Chapter 3

A flash of rigidity crossed her face. I saw it clear as day.

Dominic pressed his lips together.

I watched him hesitate. My heart sank.

I didn't wait for him to speak. I turned around, pulled Vanessa out of the office, and walked her straight into the executive suite. A crowd had gathered.

"Elara Hawthorne, you..."

Dominic's voice came from behind me. I acted like I didn't hear it.

Right there, in front of everyone, I pulled up the footage.

Timestamp: 12:23 PM. After the executive suite had emptied out, Vanessa sat down at my computer.

The footage showed her intercepting the final contract from the shared print queue. She deleted my transmission record. Then she swapped the signed version with an old draft she'd prepared in advance, the one with the fake thirty-million-dollar figure, and fed it into the approval chain.

Dominic's face went ashen.

Gasps rippled through the room.

"That was really Vanessa? Why would she do that?"

"Why do you think? You all forgot she's Mr. Ashford's ex? The ex set up the current girlfriend. Now we see who he sides with."

"My money's on Vanessa. You people who came in late have no idea how intense things were between them back in the day."

My spine went rigid.

I fought to keep my composure. Fought to ignore the way Dominic refused to commit to either side.

Then.

Vanessa, who hadn't said a word this whole time, suddenly smiled at me. My stomach dropped.

She turned around. There wasn't a shred of remorse on her face. She looked straight at Dominic and admitted everything.

"I did it."

"I set up Elara Hawthorne. You can fire me."

Their eyes met. She stared him down. "Dominic Ashford, are you going to fire me?"

I lifted my eyes.

He would, right? The evidence was ironclad. Vanessa confessed.

What reason could there possibly be not to fire her?

I clenched my hands. Held my breath. Watched him without blinking.

A moment passed.

Dominic pulled his gaze away from Vanessa. "This stops here. I will personally cover any fallout from Vanessa's actions."

Vanessa smiled, gloating.

She shot me a look of pure derision.

The room exploded.

A roar filled my ears, like I'd been slapped across the face. A wasteland of grief in my chest.

"On what grounds?"

I finally spoke. I couldn't keep my voice from shaking.

Dominic glanced at me and answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Vanessa is my girlfriend now. She was in a bad place. She made a mistake. As her boyfriend, I'll handle it."

A laugh burst out of me.

"Girlfriend..."

"Dominic Ashford, in case you forgot, we are legally married. She, Vanessa, is the other woman."

"Elara Hawthorne!"

He cut me off, his anger barely contained. His eyes were ice. "She is not."

I lowered my gaze. Stared blankly at the floor.

Now I understood. Now I saw exactly where Vanessa's arrogance came from. It came from Dominic's favor.

I was done fighting.

"Fine. She's not."

He dismissed everyone. Then he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around me. His voice softened.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap."

"Elara, I told you. Just one month. After one month, I'm yours. Only yours."

My hands clenched so hard it hurt. I looked up at him with a smile.

"Alright. I trust you."

"Oh, and I have some files here that need your signature."

I tucked the resignation letter and the annulment petition in with a stack of other documents and handed them to him.

The shift was so quick.

Dominic looked caught off guard, but when he saw my calm expression, relief washed over his face.

He signed without reading a single page.

I sat back down at my desk.

I faxed the signed documents to my lawyer. I submitted my resignation to HR.

I waited quietly for the day to end.

At dusk, I looked over the place where I'd spent five years of my life one last time. Then I set my employee badge on the desk.

Vanessa was standing next to my car in the parking garage.

I didn't want to engage her. She spoke first.

"See? I told you. The moment I came back, you'd be out."

"Elara Hawthorne, have some dignity and let go on your own. Why hold on to a man who doesn't love you?"

I stopped walking.

My voice was flat and scornful.

"Is that right? Too bad, until the marriage is legally dissolved, you, Vanessa Sterling, will always be the cheap mistress hiding in the dark."

"You!"

She went white with rage and slapped me across the face.

"You worthless bitch."

Dominic chose exactly that moment to appear. He saw everything.