Chapter 2

Unfortunately, Mila Palmer turned out to be just as incompetent as my husband, bungling a contract at the last possible moment and driving the partner to cancel the deal on the spot.

And yet, he still had the gall to dump all the blame squarely on me.

I tore the pay slip clean in half.

"I’m not the project manager—why should I be the one footing the bill for this mess?"

But instead of backing down, Daniel’s fury only flared hotter than mine.

"Then get out of this company!"

His roar cracked through the office, loud enough for nearly every head to turn and stare.

My ears rang. My thoughts went utterly blank. And then—everything went black.

When I came to, I was not in a hospital bed. I was sprawled on the pavement outside the company building.

Cars sped past in a blur. One driver slammed on the brakes, barely avoiding me, then leaned out the window, spitting rage.

"You idiot! If you want to die, go somewhere else! Don’t try to pull some pathetic scam here!"

I could barely hear him, but instinct made my lips form an apology. That was when a man stepped out of the Bentley parked just a few feet away.

It was my childhood friend and my senior, Eiden Rhodes. He drove off the rude driver, his brows drawn tight as he asked me.

"Lana, did you turn me down, only to choose a jerk like Daniel and end up living like this?"

I must have looked utterly lost, because his frown only deepened.

Without another word, he swept me up, carried me to his car, buckled the seatbelt and drove straight to the hospital.

The diagnosis came quickly—a middle-ear infection, triggered by too many late nights and too much stress.

Thankfully, the hearing loss was only temporary. A course of antibiotics would take care of it.

Eiden stayed by my side during the IV drip, as if debating whether to speak, when my phone suddenly rang.

Daniel’s voice snapped through the line, sharp and impatient.

"Have you had enough of this act, Lana? If you’re done, get back to the office—now! Miss work again and I’ll fire you for real!"

The words were just muffled noise to me, so I turned to Eiden for help.

"What did he just say?"

He did not answer right away. Instead, he ended the call, quickly tapped on his phone and then showed me the screen.

[Quit your job. I’ll take care of you.]

My heart lurched painfully. I lowered my gaze, pretending to scroll through my phone, but my eyes landed on the company group chat.

Daniel was tagging me over and over again.

[Lana, how dare you hang up on me?]

[I’m giving you one last chance. Get back here and finish that proposal in ten minutes, or you’re fired!]

I snapped a photo of myself with the IV still in my arm and sent it to him privately. Almost immediately, a 60-second voice message popped up.

Since I could not hear what he said, I converted it to text.

As I read it, the words on the screen made my blood run cold.

At that moment, Eiden noticed the way my face drained of color. Without asking, he took the phone from my hands.

I tried to stop him, but my finger slipped and the voice message started to play aloud. An overly sweet female voice filled the ward.

"Lana, stop pretending already. Daniel told me you faked fainting just to avoid paying the fine. If you could survive being dumped on the street, then clearly he was right."

"You’d better hurry back to the office, or next month you’ll rack up another few hundred thousand in debt. How many years will it take you to pay that off?"

I did not even need perfect hearing to recognize that voice. It was Mila Palmer.

I had lived with a severe ear infection for years. Anger and sleepless nights always risked making me faint and robbing me of my hearing.

Daniel had known this from the very beginning.

Once upon a time, he had knelt in front of me with 999 roses, his eyes full of sincerity, making a promise.

"Lana, if you’re with me, I’ll never make you angry or wear you out. I'll make sure your ear infection will never trouble you again."