Chapter 2

My fists clenched so tightly my knuckles turned white.

When I dialed that long-forgotten number, my voice was calm, cold as ice.

"Mr. Hansley, this is Olivia Wynn. I've decided to accept your offer to become president of your Britannia branch, but I have two conditions."

I fixed my gaze on the group of students tearing up our project files, then said clearly, "First, I'm taking my entire team with me. All thirty-two members—no one gets left behind.

"Second, every one of them gets a salary increase of at least two thousand dollars."

There was a brief silence on the other end, followed by a delighted laugh.

"Deal," he said. "In fact, I'll raise everyone's pay by twenty thousand a year. Welcome aboard, Ms. Wynn."

I turned to Mike, whose face was pale with disbelief, and took his arm. Together, we went to gather the rest of the employees who had been reassigned to janitorial duty.

After a quick meeting, a few of us—my core team—headed to HR.

"Ms. Grant," I said, placing the stack of papers on her desk, "all thirty-two of us are resigning.

"These are our resignation letters."

Nicole Grant, the HR Director, shot to her feet, her face drained of color.

"Ms. Wynn, you can't be serious. You, Mike, Jackie—you're the backbone of this company. Your department alone brings in eighty percent of the total revenue.

"I don't even have the authority to approve this. I'll have to check with Mr. Foster."

She fumbled for her phone, but I didn't stop her.

Before she could make the call, the office door swung open. Emily walked in, her belly round and visible beneath her designer dress.

She smiled smugly, waving her phone, "No need to call.

"Charlie told me himself—the entire sales department is under my control now. And if you all want to quit, that's fine. But first, you'll return every penny of the bonuses you've earned over the years. Then I'll approve your resignations."

My fists tightened again.

Charles, how could you let her humiliate us like this?

Those bonuses were earned through years of sleepless nights and sacrifice.

"Ms. Hart," I said, keeping my tone cold, "those bonuses are legally earned compensation. You have no right to demand we return them."

"I don't care," she said with a smirk, one hand resting on her stomach. "Either you pay it back, or you keep working here.

"Charlie said I'm in charge now, and you'd better listen to me or I'll make sure none of your resignations go through."

I forced myself to stay calm as I pulled out my phone and dialed Charles' number.

It rang for a long time before he finally picked up, his voice dripping with irritation. "What is it now?"

Before I could say a word, Emily snatched the phone from my hand. Her tone instantly shifted to one of pitiful fragility.

She sobbed. "Charlie, Olivia's being impossible. She's refusing to follow orders and trying to intimidate me.

"I know she's jealous because I'm carrying your child, but does she have to treat me like this? I'm scared."

"Put her on the phone," Charles barked, his voice rising sharply.

Emily handed the phone back to me with a smug smile, her performance so cheap and exaggerated it made my stomach turn.

I took back the phone, trying to avoid stirring up more trouble, and began to explain.

"Charles, I don't care about you and her. I just want to settle the team's resignation—"

"Olivia!" Charles' voice exploded across the line, sharp and furious. "You seriously can't tolerate Emmy and the child she's carrying?

"You know this might be my only chance to have a child in this life, yet you're deliberately making things difficult for me?"

I pressed my lips together and said firmly, "I have no interest in making life hard for the woman you're cheating with. Listen carefully. I'm processing resignations—not just mine, but everyone on my team—"

Emily suddenly sidled up to me, her voice sugary and teasing.

"Charlie, come on. Don't be mad at Olivia. I just want some pizza from Outskirts. Let Olivia go get it for me. Consider it a way to make amends."

"Did you hear that?" Charles said coldly. "My fiancée wants pizza. Go get it now."

Outskirts was hours away from the office. The round trip would take at least four hours.

I refused outright. Charles laughed cruelly on the other end. "Fine. If you won't get it, your team will have no way to survive.

"Whether you obey me now is up to you."

And just like that, he hung up.

My throat felt like it was being cut with a knife. My heart was a battlefield of numbness and pain.

I knew this wasn't just about Charles spoiling Emily. It was about the child in her womb.

But we had once had a child too.

During a critical time at the company, I worked until the early hours of the morning. One day, I suddenly fainted in a meeting room and was rushed to the hospital, where they discovered I was eight weeks pregnant.

I lost the baby because of exhaustion.

I was too afraid of upsetting him, so I lied, saying it was just a stomach problem, and silently endured the grief alone.

All of this now, the betrayal, the humiliation, it proved one thing—I had been entirely wrong to trust him.

Emily proudly rubbed her belly and looked at me.

She sneered, "You see his attitude, right? He listens to me on everything. If you just agree to buy me pizza, I'll approve your resignations immediately.

"Following the normal process would take at least a month, and I'm guessing you don't want to spend another month scrubbing toilets, do you?"

I accepted her provocation. "Fine. I'll do it."

The core members of my team immediately teared up.

"Ms. Wynn, don't!" Mike grabbed my arm. "They're clearly humiliating you!"

"Exactly!" Jackie slammed her hand on the desk. "Even if we have to put up with this, Mr. Foster has gone too far. Don't kneel to them. Worst case, we just sweep toilets for a month."

I shook my head. "It's fine. Consider it the last time I run errands for this company."

Four hours later, drenched in rain and carrying the pizza from Outskirts, I returned to the villa, utterly disheveled.

In the living room, Emily perched on Charles' lap.

She deliberately cooed, "Charlie, look. Olivia actually went and got the pizza."

Charles' tense expression softened slightly as he reached for the takeout.

He said, "Smart move. Since you brought it back, stay and eat with us."

I ignored him and walked straight upstairs.

Immediately, his voice followed, sharp and annoyed. "Olivia, I'm talking to you."

I pushed open the bedroom door, only to find the room completely stripped of my belongings.