Marshall Locke, the assistant working for my wife, Amelia Stone, leaves out three zeroes on a contract. It leads to ten million dollars in losses for the company.

The factory that has collaborated with us on the project goes bankrupt, and its owner jumps off a building as a result of the situation.

All Marshall does is shed a few tears, and Amelia immediately pins all the blame on me. She claims I single-handedly managed the entire project.

I get sued in court, which leaves me ten million dollars in debt.

When the deceased's family posts about me online, the entire internet curses me out, saying that I should die too.

My entire industry blacklists me. The career I've painstakingly built up for myself is destroyed just like that.

But when I confront Amelia about this, she simply looks at her freshly manicured nails and says airily, "Marshall is young and inexperienced. You've been in the business for so many years now. It's not like this has caused any damage to you."

Recalling the way she and Marshall had been wrapped up in a passionate kiss before I came in, I pull out the divorce agreement I prepared in advance and toss it at her.

"Sign it."

"Must you kick up such a big fuss over this?" Amelia Stone, my wife, snapped at me.

"All I did was ask you to take the fall for a young and inexperienced man. Are you seriously threatening me with divorce right now?

"As I said, the truth will speak for itself. Everyone knows whether you're truly innocent or not. You're a veteran in the business by now. Don't tell me you don't even have what it takes to endure a hit like this."

She threw the divorce agreement onto the floor in annoyance and started berating me, as if I'd committed some egregious mistake.

I was just about to speak when Amelia's phone started ringing. She took the call, and Marshall Locke's troubled voice came through the speaker.

"What should I do, Amy? I accidentally messed up the data for the joint project, and Mr. Handell is extremely upset. I'm not going to get blacklisted from the industry like Jeremy has, right?"

Amelia's expression softened at once. "It's fine, Marshall. Just do what you did the last time and explain that it was Jeremy who'd been handling the project the whole time. You only took over from him at the last minute."

"But Jeremy helped me out the last time, too," Marshall said worriedly. "What if Mr. Handell sues him as well? Jeremy would hate me!"

Amelia shot me a look of contempt before responding to Marshall, "He's your superior. It's his job to take the fall for you. Besides, he's got experience in such situations anyway, so don't worry about it."

I slammed my hand on the table in fury and confronted her.

"Amelia, you know better than anyone how much effort goes into a project from start to finish. Are you seriously going to sacrifice the company just to bolster Marshall's career? Have you lost your mind?"

Immediately, Marshall started apologizing over the phone, his voice turning visibly choked. It only made Amelia stare at me with even greater hostility.

"You act as if no one ever makes a mistake at work. Marshall is still young. How dare you cause a scene in front of me when you did a poor job of guiding him properly despite being his superior?" she snarled.

"You're accusing me of not guiding him properly?"

It was the biggest joke I'd ever heard.

I'd spent over a dozen years working my way up the corporate ladder. It was impossible to keep track of all the hardships I endured in the business world before I rose to the position of CEO.

Everyone used to call me the rising star of the business world who could work his magic with anyone. But thanks to a single business project, my reputation was destroyed for good.

Ever since Marshall joined the company, all of his mistakes became my fault.

When he messed up his reports, it was because I didn't review them carefully.

When he failed to meet his KPIs, it was because I hadn't guided him well enough and hadn't given him all my connections and resources.

As for the projects that took me countless sleepless nights and numerous arduous business meetings to close, they would somehow all end up credited to him.

Amelia wanted nothing more than to squeeze out every last bit of value in me to pave the way for Marshall.

"I've already taken the fall for him once. I even got sued in court because of it. Don't even think about throwing me under the bus again!" I declared.

Amelia simply eyed me frostily before calling her secretary.

"Switch out Marshall's name and list Jeremy as the person in charge of Marshall's project. Let Mr. Handell hold him accountable for the situation. He's already got a lawsuit against him anyway. There's no reason for the company to continue supporting him."

She completely ignored my protest and made the snap decision to pin all the blame on me.

It was this very act that shattered the last of my affection for her.

Perhaps Amelia had seen how pale I'd become, for she retrieved the divorce agreement from the floor and signed it before throwing it back to me.

"I've signed the divorce agreement, Jeremy. I'll be waiting for you to come crawling back to me in a month's time, begging to resume our marriage. But now, get the hell out of my sight and go clean up the mess!"

I picked up the divorce agreement and walked out without looking back. Once inside my office, I sent a message to Summer Nolan, an acquaintance of mine.

"Summer, you mentioned having a CEO opening for me abroad in Dennoria. Is that offer still on the table?"

Immediately after, my phone started buzzing incessantly. Even through the screen, Summer's excitement was palpable.

"Of course! I've kept the CEO position reserved for you the whole time, but you're going to have to do a thorough job sorting out the situation back in Havaria first. I'll be here, waiting for you to make your grand arrival, Jeremy! "

I smiled faintly at Summer's teasing before taking out the resignation letter that had been tucked inside the divorce agreement.

Knowing what Amelia was like, there was no way she'd let me go so easily if I didn't pull a fast one over her.

After I'd informed my assistant, Shane Morris, about my resignation and settled the arrangements with him, he tried to talk me out of it.

"Mr. Carter, we all know how that lawsuit against you came about. Many of the veteran employees in the company have been complaining about the injustice as well. It was unfair of Ms. Stone to do that, but we can't bear to see you leave either. Won't you reconsider?"

Sighing, I patted Shane on the shoulder. "It's best for everyone if I resign."

Shane had just left my office when Amelia came in with Marshall.

"Marshall, from now on, this will be your office. Make sure you do a good job and…"

She trailed off with a flicker of awkwardness in her eyes when she spotted me, but soon, she looked annoyed. "What are you still doing here? Don't you know the situation you're in right now?"

As soon as she finished speaking, a group of people swarmed into the office and started attacking me.

"Jeremy Carter, your murderer! Go to hell!"

It was the friends of the factory owner who'd jumped to his death. They surrounded me and started beating me up.

I was shoved to the floor, my head bashing against the side of the desk as I went down. The blood trickled down, blurring my vision.

"Let's go, Marshall. This office will be yours eventually. I don't want you to get hurt by accident."

Amelia led Marshall off without even sparing me another glance.

My eyes stung—I couldn't tell if it was blood or tears that streamed down my face.

I suddenly thought about what things had been like when I first joined the company.

I'd gone for an on-site inspection of a construction project. The purchaser in charge of procuring the raw materials had chosen a shoddy supplier in order to receive kickbacks from him.

As a result, several cement slabs started to fall when I was midway through the inspection.

Amelia had shoved me out of the way at once, but she ended up with a broken arm and had to be taken to the emergency room.

She should've adequately rested in order to let her arm fully recover, but she insisted on working through it.

As a result, her arm never got a chance to recover properly, and it was still causing her issues now.

I always felt guilty about that, but she'd gently consoled me, "Thank goodness you're alright, Jeremy. I would've lost my mind if you got crushed by those cement slabs."

Amelia was still the same person who'd instinctively protect the man she loved, but I was no longer that man.

The factory owner's friends continued to vent all of their anger on me. As I took in their despairing looks of grief, I chose not to fight back. I simply shielded my head instead.

Eventually, they grew exhausted and shuffled out of the office in tears. With great difficulty, I got back on my feet.

Only then did Amelia show up once more. There was a brief flicker of remorse in her eyes when she looked at me.

"I'll take you to the hospital. Avoid coming to the office for now. You can just stay at home and rest. Wait until this situation blows over."

"Don't bother. I can go by myself—"

I didn't even get to finish my sentence before Marshall came in with a folder in hand.

He said nervously to Amelia, "Amy, our business partner for this project is about to show up, but the numbers aren't adding up. What should I do?"

Amelia immediately dropped my hand and left with Marshall, saying, "Marshall is young. He needs my help with the project. Your injuries look scarier than they are. I'm sure you can handle them yourself. I'm doing this for the company's sake anyway.

"Once I've settled things, I'll come home and check on you."

With some difficulty, I pulled out the divorce agreement I'd stuck in the drawer and let out a relieved smile as I watched Amelia leave.

The so-called home that Amelia and I once shared ceased to exist a long time ago.

…

Three days before the divorce decree was finalized, I realized I'd left an important document at home, which I needed to complete the handover at work.

When I went back to retrieve it, I found that I couldn't unlock the front door. I tried using my fingerprint and the familiar password the lock was set to, but nothing worked.

Knowing that too many failed attempts would alert the police, I had no choice but to make a video call to Amelia.

She stared at me through the screen and remained silent for a few seconds before explaining, "Well, sweetheart, Marshall came over a few days ago to stay with us for a while. He found the password too complicated to remember, so I changed it to his birthday."

I could hear how sheepish her tone was. As I stared at the locked door, I let out a self-deprecating chuckle.

It wasn't a very expensive property, but it was the first house we bought together—our marital home. When we set up the place, Amelia specifically used our wedding anniversary as the password for the front door.

It was incredibly ironic to me, really.

Amelia rushed over to open the door for me, but before she left, she grabbed me, saying, "Jeremy, Marshall is having a hard time securing a business project. Can you help him?

"Liam White, the CEO, is an old classmate of yours. With you involved, I'm sure nothing will go wrong. Marshall needs a successful project to silence the doubts about him in the company.

"You kept saying you wanted to see the Northern Lights, right? I promise that once this project is successfully completed, I'll make the trip with you."

As I took in the completely unrecognizable interior of the house, my mind went blank.

All along, Marshall had been flaunting on social media about how wonderful his life was right now. He even talked about having his own private love nest.

It turned out the love nest was simply the remodeled version of the home made out of my blood, sweat, and tears.

Amelia had been so busy being all lovey–dovey with Marshall for almost a month, never once realizing that all of my possessions were long gone.

With the document in hand, I turned to leave. "We've already gotten a divorce. Besides, I'm sure it'll be even more effective if you handled the project yourself instead of leaving it to someone like me, whose reputation has already been destroyed."

…

To secure the project, Amelia spent the next few days showering me with concern and attention.

This project would allow Marshall to firmly establish himself at the company in a legitimate way. She had to secure this business deal for him.

After seeing how firm I was, she started a large-scale layoff of all my trusted subordinates and those who'd been close to me.

When they came to convince me to see the project to completion, I studied the weariness on their faces and ended up agreeing to it. They had families to raise and support. I couldn't let them suffer because of me.

Inside the conference room, Marshall eyed me tauntingly.

"To think that the great Mr. Carter is now working for me. My, my. To what do I owe such honor? Nevertheless, it's always best for people to know their place. It's folly to think that they can cling to something that isn't theirs, no?"

As I skimmed the documents to get an overview of the project, I remarked curtly, "Does a certain homewrecker think that he's suddenly the real deal after stealing someone else's place? I suggest he finds a mirror and takes a good look at himself first."

Marshall was so infuriated that his face turned red.