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.

Midway through the discussion about the project, Marshall suddenly smiled at me and said, "Jeremy, would you believe me if I told you that I could ensure that your life will forever be a living hell today?

"You'll fall completely from grace without the chance of ever making anything out of yourself again."

As I was busy with my analysis of the project data, I snapped impatiently, "Cut the crap. These numbers don't add up. If you push things forward like that, it's going to lead to a huge crisis!"

Unexpectedly, Marshall simply laughed when he heard that. He got his phone out and played a video.

It was a video of a half-finished building collapsing. Dozens of workers were buried beneath the rubble, and the scene descended into utter chaos.

The title of the video was "Scene of Jeremy Carter's Crimes".

I scrambled to make an emergency call for someone to save the trapped workers, but Marshall scoffed at me. "These videos were taken a week ago. Do you like the gift I prepared for you, Jeremy?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Liam came storming into the conference room. He knocked me to the floor with a punch.

"Jeremy, you murderer! Why are you the one leading this project? Mr. Locke told me you snatched the project away from him. I'm going to hold you accountable for the losses I've suffered!"

My heart turned cold as I watched the way Marshall ran over to Amelia and stood beside her with an aggrieved expression. In an instant, I realized what was going on.

"Amy, it was Mr. Carter who seized control of this project. I didn't dare to challenge him on it. I never thought something this catastrophic would happen. He jeopardized dozens of lives! I can't believe how ruthless he is."

Amelia stared at me and commanded icily, "Apologize to Mr. White at once!"

As I stared at her now, I could no longer hold back the hurt and indignation that had been welling up inside of me.

"I only found out about this project today. I was never involved in any of the earlier decisions. I also have proof that I didn't even set foot into the office lately!"

I pulled out my phone to prove myself, but Amelia simply slapped me across the face. "That's enough, Jeremy! Why would Marshall try to frame you?

"Mr. White is one of our major clients. If it weren't for your reckless behavior, none of this would have happened! Every backup copy of the project's documents I have is signed with your name, so what other excuse do you have left now, huh? Apologize!"

When I saw how adamant her gaze was, I couldn't say a word.

This had all been part of the trap Amelia set up for me. Her goal was to make me take the fall for Marshall.

Who would ignore the solid evidence she presented and choose to believe someone with a long list of prior offenses?

"I apologize. It was all due to my mistake," I said.

Liam threw another punch at me and even kicked me for good measure. He didn't stop cursing me out.

After Liam's assistant pulled him away, Amelia coldly announced, "You're going to bear sole responsibility for the compensation for this incident, Jeremy. It's clear to me now that you'll never change. There's no place for you in this industry anymore.

"Once the divorce decree is issued, we'll no longer have any ties to each other!"

Amelia did a great job giving a false statement in support of Marshall. Once again, I was subjected to everyone's scorn and became the scourge of society.

When I went to see Liam to make up for the situation, he waved it off before eyeing me sympathetically.

"We've known each other for so many years now. How could I not see that Amelia deliberately set you up this time? Don't worry about it. None of the workers was seriously hurt. They just needed a few days of rest."

When he saw the tension leave my shoulders, he smiled and patted me on the back.

"I'll claim the losses I'm owed myself. As for you, it's time for you to stop foolishly devoting yourself to Amelia."

I smiled and said goodbye to Liam. After picking up the divorce decree, I rushed to the airport and caught the earliest flight to Dennoria.