Chapter 2

The vibe in the living room instantly dropped to freezing.

Michael's smile froze, like someone had slapped him right in the face. His expression was awkward and downright ugly.

Victoria's smile stiffened too. She stared at me in disbelief, her eyes searching and probing, trying to figure me out.

"Sarah, what's that supposed to mean?" Michael's voice dropped, sounding downright threatening.

"Isn't it clear enough?" I stood up and walked right up to them.

I was a bit taller than Victoria, and looking down at her, I caught a flash of panic in her eyes.

"The company is mine. You two are just managing it for me," I said.

"Are you out of your mind?" Michael growled. "This company only got to where it is because Victoria and I poured ten years of blood, sweat, and tears into it. What else have you ever done besides sit back and collect your dividends?"

"Exactly," Victoria chimed in, snapping back to her cool self as she linked arms with Michael, like they were ready to face me as a team.

"Come on, Sarah, have a little conscience. If it weren't for us, the company would've crashed and burned ages ago. Don't you think you're going way overboard right now?"

I looked at them, and it honestly felt like I was watching a cringeworthy stage play.

Two thieves who'd stolen everything from me were now pretending to be saints, lecturing me about gratitude.

"Conscience?" I rolled the word around, the irony almost making me laugh. "When you marched in here with your bastard son and asked me to hand over my school district house to him, why didn't you bring up conscience then?"

"You!" Michael was left speechless, his face turning beet red.

"That's different," Victoria shrieked. "Adam is Michael's son. He's Reed blood. Since you're holding onto the Mrs. Reed title, you owe it to the Reed family to do your part."

"Mrs. Reed?" I snorted. "Isn't that what you've always wanted? It's all yours."

Victoria's face went ghostly pale.

She always thought I stuck around because I still loved Michael, that I just couldn't let him go.

She had no clue. I was just plain lazy.

I was too lazy to deal with all the paperwork, too lazy to split up the assets, too lazy to face all those looks, whether pity or schadenfreude.

Divorce was way too much hassle.

Nothing beat lying around and cashing checks.

But now, they went and shattered my peace and quiet with their own hands.

Michael probably figured I was just sulking. He took a deep breath, swallowed his anger, and tried to look all understanding, putting on his best 'nice guy' act.

"Sarah, I get it, you're not in the best mood today. Let's drop the house thing for now, we'll talk about it some other time," he said.

He came over, trying to grab my hand.

I pulled back, avoiding him.

His hand froze there, hanging in the air.

"You're probably tired. Go get some rest. Victoria and I have a ton to deal with at the company, so we're heading out," he said.

He was just trying to stall, thinking that like every other time in the past ten years, I'd throw a fit, sleep it off, and forget all about it.

Too bad for him, this time was different.

"Stop right there," I said coldly.

Michael froze.

"Didn't you hear what I said?" I asked.

I turned around, grabbed a dusty folder from the study, and slapped it down on the coffee table.

"This is the shareholding agreement we signed ten years ago. Everything's spelled out here, plain as day," I said.

"Party A: Sarah Lane. Party B: Michael Reed, Victoria White.

"You two were only ever holding and managing 100% of Innovatech Solutions' shares for me. The company has always been mine. End of story."

Michael's pupils shrank in terror.

He stared at the agreement like he'd just seen a ghost.

He probably figured that after all these years, this thing he thought was just trash had long since been tossed in some corner, gathering dust and mold.

He remembered ten years ago.

My father died suddenly, and I was like a puppet with its strings cut, crying day and night.

Back then, he was just a junior project manager, and Victoria was his intern.

They stood in front of me, promising me the world about the company's future, saying they'd help carry on my father's legacy.

I believed them.

Or maybe I didn't have the strength to think straight. I was just desperate for something to hold onto.

So I signed the papers.

From then on, they were the ones calling the shots at the company, while I became that "lazy wife living off her husband" everyone whispered about.

"Sarah, don't push it." Michael's voice was shaky, not angry anymore, but straight-up panicked. "That agreement is ancient history. The company's expanded, gone public, raised tons of capital.

"The whole ownership structure is different now. You really think this is still the tiny workshop from ten years ago?"

"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow, my tone dripping with sarcasm. "No matter how much you shuffled things around, how did my 100% founder shares magically get diluted into your names?

"And tell me, whose money did you actually use for all those so-called expansions? Was it yours, or mine?"

I stepped right up to him, my gaze cutting through him like a blade.

"Michael, did you seriously forget? After the company went public, I'm still the biggest shareholder. Those so-called management incentive shares you two got, how much are they really worth?"

Michael's lips quivered, but he couldn't get a single word out.

He always assumed I was clueless, that I had no idea what was going on.

He thought I was just some lazy wife, lying around all day, totally disconnected from the real world.

He forgot. Just because I was lazy didn't mean I was blind.

I checked every single financial report, without fail.

And every dividend that hits my account? I remembered it all, dollar for dollar.

"Sarah, you can't do this," he finally dropped the act, his voice cracking with panic as he started throwing threats around.

"The company can't run for a single day without me and Victoria. All the execs, all the project managers are my people. You think you can handle it all by yourself? If the company goes down, you won't see a single cent."

"Don't worry about it," I said, pulling open the study door and gesturing for them to leave. "Tomorrow at nine sharp, I'll be at the office. I expect my chairwoman's office to be spotless when I get there."

"You!" Michael shouted, totally losing it.

"And one more thing," I said, staring them down, every word crystal clear. "Starting tomorrow, unless I say so, don't even think about stepping foot in the company."

With that, I didn't bother looking at their furious faces. I walked straight into the bedroom and locked the door behind me.

Outside, Michael was cursing like crazy, while Victoria frantically tried to calm him down.

I ignored them completely.

I walked over to the window and stared out at the city lights blazing in the night.

This was the city where my father built his legacy.

This company was the only thing he left behind for me.

I'd been lazy for ten years. Time to finally wake up.