Chapter 4

Once everything was packed up, I opened the door and set off for the airport, about to say a final goodbye to the city I had lived in for so many years.

I had barely left when a silver BMW cut me off. The door opened and Lena rushed over, violently throwing her bag at me.

It hit me right where I had just had surgery. My face instantly went pale as I gasped in pain.

"Are you done throwing your tantrum?" she yelled furiously, kicking my luggage aside and grabbing my collar to slap me hard across the face.

"Is your heart really that small? Just because the project wasn't given to you, you had to sabotage it?"

I was in so much pain I was sweating, but I gritted my teeth and bore it.

"The deal falling through was because of Dylan's own incompetence. It had nothing to do with me."

Lena scoffed coldly, her eyes full of contempt. "You think I'd believe that?"

"You could close the deal, how could Dylan possibly fail?"

"I can see you're just jealous of his abilities."

I laughed bitterly, my eyes bloodshot. "If he's so capable, why don't you just go to him? Why come find me?"

On one hand she looked down on my abilities, on the other she wanted me to come back and work for her. Was I really that cheap in her eyes?

The partnership she thought was so simple was actually the result of me pouring my heart and soul into it, disregarding my health to fight for it desperately.

With one casual sentence, she negated all my years of effort, making all my hard work seem worthless.

Lena's face cycled through shades of red and purple, looking extremely ugly. Seeing I was about to leave, she forcibly dragged me into the car.

"No matter what you say today, you have to come with me."

I was already in so much pain I could barely move. I weakly begged her, "My stomach hurts. Can you take me to a pharmacy first?"

She laughed mockingly. "Are you addicted to acting now?"

"Even if you're in pain to death today, you still have to go close this deal for me first."

My fingers had gone completely cold. I clutched my stomach with difficulty, looking at her in disbelief.

The woman I had loved for so many years could actually say such things.

She could actually watch me suffer to death without batting an eye.

Fine. How lovely.

Hatred surged in my heart. My eyes turned bloodshot as I stared at her fixedly.

Lena ignored my reaction and forcibly dragged me into the meeting room. As soon as we entered, she started exchanging pleasantries with the business partners.

"I'm so sorry everyone. My employee was foolish and inconsiderate, wasting everyone's time."

She kept smiling as she introduced Dylan to the partners, constantly praising him and putting me down, completely oblivious to the partners' strange looks.

Dylan couldn't hide the smugness in his eyes.

"See? The one who isn't loved will always be the loser," he said with the air of a victor, eyebrows raised.

"You loved her for so many years, cherished and protected her. But what use was it? All I had to do was crook my little finger and she came running back to me."

His smug demeanor made it seem like Lena wasn't the love of his life, just a tool for him to show off.

I felt nauseous. The two of them were truly a perfect match - equally dismissive of others' love and efforts.

Lena walked over to us, her smile stiff as she addressed me.

"Hurry up and tell everyone that Dylan was behind all the previous projects. You were just following orders."

"As long as you do this, I can forgive you."

She was still so high and mighty, but I no longer wanted to put her on a pedestal. I moved away from them and walked to the center of the room.

"I'm sorry for taking up a bit of your time," I said, bowing deeply.

"I have now resigned from Lena's company. I won't be participating in any future collaborations with them. Thank you all for your support over the years."

With those words, the room exploded into chaos. Lena's face instantly darkened, but before she could react, the lead partner immediately made his stance clear.

"Evan, if you're not involved in the partnership, then our collaboration with Lena's company ends here."

The others chimed in as well.

"That's right. All these years, if it wasn't for your abilities, we wouldn't have invested money in Lena's company at all. If you're leaving, there's no way we can continue working with them."

I thanked them graciously, no longer caring about Lena and Dylan's ugly expressions as I strode out.

My vision was going dark. I had barely made it to the door when the pain made me lose all strength.