Chapter 1
On our eleventh wedding anniversary, James came home early.
I thought he finally remembered what day it was. Instead, he sat across the dining table, stared at the feast I had spent all afternoon cooking, and said, "Susan, I want a divorce.
"Emily's been with me for three years. I don't want to keep her in the shadows anymore."
My hand froze for seconds. "Alright."
James was stunned. In his head, I was supposed to demand answers, burst into tears, and make him account for our eleven years together.
When I was in the hospital two months ago for acute appendicitis and needed a signature for my surgery, I called him 17 times. He never picked up.
I found out later that Emily Dawson was hosting her first standalone product launch for the company that night.
James sat in the front row, snapping photos of Emily all night long.
*****
The next day, we went to the courthouse.
On our way out, James handed me the car keys. "During this thirty-day processing period, keep running the company as usual. Don't bring personal matters into work."
I looked at him and suddenly burst out laughing. "James, since when was I on your payroll?"
His face froze.
I looked down and hit send on a message I had drafted ages ago in our partner chat.
[Hi everyone, effective today, all HarperTech projects will return to standard business procedures. No need to extend any special treatment on my account or give them a free pass anymore.]
[It's been 11 years. I should have handed his company back to him.]
The group went dead silent for seconds after I sent it.
The group chat was named "HarperTech Communications." I created it seven years ago.
It started with only 12 people. Now, it had 197.
It included platform agents, brand distributors, hardware vendors, ad agencies, media outlets, and long-time clients who'd been with us over the years.
When James started out, he hated networking and clammed up around strangers. No matter how great his product was, nobody at the business table was going to read his mind.
I ran his first product pitch, pounded the pavement for his first sales channels, and hit three hotels a day at my busiest only to come home at night and tweak his pitch decks for the next day.
Once the company built a dedicated business team, I stepped back.
Still, whenever partners hit a roadblock, they always reached out to me first.
To them, I was the boss. To the staff at the office, I was only James' wife.
Maybe that was why James forgot I never drew a paycheck from his company.
The first response in the group chat came from the VP of Business over at Rivergate Platform. [Got it. Susan, we should grab dinner sometime.]
Then came a string of handshake emojis.
[Understood.]
[Business is business.]
[Take care, Ms. Miller.]
No one asked about the divorce. People at this level know how to read between the lines.
James stood beside me, watching the messages flood in, his face darkening. "Do you really have to do this?"
I put my phone away. "You're the one who said not to mix personal matters with work. I'm only following your orders."
He looked at me. "It's not like the company ever shortchanged you all these years. You got your dividend cut every year according to your shares."
I held an 8% stake in HarperTech. He had transferred it to me on his initiative before the Series C funding round.
Back then, James told me that if HarperTech made it through its first three years, I deserved at least half the credit.
The equity agreement was down in black and white, and I didn't play modest. Business was not to be sentimental.
Now that our marriage was over, I had no intention of riding on past sentiment to hang around his company anymore.
"Shareholder rights will follow shareholder terms," I said, slipping the acknowledgment receipt into my bag. "For everything else, you can go through with your business operations team."
James' frown deepened. "You know damn well a lot of our long-time clients only deal with you."
"Which is all the more reason to iron things out right now. They partnered with HarperTech, so going forward, they should deal directly with HarperTech." I finished speaking and headed straight for the curb.
He took quick steps after me and reached out to block my path.
The gesture was painfully familiar. Whenever we used to cross the street, he would always shield me on the outside lane.
He seemed to realize it himself, and his hand froze mid-air. "I'll give you a ride."
"That's not necessary."
"You still have to go home to pack your things."
"Not today." I had already packed a round of belongings the night before. My IDs, laptop, and everyday clothes were already loaded into the car.
If I really tried to sift through 11 years of home piece by piece, a few days wouldn't even cut it.
I had zero interest in standing in a walk-in closet, debating who got to keep a scarf or a mug.
My Uber pulled up by the curb.
As I reached for the door handle, James suddenly called out to me. "Susan Miller."
It had been ages since he last addressed me by my full name. I turned around.
Clutching the car keys, he lowered his voice. "Emily doesn't hold a candle to you."
It was a strange thing to say at any time, especially coming from a man who had asked for a divorce to be with another woman.
I didn't respond.
He continued, "I feel relaxed around her. Things at the company have been so overwhelming over the years, and the two of us were turning into nothing more than glorified roommates. I didn't want us to end up hating each other."
"Got it." I got into the car.
The moment the door slammed shut, I saw him still standing in place.
With people coming and going outside the courthouse, his dark gray suit stood out like a sore thumb.
My phone buzzed. It was a text from David Shaw, the Chief Commercial Officer at HarperTech. [Susan, what did you mean by that message in the group?]
I gave it to him straight. [James and I are getting a divorce.]
There was a brief silence on the other end. [Then what about the upcoming contract renewals for channels like Starlane and Rivergate?]
[Handle them yourselves.]
David sent back: [Understood.]
A few minutes later, he added another message: [Susan, thanks for always having our backs all these years.]
I stared at the words, my fingers hovering over the screen.
When he first joined the company seven years ago, he was a fresh graduate who broke out in a cold sweat every time he met a client.
On his first business trip with me, he even bungled a client's last name in the hotel lobby.
Now, he was leading a business operations team of over 30 people.
They were bound to learn to stand on their own two feet eventually. And so was James.