I said nothing.

Through the glass, I saw Catherine standing outside, wrapped in a pearl-white gown that accentuated her poised, cold elegance.

Benedict stood beside her, and the two of them laughed together. A tightness gripped my chest.

For Catherine, I had fought for ten full years. I went from a naive young man charging forward for love to a middle-aged man still holding the line for it. Along the way, I missed and lost far too much.

I turned down high-paying overseas offers, rejected several women who pursued me, and pinned my entire heart on her. I even missed the chance to see my mother one last time.

After everything we had experienced, I truly thought she understood my feelings. I was sure we were meant to be together, and yet…

"William, stop hesitating," Lucas urged, jolting me out of my trance.

After a brief silence, I said softly, "You joined Sanders Technology straight out of your internship. Are you really willing to leave?""

He stiffened at my words, then said nothing.

From the brink of bankruptcy to the point we had reached now, Sanders Technology had been a child we had nurtured ourselves. Lucas couldn't bring himself to leave, and neither could I.

Above all, I couldn't bear losing Catherine, whom I had loved for ten years and nurtured to the heights she now stood at.

To be precise, I was unwilling to accept this, and I refused to give up.

Most of the company's employees had been hired and trained by me. They were deeply unhappy with how the company was treating me and protested in their own ways.

Whenever Benedict gave orders, they either pretended to follow or simply stalled. They looked busy, but nothing got done, and the materials he needed never arrived on time. When he attempted to win them over with dinner, everyone found excuses not to attend. In the end, no one came.

Catherine called meeting after meeting over this. She even lost her temper during them, but everyone continued to do as they pleased.

After half a month of this stalemate, she had no choice but to come to me.

"What do you mean by this?"

I stared at the check Catherine extended before me, then looked up at her with a frown.

Catherine said, "You've put in years of hard work. Without you, the company wouldn't exist as it does now. But for it to grow…"

I cut her short, looking at her with a blank expression. "If you have something to say, just say it."

My bluntness clearly annoyed her. Still, she forced herself to hold back her anger, let out a sigh, and said, "William, you can see for yourself. Because of you, Ben can barely get any work done…"

"William? Ben?" I interrupted her, smiling bitterly.

A profound, chilling sorrow filled my heart.

All these years, she had always called me Will when we were alone, and I called her Cate. Now, she used my full name while addressing him with such an intimate nickname.

It seemed my ten years of devotion were no match for the return of her childhood sweetheart.

Something in my smile or expression must have struck a nerve. Catherine's face flushed with a mix of anger and humiliation as she glared at me.

"Your presence is already disrupting the company's operations. I've decided to ask you to leave. To compensate for your contributions, you may write a check for any amount up to 100 million dollars."

I had already guessed the outcome, but hearing her say it aloud still made me stagger. I stared at her, unable to believe my ears.

"What did you just say?"

She seemed to assume I thought the amount was too small and bristled immediately.

"William, I acknowledge that the company owes its success to you, but you mustn't go too far. For a struggling student like you, trading ten years of your life for 100 million dollars is already an incredible return."

"An incredible gain, my foot!" I raged silently.

To hear that from the woman I had loved for ten years made my heart ache so sharply I could hardly breathe. And yet, I refused to accept them.

"I gave up a high-paying overseas job to join your company on the brink of collapse. I spent ten years devoted to this, giving my youth and everything I had, enduring endless hardships, and even coming close to losing my life—and you think I did it all for money?"

Catherine leaned back in her executive chair, looking at me coldly with a sneer.

"Isn't that the case? People from humble backgrounds like yours are always trying to seize a chance and gamble on a brilliant future. You won the bet. 100 million dollars is more than enough. I hope you know your place."

Only then did I realize that this was how she had seen me all along. No wonder she had always refused to appoint me as the assistant director. It wasn't a matter of ability. I simply wasn't worthy of her.

It seemed I had spent ten years of my life on the wrong person.

Ten years ago, the Sanders family company fell into crisis. Her father jumped to his death, her mother ran off with another man, and the company was pushed to the brink of bankruptcy, buried under tens of millions of dollars in debt.

It was just the two of us then, and rescuing the company from its dire state was anything but easy.

I still remembered it clearly. On my third day at the company, debt collectors blocked the doors and trapped us inside.

A bloated man in his 50s brought a group of thugs and forced us into a corner. He pointed at Catherine and bared his teeth in a leering grin. "Sweetheart, don't say I didn't give you a chance. Stay with me for a year, and I'll wipe out three million dollars of your debt. Otherwise, find a way to pay up today."

The company didn't have a single dollar to spare. Catherine cowered against the wall, shaking with fear, pleading for them to grant us more time.

However, those people had no compassion at all.

More than a dozen men started shouting and rushed forward to grab her. At that moment, I had only one thought. If they wanted to touch her, they would have to step over my body first.

I seized a chair and shielded Catherine behind me, fighting with everything I had while telling her not to be afraid. No one would hurt her unless I were dead.

I vaguely remembered knocking three of them to the ground. Despite my shattered ribs and blood-covered body, I refused to leave her side.

Fortunately, the police arrived in time, and we narrowly escaped disaster. My injuries were so severe that I lay in the ICU for eight days, teetering on the edge of death.

When I finally opened my eyes, the morning light was dim. Catherine sat slumped by my bedside, and her eyes were red from crying. I forced a weak smile.

As long as Catherine was safe, everything was worth it.

"Why are you crying?" I said weakly. "Aren't I still alive?"

She cried even harder, choking on her words. "Why were you so foolish to fight them? You almost…"

She couldn't finish.

She collapsed onto my arm and sobbed uncontrollably. I raised my hand and gently stroked her hair. "If I stood by while the woman I loved was being bullied, would I even deserve to call myself human?"

After that incident, my body was left with serious aftereffects. Any physical exertion left me gasping for air. The doctors said my internal organs had been damaged and that I would never fully recover. Because of the assault, the attackers were ordered to pay 200 thousand dollars in compensation, and the company survived its hardest period on that money.

After all, she was a young, spirited woman who didn't understand the ways of the business world. In those early years, incidents like this were far from rare, and every time, I stood in front of her to protect her.

I loved her. I was willing to do everything in my power to help her, even to the point of risking my life. I foolishly believed that love meant giving everything without hesitation or regret.

Whenever she told me she would never betray me for the rest of her life, my heart overflowed with joy. No matter how bitter or difficult things were, I felt it was all worth it.

And yet, the woman who had pledged never to forsake me, the one I had shielded with my life for ten long years, was now throwing me out of the company in a way that felt almost degrading. Pain tore through my chest like a blade.

Overwhelmed by memories of the past, I stared at Catherine and said in a trembling voice, "Catherine, you know why I did everything for the company. It was because I loved you. I loved you! Have you forgotten what you said to me over and over? You swore you would never betray me."

At my words, she lowered her eyes, and a flicker of pain crossed her face. She turned away and said coldly, "I'm grateful for your love, but I must be honest with you. In my heart, you have always been Sanders Technology's No. 1 employee. When I said I would never betray you, I meant that I would make sure you were generously compensated. You misunderstood."

At that moment, my heart crumbled to ashes. I couldn't stop myself from laughing, even as tears streamed down my face.