Chapter 2
The media was going wild, treating Max like the ultimate CEO rockstar.
He stood under the flashing lights, looking sharp in his suit, that confident smile never leaving his face.
I stood backstage, watching his back, pride swelling in my chest.
We finally made it.
The company's value doubled, and Max's schedule was packed. He was constantly out schmoozing.
Max was getting swept up in the glitz and glamour, bouncing between fancy parties and investor dinners.
Meanwhile, I was holed up in the studio, just grinding away at the new project's effects, tweaking them again and again.
I'd be working late into the night, and he'd stumble home even later, reeking of some unfamiliar perfume.
I asked him, "Why do you smell like some other woman's perfume?"
He froze for a moment, then hugged me, his voice vague. "Babe, it's just business. You know how these things go. Don't worry. I'd never betray you."
Funny, I actually believed him.
It turned out the woman behind that perfume was Jolene Maddox.
That night, he'd just rolled out of her bed.
Jolene was an assistant to a big shot at an investment firm.
She bumped into Max at an industry gala, looking at him with stars in her eyes and gushing about what a genius he was.
Then, she "accidentally" spilled her red wine all over his suit, batting her lashes and apologizing in that sweet, flirty voice.
After that, she kept engineering those "chance" encounters, step by step, pulling him into her sweet little trap.
It was the oldest trick in the book, but Max was a sucker for it.
It didn't take long before they started hooking up in secret.
Max had a moment of clarity, though it didn't last long.
One late night, he stumbled home drunk and found me still hunched over my laptop, working on the script.
He wrapped his arms around me from behind, his voice thick with emotion. "Babe, you've worked so hard. I wouldn't be where I am today without you..."
For a while, he started working late with me and came home early.
But the good times didn't last. Jolene showed up, waving a pregnancy report. "I'm pregnant. It's a boy."
She gave a triumphant little smile, running her fingers over her belly, still flat as a board. "Your wife's all about her career, isn't she? Bet she doesn't even want kids. But me? I really want to give you a real family."
Max couldn't help but waver at the news of a son he had never seen coming.
His parents kept bugging me to give them a grandson, to keep the family line going.
We were so focused on work, and having a baby was never really on our radar.
Max wasn't satisfied with a clean divorce. He went for the low blow and set me up himself.
He wanted me out with nothing, leaving the company, my reputation, and every last dime to him and his new lover.
He bribed some lowlife, promising a big payout if he helped stage a cheating scandal.
He slipped something into my drink, and while I was knocked out, he left me sprawled on a hotel bed, snapping photos to make it look like I'd been caught cheating.
Then, right on cue, he stormed in with a pack of relatives, filming everything, screaming insults, and trashing the place, all in one wild, ugly scene.
Too bad for him that he forgot I built this empire from the ground up. No way was I letting anyone screw me over without a fight.
The divorce was finalized in a matter of days.
Max couldn't even be bothered to act decent anymore.
Less than two weeks later, he was already showing off his engagement pictures with Jolene all over his feed.
In the photos, he had his arm around her waist, smiling so brightly that it almost hurt to look at him. And the caption was enough to make me gag. [Finally met the right one. I'll love you for the rest of my life.]
I stared at my phone, tracing my finger over the picture. Strangely, I felt nothing but calm.
It turned out that betrayal was never an accident, but planned from the start.
My best friend, Miranda Sawyer, burst into my apartment, practically throwing her phone onto the coffee table. "Sabrina, are you seriously just going to take this lying down? You built every bit of this company's core tech yourself. He just hitched a ride on your success! Why should you be the one kicked out with nothing to your name?"
She was getting more fired up, her eyes rimmed red. "And you know what's really disgusting? He actually paid someone to frame you for cheating. The real culprit always points fingers first. He always played the innocent nice guy, but it turns out the ones who bite never bark!"
I made my coffee slowly and deliberately, watching the hot water swirl over the ground coffee as it opened up, the aroma filling the room.
"I've got my own plans," I said, taking a slow sip. "He's not going to get away with this."
Miranda blinked, surprised. "What do you mean? You've got something up your sleeve?"
"He thinks he can just kick me out and rest easy? Just wait and see," I said.
Max was never the brains behind technology.
As the company got bigger, he started living for those networking parties and fancy dinners.
And I always kept a tight grip on the company's core technology.
The company was deep into making a blockbuster animated feature for the global market.
The backers were huge international players, and the contract was absolutely ruthless.
If we couldn't deliver something that blew their minds by the deadline, we'd be slammed with a crushing penalty. Hell, the whole company could go under overnight.