"Neal. Are you sure you want to take her side like this?"

My stare made him flush with humiliation and fury. He whirled toward the HR director and barked:

"Remove Ivy from her VP position immediately! Starting tomorrow, she cleans the company toilets. She's on janitorial duty!"

Laughter erupted around me—gleeful, mocking. Each laugh drove into my heart like a needle.

And yet, I found myself laughing too. Laughing until tears streamed down my face.

For Neal, I'd sacrificed my youth. I'd poured my parents' inheritance into building this company alongside him, brick by brick.

And this was my reward. Scrubbing toilets.

What a joke.

I turned to leave. Neal rushed after me, leaning close to my ear:

"Ivy, just apologize. I'm trying to protect you. It's only a month of cleaning—just for show, just to avoid suspicion. Once this blows over, I'll reinstate you."

Avoid suspicion.

There it was again.

Those two words had become his all-purpose excuse to exploit me, to hurt me.

"Neal, I don't need your protection. I quit."

Shock froze his features. He couldn't believe what he'd just heard.

I didn't look back. I turned and walked out of the gala, one deliberate step at a time.

Behind me: insults. Mockery.

In my hand, my phone buzzed with a message from Apex Industries HR:

"Ms. Pruitt, congratulations on making the right choice! Effective immediately, you will serve as President of our subsidiary, with full authority over all operations!"

I read the message. A smile spread across my face as I typed my reply:

"Looking forward to working together!"

Moments later, Paddy Finch called.

"Ms. Pruitt, I knew you'd come around! I've always said—staying at Gilbert Corp for the sake of some man was a dead end. With your abilities, I have no doubt you'll land the $500 million contract with Runhao Group. You'll have the company's full support."

My smile deepened.

The Runhao Group's $500 million contract.

Oh, I knew all about it.

That was the project Neal had been hell-bent on landing lately. He'd been bragging nonstop about how this deal would catapult Gilbert Corp to the next level.

What he didn't know was that Malcolm Lambert, the head of Runhao Group, was my mentor.

Malcolm had always admired my abilities. That fifty-million-dollar contract? He'd wanted to work with me from the start.

I'd originally planned to close this deal as a gift for Neal's proposal.

But now, everything had changed.