Chapter 2

When I walked back to my desk to draft my resignation letter, Ethan followed me.

"You've been here for eight years, Harper. Don't throw away everything you've worked so hard for just because you're throwing a tantrum."

"You're not a fresh graduate. Do I really need to teach you how the real world works?"

So, he did know how hard I had worked to get everything I had.

Yet, he chose to hand the fruits of my labor to another woman.

My eyes burned, but my fingers didn't stop typing.

"Mr. Vance, this is working hours. Please do not micromanage your employee's personal decisions."

His breathing turned heavy. Sensing the curious glances from the surrounding cubicles, he lowered his voice.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is for someone your age to find a job? If you go out for interviews now, you’ll get filtered out in the first round!"

"Stop being so naive!"

I pulled the resignation letter from the printer and signed my name without a second thought.

"Mr. Vance, will you sign it?"

He snatched the paper, his face darkened with rage.

"Harper, do you really have to push things this far?"

"I'm not pushing anything. I just don't want to work here anymore."

"There are still several projects that need your final touch. If you leave like this, what is Chloe supposed to do?"

Finally, the truth came out. He didn't care about me leaving; he just wanted me to pave a smooth road for his precious mentee before I vanished.

I opened my laptop, uploaded the resignation letter, and hit send, CC’ing both Ethan and HR.

"Can you approve it now?"

"I don't think you want me to personally explain to HR that you're holding up my resignation because of our personal relationship, right?"

I knew he hated mixing business with pleasure more than anything.

In our eight years of working together, he never let me step into his office alone. If there was work, he would come to my cubicle to brief me.

Even when I was sick, he never let me carpool with him to work.

When I worked late and forgot to eat, he would rather send me a Snapchat message telling me to pick up takeout at the front desk than bring me a bite of food himself.

I used to think there was nothing wrong with that.

Keeping business and personal life strictly separated was our mutual rule.

But since Chloe arrived, I realized that rules weren't unbreakable. It just depended on who they were being broken for.

She could eat with him in the cafeteria, and she could leave her personal belongings in his office.

He would proudly introduce her to everyone: "This is my college junior, please take good care of her."

Yet, he never let anyone in the office know that I was his wife.