Chapter 5

By the time I reached the office,

he was already gone.

He was always like this.

His work was sharp, no question.

But.

He had never once treated me as his superior.

As if being my boyfriend

gave him the right to make calls without ever running them past me.

I picked up the freshly issued termination notice for Warren Delgado from headquarters.

When I got to the signing ceremony,

my father was just about to cut the ribbon with Warren.

The moment he saw me,

his brows drew together hard.

“Who said you could be here?”

Warren stepped forward too.

“Carolyn, this is a critical moment. If you want to throw a fit, do it after. Go now!”

He reached out to pull me along,

but I turned and slipped past his hand.

I didn't so much as glance at him.

His hand froze in midair.

He stared at me, disbelieving.

“Carolyn?”

I walked up to my father,

gripped the ribbon,

and tore it down in one pull.

“Professor Gilbert, I'm here to inform you the deal is canceled.

“As of today, this project is handed over in full to Lecturer Mason.”

A man standing off at the edge jerked his head up.

Smiling, I held out the project file to him.

“Mr. Mason, are you willing to work with us?”

“Carolyn Gilbert!”

My father surged forward, his voice sharp.

“Who gave you the right to hand my project to someone else!”

I looked at him coldly.

“My project. I give it to whoever I want.”

My father went still.

That line.

Strangely familiar.

“Your project?”

He frowned at me. “This is obviously……”

“Warren Delgado's?”

I curved my lips.

The termination notice landed against Warren's chest.

“One of my deputies, and he had the nerve to reassign a project over my head!

“Who gave you the nerve!”

“Deputy?”

My father stared at me, dazed.

“Warren……is your deputy?

“Carolyn……when did you climb to a position this high?”