Chapter 4
I stayed silent, and Ethan gave a bitter smile, as if resigning himself.
“If you love being a workaholic so much, then go live with your work.”
He slammed the door shut behind him.
I let out a dry laugh. Yes-why had I become a workaholic in the first place?
Because the playing field between men and women was never balanced.
Ethan only needed to show up for a morning meeting to secure his role as CEO.
Dividends fell into his lap every month, enough to drown in.
But me? I had to stay up all night writing proposals, compiling reports, personally attending endless dinners and networking events-giving everything I had just to hold the same weight in the company as he did.
And whose fault was that?
The man I’d loved for ten years, the husband I had chosen myself-was it that I didn’t want to spend time with him?
Why must a woman’s role at home always come at the cost of her career? I wasn’t willing to accept that.
f I had to choose, I would rather give up love than sacrifice my work.
wiped away my tears, washed up quickly, and went right back to my laptop.
Men might abandon me, but work and money never would.
Ethan didn’t come home for an entire week, not even a single text.
Even the fragile peace we used to maintain-he couldn’t be bothered anymore.
Yet he still didn’t bring up divorce.
Even at the company’s weekly executive meetings, when our eyes met, Ethan avoided me sometimes even deliberately stepping aside.
Everyone noticed the change.
My secretary whispered, “Ms. Carter, did you and Mr. Miller have another fight?”
I pressed my fingers to my temple.
“What makes you say that?”
She hesitated, then spoke.
“Two hours ago, Mr. Miller personally brought in an intern. Starting salary-fifty thousand.”
My eyes snapped open.
“What? An intern? Who? What’s her background?”
“She’s called Chloe Adams.”
My assistant glanced at me, looking guilty.
“Mr. Miller said Chloe reports only to him. She doesn’t answer to anyone else.”
I gave a wry smile. So it had come to this.
When I went to the break room for coffee, Chloe appeared with a smirk.
“Sophia, don’t think that just because I didn’t manage to make Ethan divorce you last time, you’ve won.”
“He’s already placed me in the company. He told me I’ll soon be the lady of this empire. You’d better pack your bags and prepare to get out.”
She sent me an audio file.
Ethan’s chuckle played through the speaker.
“Sophia has no femininity at all. Not cute in the slightest.
But you-you’re a little temptress. You’ve bewitched me completely.”
Their mingled breaths followed.
Chloe’s grin widened smugly.
‘Face the truth, Sophia. You’re not young anymore, and your work can easily be replaced by me.
f you’re smart, you’ll resign now before things get ugly. Otherwise, you’ll end up with nothing.” She deliberately bumped my shoulder as she walked off.
My assistant looked at me anxiously.
‘Ms. Carter, is what she said true?”
smiled faintly. “Of course not.”
All of this-I built with my own hands. Not even Ethan can take it away from me so easily.”
A few days later, Ethan attended a Tiffany & Co. gala.
Scrolling through the news feed, my hand froze on the video.
Just as I suspected-his date was Chloe.
The two of them walked side by side into the spotlight.
Even the reporters praised them as the perfect couple, “a match made in heaven.”
