stared at me in the doorway, speechless.I must have seemed so mild to him now that I was almost a stranger.To him, I was supposed to be bold and reckless.At the negotiating table, I'd fought for every percentage point of profit. Whenever I won, I'd lift my chin and smile at him...I wasn't that woman anymore.I walked past him without another glance and took my seat at the head of the table.Maybe Grant noticed it too.When we'd signed our agreement all those years ago, we'd sat just like this.Only this time, he was the one on the other side of the table."Let's get started on the equity restructuring."We're offering eight hundred forty million dollars for all of Ford Group's valuable distribution assets."Ford Group will cover the three hundred million dollars in penalties. Any debt tied to Lily Tate's London project must also stay with Ford Group, outside the acquisition."I spoke slowly

8

Grant snatched the papers and tore them up."I won't sign!"Rachel, I'll give you anything."Everything the Ford family has, everything your family lost—I'll give you twice as much!"I'll sign all my shares over to you. Just don't divorce me."I had nothing more to say. I pulled my hand free, turned, and left.He stumbled after me, but my bodyguards held him back.I never looked back.Three days later, the final round of negotiations went ahead as scheduled.I sat at the head of the table as the largest shareholder. Grant wasn't there.The day before, authorities had opened an investigation based on the evidence I'd submitted. Ford Group was forced to review its old asset deals.Legal proceedings began over the suspected illegal dealings, and action was taken to recover the assets involved.Grant had once thought he was untouchable. Now he finally knew what it was like to be backed into a corner.When investigators came for him, he was sitting in our old bedroom.He stared at the thing

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