I looked at that two-million-dollar check, gave a cold snort, and tore it to shreds before dropping the pieces into the trash.
What I threw away wasn't just a torn-up check. It was every feeling I'd carried for Prudence Pruitt all these years.
Let those two have their few days of triumph. When their grand wedding came at the end of the month, I'd settle the account with them properly.
If Prudence and Richard hadn't come tonight to threaten me, I might have stopped at having my family pull their investment and walked away.
But these two had pushed it too far.
So how could I possibly let them off?
Over the next stretch of time, the story of Prudence proposing to Richard in front of everyone at the celebration banquet spread fast online.
The buzz refused to die down. It even outran some celebrity cheating scandals.
At the same time, a flood of smear material about me suddenly appeared online.
A horde of users dragged me onto the trending lists with their abuse.
"Ernest Maddox looks so gentle and refined, who'd have guessed he's this scheming, vicious piece of trash!"
"Jealous of anyone better than him, made life hell for the better-looking men at the company, and kept a mistress and partied behind Prudence's back. No wonder she dumped him!"
"Compared to Richard Gilbert, he's worlds beneath him. Not even fit to carry the man's shoes."
"He actually wanted Prudence to hand over all her shares to him. Has he no shame!"
"I heard he even slapped Richard at the company. That overbearing, bullying streak of his is sickening!"
Almost every word of that smear material online was fabricated out of thin air.
I didn't need to guess. The dirt being slung at me online had to be the work of Prudence and Richard.
Prudence wanted to protect her good-woman image, and with the company freshly public, any stain on her would have been blown up endlessly by her competitors.
So all she had to do was throw the mud at me, paint me as a black-hearted bastard, spread lies and tar my name, and then no one would blame her for dumping me and proposing to Richard.
As for Richard, he couldn't wait to see me ruined.
After all, I'd slapped him in front of everyone at the company not long ago. Of course he hated me to the core, and he'd been looking for any chance to grind me into the dust for good.
The reason I'd slapped him back then was that I'd caught him hitting on Prudence at the office, and he'd deliberately taunted me in front of the staff. I didn't hold back.
And it was precisely because of that slap that Prudence began stripping away my authority at the company, piece by piece.
Did I regret it?
Not at all.
If I could do it over, I wouldn't just slap Richard in public. I'd slap that bitch Prudence right along with him.
I watched the trending complaints and abuse against me with real interest, wondering how many of them were paid trolls Prudence and Richard had hired.
Tomorrow was Richard and Prudence's wedding.
I wondered how they'd react when they saw the surprise gift I had ready for them.
I couldn't help looking forward to it.
On the day of Prudence and Richard's wedding, the venue was packed and lively.
Besides relatives and friends from both families and Pruitt Corp's business partners, plenty of business elites had come to offer their congratulations.
Pruitt Corp had only just gone public, and word was that the Maddox family, the richest in the country, would keep pouring investment into it. A lot of people in business circles saw Pruitt Corp as a rising star, and they all wanted to forge a connection with it, hoping it would earn them favor with the Maddox family. That was why so many business elites had turned out today.
