chapter 3

I asked in surprise, "John? Michael? What are you doing here?"

These two men worked side-by-side with my father for decades. Yet, they were the first to present flowers to Luna, a mere intern. They glared at me with hostility.

John said coldly, "Ivy, Victor runs the company now. We follow his lead."

I recoiled in shock.

When Dad just stepped down, these old-timers were Victor's biggest critics.

It was my projects, my connections, that I had handed to Victor, allowing him to prove himself and quiet their opposition.

But now, with my parents traveling the world for years and my focus shifted to my sick daughter, they had forgotten who this company truly belonged to.

Emboldened by their support, Victor became even more confident.

He smirked at me, grabbed my wrist, and shoved me hard.

I stumbled back, crashing into a tower of champagne glasses. Shards sliced deep into my palm, but the physical pain was nothing compared to the betrayal tearing through me.

Victor snarled, "This is what happens when you don't know your place, Ivy.

"You shouldn't have bullied Luna!"

Luna put on a show, disentangling herself to "help" me up.

I sharply waved her away.

She let out a dramatic shriek and fell backwards, right into the funeral wreath.

A small scratch appeared on her arm from a stray pin.

Victor panicked, rushing to her side. He asked worriedly, "Luna! Are you okay?!"

She cried, shaking her head, and looked at me with feigned fear.

"I’m fine, Victor… It was my fault… I made Ivy angry. I would just leave the company so I wouldn't be in her way!"

Victor scooped her up into his arms. His eyes locked with mine, filled with malice.

He roared, "Ivy, hand over all your projects to Luna, effective immediately. You are finished at this company!"

I struggled to my feet and retorted, "On what grounds?!"

When I first joined the company, my father had made me start from the bottom.

I had earned every client and built every relationship from the ground up.

Those projects were mine by right of blood, sweat, and tears. And he was just handing them to an intern?

He said coldly, "On the grounds of your insubordination and bullying! We didn't need your kind here!" Leo, my deputy who had been eyeing my job for years, eagerly chimed in,

"Absolutely! Mrs. Sullivan, this is clear workplace harassment! You'd be fired for this anywhere!"

"Oh my god, this harassment is disgusting! Thank goodness Victor saw it clearly!"

"Don't worry, Luna! Victor and we would make this right!"

I looked at their self-righteous faces and let out a laugh of pure disbelief.

Luna lifted her chin, pretending to plead for me. She craved, "I was sure Mrs. Sullivan didn't mean to hurt me. Tell you what, if you got on your knees and kowtowed to me three times, I would forgive you. You could even stay on as… let's say, a janitor. How about that?"

I laughed scornfully. From my bag, I pulled out the already-prepared divorce papers and flung them at Victor.

I snapped, "Don't bother. I’m leaving."

I saw a flash of triumphant glee in Victor's eyes. He barely glanced at the document before scrawling his signature.

He snorted, "You said it yourself, Ivy!"

Seeing his eagerness, my heart gave one final, painful squeeze.

I remembered when he was just a low-level nobody at the company. Someone had leaked that I was the Sullivan heiress, and I was kidnapped.

When the kidnapper held a knife to my throat, demanding a ransom from my father, it was Victor who charged in recklessly and saved me.

He still bore a ten-centimeter scar on his abdomen from that day.