Chapter 3

The moment Caspar spat out that threat, the little crowd that had gathered to watch understood this had turned serious, and one by one they dropped their heads, not daring to look this way anymore.

They were only ordinary employees. If they got on the wrong side of Caspar and Eve,

even a few small, quiet obstacles thrown in their path would be more than they could handle.

To them, in that moment, I was already finished.

I looked at the cold, expressionless face in front of me, and something close to laughter stirred in my chest.

How exactly had I been so blind, back then, to ever fall for someone like him.

Caspar's threat didn't touch me in the least.

With who I really was, no one in this company could force me to do a single thing I didn't want to do, not unless I allowed it.

I only kept my head down.

"Manager Finch, I don't report to your department. If you want me to do something, please contact my own manager first. Reaching across departments is a serious breach of company management."

I picked up the file he'd tossed onto my desk and put it back into Eve's hands beside him, then pointed at the computer in front of me.

"If there's nothing else, please don't interfere with my work, Manager Finch."

At my tone, Caspar's face grew uglier still, and he jabbed a trembling finger at me.

"Fine. Fine. Lucretia James, you just wait!"

With that, Caspar turned and led Eve out.

【Lucretia, well done. That's exactly how you refuse them!】

【Don't let your guard down. They're already plotting something new.】

The voice in my ear rose again. I looked toward the break room a little way off, where Caspar and Eve stood discussing something, and let out a cold, quiet laugh.

They wanted to frame me?

I'd like to see just what tricks they thought they had.

I paid them no more mind and got back to my own work.

These few years grinding away at the bottom of the company had given me a sharper and sharper understanding of how the whole place actually ran.

After work I walked out of the building and saw Caspar's car parked there from a distance.

When he spotted me, he gave a cold snort, then walked Eve around and settled her into the passenger seat.

Back when he first bought that car, Caspar had promised me the passenger seat was mine and no one else's.

At the time I'd been genuinely moved.

Honestly, that little car of his had never meant anything to me.

Growing up, I'd never chased after these things much, but my father had never once let me go without.

Not only could I drive any of the luxury cars at home whenever I pleased; on my coming-of-age day he'd even had a custom pink luxury car made for me, worth tens of millions.

I just never drove it.

After I started dating Caspar, I rode an electric scooter to work every single day.

I'd thought that watching Caspar walk Eve to the passenger seat would leave me angry, would leave me burning.

But in that moment I was perfectly calm, as if not a single ripple stirred in me.

Once their car had disappeared down the road, I took out my phone and called my father.

"Dad, I'm coming home tonight. Come pick me up."

On the other end my father went still for a beat, then said, excited, "Wonderful. Where are you? I'll send someone right now."

Before long, a stretch Rolls-Royce pulled up to the company entrance.

William Brewer, the old butler, stepped out, and the moment he saw me he bent to open the door.

"Miss!"

I nodded and got into the car.

"William, thank you for coming."

That evening I got home. In several years, this was the first time I'd come home outside of the holidays.

Mom and Dad, whom I hadn't seen in so long, had made a lavish spread just for me.

Eating that lavish meal, it suddenly struck me how utterly pointless everything I'd done for Caspar these past years had been.

After dinner, lying on that high-end mattress worth several hundred thousand, I kept my eyes open.

I wonder what kind of surprise the two of you have in store for me tomorrow.