Chapter 1

Sloane cut my salary and gave the money to her assistant Aiden,

then told me I was “too emotional” for questioning it.

When I reminded her I’d built the company with her, she didn’t even look up.

“Stop acting entitled,” she said. Aiden smirked and added, “Maybe you should step aside.”

That was the moment I understood they expected me to obey forever.

So I placed my resignation on her desk and watched her smile collapse.

My fiancée Sloane, the CEO, told me the company wasn't doing well and cut my salary in half. But then I saw her assistant Aiden bragging on Instagram.

"The boss not only gave me a raise but also bought me a luxury car because she was worried I'd be tired from work. She's so thoughtful!"

In the photo, he and my fiancée were standing in front of a newly purchased million-dollar luxury car, looking blissfully happy.

I pondered for two seconds, then hit the like button.

That evening, Sloane called an emergency meeting. Using the excuse that I was disrupting the company's atmosphere, she withheld my entire month's salary and gave it to her assistant as compensation for emotional distress.

Everyone looked at me sympathetically, thinking I would go crazy and make a scene.

But I just calmly packed up my things from my desk and handed my resignation letter to her.

"Docking my salary isn't enough for bullying a colleague? I'll resign voluntarily."

As soon as I finished speaking, Sloane's assistant Aiden quickly chimed in.

"Dane, how can you resign over such a small matter?"

"You've been with the company for so long, and Sloane has always been so good to you. If you resign at this critical moment, how will everyone view Sloane?"

"Sloane, please come and talk Dane out of it!"

Sloane might have wanted to persuade me earlier.

But after hearing Aiden's words, her anger grew. She snorted coldly: "Why should I persuade him? If he wants to leave, let him leave. I have nothing to hide, I'm not afraid of what anyone might say."

Then, without hesitation, she signed my resignation letter and threw it in my face.

The onlooking colleagues were dumbfounded.

A colleague who was close to me quickly whispered, urging me to apologize and not to act on impulse.

Almost everyone present knew that I had helped Sloane build this company from scratch.

When the company was short on money, I worked tirelessly to secure investments. When projects couldn't be completed, I led the team in pulling all-nighters to get the work done. I had poured countless hours and emotions into every aspect of the business.

Now that the company had completed its financing and was about to go public, anyone in their right mind wouldn't leave at this time.

But I remained calm, picking up the resignation letter from the ground.

"I'll leave after I finish handing over my work."

"No need for a handover, just get out now," Sloane said coldly, pointing at the door.

Seeing this, I said nothing more. After saying goodbye to a few people, I picked up my things and left.

Before I left, I looked back at Sloane one last time.

I clearly saw a flash of complexity in her cold, calm eyes.

Of course, I knew why.

She didn't think I would leave.

We had fallen out before, but after leaving for a short while, I would always regret it and go back to her as if nothing had happened, apologizing and continuing to work as usual.

But perhaps she didn't know that this time was different from before.

My patience with her had finally run out.

I walked to the parking garage.

I found my old car that I had been driving for ten years, with several patches of paint worn off.

Next to it was parked a brand new top-of-the-line Porsche, the one Sloane had just given to Aiden today.

There were many empty spaces in the garage, yet he chose to park right here.

I understood. This was his way of taunting me.

These weren't just two cars; they were more like the two of us.

I had been with Sloane for ten years, yet I wasn't as valued as Aiden who had only joined ten months ago.

I laughed self-mockingly and got into my car.

Just then, a text message came through. I opened it to see a transfer from my friend.

This morning when Sloane said the company wasn't doing well and wanted to cut my salary, I was worried she was under too much pressure. I immediately contacted a friend and borrowed fifty thousand dollars.

I had originally planned to give it to her, but then I inadvertently saw Aiden's Instagram post about Sloane buying him a new car.

At that moment, I was surprisingly calm, feeling neither sad nor jealous to the point of madness.

Perhaps it was because it had happened too many times.

Aiden had been recruited into the company by Sloane as an exception. His work ability was a complete mess, but Sloane, who had always been serious and meticulous about work, could tolerate his mistakes time and time again.

From small things like serving plain water to clients during meetings while getting milk tea for herself, to big mistakes like sending the bottom-line price list to partners instead of the quote list, causing the company to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars.

When I questioned Aiden about these issues, Sloane would unhesitatingly stand in front of him to protect him.

She would look at me with impatience.

"Aiden just graduated, isn't it normal to make some mistakes? Why are you being so harsh on a newcomer?"

Over time, Aiden became increasingly arrogant, to the point where he didn't take me seriously at all.

Soon after, I left the parking garage. As I was waiting for the barrier to rise, my car suddenly jolted.

Realizing I had been rear-ended, I got out of the car, only to see Sloane and Aiden getting out of the car behind, hand in hand.

"I'm so sorry... Oh, Dane, it's you?" Aiden immediately walked up, looking distressed at his dented car front. "But why did you brake so suddenly? I didn't have time to react."

"What a shame, Sloane just gave me this new car," he added.

Sloane also looked at me with a gloomy face and said coldly, "Did you do this on purpose? Did you know Aiden was behind you and deliberately brake to get revenge?"

I almost laughed at her accusation.

It was always like this.