Chapter 1
At the company-wide meeting, my wife, Cherry Pratt, read my name out loud three times in front of more than two hundred people.
"Hayden Howe, effective immediately, you are being transferred to the Document Destruction Department," she ordered.
The silence in the conference hall was downright eerie.
I was sitting in the very last row, clutching my half-finished cup of instant spaghetti.
The newbies next to me were stifling their laughter, secretly recording everything on their phones.
Standing right beside Cherry was her favorite protégé, Jett Sully.
He pushed up his glasses and read out my so-called "crimes" right there in front of everyone.
"For three months straight, Hayden's performance has been dead last. Sleeping on the job, watching videos, slacking off—this company can't let that slide."
A wave of snickers rippled through the crowd.
Everyone thought I, the "boss's husband," was finally getting booted out of the company.
No one had a clue.
Every single thing, from the servers to the security doors, was built by me, hands-on.
That so-called "watching videos"? I was actually pulling all-nighters, hunting down bugs and patching up vulnerabilities.
And the "nap" they joked about? I hadn't shut my eyes for more than twenty hours straight the day before.
But I didn't bother to explain any of it.
That night, I booked a flight to Amberisle.
Right before I powered off my phone, the admin team was still pinging me, reminding me to report to the Document Destruction Department the next day.
I just deleted the message.
Day Three.
The company's entire system crashed.
Customer data leaked, warehouse operations ground to a halt, and hundreds of employees were stuck at the entrance, unable to scan their faces to get in.
As for me? I was lounging on the beach in Amberisle, soaking up the sun.
******
"Hayden Howe, effective immediately, you are being transferred to the Document Destruction Department."
In the conference hall, Cherry's voice was icy.
She stood in front of the projection screen, rocking a gray business suit, her long hair pulled back tight—every stray strand by her ear looked razor-sharp.
The whole company—over two hundred people—was so quiet one could hear the air conditioning humming.
And right there, in front of everyone, she read my name out loud three times.
I was slouched in the very last row, still clutching my half-eaten cup of instant spaghetti.
My fork froze halfway to my mouth.
The newbies next to me were secretly pulling out their phones, their eyes lit up like they'd just caught a breaking story.
Someone whispered quietly.
"Is that Ms. Pratt's husband?"
"He used to be pretty impressive, right?"
"How did he end up like this?"
I didn't look up, just slurped down the last bite of spaghetti.
The sauce was still a bit hot.
Up front, Jett had already picked up the mic.
He was Cherry's protégé and the company's newly promoted tech lead.
Late twenties, hair always perfectly slicked back, suit always crisp, and he was forever fiddling with his glasses when he talked.
He shot me a look, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"According to the past three months' performance reviews, Hayden has been consistently slacking off.
"Watching videos during work hours, napping, and being negligent at work.
"The company can't let this kind of behavior slide."
Surveillance screenshots were displayed on the projection screen.
One screenshot showed me leaned back in my chair, asleep.
Another had me holding a cup of spaghetti, watching videos on my tablet.
And there I was, lying on the tech department's couch with my eyes closed in the middle of the night.
A wave of stifled laughter rippled through the crowd.
Someone deliberately coughed.
It felt like I was some kind of embarrassing sideshow, everyone just staring like I was on display.
Jett sighed, loud enough for everyone to hear. "Even though Hayden's got seniority, the rules apply to everyone equally.
"This transfer was personally signed off by Ms. Pratt."
He practically spat out the words "personally signed off."
I finally looked up.
From across the hall, I stared at Cherry.
She didn't look at me.
She never even glanced my way, not once.
It was like she didn't want anyone to know we were married.
But it wasn't always like this.
Three years ago, when the company was just starting out, Cherry was right there behind me, burning the midnight oil every night.
Whenever the servers had issues, I was the one fixing them.
If the whole system crashed, I was the one who handled it.
When things were at their toughest, we could barely make payroll.
Back then, Cherry would sit on the office carpet with tears in her eyes and tell me, "Hayden, as long as you're here, I'm not afraid."
Then the company took off.
She became the famous ice queen CEO everyone in the industry talked about.
And me? I slowly became the most invisible guy in the company.
I smiled to myself, slipped off my employee badge, and casually shoved it into my pocket.
It wasn't a big move.
Still, a lot of people in the conference hall caught it.