Chapter 5 · Engagement Betrayal

That sentence was like a nail, firmly lodged in my heart. Suddenly, the panic faded.

I nodded. "Okay."

That night, I didn't go back to the apartment I shared with Nick.

Sophie took me back to her place.

I sat cross-legged on the living room carpet, going through the files one by one.

My bank statements. Investment contracts. Receipts for early loans. Emails from when the company was first registered. Trademark application records. And shareholder meeting resolutions.

Eight years of covering Nick's expenses, sleepless nights, and all the documents I'd signed. It was like a web, each thread slowly surfacing from my laptop, piece by piece.

By two in the morning, I came across an old email. It was a revised business plan I'd sent to Nick when Summit Innovations was just getting off the ground.

At the end of the email, I'd written: [We'll build this company together.]

Back then, I truly believed in "together."

My eyes stung, but I held back the tears.

Sophie was sitting nearby, munching on an apple. When she saw me freeze, she leaned over to take a look.

Her face changed when she read it. "Emily."

I closed my laptop. "I'm okay."

"If you need to cry, it's alright."

"Not now," I shook my head. "Crying would just be a waste of time."

Sophie didn't push it.

She pulled me into a quick hug. "Alright, then let's make Nick the one who cries first."

At three in the morning, Nick sent me a message.

Nick: [Emily, you really embarrassed me today, but I'm willing to let it go. Leo is my son. I can't turn my back on him.

[It's been tough for Claire raising him alone all these years, and I owe her. If you still want to be with me, we can get married, but you have to accept him as part of our lives.]

I stared at his message and couldn't help but laugh.

He still thinks I want to stick around.

Another message popped up almost immediately.

Nick: [About the shares, the investors are insisting everything be under one name. If you don't sign, this round of funding will fall through. Didn't you always want Summit to get bigger? So why are you standing in my way now?]

I took a screenshot and sent it to Alex.

He replied almost instantly.

Alex: [Don't reply.]

Half a minute later, another message popped up.

Alex: [He's getting desperate.]

Emily: [How do you know?]

Alex: [No real investor would ever ask you to hand over your legal shares as a proxy unless Nick's already told them your shares will belong to him.]

I stared at the screen, my heart sinking.

Emily: [What do you mean?]

Alex: [He might've already used your shares as leverage in the funding negotiations.]

I nearly crushed the glass in my hand. Nick was even colder than I ever thought possible.

Back when I was only his fiancée, he already wanted me to play stepmom.

Now that I was a shareholder, he wanted me wiped off the shareholder list.

He kept telling me he loved me, but at the same time, he was tearing down every bit of ground I had left to stand on.

Early the next morning, I headed to Summit Innovations.

The office was on the twenty-second floor of a downtown high-rise.

The receptionist looked uneasy when she saw me.

Back when I used to come by, everyone would call me Emily sweetly. But today nobody even dared to say my name.

I walked straight into the conference room.They were in the middle of the morning meeting.

Nick was sitting at the head of the table, with Claire on his right.

She was wearing a white shirt, and there was a temp badge sitting on the table in front of her.

The badge read: Brand Consultant.

I glanced at it and let out a laugh."You sure move fast."

Everyone in the conference room turned to look at me.

Nick's face immediately darkened. "What are you doing here?"

"Since when do shareholders need an appointment to come in?" I shot back.

Claire stood up, her face showing just the right amount of apology. "Emily, I'm just helping out for now. Don't take it the wrong way."

"Oh, I'm not confused," I replied, meeting her gaze. "I'm just wondering how does someone who brings the boss's kid to his engagement party and makes a scene end up as the company's consultant the very next day?"

She bit her lip.

Chapter 5

That sentence was like a nail, firmly lodged in my heart. Suddenly, the panic faded.

I nodded. "Okay."

That night, I didn't go back to the apartment I shared with Nick.

Sophie took me back to her place.

I sat cross-legged on the living room carpet, going through the files one by one.

My bank statements. Investment contracts. Receipts for early loans. Emails from when the company was first registered. Trademark application records. And shareholder meeting resolutions.

Eight years of covering Nick's expenses, sleepless nights, and all the documents I'd signed. It was like a web, each thread slowly surfacing from my laptop, piece by piece.

By two in the morning, I came across an old email. It was a revised business plan I'd sent to Nick when Summit Innovations was just getting off the ground.

At the end of the email, I'd written: [We'll build this company together.]

Back then, I truly believed in "together."

My eyes stung, but I held back the tears.

Sophie was sitting nearby, munching on an apple. When she saw me freeze, she leaned over to take a look.

Her face changed when she read it. "Emily."

I closed my laptop. "I'm okay."

"If you need to cry, it's alright."

"Not now," I shook my head. "Crying would just be a waste of time."

Sophie didn't push it.

She pulled me into a quick hug. "Alright, then let's make Nick the one who cries first."

At three in the morning, Nick sent me a message.

Nick: [Emily, you really embarrassed me today, but I'm willing to let it go. Leo is my son. I can't turn my back on him.

[It's been tough for Claire raising him alone all these years, and I owe her. If you still want to be with me, we can get married, but you have to accept him as part of our lives.]

I stared at his message and couldn't help but laugh.

He still thinks I want to stick around.

Another message popped up almost immediately.

I took a screenshot and sent it to Alex.

He replied almost instantly.

Alex: [Don't reply.]

Half a minute later, another message popped up.

Alex: [He's getting desperate.]

Emily: [How do you know?]

Alex: [No real investor would ever ask you to hand over your legal shares as a proxy unless Nick's already told them your shares will belong to him.]

I stared at the screen, my heart sinking.

Emily: [What do you mean?]

Alex: [He might've already used your shares as leverage in the funding negotiations.]

I nearly crushed the glass in my hand. Nick was even colder than I ever thought possible.

Back when I was only his fiancée, he already wanted me to play stepmom.

Now that I was a shareholder, he wanted me wiped off the shareholder list.

He kept telling me he loved me, but at the same time, he was tearing down every bit of ground I had left to stand on.

Early the next morning, I headed to Summit Innovations.

The office was on the twenty-second floor of a downtown high-rise.

The receptionist looked uneasy when she saw me.

Back when I used to come by, everyone would call me Emily sweetly. But today nobody even dared to say my name.

I walked straight into the conference room.They were in the middle of the morning meeting.

Nick was sitting at the head of the table, with Claire on his right.

She was wearing a white shirt, and there was a temp badge sitting on the table in front of her.

The badge read: Brand Consultant.

I glanced at it and let out a laugh."You sure move fast."

Everyone in the conference room turned to look at me.

Nick's face immediately darkened. "What are you doing here?"

"Since when do shareholders need an appointment to come in?" I shot back.

Claire stood up, her face showing just the right amount of apology. "Emily, I'm just helping out for now. Don't take it the wrong way."

She bit her lip.