On the eve of our company’s IPO, my fiancé, Julian Thorne, threw a lavish celebration, instructing his secretary to hand out double year-end bonuses in cash. The secretary, Monica Elwes, moved through the room with a syrupy smile, handing each employee a beautifully packaged stack of crisp hundred-dollar bills. But when she got to me, she shoved me aside. “Move. Don’t block the path.” Confused, I asked her what she meant. She just sneered and slapped a termination letter against my face. “You cheap whore, sleeping your way to the top. What makes you think you deserve a bonus? Get the hell out before you contaminate the rest of us.” As if on cue, the large screen behind her flickered to life, displaying a slideshow of intimate photos of me with various high-profile clients. It ended on a spreadsheet of the bonus distribution. The numbers burned. Everyone had received a bonus of at least six figures. Next to my name, however, was a single, glaring, blood-red zero. My fists clenched. I lifted my head and looked at Julian, standing not far away. “Are you sure you want to fire me? Tonight?” On the screen, the photos kept cycling. Me, walking shoulder to shoulder with one man; me, raising a glass with another; and the final, damning image—me, wrapped in a man’s arm, walking into a hotel. Hearing my question, Julian finally tore his eyes from the screen. He stared at me, his gaze cold and silent. “Are you sure, Julian?” I asked again. Every eye in the room turned to him, their expressions a mixture of pity and morbid curiosity. He ignored them and walked slowly toward me, looking down his nose as if I were something he’d scraped off his shoe. His voice was ice. “Ava, what right do you have to be here? Every penny this company has earned was built on the hard work of these people. You are the sole exception.” “Did I not give you enough money? Or not enough love, that you had to humiliate me like this?” he hissed. “Don’t you dare tell me these men are the reason you refused to quit and be a stay-at-home wife for me!” He ripped a stack of printed photos from his pocket and threw them in my face. The sharp edges of the photo paper cut my cheek, and they scattered across the floor. A sharp sting, and when I touched my face, my fingers came away red. “This IPO is a moment of glory for our company,” he declared. “I will not allow a degenerate parasite like you to tarnish it. Not even if you are my fiancée.” Looking at the cold, proud man before me, I assumed this was all a terrible misunderstanding born from those pictures. I tried to explain. “Julian, they might not believe me, but you? You don’t believe me either? My accomplishments, my portfolio—I earned every bit of it myself. It has nothing to do with those photos.” “Earned it yourself?” Monica interjected, her voice dripping with scorn. “What exactly did you earn on your own? Your skills in the bedroom? We’ve all heard about your… in-depth collaborations with clients.” A wave of snickering rippled through the room. Someone muttered, “Yeah, who knows how many clients she had to sleep with for those contracts. And to think we used to admire her, even tried to learn from her.” When the wall starts to fall, everyone gives it a push. I couldn't believe colleagues I’d considered friends were so eager to kick me when I was down. I gritted my teeth, fighting to stay calm. “Those photos prove nothing. It was all just normal business.” “Normal business? In a hotel bed?” Monica bent down and picked up the photo of me being led into the hotel. “This is a high-definition video still, you know. Should I play the whole thing for everyone?” I stared at the picture, and a sudden, bitter laugh escaped my lips. The man in the photo was my brother. I’d gotten drunk that night. I’d meant to call Julian to pick me up, but I’d misdialed and called my brother instead. He happened to be in town, sent by our parents to try and convince me to end my feud with them. He arrived just in time to rescue me from a group of predatory men. He had taken me to a hotel to sober up, and someone with a camera and a grudge had been waiting. It all made sense now. The way Julian had been so hot and cold ever since that night. He had a lot of patience, I’ll give him that. He waited until I had secured every major client for him, until I had secretly used my family’s influence to push his company toward its IPO, before finally making his move. His lack of trust was a deep disappointment, but he was the first man I had ever truly loved. I didn't want a misunderstanding to be the end of us. I didn't want my parents to find out that the great, passionate love I’d run away for had died so miserably. I had fled the capital to escape an arranged marriage. I wanted to choose my own partner, to build something with him, side-by-side, not enter into a loveless corporate merger. I’d never told anyone this, not even Julian. I was afraid that if he knew I was the heiress to one of the city’s most powerful families, he would feel insecure, inferior, crushed by the pressure. All my life, men had been drawn to my status. I hated their calculated flattery. What I loved was the way Julian’s eyes used to shine like a galaxy of stars when he looked at me. The memory of that long-gone sweetness made me laugh again. “What are you laughing at?” Julian scowled, his tone laced with disgust. “How can you possibly laugh at a time like this?” I lifted my head, meeting his eyes directly. “Do you really think I’m the kind of woman who sleeps her way to the top?” “What else am I supposed to think?” he sneered. “You think there’s anything else about you worth a second glance?” It felt like an invisible hand was squeezing my heart, making it hard to breathe. I took a deep breath. “The man in that photo,” I said slowly, “is my brother.” “Your brother?” Monica burst out laughing. “Do you think we’re idiots? You adopt a 'godbrother' and call him family? Is that what you call every man you sleep with? ‘Brother’? I have to admit, it has a certain kinky ring to it.” The laughter in the room grew louder, more vicious. Someone whistled. Julian’s eyes were filled with contempt. “Enough. Stop embarrassing yourself. Take your termination letter and get out. From this moment on, you and I are finished.” I clutched the paper, a chill spreading through my chest. For five years, I had hidden my identity, working as a rank-and-file employee to pave his way, to help him build his empire. And now that I had single-handedly pushed him to the summit, he was ready to kill the donkey now that the grinding was done. Fine. I could handle losing. I’d just write off the last five years of my life as a gift to a dog. “Julian,” I whispered, “you’re going to regret this.” He heard me and laughed as if it were the funniest joke in the world. “Regret it? The only thing I regret is ever meeting a treacherous slut like you.” He held out his hand to Monica. They exchanged a triumphant smile and walked, hand in hand, to the center of the ballroom. Only then did I notice that his bespoke suit and her low-cut evening gown were a matching set. He raised their entwined hands high. “Tomorrow,” he announced, his voice booming with confidence, “we will welcome the most important moment in this company’s history—our IPO! This wouldn’t be possible without every one of you. Let’s continue to build a glorious future together!” The room erupted in thunderous applause and cheers. I could clearly hear the fawning comments about what a golden couple he and Monica were. Julian’s gaze swept over me for a fraction of a second before moving on, as if I were a complete stranger. Looking at the man I had loved for five years, I finally understood why my parents always said I had terrible taste in men. They were right. I was completely blind. I never even realized my fiancé was sleeping with his secretary. But being the daughter of the Jiang family, being blind in love didn't mean I was incompetent. I could raise him to the heavens, and I could just as easily make him fall.
? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "MotoNovel" app ? search for "393285", and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel