Chapter 4

I prepared my onboarding documents to go to Porter Group, but just before leaving, Livia's secretary called me.

"Mr. Joseph, Mr. Parker hasn't approved your resignation letter. He wants you to come to the company in person. This is also Ms. Livia's instruction."

Ms. Livia's instruction—this was clearly forcing me to go back.

Without the resignation procedures completed, the bidding project would still be with Livia's company. That project was something I'd negotiated by humbling myself countless times. Now that it had finally won the bid, I had to take it with me.

Parker looked down at me condescendingly and threw the resignation letter on the ground.

"Sorry about that, Joseph. You were Vice President for so many years and you still can't write a proper resignation letter? You didn't even clearly write out the project handover. I can't approve this."

Looking at the resignation letter that had been revised dozens of times on the floor, I clenched my fists and laughed mockingly.

"Deliberately targeting me? Parker, I just don't bother competing with you. Otherwise, with your qualifications, how would you even deserve to sit in the Vice President's seat?"

I picked up the letter and looked at him coldly.

"Speaking of which, you did remind me. The projects I've worked on over the years all involve the company's lifeblood. It really isn't your place to approve them."

Parker arrogantly blocked my way and stuffed a lacy lingerie nightgown into my hands.

"Oh, you're going to see Ms. Livia? Perfect. Help me return this nightgown to Ms. Livia. Last night, Ms. Livia saw I was in a bad mood and insisted on wearing this to cheer me up."

"Let me tell you, never mind firing you for not replying to a message. Even if I said you entered the company with your left foot first and that was wrong, Ms. Livia would listen to me and tell you to get lost!"

"Oh, I almost forgot—this outfit got dirty last night when we both got a bit excited. Joseph, wash it for me before you return it. You've done plenty of laundry and cooking anyway."

Rage surged from my feet to my head. I could no longer hold back and swung my fist at his face.

"Parker, you're actually proud of being a homewrecker?!"

The force clearly wasn't that great, yet he fell to the ground with a thud, covering his face and crying out in admission of fault.

"Joseph, I was wrong, but the resignation letter must follow proper procedures! Hitting me won't help—anyone would have to follow this process!"

Following his words came an aggressive sound of the door being kicked open.

Livia looked at him on the ground and, without a moment's thought, raised her hand and slapped my face.

"Joseph! You actually dared to hit Parker!"

A burning pain spread across my face. Looking at Livia's bone-chillingly cold eyes, it took me a while to realize what had happened.

"Apologize."

She spoke icily, looking at me with eyes like ten-thousand-year-old ice, piercing me until my whole body went cold.

"Won't you even ask what happened?!"

My eyes reddened. I felt my head splitting with pain. I could barely stand steady.

"You hit Parker and you still think it's Parker's fault?! You're being completely unreasonable now. Get out of my way! I need to take Parker to the hospital!"

She pushed me aside impatiently. With my ears ringing and head dizzy, her push actually made me fall to the ground.

She paused while holding Parker's hand, about to come help me up, when Parker suddenly cried out.

"Livia, what do I do? My head feels so dizzy. I don't know if Joseph's punch just now injured my brain!"

Anxiety filled Livia's eyes. She looked at me, then at Parker, and finally let go of me.

Before losing consciousness, what echoed in my mind was still that deafening slap.

And that hard-to-believe yet unavoidable truth.

The woman who used to make me breakfast every day had actually raised her hand against me for another man's sake.