Chapter 1

After three years at the branch office, I finally got the transfer order back to headquarters.

On my first day, I'd barely signed the contract when I discovered that the director position I'd been promised had turned into a team lead role.

I sat in the stairwell, hands trembling, and typed out five hundred words asking my husband, Carl Greer, why.

But when the message went through, all I got back was seven words.

【Keep it to work matters. Report to your supervisor.】

A second later, a message pinged in the company-wide group chat, tagging everyone. It was from Marina Pruitt.

【Thank you all for looking after me these past six months. I've ordered afternoon treats for everyone, help yourselves in the eighth-floor conference room~】

Right after, Carl dropped a cash gift in the group.

【Congratulations, Director Marina.】

My coworkers' voices drifted in from the hallway.

"Some people are just lucky."

"Well, she's Mr. Greer's protégée. All she had to do was say she wanted to give it a shot, and the appointment landed in her lap."

I stood frozen where I was, my eyes stinging.

Back when Carl first started the company, there'd been a project that was practically in the bag, only to get snatched away at the last second.

We found out later the other person had connections.

After the company went public, he laid down an ironclad rule about personnel appointments: the moment he caught favoritism, no mercy.

So I'd worked myself to the bone, clawing my way up on my own.

And in the end, no praise—just someone stepping over me.

And the one who orchestrated it, it turned out, was him.

Fine. If that was how it was, I didn't want the position or the man.

——

I forced down the ache in my throat and finished drafting my resignation letter.

Staring at the send button, in the end, I still wanted a clear answer.

Eight years together, four of them building this company with him, three of them at the branch office.

For those three years, I'd run team management on my own, kept retention as high as ninety-five percent, and brought in over a hundred million dollars in investment for the company.

And now I'd been stepped over by someone with no track record to speak of.

And the reason? Just that she wanted to give it a try.

But I wanted to hear the answer from his own mouth.

I punched in the elevator code for the top floor: 0924, the day his company took off.

The elevator rose slowly, the whole city spreading out below me.

I saw the old apartment building where Carl and I had once crammed together, dreaming up our future, fine-tuning plans, hunched over a secondhand laptop watching the market charts.

He'd promised me he'd give me the best of everything.

But once the company went public, he'd moved our marriage underground and sent me off to the branch office.

He said a lot of companies ran into trouble because of a married couple at the top.

He also wanted me to get more seasoning, not just stand beside him because of our relationship.

I agreed.

Now the old building had been torn down, and a new shopping district stood in its place.

And I'd done everything I set out to do.

But this was how it turned out.

The elevator stopped on the twenty-eighth floor and opened with a ding.

The moment I stepped out, I saw Carl at the counter, patiently guiding Marina's hand with a pen.

"Isn't it a lot clearer this way?"

"Don't rush. Take your time."

"There's a roadshow in a few days. You'll be running the whole thing then."

"Mr. Greer, I don't have any experience coordinating a big event like that. If something goes wrong…" Marina let the words trail off.

"Don't be scared. Just go for it, boldly."

Carl looked at her, his expression soft.

"No experience? Then you'll make some."

"As it happens, that finance instructor you like will be there too. You can get a photo with him then, give yourself a little motivation."

The late-autumn sunlight streamed through the windows and fell over me.

And yet I'd never felt colder in my life.

All these years, he had never once handed me an opportunity of my own.

Once, a businesswoman I deeply admired was giving a talk at a forum.

The company had received an invitation from the organizers.