Chapter 7

Vice President. One percent of Brighton Corp's shares. Those two words blew up the whole coffee shop like a pair of bombs.

David and Samuel's faces went ghostly pale in an instant.

They never saw it coming. Richard making an offer like that was beyond their wildest dreams.

There were barely five Vice Presidents in all of Brighton Corporation.

And one percent of the shares? With Brighton Corp's current market value, that was an astronomical sum they'd never touch, even if they worked ten lifetimes.

This wasn't about holding onto some regular staff. This was like begging a god to stay.

David's body swayed, and he nearly slid right out of his chair. He knew he was finished.

The bigger the offer Richard threw out, the more it showed how much Charles mattered, and the more it made David look like a total fool for his decision.

Samuel collapsed into his chair, his eyes blank and his mouth hanging open, like a fish out of water.

Richard didn't even spare them a glance.

He fixed his gaze on me, eyes burning with sincerity and hope.

He was waiting for my answer.

The air in the coffee shop was so tense.

All eyes were on me.

I lifted my eyes and met Richard's gaze.

Then, I shook my head gently. "Thank you for your generous offer, Mr. Lane."

My voice was soft, but in the dead silence, it rang out for everyone to hear. "But I can't accept it."

The hope on Richard's face instantly turned to shock.

He clearly hadn't expected me to turn him down.

"Why?" he pressed, his voice tight. "Is it the offer? If you're not satisfied, we can renegotiate. What do you want? Anything. It's all up for discussion."

I shook my head again.

I picked up the cold coffee, but didn't take a sip.

Instead, I stared at my own blurry reflection in the cup. "Mr. Lane, it's not about the offer.

"Eighteen years ago, when I first joined, you were the one who trained us. You said Brighton Corporation was a family, and we were all family here.

"Some of us were more skilled than others, but everyone was treated with respect. We weren't here to make money. We were here to find meaning, to feel like we belonged.

"I believed it. For eighteen years, I believed it."

I slowly lifted my gaze from the cup and turned to look at David and Samuel, who looked like they'd seen a ghost. "I always thought I was working for my family. I gave everything I had, all my best years, to this place.

"The team I built, I treated them like brothers, like my own kids. But this morning, I saw how wrong I was.

"To them, I wasn't family. I wasn't even a person. I was a tool. Once I got old, outdated, and couldn't keep up with their so-called 'pace,' I was thrown out without a second thought.

"Not even a real explanation, just a cold severance package shoved in my face.

"When the cleaning lady tossed out the lily I'd cared for five years like it was garbage, not a single person spoke up for me."

"Richard, do you know what that feels like?" I turned to look Richard in the eye. "It's like everything I believed in collapsed.

"When a mirror breaks, even if you glue it back together, the cracks never go away.

"This isn't the family I once knew. So, I'm sorry, Mr. Lane."

I set the coffee cup down, my voice calm but unwavering. "I'm not coming back.

"What's the point of staying in a place that can toss you out like garbage, no matter how much money or what title they offer?

"That's not belonging. That's a pricier set of chains."

After I finished, people could hear a pin drop in the room.

Richard stared at me, his lips parted, but no words came out.

His expression shifted from disbelief to shock, then finally to a heavy, heartbreaking sadness.

He knew every word I said was the truth.

He also knew that once something was shattered, there was no way to fix it.