Chapter 1

I was the top sales director at the company, single-handedly pulling in tens of millions in orders and paving the way for our successful IPO.

Yet, at the grand gala celebrating our company going public, my CEO wife deliberately picked a fight with me. She accused me of disregarding company interests and engaging in illicit operations.

She demanded my immediate suspension and ordered me to hand over all my business connections to her golden boy, her first love.

Instead of getting angry, I smiled. I took off my director badge, handed the top spot in the sales department right over to him, and said earnestly:

"Starting out as a junior rep is tough. Here, take every single one of my business connections."

For a moment, every colleague in the room looked completely stunned, thinking I had lost my mind from pure rage.

Little did they know, the titans of the business world—and our entire elite sales force—only answered to me.

Without me, all the company’s products were nothing more than worthless junk that nobody would ever buy.

My wife's company was about to face a mass walkout of top talent and drown in staggering, insurmountable debt.

………………

"Kevin, come on up! Our incredible sales numbers today are all thanks to your hard work."

"Everyone, let's raise a glass to our MVP, Kevin Zhang!"

My wife, Rachel Qiu, raised her glass of red wine, her eyes filled with adoration as she looked at Kevin standing below the stage.

Basking in the crowd's admiring gazes, Kevin strode confidently up to the platform.

He locked eyes with Rachel, sparks flying between them.

They linked arms, their wine glasses clinking, and drank together.

"Our record-breaking revenue isn't just my doing!" Kevin declared into the mic. "The main reason is that Rachel's graphene material is simply world-class!"

In reality, it was just an ordinary, standard industrial material available anywhere on the market.

Yet Fortune 500 giants had been fighting tooth and nail to secure orders from our company.

It had brought us fifty million dollars.

And that was merely the initial down payment.

The employees standing below cheered and clapped enthusiastically:

"Kevin and Rachel look like a match made in heaven."

"It's all because Kevin joined that our company could land a massive fifty-million-dollar deal."

"With Kevin and Rachel running the show together, this company is destined for the moon!"

Drenched in sweat, I stood at the very back of the crowd. Looking at the festive atmosphere on stage, my heart felt like it was being twisted with pliers. My grip on the car keys in my pocket tightened until my knuckles turned white.

Today was supposed to be a celebration for landing that fifty-million-dollar deal.

It was just the beginning; there were hundreds of millions more waiting for the final sign-off from Fortune 500 executives.

The man standing on that stage was supposed to be me!

I was the one who had pitched tirelessly, traveling non-stop to close those contracts.

I was the one who drank myself to exhaustion night after night with corporate board members to buy this company its current glory.

Yet now, Kevin stood in my place.

Just an hour ago, Rachel had made an excuse asking me to go fetch the car, claiming she wanted to drive a different luxury ride to welcome good fortune.

I never imagined it was just a cheap trick to get me out of the way so he could shine.

Seeing Kevin standing right where I belonged, the bitter truth hit me completely.

On stage, Rachel caught sight of me standing on the periphery, and a look of pure disgust flashed across her face.

"Sean, you don't care about this company's big day at all!"

"Don't you know how important today is for our firm?"

"Since you clearly don't care, why don't you just hand over all your enterprise connections to Kevin?"

Beside her, Kevin chimed in with smug condescension:

"Sean, for such a major celebration, we really couldn't keep everyone waiting just for you."

Listening to them play off each other, a profound sense of disappointment washed over me.

Back then, Rachel had told me she dreamed of building a successful enterprise.

Without hesitation, I quit my high-paying corporate track to build a startup from scratch with her.

Every critical milestone, every strategic roadmap—I laid them all out for her.

Every primary account and distribution channel had been carved out through my sleepless nights.

In the early days, when Rachel knew nothing about enterprise networking, I took every shot and drank every drink for her, shielding her so she could get face time with industry executives.

Even our supply chain was secured at rock-bottom prices because of my personal favors with vendors.

Forget selling the finished products; even the raw components on the assembly lines existed solely because of me.

Without me, everything in this company was just a castle built on sand, a fleeting illusion.

Seeing that I remained silent, Rachel's brow furrowed deeper.

Furious, she grabbed the microphone and marched right up to me.

"Sean, why aren't you answering?"

"Are you going to play deaf and mute now?"

"If Kevin takes over your corporate contacts, our sales will at least double!"

The disappointment in my eyes grew colder.

Kevin pretended to pull Rachel back gently.

"Rachel, don't be so harsh."

"Sean may not have real results, but he's put in the grunt work."

Every word out of his mouth dripped with venom, subtly emphasizing how useless I supposedly was.

Rachel immediately took Kevin's hand right in front of me.

"Kevin, I won't let you demean yourself like that."

"You have an MBA from a prestigious overseas university!"

Watching this sickening display, the last bit of warmth in my heart turned to ice.

Rachel continued, her voice sharp:

"With you running things, I know our company will have a much brighter future."

"Sean, I'm ordering you right now: hand over all your corporate connections and enterprise accounts to Kevin."

"There's that candlelit dinner spot you wanted to try, right? If you do this, I might just agree to go there with you tonight."

The employees started circling around us.

Everyone could feel the tension thick enough to cut with a knife.

Rachel looked down at me arrogantly.

She thought she had me figured out—a slap followed by a sweet treat was her favorite way to keep me on a leash.

I simply shook my head and let out a faint chuckle.

Then, reaching toward my lapel, I unpinned the badge that designated me as Chief Sales Director.

I gently placed it right into Kevin's open palm.

"Starting out as a junior rep is tough. Here, take every single one of my business connections."

Instantly, the faces of my sales team drained of color.

They had never felt the crushing weight of quotas because I had always shouldered the entire burden for them.

"Boss Sean..."

"Sean, wait..."

I clapped my hands firmly.

"What? Did you not hear me?"

"I said, from now on, Kevin Zhang is your new boss."