Chapter 3

I didn't take it.

"You know it wasn't me."

Vincent's tone was calm to the point of cruelty.

"Chloe is still on probation."

"So?"

"This kind of write-up will go on her permanent record. What happens to her after that?"

I looked at him. "What about me?"

"That's different."

"How is it different?"

He seemed genuinely baffled that I would press the point.

"Even without this job, you can come home. Be my woman."

I froze for a few seconds. Then I laughed.

So in his eyes, nothing I'd ever done mattered. Every night I'd worked late, every proposal I'd revised, every time a client had torn into me—all of it could be erased with a single phrase: "You can just come home."

"What if I don't sign?"

Vincent's expression turned cold. "Don't be difficult."

"I'm simply refusing to take the blame for someone else's mistake."

"Eva, this is the company's decision."

I looked around the room. No one would meet my eyes. Colleagues who had privately come to me for help on their proposals now stared at the table.

The supervisor even volunteered his own assessment. "Chloe has always been diligent and responsible. She's not the type to make this kind of error. Eva, the computer is at your workstation. You do bear some responsibility."

I asked, "Even though the login records show it was Chloe?"

The supervisor said impatiently, "How do we know you didn't log in under her account on purpose?"

Everyone was lying.

Not because they believed Chloe, but because they knew what answer Don Moretti wanted.

Chloe sobbed. "Maybe you should just write me up instead. I don't want to make things hard for Eva."

Vincent's expression softened immediately. "This has nothing to do with you."

Then he pushed the pen toward me again. "Sign."

I gripped the pen but couldn't bring myself to put it to paper.

Vincent spoke again, quietly. "The marketing department has layoffs scheduled this month. If you don't sign, everyone who helped with your data reviews will be pulled into the investigation."

Some of those people had just had babies. Others were supporting entire families on a single salary. They hadn't spoken up for me today—but I still couldn't stand by and watch them lose their jobs.

I signed.

Chloe let out a breath of relief.

The disciplinary notice was posted in the company group chat that same afternoon.

My quarterly bonus was revoked. I was demoted to junior associate. And I was required to deliver a public apology at the next all-staff meeting.

Someone in the audience laughed. "Knew it was her."

"Stupid and malicious. And she thinks she can compete with Chloe for a man."

I stood at the podium and read the apology someone else had written for me.

Vincent sat in the front row, his gaze indifferent. Two family bodyguards stood behind him like silent shadows.

After the meeting, he stopped me. "I know this was unfair to you. Once it blows over, I'll make it up to you."

Every time he hurt me, he said the same thing. He'd make it up to me.

A handbag. A necklace. Or another plane ticket sending me away from home.

I looked at him and asked softly, "Vincent, do you even know what today is?"

He blinked. "What?"

"Nothing."

It was the seventh anniversary of the day we met.

Seven years ago today, he'd promised to protect me for the rest of his life.

Seven years later, he'd forced me to take the fall for another woman.