Those images—they had photoshopped me into them.
“That’s not me in the pictures,” I replied calmly.
“Not you?” Cortland laughed bitterly. “Do you think I’m blind? You think I wouldn’t recognize your face?”
He pointed a trembling finger at me. “You really think you’re innocent? I’ve always known you were manipulative and promiscuous. Now the truth is finally out.”
“You seduced someone from a rival company, then tried to frame Thalia for it? Saylor, you’re a venomous, selfish woman. You don’t deserve to stay in Dorance Industries a second longer!”
Thalia stood behind him, a faint smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. She made a show of trying to calm him down but didn’t lift a finger to stop him.
And suddenly, I understood.
Cortland had been waiting for this moment—any excuse to kick me out, to get rid of me completely.
I took a deep breath and glanced at the photos on the floor.
My voice came out cold. “I said that’s not me. Believe it or not, I don’t care. You don’t need to kick me out. I was actually already leaving this company anyway.”
Cortland clearly hadn’t expected me to be so decisive. For a moment, his eyes flickered with surprise.
But Thalia stepped in, right on cue. “Since Saylor has made up her mind, how about we draw up an agreement?”
She smiled sweetly, but her eyes gleamed with calculation.
“You can leave. But you don’t get to take a single cent from Dorance Industries. After all, you always said you married for love, not money, right? Why not prove it by leaving everything behind?”
I froze and then, I let out a soft, mirthless laugh.
“Every single piece of this company was built with my support. And now that you don’t need me anymore, you want me to walk away with nothing?”
I turned to Cortland, my gaze sharp with irony.
“You’re really something else… biting the hand that fed you.”
That sentence landed like a dagger, straight into his pride.
He straightened up sharply, his expression darkening with fury. “You built Dorance Industries? Don’t flatter yourself. All you did was throw in a bit of money. What, you think we’d fall apart without you?”
“We’ve already paid back your investment. Don’t you think you should, like Thalia said, be a bit more sensible?”
Cortland’s expression grew colder when he said that, his guarded eyes watching me as if I might leap forward and snatch their shares at any moment.