In her eyes, I probably ranked lower than a dog.
Just then, a message came in from one of my people.
"Mr. Dickerson, we've smoothed things over with the tax authorities on the Pruitt Corp side. But they're saying the company evaded a significant amount in taxes, and there's a major audit coming in the next couple of days. We'd need to put up twenty million to plug the gap."
I shook my head. "Forget it. Redirect that twenty million into the new project investment."
"But Pruitt Corp—"
"We're done cleaning up Pruitt Corp's messes."
After I was discharged from the hospital, I'd planned to head back down south.
But the trains had been suspended unexpectedly. Service wouldn't resume for another week.
With nothing better to do, I made my way to Pruitt Corp.
Back when Kathleen first started the company, I'd run myself ragged pulling in major clients for her, then handed them over without a second thought. Even when she later reassigned them to Dylan, I hadn't said a word.
During those early days, I'd heard the company was strapped for cash. I'd quietly funneled a deal worth tens of millions under Pruitt Corp's name.
I'd planned to tell her about it later, make it a surprise.
But now, there was no point.
Sales and Finance operated independently. The finance team would've assumed the project was something the sales department had landed on their own.
If I wanted to reclaim it, I needed to verify the revenue status first.
But the moment I walked through the doors, I ran into Dylan.
He strolled toward me, that familiar sneer curling across his face.
"Arthur, Kathleen said you had nowhere else to go, so you'd definitely show up here. And look at that—here you are."
He'd dropped all pretense now, fangs fully bared. I saw no reason to play nice either.
"You went through a lot of trouble for that VP title," I said flatly.
A smug grin spread across his face. "Can you blame me? You're better than me in every way. If I didn't get creative, I didn't stand a chance against you."
Then he leaned in close, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial murmur.
"Oh, by the way—Kathleen already told the Galloways I'm their new point of contact. Day after tomorrow, I'll be sitting down with them to discuss the partnership."
His grin widened. "I heard the Galloways were the client you spent three years chasing down south. You finally landed them, brought them back, and Kathleen handed them straight to me. How does that feel, Arthur?"
When I was down south, I'd worked for three years to close the Galloway account. The first thing I did when I came back was hand it to my wife.
She'd turned around and given it to Dylan.
Standing there now, watching the petty triumph plastered across his face, a nameless fury ignited in my chest.
I grabbed him by the collar and yanked him forward.
But at that exact moment, Kathleen appeared at the top of the staircase. She saw everything.
"What the hell are you doing?!" she screamed. "Let go of him!"
She rushed over, shoved me hard, and pulled Dylan behind her like a shield.
Her eyes locked onto mine, burning with hatred, as if she were staring down her worst enemy.
"Dylan earned that VP position on his own merit, and you keep trying to hurt him! How did I end up married to someone so vicious?!"
Then she turned to Dylan, her voice shifting to something soft and urgent. "Dylan, are you okay? Did he hurt you?"
Dylan shook his head, playing the wounded puppy to perfection.
"It's fine, Kathleen. Arthur's just having a hard time accepting that I made VP. He's struggling with it, that's all."
He paused, his voice going quieter. "Please don't blame him."
Kathleen shot me one last look, heavy with disappointment.
Then she took Dylan by the arm and led him away.
I caught the tail end of her voice as they disappeared down the hall.
"Dylan, didn't you say you wanted a dog? I got you a Labrador."
I watched their figures vanish from sight, my gaze cold and still, before I finally looked away.
The office had emptied out by then. Everyone had gone home.
It took me hours of digging through files before I finally pinpointed the exact status of that project.
But in the process, I uncovered something else. A year ago, Kathleen had siphoned company funds to buy Dylan a yacht—all to keep him happy.
