Chapter 3

"Miss Ferrell, you've been in charge of this project from the start. Now the client says there's a problem with the proposal. I need a reasonable explanation," the leader said.

Hearing this, the other employees immediately started whispering among themselves. They'd heard Kylie complain about how I bullied her, and now they finally had a chance to get back at me.

Their eyes were practically screaming that they wanted me out of here.

"Miss Ferrell, you actually managed to screw up such an important project? Don't you realize how much Mr. Houston values this?" one of them said.

"Why on earth did they let her handle the proposal? If Miss Scott had been in charge, this never would've happened," another chimed in.

"Do you think Miss Ferrell's salary could even cover the losses?" someone else whispered.

"Cover the losses? Like she could afford that. If you ask me, she should just get lost already," another person said.

I ignored their remarks and glanced at the title of the proposal. I scoffed. "I wasn't the one responsible for this project. It was Kylie."

Mina Cook, who was always trailing after Kylie, sneered. "Wow, you mess up but don't have the guts to own it? Could you be any more shameless?"

She added, "This was obviously your project, and now you're trying to throw Miss Scott under the bus? Do you think we're all idiots or something?"

Everyone else chimed in, backing her up.

Just then, HR walked over and told me my resignation had been approved.

Mina looked at me with pure disdain. "Now you want to quit? Seriously? That ship sailed ages ago. You should be worrying about how you're going to pay for the company's losses and how you're going to face Mr. Houston about this.

"You're a total train wreck. The company should've kicked you out long ago. If it weren't for Miss Scott's kindness, always stopping Mr. Houston from firing you, you'd have been gone ages ago."

As soon as she finished, the others started yelling to throw me out right away, saying I was a jinx and shouldn't mess up the company's luck.

In just a few minutes, they shoved my things into a black trash bag and dumped it outside like trash.

Mina, the ringleader, looked at me standing there and said, "Chloe, seriously? You still haven't left? Do you want us to drag you out ourselves?"

I shot a look at Mina, who was smirking like she was queen of the office. Seriously? This two-faced wannabe thought she could boss me around?

Without hesitation, I slapped her twice across the face. Then, with everyone staring at me in shock, I walked out of the company.

A few days later, I got another message from Kylie, this time with a bunch of couple photos. She was clearly showing off.

She asked: [Hey, you and Adam have been together for ages. Have you ever taken any couple photos?]

Kylie: [I've never seen a single photo of you two at Adam's place. Seriously, do you guys not even have a regular photo together?]

I really didn't want to deal with her, and was about to block her, but I couldn't help clicking on the photos she sent.

Turns out, they actually did a wedding-themed shoot.

My chest tightened. Was Adam actually going to marry Kylie?

Suddenly, it hit me. The wedding was almost here, and Adam and I still hadn't taken our wedding photos.

I'd mentioned it to him before, but he always brushed me off, saying he was too busy with work to join me for the photoshoot.

But in reality, all that so-called "work" was just Adam taking Kylie out for some fun.

Just then, my mom called to check on the wedding preparations. She said, "Chloe, make sure everything's perfect, okay? Don't let anything go wrong and make the Houston family look bad.

"If you need any help, just let me know. Don't let anyone walk all over you. Just because our family's fallen on hard times doesn't mean we'll let anyone bully us."

Upon hearing her, I pictured Adam in that custom suit, with a bright smile on his face. I said quietly, "Mom, I'm calling off the wedding."

My mom assumed I was just being moody about Adam again and tried to calm me down. "Chloe, Adam's a good kid. What's wrong with cutting him some slack? You two are about to get married. Don't tell me you're planning to walk up there looking all grumpy."

Cut him some slack?

All these years, I kept compromising for him. He used my projects to please Kylie, took her on trips without me, always putting her first. I used to think that if I kept giving in, things would eventually get better.

But instead, he just kept crossing the line. Now he was gone so far as to take wedding photos with Kylie.

This time, I really wasn't going to compromise anymore.

When I stayed silent, she just tossed out a couple of casual reminders and hung up.

Not long after, the butler informed me that the custom wedding dress and suit had arrived. He mentioned Adam had already gone ahead to the shop, and I should head over too.

I was a bit surprised. I'd assumed Adam wouldn't be back until the actual wedding day. He never came back from his trips in less than two weeks.

Did he actually care about this wedding? But if he really cared, why would he just dump everything on me and not bother to help?

I scoffed at myself for even thinking that, then headed down to the garage and drove to the bridal shop.

As soon as I got to the shop, I could hear Kylie and Adam arguing inside.