Chapter 2

Holly whined and threw a tantrum to complain, nearly making everyone in the office throw up.

But as soon as they heard Keith on the other end, all soft and indulgent toward Holly, everyone switched gears and started showering her with compliments.

I felt a bit out of it. After eight years of marriage, there was no way I could mistake Keith's voice.

He actually treated Holly like she was his girlfriend.

So what did he take me for as his wife?

Noticing I was lost in thought, one of Holly's minions started yelling, "Bella,it's not too late to apologize to Holly."

Holly heard that and immediately raised her chin, acting all high and mighty.

"If you bow three times to me and let me slap you ten times to beg for mercy,I may consider forgiving you," she said.

I came back to my senses, shook my hands, and spoke bluntly, "If you weren't so stupid, I wouldn't mind slapping you a couple more times."

Yeah, my hand stung a bit, but what could I say? I was too generous sometimes.

Holly saw I wasn't frightened at all. Instead, I'd called her a fool and even threatened to slap her a couple of times. Not being quick-witted enough to fire back, she was so furious that her chest was heaving violently.

Luckily, before she could actually blow a fuse, her knight in shining armor arrived. The moment Holly spotted Keith at the door, her eyes sparkled, and she rushed over. "Keith, look at my face. This old witch nearly ruined it."

Holly was bawling and clinging to Keith, acting all cutesy and dramatic.

And Keith, my husband and boss, didn't even look at me. He just cradled Holly like she was the only one that mattered, fussing over her.

"Who's got the balls to lay a hand on my girl?" Keith snapped, his anger practically boiling over.

The whole office shot me pitying glances.

"Told you to take the severance and leave while you could. Now you’ll end up penniless and might even owe a big compensation fee."

"Did you think she was kidding about being the boss's darling?" someone snickered.

I ignored the office gossip and gave Keith a half-smirk. "Mr. Marcus, word is you fired me and handed my spot to your girlfriend, huh?"

Keith met my gaze, froze, and blurted, "Why'd you show up at the office first?"

Usually, after a business trip, I'd stop by home before coming to my office. But this time, I was in such a rush. I came straight to the company to clock in.

Keith gave me a look, signaling he wanted to talk in his office.

But Holly grabbed his arm tightly. "Keith, you promised you'd never let anyone hurt me. Call the cops and get this old hag thrown in jail."

My gaze fell on their arms. A moment ago, I might have thought it was all misunderstanding, but now I have to believe something is going on.

I couldn't help but wonder why. After eight years together, we'd never once flaunted our relationship in public.

Was this the difference between being loved and not being loved?

With me and the whole office watching, Keith's face grew darker by the second. He snapped, "Bella, do you have any idea how much damage it does to the company when our top salesperson gets into a fight in front of everyone?

"What will our clients think? What about our colleagues?

"As the head of sales, is this how you lead by example?"

I took a deep breath, swallowing all the resentment boiling inside me.

"Funny how you forgot I was your top salesperson when you fired me, but now that I slapped someone, you dull-head fool finally remembered?" I shot back.

It was ridiculous.

Back then, I cared because I was the boss's wife. If the company did well, so did I.

Now that he had got his side chick taking over my spot, why should I care about all that nonsense about reputation? I was not stupid.

"You..." Keith choked, at a loss. He knew me. When I stopped worrying about appearances and started calling people out, it meant I was beyond furious.

I knew him as well, and now I finally understood what he was really after.

Everything that happened today was Keith's way of warning me.

At work, he was my boss. He called all the shots when it came to my career.

Even though I skipped out on New Year's Eve with my family, flew to some small country nobody had even heard of, and busted my ass for three days and nights to land that overseas deal, he could still fire me on a whim.

At home, he was the pillar of his family, the guy his parents and relatives all depended on. Everyone thought I owed everything to him.

Once he saw the realization dawn on my face, Keith's expression finally relaxed a little.

He said, “Bella, your mom was the one who said you should quit. You're getting older, and if you don't start trying for a baby soon, it might be too late. The company laid you off as a favor to you, out of kindness."

"Relax, I've looked into it. Holly's got everything you had: work skills, social smarts, and the whole package. So you head home and start working on preparing for pregnancy."

He made it sound so noble, like he was being all magnanimous.

The office crowd was already lining up to kiss his ass, throwing compliments left and right.