Chapter 1

My husband's secretary was a relentless overachiever, always flaunting her so-called selfless devotion at work.

She stayed up late revising the proposal I had written, rewrote it into her own version, and submitted it under her name.

"Rebecca, your vision was too limited," she had said lightly. "I helped elevate it for you. I'm just happy to lend a hand."

She then secretly undercut the price and stole the client I had personally negotiated with.

"Rebecca, the company's interests come first. We cannot lose the bigger picture over small gains," she had declared righteously. "I was just being strategic and helped keep the client."

Clutching the signed contract, she had thrown herself into my husband's arms, crying pitifully.

"Carter, I really didn't mean to steal Rebecca's credit," she had sobbed. "I just wanted to take some pressure off the company. If it weren't for me, we would have lost a major deal."

She paused, then added, "From now on, you should trust me more. I'm the one who can really shoulder responsibility for you."

My husband had gently wiped away her tears. Then he had turned on me and angrily accused me of lacking team spirit and a sense of sacrifice.

Even when I caught the two of them together on the large bed in his office, she had still refused to back down.

"I'm the company's top sales performer," she had said coldly. "Carter wanted to keep me. What's wrong with using a few special methods?"

"I have a broad vision," she had continued, rolling her eyes. "If I were you, I would have sacrificed myself for the company long ago, instead of nitpicking over personal gains and losses."

I had been so furious that I suffered a heart attack. She had picked up an ashtray and smashed it over my head.

My skull had burst open. I had died in unbearable pain. As my consciousness faded, I had heard my husband say to her calmly, "Don't panic.

"I'll release a statement. Rebecca died from a sudden cerebral hemorrhage caused by extreme work stress. I'll honor her as a model employee."

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself back on the night she first stayed up late to optimize my proposal.

*****

When I looked at the proposal I'd poured a whole week of blood, sweat, and tears into, my heart hammered in my chest.

This wasn't a dream.

I was really back, back to the night Serena Doyle took all my hard work and made it hers.

I took a deep breath, forcing myself to stay calm.

My fingers flew across the keyboard as I swapped out a few crucial market projections for last year's outdated stats.

Serena, always scheming for the easy way out, wouldn't have a clue.

She was so obsessed with optimizing. Fine, I would see how she liked 'optimizing' this mess.

Once I was done, I left the building without looking back.

The next day, I called in sick.

Lucia texted me, saying Carter Sullivan had come looking for my proposal, but Serena jumped in and told him she'd already taken care of it.

Carter was totally impressed and went with Serena's version for the pitch to the investors.

Lying in bed, I listened in on the investor meeting from my phone, keeping a low profile.

Serena was at the front of the room, giving her pitch with confidence, until one of the investors started to frown.

"Ms. Doyle, these market projections don't match the data we have. Can you explain the source and your reasoning?" the investor asked.

Serena froze, stammering and totally at a loss for words.

She didn't have the faintest idea where those numbers came from. She'd never waste time double-checking the details.

The investors' faces grew darker by the second.

Carter tried to smooth things over, but his words sounded hollow and weak.

The meeting ended on a sour note.

I could just picture Carter barely holding back his fury.

Right after, my phone rang. It was Carter, his voice a furious roar.

"Rebecca, get your ass to the office right now. Look at the mess you've made," he roared.

As soon as I stepped into Carter's office, I saw Serena clinging to him, sobbing pitifully.

"Carter, I'm so sorry. I really just wanted to help Rebecca make her proposal perfect. I had no idea she used the wrong data. I trusted her so much. I didn't even bother to check again," Serena whimpered.

I marched right up to her and landed two sharp slaps across her face.

"Who told you that you could just take my proposal and do whatever you wanted with it?" I snapped. "You really think it's fine to sneak onto my computer, steal my work, and still act like you're some kind of hero?"

Serena stood there, stunned.

"Ms. Brooks, how could you do this to me? I was just trying to make you look good," she protested, her voice trembling.

Carter gently patted her back, then shot me a furious glare.

"Rebecca, do you have any idea how much you embarrassed the company today? Can't you get your act together?

"How could you screw up the proposal with bad data? She was just trying to help, and now you've made her look bad," Carter snapped.

My heart throbbed with a relentless, prickling pain.

I stared at the man I'd poured all my love into, and now he was blindly turning on me for another woman.

I stared them down and said,

"Mr. Sullivan, Serena, first off, I never asked Serena to fix up my proposal. She took it upon herself to mess with my work and submit it without my say-so," I said.

Serena looked panicked, scrambling to defend herself. "I-I just wanted to surprise you."

"Next," I said, locking eyes with Serena, "And as for the data screw-up?

"I've got every version and all the edit logs saved on my backup computer. So, it'll be crystal clear who's been careless and who's been lying."

Serena's face went very pale. She quickly got out of Carter's arms and stepped in front of me.

"M-Ms. Brooks, let it go, okay? It's all on me. I just wanted to help out and take on more work, but I ended up screwing things up," she stammered.

"Serena, just back off," I snapped.

I hardly pushed her, but Serena let out a dramatic yelp and collapsed to the floor like she'd been struck.

Carter's eyes were blazing with fury.

"Rebecca, haven't you caused enough trouble? Serena was just trying to help. How could you push her? You're being totally out of line," he snapped.

"Enough already. I'll wire you 30 thousand. Go buy whatever you want and just drop it. Quit making a fool of yourself here," he added.

30 thousand?

Memories flashed through my mind, back when we first started out, squeezed into that tiny apartment, surviving on sandwiches for a month straight, trekking for miles just to save money on bus fare.

I wore nothing but bargain-bin clothes from street markets. When the company finally picked up, I treated myself to a shirt that cost a couple of hundred dollars.

He found out, sulked, and lectured me all night. He said I'd lost my roots and was getting too fancy. He even made me write a pledge that I'd never do it again before he finally dropped it.

He kept a tight leash on my spending, all in the name of staying true to our humble beginnings.

But now, just to defend Serena, he threw out 30 thousand without even blinking.

So it was never about being frugal. He just didn't think I deserved it.

With a sharp flick of my wrist, I grabbed the coffee from the table and hurled it right at Carter.

"Why don't you save your money for your beloved secretary's coffin?" I snapped.