My mom had just finished her second round of chemotherapy. She wore a wig to attend my engagement dinner. The private dining room door slid open. But it wasn’t the waiter. It was Carter’s assistant, Vivian Ward. Behind her were a few colleagues from the office. The dishes they carried in were leftover scraps packed from the company cafeteria. I could even see half-eaten food smeared on the plastic containers. “Mr. Brooks said the project budget is really tight lately,” Vivian said, her smile dripping with sweet concern. “I personally asked the cafeteria staff to save these for you. These are the premium dishes everyone is usually too broke to order.” I snapped my head toward Carter. He was looking down at his phone, texting. He didn’t even raise his eyelids. “Vivian is right, Chloe. The company is going through a tough time. As the future lady of the house, you need to be understanding.” Vivian suddenly poured a glass of cheap whiskey and walked toward my mom. “Mrs. Vance, I heard your medical bills cost Mr. Brooks a fortune? Let me toast to you. Thank you for raising a daughter who knows exactly how to ‘seize an opportunity.’” I raised my hand to slap her, but Carter grabbed my wrist in a death grip. “Chloe Vance,” his eyes were ice-cold. “If you dare touch Vivian, this engagement is off.”
My dad’s hand shook as he took the glass from her. “Chloe, your mom can’t drink. I’ll drink it for her.” The cheap, burning alcohol made him cough, his eyes turning red. Under the table, my mom gently squeezed my hand. “It’s okay, sweetheart. The food is fine.” Carter threw my hand back, a mocking sneer on his lips. “I knew you’d be sensible.” Vivian immediately wrapped her arms around his, tears streaming down her face on cue. “Carter, did I do something wrong? I just wanted to save the company some money…” She grabbed a handful of the cold leftovers, pretending she was going to stuff them into her own mouth. Carter quickly pulled her into a hug. “Don’t ruin yourself for them!” He turned to my parents, his voice laced with disgust. “You two probably don’t know this, but when I first started my business, I couldn’t even afford leftovers. If you look down on this meal, then Chloe and I are done.” My mom suddenly burst into a violent fit of coughing. A streak of blood seeped from the corner of her mouth. My dad panicked, wiping her lips. “We’re fine with it, Carter. Really. As long as you and Chloe are happy…” Vivian smiled instantly. She pushed a plate of cold, soggy shrimp toward my dad. “Then eat up, Mr. Vance.” Before I could blow up, the door opened again. This time, the hotel manager walked in, carrying a steaming, freshly cooked lobster. “Mr. Brooks, the main course you ordered is here.” I let out a breath. At least he wasn’t completely heartless. But Carter redirected the plate right in front of Vivian. “Vivian has been working so hard overtime lately. She needs the nutrients. You guys just eat what you have.” I slammed my dad’s fork out of his hand. “Carter Brooks! You make my parents eat leftovers, and you give your assistant the lobster?” He frowned, annoyed. “Chloe, when did you become so materialistic? Is a lobster more important, or am I?” I helped my parents up and walked toward the door. I stopped right at the threshold. “In my world, nobody gets to humiliate my parents.” “Carter, we are over.” Behind me, the sound of plates smashing echoed through the room. “Chloe Vance, you will regret this!” I took my parents to a quiet diner to get some warm soup. But when we got back to our apartment complex, our belongings were scattered all over the muddy lawn. My mom’s medicine box was smashed, pills rolling into the dirt. I rushed to the door. The smart lock’s passcode had been changed. My dad frantically searched the grass. “Chloe! Your mom’s targeted cancer meds are gone! She has to take them tonight, or she’ll relapse!” I called Carter. Vivian answered. “Mr. Brooks is in the shower. What’s up? Weren’t you so tough and independent this afternoon?” In the background, I heard Carter’s voice. “Who is it?” “Nobody, just spam,” Vivian said and hung up. My mom was already whimpering, curled up in pain on a cold bench. I slammed my fists against the door. “Carter! Open the door! Give me the medicine!” After ten minutes of pounding, the door finally opened. Vivian stepped out, purposely stepping on one of my suitcases. She jingled my car keys in front of my face. “The car is a company asset registered under Mr. Brooks’ name. Want it back? Beg me.” I reached out to grab them. She let out a fake shriek, jumped back, and crushed my mom’s last bottle of medicine under her high heel. “Chloe Vance!” Carter rushed out and kicked my leg. “How dare you put your hands on her!” Vivian threw herself into his chest, sobbing. “I just wanted to bring Mrs. Vance her medicine…” Carter patted her back gently, then looked at me with pure disgust. “Vivian thinks about my company in everything she does. Unlike some people who use their status as a fiancée to run wild.” I laughed out of sheer anger. “I lived in a moldy basement with you for three years! I secured almost all your major clients! And now I’m the one running wild?” Vivian suddenly broke free from his hug. “It’s all my fault. I’ll just leave!” Carter pulled her back and roared at me, “Look at her! Vivian always puts me first! All you ever do is take, take, take!”
I looked him dead in the eye. “So, you think I’m only after your money?” Carter went quiet for a second, then scoffed. “You said it, not me.” Right then, my mom started seizing and passed out. I snatched the car keys to take her to the ER, but Carter blocked the car door. “Apologize to Vivian first.” Vivian brought out a glass of warm tap water. “Maybe Mrs. Vance just needs some water to wake up?” My mom was losing consciousness. Tears streamed down my face as I begged him. “Carter, let me take her to the hospital first. Please.” He didn’t budge an inch. “Apologize.” Looking at my mom’s pale, turning-blue face, I bowed my head to Vivian. “I’m sorry.” Satisfied, Carter took the water cup, pinched my mom’s jaw, and forced the water down her throat. She choked violently. A thick stream of blood gushed from her nose and mouth. He finally panicked. He drove us to the hospital at lightning speed. In the emergency room, the doctor screamed at me, “Who fed water to a gastric cancer patient?! Her esophageal lining is ruptured and bleeding out!” My dad wept. “Her medication… it was lost…” Vivian whimpered from the corner. “I just wanted to help her take her pills…” I grabbed her by the collar. “You touched her medicine?” Carter shoved me away. “She was only trying to help! Can you stop assuming the worst of people?!” When the red “In Surgery” light turned on, I collapsed onto the hallway floor. A nurse rushed out. “We are out of Rh-negative blood! The last unit in stock was just signed off by a Mr. Brooks for his assistant—” I ran up to the third-floor ward. Vivian was lying on a bed, scrolling on her phone with an IV in her arm. “Give the blood back to my mom,” I got down on my knees, begging Carter. “She’s going to die.” He raised an eyebrow. “Is this how you beg someone?” I swallowed every ounce of my pride. “Mr. Brooks, I beg you.” Carter finally softened a bit. “Vivian is just feeling a little dizzy. If you apologize properly, she might give it to you.” Vivian stretched her leg out, tripping me. “How about a little bow first?” I looked toward the direction of the ER. My forehead hit the cold, dirty tile floor. “I’m sorry.” Vivian suddenly ripped the IV out of her arm. Blood splattered onto the floor. “Oops! My hand slipped!” I went crazy, trying to scoop up the blood bag from the floor. But Carter pulled me back. “Are you insane? That’s dirty! I’ll find another way.” In my deepest despair, someone gently pulled me up. Mr. Sterling, the senior partner of our law firm, walked in. He handed a fresh blood bag to the nurse, then turned to Carter, pulling a stack of legal documents from his briefcase. “Mr. Brooks, according to the proxy shareholder agreement Ms. Vance signed before your marriage, the 45% of the company shares she holds through you are now officially revoked.” He then looked at Vivian. “And as for you, Ms. Ward, you are officially notified. The evidence of your embezzlement of company funds is solid.” Carter’s face drained of color. “What shares?!” Mr. Sterling smiled coldly. “The proxy agreement you made Ms. Vance sign. Did you forget?” He supported my shaking shoulders. “Ms. Vance, the board has been waiting for you to return and take charge for a very long time.” When the ER light finally went off, the doctor walked out with a reassuring smile. I took one last look at Carter, who looked like he had just seen a ghost, took Mr. Sterling’s suit jacket, and walked away. My mother’s face was still pale when they rolled her out of the operating room, but her breathing was stable. The doctor took off his mask, his voice grave but relieved. “The bleeding has stopped, but the damage is severe. She needs absolute rest and the best care possible. Ten minutes later, and we wouldn’t have been able to save her.” I held my mom’s cold hand, tears finally spilling over. It wasn’t out of self-pity, but the sheer terror of almost losing her. Mr. Sterling stood quietly by my side. Once I calmed down, he handed me a thick leather folder. “Ms. Vance, here are all the copies of the proxy agreement, the email records of the core project designs you anonymously provided to the company over the years, and the bank statements of Carter Brooks and Vivian Ward offshore transfers.” I took a deep breath and took the files. My fingers touched the cold paper. My heart was even colder. Carter and Vivian were “escorted” to an empty consultation room nearby by the hospital security and Mr. Sterling’s men. When I walked in, Carter was pacing anxiously. Vivian was curled up in a chair, her face white as a sheet, all her previous arrogance gone. “Chloe, what is going on? What shares? Is what Mr. Sterling said true?” Carter spoke first, trying to assume his usual controlling tone, but the tremor in his voice gave him away. I didn’t even look at him. My eyes landed straight on Vivian. “Ms. Ward, or should I call you… Carter’s ‘secret accountant’? You used your position to help Carter embezzle over twenty million dollars of project funds. The evidence is airtight. Do you want to settle this with me now, or should we wait for the white-collar crime division?” Vivian snapped her head up, looking at Carter in horror, her lips trembling. Carter’s face turned purple. “Chloe Vance! Don’t you dare threaten us! The company is mine!”
“Yours?” I finally looked him in the eye, my lips curving into a cold smirk. “Do I need to remind you who used her entire life savings to fund you five years ago when you failed your first startup and had absolutely nothing? Who did it just because she believed in your stupid dream? And who, to protect your fragile, pathetic ego, agreed to sign that proxy agreement and willingly stayed in the shadows to write your business plans?” I stepped closer to him. Mr. Sterling handed me the documents one by one. “The name ‘Nova Tech’ was my idea.” “The core code for your first viral software was written by me during sleepless nights.” “Mr. Harrison—the investor you literally begged on your knees for—was a connection I got for you through my family.” “Carter, without Chloe Vance, you’d still be a nobody eating instant ramen in a rented basement. From the very beginning, the biggest shareholder and the actual brain of the company has been me. You were just a CEO I hired.” Carter stared at the black-and-white documents, his pupils dilating. It was like he was seeing me for the first time. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Right then, the door opened. A few board directors walked in, accompanied by two police officers. “Mr. Brooks, Ms. Ward,” the lead officer flashed his badge. “We received a formal report with verified evidence regarding grand larceny and corporate embezzlement. Please come with us to the station.” Vivian let out a screech and collapsed to the floor. Carter looked at me, his eyes filled with disbelief, despair, and rage. “Chloe Vance! You’re heartless! You’re actually throwing me in prison?! What about our five years together?!” “Our five years?” I cut him off, finding it incredibly pathetic. “Where was that history when you let Vivian humiliate my parents with garbage food? Where was it when you kicked me to protect her? Where was it when you almost choked my mother to death, or when you gave away her life-saving blood to a girl who faked a headache? Carter, what right do you have to talk about our relationship?” My voice wasn’t loud, but every word cut like a frozen scalpel. “Between you and me, it’s strictly business now.” The police dragged the hysterical Vivian and the lifeless Carter away. Mr. Sterling went with them to handle the legal proceedings. Uncle Richard, a board member who had watched me grow up, sighed and walked over. “Chloe, they’ve run the company into the ground these past few months. Several major projects are dead. Everyone… is waiting for you to come back and lead us.” I looked out the window. The sky was turning grey. “Uncle Richard, please hire the best private nursing team to take care of my mother 24/7. Then, notify all department heads. Emergency Zoom meeting at 10:00 AM.” With the best medical care money could buy, my mom improved day by day. During the day, I cleaned up the massive mess at Nova Tech. At night, I stayed in the hospital room with her. My dad finally stopped sighing. He even smiled occasionally. “I always knew my Chloe was capable. You were just letting that Brooks boy play boss…” A week later, I got a call from the detention center. Carter wanted to see me. I went. Across the glass partition, he looked like he had aged ten years. “Chloe… I was wrong. I really was. Vivian manipulated me. She kept telling me you were only with me for my money… I was blinded by my own greed…” I watched his performance in silence, my heart completely numb. Seeing no reaction from me, he got desperate. “For the sake of our five years, please drop the charges, okay? I can’t lose the company! That’s my entire life! You loved me so much, you wouldn’t want to see me with nothing, right?” I finally picked up the phone. My voice was deadly calm. “Carter, you got three things wrong.” “First, Nova Tech is my life’s work, not yours.” “Second, I don’t love you anymore. The moment you chose to sacrifice my mother, we were completely done.” “Third, I will never drop the charges. You’ll get exactly what the law gives you. You and your ‘thoughtful’ assistant earned every bit of it.” With that, I hung up the phone and walked away, ignoring his desperate screams behind the glass.
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